Entertainment

(NOTE LANGUAGE) Yes, Kate Beckinsale looks stunning at 47, and no, good doctors can’t take the credit. The Underworld series star put it plainly in a chat with the UK’s Sunday Times that she hasn’t had any work done. 

“I’m not against people having it,” she allows. “[But] I do get pi**ed off. It’s sort of a given that I’ve had it, which I just literally haven’t.”

The actress explains it’s her mother — who Beckinsale says at 76 is still “f***ing radiant and amazing” — who scared her away from getting any tweaks.

Beckinsale says of Botox, “I’m frightened of paralyzing my face. My mum’s voice is in my head, very loud, at all times. I know if I did do Botox, I’d be the one that would get the droopy eye and my mum would go, ‘I f***ing told you! See? You should never do that.'”

Beckinsale, promoting her new Amazon Prime action film Jolt, noted women in showbiz can’t win. “I think women are damned anyway,” she said. “You’re seen as too young, you’re too old. Where is the f**king sweet spot for women? At some point you just have to go, b**** – this is me.”

Jolt, which also stars Laverne Cox, Stanley Tucci, Susan Sarandon, and Jai Courtney, hits Amazon Prime on July 23.

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OWN has released a preview clip for Oprah Winfrey‘s new primetime special OWN Spotlight: Oprah and Jennifer Hudson.

Centering on Hudson’s upcoming portray of Aretha Franklin in Respect, the special will air Tuesday, July 20 at 10 pm ET. on OWN. It will then be made available on Discovery+ the following day. In addition to discussing her new role as the legendary singer, J-Hud will share the impact that the church had on her life and perform the classic gospel song Amazing Grace.

In related news, ahead of Respect‘s highly anticipated release August 13, Fandango is giving moviegoers early access screenings starting August 8. Fans who attend will also view Becoming: Aretha, a Rotten Tomatoes Original Pre-Show program. A limited number of tickets are now on sale on Fandango.com.

Meanwhile, Jerrod Carmichael has been added to Alicia Vikander‘s upcoming HBO series Irma Vep, Variety reports. He joins Adria Arjona, Carrie Brownstein, Fala Chen, and Devon Ross who were also announced. The limited series follows Vikander as Mira, an American movie star “disillusioned by her career and a recent breakup” who takes a role in Irma Vep — a remake of the French silent film classic, Les Vampires. Carmichael stars as Eamonn, Mira’s ex-boyfriend who’s in Paris for a film. A release date for Irma Vep has not been announced.

Finally, Starz has tapped The Book of Eli co-director Albert Hughes to direct the first and third episodes of the three-installment event series The Continental, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Based on the hit John Wick action movies starring Keanu Reeves, the series is set 40 years before the events of the Wick films. It will center on a young man named Winston, who becomes the character played by Ian McShane in the Wick franchise.

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Lionsgate will release the third Clerks film from writer-director Kevin Smith.

Quoting Tao Te Ching on Twitter — pretty high falutin’ for the guy who got famous from the potty-mouthed low-budget film — Smith noted, “To be great is to go on. To go on is to go far. To go far is to return.”

The third movie is about to get underway in New Jersey, where the original black and white film was shot. Smith thanked the studio, noting, “On August 2, for my 51st birthday, I return to Quick Stop – the little store that started it all – with my friends Dante, Randal, Jay, Silent Bob, Becky, & Elias!…”

The 1994 film was shot on a shoestring budget, at the convenience store Smith worked at the time. It centered on lament-filled employee Dante, played by Brian O’Halloran, and Jeff Anderson as his goof-off pal Randal, as they negotiated a day in their lives as hourly working stiffs. Smith had a role as Silent Bob, the mute yin to Jason Mewes motor-mouthed weed dealer Jay’s yang.

The film made Smith famous, and spawned a sequel in 2006, which added Rosario Dawson and Trevor Fehrman to the ensemble; they’re returning for the third, Smith confirmed.

According to a press release, the film will follow Randal surviving a near-fatal heart attack, and then enlisting his pals to immortalize his life in film.

Smith himself survived a near fatal heart attack in 2018.

Smith called the return to the Garden State, “an ode to both the enduring allure of cinema and the resourcefulness and lunacy of its storytellers.”

He added, “Years ago, Dante and Randal made me a filmmaker – so now it’s time I return the favor.”

“To be great is to go on.
To go on is to go far.
To go far is to return.”
On August 2, for my 51st birthday, I return to Quick Stop – the little store that started it all – with my friends Dante, Randal, Jay, Silent Bob, Becky, & Elias! Thank you @Lionsgate for making CLERKS III! https://t.co/7IUNdleg8f

— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) July 19, 2021

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Theater legend Andrew Lloyd Webber has made the “heart-breaking decision” to close his anticipated Cinderella musical before it opened in London’s famed West End. 

