Cyrano, out today, is the story of Cyrano de Bergerac, for a new generation.
Peter Dinklage and Hayley Bennett star in this new interpretation of the classic French play directed by Joe Wright, who tells ABC Audio this version has a lot to say about love, particularly not to be “afraid.”
“Don’t be afraid to allow yourself to be seen. Don’t be afraid of intimacy, although it’s very understandable that we are,” Wright says. “And remember to tell the one you love that you love them.”
Bennet adds, “I think it has everything to say about our inability to express and accept love.”
“It’s a beautiful story about hiding our love and not feeling worthy of it,” she continues. “And then hopefully, ultimately, and maybe not too late, finding the courage to express it.”
Joining Dinklage and Bennett on-screen is Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Christian, the soldier who has Roxanne’s affections through devious means. Harrison Jr. tells ABC Audio he spent a lot of time with Dinklage, and he was a little star-struck at first.
“I think I was more so intimidated…Pete’s incredible. He’s a legend,” he raves.
“But, you know, I also understand that like when I go onto a set, they’re not looking for a kid to come fanning at them. And so I try to come in with some respect,” he adds with a laugh.
In addition to a story about love, this version of Cyrano is a musical, featuring songs from the band The National. Wright shares that the music serves a very specific purpose as it takes the place of the “long extended monologues” in the original play and “allow the audience access to an inner world of the characters that they might not otherwise gain.”
Katy Perry’s only been part of American Idol history its past few seasons, but as the 20th — yes, 20th — season of the show premieres Sunday night on ABC, the judge is still proud of what the show has accomplished, and continues to accomplish so many years into its run.
“People are having success, they’re changing their lives or changing their family’s lives. They’re getting awards, nominations,…Gabby Barrett, she’s massive now,” Katy tells ABC News of the season 16 runner-up.
“So, it feels good that there’s still stars coming out [of the show] and we’ve been doing that for 20 years,” Katy adds. “I’ve only been doing it for five, but hey!”
Fellow judge Lionel Richie agrees. “Don’t get me wrong, you know, there’s talent on other shows, but I’m talking about talent that goes on to have careers,” he says, adding, “That’s what American Idol delivers. 20 years later, we’re still doing it.”
This season, Katy says the contestants are “really going for it,” noting that the talent “just continues to get more legit.”
“I think [it’s] because every season people are tuning in, especially singer-songwriters and real artists and…they’re seeing other real artists…trying out,” she explains.
Ryan Seacrest, who’s hosted the show for all 20 years, agrees. “I think this franchise has another two decades ahead of it…It’s just a wonderful premise,” he declares.
“You look at undiscovered talent going to work every single day around the country,” he adds. “And all they need is one moment, one shot, one door to open and they could be the next Gabby Barrett or Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood. So I’m excited that we’re still going strong.”
2021 was the year of Megan Thee Stallion as she won numerous honors, including being named one of Glamour‘s Women of the Year. Now, the 27-year-old rapper is looking to go beyond music, with a Netflix production deal, and making her film debut in the movie musical F****** Identical Twins.
“I definitely want to be an actress, but I also really want to be a director. I love movies and I’m definitely a film buff,” the “Hot Girl Summer” star tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I like to create. Not only do I like to write music, I like to write stories. I definitely want to see these stories come to life.”
F****** Identical Twins, as described by THR, “follows two business adversaries who realize they’re identical twin brothers and decide to switch places in order to reunite their divorced parents and become a family again.”
On social media, Megan shared a screenshot of the exciting news of her film debut, and wrote, “HOTTIES THIS IS OUR FIRST MOVIEEEE/ MUSICAL! WITH SOME MOVIE LEGENDS.”
The Houston MC continued, “I’m so excited i feel so blessed i feel anxious lol i feel a bunch of s***…I really have been quietly putting in this work and i just cant wait for the hotties to see everything.”
Meanwhile, as Megan plans her first project for Netflix, she tells THR that her favorite TV series is Euphoria.
“They got me wanting to cry, wanting to scream and everybody is giving the best performances right now,” Megan says. “I know these are characters and the show is not real, but they got me yelling at the TV like, ‘Girl, get it together! What are you doing?!'”
Regarding Euphoria‘s star, her friend Zendaya, Megan says, “She’s the best actress, and perfectly cast.”
In a career filled with best-selling albums, worldwide tours and jam sessions with nearly every legendary rock star on the planet, Dave Grohl may have found his most unexpected project yet with Studio 666.
