Entertainment

While Dune: Part Two won’t hit theaters until March 1, Denis Villenueve, the director of the Academy Award-winning franchise, is already looking ahead to a third chapter.

According to Variety, Villenueve attended a press conference in South Korea where he spoke about the forthcoming chapter — or, he hopes, chapters — of the franchise.

Of the third film, called Dune: Messiah, the filmmaker explained, “The screenplay is almost finished but it is not finished. It will take a little time.”

He also said being able to finish out a cinematic trilogy based on Frank Herbert‘s seminal sci-fi classic would be a “dream.”

Whatever the fate of a third installment will turn out to be, Dune: Part Two is finished. As the director said, it’s “much better” than his 2021 original.

Villeneuve explained, “For me, this film is much better than Part One. There’s something more alive in it. There’s a relationship to the characters. I was trying to reach for an intensity and a quality of emotions that I didn’t reach with Part One and that I did reach with Part Two.”

The filmmaker added, “I’m not saying the film is perfect, but I’m much more happy with Part Two than I was with Part One. I can not wait to share it with the fans and the moviegoers.”

That’s saying a lot considering the first film starring Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya earned 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and won six, including Best Cinematography and Production Design.

He added that if he’s lucky enough to make a third film, he likely won’t be shooting it next. “For my mental sanity I might do something in between, but my dream would be to go a last time on this planet [Arrakis] that I love,” Villeneuve said.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Safe to say gamers are pretty hyped about the next Grand Theft Auto game: More than a decade since the last installment premiered, Rockstar Games dropped the trailer to Grand Theft Auto VI on Monday, December 4, and it racked up a record 93 million views in just 24 hours. 

The game developer calls it an “extraordinary milestone” — and indeed, it’s a record for a non-music video debut on the platform.

It easily out-paced the previous record, which was set in August of this year by popular YouTuber Mr. Beast, whose entry Every Country On Earth Fights for $250,000 challenge racked up 59.4 million views in that amount of time. 

Leo Olebe, global head of YouTube Gaming noted, “Setting this new all-time record is a testament to the cultural impact of the series,” which, “has been at the epicenter of entertainment for decades.” 

He added, ” We expect the YouTube community and its creators to reach new heights for years to come with Grand Theft Auto VI.”

To date, the trailer has generated some 250 million views on the platform thanks to content creators’ videos on the topic — which is notable, seeing as the anticipated game won’t be released until 2025. 

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

In addition to producing some of the most iconic sitcoms in television history, Norman Lear‘s mark on pop culture was marked by those shows’ theme songs, which serenaded him in his final moments.

This news comes from Dr. Jon LaPook, a physician, CBS News’ chief medical correspondent and Lear’s son-in-law, who was there when Lear passed away at his Los Angeles home Tuesday, at the age of 101.

LaPook told CBS Mornings, “The family was gathered around the bed, he was very comfortable and resting peacefully, and we did what we knew he would want. We were singing songs from Les Mis, and also some of the songs from his TV shows.”

The theme from The Jeffersons particularly struck the physician, he recalled. “[W]e started singing ‘movin’ on up to the East Side … and I heard myself saying ‘to a deluxe apartment in the sky’ … I just lost it, because he’s going to some deluxe apartment in the sky.”

LaPook expressed, “We wanted him to have a gentle landing and have no pain. If you were to say to someone in their 40s, ‘How do you want to die?’ [They’d likely say at] 101, surrounded by loved ones, with them singing to me and laughing and without any pain, and that’s exactly what happened.”

Lear continued to work well into his 90s; he was saluted by just about everyone in Hollywood in a televised special when he passed the 100-year mark.

LaPook offered, “The secret to all that was his humanism, his interest in other people. He had something called ‘engaged curiosity.’ He had relationships with people who were super famous, but he was also just as interested in people who were not famous.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Have no fear, your reality roundup is here! Here’s a look at what happened in the world of reality television this week:

Vanderpump Rules (Bravo)
Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix is taking on Broadway. On Wednesday, it was announced that the reality television personality and author will play Roxie Hart in Chicago, the musical’s leading role. She’ll take the stage from January 29 to March 24. This follows her stint on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, where she was a finalist.

Selling Sunset (Netflix)
Heather Rae El Moussa has confirmed to Entertainment Tonight she will not be returning to the show for season 8. She had a much smaller role in season 7, appearing in just one episode. This week, she posted a photo of her and Bre Tiesi, writing, “The yin to my yang. Opposite in almost every way but became besties immediately- and even though we’re not on the same show together anymore, our friendship is stronger than ever.”

