Entertainment

Bat-fans are going to have to wait until next year to see it, but until then, they can take some comfort in Zoë Kravitz‘s new comments about The Batman.  

Kravitz plays Selena Kyle/Catwoman in the new film, and while she wasn’t giving Variety any spoilers, she tells the trade she’s “seen a little” of director Matt Reeves’ movie.

“Rob is perfect for this role,” she says of co-star Robert Pattinson, who plays the Dark Knight and his alter-ego, Bruce Wayne. “He was incredible. His transformation was out of this world,” the actress enthuses.

Kravitz also commented, “[Director] Matt Reeves has a lot of heart, and he cares so much for these characters. I’m just very excited for him to be able to go on vacation because he deserves it.”

Zoë adds, “I hope the fans love it because we put a lot of work into this.”

Also starring Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell, Andy Serkis and Paul Dano, The Batman swings into theaters March 4, 2022.

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Mean Girls star and 911 veteran Lacey Chabert is mourning the loss of one of her older sisters. 

In an Instagram post Tuesday showing a graduation photo of her “beautiful” sister, Wendy, Chabert captioned, “Our hearts are shattered into a million pieces that I don’t know how we will ever put back together again now that you’re gone.”

“We love and adore you more than we can ever say and we will continue to forever and ever and ever,” Chabert expressed. “The shocking loss has left us so broken hearted. Our lives will never be the same without my dear sister, but we cling to the promises of Jesus that we will be together again in eternity. Please keep our family, especially her two boys, in your hearts and prayers. Thank you so much.”

Wendy was 46 but no details were given about her death. Lacey is the youngest of three girls; just days ago, she posted a birthday tribute to her eldest sister, Chrissy.

Chabert’s message brought sympathy posts from Lacey’s fellow Hallmark holiday movie mainstays, including Candice Cameron Bure and Danica McKellar.

“Oh my goodness, Lacey. I love you so much and am sending prayers and love to you,” McKellar told the Christmas at Castle Hart star. “I don’t know what I could possibly do but please call on me if I can do anything at all.”

Bure posted in part, “we are praying for you, your family and Wendy’s family. We love you, always here for you my sweet sweet friend.”

 

 

 

 

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Amazon Studio’s The Wheel of Time launched on November 19, and the sword and sorcery series is performing well for the streaming service, the studio’s head Jennifer Salke tells Deadline.

The show, which stars Rosamund Pike, is based on a bestselling fantasy book series.

“We can firmly say that Wheel of Time was the most-watched series premiere of the year and one of the top five series launches of all time for Prime Video,” Salke tells the trade.  

While, like other streaming services, viewer numbers for Amazon Prime are hard to pin down, Salke says, “there were tens and tens of millions of streams in the first three days of its release in the US, India, Brazil, Canada, France, and Germany, in particular.”

With its Lord of the Rings spin-off already underway, Amazon Studios is looking to the world of video games for its next big launch, according to Deadline.  The studio is reportedly “nearing a deal” to adapt the bestselling video game franchise Mass Effect into a show. The sci-fi game is set in an alternate reality in which humans and aliens band together in an effort to save the universe from an ancient, robotic menace.

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Millions of Americans are already in the kitchen, getting things together for the big Thanksgiving feast, but actress Kim Fields isn’t among them. 

The former Facts of Life and Living Single star has been busy promoting her upcoming VH1 movie, Adventures in Christmasing, which debuts Monday. But promo or no, she’s not letting her personal holiday tradition change this year: getting all her food from the good folks at the Honey Baked Ham company. 

“My specialty is driving to Honey Baked to get everything I need for the holidays,” Kim says by phone. “There is no shame in my game. I am woman enough to say so and I enjoy it!”

She adds with a big laugh, “That’s the thing, you know: Be thankful for other people in business!” 

Co-written by Fields, Adventures in Christmasing also stars Kel Mitchell, Jonathan Silverman and Eva Marcille. It airs at 9 p.m. Monday on VH1.

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) In his latest bit of cinematic “get off my lawn!”, legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott says millennials are to blame for his film The Last Duel fizzling at the box office. 

