(NOTE LANGUAGE)In a new chat with Empire magazine, Jojo Rabbit Oscar winner Taika Waititi chats about Natalie Portman‘s return to the Thor franchise — and her claiming the God of Thunder’s mighty mantle herself.
“It’s been about eight years” since Chris Hemsworth‘s character has seen his former flame, physicist Jane Foster, the writer-director explains about the plot of the upcoming film, titled Thor: Love and Thunder. “She’s had a whole other life, and then the love of your life comes back on the scene, and is now dressed like you. It’s a real mindf*** for Thor.”
This time around, Portman’s character traces the arc of the Mighty Thor comics, which sees a cancer-stricken Jane being cured with a little lightning therapy.
Waititi adds, “You don’t want Natalie coming back and playing that same character who’s walking around with science equipment. You know, while Thor’s flying around, she’s left on Earth, tapping her foot going, ‘When’s he going to be back?’ That’s boring. You want her to be part of the adventure.”
Aside from her Portman’s Thor-like arms after she takes up the mantle, the Oscar-winning actress shows other strengths in the film, according to Taika.
“Natalie’s really funny in real life,” he explains. “She’s kind of goofy and has got a great sense of humor, and I don’t think that was exploited enough in the first films.”
The movie, which also stars Tessa Thompson, Chris Pratt, Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, opens July 8.
Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, parent company of ABC News.
What’s been 30 years in the making, Anthony Anderson can finally say he’s a college graduate.
The Black-ish alum, 51, shared an inspiring message Sunday on Instagram celebrating his graduation from Howard University this past weekend.
“This spring I was finally able to complete the work to graduate from Howard University with a BFA degree from the Chadwick A Boseman College of Fine Arts!” Anderson wrote. “Yesterday was a full circle moment. It’s never too late! Things happen when they’re supposed to happen!”
He also expressed, “To quote Biggie, ‘IT WAS ALL A DREAM!’ Words can’t begin to describe the emotional roller coaster I’m on right now. It’s literally been 30 years in the making.”
In a 2018 interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Anderson revealed that he dropped out of college due to financial reasons.
The Law & Order star went on to thank the people who helped him accomplish this milestone, including Phylicia Rashad, who this time last year was named dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts, and his Hustle & Flow co-star Taraji P. Henson, who served as the university’s commencement speaker.
The actor also thanked his son, Nathan, who he said inspired him to “return to school to finish my degree after he was accepted into Howard University.”
Anderson concluded the post with one final uplifting message, writing, “This is just the beginning!”
Adrienne Warren and Joshua Henry — Jenny Anderson/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
The nominations for the 75th annual Tony Awards were announced on Monday, with two musicals about Michael Jackson getting the love from voters.
A Strange Loop led the pack with 11 nominations, followed by MJ: The Musical and Paradise Square following with 10 noms apiece.
Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster both scored acting nominations for the revival of The Music Man; Billy Crystal was nominated for his adaptation Mr. Saturday Night; Sam Rockwell scored a nod for the David Mamet drama American Buffalo; and Phylicia Rashad earned a nomination for Skeleton Crew, while her performance in How I Learned to Drive earned a nomination for Mary-Louise Parker.
The 75th Annual Tony Awards, hosted by newly-minted West Side Story Oscar winner Ariana DeBose, will be held on June 12 at New York City’s famed Radio City Music Hall. The ceremony will air live on CBS and on Paramount+ starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
Here is a list of the nominees:
Best Book of a Musical Girl From The North Country – Conor McPherson MJ – Lynn Nottage Mr. Saturday Night – Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel Paradise Square – Christina Anderson, Craig Lucas & Larry Kirwan A Strange Loop – Michael R. Jackson
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre Flying Over Sunset – Music: Tom Kitt, Lyrics: Michael Korie Mr. Saturday Night – Music: Jason Robert Brown, Lyrics: Amanda Green Paradise Square – Music: Jason Howland, Lyrics: Nathan Tysen & Masi Asare SIX: The Musical – Music and Lyrics: Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss A Strange Loop – Music & Lyrics: Michael R. Jackson
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Simon Russell Beale – The Lehman Trilogy
Adam Godley – The Lehman Trilogy
Adrian Lester – The Lehman Trilogy
David Morse – How I Learned to Drive
Sam Rockwell – American Buffalo
Ruben Santiago-Hudson – Lackawanna Blues
David Threlfall – Hangmen
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Gabby Beans – The Skin of Our Teeth
LaChanze – Trouble in Mind
Ruth Negga – Macbeth
Deirdre O’Connell – Dana H.
