Broadway legend Patti LuPone is now part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, thanks to a scene-stealing role as Lilia Calderu, a 450-year-old Sicilian witch in Agatha All Along.
And while she tells Variety she still knows “nothing” about the MCU at large, she has thrown down the gauntlet with one of its newest superstars, Ryan Reynolds.
Not Reynolds’ foul-mouthed, fourth wall-breaking character, mind you, but apparently the affable actor from Vancouver who helped save the MCU from its recent box office slump with Deadpool & Wolverine.
She hasn’t seen any Avengers movies, and confessed she didn’t want to, before adding, “Maybe I should say I want to because I want to be in the Marvel Universe.”
She explained she’d like to either play a “good witch or a villain” on the big screen, then called out Reynolds personally. “Is Deadpool, are they Marvel?” she asked. When she heard that is indeed the case, she added, “I would fight Ryan Reynolds. I have no idea what Deadpool is, but I would just fight Ryan Reynolds.”
Incidentally, LuPone told the trade she watched WandaVision three times to prepare for her role in the spin-off, which debuts Wednesday on Disney+, adding, “I finally understood a little of it.”
Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — A man who was left paralyzed after diving into a swimming pool as a teenager was recently able to drive again for the first time, eight years after his injury.
Ryley Hopper, 27, got behind the wheel of a specially equipped van on Aug. 14, his first time driving since he was paralyzed from the chest down at the age of 19.
“It’s a very empowering, independent thing,” Hopper told ABC News’ Good Morning America, about reclaiming the freedom to drive again. “I wanted to want something … to find a purpose to attack head on.”
Hopper was a college freshman at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and enjoying a summer swim in his friend’s pool in 2016 when he flipped into the shallow end, hit the bottom and lost consciousness.
His friend, trained as a lifeguard, performed CPR on Hopper to keep him stable until the ambulance arrived.
The accident left Hopper with a life-altering C5-C7 spinal cord injury that resulted in paralysis from the chest down.
He spent nearly a month at Duke University Hospital, including four days in a medically induced coma, before being transferred to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta for two months of intensive inpatient rehabilitation.
“In the beginning, I was figuring out what the future would look like … my first goal was to get back to school,” said Hopper, who prioritized returning to UNCW the following fall semester to complete his undergraduate and graduate finance degrees.
With his mother as his caretaker and a supportive community behind him, a couple years after entering the workforce, Hopper said he was ready to “attack this driving thing … and be more in control of my life.”
“It took a while to reset my mindset,” he said, but “minutes after being in the car, the butterflies went away.”
Hopper attributes spending time outside as a factor in his post-injury progress, and for him, driving is an extension of that.
“A lot of healing is done indoors — in and out of physicians’ offices — and the natural world isn’t always accessible,” said Hopper, who said he aspires to one day create a space for people with disabilities to participate in accessible outdoor activities and reconnect with nature.
When setting spinal cord injury recovery milestones, Hopper also underscores the importance of mental health and striving for personal growth.
“I’ve been given a unique perspective because of my injury, and I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for the struggle I’ve been through,” he said.
For others dealing with a spinal cord injury, Hopper reminded them to not forget to find the silver lining.
“Find peace and serenity,” he said. “Once you realize that you’re in a position that grants you a unique perspective on life … it’s a kind of superpower in itself.”
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on September 17, 2024. (JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
(FLINT, Mich.) — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday took aim at Vice President Kamala Harris’ family life, saying the presidential candidate “doesn’t have anything keeping her humble.”
The governor said during a rally for former President Donald Trump that her children are a “permanent reminder of what’s important” and they “keep me humble.”
“You can walk into a room like this where people cheer when you step onto the stage and you might think for a second that you’re kind of special,” Huckabee Sanders told a crowd in Flint, Michigan. “Then you go home, and your kids remind you very quickly you’re actually not that big of a deal.”
She added, “So my kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping her humble.”
