Entertainment

(NOTE NATURE) Taraji P. Henson is ready to talk about one of the hardest moments of her life — gathering the courage to leave an abusive relationship.

Ahead of her new installment of Peace of Mind with Taraji, which airs on Facebook Watch, the Hidden Figures star shared a clip of the difficult conversation with Growing Up Hip Hop star Angela Simmons.

The two opened up about their troubled exes, with Taraji admitting she was physically abused by her partner when she was younger.

“Sometimes, as women, what we do is we fall in love and we go, ‘You know what? I’ll fix it later,'” the 51-year-old actress explained and revealed when she knew what she had was broken beyond repair. “For me it was when blood was drawn.”

“It started with the bruises and grabbing, things like that. And then once the fist came, once the balled hand came and the fists — and I’m missing a piece of my lip to this day — that’s when I knew I had to go,” Henson  explained.

Taraji reveals that she “grew up around [abuse,]” and knew she had to break the cycle in order to protect her son, Marcell Johnson, who is now 27. “I was like, ‘I don’t want my son around this.'”

Peace of Mind with Taraji airs Mondays at 9 a.m. ET on Facebook Watch.

For anyone affected by abuse and needing support, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or if you’re unable to speak safely, you can log onto thehotline.org or text LOVEIS to 1-866-331-9474.

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Common and Tiffany Haddish made their relationship public in August 2020, and now, 14 months later, their special bond is growing stronger.

“She keeps me laughing. It’s that child-like spirit that you love,” the rapper/actor tells Essence about the Night School star. “She also possesses an authenticity that I love. I’m gonna know what’s on her mind. I’m gonna know what she’s feeling about me or somebody else or something. I like the way she communicates — that’s important to me. “

The 49-year-old entertainer adds, “Along with that, the way she treats her family and loved ones is real cool. I’m attracted to that. Tiffany is a good-hearted human being, and I love that about her.”

Common also feels that the pandemic has brought the two stars even closer as they have spent more time together.

“It makes you reflect on, ‘If things was ending now, who do I want to be around?'” he says. “Naturally, Tiffany and I just spent a lot of time together, just really enjoying life and being grateful for life and not putting too much pressure on our relationship, just really being present with each other and supportive and having fun.”

The Oscar and Grammy winner was previously in high profile relationships with Serena Williams and Erykah Badu, and he says Black women have always motivated him.

“Some of the Black women that I’ve dated, been in relationships with, are crazy talented people, so that’s inspiring in itself,” Common says. “You see the work that they put in, and then how they can still go out and be good family people. That’s been very influential on my personal life, but it also comes through in my art.”

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Got Marvel? The first fully authorized, all access history of Marvel Studios is in bookstores now!

The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a two-volume hardcover collection that details the rise of the studio into an cinematic force, chronicling all 23 films that make up the beloved “Infinity Saga,” featuring talks with the actors, producers and creatives — including Marvel Studio head Kevin Feige.

Feige, who started as an associate producer on X-Men, shared the invaluable lessons he learned during his early days.

He tells ABC Audio one of those takeaways was decision-making, and recalled some of the “risks” X-Men took, “like casting a six-foot-three Hugh Jackman to play the five-foot-two Wolverine and ultimately saying…embodying the spirit of the character that is more important than getting your ruler out and matching it perfectly to the comics.”

Feige also learned the importance of having the right filmmaker for the job, despite experience level, because “they have a story to tell and a vision of how to tell it in a unique and different way.”

The Story Of Marvel Studios was a years-long effort by co-authors Tara Bennet and Paul Terry — but don’t think this is just a book chronicling the exploits of on-screen superheroes.

“There’s so many personal stories,” Terry said. “We see the spectacle of the movies but these are human beings with ideas! And those ideas evolve and become the MCU that we love.”

Speaking of Marvel, Bennet pointed out that what makes Marvel Studios different is their ability to retain and grow talent. 

