Entertainment

Euphoria star Hunter Schafer has been tapped to star alongside Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler in Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, according to Variety. Schafer will play Tigris Snow, the cousin and confidante of Blythe’s Coriolanus Snow. The film, per the studio takes place “years before 18-year-old Coriolanus would become the tyrannical President of Panem.” He’s alarmed to be assigned to mentor Zegler’s Lucy Gray Baird. But after Lucy Gray grabs Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to “turn the odds in their favor,” leading to a “race against time to survive,” ultimately revealing who is a songbird, and who is a snake.” The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is due in theaters on Nov. 17, 2023…

Peacock’s Craig Robinson-led comedy is Killing It. The streaming service has picked up the series for a second season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Killing It, which reunites Robinson with his Brooklyn Nine-Nine showrunner Dan Goor, follows “one man’s quest to achieve the American dream — and hunt really big snakes,” per Peacock. The cast of Killing It also includes Claudia O’Doherty, Rell Battle, Scott MacArthur, Stephanie Nogueras, Wyatt Walter and Jet Miller…

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Monday announced that Oscar-winning actress and CODA star Marlee Matlin is one of its newly elected members of the Board of Governors for the 2022-2023 year, along with cinematographer Dion Beebe, director Jason Reitman, producer Jason Blum, casting director Richard Hicks and others, according to Variety. Each of the Academy’s 17 branches are represented by three governors who may serve up to two three-year terms — consecutive or non-consecutive — followed by a two-year hiatus, after which eligibility renews for up to two additional terms for a lifetime maximum of 12 years. Matlin will represent the Actors Branch…

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The new Neflix action comedy The Man from Toronto, starring Woody Harrelson and Kevin Hart, debuts on Friday.

It’s one of more than 20 projects Hart has in the works as an actor or producer, which has him up before the sun rises every morning.

“I’m a busy man, but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he notes. “I love it. I find joy in it. I find happy in it. And, you know, while I got the energy and while I’m able, I will and I can.”

It’s also motivated Hart to stay in top physical shape, something Harrelson admits has inspired him as well.

“One of my first conversations was to ask him about how the hell he’s so damn fit. And, you know, I really thought, I wish I had taken his advice because, you know, I’d be in a tight tee shirt right now,” shares Woody, adding, “he did teach me a lot about what I could do if I decided to take up that, you know, that hard work.”

The two actors both know a little something about being a part of successful on-screen duos; something Harrelson says is all about the love.

“You gotta love the people you’re working with. It’s got to congeal into a family,” he explains. “And I will say that definitely happened with Kevin…I loved him before I met him. And after I met him, I loved him more. So I was very happy to see that come across on screen.”

The feeling was mutual for Hart, who says that from their first conversation, to the first meeting, to the first day on set, the two “hit the ground running” and “never looked back.” 

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Brad Pitt got candid in an interview for the August issue of GQ.

The Oscar winner, 58, opened up about where he sees himself in his career, feelings of loneliness, and how he has put his health first by quitting smoking and attending Alcoholics Anonymous.

Pitt revealed he quit smoking during the pandemic, opting to give up cigarettes entirely because trying to cut back wasn’t working for him.

“I don’t have that ability to do just one or two a day,” he told the publication. “It’s not in my makeup. I’m all in. And I’m going to drive into the ground. I’ve lost my privileges.”

Another vice he overcame was giving up alcohol six years ago. He detailed his time attending AA over the course of a year and a half.

“I had a really cool men’s group here that was really private and selective, so it was safe,” he said. “Because I’d seen things of other people who had been recorded while they were spilling their guts, and that’s just atrocious to me.”

Though many might expect him to be a social butterfly, Pitt shared, “I always felt very alone in my life, alone growing up as a kid, alone even out here, and it’s really not till recently that I have had a greater embrace of my friends and family.”

These days, the Hollywood heartthrob is spending more time behind the camera as a producer. That’s purposeful, he said, as he’s planning out what comes next for him in his career. 

“I consider myself on my last leg, this last semester or trimester,” he noted. “What is this section gonna be? And how do I wanna design that?”

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Alas, dear readers, I regret to inform you that the Duke of Hastings has no intention of returning to Bridgerton.

