In brief: ‘Running Point’ season 2 gets release date and more
Two Saturday Night Live alum are teaming up for a new series at Apple TV. Variety reports that Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cecily Strong will star in a limited drama-comedy series inspired by the New York Magazine article The Nanny Squatter by Bindu Bansinath. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You director Mary Bronstein will write, direct and showrun the series, which centers on a couple whose lives are upended after they welcome a caregiver into their home …
Netflix has shared its first look and release date for season 2 of Running Point. The series, which comes from executive producer Mindy Kaling and stars Oscar nominee Kate Hudson, returns with more episodes on April 23. Season 2 also stars Drew Tarver, Brenda Song, Scott MacArthur, Fabrizio Guido, Chet Hanks, Toby Sandeman, Uche Agada and Justin Theroux …
Chris Pine is looking to team up with Emma Stone. Deadline reports the actor is in talks to star alongside Stone in an upcoming romantic comedy film for Universal Pictures. While the film’s plot is being kept under wraps, Stone’s husband, Dave McCary, will direct it from a script by Patrick Kang and Michael Levin …
A federal judge in New York on Thursday gutted much of Blake Lively’s case against her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni, including her claims she was subjected to sexual harassment on set.
Lively is allowed to pursue certain claims of retaliation against Baldoni’s public relations team over alleged harm to her reputation, according to the ruling by Judge Lewis Liman.
The decision comes one month before the scheduled start of the trial while the two sides have been in settlement negotiations.
In his ruling, Liman said some of Baldoni’s conduct “was not so far beyond what might reasonably be expected to take place between two characters” in a sexually charged movie like It Ends With Us.
“That Baldoni suggested scenes involving sexual acts in the context of developing a motion picture involving such adult themes did not create a ‘sexually objectionable environment’ or an environment hostile to women (or to men) because of sex,” Liman added.
Liman is allowing Lively to pursue her claims of an orchestrated smear campaign by Baldoni’s PR team, which Liman said, “at least arguably crossed the line.”
“The reputational effects have been particularly severe given the nature of Lively’s profession, which places a heavy emphasis on personal and professional marketability,” Liman wrote.
Sigrid McCawley, a member of Lively’s legal team, told ABC News in a statement: “This case has always been and will remain focused on the devastating retaliation and the extraordinary steps the defendants took to destroy Blake Lively’s reputation because she stood up for safety on the set and that is the case that is going to trial.”
“For Blake Lively, the greatest measure of justice is that the people and the playbook behind these coordinated digital attacks have been exposed and are already being held accountable by other women they’ve targeted,” McCawley added. “She looks forward to testifying at trial and continuing to shine a light on this vicious form of online retaliation so that it becomes easier to detect and fight.”
McCawley ended the statement by saying, “Sexual harassment isn’t going forward not because the defendants did nothing wrong but because the court determined Blake Lively was an independent contractor, not an employee.”
Meanwhile, Alexandra Shapiro and Jonathan Bach of Baldoni’s legal team, said in a statement to ABC News: “We’re very pleased the Court dismissed all sexual harassment claims and every claim brought against the individual defendants: Justin Baldoni, Jamey Heath, Steve Sarowitz, Melissa Nathan, and Jennifer Abel.”
“These were very serious allegations, and we are grateful to the Court for its careful review of the facts, law and voluminous evidence that was provided,” Baldoni’s legal team added. “What’s left is a significantly narrowed case, and we look forward to presenting our defense to the remaining claims in court.”
In February, the two actors and their attorneys attended a court-ordered settlement conference at the United States District Court in New York, in an attempt to reach a settlement in Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni but were unsuccessful.
The court-ordered settlement conference was a last-ditch attempt at resolving the legal battle that has now stretched on for more than a year.
Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department in December 2024, accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of It Ends with Us and accusing both Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios of engaging in a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” her reputation.
The two later filed lawsuits against each other in New York, with Lively reiterating the claims made in her earlier complaint and accusing Baldoni and Wayfarer of allegedly engaging in “unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing” to ruin her reputation in a lawsuit seeking $500 million in damages.
Baldoni’s attorney denied the allegations.
Shortly after Lively filed her lawsuit, Baldoni filed a $400 million countersuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and the couple’s publicist for extortion and defamation, claiming Lively had “robbed” him of control over the film and had destroyed his reputation.
Lively’s lawyers denied the allegations and called Baldoni’s suit “another chapter in the abuser playbook.”
A federal judge in New York dismissed Baldoni’s suit last June, formally ending the counterclaim in October after Baldoni did not refile an amended complaint.
(L-R) François Arnaud and Robbie G.K. in ‘Heated Rivalry.’ (Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max)
Heated Rivalry has rapidly become a pop-culture phenomenon, taking over social media with fans buzzing about representation in the hit hockey romance series, including a real-life player who recently said it helped him come out.
The series, which was adapted from books by Rachel Reid and airs on HBO Max in the U.S., features steamy storylines and candid depictions of closeted male hockey players in lust and in love.
The lead actors Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams rapidly catapulted to stardom, as well as their co-star Robbie G.K., who plays a smoothie barista who is navigating his relationship with the hockey team’s captain.
G.K. recognized the importance of what the show’s representation has come to mean for many viewers.
“It’s almost like a bit of a haven that it creates within the storyline for people to find comfort in, and if I had known the impact and the gravity of that storyline, I definitely would have overthought things,” G.K. said in an interview that aired Friday on Good Morning America.
On Tuesday, real-life hockey player Jesse Kortuem shared a post on Facebook saying the show inspired him to reveal publicly that he is gay.
“Heated Rivalry helped me realize that visibility matters,” Kortuem told GMA. “It finally allowed me to be that voice for so many that came before me to fight for hockey and inclusion in hockey.”
Reid told GMA that she’s also heard from “quite a few heterosexual men” that it has helped improve their marriages.
As for the inspiration for the story, she said that as a lifelong hockey fan “I’ve had a lot of problems with hockey culture and this was a way for me to get a lot of those feelings out on paper.”
A second season of Heated Rivalry is on the way, along with a new book titled Unrivaled.
Poster for ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ (20th Century Studios)
We are getting our first look at The Devil Wears Prada 2.
The trailer for the sequel to the 2006 hit just dropped, giving fans a peek at the reunited cast, including Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs, Stanley Tucci as Nigel and Emily Blunt as Emily.
The clip begins with a voice-over from Tucci, as we see Hathaway’s character entering the offices of Runway magazine.
“Runway is not just a magazine, it’s a global icon, a winding road that brings us back together again,” he says.
We then see Andy walk into Miranda’s office, only for Miranda to not recognize her. “Sorry, who is this?” Miranda asks Nigel. “Do you know her? Do I know her?”
The trailer cuts to clips of Miranda and Andy in a bunch of glamorous locations. It ends with Miranda, Andy and Nigel bumping into Blunt’s character in the office.
“Am I having a hallucination?” she says, with Miranda once again surprised that someone knows Andy. “We were at Runway at the same time,” Emily says, before Miranda quips, “Really? Where was I?”