“This is a place where people have stayed,” she said, noting how people who “started out from getting people coffee… [to] now being an EP on Endgame.” 

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Two crew members on the set of the Alec Baldwin-backed film Rust were hospitalized Thursday after a prop gun with blanks misfired, according to one of the film’s producers.

The Western, starring Baldwin and Jensen Ackles of Supernatural, began filming this month at Bonanza Creek Movie Ranch, a film location in Sante Fe, New Mexico.

Deputies with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday afternoon they were responding to an incident at a movie set. The producer confirmed the incident happened on the set of Rust, and said Baldwin was OK.

“There was an accident today on the New Mexico set of Rust involving the misfire of a prop gun with blanks,” the producer said in a statement to ABC News. “Two crew members have been taken to the hospital and are receiving care. Production has been halted for the time being. The safety of our cast and crew remains our top priority.”

University of New Mexico Hospital, the state’s only Level 1 trauma center, said in a statement to ABC News that one patient was transported by helicopter “in critical condition.”

The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident.

The sprawling Bonanza Creek Movie Ranch is frequently used as a film location for Westerns, including 3:10 to Yuma and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

Baldwin shared a photo from the set of “Rust” earlier on Thursday in costume.

“Back to in person at the office,” he captioned the post. “Blimey…it’s exhausting.”

The actor is co-producing the film under his company, El Dorado Pictures, with Joel Souza writing and directing.

 

 

 

 

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A cinematographer working on the film Rust is dead and the director is hospitalized after an accident during filming involving star Alec Baldwin and a misfiring prop gun, authorities said Thursday.

The Western, starring Baldwin and Jensen Ackles of Supernatural, began filming this month at Bonanza Creek Movie Ranch, a film location in Sante Fe, New Mexico.

Deputies with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office responded to the film set after a 911 caller “reported a shooting on the set,” the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Two people were shot after a prop firearm was discharged during filming, authorities said. Baldwin fired the prop gun, striking the film’s director, Joel Souza, and director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, the sheriff’s office said in a follow-up statement Thursday night.

Detectives are still determining “how and what type of projectile was discharged,” the sheriff’s office said earlier.

No charges have been filed in the shooting, authorities said. The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident.

Hutchins, 42, was transported via helicopter to University of New Mexico Hospital, the state’s only Level 1 trauma center, “in critical condition,” according to sheriff’s deputies and the hospital. She later succumbed to her injuries, the sheriff’s office said.

Souza, 48, was brought in an ambulance to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center and is receiving emergency care, authorities said.

The film halted production following the accident, a producer said.

Baldwin shared a photo from the set of Rust earlier on Thursday in costume.

“Back to in person at the office,” he captioned the post. “Blimey…it’s exhausting.”

The actor is co-producing the film under his company, El Dorado Pictures, with Souza writing and directing.

 

 

 

 

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Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II are on the run in the new trailer for Ambulance, director Michael Bay‘s take on a 2005 Danish thriller. 

The two actors play foster brothers; Emmy-winner Abdul-Mateen plays a military veteran who’s strapped for cash when his wife needs surgery, and Gyllenhaal offers to help — with a daring bank heist. 

Soon, the bullets start flying and the pair manage to escape in the only way possible: in an ambulance — which happens to contain an EMT working on an injured police officer.

Eiza González plays the medic, who’s trying to keep the cop alive while the pair flee what seems like the entire Los Angeles Police Department.  

And because it’s a Michael Bay movie, you’d be correct to expect the requisite level of Bay-hem: helicopters, cars, and cameras go flying as the pair try to take the money and run.

Ambulance opens in theaters February 18.

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Warner Bros. has released another trailer for King Richard, which teases a brand-new song by the Queen B herself, Beyoncé.

