Entertainment

(NOTE CONTENT) Amber Heard spent another day in a Fairfax, Virginia courtroom, detailing — for hours on end — allegations of abuse she said she suffered while with her ex-husband Johnny Depp.

While Depp’s previous testimony was anchored with medical reports and witness statements, and photos, for example, of his severed right middle finger he says Heard caused with a thrown vodka bottle, Heard’s was more freeform, continuous harrowing allegations against the former Pirates of the Caribbean star without input from others.

Heard began by detailing the rosier parts of their relationship, confessing she “had butterflies” at first before things took a darker turn.

Heard claims she suffered a beating after the couple attended the Met Gala for the first time — caused, Heard alleges, because Depp thought she was flirting with a model there. She also claims Depp attacked her aboard a private plane ride, after having accused her of having an affair with a co-star at the time, James Franco.

Depp previously detailed the tumultuous trip as well, claiming it was Heard who picked a fight with him, and he popped opioids and locked himself in the bathroom of the duration of the trip to avoid her.

As court began to wind down for the day, Heard detailed an intense fight that seemed to be her side of the infamous bottle-throwing story, and seemed to intimate that Depp cut his own finger as he hurled bottles at her.

She also said, for the first time, that Depp reportedly sexually violated her with a bottle during that row.

After detailing, for nearly 20 minutes straight, the alleged beating she took that night, her lawyer asked if she took any photos of the injuries she claimed. Heard admitted, “I didn’t think to make a record of any.”

Her attorney did later present a pair photos: one of hair Amber said was pulled out by Johnny in yet another fight, and bruising on her face from that alleged incident.

Depp is suing Heard for $50 million dollars, claiming an op-ed she wrote in 2018 that obliquely accused him of sexual and domestic violence was not only false, but devastated his reputation and career.

The case will resume on May 16, when Heard’s bombshell claims will be cross-examined by Depp’s legal team.

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HBO released a new trailer for its anticipated HBO Max Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon.

As reported, the show is based on George R.R. Martin‘s Fire & Blood book, set hundreds of years before the events of Game of Thrones, and is a deep dive into the history of GoT‘s House Targaryen, ancestors of Game of Thrones‘ tragic heroine, Daenerys Targaryen, who was played by Emilia Clarke.

The series centers on a brutal familial civil war that erupted over control of the legendary Iron Throne. The trailer begins with the families pledging their loyalty to Paddy Considine’s King Viserys Targaryen, and to his heir, Princess Rhaenyra, played by Emma D’Arcy.

But all is not what it seems. “Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than to see a woman ascend the Iron Throne, Eve Best‘s Rhaenys Targaryen warns.

To that end, we see battle formations and hand-to-hand combat, even between female members of the families.

Steve Toussaint‘s Lord Corlys Velaryon voices over, “History does not remember blood. It remembers names.”

The sneak peek ends with Matt Smith‘s Prince Daemon Targaryen coming face to face with a fire-breathing dragon.

House of the Dragon debuts August 21 on HBO.

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Will Smith has been named on the list of guests for the new season of David Letterman‘s Netflix show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction — but he won’t be talking about his infamous slap.

ABC Audio has confirmed that the segment with Will was recorded in January — obviously, long before Smith’s infamous Oscars-night outburst.

Letterman’s other fourth-season interviews — with Ryan Reynolds, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kevin Durant, Billie Eilish and Cardi B — were all filmed before March.

Season four of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction debuts on May 20.

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We knew that Selena Gomez‘s pal Cara Delevingne would be one of the actors joining the cast for season two of Selena’s acclaimed Hulu series Only Murders in the Building. Now we know what part the model and actress will be playing.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Only Murders showrunner and co-creator John Hoffman says Cara will portray Alice, a new love interest for Selena’s Mabel. Alice is an art-gallery owner who, as Vanity Fair reports, “puts Mabel in touch with a side of herself she’s been somewhat neglecting since the show began.”

Hoffman says Selena and Cara’s long friendship made their interaction onscreen “amazing,” adding, “It’s a little sparky in all the right ways that makes you feel like, ‘Oh, someone’s opening someone’s world.'” However, Steve Martin‘s Charles and Martin Short‘s Oliver aren’t very happy about Mabel’s new relationship, according to Hoffman.

But, of course, Mabel, Charles and Oliver have to focus on clearing their names after last season’s cliffhanger ending. Season two, which also feature guest stars Amy Schumer and Shirley MacLaine, debuts June 28.

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Stardate: October 13th, 2021: Anson Mount is recording one of the most legendary monologues in pop culture: The opening to the original Star Trek series, famously voiced by William Shatner. The Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star, who plays Captain Kirk’s predecessor, Captain Christopher Pike, is having a moment.

