Entertainment

Taraji P. Henson has been very public about suffering from depression, and she explores mental health issues in her Facebook Watch program, Peace of Mind with Taraji. Now she’s taking the show on the road. On February 16, the 10-time NAAACP Image Award winner will appear in Boston at the Museum of Science for “Peace of Mind: An Evening with Taraji P. Henson,” the Boston Globe reports.

The event will feature the Empire star talking about her mental health advocacy, and breaking down stigmas around mental health, specifically in communities of color.

In other news, following Tuesday night’s premiere of the eighth and final season of black-ish, featuring Michelle Obama, series star Tracee Ellis Ross says she’s proud of the program’s legacy.

“I don’t take it lightly, the cultural value and importance of our show. It’s not lost on me that we were thriving for eight years within a system that really isn’t designed to bring shows like black-ish into people’s homes,” she tells EW.com

Finally, 9-1-1 star Angela Bassett‘s iconic career continues to thrive at age 63, and after acting for 37 years, she’s loves seeing other Black actresses making their mark in Hollywood.

“It’s wonderful with 9-1-1 that I get to work with Aisha [Hinds] because I was such a big fan of hers watching Underground. And then for them to bring in Marsha Warfield to portray her mother, who I grew up watching on Night Court, ” the Golden Globe winner tells InStyle.

“I’m so proud of Halle [Berry] for making her directorial debut [with the Netflix movie Bruised]. Whatever a woman’s doing, I’m supporting and applauding her. Because we don’t feel 100% every day,” Bassett says. “We need to be able to look out and find inspiration.

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Saturday Night Live is coming back on January 15 with West Side Story‘s Ariana DeBose as host, and musical guest Roddy Rich.

The long-running sketch show posted the news to social media Thursday afternoon.

Not only will it be the first SNL show of the new year, it will be the first since the sketch show’s Christmas episode with Paul Rudd was sidetracked by the Omicron spike. 

Instead of the traditional show with an audience, Rudd, and guests like Tom Hanks and Tina Fey introducing pre-taped content, as well as favorite sketches from holiday episodes past. 

SNL cast members Kenan Thompson and Michael Che also appeared, the other joining Fey for a stripped-down version of “Weekend Update” presented with them sitting on simple chairs on stage.

 

 

 

 

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Denzel Washington remembers Chadwick Boseman in a new Variety feature, calling the late actor “a man among men.” 

Washington’s and Boseman’s paths crossed indirectly even before they finally worked together, when Denzel was a producer on Boseman’s final film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: Years earlier, the Oscar winner made it possible for a then-unkown Boseman to attend the British American Drama Academy’s prestigious Oxford Summer Program.

In 2019, when Washington was saluted with the American Film Institute Awards’ Lifetime Achievement  honor, Boseman recalled on the podium, “Imagine receiving the letter that your tuition…was paid for and that your benefactor was none other than the dopest actor on the planet.” Washington was moved to tears by the younger actor’s words, which also praised Denzel’s other philanthropic work.

What Washington didn’t know at the time — nor did anyone else other than Boseman’s close friends and family — was that Chadwick was battling the cancer that would eventually take his life in 2020.

Boseman kept working despite his private battle with the illness, logging acclaimed performances in Black Panther, Ma Rainey‘s and other films. 

“He made the movie, and nobody knew. I didn’t know. He never said a peep about it. He just did his job,” Washington tells Variety of Ma Rainey‘s, which many expected to net the actor a posthumous best-actor trophy.

“I wondered if something was wrong because he seemed weak or tired sometimes,” Denzel says. “We had no idea, and it was nobody’s business. Good for him, keeping it to himself.”

Washington’s new directorial effort starring Michael B. Jordan, A Journal for Jordan, is in theaters now, as is his The Tragedy of Macbeth, which stars fellow Oscar winner Frances McDormand. The latter film comes to Apple TV+ on January 14.

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Peter Bogdanovich, a film critic-turned Oscar-nominated director of classics including The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon, has died, ABC News has confirmed. The filmmaker was 82.

