Entertainment

The full cast of the long-awaited Super Mario Bros movie has been revealed and it was announced Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt will be voicing the iconic Nintendo hero, Mario.

Illumination, the studio behind Despicable Me that’s producing the movie based on the popular video game series, unveiled its star-studded lineup.

Pratt reacted to the casting news and shared his memories of the popular arcade game by confessing he used to steal quarters out of a wishing well to play it.

“It’s wild,” he said. “Just dawned on me right now… the quarter I stole out of the wishing well to play Super Mario Bros has come true that I get to voice Mario.  But I clearly stole somebody else’s wish.  So, just waiting for that row of karma dominoes to come crashing down on me.”

He also teased he’s been “working hard” to perfect his Mario voice.

Assisting Pratt in making sure his princess is not in another castle will be It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Charlie Day, who will be playing Mario’s lovable sidekick and brother, Luigi. Speaking of which, Anya Taylor-Joy of The Queen’s Gambit fame will star as Princess Peach. 

Rounding out the list of heroes are Keegan-Michael Key and Seth Green, who will playing Toad and Donkey Kong, respectively.

As for who will be playing the antagonist, Bowser, Jack Black will breathe life into the spiky, fire-breathing creature that has a penchant for kidnapping princesses.

Other announced cast members include SNL alum Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek the Magikoopa, and Sebastian Maniscalco as Foreman Spike.

The Super Mario Bros movie is slated to smash into theaters next year around Christmastime.

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The View had a bit of a shakeup on Friday as hosts Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin had to depart the set mid-episode after testing positive for COVID-19. 

Just before they were scheduled to bring out Vice President Kamala Harris as the guest, an off-camera show runner asked that Ana and Sunny step off the set, and advised other co-hosts Joy Behar and Sara Haines not to introduce the VP. 

Moments later, Joy revealed that both Sunny and Ana have tested positive for COVID-19, despite being fully vaccinated. 

“No matter how hard we try, these things happen,” Joy shared with the audience. “They probably have a breakthrough case and they’ll be okay, I’m sure, because they’re both vaccinated up the wazoo.”

Harris did make a remote appearance on the show from a separate studio at ABC’s New York headquarters.

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Celebrity Wheel of Fortune returns when season two premieres on its new night, Sunday, September 26 at 8 P.M. ET.

Hosted by pop-culture legends Pat Sajak and Vanna White, the series welcomes celebrity contestants to spin the world’s most famous wheel and solve word puzzles for a chance to win up to $1 million for the charity of their choice.

First up on Sunday night is Seinfeld veteran Jason Alexander, who is raising money for Americares; pro wrestler-turned Dancing with the Stars contestant Michael “The Miz” Mizanin, playing for Connor’s Cure at the V Foundation for Cancer Research; and DWTS dance pro Cheryl Burke, playing for PhilDev, which is dedicated to eradicating poverty through science and technology in the Philippines. 

“It’s fun because we interact during the show, you know, their personality comes out,” White tells ABC Audio of the celebrity contestants. “They’re not playing a character, they’re playing themselves, and they’re having fun. And it shows!”

Sajak agrees. “It’s funny how many of them are just really excited to be here. You forget that they sit at home with their kids or used to sit with their grandmother or whatever, watching the show, just like everybody else….And it was funny to watch them come on the set and [say] ‘Look, there’s the puzzle board!’ …It was very fun and very gratifying.”

Sajak admits the famous fans tried to get their share of selfies on the stage. “Sometimes….I’d have to stop them,” the host laughs, “‘You know, we have a game to play here, guys. Put your phones away!'”

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Daniel Craig now has something special in common with his onscreen character, James Bond. 

The British actor has been appointed as an honorary commander in the U.K.’s Royal Navy, matching his literary and on-screen alter ego, who’s also Royal Naval Reserve commander.

“I am truly privileged and honoured to be appointed the rank of Honorary Commander in the senior service,” the actor says in a statement, adding that he plans to use the honor as a way to support military families in the U.K.  

“Daniel Craig is well known for being Commander Bond for the last 15 years — a naval officer who keeps Britain safe through missions across the globe. That’s what the real Royal Navy does every day, using technology and skill the same way as Bond himself,” said Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, First Sea Lord of the UK’s Royal Navy and Naval Service, in a statement.