The new horror-comedy film stars Grohl and the rest of the Foo Fighters as fictionalized versions of themselves, who enter a creepy mansion to record their next album. Things soon turn from spooky to downright evil when Grohl is possessed by demonic forces and begins killing the other band members.
In between the R-rated flick’s blood, gore and entrails, one might find a metaphor for the way a song might “possess” someone as they write it, though Grohl doesn’t think it’s exactly the same thing.
“Well, it’s a little different, because in the film I’m inspired by Satan,” Grohl tells ABC Audio. “That’s not my typical motivation when I’m writing a Foo Fighters song. ‘Times Like These’ is not about the Devil.”
“Making this movie, we know what it’s like to make an album,” he adds. “We just had to learn what it’s like to make an album possessed by the Devil.”
Even putting Satan aside, making Studio 666 brought its fair share of surprises to Grohl and company.
“I thought the hardest part was sitting around waiting,” Grohl says, channeling his one-time band mate, Tom Petty.
“Remember the room that we would sit around and wait in?” laughs guitarist Chris Shiflett. “We did it so f***ing low-budget. Like, there was two folding chairs and, like, a dirty old couch or something in this room, and we would just be huddled in there for, like, 12 hours a day.”
The new season of American Idol kicks off this month, complete with a whole new batch of talented stars in the making.
But what does it take to make it to the final rounds of the competition? Judge Luke Bryan says it’s all about keeping the audience on their toes.
“To make it all the way to the finals in American Idol is to constantly keep an ace up your sleeve,” the country superstar explains. “Constantly keep growing and surprising us and constantly being true to yourself — but surprising the viewers at home.”
This season of the show marks AmericanIdol’s 20th anniversary, which means that the competition is fiercer than ever. This time around, Luke and his fellow judges kick things off by awarding the most talented contestants with a platinum ticket that allows them to sit out the next round of performances and go straight to Hollywood Week. But those platinum ticket holders will be held to an even higher standard: They’ll have to quickly adapt and evolve, delivering a blockbuster performance each time they step on stage.
“Keep everybody guessing, keep everybody on their toes,” Luke advises. “Once we think we got you figured out, then show us that we don’t have you figured out.”
Season 20 of American Idol premieres Sunday, February 27 on ABC.
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Whether you’re interested in great country music or great food, there’s plenty to love about Trisha Yearwood. The country hitmaker and Grand Ole Opry member is also the host of her own Food Network cooking show, Trisha’s Southern Kitchen.
Off the road, Trisha loves to cook simple, one-dish meals for herself and her country superstar husband, Garth Brooks. According to the Food Network’s website, one of her favorite weeknight meals is risotto.
Trisha’s even got a recipe for mushroom, asparagus and pea risotto, so fans can eat just like the country power couple.
When Garth’s in charge, however, their meals trend towards casserole form. “Anything that’s a one and done kind of thing, because he likes to eat the whole meal in a pan,” Trisha told Mashed recently, saying that broccoli, chicken, cheese and rice casserole is often on the menu.
The 20th — yes, the 20th — season of American Idol premieres Sunday night on ABC. While other singing competitions have come and gone since Idol premiered in 2002, judge Lionel Richie says there’s one thing that continues to makes it the gold standard.
“Don’t get me wrong…there’s talent on other shows, but I’m talking about talent that goes on to have careers,” he says. “That’s serious. And so what I love about this is, very clearly, we are looking for the stars of tomorrow, and that’s what American Idol delivers. Twenty years later, we’re still doing it.”
Lionel, who describes himself as the “wise old bird” of the judging panel, says there’s one thing that he and fellow judges Katy Perry and Luke Bryan look for in contestants above all else.
“You have to get our attention…the first time you open your mouth,” he explains. “Is that voice of yours identifiable? Because that’s how it works when you listen to music.” He adds, “Instant identity is everything.”
Katy Perry, meanwhile, tells ABC News that this season the contestants are “really going for it,” adding that the talent “just continues to get more legit.” She notes, “I think [it’s because] every season people are tuning in, especially singer-songwriters and real artists…and they’re seeing other real artists…trying out.”
Katy adds, “People are having success, they’re changing their lives…they’re getting awards nominations — [Season 16 runner-up] Gabby Barrett, she’s massive now. So it feels good that there’s still stars coming out [of the show].”
And host Ryan Seacrest, who’s been there for all 20 years, tells ABC Audio, “I think this franchise has another two decades ahead of it…it’s still a wonderful premise…so I’m excited that we’re still going strong.”
The Scorpions‘ long-awaited 19th studio album, Rock Believer, the band’s first new record since 2015’s Return to Forever, arrived today.