Regé-Jean Page, who portrayed fan-favorite character Simon Basset in season 1 of the hit Netflix romance series, recently caught up with former co-star Jonathan Bailey.

Their reunion caused speculation that he may return to the series, but Page shut down the rumors in an Instagram post this week.

“No, I’m not going back to the show,” he wrote alongside a photo of him and Bailey walking the streets of Italy.

“Btw – the papers made that one up. But we had the best, and most stylish catch up I’ve had in a while over some truly excellent Italian coffee and sunshine.”

As for Bailey, he will return to his role as Viscount Anthony Bridgerton for the show’s third season, which begins filming this summer.

Actress Nicola Coughlan confirmed that season 3 will follow the story of author Julia Quinn’s fourth Bridgerton novel, which details the romance between Coughlan’s character, Penelope Featherington, and Luke Newton’s Colin Bridgerton.

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Oscar winner Diane Keaton is coming back to movie theaters this summer in the new film Mack & Rita.

We got our first look at the comedy in the new trailer that was released Wednesday, which finds a 30-year-old self-proclaimed homebody and influencer Mack Martin (Elizabeth Lail) magically transformed into the 70-year-old version of herself.

Keaton plays the older version of Mack, called “Aunt Rita” to avoid confusion. According to its press release, the film promises to “celebrate being true to yourself at any age.”

Mack & Rita hits theaters everywhere August 11 and also stars Taylour Paige, Simon Rex, Loretta Devine, and Patti Harrison.

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Actor Elliot Page told Good Morning America he’s “really proud” of his character’s trans storyline on The Umbrella Academy season three, which premiered on Netflix Wednesday.

The Oscar-nominated actor appeared on GMA the same day alongside co-star Emmy Raver-Lampman, who plays Allison Hargreeves or Number Three, to discuss the new season.

Page, who came out as transgender in December 2020, announced in March that his character would transition in season three and be known as Viktor Hargreeves. Viktor goes by he/him/his pronouns and is also referred to as Number Seven.

“So far it’s seemed really positive, which makes me feel happy in terms of the representation and hopefully it meaning something to people,” Page said of how audiences have received him as Viktor thus far.

Page said working with showrunner Steve Blackman and Thomas Page McBee — a writer with whom Page previously worked on Tales of the City — on Viktor’s storyline and trans identity was “such an incredible experience.”

Raver-Lampman, meanwhile, teased that The Umbrella Academy season three will feature the “wild and crazy” Hargreeves family trying to get back to their original timeline. She also gushed about her friendship with Page, whom she called “just the best.”

“I’m just so lucky getting to have the privilege to not only work with you, but call you one of my dearest friends,” she told him.

The Umbrella Academy is based on the popular comic book series of the same name and was created and written by My Chemical Romance‘s Gerard Way.

The series also stars Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher and Justin H. Min.

Stream The Umbrella Academy season three on Netflix, now.

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(SPOILERS) On Wednesday, the season finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi drops on Disney+. The final episode pits both Ewan McGregor‘s titular Jedi hero against Hayden Christensen‘s Darth Vader and finally shows fans more of what Luke Skywalker has been up to since the series began.

Unfortunately for young Luke, played by Grant Feely, Moses Ingram‘s Inquisitor Reva survived her run-in with Darth Vader in the penultimate episode, and she tracks the boy to the home of his adopted Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, played again by prequel stars Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse. 

For Ingram, her new character has already inspired fans to immortalize her as Star Wars fans are wont to do: cosplaying as her Jedi hunter. “It’s wild,” she admits to ABC Audio. “I’ve already started seeing pictures of people who are building out their suits.”

She adds of the show’s success on streaming, “It’s crazy because when we were making it, it just was like this just little bubble of us, and everything was a secret and no one knew anything. And so the idea that it’s about to belong to the people, you know, who it was made for is like, ‘Wow.'”

For Christensen, playing Darth Vader again for the first time since 2005’s Revenge of the Sith has been “incredible.”

“I loved it,” he enthused to ABC Audio. 

“You know, just the nature of coming back and getting to do more with this character has been really exciting for me. But we’re seeing a new side of Vader, a very brutal side of Vader. And you know, that’s just good fun as an actor.”

