Will Packer is sharing his gratitude following the news that he’s now the official producer of the 94th Academy Awards.
“I’d like to thank the Academy,” Packer captioned an Instagram post, which shared The Hollywood Reporter‘s feature on his appointment.
He then added “mind blown” and “dancing” emojis to his post.
As previously reported, Packer, the Emmy-nominated director and producer of blockbusters like Girls Trip and Ride Along, comes to the show with his Will Packer Media chief of staff Shayla Cowan, who will serve as co-producer of the 2022 telecast.
Other staffing, including a director and a potential host, have yet to be confirmed.
The Oscars will air live on ABC and broadcast outlets worldwide on Sunday, March 27, 2022.
The first look at Michelle Young‘s season of The Bachelorette is finally here, and it’s equal parts romance and drama.
The trailer begins by showing Michelle, who was featured on Matt James‘ season of The Bachelor earlier this year, and all of her suitors having fun on their various dates. She is gushed over by the men, with one even calling her “a one in a billion girl.” Amid all the romance, Michelle even says she has “the hottest kiss of my life.”
“I’m in love with this man,” Michelle declares around the halfway mark. “These are like the best guys I’ve met in my entire life.”
Then things get messy, as hosts and former Bachelorettes Tayshia Adams and Kaitlyn Bristowe reveal some wild news to Michelle, telling her, “We found something that was actually really alarming. Someone is planning out their every move.” The camera then shows a folder filled with various papers and notes pertaining to the show.
Things only spiral from here, with one suitor questioning Michelle about whether she knew and potentially had a relationship with one of the other guys before the show. It also seems as though some of the men have beefs with each other, as tensions and emotions appear to be at an all-time high for the Bachelor franchise.
“If you keep shoving things under the rug, they don’t just disappear,” Michelle ominously says.
In the last scene of the teaser, Michelle is standing on a beach and holding the final rose of the season. So will she have luck on her quest for love? We’ll have to watch and find out.
The Bachelorette season 18 premieres Tuesday, October 19, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Ray J is reportedly in Miami hospital battling pneumonia.
“Family with me. Just can’t be n here too much sickness,” the former Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood told Hollywood Unlocked. Previously, Ray J commented, “I been in here all by myself for a week,” and added that “no family members came to see me not even my wife.”
Ray J married Princess Love in 2016. They have two children: Melody, 3, and Epik, 1. Love filed for divorce in May 2020, but they called off the proceedings in March.
Last week, the 40-year-old rapper/actor showed love to his sister, Brandy, with an arm tattoo in her image. However, since then, he’s deleted all his Instagram posts.
Two weeks ago, Ray J’s former manager, Wack 100, claimed he has a second sex tape of him with Kim Kardashian that “was more graphic and better than the first one,” which was titled Kim Kardashian, Superstar. But Kim’s attorney, Marty Singer, says a second sex tape doesn’t exist.
“The claim that there is an unreleased sex tape is unequivocally false,” Singer told Page Six. “It is unfortunate that people make these statements to try and get their 15 minutes of fame
(NOTE LANGUAGE) In a feature in the October/November issue of AARP The Magazine, Ricky Gervais talks about fame at 40, keeping sharp at 60, and how, he says, most people can no longer take a joke.
The writer, actor and comic didn’t find fame until the British version of The Office debuted when he was 40 — an age considered old by Hollywood standards. He recalled a conversation then with Jane Fallon, his partner since 1982.
“I…remember sitting around in a tux, drinking wine. I said to Jane, ‘Why didn’t I do this earlier?’ She said, ‘Because you wouldn’t have been any good.'”
Gervais’ The Office spawned international versions, including the Emmy-winning American one, and led to him hosting the Golden Globes five times, where he became notorious for his acerbic commentary.
“These aren’t rooms full of wounded soldiers,” Ricky huffs. “These are billionaires and the heads of massive media conglomerates. If you can’t punch at the richest, most privileged people, who can you have a go at?”
On that note, Ricky explains, “Every joke…somebody will get upset. I did a joke on Twitter that sums it up. ‘Why did the chicken cross the road?’ Answer: ‘F*** you. My chicken was run over yesterday!’ What can you do?”