Frontman Klaus Meine tells ABC Audio that with the album, exemplified by its title track, The Scorpions deliver the message that they believe hard-rock music is alive and well, and that they know their fans feel the same way.
“The lyrics [of ‘Rock Believer’ are] about saying, ‘We are the essence of rock believers, doing this for so long,'” Meine explains. “And, of course, it was addressed to all the rock believers out there, addressed to the hard and heavy community.”
Meine says the band’s objective with Rock Believer was “for us to have great songs, powerful songs for our live set, and…for the hard and heavy fans out there hoping The Scorpions this time would not focus too much on ballads.”
Having said that, Meine notes that alongside various fast and mid-tempo rock songs on Rock Believer, there is indeed one ballad, “When You Know (Where You Come From).”
Asked to name some of his favorite songs on the album, Klaus says “When You Know,” “Rock Believer” and “Call of the Wild,” which he says is “a cool little…bluesy song.”
He also singles out “When I Lay My Bones to Rest” which he says he likes because it’s “a fast song, it’s so powerful, with really funny lyrics.”
The Scorpions recorded the album during the COVID-19 lockdown, and while some of the songs feature lyrics inspired by the global health crisis and other serious issues, Meine says he focused more on writing tunes “for the fans to enjoy and get away from this whole corona thing…and just to rock out with us with positive energy.”
Here’s Rock Believer‘s full track list:
“Gas in the Tank”
“Roots in My Boots”
“Knock ‘Em Dead”
“Rock Believer”
“Shining of Your Soul”
“Seventh Sun”
“Hot and Cold”
“When I Lay My Bones to Rest”
“Peacemaker”
“Call of the Wild”
“When You Know (Where You Come From)”
“Shoot for Your Heart”
“When Tomorrow Comes
“Unleash the Beast”
“Crossing Borders”
“When You Know (Where You Come From)” (Acoustic Version)
(PRIPYAT, Ukraine) — As Russian troops continue to inch their way through its invasion of Ukraine, a secondary catastrophe to the fighting between the ex-Soviet neighbors is possible: another nuclear reaction at Chernobyl.
On Thursday afternoon, Russian armed forces entered the deserted exclusion zone around the Chernobyl power plant, where the world’s worst nuclear accident took place in 1986. By night, Russian forces had taken full control of the area, including the plant itself, according to Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
The heavy fighting inside the “exclusion zone,” a vast and empty land surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear plant that includes the ghost city of Pripyat, is causing concern that it could spark another nuclear disaster. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano is watching the situation with “grave concern, appealing for “maximum restraint” amid the conflict to avoid putting the nuclear facility at risk.
“It is of vital importance that the safe and secure operations of the nuclear facilities in that zone should not be affected or disrupted in any way,” Mariano said in a statement.
On April 26, 1986, reactor No. 4 at the power plant, about 65 miles north of the capital Kyiv, exploded, spewing enormous amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere and causing more than 100,000 people in a 1,000-square-mile radius to evacuate.
The destroyed reactor itself was sealed in 2019 under a $2 billion arch-shaped shelter, a stadium-sized metal structure that was built over it to contain, but the other three untouched reactors remain “fully exposed,” said Tim Mousseau, a professor of biological sciences at the University of South Carolina who has been studying Chernobyl for more than 20 years.
“There are more than 5 million pounds of spent nuclear fuel, also uranium and plutonium and a few other nasty isotopes, sitting in the cooling ponds of the the three reactors that didn’t blow up in 1986,” Mousseau said.
The fighting represents an “existential threat” to the environment, Mousseau told ABC News.
Should missiles hit the structure over reactor No. 4, where “quite a bit” of radioactive material is left, or the facility where the spent nuclear fuel that accumulated over the decades of operation there is stored, it would cause large amounts of radioactive nuclear dust to spread throughout the region, Mousseau said.
“If this storage area were to be hit with any kind of any kind of missile, this could release vast quantities of highly radioactive material would spread far and wide, potentially causing an even larger disaster than the 1986 disaster,” he said.
In addition, the area surrounding the power plant is “absolutely the most radioactive place on the planet,” Mousseau said. That, combined with the “tinderbox” conditions left by severe forest fires in recent years, could allow a fast-sweeping wildfires to spew radio nuclides back into the atmosphere and “spread it again far and wide,” Mousseau said.
Russian forces in Chernobyl prove an additional worrying sign for Ukraine, as they are now about an hour’s drive from the capital. Russian special forces have also managed to keep hold of a key military airport just 20 miles from the very center of Kyiv, despite fierce fighting.
