Entertainment

In a conversation with the Palm Beach Daily News, stand-up legend and former Tonight Show host Jay Leno sounded off on the infamous Will Smith Oscar incident.

Leno noted, “To me, the thing that’s most disturbing wasn’t the slap, because he was kind of smirking after he slapped [Chris Rock],” Leno said. “It was the yelling of the obscenities. Then you go, ‘Whoa. What’s going on here?’ This is real anger.”

Leno noted how out of character the situation seemed for Smith, who he called a “good guy.” Jay also cracked wise about the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ investigating the slap, before deciding to ban Smith for 10 years.

“What are you investigating?” Leno asked.

“It had to be the most recorded assault in history. I saw the back of his shoe, I saw Chris’ ear. There were so many cameras on this incident. What are you investigating? I know sometimes things are just what they appear to be.”

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Tom Hanks‘ throwing out the first pitch of the Cleveland Guardians’ home opener on Friday night reunited him with a former big-screen co-star. Hanks was introduced to the fans along with Wilson the volleyball, one of his only screen partners in the 2000 hit Cast Away. As reported, longtime Cleveland fan Hanks threw his pitch to Larry Doby Jr., whose father was the first Black player in the American League…

We’ve lost another Seinfeld mom. Just weeks after the passing of Estelle Harris, who played George Costanza’s mother on the ‘90s sitcom, comes news of the death of Liz Sheridan, who played Jerry Seinfeld’s mom on the show. Her manager confirmed to KABC’s George Pennacchio that she died of natural causes early Friday morning at age 93. Sheridan also had a recurring role on ALF and appeared in numerous Broadway shows. She chronicled her romance with James Dean in her 2000 book, Dizzy & Jimmy. Sheridan is survived by her daughter and son-in-law…

Saturday Night Live has announced that The Power of the Dog Oscar nominee Benedict Cumberbatch will return to Studio 8H to host on May 7, the day after Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness opens in theaters. Arcade Fire will be the musical guest, their sixth turn on the long-running sketch show…

Netflix and DreamWorks Animation have a new trailer to another entry in the Boss Baby franchise. Once again, Alec Baldwin voices the business-suited title role in the animated series Boss Baby: Back in the Crib. In this follow-up to 2021’s film The Boss Baby 2: Family Business, Baldwin’s Theodor Templeton is accused of embezzlement. The film debuts May 19…

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Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, the third installment of the Fantastic Beasts franchise, opened in the number-one spot at the box office, earning an estimated $43 million over the weekend. Overseas, the fantasy film — brought to life by an ensemble cast that includes Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Ezra Miller and more, and with Mads Mikkelsen replacing Johnny Depp as the villainous Gellert Grindelwald — racked up $150 million, bringing its global total to just over $193 million.

Last week’s number-one film, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, dropped to second, earning an additional $30 million domestically during its second weekend in theaters, surpassing the $100 million mark domestically and doubling that internationally, with an estimated $231.8 million total.

Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum‘s rom-com The Lost City held on to the third spot at the box office, securing another $6.5 million in its fourth week of release, bringing its global tally to $88.2 million.

Earning an additional $6.2 million over the holiday weekend was Everything Everywhere All at Once. Its international total now sits at $18 million.

Rounding out the top five is the Mel Gibson and Mark Wahlberg-led Father Stu, which earned opened to $5.7 million domestically, for a grand total of $8 million since last Wednesday.

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Two years and one pandemic later, Birthday Candles, starring Debra Messing, finally makes its Broadway debut — and if it’s good old-fashioned life perspective you’re searching for, bring all the issues and some tissues, too.

Written by Noah Haidle, the production is a time-trip: Spanning 90 years in one woman’s life…and the highs and sometimes crushing lows that go along with the journey.

“It’s the most challenging thing I have ever been a part of bar-none,” the Will & Grace star tells ABC Audio. “Not ever leaving the stage, aging 90 years and having to gently transform throughout the play.”