Gervais, whose After Life will return to Netflix for its third and final season in 2022, explains, “At 60, I’m like an old classic car. There are a few dings and dents….But my body is just a chassis. My brain is what I care about.”
“I want to stay sharp…I’ll find Albert Einstein on YouTube explaining the theory of relativity or I’ll listen to a podcast about the deep reaches of space. It almost makes me forget that when I play tennis now, my body hurts for three weeks, not three minutes.”
Gyllenhaal and Aniston in 2002 – Jon Kopaloff/WireImage
Jake Gyllenhaal admitted that it was “torture” filming the 2002 romantic drama The Good Girl with Jennifer Aniston — because he had a big, fat crush on her.
“Oh, it was torture. Yes it was,” the 40-year-old actor confessed on The Howard Stern Show. “But it was also not torture. I mean, come on, it was like a mix of both.”
Gyllenhaal also described what it’s really like to act out an intimate scene, saying they are not all that enjoyable to film. “Weirdly, love scenes are awkward, because there are maybe 30, 50 people watching it? You know, maybe if you have a closed set, it’s less…That doesn’t turn me on,” he explained.
Gyllenhaal also noted that the scenes feel “oddly mechanical” and not natural.
“And also, it’s a dance, right? It’s a dance…You’re choreographing for a camera,” he said, likening it to filming a “fight scene” because those, too, require a strict set of instructions.
The Spider-Man: Far From Home star added that Aniston called the shots when filming their love scene and, in order to make herself feel more comfortable when they were lying in the horizontal position, he recalls her stating beforehand, “I’m putting a pillow here.”
The Good Girl drew in a modest $16.9 million during its box office run when it premiered in August 2002. It also starred Zooey Deschanel, John C. Reilly, John Carroll Lynch and Tim Blake Nelson.
(NOTE LANGUAGE)Making a surprise appearance opposite fellow comic Dave Chappelle Sunday night in New York City, Chris Rock joked about his recent battle with COVID-19.
The pair popped up at musician Robert Glasper‘s “Robtober” residency at the legendary Blue Note Jazz Club, according to Page Six.
“I’m back from the dead!” Rock told the audience. “I had motherf***ing COVID. God****it.”
Rock tweeted last month that he’d tested positive for the virus, urging fans to get vaccinated. Onstage, he joked, “It wasn’t quite as hard as being black, but it was close….That’s why everyone’s trying to avoid it…”
Rock and Chappelle, who has also recovered from COVID-19, mentioned where the vaccinated Rock may have been infected. “I think I got it on this Civil Rights movie,” Rock noted, to which Chappelle riffed, “That’s a noble way to get COVID.”
The movie in question could be director David O. Russell‘s as-yet-untitled film in which Rock will appear with a number of A-List stars, including Robert De Niro, Christian Bale and John David Washington.
Page Six says the famous comics were also joined at the Blue Note by actors Jeffrey Wright and Hill Harper. Recording artist Talib Kweli, who was celebrating his birthday, also joined Rock and Chappelle on stage.
Later, the stars decamped to The Stand Comedy Club, to keep the birthday festivities going, along with SNL‘s Michael Che, Busta Rhymes and Kanye West, the latter of whom the publication noted showed up without any security.
Kweli posted a snap with West, Chappelle and Glasper, noting, “Birthday party was magical… legendary night… thank you.”
Kristen Bell is getting real about parenting — especially about the battles she loses with her two young daughters: Lincoln, 8, and Delta, 6.
In her Wednesday episode of her video series Momsplaining with Kristen Bell, the actress confessed that her little ones sometimes outsmart even her.
“Parenting is a lot like sports…You’re either winning or losing every minute of the day,” Bell said, according to an advanced snippet obtained by E! Online. “Mostly losing, but that’s what makes the winning so sweet, and fleeting.”
The Good Place alum also noted, “And it helps to know you’re not alone. I suggest talking to someone — even if no one is there.”
Bell then shared her hilarious story about the time her six-year-old made a fool out of her. Speaking to Evan Kyle Berger and Kevin Laferriere of The Dumb Dads podcast, Bell, 41, admitted, “We have one [child] that is pretty funny. She feels like the perfect hybrid between Chris Farley and Shirley Temple, and so she gets away with everything.”
