When the new series Saint X premieres Wednesday on Hulu, star West Duchovny hopes you will feel the inner life of her character, Alison, despite having limited time with her.
The show, based on the popular book by Alexis Schaitkin, follows the ripple effects that occur after Alison’s untimely death while on a Caribbean vacation.
“You get eight days with her and that’s it,” Duchovny told ABC Audio. “It was really important to me to do such a deep dive and make her so full of life because after she dies, her identity is in the hands of the stories that are told about her, the media, her family memories. It’s not her anymore.”
Betsy Brandt and Michael Park play Alison’s parents, and Brandt says having children of her own helped her tap into the grief her character experiences.
“I have a kid not much younger than Alison is,” Brandt says. “Reading the book was so helpful to me. And I did look up some things about grief. What was very interesting to me too was the recovery, because they have another child, and they have to make the choice to recover.”
Also a parent in real life, Park says he too used his own experiences to help understand his character.
“My youngest daughter is 18, and so she’s not too far off from Alison’s age,” Park says. “Every time she goes out, it’s scarier now, after this show. To tell you the truth, it’s scarier now.”
And while Duchovny says the story tackles a tough subject matter, she also says Alison was a light in the darkness.
“She’s got her internal struggles – but she’s the only one really enjoying herself for most of the show,” Duchovny said. “That was challenging too, to be the happy one amidst the grief.”
(NEW YORK) — An ongoing investigation into a suspected religious cult in southeastern Kenya whose followers were allegedly told to starve themselves has led to the discovery of dozens of bodies.
The death toll reached 90 on Tuesday after Kenyan police exhumed more remains from mass graves on an 800-acre forest in the village of Shakahola, near the coastal town of Malindi.
“This is as of now,” Kenyan Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said during a press conference on Tuesday while visiting the site. “The process continues for the rest of the day and we don’t know how many more graves, how many more bodies we are likely to discover.”
More than 200 people have been reported missing in the area in the wake of the grim findings, according to a press release from the Kenya Red Cross Society.
Most of the dead have been recovered from shallow graves, while some were found alive but later died. Another 34 people who were rescued from the property have survived, Kindiki said.
The victims are all believed to be followers of Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and his self-proclaimed Good News International Church. Mackenzie, who owns the land, is accused of luring his followers there and instructing them to “observe fasting till death in order to meet their maker,” according to a statement from Kenya’s Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome.
Mackenzie surrendered to police on April 14 after they raided his property, Koome said. He remains in custody.
Mackenzie has a criminal record dating back to 2017. He was arrested last month in connection with the starvation deaths of two children but he was subsequently released on bail of 10,000 Kenyan shillings (about $75), according to Koome.
A preliminary probe indicates that Mackenzie and other potential suspects could be charged with murder and terrorism, according to a press release from Kenya’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which described the scene in Shakahola as “shocking to the human conscience.”
Meanwhile, the interior minister has hinted at the possibility of charging Mackenzie with genocide. He said investigators are also looking into another suspected cult in the same county.
“We have cast the net wider to another religious organization here in Kilifi,” Kindiki told reporters on Tuesday. “We have opened a formal inquiry on this religious group and we are getting crucial leads that perhaps what was being done by Mackenzie is a tip of the iceberg.”
After a new trailer debuted as part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s Tuesday takeover of the annual industry expo CinemaCon in Las Vegas, The Flash unspooled at an evening screening for attendees — and ran away with rave reviews.
While official reviews are under embargo, social media buzzed about the film, which stars embattled actor Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The Flash.
Thanks to The Scarlet Speedster’s zooming through time in an effort to save the lives of his parents, the movie brings him face-to-face with both himself and two Batmen, Michael Keaton, reprising from the 1989 Tim Burton classic Batman, and Ben Affleck, making his reported final appearance as the Caped Crusader/Bruce Wayne.
“The Flash is hands down one of the best superhero films of all time,” gushed critic Scott Menzel — a take that was echoed by many when the lights came up in Vegas.