Just days after he dissed superhero movies to Deadline as “boring as sh**,” Scott chatted with Marc Maron on his WTF podcast, and let millennials have it over the tepid theatrical performance of the Ben Affleck/Matt Damon medieval movie.

Released October 15, the movie has made just over $27 million globally on a reported budget of $100 million.

“I think what it boils down to — what we’ve got today [are] the audiences who were brought up on these f**king cell phones,” the director said. “The millennian do not ever want to be taught anything unless you are told it on the cell phone. This is a broad stroke, but I think we’re dealing with it right now with Facebook. There is a misdirection that has happened where it’s given the wrong kind of confidence to this latest generation, I think.”

He added, “We all thought it was a terrific script, and we made it,” allowing, “You can’t win all the time.”

Scott commented, “I’ve never had one regret on any movie I’ve ever made. Nothing. I learned very early on to be your own critic….Walk away. Make sure you’re happy. And don’t look back. That’s me.”

For the record, Scott believes he’s made three great superhero movies — but just not the comic book kind.

“One would be Alien with Sigourney Weaver,” he told Deadine. “One would be f***ing Gladiator, and one would be Harrison Ford [in Blade Runner]. They’re superhero movies. So, why don’t the superhero movies have better stories?”

Scott’s latest film, House of Gucci, is now in theaters.

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Steve Burton, who played mobster Jason Morgan on General Hospital, has become the second cast member of the long-running ABC soap over his refusal to comply with the production’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Burton confirmed his departure in a video posted to Instagram on Tuesday in which he said, “I know there’s been a lot of rumors and speculations about me and General Hospital and I wanted you to hear it from me personally: Unfortunately, General Hospital has let me go.”

Burton claims he sought medical and religious exemptions to the mandate, but was denied.

The turn of events “hurts,” the actor admitted. “But this also about personal freedom to me. I don’t think anybody should lose their livelihood over this.” 

Burton thanked his fans, saying he’s “excited to see what the future brings,” and said it would be “an honor” if he could return to the show and “finish his career as Jason Morgan” someday, “if these mandates are lifted.” 

Burton, who taped his final episode on October 27, says he doesn’t know when his last airdate will be. Ingo Rademacher recently announced his departure from GH over his refusal to comply with the mandate.

 

 

 

 

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Jeremy Renner‘s Marvel movie hero Hawkeye gets his own eponymous small-screen spin-off starting with two episodes on Disney+ today.

The holiday-themed show that sees Renner’s archer Avenger reluctantly taking on a protégé in Hailee Steinfeld‘s headstrong Kate Bishop. 

The series follows the onscreen events of Avengers: Endgame, during which Renner’s grief-stricken Clint Barton took out his anger over Thanos snapping away his family by going on an underworld killing spree as the masked vigilante Ronin.

After Tony Stark and Hawkeye’s other fellow Avengers saved Barton’s family — along with half of humanity — Renner’s character is trying to get back to a normal life as a dad.

“We start off with a very, very happy step forward into a family vacation into New York at Christmas and taking the kids to go see a musical, and then everything kind of goes sideways from there.” Renner said at a recent press conference. 

“Sideways” is where Hawkeye fan Kate comes in. “[S]he’s inspired by him and motivated by him and wants to be at his level and is very overeager — and he puts up with a lot,” Steinfeld laughs. 

Renner says Kate sees past Barton’s “veneer of grumpiness.”

“It comes from just the weight and the horrors and the tragedies and loss that come with the…superhero game. And the lightness…that Hailee’s character brings in kind of counteracts that. It’s really cathartic and I think, quite beautiful.”

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige sums it up: “Six episode, six days, will Clint make it home for Christmas? Which was fun and a breath of fresh air after world-ending stakes and Celestials bursting out of planets, and Multiverse shenanigans. This is, like Hawkeye himself, a grounded, family-based show.”

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

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The late Michael K. Williams would have turned 55 years old Monday, and his Brooklyn, New York, neighborhood celebrated his memory with a block party. It was sponsored by the We Build the Block police reform organization, which the Lovecraft Country star helped found.