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (Bravo)
During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live Wednesday, Dorit Kemsley addressed comments made in episode two of this season, in which Garcelle Beauvais implied Dorit was lying about her jewelry being stolen in a 2021 home invasion. Dorit said the comments were “shocking” and “really cut deep.” She hinted she’d be confronting Garcelle about it at the season 13 reunion.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

What would happen if suddenly all communication devices go down, and you have no idea why or what’s going on in the world? That’s where things start with the new Netflix thriller Leave The World Behind, written and directed by Sam Esmail, based on the popular 2020 book of the same name.

Esmail tells ABC Audio that when he read the book during the pandemic, he immediately wanted to explore “This idea that in a moment of crisis, you can easily lose sight of our common humanity.”

“I mean, obviously that was really relevant back then, but it’s equally relevant today given what’s going on in the world right now,” he continues.

The film is produced by Barack and Michelle Obama‘s company Higher Ground Productions, and Esmail says the former president and first lady were very involved.

“He would read scripts and give notes, everything from the characters to the to the disaster elements to the themes. Same thing with the cuts,” he shares. “You know, they give they give lots of feedback. And, you know, he has a lot of insight and it was pretty invaluable to the film and to the script.”

In one scene, which you seen in the trailer, a bunch of self-driving Teslas go haywire and start crashing into each other. Esmail recalls they crashed “quite a few” cars that day.

“I’m not going to pretend that we didn’t extend it with some CGI, but I got to say there were a lot of real Teslas out there that we destroyed,” he adds. “It was a fun day on set that day, yeah.”  

Leave The World Behind, stars Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha’la and Kevin Bacon.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Producers Guild of America has revealed Martin Scorsese as the recipient of the David O. Selznick Achievement Award in recognition of “monumental achievements” over the last six decades. He’ll pick up the trophy at the 35th annual Producers Guild Awards on February 25. The David O. Selznick Achievement Award recognizes producers for their outstanding body of work in motion pictures. Past recipients include Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise and George Lucas…

Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes star Tom Blyth has landed his next big role in an upcoming film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway‘s groundbreaking novel A Farewell to Arms, according to Variety. Blyth will play Frederick Henry, a wounded volunteer World War I ambulance driver who falls in love with his nurse. A Farewell to Arms, published in 1929, is considered one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. It was previously adapted for film by director Frank Borzage in 1932, starring Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes, and in 1957 by Charles Vidor and John Huston with Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones…

Ellen Holly, the first Black person to star in a soap opera with her role on One Life to Live, died in her sleep Wednesday, December 6, at New York’s Calvary Hospital, according to Deadline. She was 92. Holly played Carla Gray on the ABC soap from 1968 to 1980 and 1983 to 1985. Her other TV roles included 1957’s The Big Story, 1963’s The Defenders and 1964’s Dr. Kildare…

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sugar, butter, popcorn! The Broadway hit Waitress: The Musical is now available to watch in movie theaters nationwide for a limited engagement December 7 through December 11.

The show’s composer, lyricist and star Sara Bareilles told ABC Audio it’s great that the musical, which is based on the eponymous 2007 film starring Keri Russell, is now accessible to so many more people.

“The pandemic became another catalyst for realizing that, you know, the world is shifting, and people’s means don’t always make room for trips to New York City and seeing theater shows,” Bareilles said.

Bareilles said the show, which follows the journey of small-town diner employee Jenna, is about so much more than pie – though there is plenty of that, too.

“Ultimately this show is about resiliency and the journey to love yourself,” Bareilles said. “To choose to love yourself in spite of hardship, in spite of [a] broken relationship, in spite of bad choices.”

Along the way, Jenna makes mistakes on her road to happiness. Bareilles said this only makes her more human.

“I just don’t know people in real life who fall into these categories of, like, hero and villain. I think we all exist somewhere in between,” Bareilles said. “Waitress does a really good job of holding the balance between darkness and light and letting it kind of swim in the gray matter.”

In fact, Bareilles said the show draws you in with its humor. For example, there’s a recurring gag where Jenna gives her original pie recipes funny names. Bareilles said that she, like Jenna, is definitely a pie person.

“There’s sort of, like, pie and then cake people, you know. And we don’t mix,” Bareilles said. “I have always been a pie person. I continue to be a pie person.” 