Whether politicians have biological children has become a partisan issue in recent weeks, following comments made by Sen. JD Vance, who is running alongside Trump. In a resurfaced interview from 2021, Vance argued that voters without children should be subject to a higher tax rate.
Vance also in 2021 took aim at Harris, saying she was among a group of “childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.” Speaking to Fox News, Vance accused that group of wanting “to make the rest of the country miserable too.”
When Taylor Swift endorsed Harris earlier this month, the pop star signed her endorsement with “Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady.”
Harris is the stepmother of two adult children, Cole and Ella Emhoff, from the first marriage of her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff.
“Cole and Ella keep us inspired to make the world a better place,” Kerstin Emhoff, their mother, said on social media in response to Huckabee Sanders.
She added, “Kamala Harris has spent her entire career working for the people, ALL families. That keeps you pretty humble.”
Republican vice presidential nominee, Sen. J.D. Vance speaks with media at the airport before he departs, Sept. 14, 2024, in Greenville, N.C. (Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Haitian migrants residing in Springfield, Ohio, shared with ABC News their harrowing experiences of living in constant fear, expressing deep concerns about their safety that prevent them from venturing outside their homes.
In a town of more than 58,000 residents, threats of bombings and shootings led to the closure of city buildings and schools for several days. Wittenberg University canceled all activities on Sunday and classes on Monday as a precautionary measure.
James Fleurijean, a Haitian Community Help & Support Center member, stated that the continual spread of false and divisive statements from prominent politicians was fostering an environment of fear.
“I know some parents like for this period of time they’re trying to keep their children home, like, by the time they see how things gonna be, like, wait for a couple of weeks to see if things that are calm down, or if things gonna escalate,” Fleurijean said. “You see, that’s why, like some parents, they don’t even send their children to school, like, for this week.”
Politicians, including former President Donald Trump, have heightened their fears. At the presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris last week, Trump claimed, “In Springfield, people are resorting to eating dogs, cats, and other household pets.”
Trump did not specify the ethnicity of the migrants he claimed were eating pets in Springfield, but on X, his running mate JD Vance continuously raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services.
“Kamala Harris dropped 20,000 Haitian migrants into a small Ohio town and chaos has ensued,” Vance said on X.
Vance appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press and informed reporters that Ohio locals have been lodging complaints for at least a year now.
“I have heard firsthand from multiple constituents – people who made 911 calls a month ago, a year ago, who were making these complaints,” Vance said. “I trust my constituents more than I do the American media that has shown no interest in what’s happened in Springfield until we started sharing cat memes on the Internet.”
ABC News spoke with a 28-year-old Haitian man who wanted to remain anonymous. He said he had come to Springfield from New Jersey less than a year ago to search for work. While waiting for ABC News, a passerby yelled “TRUMP” at him, he said.
The man mentioned that he used to see a lot of Haitians on the street, but he doesn’t see them anymore. He believes they are afraid. He mentioned that the Haitian community has felt terrorized.
Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has dismissed the rumors about Haitian immigrants eating pets as nonsense. He says the discussion has to stop and the focus should be on moving forward, not dogs and cats.
“Ohio is on the move, and Springfield has really made a great resurgence with a lot of companies coming in,” DeWine said. “These Haitians came in to work for these companies. They’re very happy to have them there. And, frankly, that’s helped the economy.”
The majority of the 12,000 to 15,000 migrants who have arrived in Springfield over the past four years are from Haiti, according to the city of Springfield. These Haitian migrants left their country due to gang-related violence and poverty, in search of stability, safety, and job opportunities. They came to the U.S. under the Temporary Protected Status designation.
Aging, beauty and the pressure to look young — those are some of the themes explored in the movie Shell, which just had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Shell stars Elisabeth Moss as an actress pressured into a radical medical treatment in order to stay good-looking enough to be relevant in Hollywood.
Moss’ The Handmaid’s Tale co-star Max Minghella directs the film, and tells ABC Audio the film explores our obsession with youth and good looks.