An Instagram video was posted of Williams standing on a rooftop, overlooking his community, and talking about his pride in coming back to “inspire the youth.”

“Michael’s favorite & most important role was being an active member of his community,” NYC Together and We Build the Block founder Dana Rachlin wrote in an Instagram post. “To honor his life & legacy [we’re] hosting a block activation that will elevate love, joy, & community.” The party featured live music, voter registration, and a Thanksgiving dinner giveaway. Williams passed away from an accidental overdose on September 6. He was 54

In other news, Porsha Williams reveals in her memoir, The Pursuit of Porsha: How I Grew into My Power and Purpose, that she was involved with R. Kelly in 2006. In her final trip to his Chicago home, Porsha recalls that she heard screaming, and the sounds of a woman being beaten, according to Variety. She demanded to leave, and says the “Bump ‘N Grind” singer continued to call her, but she told him, “I’m done with you.” The book will be published on November 30, two days after her new show, Porsha’s Family Matters, premieres on Bravo.

Finally, Oscar and Grammy winner Jennifer Hudson will be honored with the Chairman’s Award at the Palm Springs International Film Awards on January 6, 2022, for her starring role in the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect.

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On Paramount+, the cast of the groundbreaking The Real World: Los Angeles reunites tomorrow, in The Real World Homecoming: Los Angeles.

Former reality-show stars Beth Anthony, Beth Stolarczyk, David Edwards, Glen Naessens, Irene Berrera-Kearns, Jon Brennan and Tami Roman are under the same roof of the same iconic Venice beach house from their series, which aired in 1993.

The Real World was groundbreaking for the time, and its Los Angeles season was only the long-running show’s second: It pioneered such reality-show staples as the “confessional,” rotating house guests, and more. 

ABC Audio caught up with Jon and Irene to see what happened when people stopped being polite, and started getting real…again.

“It did start something different and new,” Irene said of the show. “And I think we have that bond that not too many people can say that they have.”

The cast have kept in touch over the years, she explained, but, “We don’t see each other very often, so when I did walk through the door and first saw [Jon], I mean, it was like I came back home.”

Jon recalled, “It’s definitely a crazy experience, and you walk down that sidewalk in 1993, and you get ready to walk into this house and there’s a camera pointed at you. None of us are movie stars or TV stars, so this is a really strange thing to happen to a young person. And, you know, you’re up for an adventure, so you just roll with it.”

He continued, “When we were doing it, we had no idea. We had the first season in New York to compare it to. But that was really it, and some of us hadn’t even seen that! And so it was uncharted territory.” 

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15 massive balloons will float through New York City when the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade returns on November 25.  Among the prestigious crowd will be a jumbo-sized Greg Heffley, star of the Diary of a Wimpy Kids book series.

This year will mark Greg’s 12th appearance overall and author Jeff Kinney let ABC Audio know what it’s like to watch a massive, 62-foot tall version of his character parade through the Big Apple.  

“It’s really cool. It’s something that is almost indescribable because it’s such a big presence,” the bestselling author marveled. “When you’re there and your balloon’s towering above you, it almost feels too big to take in all at once.”

While not many can say they’ve watched their creations fly through the streets of Manhattan, even fewer can boast having two balloons.  The Greg Heffley balloon fans will see this Thanksgiving is the newest edition, which replaced the original in 2016.

Kinney said it is a “privilege” to be honored by the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and added, “I can’t lie. It’s something that’s been really, really fun and a great part of my life.”

So, what was it like for him to stand among the crowds and watch Greg float by?

“It’s really funny,” Kinney remarked. “The kids are always looking at what’s on the horizon, right? So, by the time you actually get to [Greg], they’ve been seeing [the balloon] for 15 minutes. They’re on to Smurfette five blocks down, rounding the corner. So, it really is this funny thing where people are like, ‘Yeah, all right. Gotcha. What’s next?'” 

The 95th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade steps off on Thursday, November 25, at 9 a.m. ET on NBC.  To see a list of all the floats, balloons, marching bands and special appearances, visit the official website.

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