From carefree teenager to midlife and the inevitable senior years, Messing’s character, Ernestine, marks her passage of time by celebrating a birthday every year — no matter what the circumstances are. And with every birthday come the inevitable questions.

“’Have I wasted my life?’ That is a question we ask ourselves at every stage of life,” Messing says. “That’s our greatest fear.”

Messing says the collective experience of the last few years makes the production “more relevant and more prescient” than ever. “It’s about connection,” she says. “We lost connection during the pandemic and connection is the thing that is most fragile in a family dynamic.”

Her co-star, Enrico Colantoni, echoes the sentiment. “My favorite line in the play is ‘notice what we have left.’ I don’t think that would have affected me the way it did if not for COVID,” he tells ABC Audio. “Little things are important now. Time spent with your family. I think that’s why it resonates with so many people now having gone through the two years. Everyone’s life is beautiful.”

Birthday Candles is now playing through May 29 at The American Airlines Theater.

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On Monday, former Survivor winner and two-time cancer survivor Ethan Zohn will re-run the Boston Marathon for the first time since 2015, when the Boston Bombing shattered the event.

The attack killed three and injured scores more. Zohn, who was running to celebrate a year of being in remission, says he was “about 20 minutes away from the actual finish line” when the bombs exploded.

“So it was really scary,” he said. “Like, we actually didn’t know what was going on when it actually happened because we are so far away. We heard an explosion, but everyone just kept running.”

Zohn called it, “Total chaos…Because no one knew really what happened, how many people are injured…No transportation in and out of the city. No phone service. So it was chaos.”

Afterward, however, Ethan witnessed the best of “human nature and compassion and empathy” that “[transcended] this horrible experience.”

Zohn, who advocates for cannabis use, which he says got him through chemo and helped with the psychological after-effects of battling cancer, is also running this year to advocate for AKTIV Against Cancer, which stresses physical activity for those fighting it.

“My father who died of cancer when I was 14 years old, he ran the Boston Marathon, so I’m like literally following in his footsteps,” said Zohn. “So I think this race for me…it’s my father. It’s my hometown of Boston, it’s running the race again after the bombs. It’s 10 years [in remission], it’s cannabis, AKTIV Against Cancer. So all these things coming together, I think it’s just a wonderful thing to celebrate.”

He adds, “I’m super excited, nervous and excited to be running this race.”

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Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, the third in a series of Harry Potter spin-offs, managed to conjure up $6 million from Thursday night preview audiences in the U.S., according to Deadline.

The film, co-written by Potter creator JK Rowling, has already opened overseas and is nearing the hundred-million-dollar mark from foreign theaters. Stateside, it’s expecting an estimated take in the $40-$50 million range.

The movie, again starring Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne as magical animal wrangler Newt Scamander, and with Mads Mikkelsen replacing Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald, is getting a better critical reception than its predecessor, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. It also has an audience score of 83% on the ratings aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, higher even than the “Certified Fresh” original.

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David Zaslav, the CEO of Discovery, which recently purchased Warner Media for $43 billion, is apparently eager to iron out some wrinkles in the capes of its superhero properties.

Variety is reporting Zaslav is looking to overhaul DC Entertainment, which is home to superhero icons including Batman, Superman, Aquaman and Wonder Woman, but has so far failed to leverage them into the years-long box office dominance of Disney-owned rival Marvel Studios.

Zaslav is reportedly looking for a figure like Marvel Studios’ head Kevin Feige, who can bring a “cohesive brand strategy” to the table, and take better advantage of Warner Bros. deep bench of heroes and villains, Variety explains.

DC properties have had successes, most recently with the reboot The Batman, and prior to that with hits like the first Wonder Woman movie, with Gal Gadot, and Aquaman, starring Jason Momoa. The 2019 Todd Phillips drama Joker was not only a blockbuster, it earned 11 Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture, and a Best Actor win for star Joaquin Phoenix. However, DC’s movie misses have rankled fans and made headlines for the wrong reasons, such as the panned sequel Wonder Woman 1984, and the well-publicized Joss Whedon Justice League reshoot debacle.

