Entertainment

Marvel’s latest massive superhero film, Eternals, is in theaters this weekend! Don Lee stars as Gilgamesh, one of the Eternals who is tasked with protecting humans from outside forces that want to destroy them. As for how they do that, Lee tells ABC Audio that each Eternal has their own unique power.

“Gilgamesh is most powerful and strongest fighter among Eternals, and then his superpower is he’s got courageous strength. Also he has this one punch knockout power,” he spills.

Although Lee’s character has super strength, he says that’s nothing compared to when the Eternals work together as one — a message he hopes resonates with people after the film.

“Each of us have this unique superpower, but we are more powerful when we are together. That’s a very important message and that is about diversity,” the actor explains. “We are showing that no matter what gender or race is, we are stronger when we are together.”

Speaking of diversity, Lee, who is a famous South Korean action star with a massive following, admits that he jumped at the opportunity to reach a worldwide audience by being in the film, because he “saw the potential of inspiring younger generation as a first Korean superhero.”

“And then hopefully I can open up some more space for my actor friends in Korea,” he adds. 

Another perk of the gig was getting to work closely alongside Angelina Jolie, who plays Thena in the film. 

“She’s one of the greatest actress in history and also she’s a great person. I was a big fan of her. She’s a goddess of action film,” Lee raves.

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What if the mystery glow from the briefcase in Pulp Fiction was a cache of never-before-seen scenes from the Oscar-winning film?

Quentin Tarantino has announced that a collection of unreleased material from his 1994 crime classic will be up for grabs, in the form of Secret NFTs — encrypted Non-Fungible Tokens — in partnership with Secret Network. 

According to a new website, “Each NFT contains one or more previously unknown secrets of a specific iconic scene,” and promises the purchaser “will get a hold of those secrets and a glimpse into the mind and the creative process of Quentin Tarantino.”

Seven never-before-seen clips will be up for grabs, along with annotations and other notes from the writer-director himself.

The site adds, “The owner will enjoy the freedom of choosing one of these options: To keep the secrets to himself for eternity…to share the secrets with a few trusted loved ones,” or, “To share the secrets publicly with the world.”

The filmmaker himself spoke this week at the crypto art gathering NFT.NYC, where he explained his fellow director — and Inglorious Basterds star — Eli Roth first told him about NFTs, and the more he learned about them, the more intrigued Tarantino became about the technology, reports Artnet.

Tarantino’s certainly not the first filmmaker to embrace the collectable format. MGM recently released James Bond-related NFTs tied to the release of No Time to Die, and Warner Bros. announced fans will be able to collect NFTs from the upcoming The Matrix Resurrections.

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Emmy winner Anthony Hemingway has signed on to direct the upcoming The Preacher’s Wife remake.

According to Deadline, the new film will be a present-day “reimagining” of the 1996 original film and will feature original cast member Courtney B. Vance. As you may recall, the original film, directed by Penny Marshall, starred Denzel Washington as Dudley, an angel who comes to Earth to help a preacher, played by Vance, and his wife, Julia, portrayed by the late Whitney Houston, save their church and family. The film became a popular holiday staple and its soundtrack remains one of the best-selling gospel albums of all time. Additional casting on the new The Preacher’s Wife has yet to be announced.

In other news, Regina King is teaming up with producer David E. Kelley to adapt Tom Wolfe’s novel A Man in Full for Netflix, Deadline has learned. King will direct and exec-produce the limited series as part of her first-look deal with the streamer. Published in 1998, the book follows Atlanta real estate mogul Charlie Croker who, after facing sudden bankruptcy, must “defend his empire from those attempting to capitalize on his fall from grace.” Casting details on A Man in Full have not been revealed.

Finally, ICYMI, fans will get to see Kid Cudi open up about his years of battling depression, anxiety and drug abuse in the highly-anticipated Amazon documentary A Man Named Scott. The new doc, which features commentary from Kanye West, Timothée Chalamet, Shia LaBeouf, Willow Smith, and more, which chronicle his rise to fame as well as his troubled upbringing. A Man Named Scott hits Amazon Friday, November 5.

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Season three of the Emmy-nominated superhero skewing series The Boys has wrapped, and all involved have a reason to smile — in fact, co-star Jack Quaid was way ahead of them.

The producers of the Amazon series just posted a gag reel from the second season of the show, and it consists of one single scene that a giggly Quaid messed up over and over again. 

All he had to do was pretend to be unconscious in a hospital bed, after his character Hughie had suffered a serious injury. But his co-stars Karl Urban and Erin Moriarity ad-libbing about Hughie had Quaid figuratively in stitches, while Hughie was literally in stitches. 

