Entertainment

It wasn’t much of a challenge for Iron Man star Don Cheadle to go from superhero to a Looney Tunes supervillain in his new film Space Jam: A New Legacy. 

Cheadle, who plays Al-G Rhythm, a tyrannical computer A.I. who hopes to “delete” his competition, says his “evil” Space Jam character isn’t as bad as everyone makes him out to be.

“I think he’s still the good guy,” Cheadle tells ABC Audio. “I’ve played all kinds of guys: good guys, bad guys, unscrupulous characters. Al-G was a lot of fun.”

It was also “a lot of fun” for Sonequa Martin-Green to take on her role of Kamiyah, a character loosely based on LeBron James‘ wife, Savannah. Martin-Green says she “appreciated the way her character was written” because she’s the “matriarch” and “nucleus” of the family.

“You get to see the strength and ferocity met with the grace and the patience,” says Sonequa. “And you see this woman navigating perfectly in and out of these relationships, knowing exactly how to say what, and when to say it… And I think it pays homage to Savannah.”

While both actors can agree that the compelling characters are what make the film authentic and entertaining, Cheadle notes that it’s the messages in the film that provide the important takeaway.

“It’s about individualism and letting people be who they’re going to be,” he says. “Not trying to dictate who people have to be so that you feel comfortable.”

Cheadle continues, “Even as a dad, being a father, that’s one of the biggest challenges… So… it’s about people being who they want to be and letting people experience their lives for themselves and supporting that as a parent at all costs.”

Space Jam: New Legacy hits theaters on Friday.

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Ruby Rose shocked fans in May of last year with the announcement that she would be leaving the groundbreaking CW series Batwoman after just one season.  Now she’s finally revealed why.

During an interview on Australia’s The Kyle and Jackie O Show, the 35-year-old actress and model said the real reason she stepped down from her role as Kate Kane was because she was allergic to her latex costume.

“I did find out that I was allergic to latex…unfortunately, my mask is latex,” Rose explained.  “I was getting worse and worse, because as you get more contact with it, I guess you get more reactions.  I took off the [mask] at the end, and my face was just hives. My throat was all messed up.”

Adds the Australian actress, “It was like it was out of a scary movie.”

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly last year, the Orange Is the New Black alum cited a back injury she suffered while filming Batwoman as the reason for leaving the show.

“I was told I needed an emergency surgery or I was risking becoming paralyzed. I had herniated two discs doing stunts, and they were close to severing my spinal cord,” she revealed back then.

Rose made history as the first lesbian superhero to be cast in a scripted live-action TV series.

Kate Kane was recast with 26-year-old English actress Wallis Day.  Javicia Leslie assumed the role of Ryan Wilder/Batwoman, becoming the first Black woman to play the crime fighter.

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Tuesday marked the somber anniversary of Glee star Cory Monteith‘s unexpected death.  And for the eighth year in a row, Lea Michelle honored her late boyfriend and Glee co-star.

Sharing a black and white photo of the actor to her Instagram story on Tuesday, Michele added a single red heart emoji to the the snap, which depicts a smiling Cory wearing a varsity jacket and waving to the audience.  

The Broadway star has consistently honored Monteith on July 13 and, in 2016, revealed she’d gotten two tattoos in his honor.  The actress unveiled her first ink on Instagram, which was the number 5. Monteith played the character Finn — a quarterback who wore the number 5 on his jersey — on Glee.

“And one more.. for my Quarterback.. #5,” Michele wrote.

She also has the name “Finn” inscribed on her back, which she previously showed off when posing for the cover of Women’s Health UK. 

Michele, 34, also spoke about the struggle to put her life back together following Monteith’s passing.

“I worked very, very, very hard and I got back to that place where I was genuinely happy and strong and ready to live again and see the world and, you know, bring in more beautiful experiences,” she told FLARE magazine two years following Monteith’s death.

The actress married entrepreneur Zandy Reich in 2019 and, last year, the two welcomed a son named Ever Leo.

Monteith died in 2013 of a heroin and alcohol overdose at age 31.

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NBA legend and two-time Olympic gold medalist Scottie Pippen, along with Airbnb, is handing over the keys to his Chicago home to let some lucky fans watch the 2021 Olympics in style.

“I’m allowing 3 guests to come into my house for one individual night to really experience watching the Games,” the Chicago Bulls legend said, who was also a member of the 1992 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team, a.k.a The Dream Team.  He noted fans can even watch the Olympics “from my pool [because] I got a beautiful 80-inch TV outside!”