Craig reprises the role of Bond in the series’ 25th installment, No Time to Die, marking his fifth and final appearance as the famous character. Equipment from the Royal Navy is featured in the film, including the HMS Dragon warship. 

No Time to Die will be released in the U.S. on October 8.

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Gabourey Sidibe knew she had something special when she took on the role of writer Jenna Clayton in the Realm podcast thriller, If I Go Missing the Witches Did It.

Written by Pia Wilson, the nine-episode series follows Jenna, a woman who “vanishes without a trace” after a summer in Westchester, but leaves behind voice memos as clues to her disappearance. Sidibe tells ABC Audio that she put a lot of “own special brand of sass” into Jenna.

“A lot of the like, ‘I know you didn’t just do that,’ and the ‘Uh-Uh, I don’t like that,'” she notes. “So, that’s a bit of me.”

For Sidibe, who’s previously starred in American Horror Story and Antebellum, making her fictional podcast debut with If I Go Missing the Witches Did It wasn’t a hard decision.

“Psychological thrillers are my favorite,” she says. “I love watching what’s in front of me, but also knowing that there’s an entire world going on around it, a mystery that I need to solve.”

So that’s partly why the Empire actress jumped at the chance to play Jenna, who she describes as “complex.”

“She’s definitely of this generation and has very strong opinions about a lot of things,” Sidibe says. “She seems to have a lot of confidence…but she also has a lot of insecurities at the same time.”

The actress jokes that there are even times when she yells at Jenna in frustration, saying, “Girl, that’s the wrong decision!”

Still, even with Jenna’s obvious flaws, Sidibe says the character was “almost like a real friend.”

“That’s what she became to me,” she says. “And so I tried to breathe life into her that way.”

The first episode of If I Go Missing the Witches Did It premieres Sunday, September 26, on the usual podcast platforms.

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Sex and the City star Willie Garson died unexpectedly this week at age 57, but a cause of death was not immediately given.

It was confirmed Thursday in his obituary, which was published in The New York Times, that the actor died at home following a battle with pancreatic cancer.

His adopted son, Nathen Garson, first confirmed his father’s passing on Tuesday by sharing a collage of photos and videos of the late actor while writing, “I love you so much papa. Rest In Peace and I’m so glad you got to share all your adventures with me and were able to accomplish so much. I’m so proud of you. I will always love you, but I think it’s time for you to go on an adventure of your own.”

Garson, who was known for playing Stanford Blatch on Sex and the City and Mozzie on White Collar, was mourned by his former co-stars, including Kristin Davis, Chris Noth, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, Matt Bomer, Chad Lowe and many others.

Sarah Jessica Parker previously said in Noth’s tribute that she isn’t ready to publicly comment on Garson’s passing.

The late actor’s family is requesting fans make a donation to the Alliance for Children’s Rights in Garson’s honor.

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Pulitzer Prize winner Katori Hall has a lot to celebrate this year. After recently receiving the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her off-Broadway play Hot Wing King, the P-Valley creator is now nominated for her first Tony Award for her work on Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.

Although Hall could easily take home the Best Book of a Musical Tony on Sunday night, the writer tells ABC Audio that winning awards has never been her focus as a creative.

“I appreciate an award… but I usually give it to my mom, my dad,” she reveals. “My [Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play] is in Mississippi, chillin’ on the shelf. And I think it’s because awards don’t necessarily — for me — make me a better writer.”

Hall explains that while “it’s good to be recognized, and it’s good to be honored,” winning awards doesn’t equal success to her.

“It don’t help you write the next thing. I tell you that,” she laughs.

However, this time around may be different. Hall shares that after such a tough year because of the pandemic and the killings of Black unarmed men and women, she feels it’s important to take a “moment” to pause and “celebrate.”

“Because I feel like a lot of times we don’t get an opportunity to just celebrate ourselves, and celebrate our accomplishments,” she explains. “I think because of everything that has happened this year…that if I won, I would be popping my Champagne and doing my little twerks before I do my acceptance speech.”

Hall continues, “I would be very, very happy, ’cause I think this year…taught me a lot about being present in your life and prioritizing happiness and your joy.”

The Tony Awards airs Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.