It didn’t help that Urban’s Billy Butcher was trying to tell Moriarity’s Annie/Starlight about Hughie’s child-like grooming habits, including his need to apply the diaper cream Desitin to his behind.

Butcher’s trademark use of nearly non-stop profanity didn’t make it any easier for Quaid to keep a straight face, and even after they gave up trying to have Quaid in focus, Urban’s ad-libbing the sensitive details proved too much for his co-stars.

“Wow, @jackquaid92 takes his job WAY too seriously,” the post reads.

A release date for season 3 of The Boys has not yet been revealed.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

 

 

 

 

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Even though Dickinson‘s third and final season takes place during the Civil War, series creator Alena Smith and her cast found some eerie parallels from that time to our pandemic times. 

Like many shows, the cast and crew of Dickinson eventually returned to work following the industry-wide COVID-19 production shutdown, but like it did for everyone, the world they’d left behind was forever changed.

Shooting this season in 2020 amid the pandemic, racial tensions and a contentious election called to mind the strife going on in America during the time the show’s final season is set, Jane Krakowski tells ABC Audio. “I can certainly say I never saw any of that coming,” laughs the Emmy nominated 30 Rock vet, who plays Emily Dickinson‘s mother, Emily Norcross. “Nor did I ever think that Alena’s trajectory could be so timely to flow alongside of what’s happening in the world today.”

Krakowski explains that going through the pandemic, and the strict COVID-19 protocols when they returned to work, really turned up the volume for her performance. “I think it was interesting for me as an actor, I felt like the emotions felt almost stronger inside of me because we didn’t get to film anything for 18 months,” she says. “And so when you had a scene of sorrow, the sorrow felt quite real and quite deep, obviously reflecting the times that we had just gone through.”

She continues, “And when there was joy, the joy felt a higher sense of relief and joy because we were able to feel joy for a little bit of time. And so it was very interesting to film something at this time in the world.”  

Executive-produced by and starring Hailee Steinfeld as the titular rebel poet, Dickinson returns to Apple TV+ Friday.

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Fans may still be mourning that their beloved Duke of Hastings will no longer appear in Bridgerton, but one person is applauding Regé-Jean Page for exiting the show.

Speaking to Variety, showrunner Shonda Rhimes explained why she bares no ill-will toward Page, and instead is fully supportive of his decision to star in just one season.

Rhjimes recalled, “Rightfully, he said, ‘I signed up to do this one lovely story, this closed-ended storyline. I’m good!’ And I don’t blame him for that.”

“I think that he was really smart to leave the perfection as the perfection,” Rhimes continued, noting his exit sets his character’s happily-ever-after in stone.

Season one ended with Simon choosing wife Daphne, played by Phoebe Dynevor, over revenge and starting a family of their own, thus continuing the family line.

“What I loved was we were going to create this powerful, exciting, amazing romance,” Rhimes said of the first season before comparing it to other long-running shows. “For once in television, they were going to get to have their happily ever after versus — well, you know!”

In a possible gentle reference to Grey’s Anatomy, where the show’s protagonist has lost several lovers across the years, Rhimes elaborated, “In network television, you have to come up with 15 years of why a couple has to be apart.”

And while she is thrilled that a beloved character gets to enjoy a happy ending, Rhimes is also delighted by how the internet burned over Page’s departure.

“People’s attachment to couples is real — I mean, I know that better than anybody,” she laughed. “And I think that means success. But I do understand their despair.”

Rhimes hinted the door will always be left open for Page, since Netflix has renewed Brigerton for multiple seasons.

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Paula Patton says her role as successful entertainment lawyer Daniella Hernandez on the BET+ drama series Sacrifice was a rare opportunity to boss up.

“[I’ve] never had a character like Daniella come into my life, because she’s just a boss,” Patton tells ABC Audio. “She’s this fierce, ferocious human that just sets her sights on her goals and accomplishes them and manipulates to make things happen. When…there’s a knot that seems impossible to undo, and she figures out how to undo it.”

Aside from the character’s strong personality, Patton says she was also drawn to Daniella’s complexity and her unbelievable resilience when defending her not-so-honest clients.

“Daniella is [also] that…scared little girl, who has suffered a lot. Who feels abandoned [after]…her parents have died,” Patton explains. “She has just recently gotten sober. She had an addiction to alcohol. And now that she’s sober, she’s looking at her life going, ‘Am I willing to sacrifice my soul to do the things I’m doing?'”

While the dangers of the music business often present a moral dilemma for her character, Patton says it’s Daniella’s desire to rise above her fractured past that she finds most admirable.