She explained that, one night, Delta was adamant about not putting away a certain toy before bedtime. After a brief back and forth, Bell’s husband, Dax Shepard, took a crack at it.
“He’s like, ‘Mommy, I got this,'” she recalled, adding that his resolution was to give their daughter 30 more seconds with the toy.
Delta agreed to the terms, which led to Shepard telling her “Don’t make a fool out of me!”
Bell admits she wasn’t expecting her little one to shoot back in a serious tone, “Daddy, I won’t make a fool out of you. I’m gonna make you a star!'”
The actress said she and Shepard first laughed but later became baffled that, maybe, their six-year-old might be “wittier than us.”
A judge has granted Charlie Sheen‘s request to stop paying his ex-wife Denise Richards child support for their two daughters, Sami, 17, and Lola, 16, according to court documents obtained by Entertainment Tonight.
A source tells the entertainment website that Richards did not file any opposing paperwork and “didn’t have a falling out with her daughters and she cares about them deeply.” While Sami lives with Sheen, Lola “goes back and forth.”
“Lola lives with Denise,” says the insider, unless Denise is filming, in which case “Lola stays with her dad and sister.”
“Denise wasn’t at court because she is working out of state, which Charlie was well aware of,” adds the source, explaining that Sheen filed the paperwork two years ago and “kept pushing the court date. Denise was never served this court date.”
The source alleges Sheen hasn’t paid Richards child support for at least four years.
Sami claimed in a TikTok video that she moved out of Richards’ “abusive household.” A source previously told ET that Richards’ “heart is broken” over the allegations.
Sheen and Richards were married from 2002 until 2006. The Anger Management star also shares twin sons, Bob and Max, 12, with ex-wife Brooke Mueller, and daughter Cassandra Estevez, 36, with Paula Profit.
We’ve all gotten to know Dr. Anthony Fauci pretty well over the past year and a half. Brad Pitt even played him on Saturday Night Live! But a new documentary aims to take us deeper into Dr. Fauci’s life and why he emerged on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
NatGeo’s Fauci, out now on Disney+, explores the immunologist’s storied career and takes us all the way back to when he was appointed director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease in 1984.
Co-director Janet Tobias spoke with ABC Audio about the new doc and reveals that it was actually in the works well before the word “coronavirus” touched headlines.
“Tony Fauci has served now seven presidents [and] innumerable congresses. He’s testified in front of Congress more than any other living figure,” she said. “I was really interested in the idea of what it means in the 21st century to be a public servant.”
Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic shifted the documentary’s original focus, of which Tobias said excited her colleagues because it meant they were handed a front row seat to watch history unfold.
“Tony was forged in the AIDS epidemic as a doctor, as a scientist, as a communicator,” the director said. “Then, of course, in COVID, he was tested in all those ways [again].”
Tobias said the documentary explores how he built “bridges between scientists and activists” during the AIDS epidemic and how, nearly 30 years later, he rebuilt those bridges “every single day” during the pandemic.
However, there was one major condition under which crew members were taken behind the scenes of Fauci’s life: “If you interfere with my work in any way, we will stop,” Tobias shared, adding, “Dr. Fauci was very clear with us from the beginning.”
20th Century Studios has released a nearly five-minute-long peek at Ridley Scott‘s new film The Last Duel, which stars, and was co-written by, childhood friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
The film from the Gladiator Oscar winner is based on real events: Damon plays a respected warrior named Jean de Carrouges, who faces off against Adam Driver‘s Jacques Le Gris, who is accused of assaulting de Carrouges’ wife, Marguerite, played by Killing Eve Emmy winner Jodie Comer.
The accusations set de Carrouges against his friend, the playboy Count Pierre d’Alençon, and the conflict eventually is settled by mortal combat between the warrior and Driver’s Le Gris.
The clip shows Le Gris and de Carrouges being suited up for that final showdown, which begins with jousting, and goes into hand-to-hand combat. The sneak peek cuts away without revealing any major spoilers.
The Last Duel opens October 15.
20th Century Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