Fandango’s Erik Davisagreed, tweeting the ending left him “in tears,” and calling the movie, “Everything you want from a superhero film & more.”
Gizmodo’s Germain Lussiernoted in part, “It’s Back to the Future meets Spider-Man: No Way Home with all the humor & heart of the former and action and surprises of the latter…”
Collider’s Steven Weintraubaddressed Miller’s run-ins with the law, for which the actor, who uses they/them pronouns, sought mental health treatment. “I know Ezra Miller has made a lot of mistakes but they are soooooo good in this movie,” noting director Andy Muschietti, veteran of the blockbuster It franchise, “has crafted something special.”
Other critics highlightedSasha Calle‘s performance as Superman’s Kryptonian cousin Kara Zor-El/Supergirl, with Slashfilm’s Jenna Busch calling her “awesome.”
The Flash, which also stars Michael Shannon and Ron Livingston, speeds into theaters June 16.
We bet Billie Eilish wishes she could be free of fans doing weird, illegal things in her name.
On Tuesday night, a man holding a “Free Billie Eilish” sign climbed the KTLA-TV tower in Hollywood and sat there playing a guitar for several hours. KTLA reports that the man climbed the 162-foot tower late in the afternoon. Sunset Boulevard was shut down as authorities surrounded the tower and tried to talk him down.
It’s not clear what the man thought Billie should be “freed” from. According to KTLA, the other side of his sign referenced a dark web conspiracy theory about cloning and the Illuminati.
The man finally descended at 9:30 p.m. on an LAFD ladder, and was arrested for trespassing. He’s expected to undergo a mental health evaluation.
In January, Billie was forced to request a restraining order against a man who allegedly broke into her childhood home in Los Angeles. In 2020, she had to get a restraining order against another man who’d repeatedly appeared at her home in LA.
In other Billie Eilish news, she appeared on The Late Late Show with James Cordenon Tuesday night — the host’s final week — and reminisced about making her TV debut on the show six years ago. She recalled that Corden was “the first celebrity I’d ever been up close to.”
In her chat with Corden, Billie said she loved acting in the current Prime Video series from Donald Glover, Swarm, because Glover is“my all-time hero.”
Of her upcoming Lollapalooza headlining gig, she noted, “I love playing festivals…it might not be all your fans or your crowd and so I feel like I have to prove something in a way that makes me feel better…like I’m working harder and putting more effort into it.”
Oprah Winfrey made a surprise appearance at Warner Bros. presentation of The Color Purple on Tuesday, where she introduced the first trailer for the movie musical based on Steven Spielberg‘s 1985 classic in which she starred.
“The Color Purple in 1985 was the biggest and most important thing that happened to me,” Winfrey told the audience, according to Variety. “This is a full circle moment to be part of this film. It holds great personal meaning.”
This update on the classic film, said Winfrey, is one that mothers will love, one that is elevated by “a musical factor that is so dynamic.”
“The magical realism is so perfected here,” she added.
The former talk show host was joined on stage by director Blitz Bazawule, as well as stars Taraji P. Henson and Danielle Brooks — who play Shug and Sophia, respectively — and Fantasia Barrino, who will reprise the role of Celie, which she originated in the Broadway show produced by Winfrey, Quincy Jones and Scott Sanders.
The Little Mermaid‘s Halle Bailey, Colman Domingo, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, H.E.R., David Alan Grier, Corey Hawkins, Elizabeth Marvel and Louis Gossett Jr. round out the all-star ensemble.
(WASHINGTON) — Bipartisan legislation set to be introduced Wednesday aims to provide more oversight of federal prisons as part of a renewed push to address reports of scandal and abuse.
The bill would create a hotline for prisoners to report misconduct to an accountability office. It would also mandate federal watchdog inspections, congressional reporting requirements and response plans from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
Titled the Federal Prison Oversight Act, the proposal builds on similar efforts last year and follows multiple investigations led by Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia that spotlighted misconduct and sexual abuse of inmates at the hands of prison guards.