“Central to this film is sort of the concept of mortality and vanity, and beauty and all of these things that are so universal to everybody, but actually so hyper-relevant to this kind of moment in time when everybody is sort of on Ozempic and people being worked on, and filters and social media,” he says.
The film is set in the near future, but has a kind of throwback ’80s vibe to it that pays homage to some of Minghella’s influences.
“Certainly Paul Verhoeven and Brian De Palma were filmmakers I thought about a huge amount making this. And if you look at the work of Paul Verhoeven, there’s a quite a lot of this tonality, especially around science fiction and futurism,” he shares. “So the movie Shell itself is a love letter to a kind of period of our films.”
Production is underway on The Handmaid’s Tale‘s sixth and final season, and Minghella shared his thoughts on the dystopian series ending.
“I’m very sentimental about it,” he says. “It’s been an almost 10-year journey making this show. It’s been a huge chapter in my life with an incredible group of people. And I feel very lucky that it came into my life. And I will be sad to see it go.”
Catherine, Princess of Wales attends day fourteen of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 14, 2024 in London. (Karwai Tang/WireImage via Getty Images, FILE)
(LONDON) — Kate, the princess of Wales, held a meeting Tuesday at Windsor Castle, marking a milestone in her recovery from cancer.
The meeting, which focused on Kate’s passion project of early childhood development, was officially recorded in the court circular, the official record of engagements carried out by working royal family members.
It is the first meeting recorded for Kate since she announced in March that she had been diagnosed with cancer.
Kate, the wife of Prince William, shared in a video message released on Sept. 9 that she has completed chemotherapy.
In her message, Kate, a mom of three, said her focus has now shifted to staying “cancer free” and gradually returning to work.
“Doing what I can to stay cancer free is now my focus. Although I have finished chemotherapy, my path to healing and full recovery is long and I must continue to take each day as it comes,” she said. “I am however looking forward to being back at work and undertaking a few more public engagements in the coming months when I can.”
Kate announced her cancer diagnosis in March after undergoing what the palace described at the time as “planned abdominal surgery” in January.
She has not revealed publicly what type of cancer she faced, nor exact details of her treatment beyond that she was undergoing “preventative chemotherapy.”
Since March, she has been seen only a few times publicly, including attending Trooping the Colour in June and watching the men’s singles final at Wimbledon in July alongside her daughter Princess Charlotte.
Netflix has dropped a teaser trailer for Woman of the Hour, starring Pitch Perfect‘s Anna Kendrick in her directorial debut. The “stranger-than-fiction story,” based on real events, follows “an aspiring actress in 1970s Los Angeles and a serial killer in the midst of a yearslong murder spree whose lives intersect when they’re cast on an episode of The Dating Game,” according to a synopsis in the teaser’s description. Woman of the Hour, starring Kendrick and Daniel Zovatto, premieres Oct. 18 on Netflix …
The trailer for season 3 of the Netflix drama Heartstopper, released on Sept. 17, features Charlie and Nick — played respectively by Joe Locke and Kit Connor — looking to take their relationship to the next level. As their relationship blossoms and “they learn more about each other and their relationships, plan social events and parties and start thinking about university choices, everyone must learn to lean on those they love when life doesn’t go to plan,” according to the official synopsis. Heartstopper season 3 launches Oct. 3 on Netflix …
Apple TV+ has canceled its TV adaptation of Terry Gilliam‘s 1981 cult classic Time Bandits after just one season, according to Variety. The fantasy series, created by Jemaine Clement, Iain Morris and Taika Waititi, follows “a ragtag group of thieves” — led by Friends alum Lisa Kudrow — “and their newest recruit: an 11-year-old history buff named Kevin. Together they set out on a thrilling quest to save the boy’s parents — and the world,” per the streaming service …
Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for a pretrial hearing, following his overturned sex crimes conviction, in New York City, July 19, 2024. (KENA BETANCUR/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Harvey Weinstein’s criminal sexual assault case is scheduled to return on Wednesday to a Manhattan courtroom — and if Weinstein shows up he will be arraigned on a new indictment.