Bogdanovich was born in New York and worked as a film journalist in his early years, before a career turn working with low-budget icon Roger Corman on the 1966 film The Wild Angels.

Bogdanovich’s 1971 film The Last Picture Show, starring Jeff Bridges and Cybill Shepherd, earned  eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won Best Supporting Actor trophies for Cloris Leachman and Ben Johnson. 

Bogdanovich was also adept at comedy, working with Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal in 1972’s What’s Up, Doc?, before reuniting with O’Neal for the period drama Paper Moon two years later. That film also starred O’Neal’s real-life daughter, Tatum O’Neal, who at age 10 won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, the youngest performer to have ever won the prize.

Bogdanovich directed the Oscar-winning 1985 drama Mask, starring Cher and Eric Stoltz.  He also was an actor, appearing in a variety of shows and movies, including as therapist Dr. Elliot Kupferberg on The Sopranos, and on the big screen as recently as 2019 in It: Chapter Two.

Bogdanovich’s personal life wasn’t free of tabloid headlines. His 1971 affair with a then-unknown Cybill Shepherd led to the divorce from his first wife, while his Playboy playmate girlfriend Dorothy Statton was infamously murdered in 1980 by an ex. In 1988, Bogdanovich married Stratton’s sister, Louise. They split in 2001. 

Bogdanovich was also an accomplished author and documentarian, having called the shots on films on subjects ranging from directors John Ford and Howard Hawks to musician Tom Petty. His 2007 collab with the latter, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin’ Down a Dream, earned the filmmaker a Grammy for Best Music Film.

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) Jon Stewart is casting curses — and spells — at Newsweek for its coverage of comments he made about Harry Potter. 

The magazine published a headline on Tuesday reading, “Jon Stewart accuses [creator] JK Rowling of antisemitism in Harry Potter.” The article then expanded on comments that Stewart made about how the goblins in the Potter films, who run Gringotts, the bank of the wizarding world, reflect common antisemitic tropes.

But Stewart is now saying he wasn’t accusing Rowling of antisemitism.

During a podcast, a portion of which he posted to Twitter Wednesday, Stewart explained that his “lighthearted conversation amongst colleagues and chums” during an installment of the podcast “a month ago” was taken “out of context.”

Stewart explained that in his comments, he was merely pointing out how such tropes are so “embedded in society that they’re invisible, even in a considered process like movie making.”

“This morning I wake up, it’s trending on Twitter, ‘Jon Stewart accuses JK Rowling…of antisemitism,” he said. “So let me just say this…as clearly as I can. I do not think JK Rowling is antisemitic…I do not think the Harry Potter movies are antisemitic. I really love the Harry Potter movies — probably too much for a gentleman of my considerable age.”

“So let me say this instead, to Newsweek: Your business model is f***ing arson,” Stewart continued, noting that the publication’s headline caused, “all the sh**heads [online to] pile into this ridiculously out of context nonsense.”  He added, “Get a f***ing grip.”

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Entertainment icon Betty White “never wanted people to make a fuss over her,” her longtime friend and agent Jeff Witjas tells People, noting the Emmy-winner wanted a “private” funeral.

As previously reported, White died on December 31 at her home in Brentwood, California. Witjas told ABC News she passed from “natural causes” in her sleep. 

Regarding White’s funeral plans, Witjas tells People, “The arrangements are being handled privately and that was Betty’s wish.”

Witjas didn’t indicate when the funeral would be held, or whether or not there would be a public memorial.  He suggested that anyone wishing to honor her donate to one of her favorite charities, including The Los Angeles Zoo, The Aquarium of the Pacific and Guide Dogs For the Blind.

The iconic Golden Girls and Mary Tyler Moore actress would have turned 100 on January 17.