“My bipartisan investigations of corruption, abuse, and misconduct in the Federal prison system revealed an urgent need to overhaul federal prison oversight,” Ossoff said as his office prepared to introduce the bill on Wednesday. “I am bringing Republicans and Democrats together to crack down on corruption, strengthen public safety, and protect civil rights.”
If the legislation passes through the divided Congress and is signed into law, the Justice Department’s inspector general would also be directed to conduct risk assessments of the 122 federal prison facilities run by the Bureau of Prisons. Investigators would then score the level of risk at each penitentiary, with higher-risk facilities receiving more scrutiny.
The bill is cosponsored by Republican Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana and Democratic Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“Today’s bill is the latest step in support of that mission to improve oversight and fulfill one of the fundamental purposes of the prison system: to provide safe and humane conditions of confinement and ensure the successful return of incarcerated individuals to the community,” Durbin said.
In December, former federal prison inmates testified about the abuses they faced while incarcerated. The testimony and accompanying Senate investigation laid the groundwork for the new bill, which takes a more expansive view of sexual misconduct to identify abusive behavior by prison staff.
Briane Moore told lawmakers in December that she was raped by an officer at a federal facility in West Virginia. She said the officer would take her to private areas of the facility to abuse her out of sight of surveillance cameras.
“I knew he had the power to prevent me from being transferred to a prison closer to my family closer to my daughter,” Moore said. “He was a captain with total control over me. I had no choice but to obey.”
Through more independent accountability protections, the new oversight bill aims to curb the potential for prison guards to wield their power over inmates in abusive ways. The legislation has broad support from prison reform and management stakeholders, including a prison workers union which represents 30,000 correctional officers, the American Civil Liberties Union and the prison reform group Families Against Mandatory Minimums.
“There is a crisis in our nation’s prisons and jails,” FAMM President Kevin Ring said in a statement. “Families with incarcerated loved ones and correctional officers have known about this crisis for years – and now Congress is on notice.”
Federal authorities have identified other concerning problems, beyond what the Senate highlighted. A February report from the Justice Department’s inspector general found the Bureau of Prisons “has not been able to identify the prevalence and scope of inmate-on-staff sexual harassment,” which particularly affects female officers.
(NEW YORK) — Three suspects have been arrested for allegedly throwing large landscaping rocks toward at least seven cars on Colorado roads last week, authorities said. The last of the seven incidents claimed the life of 20-year-old driver Alexa Bartell.
The suspects, all 18-year-old men, were taken into custody at their homes in Arvada overnight and are all facing charges of first-degree murder, with extreme indifference, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office announced. Additional charges are expected, authorities said.
It’s not clear which suspect or suspects — identified as Joseph Koenig, Nicholas “Mitch” Karol-Chik and Zachary Kwak — were driving during the spree, authorities said.
Around 10:45 p.m. on April 19, Bartell was driving when someone threw a large rock through her windshield, hitting and killing her, the sheriff’s office said.
In the hour before Bartell was killed, six other cars in the area had rocks thrown at them, according to the sheriff’s office. In two of those incidents, the drivers suffered minor injuries.
Nathan Tipton, a Lyft and Uber driver, was one of the four uninjured victims.
“When I found out that this series of events actually took a young lady’s life, I feel for Alexa and her family. It put me in a bit of a shock. My wife, it really got to her,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
“Nobody should lose their child for a random act. … It’s heartbreaking,” said Tipton, a dad of three.
The sheriff’s office said phone forensics and information from the public helped lead to the arrests.