The charges remain sealed until Weinstein appears. The former movie mogul missed his last court date after being rushed to the hospital for emergency heart surgery.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office presented to the grand jury allegations of three separate women who said Weinstein sexually assaulted them. Their allegations were not part of the initial trial of Weinstein that ended in a conviction, which was later overturned on appeal.
“We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement earlier this year, when the conviction was overturned.
Weinstein has denied all claims of sexual misconduct, saying his encounters were consensual.
Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Sept. 13, 2024. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Amid Florida’s state investigation into the apparent assassination attempt made against Donald Trump, Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe told the former president additional planning and security procedures are needed for him to continue his golf outings.
Trump met with Rowe to discuss future protocol Monday afternoon, sources familiar with the briefing told ABC News.
Trump was encouraged by the acting director to give more or as much notice as possible for golf outings or any type of trip where he would be out exposed to the public.
With more notice, the USSS can request assets from local police to, for example, walk or search grounds before the Secret Service arrives and to station manpower at various locations, sources said.
It’s not clear what changes Trump may make to his golf schedule considering Rowe’s recommendation for increased security and planning.
On Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he signed an executive order to launch a state investigation into Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt on Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club, saying “we need trust and transparency.”
During a news conference, DeSantis said he has assigned the state investigation to the Office of Statewide Prosecutor under the supervision of state Attorney General Ashley Moody. The governor said the state has jurisdiction over the “most serious straightforward offense, which is attempted murder,” which could carry a life sentence if the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, is convicted.
DeSantis questioned the federal government’s ability to properly investigate and prosecute the second assassination attempt in two months on Trump.
DeSantis said Americans are still waiting to learn the motive for the first attempt on the former president’s life at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which a Secret Service sniper killed the suspect after he fired eight rounds with an AR-15-style rifle at Trump from the roof of a nearby building, investigators said. Trump suffered a bullet wound to the ear in the Butler incident and one rallygoer was killed and two were injured.
“In my judgment, it is not in the best interest of our state or our nation to have the same federal agencies that are seeking to prosecute Donald Trump leading this investigation, especially when the most serious straightforward offense constitutes a violation of state law but not federal law,” DeSantis said.
The Department of Justice declined to comment when asked by ABC News for a response to DeSantis’ remarks.
Routh, a convicted felon, was arrested shortly after what FBI officials described as an “apparent assassination attempt” on Trump at the Republican presidential nominee’s Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Federal prosecutors announced Monday that the 58-year-old Routh has been charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Routh was allegedly lying in wait on the periphery of the golf course for nearly 12 hours when a Secret Service agent several hundred yards ahead of Trump spotted the barrel of a rifle poking out from the tree line and opened fire on the gunman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida said Monday. Routh allegedly ran to a car and drove off, leaving behind a loaded SKS-style 7.62×39 caliber rifle with a scope and two bags, including a backpack, federal officials said.
A citizen helped catch Routh in neighboring Martin County after taking a photo of the suspect’s getaway car and giving it to police, officials said.
The FBI is leading the investigation of the incident and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida is prosecuting the case against Routh.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland made his first on-camera remarks Tuesday addressing the suspected assassination attempt.
“I just want to note the FBI is continuing to investigate the apparent assassination attempt of the former president that occurred on Sunday in Florida,” Garland said. “We are grateful he is safe. The entire Justice Department, particularly the FBI, U.S. Attorney’s Office the Southern District of Florida, the National Security Division are all coordinating closely with our local, state law enforcement partners on the ground. We will all work together to tirelessly determine accountability in this matter. We will spare no resource in this investigation.”
On Monday, Markenzy Lapointe, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said at a news conference that the “U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Department of Justice would be unable to carry forth our mission without the invaluable assistance of our federal, state and local law enforcement partners.”