Titled “Be Alive,” the new ballad is featured toward the end of the trailer where Venus Williams, played by Saniyya Sidney, is seen facing off with an opponent in a heated match. The new drama, which stars Will Smith as Williams family patriarch Richard Williams, follows Mr. Williams’ journey in training his daughters, Venus and Serena, to become worldwide tennis champions. King Richard also stars Demi Singleton as Serena Williams, as well as Aunjanue Ellis, Jon Bernthal, Tony Goldwyn and Dylan McDermott. The film hits theaters and HBO Max on November 19.

In other news, ABC has set a premiere date for Women of the Movement, the limited series that will focus on Emmett Till‘s mother, Mamie Till Mobley, and her pursuit for justice after her son’s murder. The show will premiere on Thursday, January 6 at 8 p.m. ET and run for three consecutive weeks. As previously reported,  Adrienne Warren, Tonya Pinkins, Cedric Joe, Ray Fisher and Glynn Turman will star in the series that is inspired by Devery S. Anderson‘s book Emmett Till:The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement.

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Star Wars icon, author, and actress Carrie Fisher would have turned 65 today, and some of her friends and family celebrated her on social media today.

Billie Lourd, Fisher’s daughter, posted a throwback picture of herself as a baby, being held by her famous mom. She added a twin hearts emoji to the post.

Actress Joely Fisher posted a picture of her with her half-sister, saying, “I miss this face…happy heavenly birthday sister,” along with the hashtags #CarrieFisher and #CarrieOnForever.

The latter was also used by Carrie’s on-screen sibling, Mark Hamill. Luke Skywalker’s alter-ego posted a picture of himself playing with Fisher’s hair on the set of Star Wars, as she rolls her eyes. “Happy Birthday to a very special someone who was never not fun & always highly tolerant of my juvenile on-set high jinks… even when she wasn’t in the mood,” Hamill wrote.

Carrie Fisher died at 60 years old on December 27, 2016, following a heart attack.

 

 

 

 

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Although its road to launch was rocky, Starz’ three episode event The Continental is getting on track quickly.

After Colin Woodell was cast in the John Wick spin-off’s central role as Winston, five new cast members have been added to join him and Mel Gibson, who was previously cast as a character known as Cormac.

The series takes place in New York City in the 1970s, and shows how Woodell’s character came to be the suave owner of The Continental, the hitman hotel seen in the John Wick films; Winston is played in the films by Ian McShane.

The show has just added The Good Lord Bird‘s Hubert Point-Du Jour, who’s been cast as a character named Miles; Jessica Allain, who starred with Meryl Streep in The Laundromat, will play Lou; Michelle Prada from Starz’ Vida will play KD; Vietnamese import Nhung Kate will play Yen; and Animal Kingdom‘s Ben Robson has been cast as Frankie.

John Wick fans might be wondering who will play The Continental‘s enigmatic concierge, Charon, who’s played in all the films by Lance Reddick. So far, it seems at this age — Woodell is 29 — Winston hasn’t yet met his eventual right-hand-man.

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Netflix has released a new trailer for Red Notice, and in this one, we get a better idea of the plot. 

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson recruits Ryan Reynolds‘ character, noted as the “second-most wanted art thief in the world,” in an effort to nab the best one: Gal Gadot‘s character, known as The Bishop.

However, while she’s on the titular list, this trailer notes a twist: Gadot uses some computer wizardry to frame Johnson’s FBI agent John Hartley, landing him on Interpol’s Red Notice, and they both get locked up. 

The situation sets up a death-defying prison escape sequence seen in an earlier trailer.

“If we catch her together, I can clear my name, and I’ll make you the number-one art thief in the world again,” Hartley promises Ryan’s Booth. 

“Trusting a thief can be dangerous,” Bishop warns the FBI agent, a comment by which Booth gets comically offended. 

The trailer not only shows the two men tangling with assorted bad guys, but the character played by Johnson — who had a wrestling nickname The Brahma Bull — is actually fighting a real bull. 

Red Notice hits Netflix November 12.

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