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Following Tom Hanks‘ appearance in an episode of Paramount+’s Yellowstone prequel series 1883, Variety reports that his wife, actress and singer Rita Wilson, will also guest star in an upcoming episode. Wilson will appear in the role of Carolyn, a storekeeper at Doan’s Crossing who helps Margaret — played by Faith Hill — decompress with some whiskey punch. Wilson, best-known her roles in films like Sleepless in Seattle, Jingle All the Way and Runaway Bride, has also appeared on a number of TV shows, including Pitch, Girls and The Good Wife…

The Crown‘s Tobias Menzies has been tapped for a starring role in Apple’s limited series Manhunt, which explores the assassination of former president Abraham Lincoln, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series, from Parenthood, The Leftovers and Fargo creator Monica Beletsky, is described as part historical fiction and part conspiracy thriller. Per THR, Manhunt “follows Lincoln’s war secretary and friend Edwin Stanton — played by Menzies — who was nearly driven to madness by his quest to catch John Wilkes Booth and carry out Lincoln’s legacy”…

NCIS has joined the growing number of network TV shows pausing production after someone, believed to be a cast member, tested positive for the COVID-19 Omicron variant.  The CBS series may stay dark for a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, NCIS: LA has delayed return to production until February, sources tell Deadline…

Cyrano star Kelvin Harrison Jr. has found his next role, playing American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in director Julius Onah‘s new film, Samo Lives, according to Variety. The biographical film will chronicle the career and impact of the groundbreaking New York-born, Haitian-Puerto Rican American artist whose seminal paintings and street art defined the Neo-expressionism arts movement of the 1980s. Epix’s The Godfather of Harlem and the feature The Trial of the Chicago 7…

Sopranos alum Michael Imperioli has signed on as a series regular in the second installment of HBO’s dark comedy series The White Lotus, according to Deadline. The original series followed visitors vacationing at an exclusive Hawaiian resort, called the White Lotus. The second installment, which is the follow-up to Mike White’s breakout social satire limited series, will leave Hawaii behind for a new location and is expected to follow a different group of vacationers at another White Lotus property, according to the entertainment website. Imperioli will play Dominic Di Grasso, a man traveling with his elderly father and recent-college-graduate son…

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Fans of the late Betty White have found a great way to honor the actress.

The ‘Betty White Challenge,’ an online event set for January 17 — on what would’ve been the star’s 100th birthday — encourages people to donate $5 to animal rescue organizations in her name, according to Denver ABC affiliate KMGH-TV.

White, best known for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls, was known for her love of animals, and spent her life working with zoos and advocating for animals. In 2011, the lifelong animal lover published a book Betty & Friends: My Life at the Zoo, where she spoke about her work with animal nonprofits.

White passed away on December 31 at the age of 99.

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(SPOILERS AHEAD) And Just Like That… Chris Noth has been scrapped from the show’s season finale. 

According to TVLine, the season finale of the HBO Max revival featured a cameo from Noth’s character Big when Sarah Jessica Parker‘s Carrie visits Paris’ Pont des Arts bridge to spread his ashes in the Seine river. Afterward, Big, who died in the first episode of the sequel, was going to appear to Carrie. However, sources tell the outlet that the February 3 finale will be scrapping that fantasy element, deeming it not essential to the storyline, which is about Carrie getting closure. 

The change comes after Noth was accused of sexual assault by several women. In the wake of the allegations, the actor has been dropped by his representation and his gig on CBS’ The Equalizer. Peloton also stopped airing a brand new spot that featured the 67-year-old. 

Noth has denied the accusations.

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Tonight on ABC, it’s the debut of Women of the Movement — a limited series that tells the true story of Mamie Till-Mobley, and her fight for justice after her 14 year old son Emmett Till was lynched in Mississippi in 1955.

Adrienne Warren stars, and she hopes the series has a big impact on people.

“You get to hopefully look at this story and it humanizes these incidents for you,” she says. “That when you find out that someone’s son is taken from them, or their child is taken from them, that you realize that is not just a person, a picture on the screen, but that’s an empty seat at your kitchen table. That that’s an empty seat when you’re having holidays. That that is someone’s loved one.”

Warren, who plays Till-Mobley, says it’s an important story for people to know, and it’s not just history, it’s happening.

“We must know our history so that we don’t repeat it,” she explains. “And there are women, and mothers, screaming right now for justice for their sons, for their daughters, for their families, and we don’t talk about those families enough.”

Women of the Movement premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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