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Amazon’s legal drama Goliath drops its fourth and final season today. Oscar-winning lead Billy Bob Thornton returns as loose-cannon lawyer Billy McBride, who this season is taking on a massive pharmaceutical company implicated in the opioid crisis. 

“It’s been really amazing,” Thornton says of the show’s four-season ride. “I’ve had so many great experiences on it. I loved playing the character and the writers did such an amazing job.”

He adds, “And as you go further into a series like this, the writers…as they watch and listen to the actors, they start to capture their voices more and more.” 

Thornton says, “I think that’s one of the advantages to the whole streaming idea, is that you have a chance to make an eight- or 10-hour movie, whatever it is, and people settle into it and start to understand, ‘Oh, that’s what this is.'” He adds with a laugh, “And so, by season four, we were like…’We are this!'”

Tania Raymonde plays Brittany, Billy’s confidante — a brilliant, beautiful part-time escort-turned-Billy’s paralegal. The actress says she’ll miss the character dearly, but she’s satisfied with the way things ended.

“I feel like this last season is such a great send-off for the series and such a nice final chapter,” she maintains. “And we left them in like a good place.”

Tania adds with a laugh, “So now they can go exist in like ‘post finale movie character world’ where they’re…all chilling and happy. I feel like we did them justice….So as long as…everyone, I think, was left in a better place than they were when we picked them up in year one. And that makes me happy.”  

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

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Today, Apple TV+ launches Foundation, the sprawling sci-fi epic based on Isaac Asimov‘s groundbreaking book series. 

Executive produced by David S. Goyer, the show — which some have dubbed “Game of Thrones in space,” centers on an all-powerful, dynastic galactic empire, and a mathematician who predicts, as all empires do, that it’s doomed to fail. 

Goyer told ABC Audio he’d been approached to adapt the Foundation books years ago, but didn’t think a movie could capture it — but for a streaming series, it’s perfect.

“I first read it when I was 13 years old,” Goyer said of Asimov’s seminal work. “My father gave it to me. He said, ‘This is the greatest science fiction work of all time.’ No pressure,” he laughs. “Before he died, he said, ‘I want you to make Foundation.’ No pressure.”

Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Lee Pace plays Brother Day, one in a familial line of Emperors, who sees the math genius, played by Chernobyl Emmy winner Jared Harris, as a threat. 

“I wasn’t good at mathematics,” Harris admitted, noting that he still had to deliver long, “challenging” mathematical monologues. Fortunately, he’s a veteran Shakespearean actor, and as such has experience with complicated language. “Yeah, I fell back on a lot of my theater training for that,” Harris says.

For Pace, the role was a blast. “It’s…surreal…to play the Emperor of the galaxy…[He] is someone who has…power over life and death…prosperity and failure. The best metaphor I could find for him is like he is like the sun of the Milky Way galaxy. Everything is spinning around him.”

Pace adds with a laugh, “His ego is the size of the galaxy. Is it fun to play? Absolutely. Absolutely!”  

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The new movie The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain tells the true story of 66-year-old Kenneth Chamberlain, a military veteran who was shot and killed in his apartment by police in White Plains, New York, a decade ago.

Chamberlain’s family says the shooting was unjustified, and his son, Kenneth Chamberlain Jr., tells ABC Audio the tragedy began with a phone call from his father’s neighbor, urging him to “get to White Plains right away.”

“I asked why and he said, the police are banging on your father’s door,” he continues.  “As soon as I asked them what was going on, he just yelled out, ‘Oh my God.'”

Fighting back tears, Kenneth Jr. goes on to say, “When I asked him what happened…he said, ‘I think the police just shot your father.’  And here I am, almost a decade later, still fighting to get some type of accountability in his killing.”

Executive producer Morgan Freeman says the movie is yet another reminder of the sometimes callous and cruel treatment of people of color, which was exposed in the more recent cases of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others.

“These sort of things are generally not sensationalized, let’s put it that way. This old black man was shot by the police — No whys, no wherefores,” he said.

Noting police are “first responders…not emergency medical people,” Freeman contends the police should have never been involved in the first place.

“This was inadvertent, but a call from his life alert thing, not somebody saying somebody is breaking into my house,” he explains.  “And he called back and said that was a mistake, I don’t need anybody. And they called police and said it’s ok, stand down.” 

The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain is playing now in select theaters.

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