“At one point, I said ‘Guys…we’re going to remember this moment for the rest of our lives,'” he tells ABC Audio. That’s when the date, and the Blue Origin launch come into the picture. “And I realized of course…William Shatner is in orbit right now! I was like, oh man. Don’t ever try to outdo Shatner!”

Talk about living up to expectations. The Paramount+ show, set a decade before Captain Kirk takes command of the Starship Enterprise, is rich in Star Trek history and lore, showcasing new and classic characters like Mister Spock, played by Ethan Peck.

“I feel a huge amount of pressure to do this properly,” Peck tells ABC Audio, referring to the legacy of Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock for almost 50 years. “Because it is such an iconic character not just in Star Trek, but I think in television history. It’s forced me to grow personally.”

Rebecca Romijn — who stars as Pike’s Number One, Una Chin-Riley — echoes the sentiment. “You feel that pressure, you want to make sure you’re not letting anybody down,” the X-Men star says, telling ABC Audio the Trek franchise is in good hands when it comes to this outing.

“We ask a lot of questions, we don’t want to get anything wrong,” she says. “Pronunciation is always a big thing with our dialogue! But yeah, I would say I feel like a caretaker first and foremost.” 

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is now streaming on Paramount+.

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While Kim Cattrall made it clear she wasn’t going to return to the world of Sex and the City years ago, in a new Variety cover story, she explained why she didn’t reprise her Samantha Jones for the HBO Max follow-up And Just Like That… .

For one thing, the 65-year-old actress said she “was never asked.”

“I made my feelings clear after the possible third movie, so I found out about [the show] like everyone else did — on social media.”

That said, Cattrall says, “It’s a great wisdom to know when enough is enough. I also didn’t want to compromise what the show was to me.”

Kim also revealed that the third Sex and the City film, which she eventually pulled out of, some elements actually hewed fairly closely to the basics of And Just Like That…, including the death of Chris Noth‘s Mr. Big.

However, instead of development for Samantha’s character, one element of the plot that Cattrall objected to was Samantha getting a dirty pic from Brady, the underage son of Cynthia Nixon’s Miranda. Cattrall called that “heartbreaking.”

While Cattrall acknowledges it’s certainly nice that people miss Samantha, “I haven’t deserted anybody,” she insists. “Can you imagine going back to a job you did 25 years ago? And the job didn’t get easier; it got more complicated in the sense of how are you going to progress with these characters? Everything has to grow, or it dies.”

She adds, “I felt that when the series ended, I thought that’s smart. We’re not repeating ourselves. And then the movie to end all the loose ends. And then there’s another movie. And then there’s another movie?”

After 2010’s Sex and the City 2, Kim recalls, “Everything in me went, ‘I’m done.'”

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Jamie Foxx was right there to support Dave Chappelle when an armed assailant tackled the comedian at the Hollywood Bowl Tuesday night, with Jamie helping calm the crowd after the attack.

Also after the attack, Foxx posted to Instagram a black and white photo of him and Chappelle to make it clear, without a caption, that he’s got Dave’s back. But he didn’t stop there. The Oscar winner was seen on social media showing off his considerable mimicry skills to imitate Chappelle during the attack.

In a video posted by WorldStar Hip Hop, Foxx can be seen riffing in a recording booth, evidently on a break doing some voice-over work for a Netflix project.

Jamie, as Chappelle, shouts, “Damn, man! He ran up on stage on me! I was incensed!…” cracking up whoever was watching and recording him.

Foxx then adds, as Dave, “Thank God for Jamie Foxx. If you’re ever in trouble, Jamie Foxx will show up…All those other comedians just stood there. Waiting for me to die! So they can take over!”

“I see you, Chris Rock!, That will never happen!” Foxx finishes, taking a playful swipe at Rock who was also at Chappelle’s Tuesday-night show there to chill out the fans, and drop possibly the best ad lib of all time. Referring to the alleged attacker, Rock asked, “Was that Will Smith?!”

Isiah Lee, 23, is being held on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. ABC News reports the LA County DA’s Office will determine what charges, if any, will be filed. In the meantime, Lee’s bail has been set at $30,000.

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A day after Dave Chappelle was tackled on stage while playing the Netflix Is a Joke festival at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles Tuesday night, the comedian and Netflix both issued statements regarding the incident.

“Dave Chappelle celebrated four nights of comedy and music, setting record-breaking sales for a comedian at the Hollywood Bowl,” a Chappelle spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday. “This run ties Chappelle with Monty Python for the most headlined shows by any comedian at the Hollywood Bowl, reaching 70k fans of diverse backgrounds during the first Netflix Is a Joke: The Festival, and he refuses to allow last night’s incident to overshadow the magic of this historic moment.”

