Entertainment

Huzzah! The Great is finally back for season two on Hulu after a long break, starting Friday!

The show stars Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult as fictionalized versions of Catherine and Peter The Great, and Fanning tells ABC Audio the new season picks up with Catherine about to take her place on the throne.

“She’s about four months [pregnant] when season two starts…it opens with, they’ve been in a standstill,” she explains. “They’re battling kind of back and forth to who’s going to get the throne. And Peter finally abdicates in the first episode because he’s hungry. So I just kind of, you know, shove a roast pig — waft it — and hey, you’ll you have to watch the show. You’ll see.”

Fanning adds there’s a little bit of “be careful what you ask for” this season.

“Basically season one, I think, was her trying to get the power. Season two, she’s in power and it’s now, OK, you have the power, how are you going to use it? And is she even going to be a good leader? Is she gonna to get everything done that she wants to?” notes the 23-year-old actress. “She’s someone who has a lot of ideas, and she talks a lot about her amazing ideas. But is she able to implement them um, in a country that is kind of not wanting to change.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The IRS is suing Chris Tucker for nearly $10 million in unpaid back taxes. The lawsuit states that the Rush Hour star owes federal taxes, tax penalties and interest from 2002, 2006, 2008 and 2010 that amount to $9.6 million, according to USA Today.

Tucker starred with Ice Cube in Friday in 1995, which was followed by Next Friday in 2002, and Friday After Next in 2002. Chris did not appear in the sequels. He recently revealed on the FlixTalk podcast why he did not continue his role as Smokey.

“I said ‘man that movie became a phenomenon (but) I don’t want everybody smoking weed,’ ” Tucker said. “I don’t want to represent everyone smoking weed, I kinda made it more personal than a movie.”

In other news, Rockmond Dumbar has left 9-1-1 because he refused to be vaccinated, Deadline reports. After more that four seasons, his character, Michael Grant, was written off in Monday night’s episode. “I applied for religious and medical accommodations pursuant to the law and unfortunately was denied by my employer,” Dunbar said in a statement. 20th Television, producer of 9-1-1, requires actors to be vaccinated or they “will not be eligible to work.”

Finally, Porsha Williams from The Real Housewives of Atlanta, reveals in her new memoir that she contemplated suicide as a child growing up in Georgia. She tells People she became depressed after constant bullying. 

“I was too young to even understand what I was dealing with,” she recalls. “It wasn’t until I was about 29 that I really identified with the word ‘depression.'”

The Pursuit of Porsha: How I Grew Into My Power and Purpose, will be published November 30. Her new series, The Real Housewives of Atlanta: Porsha’s Family Matters, premieres Sunday, November 28 on Bravo.

If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. You can reach Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 (U.S.) or 877-330-6366 (Canada) and The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NOTE LANGUAGE) Jeremy Renner suits up again as archer Avenger Clint Barton/Hawkeye in his own Disney+ series, Hawkeye, which debuts next week — but it wasn’t easy, the actor admits. 

In a new Men’s Health cover story, Renner says that, like many people, his fitness took a back seat to living during the pandemic. “I got, I wouldn’t say fat, but a little lazy,” he admits. “I was like, ”F*** it.’ It was sloth life.”

Getting back into superhero shape, however, was what the job he loves required. “It took me two months of working out just so I could get enough energy to be in the stunt gym,” Renner says.

The actor explains that while some stars collect cars, or pump their own liquor brands, one of his hobbies is more practical: restoring a fleet of fire trucks to keep his Nevada home and community safe from wildfires.

“I had 30 fire trucks a hundred feet from a hydrant,” he says, during a recent dangerous period. “Not because they’re there to firefight, but they all potentially could.” 

One has even been retrofitted to be a hit at kids’ birthday parties, the father of 8-year-old daughter Ava  reveals, complete with a bounce house, Slurpee and snow-cone machines, and more.

In the article, Renner also speaks movingly about the reaction to his Oscar-nominated role in The Hurt Locker.

“So many soldiers would come up to me like, ‘This is something I cannot explain to my wife. Now she can watch and [understand] what the f*** I’m talking about.'”

One soldier who did eight tours in Iraq told him sharing the film with his wife saved his marriage, Renner recalls, his eyes tearing up. He adds, “It was amazing, man. I don’t get that out of a Marvel movie.”

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Jeremy Renner (@jeremyrenner)

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Another lawsuit has been filed against Alec Baldwin and the other producers of the Western Rust, following a shooting incident on October 21 that left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead and director Joel Souza injured.

According to documents obtained by ABC News, the movie’s script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell, is claiming “assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and deliberate infliction of harm” due to the shooting.