The Shark Is Broken, a stage comedy that takes a behind-the-scenes look at the classic 1975 movie Jaws, is heading to Broadway, Sonia Friedman Productions and Scott Landisannounced on Tuesday. Ian Shaw — son of the late Robert Shaw, who starred as the shark hunter Quint in the film — wrote and stars in the production that “imagines what happened on board ‘The Orca’ when the cameras stopped rolling during the filming of Stephen Spielberg’s blockbuster.” Casting for the roles of Roy Scheider‘s Martin Brody and Richard Dreyfuss‘ Matt Hooper will be announced at a later date. Previews for The Shark Is Broken will begin July 25, at the John Golden Theatre with an official opening set for Thursday, August 10…
Frasier alum Peri Gilpin, who played Roz Doyle, producer of the Seattle-based radio show, hosted by Kelsey Grammer‘s titular character will guest star in the Paramount+ sequel series, according to Deadline. When Frasier ended its run in 2004, Roz was promoted to station manager. Her role in the new series has yet to be revealed. Bebe Neuwirth is also set to return as Lilith Sternin in the sequel. The new series also stars Anders Keith as David, son of Niles and Daphne — played respectively by David Hyde Pierce and Jane Leeves. Pierce will not return for the sequel…
“This summer, everything changes,” reads the caption to the teaser trailer for season 3 of Netflix’s The Witcher, which will mark Henry Cavill‘s final season on the show. “Now, for the first time, I understand real fear,” Cavill’s character Geralt of Rivia is heard saying at the beginning of the clip, which also reveals the fantasy drama will return in two separate parts, premiering June 29 and July 27. Cavill announced he was leaving the Netflix series on Oct. 29 and that Liam Hemsworth was taking over the role for season 4…
(NEW YORK) — At a movie theatre in central Moscow this month, people had come to watch an illicit film. It wasn’t a documentary about the war in Ukraine or political persecution under Vladimir Putin’s regime; it was Avatar: Way of Water.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, Russian cinemas were supposed to have been left without most of the Hollywood blockbusters that had been the core of the country’s movie fare pre-war.
Within the first month of the war, the U.S.’ major movie studios announced they were pausing theatrical releases of their new movies in Russia, as Western governments imposed unprecedented sanctions on Moscow. Disney which produced the new Avatar, said it was doing so in response to “unprovoked invasion and tragic humanitarian crisis.” Warner Bros, Paramount, Sony Pictures, and Universal also stopped their releases.
But more than a year on, most major U.S. blockbusters are widely available in Russian movie theaters, which are circumventing the defacto boycott by illegally screening high quality pirated copies. With authorities doing little to stop and at times even encouraging the practice, it means Russian movie-goers are still able to watch most of the same movies as the rest of the world.
The theaters showing them are not underground pirate cinemas, but the country’s largest chains. Showings of Avatar: Way of Water, the second film in James Cameron’s Avatar series, were easy to find in theatres in Moscow and across Russia. As is the newly released live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. The versions shown are not shaky videos filmed from inside theaters but full-quality copies, including in 3D.
At the Kinomax cinema in Moscow’s Riga Mall, the scheme for showing Avatar: Way of Water was simple. Customers buy a ticket nominally for a different, Russian film, but that also includes a “preview” screening. In this case, the “preview” was the over three-hour Avatar sequel.
“It’s like you buy a ticket to one movie, and you’re getting another,” said Nikita, who came to watch the film and like most people ABC News spoke with at the cinema gave only their first name. “It’s a somewhat surprising situation but what can you do.”
Most outside the cinema also shrugged at the irregular showing, saying they were glad they still had the chance to watch foreign movies.
“We live in Russia. Nothing ever bothers us,” said Maria. “So, we have to look for some loopholes, tricks.”
The practice of presenting Avatar and other Hollywood films as “previews” is widespread in Russian theaters. The reason is an attempt to avoid fines under Russian laws, which still prohibit it.
To be released in cinemas, movies require a distribution certificate from the Russian ministry of culture. But by listing a licensed Russian film as the main billing with the Avatar “preview” tagged on, cinemas can write down the screening as legitimate, according to the Russian state newspaper Izvestia. An upshot of that is the little known Russian films are assigned the massive viewing figures and takings that in fact come from Avatar.