“As unfortunate and unsettling as the incident was, Chappelle went on with the show,” the statement continued. Jamie Foxx and Chris Rock helped calm the crowd with humor before Chappelle introduced the last and featured musical guests for the evening, hip-hop artists yasiin bey and Talib Kweli, a.k.a. Black Star, who performed music from their new album — the first in nearly 24 years -– which was released on Luminary. Other special comedic guests last night included Earthquake, Leslie Jones, Jeff Ross, Sebastian, Jon Stewart and Michelle Wolf.”

In a separate statement, a Netflix spokesperson said, “We care deeply about the safety of creators and we strongly defend the right of stand-up comedians to perform on stage without fear of violence.”

The attack suspect, identified as 23-year-old Isaiah Lee, allegedly rushed the stage when Chappelle was performing and shoved Dave to stage floor, where the comic tussled with the unknown assailant. The suspect, who was brandishing a knife shaped like a gun, was apprehended and taken to the hospital.

Netflix says it’s actively discussing the security protocols for future events.

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HBO Max has renewed Julia, the comedy series inspired by the life and TV career of Julia Child, for a second season, the streaming service announced on Wednesday. The original series — while exploring the dawn of public television, the women’s movement and the nature of celebrity and America’s cultural growth — is first and foremost a portrait of a “loving marriage with an evolving and complicated power dynamic,” says the streamer. Happy Valley‘s Sarah Lancashire and Frasier‘s David Hyde Pierce star as Child and her husband, Paul. Bebe Neuwirth and Isabella Rossellini co-star…

Deadline reports Peacock has cancelled its Saved by the Bell reboot after two seasons. In the new iteration of the classic ‘90s high school sitcom Zack Morris — played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who returns in a recurring role — is now the governor of California, who, after getting into hot water for shutting down too many low-income high schools, proposes sending students from the affected schools to the highest-performing schools in the state, including his alma mater, Bayside High. The cast includes Haskiri Velazquez, Josie Totah, Alycia Pascual-Peña, Mitchell Hoog, Belmont Cameli, Dexter Darden and John Michael Higgins. Original cast members Elizabeth Berkley Lauren and Mario Lopez were also regulars…

A TV reboot of The Prince of Tides, the 1991 film starring Nick Nolte and Barbra Streisand, based on the novel by the late Pat Conroy, is in early development at Apple TV+, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. The Help filmmaker Tate Taylor is reportedly attached to write the script for the Sony Pictures Television drama, which is already making offers to A-list talent ahead of a potential production start this summer. Insiders tell THR scripts are still being finalized. The original film, directed by Streisand, followed a man who falls in love with his sister’s psychiatrist as he works out the issues that stem from his troubled childhood. It was was nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture…

Oscar winner Ariana DeBose will host this year’s Tony Awards, live from New York’s Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 12 on CBS, organizers announced on Tuesday. “I’m coming home,” DeBose said in a statement. “I’m so honored to celebrate 75 years of excellence in theatre, but more importantly every member of this community who poured themselves into making sure the lights of Broadway have the opportunity to shine brightly once again. This is a dream come true, and I’m excited to see you all on June 12th.” DeBose took home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar this year for her performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. Her upcoming projects include Sony Pictures’ Kraven the Hunter, due out in 2023…

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There’s a whole lot of Mike Myers in the new Netflix comedy series The Pentaverate, which debuts today. It’s about a secret society that has been controlling the world for centuries. So as a powerful man in media, is Myers himself part of a real life secret society?

“Well, I can neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of any secret society that I am or not in,” Myers tells ABC Audio, adding, “I’ve been obsessed with secret societies my whole life. My mom was in the Royal Air Force and had a top security clearance, so I knew that there were secrets in the world.”

Myers plays eight characters in The Pentaverate, the most he’s ever done in one project. While that sounds exhausting, he says it’s more of a release for him. 

“I always have characters in me that are kind of circling the airport and looking for a place to land,” he shares. “I love performing…and I love playing characters. And that has its own energy that gets you going.”

Citing previous works like Austin Powers, the actor adds, “I’m kind of used to multiple characters.”

In The Pentaverate, instead of being evil or power hungry, the secret society’s fiv leaders are known for being nice. Myers says the show comes during an interesting time in comedy and “it’s good that people are being conscious of not saying things that marginalize, disempower or ridicule.”

Myers himself is known for his trademark brand of humor that is often silly but never mean, which he uses to uncover truths.

“The truth shall set you free, but at first it’s going to upset you…And it’s important that the truth be told,” Myers expresses. “Now I love speaking the truth faster with kindness, but that’s just me.”

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