Mary-Louise Parker – How I Learned to Drive
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Billy Crystal – Mr. Saturday Night
Myles Frost – MJ
Hugh Jackman – The Music Man
Rob McClure – Mrs. Doubtfire
Jaquel Spivey – A Strange Loop
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Sharon D Clarke – Caroline, or Change
Carmen Cusack – Flying Over Sunset
Sutton Foster – The Music Man
Joaquina Kalukango – Paradise Square
Mare Winningham – Girl From The North Country
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Alfie Allen – Hangmen
Chuck Cooper – Trouble in Mind
Jesse Tyler Ferguson – Take Me Out
Ron Cephas Jones – Clyde’s
Michael Oberholtzer – Take Me Out
Jesse Williams – Take Me Out
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Uzo Aduba – Clyde’s
Rachel Dratch – POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
Kenita R. Miller – for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Phylicia Rashad – Skeleton Crew
Julie White – POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
Kara Young – Clyde’s
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Matt Doyle – Company
Sidney DuPont – Paradise Square
Jared Grimes – Funny Girl
John-Andrew Morrison – A Strange Loop
A.J. Shively – Paradise Square
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Jeannette Bayardelle – Girl From The North Country
Shoshana Bean – Mr. Saturday Night
Jayne Houdyshell – The Music Man
L Morgan Lee – A Strange Loop
Patti LuPone – Company
Jennifer Simard – Company
Best Direction of a Play
Lileana Blain-Cruz – The Skin of Our Teeth
Camille A. Brown – for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Sam Mendes – The Lehman Trilogy
Neil Pepe – American Buffalo
Les Waters – Dana H.
Best Direction of a Musical
Stephen Brackett – A Strange Loop
Marianne Elliott – Company
Conor McPherson – Girl From The North Country
Lucy Moss & Jamie Armitage – SIX: The Musical
Christopher Wheeldon – MJ
Best Choreography
Camille A. Brown – for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Warren Carlyle – The Music Man
Carrie-Anne Ingrouille – SIX: The Musical
Bill T. Jones – Paradise Square
Christopher Wheeldon – MJ
Best Orchestrations
David Cullen – Company
Tom Curran – SIX: The Musical
Simon Hale – Girl From The North Country
Jason Michael Webb and David Holcenberg – MJ
Charlie Rosen – A Strange Loop
Best Play Clyde’s Hangmen The Lehman Trilogy The Minutes Skeleton Crew
Best Musical Girl From The North Country MJ Mr. Saturday Night Paradise Square SIX: The Musical A Strange Loop
Best Revival of a Play American Buffalo for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf How I Learned to Drive Take Me Out Trouble in Mind
Best Revival of a Musical Caroline, or Change Company The Music Man
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Beowulf Boritt – POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
Michael Carnahan and Nicholas Hussong – Skeleton Crew
Es Devlin – The Lehman Trilogy
Anna Fleischle – Hangmen
Scott Pask – American Buffalo
Adam Rigg – The Skin of Our Teeth
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Beowulf Boritt and 59 Productions – Flying Over Sunset
Bunny Christie – Company
Arnulfo Maldonado – A Strange Loop
Derek McLane and Peter Nigrini – MJ
Allen Moyer – Paradise Square
Best Costume Design of a Play
Montana Levi Blanco – The Skin of Our Teeth
Sarafina Bush – for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Emilio Sosa – Trouble in Mind
Jane Greenwood – Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite
Jennifer Moeller – Clyde’s
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Fly Davis – Caroline, or Change
Toni-Leslie James – Paradise Square
William Ivey Long – Diana, The Musical
Santo Loquasto – The Music Man
Gabriella Slade – SIX: The Musical
Paul Tazewell – MJ
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Joshua Carr – Hangmen
Jiyoun Chang – for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Jon Clark – The Lehman Trilogy
Jane Cox – Macbeth
Yi Zhao – The Skin of Our Teeth
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Neil Austin – Company
Tim Deiling – SIX: The Musical
Donald Holder – Paradise Square
Natasha Katz – MJ
Bradley King – Flying Over Sunset
Jen Schriever – A Strange Loop
Best Sound Design of a Play
Justin Ellington – for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Mikhail Fiksel, Dana H. Palmer Hefferan – The Skin of Our Teeth
Nick Powell and Dominic Bilkey – The Lehman Trilogy
Mikaal Sulaiman – Macbeth
Best Sound Design of a Musical
Simon Baker – Girl from the North Country
Paul Gatehouse – SIX: The Musical
Ian Dickinson for Autograph – Company
Drew Levy – A Strange Loop
Gareth Owen –MJ
The sneak peek, which is currently playing in theaters ahead of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, is filled with breathtaking imagery of Pandora, the home to the series’ blue-skinned Na’vi people. However, things look a bit different, at least according to the trailer. Some of the humans, who invaded the planet in the 2009 film, are apparently working alongside their alien hosts. However, an unseen threat calls the Na’Vi to arms once again.