In reality, by showing Avatar as a preview, cinemas are still violating the culture ministry regulations, which carry a fine of roughly $1,200 to $2,450, according to Izvestia. But because of the high takings from films like it, many companies prefer just to risk the fine, the newspaper wrote, citing industry sources. And in any case, the ministry is hardly enforcing the rules, Izvestia wrote.
Russian authorities have done little to stop the screenings. In fact, former president, Dmitry Medvedev, a Putin ally and now deputy head of Russia’s security council, encouraged Russians to illegally download Western films and series no longer released in the country.
“Find the right pirates and download them,” Medvedev told Russian news agencies in March. “If they’ve left us, all these ‘Netflix’ and so on, it means we will download it all, we will use it for free. And I would that it was spread all round the internet, so as to cause them maximum losses. So that they go bankrupt.”
State television has also told people openly about the opportunity to watch the movies as previews in cinemas.
The Walt Disney Company declined to comment on the screenings of its movies in Russia. (Disney is the parent company of ABC News).
The studio boycott was initially catastrophic for Russia’s cinema industry. Movies released by Sony, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros accounted for 80% of the Russian market pre-war, according to a leading Russian industry magazine. Too few major domestically produced Russian features are made to fill the gap.
The Russian cinema industry has lobbied the government to legalize the unlicensed screenings and Russia’s parliament has moved towards doing so. The parliament now is reportedly close to completing a bill that would allow Russian companies to license films, series and music against the wishes of owners from “unfriendly countries,” which includes most Western countries. The bill would give Russian courts the right to re-assign the licenses to Russian companies in certain circumstances, according to the business paper, Vedomosti.
Some experts warn that would violate international trade agreements Russia is party to.
Movies are just one area where Russia is trying to adapt to its new isolation. Kremlin friendly businessmen bought some high-profile western brands and reopened them under new names: McDonalds’ is now “Tasty. Full Stop”; Starbucks has been reopened as “Stars”. Products from most well-known brands are still widely available via the gray market, imported by resellers from countries like Turkey or Kazakhstan.
Only a small percentage of the hundreds of foreign companies that announced they were leaving Russia have done so. The Kremlin has used hardball tactics to try to block the exit, creating bureaucratic hurdles that have made the process to leave complicated and expensive. Companies have to receive permission from a government commission to exit the market, selling at a below market price and now must make a direct donation from the sale to the Russian state.
Some companies decided to continue operating, but many are currently trapped, struggling to complete the exit process. The Kyiv School of Economics, which has been tracking over 3,100 foreign companies in Russia through its Leave Russia project, says only 216 have fully exited and 474 have announced a decision to leave.
“There were so many announcements when the war started by companies that they were going to leave. But in practical terms, it turned out to be very difficult unless you were prepared to just leave your business,” Tatiana Orlova, a lead economist at Oxford Economics told ABC.
On Tuesday, the actress, 34, and her boyfriend Derek Richard Thomas, a musician, shared a joint Instagram post featuring a photo of their newborn baby.
“Louetta Isley Thomas Willis You are pure magic,” the couple wrote in the caption.
“Born at home on Tuesday April 18th,” they added. “You are more than we ever dreamed of.”
Rumer first announced she was expecting in December, posting a photo of her belly on Instagram.
Her sisters and mother Demi Moore have supported her on her journey to motherhood.
In December, Moore shared a photo of herself at one of Willis’ ultrasound appointments. Moore’s daughters Tallulah Willis and Scott LaRue Willis were also seen in the photo.
At the time, Demi wrote that it was an “honor to witness” her daughter’s journey to motherhood.
“Saying hello to the little nibblet!! Overjoyed for you, my sweet Rumer,” she wrote in the caption. “It’s an honor to witness your journey into motherhood, and can’t wait to welcome this baby into the world!”
Moore shares all three daughters with actor Bruce Willis. Bruce also has two daughters with his wife Emma Heming Willis, 8-year-old Evelyn Penn and 11-year-old Mabel Ray.