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

In an interview with People, Charlie Sheen — whose name was once synonymous with partying — says he’s been clean and sober for a long time.

“Next month I’ll be six years sober,” says Sheen, who explains he stopped using drugs before he stopped drinking.

His “consistent” life is “all about single dad stuff, and raising my 14-year-old twin boys [with ex-wife Brooke Mueller] Max and Bob.”

Sheen continues, “Now I wake up early, around 4:30 or 5 a.m., get an early jump on the news, work out, answer emails. Then I get the kids up and help them with their morning routine.”

The actor describes the day in 2017 that prompted him to quit drinking. “One morning I’d forgotten my daughter had an appointment I’d promised to drive her to, and I’d already had a couple of pops that day.” Sheen shares daughters Sami, 19, and Lola, 18, with his ex-wife Denise Richards.

He says a friend gave them a lift “and I could just tell she was thinking, ‘Why isn’t dad driving?’ … And the next morning I just stopped.”

Sheen recalls, “I was like, I’m going to have [to] give it a month, just see if I feel any better, and if my interactions with those that are closest to me improve. And they did.” He noted, “I couldn’t be in denial about it anymore.”

After a 12-year feud during the chaotic “Tiger Blood” days, Sheen now has a recurring role on his former Two and a Half Men boss Chuck Lorre‘s new dark dramedy Bookie, opposite comedian and actor Sebastian Maniscalco.

Calling the headline-grabbing bad old days “some alien version of myself,” Charlie says he’s proud of the changes he’s made, adding that his life today “will never look like that mess.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The American Film Institute has named its 10 outstanding motion pictures and its 10 best TV shows of the year.

As always, the titles selected by AFI were “deemed culturally and artistically representative of this year’s most significant achievements in the art of the moving image.”

On the big screen, this year’s selections include Barbie and its release date twinsie Oppenheimer; Bradley Cooper‘s Maestro also made the cut, as did the animated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon, the dramedy American Fiction and the dramas The Holdovers, Past Lives, Poor Things and May December.

On the TV side of things, ABC’s comedy Abbott Elementary got the nod from the AFI, as did FX’s acclaimed The Bear and Reservation Dogs, Netflix’s Beef, Amazon Freevee’s Jury Duty, Apple TV+’s The Morning Show, Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, Peacock’s Poker Face, and HBO’s Succession and its video game adaptation The Last of Us.

In the announcement, AFI President and CEO Bob Gazzale expressed, “As our nation and our world continue to navigate difficult times, AFI is honored to shine a proper light upon these works of art that lift us up and, ultimately, lead us to empathy.”

All of the honorees will gather on Friday, January 12, for recognition at the annual AFI Awards private luncheon.

Gazzale said honoring all of the selected projects without competition “is AFI’s hallmark, and we are proud to gather this community of artists together — as one — to celebrate their extraordinary contributions to our time.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On Thursday, Prime Video released the globe-trotting teaser trailer to its forthcoming Mr. & Mrs. Smith series, based on the hit 2005 film starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

As reported, Donald Glover and Maya Erskine are the titular couple this time around, and in a departure from the movie’s plot, the two aren’t a bored married couple hiding their day jobs as assassins.

Instead, the streaming service teases, the leads play a pair of “lonely strangers who land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency that offers them a glorious life of espionage, wealth, world travel, and a dream brownstone in Manhattan.”

The only catch: Their new identities as Mr. John Smith and Mrs. Jane Smith.

“Now hitched, John and Jane navigate a high-risk mission every week while also facing a new relationship milestone,” Prime Video continues.

“I have to be clear: I’m not in this for the romance,” Erskine’s character warns Glover’s. Still, their chemistry is undeniable — and as they put distance between themselves, bullets and bombs, they get closer to each other.

Blame it on the adrenaline, or the exotic locales, but awkward silences between them lead to a kiss midway through the teaser — and a dinner party question that gets a giggle from the pair: “How’s the intimacy between you two?”

Later, Jane asks John in a private moment, “What do you think happens if we fail?” He asks, “Our marriage?” She corrects, “Our mission.”

The exchange dovetails into Prime Video’s query: “What’s riskier: espionage or marriage?”

Atlanta Emmy winner Glover co-wrote series, which also stars The Batman‘s Paul Dano and Emmy winner John Turturro, as well as Eiza González, Ron Perlman, Billy Campbell, Úrsula Corberó, Michaela Coel and Parker Posey.

The eight-episode Mr. & Mrs. Smith debuts February 2.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.