Category: Entertainment

Directors Steven Spielberg and Spike Lee are the latest recipients of the National Medal of Arts, handed out by President Joe Biden on Monday. 

The award is “the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the federal government” and goes to “individuals or groups who are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support, and availability of the arts in the United States.”

The National Medals of Arts were handed out for 2022 and 2023, with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, Idina Menzel, Eva Longoria, Queen Latifah and Missy Elliott also being honored, along with the late Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla.

In addition, actor and literacy advocate LeVar Burton, writer Aaron Sorkin and the late chef Anthony Bourdain were honored with the 2023 National Humanities Medal, which “honors an individual or organization whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens’ engagement with history or literature, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to cultural resources.”

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Harry Potter fans have just gotten an update about Warner Bros.’ planned TV series about the boy wizard.

Variety reports that while speaking at Mipcom in Cannes, Warner Bros. TV Group Chairman and CEO Channing Dungey shared some tidbits about what to expect, and it seems the show plans to delve into the Potter world even more than the movies did.

Dungey said that being part of the series is an “unbelievable dream, honestly … and as somebody who is a huge fan of the books, the opportunity to get to explore them in a little bit more in-depth that you can in just a two-hour film … that’s the whole reason we’re on this journey.”

As for what stage the project is in, Dungey shared that the “writing staff was in place and they’re doing what they need to do, and casting calls have opened up in the U.K. and Ireland, so the process is moving along.” 

Dungey also offered an update on the future of Ted Lasso, noting, “We are in conversations about season four, and they are very exciting conversations, but it’s still early days.” 

Earlier reports said Warner Bros. TV had picked up the options for series regulars Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein and Jeremy Swift, and it sounds like star Jason Sudeikis could be returning as well in some capacity.

“We had always been clear that we there wasn’t going to be more Ted Lasso if Jason [Sudeikis] and team weren’t feeling excited about it,” Dungey said, “and I can tell you firsthand that he’s in a place where he’s feeling really excited and feels good about it”

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Leslie Uggams was already an entertainment legend before a whole new generation got introduced to her thanks to her role as Deadpool’s potty-mouthed roommate and sidekick Blind Al in 2016’s Deadpool. 

She reappeared in that blockbuster’s hit sequel in 2018 and entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the most recent installment, the smash Deadpool and Wolverine. In between that, she also snagged a co-starring role in the Prime Video series Fallout. 

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” she enthused to ABC Audio about her career resurgence.

Uggams took part in an event at New York City Comic Con over the weekend that saw a gaggle of Deadpool costumers board a tour bus and travel through the city. 

“I didn’t get to ride with them. But I tell you, it’s so comforting to see how many people love Deadpool and are willing to get in those outfits because it ain’t easy.” 

Between her role in the hit franchise and Fallout, the 81-year-old singer and actress says, “I’m having so much fun. I can’t tell you the fun I’ve been having.” 

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Jimmy Fallon has been talking about his new Christmas album for a while, but on Oct. 21 he revealed the track listing and which stars will be joining him for the project.

The album, called Holiday Seasoning, is made up of all original songs. Among the artists joining him are the Jonas Brothers for a track called “Holiday” and Justin Timberlake for a song called “You’ll Be There.” Also performing with Fallon are “Weird Al” Yankovic and the Tonight Show band The Roots on the song “New Year’s Eve Polka (5-4-3-2-1).” The Roots also join Fallon for the song “Hey Rudy.”

Other guests include Will Ferrell on the song “One Glove,” Chelsea Handler on the song “Merry Happy Christmas” and model/actress Cara Delevingne on “Hallmark Movie.”

Holiday Seasoning also features the previously released single “Wrap Me Up” with Meghan Trainor, which was a radio hit last year. Other previously released tracks include the 2021 track “It Was A … (Masked Christmas),” which Fallon recorded with Ariana Grande and Megan Thee Stallion, and Fallon’s 2022 duet with Dolly Parton, “Almost Too Early for Christmas.”

Holiday Seasoning is out Nov. 1.

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Zoe Saldaña has a record-breaking box office track record: Her movies have made more than $14 billion, and she is the only actress to have four movies make more than 2 billion bucks with 2009’s Avatar, 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, 2019’s Avengers: Endgame and 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water. 

That said, she tells Variety that somewhere along the way she lost her “spark” — which she found, along with Oscar buzz, for the musical drama Emilia Pérez. 

