Entertainment

Disney fans were transported under the sea Friday when they got a glimpse of The Little Mermaid live-action film.

At the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, the new official teaser trailer for the remake premiered starring Halle Bailey as Ariel.

In the teaser trailer, Bailey swims under water and leads viewers through her treasure trove and sings some of the lyrics to the iconic song, “Part of Your World.”

“Everything you love about the original, but it’s exciting and it’s a twist on Ariel’s strength and powerfulness,” Bailey told Good Morning America in an interview about the new movie. “And she’s just so strong in this film and I’m so grateful to play her.”

Bailey is making history as the first Black actress to play Ariel. The singer, one-half of the singing group Chloe X Halle, was cast in the role in July 2019. While the announcement of her casting is groundbreaking and was met with supportive feedback, it also brought in some backlash.

But Bailey didn’t let any of the negativity get to her. She told GMA that she hopes young kids don’t stop following their dreams too.

“I would want everyone to know and all the boys and girls who wanna play princesses one day that you are beautiful and you deserve to be everything, a prince, a princess, whatever you want and you can be and just know that you have the light within you no matter what you look like,” she said.

Also starring alongside Bailey is Javier Bardem as King Triton, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, Daveed Diggs as Sebastian and Awkwafina as Scuttle.

The Little Mermaid premieres in theaters on May 26, 2023.

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What Star Wars fans had been speculating since it was announced Rosario Dawson‘s former Jedi Ahsoka Tano was getting her own Disney+ spin-off has come to pass: Ezra Bridger will appear in the show.

The young Jedi character was created for the animated series Star Wars: Rebels, but will be making his live-action debut in the forthcoming Disney+ series, with King Richard actor Eman Esfandi playing the part, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Fans had been positing Ezra would reappear in Ahsoka for some time: In season 2 of The Mandalorian, Dawson’s character revealed she’s hunting the Empire’s fearsome Grand Admiral Thrawn. Star Wars: Rebels‘ finale showed the military genius vanishing into hyperspace during a climactic clash with Bridger, never to be seen again — evidently until the new show starts.

Ahsoka will also star Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Australian actor Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Ukrainian actress Ivanna Sakhno. Hayden Christensen will also star in the series, the latter reprising his role as Ahsoka’s former master, Anakin Skywalker.

The show will hit Disney+ sometime in 2023.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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When Daniel Craig declared that the latest James Bond film, No Time to Die, would be his final appearance in the iconic franchise, many fans called for Idris Elba to be the next 007.

As the five-time Emmy nominee travels around the world, he is frequently identified as Craig’s successor.

“Every corner of the world I go — and I’m talking about different cultures — they always go, ‘Bond!'” Elba said in the latest episode of Uninterrupted The Shop podcast, which is executive produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter.

Despite fans’ hopes, the 50-year-old actor from London says being cast as the famous British spy is not on his wish list.

“It is not a goal for my career,” Idris said bluntly. “I don’t think that, you know, playing Bond will satisfy some of my personal goals.”

Elba, whose latest film, Three Thousand Years of Longing, opened August 26, knows that being cast in the role would not solely be his decision.

“I feel it is beyond me at this junction. It’s beyond me. You know, it’s not a question of, ‘Should I?’ ‘Do I?’ ‘Will I?’ It is what the will of the nation dictates sometimes,” the Luther TV star continued.

“I’m not that guy,” Idris added, “but in everyone’s world I might be.”

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Central Park, the animated musical comedy from creator and star Josh Gad, is back with its first three episodes of season 3 on Apple TV+.

The sitcom centers around the Tillerman family as they strive to save Central Park from being bought up by money-hungry land developers. Gad developed the show with Bob’s Burgers creator Loren Bouchard, and gave ABC Audio insight into how they brought the series to life.

“I basically said, ‘I want to do a musical. Here’s who I would love to work with. Here are the people that I think would be great.’ And then we started developing characters around them,” Gad said.

First, he wanted to “build a show around these people,” he said, and then “kind of figure out what the characters are. It was more of a proof of concept for us, like, does a musical animated series work?”

Four Emmy nominations and three seasons later, Gad says he thinks that part of the show’s success should be credited to the location of Central Park itself.

“It’s a place that is a melting pot of society where you can be the richest person in the world, or you can be somebody with no money, and the two of you are on equal footing in this park,” Gad said. “It is a park that belongs to everyone.”

These themes of belonging resonate with Emmy Raver-Lampman, who voices Molly Tillerman in the series.

“At the core of it, and the thing that I am learning from Molly — not learning, but the thing that I am constantly reminded about — is her love for her family,” Raver-Lampman said. “I just admire that so much. She’s helped me grow and actively pursue being a better daughter myself.”

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After stunning photographers and fans on the red carpet, Ana de Armas‘ trip to the Venice International Film Festival to promote her upcoming Marilyn Monroe film, Blonde, got even better Thursday evening.

When the movie’s premiere screening ended, the audience took to its feet and showered applause on the actress for 14 full minutes; de Armas blew kisses to the crowd and had tears streaming down her face, according to footage shot by those in attendance.

Joining de Armas on the red carpet were director Andrew Dominik, Adrien Brody and Julianne Nicholson. Variety reports that the surprise appearance of producer Brad Pitt, clad in a black tuxedo and black-and-white Adidas kicks, caused quite the commotion, as the COVID-masked star signed autographs and mugged for selfies with fans.

Brody plays Monroe’s ex-husband, playwright Arthur Miller, in the film based on Joyce Carol Oates‘ bestseller that shares the film’s title; Bobby Cannavale, who was also on hand at the screening, plays another of Marilyn’s exes, Joe DiMaggio.

