While he’s been scanned digitally during his tenure with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Robert Downey Jr. is warning “all future executives” against the idea of reanimating him using computer graphics tech.
In a sit-down with the On with Kara Swisher podcast, Downey talked about McNeal, his Broadway debut, which deals with artificial intelligence.
The conversation soon switched to one of the sticking points of the recent Hollywood strikes: studios using digital replicas of actors without their permission.
With regard to his previous digital likenesses — and their possible future use — Downey said of the Marvel Cinematic Universe gang, “I am not worried about them hijacking my character’s soul because there’s like three or four guys and gals who make all the decisions there anyway and they would never do that to me, with or without me.”
That said, he warned anyone else from doing so. “I would like to here state that I intend to sue all future executives just on spec,” he said, using a Hollywood term for a trial balloon script project.
“You’ll be dead,” Swisher noted, to which Downey replied, “I know, but my law firm will still be very active.”
Downey also admitted that despite the ubiquity of AI like Chat GPT and other tech, “I haven’t really played with any of these things,” adding of the play, “I wanted to maintain a bit of innocence going into this, and really have the character’s point of view, as this is taking place in the supposed near future, where it will all be different anyway.”
(PALM BEACH, Fla.) — Former President Donald Trump called his rally at Madison Square Garden a “lovefest” on Tuesday as backlash continues over racist and crude comments made by some speakers at the iconic New York City venue.
Trump spoke about the rally near the end of remarks at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday that were largely focused on swiping at Vice President Kamala Harris’ record ahead of her speech at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., where she’ll make a closing argument to voters.
“It was like a lovefest, an absolute lovefest,” Trump said. “It was my honor to be involved.”
“I don’t think anybody’s ever seen what happened the other night at Madison Square Garden, the love, the love in that room — it was breathtaking, and you could have filled it many, many times with the people that were unable to get in,” Trump said.
Trump did not address specific comments made on Sunday that prompted criticism, most notably comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke that Puerto Rico was an “island of floating garbage.”
Trump told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott earlier Tuesday that he didn’t know the comedian and hadn’t seen his comments despite them dominating the airwaves the past two days.
“I don’t know him, someone put him up there. I don’t know who he is,” Trump told ABC’s Scott.
When asked what he made of the comments, Trump didn’t take an opportunity to denounce them and repeated his claim that he hadn’t heard them.
His campaign has said the comedian’s comments don’t reflect the views of Trump or the campaign.
Trump did not take any questions from reporters during the event at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday.
The former president touched on a variety of familiar campaign themes as he hit Harris over her record on immigration and the economy.
With Harris expected to highlight the violence that happened on Jan. 6 during her speech in D.C. on Tuesday evening, Trump focused on immigration, using anti-immigrant rhetoric as he was standing next to people who have lost their family members to undocumented crime.
Trump had very low energy as he spent most of the press conference repeating his usual stump speech on border security, economy, foreign policy and other topics, but ended his remarks with a promise to “fight like hell” in the final week of the election and once he’s elected.
“We’re going to fight like hell for the next seven days and then hopefully…” Trump said.
“Hopefully, and most importantly, we’re going to be fighting even harder for the next four years because we’re going to turn this around and we’re going to make this country,” he concluded.
He also began his remarks by repeating falsehoods about the election, claiming Democrats “stole” it when President Joe Biden stepped aside and Harris was nominated as the party’s nominee. He also suggested there were “bad spots” in Pennsylvania, a battleground state considered crucial to the election outcome.
“There are some bad spots in Pennsylvania where some serious things have been caught, or are in the process of being caught, but the election itself is going very well,” Trump said.
The Simpsons will once again tackle the NFL with an ESPN team-up on Dec. 9 with the return of The Simpsons Funday Football.
Using Sony’s Beyond Sports Technology, the Monday Night Football game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Dallas Cowboys will be “transformed in real time” into a gridiron face-off set at Springfield’s Atoms Stadium, promising a “fully immersive fan viewing experience” that will see the players animated in Simpsons style as they play.
According to the teaser, Bart will be playing with the Bengals, and Homer will suit up with the Cowboys.
The traditional Monday Night Football telecast will be available on ESPN, ABC and ESPN Deportes, with Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli on ESPN2, starting at 8 p.m. ET.
It will also stream on Disney+ and ESPN+.
According to the producers, “The legendary Simpsons creators have collaborated on the look, sound and feel with ESPN and the NFL to ensure the authenticity of the longest running primetime scripted series with more than 750 episodes.”