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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Hailey Bieber‘s recently launched skincare line is already getting her sued. 

The 25-year-old model and her Rhode skincare line are being sued for trademark infringement by a fashion company of the same name. 

According to Page Six, Fashion brand Rhode NYC claims that Hailey and her team previously tried to acquire the trademark from owners Purna Khatau and Pheobe Vickers in 2018. Even though the duo refused, the suit claims, Hailey still moved forward with her skincare line and used the name. 

In a statement to Page Six, Lisa T. Simpson, lead litigation counsel for Rhode NYC explains, “She did this despite knowing of Rhode and its prior rights.”

“It’s an unfortunate circumstance. We, of course, understand that Hailey wants to use her middle name for her brand, but the law on this is clear: you can’t create this kind of brand confusion just because you want to use your name,” Simpson continued. “What Ms. Bieber is doing is harming a minority co-owned business that two women have painstakingly built into a growing, global brand.”

In a separate statement, Khatau and Vickers added, “We don’t want to sue Hailey; we want to celebrate her. As fellow women entrepreneurs, we wish her every success. Hailey has hard-earned star power and influence. She could choose any brand for her company. We have only the brand that we’ve built.”

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During a recent interview, Grace and Frankie star Martin Sheen discussed his long career, which included film roles in Badlands and Apocalypse Now, and on TV as U.S. President Josiah Bartlet on NBC’s The West Wing.

Sheen also expressed his regret over changing his name from his birth name, Ramón Estévez.

When reflecting on his sons Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estévez‘s acting careers, the elder Sheen told Closer, he was “so self-involved and trying to be a provider that I wasn’t aware of their inclination to being actors.”

“The only influence I had on Emilio,” he adds, “was to keep his name.”

“When he started out, his agent was advising him to change his name to Sheen and he wouldn’t do it,” Sheen recalls. “And I thank God he didn’t.”

The 81-year-old actor, born in America to a Spanish father and an Irish mother, admits changing his name, which he reportedly did to try and land more more acting roles, was “one of my regrets.”

“I never changed my name officially. It’s still Ramón Estévez on my birth certificate. It’s on my marriage license, my passport, driver’s license,” he says. “Sometimes you get persuaded when you don’t have enough insight or even enough courage to stand up for what you believe in, and you pay for it later. But, of course, I’m only speaking for myself.”

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The Bob’s Burger Movie is coming to Hulu on July 12. The film’s director/screenwriter/producer, Loren Bouchard, said in a statement, “We’re so happy that the fans have been able to find us and watch us and binge us as much as they want on Hulu. Our fantasy is that we have to send over a new copy of the Bob’s movie to Hulu because their copy gets all worn out from people watching it so much.” A new scene from the movie was also released Tuesday, featuring the song “Sunny Side Up Summer” …

A new trailer has debuted for LEGO Star Wars Summer Vacation. The film, out August 5 on Disney+, is set shortly after the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It features the voices of “Weird Al” Yankovic, Yvette Nicole Brown, Kelly Marie Tran, Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams and other returning cast members from previous LEGO Star Wars specials. It will also include a new song by Weird Al, called “Scarif Beach Party”…

No Time to Die actress Léa Seydoux has joined the cast of Dune: Part Two, Variety reports. She’ll be playing the role of Lady Margot, an ally to Timothée Chalamet‘s Paul Atreides. Filming on the sequel is set to begin later this year …

After starring together in Being the Ricardos, Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem are teaming up again for an animated musical called Spellbound, according to The Hollywood Reporter. They join a cast that also includes John Lithgow, Nathan Lane, Jenifer Lewis and Rachel Zegler. Kidman will voice Ellsmere, the Queen of Lumbria, while Bardem will voice Solon, the King of Lumbria — the parents of Zegler’s Princess Ellian, a young girl on a quest to break the spell that’s divided her kingdom …

Less than a month after its debut, Variety reports Dark Winds has been renewed for season 2 on AMC. The 1970s-set crime thriller stars Zahn McClarnon and Kiowa Gordon a pair of Navajo police officers investigating a series of murders and a violent bank robbery. The six-episode first season premiered on June 12. Season 2 will also consist of six episodes …

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