Entertainment

(NOTE LANGUAGE) Dolph Lundgren is no amateur when it comes to firepower on a movie set, as seen in many films, including The Expendables franchise. 

As both an actor and director, Dolph was stunned by Alec Baldwin‘s fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the movie Rust, caused when an unchecked gun was apparently loaded with a live round. 

“I’ve done a lot of movies. I’m very, very concerned and very…involved in that,” he says of gun safety.

He adds, “If anybody hands me any weapon that can fire rounds, then I will always check it myself and dry fire it,” meaning pulling the trigger to make sure it’s empty. 

“In The Expendables, for instance, they use blanks…so it’s real weapons [on set],” Dolph continues. “But they have these ex-British Army guys [advising on set]. They’re serious about this s***. And there’s no way that any gun is handed to any actor without being triple checked.”

Lundgren’s new directorial effort, Castle Falls, instead used replica firearms, with digital effects added later to simulate them firing.

Lundgren predicted that “in the future, that’s probably the way it’s going to go,” noting, “I’m sure this incident that happened, which was tragic, will speed that up, and I have no problem with not firing blanks, for sure.”

He says using visual effects now is “such a standard procedure that it can actually look better [than blanks].”

Speaking of his cinematic past, Lundgren explains that he’s yet to see the new Director’s Cut of Rocky IV.

“I’m sure it’s good, and I’m sure Sly [Stallone] has made it more interesting…more modern and…probably more character development, from what I heard,” he says. 

Dolph’s thriller Castle Falls, starring martial artist and Marvel movie veteran Scott Adkins, hits streaming services on December 3.

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Bachelorette stars Tayshia Adams and Zac Clark have ended their year-long engagement. 

Rumors of a split surfaced last week when Tayshia, who now co-hosts the series, was spotted without her engagement ring.  A rep confirmed to People on Monday that the two have parted ways.

“Tayshia Adams and Zac Clark are no longer a couple,” her representative said. No further information was provided.

Tayshia and Zac met last year during the volatile 16th season of The Bachelorette, which saw original star Clare Crawley exiting the show midway to pursue a relationship with Dale Moss.  Tayshia stepped in and completed the season, giving the final rose — and her heart — to Zac.

Both have yet to address the breakup on social media.

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Disgraced actor Kevin Spacey lost his arbitration case against the House of Cards production company, Media Rights Capital, and has been ordered to pay nearly $31 million in damages.

Spacey was fired from the popular Netflix show in 2017 after he was accused of sexual misconduct and harassment.  Production of the sixth and final season was suspended so it could be rewritten entirely, and the two episodes Spacey had already filmed were scrapped. The series killed off his character, President Frank Underwood, which reflected Netflix’s decision to cut all ties with the actor — who also served as the series’ executive producer.  

MRC later sued Spacey in 2019 for breach of his contract, claiming his firing cost the company millions of dollars in lost revenue because they had to completely overhaul the final season.  

Following a years-long and bitter court battle, an arbitrator ruled in MRC’s favor and ordered the actor to pay $29.5 million in damages, in addition to $1.4 million in attorneys fees.  The finding was made public on Monday.  

MRC said they are pleased by the outcome and, in a statement to ABC News, announced, “The safety of our employees, sets and work environments is of paramount importance to MRC and why we set out to push for accountability. We thank Michael Kump and Gregory Korn of Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump Holley LLP for their commitment and hard work in this case.”

Kump also spoke with ABC News, and said in a statement, “It was a privilege representing MRC in this matter. MRC stood its ground, pursued this case doggedly, and obtained the right result in the end.”

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Keanu Reeves is 57. That small detail in the new Esquire cover story about the Matrix and John Wick star is a critical one — and not just because it will likely make you feel old.

“Just trying to have a career,” he jokes about making 68 movies in his 35 years as an actor.

Keanu has finished work on the forthcoming fourth films in both the Matrix and John Wick franchises, and has no intention of slowing down.

When asked for his three favorites, he noted, “Okay…I say The Matrix, let’s do the trilogy– that’s one. Then let’s do The Devil’s Advocate. And then…let’s do Point Break.”

Reeves even sneaked into a theater that was screening John Wick 3. “I wanted to be with an audience…I wanted to soak it in, to see it on the big screen…” he enthused.