Baldwin fired his Colt revolver at the camera during a rehearsal, striking Hutchins fatally and leaving Souza with an arm wound. Investigators say a live round was loaded in the pistol that Baldwin claims he was assured was “cold,” or safe. 

Mitchell, who was first to call 911 after the shooting, is being represented by attorney Gloria Allred. Mitchell’s suit echoes a claim in a lawsuit filed last week by the film’s head gaffer, Serge Svetnoy: that Baldwin allegedly was never supposed to pull the trigger on the pistol. 

According to Mitchell’s suit, three shots were to be filmed in the scene Baldwin was rehearsing. “One camera shot would be focused on DEFENDANT BALDWIN’s eyes, one would be focused on a bloodstain on DEFENDANT BALDWIN’s shoulder, and the third would focus on DEFENDANT BALDWIN’s torso as he reached his hand down to the holster and removed the gun.”

The suit continues, “There was nothing in the script about the gun being discharged by DEFENDANT BALDWIN or by any other person.”

Mitchell further is claiming that cost-cutting measures on the set “intentionally endangered the lives of crew members.”

Investigators say “a mix” of 500 rounds were recovered from the scene. They included blanks, which can be harmful at close range; dummy rounds, which are inert; and live ammunition, which the suit says should “never” be brought onto a set.

Attorneys for the movie’s armorer, Hanna Gutierrez-Reed, have claimed, without offering proof, that the film’s set was sabotaged by the placement of live rounds there.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NOTE CONTENT) Actress Eliza Dushku appeared via video before a House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to detail the “near-constant” sexual harassment she claims she suffered on the set of the CBS legal drama Bull.

According to a video of her testimony posted by Page Six, Dushku participated in a virtual hearing titled “Silenced: How Forced Arbitration Keeps Victims of Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment in the Shadow.”

Dushku claimed that she was subjected to “relentless…crude” comments, from her co-star, whom she didn’t identify by name as Michael Weatherly — whom she’d formerly and formally accused, eventually winning a multimillion dollar settlement from the network. 

“[I]n my first week on my new job I found myself the brunt of crude, sexualized and lewd verbal assaults,”  and “near-constant sexual harassment from my co-star,” she said.

The actress called the treatment “beyond anything I had experienced in my 30-year career.”

What’s more, the 40-year-old actress claimed that she was “fired and silenced when I attempted to address it.”

Many of the comments she claimed were directed at her were unprintably “crude.”

Dushku alleged that the co-star in question said he wanted to take her “to his rape van,” and that he’d “smell me and leeringly look me up and down.”

She added that the harassing comments “were incessant and demeaning and directed at me in the middle of what was supposed to be a professional workplace.”

CBS has not responded to Dushku’s new comments.

However, the network acknowledged in 2019 that Weatherly and executive producer Glenn Gordon Caron were receiving “leadership coaching.”

CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl said then, “[A]s the head of a show, [they want] to make the set a positive place to work.”

The network also noted at the time, “The allegations in Ms. Dushku’s claims are an example that, while we remain committed to a culture defined by a safe, inclusive and respectful workplace, our work is far from done.”

(Video contains sensitive language)

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

November 17, in case you don’t know, is an important day for Star Wars fans, and Wookiees alike, for the same reason. It’s Life Day!

The holiday was at the center of the infamous, George Lucas-disowned Star Wars Holiday Special, which only aired once on TV in 1978 and about which Lucas has publicly said he wished he could personally destroy every copy. 

The special — which lives on, thanks to YouTube — features Star Wars icons Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher in character as Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia Organa.  The heroes are trying to return to the Wookiee home planet Kashyyyk [kah-SHEEK] to celebrate the holiday. Along the way, they run afoul of Boba Fett, making his screen debut in an animated interstitial segment. 

Also along the way, Jefferson Starship performs, and Bea Arthur sings a torch song, as does Diahann Carroll, while Chewbacca’s dad, Itchy, inappropriately digs on Carroll’s sexy hologram in front of his family.

The special closes with Fisher addressing the audience in character. “We all share with you this day brings us closer to freedom and to harmony and to peace. No matter how different we appear, we’re all the same in our struggle against the powers of evil and darkness.”

“I hope that this day will always be a day of joy in which we can confirm…our love for one another,” Leia continues, before belting out the Life Day song.

The Star Wars Holiday Special may be janky, but that message is arguably sweet. And while Lucas has distanced himself from the special he never controlled, ShopDisney is offering Life Day-themed items, including a plush Chewie and other related goodies.

Happy Life Day! 

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Warner Bros. has released an all-new poster for The Matrix Resurrections, which hits theaters and HBO Max on December 22. 