There are other perks to be had as well.  “I think they’re going to love the fact that, when they get to my house, I’m going to be the one… giving them a nice welcome into my home,” said Pippen, adding he will virtually greet his guests, and promised that he’ll hook everyone up with “some nice memorabilia… that they will never, ever forget.”

Pippen noted “the doors are just going to be open” to the renters, where they will be able to freely “enjoy my little home gym. They can enjoy my movie theater, the basketball court. They can enjoy my air hockey game, the swimming pool.”

Guests will also “get to sleep in my bed at the end of the night,” Pippen teased, adding there are even more surprises in store.  

Booking opens July 22 at 1 p.m. ET on Airbnb.  Three reservations are available for an overnight stay on either August 2, August 4 or August 6 for $92, a nod to The Dream Team’s historic Olympic run.  Those selected to spend a night in Scottie’s home will be able to invite up to three friends.

The 2021 Summer Olympics’ opening ceremony starts Friday, July 23.

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Get ready for more Loki.

Fresh off of Tuesday’s 28 total Emmy nominations for Disney+’s WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Marvel Studios just made more television news when Wednesday’s season finale of Loki closed with this after-credits mention: “Loki will return for season 2.”

This was the first time the studio confirmed one of its Disney+ projects would return for a sophomore frame. Previously, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige explained that the events of the two previous hit shows would play out on the big screen, first with Emmy-nominee Elizabeth Olsen‘s Wanda Maximoff’s appearance in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness in 2022. He did, however, claim “there will be other places” the story could continue, without elaborating. 

As for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, that show ended with Anthony Mackie taking up the mantle of Captain America, setting the stage for an in-development fourth Captain America film.

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

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Avengers star Karen Gillan knows a thing or two about action movies, but usually she’s surrounded by a bunch of guys. In her latest film, Netflix’s Gunpowder Milkshake, out Wednesday, she plays an assassin for hire who teams up and kicks butt with a bunch of women, which she tells ABC Audio was awesome.

“I mean, truly, that was just the best experience ever,” Gillan gushes. “I never realized how rare it is to actually have that many women in the main cast. And so we just had so much fun.”

“I mean, we were having girls nights and wine and laughing. And it was just like, oh, this is just brilliant. I want to do this all the time,” she laughs. 

Angela Bassett and Carla Gugina, who kick butt alongside Gillan in the action-packed film, echoed the same sentiment about the vibe on set. 

Gugino says, “There is no doubt something about a female energy that with that many women around that was super organic and peaceful.”

“Collaborative, supportive,” Bassett adds. The actress, also shares that she left filming with “a little tweak” in her ankle that serves as “a little reminder of the good time I had in Berlin.”

“To this day [it] still clicks and clicks and clacks a little bit as I walk or when I’m accelerating driving,” she reveals.

If it already wasn’t obvious by the name, Gunpowder Milkshake utilizes guns in the film but when it comes to glorifying guns or gun violence, Gillan says, “I certainly don’t want to be promoting that in any sense, but at the same time, like it was authentic to the characters. And it is a movie and it’s not a realistic movie.”

“It’s extremely like heightened, stylized,” she adds.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Guardians of the Galaxy star Karen Gillan knows a thing or two about action movies, but usually she’s surrounded by a bunch of guys. In her latest film, Netflix’s Gunpowder Milkshake, out Wednesday, she plays an assassin for hire who teams up and kicks butt with a bunch of women, which she tells ABC Audio was awesome.

“I mean, truly, that was just the best experience ever,” Gillan gushes. “I never realized how rare it is to actually have that many women in the main cast. And so we just had so much fun.”

“I mean, we were having girls nights and wine and laughing. And it was just like, oh, this is just brilliant. I want to do this all the time,” she laughs. 

Angela Bassett and Carla Gugino, who kick butt alongside Gillan in the action-packed film, echoed the same sentiment. 

Gugino says, “There is no doubt something about a female energy that with that many women around that was super organic and peaceful.”

“Collaborative, supportive,” Bassett adds. The actress also shares that she left filming with “a little tweak” in her ankle that serves as “a little reminder of the good time I had in Berlin.”

“To this day [it] still clicks and clicks and clacks a little bit as I walk or when I’m accelerating driving,” she reveals.

If it already wasn’t obvious by the name, Gunpowder Milkshake features a lot of gunplay but when it comes to the film glorifying guns or gun violence, Gillan says, “I certainly don’t want to be promoting that in any sense, but at the same time, like it was authentic to the characters. And it is a movie and it’s not a realistic movie.”