Blonde debuts on Netflix on September 16.

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Allen Payne is reprising his role as Gee Money in a new touring stage version of the 1991 hit film New Jack City. The musical will also star Treach from Naughty By Nature, Big Daddy Kane and Flex Alexander from the TV sitcom One on One.

Je’Caryous Johnson wrote, directed and produced the touring stage adaptation of New Jack City, which will open November 4 in Philadelphia. Tour stops will include Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Charlotte, Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles. More cities will be added through spring 2023.

“In bringing New Jack City to the stage, I have the beautiful privilege of celebrating and paying homage to the Black actors that excelled at their craft and created an unforgettable movie and characters that became classics to Black culture,” Johnson said in a statement.

“I am delighted and excited to reunite these unforgettable characters with the fans that they’ve left their indelible mark on, and I am grateful to Warner Bros. for entrusting me to breathe new life into this cultural centerpiece,” he added. “I look forward to the challenge of updating this classic story with a modern twist.”

The original film starred Mario Van Peebles in his feature film directorial debut. The cast also included Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Chris Rock and Christopher Williams, with cameos by Keith Sweat, Levert, Guy and Nick Ashford.

For tour information, visit the New Jack City Live website. 

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One of Queen Elizabeth II‘s unlikely tea time companions bid her farewell in a post that has gone viral.

The lovable, stuffed Paddington Bear — arguably as English an icon as the queen — tweeted a photo of him and the monarch sharing their favorite snack: marmalade sandwiches.

“Thank you Ma’am. For everything,” read the sweet post, which has been liked nearly a million times.

The snap was from a short in celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee festivities in June; the production had the computer-animated Paddington surprised to learn he and the queen mum both shared a passion for the sweet sammies — and were even keen to stashing them on their persons.

The “Thank you” caption was a callback to a line of dialog in the short, uttered by James Bond series star Ben Whishaw, who voices the bear’s adventures.

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One of the best-reviewed movies of the year, the horror film Barbarian, hits theaters Friday.

The movie stars Georgina Campbell as a young woman who shows up to the home she’s rented, only to find out a mysterious man, played by It‘s creepy clown Bill Skarsgård, is already living there. Without spoilers, it gets much, much worse from there.

The movie is the directorial debut of actor-turned writer-director Zach Cregger. Reactions to the movie have been through the roof with both professional critics and screening audience members opining online.

The movie’s other lead, Justin Long, jokes that may have changed his mind about the internet.

“I had gotten to the point in my life and my career…where I was like, ‘I’m not going on social media….I don’t read the comments,” he says.

“And with this, I read one. And then I got hungry…[or] thirsty, I guess the kids say. And I started reading all these comments, and I was like, ‘I think I like Twitter again,” he continues with a laugh. “Twitter’s kind of nice again!”

Long adds, “We’ve been watching some of these screenings, and it’s it sounds arrogant to say, but it’s so fun to be in a movie theater with people who are like really invested in this wild ride.”

“It’s just a blast,” he enthuses.

For her part, Campbell is also psyched. “It’s been a really crazy experience and really exciting,” she says, “and I really enjoyed it, and I’m just so happy that that Zach found me!”

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Selma Blair is opening up on what the opportunity to compete on season 31 of Dancing with the Stars means to her.

The actress, 50, told Good Morning America how excited she is to compete after facing life-changing health struggles since her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 2018.

“I’m beyond thrilled,” Blair said. “I’m [here] with perspective and coming back and realizing the support of people when you try — it’s changed my life.”

Blair also shared what she hopes to take away from the experience: “I am thrilled to learn how to move my body better right now, I am thrilled to have support, be here — have camaraderie,” she said. “I cannot believe that I am ready in my life to do this. I am so excited.”

Blair revealed in an Instagram post in October 2018 that she’d been diagnosed with MS, a disorder in which cells from the immune system attack the central nervous system. 

The actress spoke about her battle with the disease and how it’s changed her life in a 2021 documentary, Introducing, Selma Blair, the same year she said she was in remission after undergoing chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant.

“I’m really happy — to really do things that are pushing stamina and being visible,” she told GMA. “I’m grabbing at every joy we have in life.”

The actress, who will partner with DWTS pro Sasha Farber, also shared what she believes will be some of her biggest challenges while competing.

“I am really nervous if I lose my partner’s touch,” Blair said. “I am used to having a counterbalance of my dog or a cane or at home my abilities are much more seamless than out and about, so this is a bit of a flop sweat.”

She vowed, “I’m gonna really work my best.”

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Bachelorette finalist Erich Schwer has issued an apology after old photos of him using blackface surfaced on the internet.

“I wholeheartedly apologize for the insensitive photo of me in Blackface from my high school yearbook that has been circulating,” he captioned an Instagram photo of a blank black square on Thursday evening. “What I thought at the time was a representation of my love for Jimi Hendrix, was nothing but ignorance.”

“I was naïve to the hurtful implications of my actions to the Black community and those closest to me, and will forever regret my offensive and damaging behavior,” he added. “I am deeply ashamed by my actions and understand that my apology is only the first step in taking accountability.”

Erich is currently vying for the heart of Gabby Windey on season 19 of The Bachelorette, and on this week’s episodes fans watched as the two enjoyed a fantasy suite date before he became the last man standing. Just one day after the episode aired, a viral Reddit thread shared photos from the New Jersey real estate agent’s high school yearbook, which showed him in blackface.

The next episode of The Bachelorette airs September 13.

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