Webber took to Twitter to post his disapproval of the government’s “impossible” COVID-19 regulations, which he blamed for the decision. 

Ironically, the multiple Tony-winner’s statement comes on ‘Freedom Day,’ declared by Prime Minister Boris Johnson‘s celebration of the end of the U.K.’s pandemic restrictions.

Webber explained two of the show’s preview performances were cancelled when one performer with a “cameo role” tested positive for the virus. Although other performers tested negative, he said, the shows were cancelled as a precaution. Subsequent to that, the main performers re-tested negative, and the show was to go on.

“Despite this, the impossible conditions created by the blunt instrument that is the Government’s isolation guidance, mean that we cannot continue,” Webber wrote. “We have been forced into a devastating decision which will affect the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of people and disappoint the thousands who have booked to see the show.”

The big-budget production, written by Promising Young Woman Oscar winner Emerald Fennell, was to open on July 20. “Cinderella was ready to go,” Webber added. “My sadness for our cast and crew, and our loyal audience and the industry I have been fighting for is impossible to put into words. Freedom Day has turned into closure day.”

A statement from Andrew Lloyd Webber pic.twitter.com/a47FN1anG3

— Andrew Lloyd Webber (@OfficialALW) July 19, 2021

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Broad City star Ilana Glazer and her husband David Rooklin are parents. Glazer announced the fact with a post to Instagram of a photo of herself and their new bundle of joy, both hard at work.

“[B]een breastfeedin in compression socks for the past 3 weeks, hbu?” she noted.

Among the more than 150,000 likes the post got was one from Chelsea Handler, who quipped, “Same minus the socks. you look adorable.” Julia Louis-Dreyfus replied simply with “YAY!!!!!!”

In March, Glazer had announced she was pregnant, while promoting her new thriller False Positive with Entertainment Weekly. She called it “eerie and cosmically funny” that life imitated art: in the new Hulu thriller she plays a woman whose in vitro treatment is successful, but with horrifying results. 

Equally eerie was the timing of False Positive‘s release and the baby’s: the film came out on June 18, putting it very close to the date Glazer gave birth, according to her post.

 

 

 

 

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For Daniel Craig, 2015’s Spectre was the last time he thought he’d be playing James Bond.

“I thought I probably was physically not capable of doing another,” 53-year-old Craig, who suffered a torn meniscus during filming, told Total Film. “For me, it was very cut and dried that I wasn’t coming back.”

However, two or so years later, the opportunity to explore a different side of Bond drew the English actor back in for one last hoorah. 

“It’s interesting to explore his emotions, because he’s a cut-off character. He doesn’t feel like other people, because he’s a killer,” he explained. “On Casino [Royale], he loses the love of his life, and then the shutters come down. On Quantum [of Solace], the flawed movie that it is, it’s about revenge. And Skyfall is about M. It’s about loss. They’re big themes. And I think, ‘Yeah! Why not have big themes?’”

For Craig’s final Bond film, No Time to Die, the theme takes a turn. It’s about “love and family.”

“Because what’s bigger than that?,” he asked. “Bond’s ‘family’ being Moneypenny and Q and M. And then Lashana [Lynch] comes in, and she’s like a distant cousin who you’re not sure about.”

No Time to Die marks the end of Craig’s 14-year reign as James Bond, and while it’s been a rollercoaster ride, there’s no doubt that he’ll miss being a super spy extraordinaire. 

“I’m incredibly proud and honored to have been a part of it in the way that I was,” Craig shared, adding that the reason he got to work with “the best people in the industry.”

“So I just think: if you can’t get excited about a Bond movie, what can you get excited about?,” he added.

No Time to Die opens in theaters October 8.

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Maitreyi Ramakrishnan says she’s still navigating the “pressures” and success of her hit coming-of-age series Never Have I Ever even in its second season.

“It’s funny when people say, ‘Oh, you’re a pro now. Season two you’re a pro,” Ramakrishnan tells ABC Audio. “But reality is… I still only have done a season… So there’s still a huge part of me that’s learning. Every day is a new day on set and I’m learning something that I didn’t know before. Whether it’s behind the camera or in front.”

While the series — which follows Ramakrishnan as Devi, a 15-year-old Indian-American girl looking to improve her social status — is still new for Maitreyi, some of her co-stars see the show as a rare opportunity to “embrace” their culture.