“She’s on a journey of healing and self-discovery,” Patton shares. “And that I found so compelling and interesting to play.”

“So that was one of the big reasons. That, and the clothes,” she adds.

Sacrifice, also starring Erica Ash, Willie Taylor and Veronika Bozeman, is now available to stream on BET+.

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Dwayne Johnson has thrown down the gauntlet, telling Variety on Wednesday night that he’s banning the use of real firearms on the sets of films and TV shows he produces, in light of the fatal Rust set shooting. 

The incident on October 21 saw Alec Baldwin firing a live round at the camera from a gun he was told was empty, fatally wounding cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. 

While an investigation into the incident is ongoing, Johnson, who was in Los Angeles promoting his new Netflix movie Red Notice, said he wasn’t wasting any time. 

He told the trade he was on the phone to his company within hours of hearing the news to discuss changes. 

“I can’t speak for anyone else, but I can tell you…that any movie that we have moving forward with Seven Bucks Productions — any movie, any television show…we won’t use real guns at all,” Johnson told Variety.

Among others, Johnson’s company has produced movies including Red Notice, but also his hit Jumanji films the recent Jungle Cruise, NBC’s Young Rock, and HBO’s Ballers.

“We’re going to switch over to rubber guns, and we’re going to take care of it in post,” he said, meaning visual effects added in post productions to simulate muzzle flashes.

“We’re not going to worry about the dollars; we won’t worry about what it costs.”

Johnson added, “There are safety protocols and measures that we have always taken in the movie business and we take very seriously, and these sets are safe sets, and we’re proud of that. But accidents do happen. And when something like this happens of this magnitude, [that is] this heartbreaking.”

Red Notice, also starring Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds, debuts on Netflix on November 15.

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Jada Pinkett Smith has opened up about her complicated relationship with setting boundaries and how it’s negatively impacted her relationships.

On the newest episode of Facebook Watch’s Red Table Talk, the actress explained that she struggles with setting limits because she worries how it will make the other person feel.

“I have a difficult time setting boundaries with it all, whether it’s work, family, kids, friends,” Smith admitted. “With me, I get angry if you make me set a boundary. I get angry at you. Isn’t that crazy? So, now you’re putting me in a position that I gotta tell you to, ‘Give me 50 feet.'”

While not touching upon her marriage to husband Will Smith or her professional relationships, the Girls Trip star revealed that her issue with setting boundaries affected her on a personal level, saying, “I definitely realized that it is a huge weakness of mine and has definitely played into a lot of relationship issues.”

She declined to elaborate why and, instead, opened a conversation about why asserting yourself is necessary part of life — even it if is one of her least-favorite moments because she likes to make others “feel better.”

Pinkett Smith, 50, elaborated by explaining that, when she sets boundaries, “You really start to see who’s a real friend and who’s not.”

“People feel really entitled, you know?,” she continued. “People that are close to you. I’ve done the same, where you feel entitled to people, their things. I’ve had to check myself on both sides of that coin.”

Pinkett Smith also shared how she’s embraced the boundaries set by her daughter, Willow.

“She’ll call me disrupted, and be like, ‘I don’t need you to fix anything, Mom. I just want you to listen,'” Jada remarked, and praised her daughter’s straightforwardness. 

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It’ll be at least another month before Wendy Williams returns to her purple chair.

The Wendy Williams Show announced Wednesday that their host’s expected return date had to be pushed back yet again. In the meantime, a new slate of guest hosts has been announced who will hold down the fort through November 19.

Starting November 8 it’ll be actor Michael Rapaport, who will host through November 12 and then pass the mic to comedian Bill Bellamy. Bellamy will entertain the audience on November 16 and 17 before Jerry Springer and Steve Wilkos take over on November 18 through the end of the week.

The show also announced an “all-new hot talk panel” will kick off on Monday, November 15.

Williams has been absent from her show since it was originally expected to return on September 20 for the start of the 13th season. Her return was delayed due to ongoing health issues, which included testing positive for a breakthrough case of COVID-19.

The show returned to the air on October 18 with Leah Remini as its first guest host. It was also announced that Williams was “making progress but experiencing serious complications as a direct result of Graves’ Disease and her thyroid condition. It has been determined that more time is needed before she is able to return to her live hosting duties.”

Mayo Clinic defines Graves’ disease as a disorder of the immune system that is a common cause of hyperthyroidism, or an overproduction of thyroid hormones. Side effects attributed to the illness are anxiety, hand tremors, palpitations, fatigue and other disruptive symptoms.

 

 

 

 

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