Acting Secret Service Director Ron Rowe Jr. said Monday that Trump was never in the line of sight of the suspected gunman and that the suspect did not get off a single shot.
Trump praised the Secret Service for protecting him during a phone call on Tuesday with ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl.
“I’m fine. The Secret Service did a good job, actually,” Trump said.
Asked by Karl if he thought the Secret Service has a good handle on protecting him during a heightened threat environment in the final days of the presidential campaign, Trump said, “Yeah, I do. I think Secret Service is doing a good job, and they did a very good job the last couple of days. On that event, I thought they were excellent.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose agency oversees the Secret Service, also praised Trump’s protection detail during an event hosted by Politico on Tuesday.
“They should be commended,” Mayorkas said.
Mayorkas said agents from the Secret Service eliminated the threat quickly and the agency has increased the former president’s protection.
“We, the United States Secret Service, has indeed enhanced the former president’s security posture so that he is receiving a level of security commensurate with the fact that he’s a former president and on the campaign trail,” Mayorkas said.
Moody said the state investigation into the incident will be handled by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Highway Patrol.
“The people of Florida deserve answers, and we will not stop until we know the truth and how we can best prevent similar attacks in Florida,” Moody said.
Moody said the state agencies will “investigate what happened when something went terribly wrong, when someone was allowed to remain on the periphery of a golf course in a tree line for 12 hours and get within 500 [yards]” of Trump.
Mark Glass, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said his agency will “hunt for the truth.”
“Florida is a law-and-order state and we will not sit idly by while anybody stonewalls information sharing amongst our law enforcement entities,” Glass said without elaborating. “We know that if we want answers, we’ve got to go get them.”
Routh is being held at Federal Detention Center Miami, according to the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator. He is expected to remain in custody there pending his detention hearing next Monday and likely his trial.
Ambulances are being dispatched to the area in Beirut, Lebanon while security forces take precautions after at least eight people, including a child, were killed in a mass explosion of wireless communication devices known as pagers on September 17, 2024. (Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Thousands of people were injured across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday by an Israeli covert operation that remotely detonated pagers, ABC News sources confirmed.
A source described the attack as a “huge operation” that took between six and 12 months to plan, involving the use of informants and collaborators. Explosives were implanted inside the beepers, the source added.
The attack killed at least 12 civilians — among them an 8-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy — according to Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad.
At least 2,800 people were injured, Abiad said. More than 460 people underwent surgery for serious injuries, the minister added. Most victims are suffering from eye and facial injuries, while others suffered injuries to hands and fingers, he said.
The Hezbollah militant group confirmed that 11 of its members were killed on Tuesday, though did not specify the manner of their deaths.
At least 14 people were also injured in targeted attacks on Hezbollah members in Syria, according to the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Hezbollah vowed a “reckoning” for Israel. Leader Hassan Nasrallah is due to speak on the situation on Thursday afternoon.
The pagers began exploding around 3:30 p.m. local time, according to Hezbollah officials. An intelligence source familiar with the situation told ABC News that Israel has long been working to perfect this type of “supply chain interdiction attack.”
Responding to media reports that the explosives were concealed inside its AR-924 pager model, Taiwan-based beeper maker Gold Apollo told ABC News it was not responsible for the design or manufacture of the item.
“According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,” they said.
ABC News has contacted BAC for comment. The company is based in Budapest, Hungary.
The Lebanese Council of Ministers collectively condemned “this criminal Israeli aggression, which constitutes a serious violation of Lebanese sovereignty and a crime by all standards.”
It added that “the government immediately began making all necessary contacts with the countries concerned and the United Nations to place it before its responsibilities regarding this continuing crime.”
The United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon called the operation an “extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context,” in a statement released by the U.N. Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General.
U.S. officials said Washington, D.C., had no role in — or pre-knowledge of — the attack. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told journalists on Tuesday that the administration was “gathering information” on the incident.
The U.S. and the European Union have both designated the Hezbollah militant group a foreign terrorist organization.