“Unfortunately, we are obliged to inform that as things stand the Chernobyl Zone, the so-called ‘Exclusion Zone’ and all the Chernobyl nuclear power station have been taken under the control of the Russian armed groups,” Shmyhal told UNIAN, Ukraine’s main news wire.
Russia’s decision to enter Ukraine through such a vulnerable region as Chernobyl could be emblematic of additional escalation to come, Mousseau said, describing the situation facing the disaster site as “the worst nightmare come true.”
“No one in their right mind would want to engage in warfare in that region for fear of unleashing potentially the largest nuclear disaster ever,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted that Ukrainian troops were fighting and “giving their lives” to avoid another 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
“This is a declaration of war against the whole of Europe,” Zelenskyy wrote of the occupation.
U.S. officials had predicted before the invasion that Russia would use special forces to land into the capital before forces from Belarus, which borders the northern side of the exclusion zone, would sweep down rapidly in an effort to back Russia’s lightning strike to seize the city.
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell, Cindy Smith and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
Russian occupation forces are trying to seize the #Chornobyl_NPP. Our defenders are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated. Reported this to @SwedishPM. This is a declaration of war against the whole of Europe.
(NEW YORK) — Approximately 5.2 million children have lost a parent or caregiver during the pandemic, according to a new study published in The Lancet medical journal Thursday.
An analysis by the same team of researchers in July 2021 had estimated 1.5 million children were orphaned during the first 14-months of the pandemic, meaning they lost at least one parent. But with new variants and a rising death count, the researchers said they felt compelled to re-evaluate the analysis.
Between May 2021 and October 2021, deaths globally nearly doubled compared to the months prior, a jump attributed predominantly to the delta variant. This new study estimates that approximately 5.2 million children are experiencing COVID-related orphanhood.
“What we found was shocking,” said Dr. Susan Hillis, the study’s lead author and a senior research officer at Oxford University, who completed this work while at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The number of children who lost at least one parent at the end of the first 20-months of the pandemic was greater than the total number of COVID deaths, and this gap is increasing, according to the study.
Children aged 10 through 17 were more likely to have lost a parent, with 2.1 million children affected. Still, over 490,000 children between ages 0 and 4, and 750,000 children between ages 5 and 10 lost a parent or caregiver.
Among all children, 3 out of every 4 lost a father, which is even more significant in low-income countries where the father is more likely to be the primary earner.
“COVID-related orphanhood does not come in waves,” Hillis said. “It is a steadily rising slope with the summit still out of our sight.” Although many may recover from an infection, losing a parent is not something that can be easily recovered from, she said.
“These are 5 million kids in one generation that will be living the rest of their lives in a very different way, and this affects us all,” said Dr. Natasha Burgert, a pediatrician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. Burgert was not involved with the study.
As part of their work, Hillis and her team said they developed a real-time calculator to predict loss of parent or caregiver by current mortality data for every country in the world. By the end of January 2022, the estimate had risen to 6.7 million children worldwide affected by COVID orphanhood, according to the research. In the United States, the researchers estimate over 149,000 children have lost a parent or caregiver.
However, despite these staggering numbers, Hillis say there is hope.
For the last 20 years, the U.S. government has been investing in evidence-based programs to ensure orphaned and highly vulnerable children affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic could be protected and supported to reach their potential, the researchers noted.
“We actually know the models that work,” Hillis says. “We have an opportunity to lead by example.”
Experts say these findings underscore the importance of vaccinating adults across the globe.
“Vaccines are keeping people alive in the face of this terrible virus and keeping families whole,” says Burgert.
While authors continue to call for equitable access to vaccines and treatment globally, the millions of children already orphaned still need support, they said.
“We need to be supporting our childcare centers, local schools and larger university systems with the resources needed to create a cushion of support and a safe place for social-emotional learning,” says Burgert. “Educators, counselors, administrators, physicians and legislators need to be preparing for the upcoming impact, and they will need everyone’s help.”
The CDC, WHO and many top experts around the world have agreed to the importance of adding an additional pillar to the world-wide COVID response: Caring for and protecting these children.
There is currently no governmental funding in the United States aimed at acknowledging and protecting these children in their hidden pandemic, the researchers noted.
“We have an unprecedented opportunity to change the narrative in our country away from divisiveness towards shared hope,” says Hillis. “It is a moral imperative for us to do what we know works to help the ones at home and to encourage every country in the world to do the same.”
Emily Molina, MD, an internal medicine resident physician at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