ESPN and The Simpsons are owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
(FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.) — A Virginia au pair pleaded guilty Tuesday to manslaughter in connection to the 2023 murders of her employer’s wife and another man.
Juliana Peres Magalhaes’s employer, Brendan Banfield, was charged with murder last month in the case — a year after Magalhaes was arrested and charged.
Prosecutors said Magalhaes and Banfield began an extramarital affair in August 2022, and by the fall of that year, Banfield expressed his desire to “be rid of” his wife, Christine Banfield, according to the plea agreement obtained by ABC News.
Throughout the months that followed, Brendan Banfield would allegedly flesh out this plan, according to the prosecution. However, Magalhaes did not want to continue with at several points, prosecutors said, and allegedly did not believe Banfield would follow through with it, according to the plea agreement.
In the leadup to the double murder, Brendan Banfield allegedly created a profile on the sexual fetish site FetLife, where he found a man named Joe Ryan, the plea agreement details. He then allegedly had Magalhaes call Ryan, pretending to be Christine Banfield, to confirm both were willing to engage in sex at her home with the use of “restraints,” according to prosecutors.
When Ryan arrived at the house in February 2023, Banfield allegedly shot him in the head and then stabbed his wife to death, according to the prosecution agreement. Magalhaes then also shot Ryan, prosecutors said.
Magalhaes then allegedly called 911 and pretended Ryan had been an intruder, prosecutors said.
Magalhaes initially faced second-degree murder charges in connection to Ryan’s death. On Tuesday, Magalhaes pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter.
She could face up to 10 years in prison.
Her sentencing is scheduled to take place on March 21 after Banfield’s February trial.
“Today’s agreement marks a significant step forward in this case, and it is an important development in our pursuit of justice for the victims and their families,” Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said in a statement read outside the courthouse. “Much of the information that led to this agreement cannot be made public at this time due to the upcoming criminal trial against the other defendant in this matter.”
ABC News’ Cristina Corbin, Briana Stewart and Gemma Schneider contributed to this report.
On Monday evening, Courteney Cox followed Jennifer Aniston with a tribute to their former Friends co-star Matthew Perry, who died of a drug overdose on Oct. 28, 2023.
Along with a photo of herself with Perry, Cox wrote, “Missing you today and always.”
This followed Aniston’s Instagram post earlier in the day, which marked the somber occasion with the caption “One year.”
Another who paid tribute to Perry was Simpsons voice star, Friends guest star and Perry’s longtime friend Hank Azaria, who noted on X, “One year without Matthew.”
To a collage of pictures of the pair together, Azaria added, “He helped me get sober and made me laugh harder than anyone else. I miss him every day. The world isn’t the same without you, brother!”
Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine at 54 years old. Five people have been charged in connection with his death.
(WASHINGTON) — After making a surprise appearance at her husband’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, Melania Trump spoke out on “Fox and Friends” on Tuesday, fiercely defending him against reported comments that he had expressed admiration for Hitler.
“He is not Hitler and his supporters stand behind him because they want to see the country successful. We see what kind of support he has,” she said of the former president.
Donald Trump has falsely claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris called him Hitler (she cited reports that Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly said he had praised Hitler for doing some “good things” and wanted generals like Hitler’s).
Melania Trump called the criticism “terrible.”
The former first lady also said her husband was well aware of her position supporting abortion rights before her views were published in her new book.
Earlier this month, Melania Trump broke from the Republican Party by declaring those views in what some suggested was an eleventh hour move to court women before the election. She said on Tuesday that her husband knew about her stance long before the book came out.
“My husband knew my position, my belief, since the day we met. It was not a big surprise for him. I guess other people, the world did not know where my stances are,” she said. “He was not surprised, he knew about it.”
Discussing her Election Day plans, she indicated that she would vote on Tuesday. Donald Trump had floated voting early in a sign of unity with his party’s newer message of support on that subject — but he has continued to criticize the idea.
“We will be in Palm Beach and in the morning, we will go to vote, me and my husband, and then it will be a waiting time, period of waiting and we’ll see and I hope it is a success and a party in the evening,” Melania said, indicating that she hopes to know the results that same evening.
“I hope the election will be fair and everything will be selected as we say on Tuesday night,” she said.
“I feel good. We are feeling good. We are working hard. My husband, he’s all over the country, traveling, and as we saw, Sunday evening,” she said.
“I’m not anxious, this time is different. I have more experience and knowledge,” she said, discussing a potential Trump victory next week. “I was in the White House before. When you go in, you know what to expect. You know what kind of people you need to get, people on your team that have the same vision as me.”
Melania Trump again spoke in tandem with her husband, pointing to the economy and immigration as issues she hopes can be improved if he wins.