Reeves also said it’d be an “honor” to join the MCU, at some point — something Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has been eager to make happen. “They’re doing something no one’s ever really done…the scale, the ambition, the production. So it’d be cool to be a part of that,” Reeves says.

Keanu’s longtime friend and Speed and The Lake House co-star Sandra Bullock is one of the stars singing his praises in the Esquire piece. The pair both unknowingly crushed on each other while making Speed, but Bullock has no regrets they stayed just friends.

“Keanu’s a guy who, I feel like, is friends with every woman he’s ever dated…So maybe we could have survived,” Bullock admits.

She adds, “And the longer time goes on, the more in awe I am of the human being. Would I have been able to say that if he had dumped me and made me angry? Probably not.”

 

 

 

 

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(NOTE NATURE, LANGUAGE) Ridley Scott did not mince words when he finally broke his silence on Patrizia Reggiani‘s scathing criticism of his upcoming House of Gucci film.  

Reggiani, who is played by Lady Gaga in the movie, was famously convicted of arranging the murder of her ex-husband, Italian fashion heir Maurizio Gucci.  In April, she publicly blasted the upcoming flick for “stealing the identity of a family to make a profit to increase the income of the Hollywood system.”

Speaking to BBC Radio’s Today, the British director hinted that he finds Reggiani’s remarks a little ironic.  While Scott says he usually “doesn’t get engaged” with that kind of drama, the 83-year-old stressed, “It was about murder. They forget: He was murdered!”

“One of the brothers went to jail for tax evasion,” the Oscar-nominated director rebuked. “So, don’t talk to me about making a profit. Are you kidding? As soon as you do that, you tend to become public domain.”

House of Gucci opens in theaters on November 24.

Scott, who has been directing movies since 1977, was also asked to share his thoughts on the accidental shooting on the Rust set, which claimed the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

“I don’t know what a real gun or real ammunition was doing on the godd***ed set,” he railed, adding he never used real guns in any of his movies. “Someone should get in trouble for that. Absolutely crazy! You never have any live ammunition near the set.”

Also during the interview, Scott confirmed he’s working on expanding his beloved Alien and Blade Runner movie franchises into television spinoffs, saying the pilots are already in the pipeline.

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Jennifer Lawrence is set to make her grand return to Hollywood in the upcoming apocalyptic dark comedy Don’t Look Up. Ahead of the movie’s December 10 premiere, the mom-to-be sat down with Vanity Fair for a wide-ranging interview.

Among the many things she discussed, the actress didn’t shy away from addressing the infamous 2014 iCloud hack, which leaked her private photos to the public.

“Anybody can go look at my naked body without my consent, any time of the day,” Jennifer lamented because, despite the breach happening almost eight years ago, those sensitive photos are still circulating. “Somebody in France just published them. My trauma will exist forever.”

Jennifer, 31, also referenced the #MeToo movement during that conversation and shot down the rumors that she was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein.

“Harvey’s victims were women that believed that he was going to help them. Fortunately, by the time I had even come across Harvey in my career, I was about to win an Academy Award,” she reflected. “So I avoided that specific situation. Of course, I’m a woman in the professional world. So it’s not like I’ve gone my entire career with men being appropriate.But, yeah, that’s a perfect example of where getting power quickly did save me.”

Because of those harrowing experiences, Lawrence says she will keep her child out of the public eye.

“Every instinct in my body wants to protect their privacy for the rest of their lives, as much as I can,” the Oscar winner revealed. “I don’t want anyone to feel welcome into their existence. And I feel like that just starts with not including them in this part of my work.”

The actress, who is not on social media, is expecting her first child with husband Cooke Maroney.

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Writer/director James Gunn‘s Guardians of the Galaxy universe is already a figurative roller coaster of aliens, action, and FM-gold rock songs, but it’s soon going to literally become a roller coaster.

None other than Glenn Close — in costume — announced the upcoming ride at Disney’s D23 expo over the weekend. The multiple Oscar nominee who played Nova Prime in the first film, said “Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” opens at EPCOT Center in Orlando’s Walt Disney World this upcoming summer. Close appears in the ride, to boot. 

“We can’t wait to see you all there, so you can help save the galaxy,” she smiled in the preview.