It shows Keanu Reeves‘ Neo with his hair and beard at John Wick-length, and wearing a long black trench coat. His arm is extended and outstretched, as he was seen in the trailer stopping a hail of bullets. 

Standing around Reeves on the poster are his co-stars: Carrie-Ann Moss, who reprises as Trinity, as well as series newcomers Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Jessica Henwick. Another figure, farther in the background, appears to be Jada Pinkett Smith. The trio play, respectively, Morpheus, Bugs, and returning character Niobe.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Warner Bros. Pictures (@wbpictures)

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ellen DeGeneres welcomed Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, to her chat show, in a sit down that will air Thursday. 

In a preview of their visit, Meghan expressed how she felt returning to the Los Angeles Warner Bros. lot on which The Ellen DeGeneres Show is shot, and how the former Suits star used to audition there “all the time.”

In fact, the Duchess joked about her old Ford Explorer that she used to drive while trying to make it as an actor — and how her busted driver’s-side door lock required she used to have to climb in through the trunk. 

Clearly, the former Deal or No Deal suitcase model has come a long way. “The security guards here used to say, ‘Break a leg, I hope you get it!’ Markle recalled with a laugh. “So the drive in today was very different.”

Check your local listings for when The Ellen DeGeneres Show airs in your market.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Venus and Serena Williams‘ true and powerful story about how they became tennis stars is about to hit the big screen. King Richard takes a deep dive into the major role their father, Richard Williams, played in their success.

Tony Goldwyn, who plays Paul Cohen aka the Williams sisters’ first tennis coach, was touched by their story and told ABC Audio, “It’s deeply inspiring about family and the power of family.”

The movie focuses on how Richard, played by Will Smith, labored to make his girls’ “dreams come true” and, while Goldwyn admits he knew the basics of the story, he didn’t know the details.

“I had no idea that Richard Williams had a vision and wrote, I think a 75 or 80 page manifesto before Venus and Serena were even born,” remarks the 61-year-old. “He literally envisioned this and wrote a plan and then implemented it in the most extraordinary way. You just couldn’t make this stuff up!”

Goldwyn also notes that, despite his ambition, Richard nor the girls’ mother, Oracene, were brutal taskmasters.

“It was something borne out of love and passion. And if the girls ever didn’t want to do it, they didn’t have to,” he explains. “Tennis became this metaphor for them, for building their character as human beings.”

The Scandal alum also salutes the parents for ensuring the sport didn’t “rob [Venus and Serena] of their childhood” nor allowing them to become spoiled by “the pressures of competitive tennis.”

Goldwyn also reserved some high praise for Smith, saying he was “super fun” to work with and made people “feel relaxed in his presence.”

Additionally, he teased, “In this movie, [Will] just brings his A-plus game.”   

King Richard premieres Friday in theaters and on HBO Max.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

In addition to co-creating one of the most beloved film franchises of all time in Ghostbusters, fan of the paranormal Dan Aykroyd is committed to being in the spirits business: he has a pretty good side hustle as the founder of the award-winning vodka brand Crystal Head. 

And for his return Friday as Dr. Ray Stanz in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, his company has come up with some spooky cocktails to help you celebrate.  

Afterlife also and pays tribute to Dan’s Ghostbusters co-creator and star Harold Ramis, who died in 2014: Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace play his character Egon Spengler’s grandkids, who find themselves getting into the family business when their town gets haunted.

The film will see Akyroyd reuniting with Bill Murray‘s Dr. Peter Venkman and Ernie Hudson‘s Winston Zeddemore, along with original cast members Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts. 

So strap on your proton packs and get that shaker out, for these signature drinks: 

Stay Puft
2 oz.Crystal Head Vodka
1 tsp. Marshmallow Syrup
4 Scoops of Vanilla Ice Cream
1 Marshmallow
Sprinkle of Sea Salt

Directions: Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend. Pour into a glass. Garnish with a marshmallow and a sprinkle of sea salt.

Slimer’s Revenge
2 oz. Crystal Head Onyx
1 1⁄2 oz. Pineapple Juice
3⁄4 oz. Lemon Juice
3⁄4 oz. Honey Simple Syrup
1 tsp. Matcha Powder
Fresh Mint Sprig

Directions: Combine all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake. Strain over ice in a Collins glass. Garnish with a fresh mint sprig.

Gozer the Destroyer
1 oz. Crystal Head Onyx
2 oz. Grapefruit Juice
4 oz. Guava Gose Beer
1⁄2 oz. Vanilla Syrup
5-6 Fresh Basil Leaves

Directions: Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and gently muddle. Add ice and shake vigorously for 10 seconds. Double strain into a Collins glass with a salted rim and ice. Garnish with a fresh basil crown.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.