“Well, I would like to see country to be safe and prosperous, better economy and peace in the world. That is very important,” she said.
Commenting on her husband’s indictments, she said “it is part of it, part of the politics.”
“When he came to the White House for the first time when he was elected, I knew it would not be easy and I knew they would go after him. They did,” she said.
In her new book, Melania discussed feeling betrayed. Referring to what she called “misinformation” and “mistruths,” Melania highlighted tapes recorded by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former friend and senior adviser who wrote in “Melania and Me” that the former first lady showed frustration over criticism on the administration’s family separation policy.
“It is betrayal. They show the world who they are and they know what they did,” Melania Trump said. “To tape the first lady of the United States on phone calls and release to the public and edit phone calls, it is disgrace and should never happen to anybody.”
(DELPHI, Ind) — A pattern on the body of Delphi, Indiana, murder victim Libby German showed her blood was mixed with moisture, an officer testified at Richard Allen’s trial. The officer said he believes that moisture was Libby’s tears — which led family members watching his testimony in the courtroom to audibly react.
Libby, 14, and her best friend Abby Williams 13, were walking along a hiking trail in rural Delphi when their throats were cut and they were left in the woods on Feb. 13, 2017. Their bodies were found the next day.
Maj. Pat Cicero of the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department took the stand Monday. Cicero was not at the crime scene in 2017, but he said he studied the scene photos and various reports.
Abby’s mother cried quietly in the courtroom as prosecutors showed close-up photos of the girls’ faces, bodies, hands, feet and legs.
Cicero showed the jury an image of a blood stain on a tree. He explained it was a transfer stain, meaning it was left behind when a bloodied object touched it.
Cicero testified that the blood stains and patterns on the tree led him to him believe the attack on Libby started at the tree, with swipes of a weapon possibly causing the splatter on the tree.
Libby died from her wounds in a large pool of blood while leaning against the tree, Cicero said. He said he believes she was then dragged about 20 feet to where her body was found.
Abby was likely restrained or unconscious when she was killed, Cicero said, because there was no blood on her hands or arms and she was found with her hands raised vertically.
“Her final position is almost like she was boxing,” he said.
Cicero said he’s been to hundreds of crime scenes and described the position of Abby’s body as very unusual. “I’ve never seen it,” he said.
He also said Abby likely didn’t die right away. “This would have taken some time,” he said.
Allen has admitted to being on the hiking trail the day the girls were killed but he denies any involvement in the murders.
Supermodel Gisele Bündchen is reportedly pregnant with her third child, her first with her jiujitsu instructor boyfriend, Joaquim Valente.
A source tells People, “Gisele and Joaquim are happy for this new chapter in their life and they’re looking forward to creating a peaceful and loving environment for the whole family.”
Bündchen is also mom to Benjamin, 14, and Vivian, 11, with her ex-husband, NFL champ and football commentator Tom Brady.
The former super-couple divorced in 2022 after 13 years of marriage.
Rumors began swirling that Gisele, 44, was romantically involved with Valente, 37, shortly after she finalized her divorce from Brady. However, she denied they were anything but friends to Vanity Fair in 2023, until finally going public in 2024, with Bündchen telling the New York Times, “This is the first time I am seeing someone that was a friend of mine first.”
(NEW YORK) — Police are investigating the murder of a woman at a high-end resort in the Hamptons.
A staff member at the Shou Sugi Ban House found the victim dead in a guest room on Monday afternoon, Suffolk County police said. The resort is in Water Mill, located between Southhampton and Bridgehampton.
The woman hasn’t been identified, police said, adding that her cause of death will be determined after an autopsy.
No one has been taken into custody.
Police ask anyone with information to call the department at 631-852-6392 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.
Another behind-the-scenes video of the upcoming Bob Dylan movie A Complete Unknown has been released, giving us another look at Timothée Chalamet as the future Rock & Roll Hall of Famer.
The latest clip is soundtracked to Chalamet’s performance of “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” and features footage of the actor shooting the classic video for the song, which had Dylan holding cue cards with lyrics from the tune.
There’s also behind-the-scenes footage of the production shooting scenes of the Newport Folk Festival and Monterey Pop Festival, and more.
Set in New York in the ’60s, A Complete Unknown follows a 19-year-old Dylan at the beginning of his career, through to his historic electric set at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.
In addition to Chalamet, A Complete Unknown stars Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash and Nick Offerman as Alan Lomax. Elle Fanning plays Sylvie Russo, a character based on Dylan’s real-life girlfriend and muse Suze Rotolo.