“It’s extremely like heightened, stylized,” she adds.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Deadpool and the stone creature Korg — better known, perhaps, as Ryan Reynolds and Taika Waititi — have teamed up to review the trailer to the actors’ new movie Free Guy. 

Apart from the fact that both actors do the video review in character, complete with Korg’s CG-body that Waititi voiced and motion-performed in Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Endgame, the snippet is especially clever, as Reynolds-as-‘Pool doesn’t hold back snarking on both Disney+ and the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and why Deadpool isn’t in the MCU yet. 

They also poke fun at the plethora of trailer-review YouTubers, and review their alter-egos’ performances, with Deadpool noting that Reynolds has a “punchable” face, and Korg sweetly assessing Waititi’s villain character in Free Guy: “I like him!” 

Deadpool even references criticism of his own sequel when he describes “fridging” — or killing off a female character just to make the male hero suffer. “[It’s] also known as Deadpool 2,” he quips.

Free Guy was a 20th Century Fox film before Disney acquired the studio, hence Deadpool’s review that the trailer looked “fun in a ‘last days of Fox fire sale’ kind of way.”

When the trailer ends, Deadpool asks Marvel movie vet Korg if he “has any tips on joining the MCU.”

Korg gives a rambling answer before recommending to check for an email from your agent.

“Yeah, I prefer Dark World,” Deadpool replies, referring to what’s generally thought as one of the weaker MCU entries — or perhaps because it contained a creature that looks exactly like Korg but who couldn’t speak, and quickly was obliterated by Thor’s hammer.

Free Guy, which also stars Jodie Comer and Lil’ Rel Howery, opens August 13. 

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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Melissa Joan Hart is doing her part to ensure every child is able to eat the most important meal of the day — breakfast.

To celebrate World Emoji Day, which is July 17, the actress is teaming up with Eggo to launch a waffle with a cause: the Eggoji waffle.

While kids may enjoy waffles shaped like well-known emojis such as the heart eyes or laughing faces, the Sabrina the Teenage Witch alum explained to ABC Audio how buying a box can benefit the national charity No Kid Hungry.

“If you go on your social [media] and you hashtag #EggojiNoKidHungry, Eggo will donate up to 100 breakfasts for each hashtag… up to a half a million breakfasts,” said Hart, noting that parents can make it fun for kids by challenging them to take pictures to accompany their social media posts. “Hashtag them, spread the word and… let’s get kids fed!”

Hart stresses that outreach efforts like this are crucial at this moment in time because of “the pandemic and everything that’s going on.”

No Kid Hungry recently stated that one in six children may go hungry as a result of the pandemic, adding that schools sometimes provide children from food insecure households their only meal of the day.

Hart, who is a mother of three, says the #EggojiNoKidHungry hashtag is up and running and invites everyone to take part, calling it “a great, all-around win.”

As for why it was important for her to get involved, says Hart, “To be able to give back to children around the world [and] put a smile on their face and some food in their bellies…. Why would I not?” 

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Michelle and Barack Obama are teaming up with Netflix’s Fatherhood producers for a new film and TV event called Blackout. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Blackout is “being adapted from six different love stories, each penned by a different writer.” This means the project is being developed concurrently as a TV series and film adaptation and some of the six stories could wind up in the film, while others are in the TV show. Blackout centers on twelve teens perspective during a New York city power outage during the summer. A premiere date for the project has yet to be announced.

In other news, a limited series is being developed about Effa Manley, the first and, to date, only woman to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Deadline has learned. Based on baseball historian James Overmyer’s non-fiction novel Queen of the Negro Leagues: Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles, the limited series will chronicle the “dramatic efforts by tenacious civil rights activist Effa Manley and her husband Abe as they embark upon a risky business venture [of] starting their own ball club” in the Negro Baseball Leagues. No casting details have been announced.  

Finally, Emmy nominations were announced on Tuesday, with some groundbreaking nods. Jonathan Majors and Jurnee Smollett, of the recently-canceled Lovecraft Country, made history as the first two Black leads to be nominated from the same series. Meanwhile, Pose‘s Mj Rodriguez made history as the first trans actress to be nominated in any major Emmy category.  And for the first time, the lead drama actor category, which included This Is Us‘ Sterling K. Brown, Lovecraft Country‘s Jonathan Majors, Bridgerton‘s Regé-Jean Page, and Pose’s Billy Porter, was led by people of color.

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