The footage is devoid of dialog, except for Sam Worthington‘s Jake uttering a line to Zoe Saldana‘s Neytiri: “This family is our fortress.”
According to the studio, Avatar: The Way of Water is set a decade after the original, and “begins to tell the story of returning heroes Jake and Neytiri and their children, the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.”
The movie, which also stars returning performers Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang, as well as newcomers CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement and Kate Winslet, opens December 16.
The third film, which recently finished shooting, will arrive in 2024, while the fourth and fifth are respectively scheduled for 2026 and 2028.
20th Century Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
While Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was conjuring up box office magic all over the world, writer-director James Gunn called a wrap on another Marvel Studios project. With a picture of the movie’s “clapper,” Gunn said the threequel wrapped on Saturday.
“After over 100 days of shooting & over 3000 shots, this is the slate for the final shot of #GotGVol3, presented to me by the camera crew,” he began a lengthy post on social media.
“It was an easy shot of Rocket seated…& took everything in me not to break down sobbing on the spot,” Gunn explained.
The Peacemaker creator added, “The majority of the last ten years of my life have been spent working on & thinking about the Guardians. I still have a long road ahead of me with VFX [visual effects] & editing, but it was still momentous to me.”
“It is somewhat simple to explain to others how much I love this cast & crew. It is more difficult to explain how much I love these characters – that I see them as parts of myself & parts of those I love, & filming them, & writing their words, is a way of expressing that love,” Gunn expressed.
He added, “…shooting that last shot was a reminder of the warm impermanence of life & love, & how that impermanence makes it so precious, so valuable, & is a good reason to be grateful for what I have right now.”
Gunn also posted a photo of his celebrating with his cast, including Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Sean Gunn, and Karen Gillan. He added, “and Zoe [Saldana] was with us, too!”
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is slated to hit theaters May 5, 2023.
The release of Will Smith‘s upcoming film for Apple, Emancipation, expected to premiere at this year’s fall film festivals, has been delayed to 2023, according to Variety. The movie, directed by Training Day helmer Antoine Fuqua, would have been Smith’s first release since his assault on comedian Chris Rock during the 94th Oscars. As a result, Smith was banned from attending the Oscars and other Academy-related events for 10 years. Emancipation, written by Bill Collage, also stars The Survivor‘s Ben Foster and follows a runaway slave who tries to escape his owners…
Mindy Kaling‘s coming-of-age dramedy, Never Have I Ever, will return for season three on August 12, Netflix announced Sunday at its Netflix Is a Joke Fest, according to Entertainment Weekly. The series, which follows the life of an Indian American teen, stars Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Poorna Jagannathan, Richa Moorjani, Jaren Lewison, Darren Barnet, Lee Rodriguez and Ramona Young, with narration from John McEnroe…
The BBC announced Rwandan-born Scottish actor Ncuti Gatwa [SHOO-tee GAT-wah] will succeed Jodie Whittaker as the next Doctor in Doctor Who. Whittaker made history in 2017, when she was cast as the first female doctor in the series’ then-54-year run. Gatwa will be the first Black actor to play the Doctor, aside from a one-off appearance by actress Jo Martin, who played Fugitive Doctor Ruth Clayton in a 2020 episode. Gatwa stars in the Netflix comedy Sex Education, where he plays Eric Effiong, best friend to Asa Butterfield’s Otis…
Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness scored an estimated $185 million in its domestic debut, marking the biggest opening weekend of the year, the second-biggest pandemic opening — after Spider-Man: No Way Home — and the 11th-biggest North American opening of all time. The film, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen, did even better overseas, where it delivered an estimated $265 million, helping Doctor Strange 2‘s global debut soar to $450 million.