Cosmic Rewind is being billed as Disney’s first reverse-launch coaster, considered an “omni-coaster” — which rotates riders in separate spaceship-like cars as the coaster zooms along the track. Also being built is an interactive pavilion featuring the creatures and technology of Xandar, the planet Close’s character rules.

The ride is replacing Ellen’s Energy Adventure, and will be located in what was formerly known as the Future World East part of the EPCOT park.

Last year, Disney opened Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout, an interactive ride at Disneyland in Anaheim that was a retrofit of the park’s Tower of Terror ride. Chris Pratt, Benicio Del Toro, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana and Bradley Cooper all reprised their GOTG roles for that project.

That ride is part of Disneyland’s Avengers Campus, which features costumed heroes, the Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure ride starring Tom Holland, and other themed MCU attractions.

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He’s not yet said for certain one way or another if he’s running, but Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey would have a good chance to be Texas’ next governor, according to a new poll. 

A survey released by the University of Texas and the Dallas Morning News shows that the actor has 43% support from respondents. In fact, in the hypothetical match-up between McConaughey and current Governor Gregg Abbott, the actor is leading by eight points. 

The poll also revealed that McConaughey would trounce newly-announce Democrat candidate Beto O’Rourke. Head-to-head, the Dallas Buyers Club star leads the former presidential contender by a 49-27 margin. 

In a three-way-race, the poll revealed, McConaughey could split the vote of those picking anyone but Abbott — the survey showed Abbot at 37%, McConaughey at 27% and O’Rourke at 26%. As of now, O’Rourke has 74% of the Democratic vote, but pundits say the actor could siphon off Democratic votes from Beto if McConaughey decides to run. 

Officially, the Academy Award winner told The New York Times in October that he’s “measuring” throwing his hat into the ring, but would only run if he thought he could “useful” to the voters.  “I could arguably have more influence as an informal leader than a formal leader,” he noted.

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The Bachelor family just got a little bit bigger! Alums Astrid Loch and Kevin Wendt have welcomed their first child. 

Strategically covering the newborn’s face, Astrid shared an Instagram photo of her holding the baby’s hand and announced, “My whole world. Born 11/20/2021 & finally home with the rest of the @thewendtgang.”

She added, “Sorry to keep you all waiting, just had to soak this moment up for ourselves first #babywendt #ivf #ivfbaby #infertility.”

Meanwhile, Kevin wrote, “November 20th 2:02am @astridloch made my dreams come true,” alongside a snapshot of the baby resting on his forearm. “She is my absolute hero for everything she went through the last 2 days in the hospital, and the last 2 years doing everything it took to get this perfect munchkin into the @thewendtgang I never thought a love like this existed.#ivfbaby #ivf.”

They did not reveal the name or sex of their child. 

Astrid and Kevin, who met three years ago on Bachelor in Paradise, first announced they were expecting in May and opened up about their struggles with infertility. 

“To all the couples trying to get pregnant, my heart is with you. We know first hand how hard it can be to see these kinds of posts and feel sad & discouraged,” Astrid shared at the time. “We too struggled with fertility and conceiving naturally – it’s the toughest thing we’ve ever been through and I can’t wait to share more of how we got here. But today is finally about some good news & we hope you can enjoy it with us.”

 

 

 

 

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Ghostbusters: Afterlife beat expectations, scaring up an estimated $44 million in its debut weekend.

The latest installment in the Ghostbusters franchise — starring Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace and Carrie Coon — added an estimated $16 million overseas, bringing its worldwide total to $60 million.

Marvel’s Eternals delivered an estimated $10.8 million in its third week of release, good for second place. It’s earned a total of $135.8 million domestically and $200.3 million internationally, bringing its worldwide haul to $336.1 million.

Coming in third was Clifford the Big Red Dog, grabbing an estimated $8.1 million after two weeks. The film opens internationally in December.

This week’s other newcomer, King Richard, stumbled in its opening weekend, only managing an estimated $5.7 million. The drama — starring Will Smith, as Richard Williams, father of tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams — delivered an estimated $2.5 million overseas, bringing its worldwide tally to $8.2 million.

Dune rounded out the top five with a little under $3.1 million. That puts its total domestic take at $98.2 million, putting it on track to break the $100 million mark later this week. So far, Dune has pulled in an estimated $268.9 million overseas, bringing its global total to $367.1 million.

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