DC properties have consistently performed on the small screen, however, most recently with HBO Max’s Peacemaker, writer-director James Gunn‘s spin-off of his The Suicide Squad. There’s also DC’s long-running so-called “Arrowverse” TV shows, which include no fewer than six hit series starring Green Arrow, Supergirl, The Flash, Batwoman and others — success DC would love to echo with their theatrical releases.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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If you’re one of the millions of people who contributed to Bridgerton’s season one record-breaking viewership, you’ve most likely started, or even already finished, season two of the Netflix dramedy. And with the return of the hit Shondaland series, came the commencement of the show’s royal stars, including two of its leading ladies — Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury.

Her majesty Charlotte, played by Golda Rosheuvel, and matchmaker Danbury, Adjoa Andoh, both spoke to ABC Audio about the joy they experience portraying the dignified women on-screen.

“To play a powerful woman who knows how to navigate and strategize the bear pit that would be the Regency Court of this period is fabulous,” Andoh said. “She gets to be manipulative, she gets to be loving, she gets to be hostile and welcoming, and she does it all with great style and elan…”

Rosheuvel expressed a similar sentiment about her character’s regal essence, detailing a vital aspect of the Queen’s fashion: her iconic wigs and luxurious ball gowns.

“It completely transformed the way I walk, the way I hold myself,” she said of her double-corseted undergarments. “The way you walk in those things is quite phenomenal. I quite like it. It’s quite choreographed for me. I like the way it kind of switches and stuff and the way my body moves.”

The powerhouse in each of the women shines through quite clearly in Bridgerton, but they’re also well aware of the overall cast impact. “The core of the show, it is a family…And we felt that in season one, filming it and coming back in season two, it was exactly the same,” Rosheuvel said.

Lucky for fans of the “Ton,” Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury will continue their royal legacy in a new Netflix spin-off show.

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While Tom Cruise arguably certainly doesn’t look like — or perform stunts like — most 59 year olds, he didn’t actually vault over six foot tall funnyman Keegan-Michael Key.

However, you’d be forgiven if you saw him do just that, thanks to a now viral video reportedly taken backstage at January’s AFI Awards.

The footage shows reportedly 5-foot-7-inch Cruise running behind and then vaulting over the taller actor, then shaking his hand, saying, “I just wanted to jump in and wish you luck.”

Cruise then says, “Congrats on the AFI Awards, congrats on life — work on the humor a little bit,” before laughing and walking away.

A shocked Key thanks him, and talks to camera, “Just here at the AFI Awards. That happens every three minutes.”

The video was posted by DeepTomCruise, a TikTok account with 3.4 million followers that uses Deep Fake AI technology to convincingly mimic the Top Gun star doing various things.

This time, while both Key and the jump were real, the star’s face was digitally stuck on whoever it was who stuck the landing.

Oh, and while the gag was fake, the video’s 675,000 likes and counting are very real.

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The Cleveland Guardians — known since 1915 as the Cleveland Indians — are getting a major Hollywood star to throw out the first pitch of the season tonight. 

Tom Hanks, who famously played a wartime baseball team manager in 1992’s A League of Their Own, will do the honors at Cleveland’s Progressive Stadium, when the Guardians take the field in their home opener against the San Francisco Giants.

The two-time Oscar winner has professional roots in Cleveland, having once played the Great Lakes Theater Festival as an up-and-coming actor in the late seventies.

Last year, Hanks narrated a video to debut the team’s rebranding. “It has always been ‘Cleveland’ that was the best part of our name,” he intoned.

In a statement earlier this month, Hanks enthused, “I’ve had Guardians fever since 1977 when I caught my first game in Section 19 of Cleveland’s Lakefront Municipal Stadium. I’m honored to return to Cleveland and Progressive Field for the first home game of the Cleveland Guardians era.”

Hanks will be tossing to Larry Doby Jr., the son of the man who became the first Black player in the American League 75 years ago, months after Jackie Robinson first broke the color barrier in professional baseball.

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