Coming in second was The Bad Guys with an estimated $9 million in its third week of release. The animated film has collected $57.6 million in North America to go along with $90.6 million overseas for a worldwide total of $148.1 million.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 finished in third place, grabbing an estimated $6.2 million. It’s five-week domestic total now stands at $169.9, to go along with $179 million internationally for a $349.4 million total global haul.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore pulled up in fourth place, earning just south of $4 million. The Harry Potter spinoff has earned a modest $86 million after four weeks, but has fared much better overseas, where it collected $277.7 million. It’s worldwide total currently stands at $363.7 million.
Rounding out the top five was the indie film Everything Everywhere All at Once, which delivered $3.3 million in its seventh week of release. Domestically, the Michelle Yeoh dark comedy has raked in $41.6 million in its first seven weeks of release and $3.9 million internationally, for a global tally of $45.4 million.
The Top seven pulled double-duty on Sunday night’s episode of American Idol.
With help from mentor will.i.am, the contestants were tasked with singing two songs. The first challenge was to pick a song that’s gone viral on TikTok and the second was a song in honor of Mother’s Day.
Not everyone hit the stage live on Sunday, though. At the beginning of the show, Ryan Seacrest announced that both Fritz Hager and Noah Thompson tested positive for COVID-19 and were quarantined in their hotel rooms. However, as the saying goes “the show must go on,” so Fritz’s practice performances were used for Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, and Lionel Richie to judge, while Noah performed from his room.
Ryan also had the honor of surprising Christian Guardino with a video message from Michael Bublé, who invited the Idol contestant to sing with him during the finale show.
The host also revealed that whoever makes it into the Top five, will be whisked off to Resorts World Las Vegas to be mentored by Grammy-award winner and Idol alum Carrie Underwood.
After the night’s performances, here’s who made the Top five and who was eliminated.
Top Five:
Noah Thompson: “Painted Blue” Sundy Best and “Landslide” Fleetwood Mac
Nicolina: “Alone” Heart and “Light In The Hallway” Pentatonix
Huntergirl: “you broke me first” Tate McRae and “Like My Mother Does” Lauren Alaina
Leah Marlene: “Electric Love” Børns and “Sanctuary” Nashville Cast feat.Charles Esten, Lennon & Maisy
Fritz Hager: “All My Friends” Fritz Hager and “The Ocean” Fritz Hager
Eliminated:
Jay: “I Have Nothing” Whitney Houston and “A Song For Mama” Boys II Men
Christian Guardino: “Lonely” Justin Bieber and “Dear God” Smokie Norful
American Idol returns Monday, May 9 at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.
Call it box office magic: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness scored some $36 million from sneak peek screenings in the U.S. alone on Thursday.
The film from Marvel Studios officially opened Friday.
The sequel, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the one-time Sorcerer Supreme, and also featuring Marvel movie veterans Benedict Wong, Elizabeth Olsen and Rachel McAdams, as well as newcomer Xochitl [SOH-chee] Gomez, previously opened overseas, and has already earned more than $85 million from those foreign markets, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The trade notes that Multiverse’s Thursday performance represents the eighth-largest sneak preview haul in history.
Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
Season two of the Apple TV+ spy thriller Tehran debuts today, with Glenn Close joining the cast as a Western woman Western woman living in Iran who has “a lot of secrets,” which she tells ABC Audio is what attracted her to the character.
Says Close, “I love characters that have a lot of secrets, that not all of them are revealed. And I love characters like that.”
Another reason was the show’s multiculturalism, which she applauds Apple TV+ for giving a global platform.
“Well I think this show is really…pioneering the platform that Apple TV+ has created for shows that are not English speaking, coming from various countries, telling stories that only they can tell.”
Close says the most challenging part of the role was learning to speak Iran’s primary language, Farsi
“I wanted to be an American speaking perfect Farsi…And it’s a very tricky language,” she explains. “And because of the time I had in studying it, I never could think in Farsi, which is, I think, the final step. So it still was just a series of sounds. I started to be able to understand each word more. But then you have to get the intonation right and you have to get the tempo right.”
Series regular Niv Sultan plays Tamar Rabinyan, a Mossad hacker-agent whose failed mission to help destroy Iran’s nuclear reactor forces her to plan an operation that will place everyone dear to her in jeopardy. She tells ABC Audio that she felt more pressure heading into the show’s second season.
“After first season, we had expectations, we felt like the audience has expectations,” she says. “We had Glenn Close on board. So everything I can say, everything was much more stressful but exciting as well.”