“[It’s] the character that I brought most of myself to,” says Poorna Jagannathan, who portrays Devi’s mom Dr. Nalini Vishwakumar. “There’s a sense of a continuous self. So who I am outside of the set is also who I am on set. And that’s the first time that I’ve experienced that fluidity, even though I’m not Nilini at all in real life.”

Richa Moorjani, who plays Devi’s cousin Kamala Nandiwadal agrees, noting that she too has been able to bring “most” of herself to Kamala without “feel[ing] like [Richa has] to change.”

“I didn’t have to hide away from my Indian-ness,” Moorjani explains. “That was just so rare and such a blessing for me as a South Asian actor. It’s just been an incredible experience.”

Jagannathan concurs, calling it a “privilege” to “immerse” herself into her character. 

“I’ve never felt that before,” she says. “Now that I have it, I’m not going back.”

Season 2 of Never Have I Ever is now available on Netflix.

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Courtney Stodden clearly doesn’t have much sympathy for Chrissy Teigen‘s latest social media post about the consequences for her former penchant for cyberbullying. 

The now non-binary Stodden posted a TikTok video of themself giggling, superimposed over screenshots of Teigen’s latest online post, in which she admits to being depressed for having been “cancelled” for her behavior.

“Just be nice,” is Stodden’s captioned reply. 

As previously reported, Stodden was one of Teigen’s targets; the model and former reality show star revealed months ago that when they were 16, Teigen urged Stodden to kill themselves.  Teigen has since apologized.

Last week, Teigen posted a lengthy message to her fans, which read in part, “I feel lost and need to find my place again, I need to snap out of this. I desperately wanna communicate with you guys instead of pretending everything is okay.”

Teigen also mentioned, “Going outside sucks and doesn’t feel right, being at home alone with my mind makes my depressed head race” — without noting that she’d just returned from a picturesque Italian vacation with her husband, John Legend, and their two children. 

The controversy has cost Teigen endorsements and at least one acting role: a voice-over gig on Netlfix’s popular teen comedy Never Have I Ever.

@courtneyastodden

Just be nice ?? ##fyp ##fyp? ##bully ##bekind ##mentalhealth ##chrissyteigen

? original sound – CourtneyStodden

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Spike Lee had a rough time on Saturday when he inadvertently announced French actress Julia Ducournau as the winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s top award, the Palme d’Or, for the horror-thriller Titane, at the top of the show, instead of the end.

It started when the event’s hostess asked Lee, in French, if he could reveal the “first prize” of the evening. Lee apparently took that to mean first place, instead of the chronological first prize, resulting in the embarrassing moment.

Lee himself spent several moments with his head in his hands before apologizing profusely for taking a lot of the suspense out of the evening, according to the New York Post.

“I have no excuses,” Lee told reporters afterward. “I messed up. I’m a big sports fan. It’s like the guy at the end of the game who misses the free throw.”

“I messed up,” he added. “As simple as that.”

After several false starts, Lee convinced Sharon Stone to make the Palme d’Or announcement, explaining, “She’s not going to mess it up.”

Ducournau is only the second female filmmaker to win the Palme d’Or in the Cannes festival’s 74-year history.

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Space Jam: A New Legacy, the follow-up to Warner Bros. 1996 live action-CGI feature Space Jam, pulled off a major upset over the weekend, stealing first place from Black Widow at the box office with an estimated $31.7 million weekend — $10 million more than projected.  It marked the biggest opening for a kids-targeted film since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Families can also watch the movie, starring NBA legend LeBron James, on the HBO Max streaming service.

Marvel’s Black Widow, meanwhile, fell to second place with an estimated $26.5 million — a sharp drop from its record-breaking $80 million debut a week ago.  So far, the film has delivered $132 million stateside and $100.7 million overseas for a worldwide total of $232.7 million.  Black Widow is also available on Disney+ for a $30 surcharge.

Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, the sequel to the 2019 thriller Escape Room, pulled in an estimated $8.8 million domestically in its opening weekend.

Fourth place belongs to F9: The Fast Saga, which earned $7.6 million in its fourth weekend in U.S, theaters. Its U.S. total now stands at $154.8 million.  Internationally, where it debuted earlier than it did in the U.S., F9 has racked up $436.4 million — bringing its worldwide gross to $591.3 million.

Rounding out the top five is The Boss Baby: Family Business, the animated follow-up to 2017’s The Boss Baby, which delivered an estimated $4.7 million in its third week of release.

Elsewhere, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, a documentary about the life and death of the chef and travel show host, who died by suicide in 2018, debuted in eighth place with an estimated $1.9 million — the best opening for an independent film in 2021. 

Pig, the thriller starring Nicolas Cage, premiered to an estimated $945,000 from 552 theaters.

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