She confesses to the trade, “I felt stuck, in the sense that I was taking things for granted too much. I entered this cycle of doing these sequels, and for some reason I became cavalier with them.”

She also adds, “I wish I could go back and do a better job for [her Marvel character] Gamora and Uhura [in the Star Trek franchise],” commenting, “I think I did enough, but I could have done more. That’s just how I am.”

Although her dyslexia and her own “self-sabotage” make auditioning difficult — and she hadn’t done so in a while, what with all the sequels — she auditioned for French filmmaker Jacques Audiard for Emilia via Zoom. Twice, in fact.

He tells the trade she “constantly dazzled” him as Rita.

“Rita was supposed to be only 25 years old; however, as soon as I had Zoe in front of me, I realized that I’d been mistaken all along,” Audiard says.

The actress now says, “I just have this brand-new little spark. And I feel like Emilia really did that for me.”

Emilia Pérez, which is also generating Oscar buzz for Zoe’s co-star Selena Gomez, opens in select theaters in November and on Netflix Nov. 13.

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Aldis Hodge plays brilliant criminal psychologist Alex Cross in the forthcoming Prime Video series based on James Patterson‘s bestselling book series, and at New York Comic Con on Friday he talked about Cross with ABC Audio.

From the drop — a trailer of the show — fans were all in, the actor says. “The fan reaction really blew me away. I kept looking at YouTube, and it said over 14 million views, I’m talking within the first six days, and it kept growing.” 

“I’ve never experienced anything like that,” he said.

Hodge continued, “The fan reaction being so strong, it really just validates all the hard work of the entire team … and it lets me know just how special this is to the audience.” 

The series was renewed for a second season before production was even completed on the first, which Hodge said “shows a great deal of faith and belief in us, and gives us all a great deal of confidence.” 

He adds, “We came into a second season not comfortable — because we know we set a bar and we have to surpass that bar in the next one. But we know we have real support, and it is at times rare to have that kind of support … when you put your heart into something.” 

Aldis says, “It just elevates things and makes us go harder.” 

He adds with a laugh, “We still hopes this first season bangs, now, don’t get me wrong! But we want every season to be an elevation of the predecessor.” 

Cross debuts Nov. 14 on Prime Video.

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Jeffrey Dean Morgan is no stranger to the Comic Con experience, but it still floors him how fans have reacted to him since he joined The Walking Dead universe as Negan. 

“I mean, I had been in the kind of the comic book world for a little bit. I’d done, you know, Watchmen and The Losers. So I’d done some stuff. But Walking Dead, when I came in in season 6 was a whole ‘nother world.”

He adds, “I mean … it was huge. And I don’t think there’s any way to get to prepare yourself.”

He continues, “Yeah, it was nuts.”

“It still is!” said Morgan, who was sharing a press conference with his Walking Dead: Dead City co-star Lauren Cohan. “I still, you know, see stuff … you see people dressed as our characters or any number of toys and action figures, I think that it’s always a lot — in a good way.”

“Never gets old!” Cohan enthuses. “It’s exciting!” he agrees. 

Also at New York Comic Con over the weekend, the pair debuted a teaser to the second season of their hit AMC show Walking Dead: Dead City, which the actors also executive produce. It debuts in the spring of 2025.

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Believe it or not, Eva Mendes says she “never considered herself” beautiful — but it’s her longtime partner Ryan Gosling who makes her feel “really f****** sexy.”

That’s what the actress, mom, author and entrepreneur tells the Times of London in a new interview about her life and career. 

On the latter, she’s frank. “I was never in love with acting. I don’t mean this in a self-deprecating way, but I wasn’t a great actress,” Eva says, allowing, “I had my moments when I worked with really great people.”

Two of those films are 2013’s The Place Beyond the Pines, on which she met her Barbie star beau and the mother of her two children, Esmeralda, 10, and Amada, 8, and 2014’s Lost River, the 50-year-old’s last film and Ryan’s directorial debut. 

“He gets something out of me that’s never been accessible before,” she says. 

On that note, the actress credits Gosling with something else. 

“I feel really f****** sexy at times,” Mendes says. “The way my man looks at me is just … at times I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ That might not sit well with people, but so much of how I feel is a reflection of what he’s giving me.”

She adds, “There’s so many things that can make me feel sexy and I’d say that I feel more sexy than not. I guess because I’ve never considered myself beautiful, but I’ve always felt very sexy.”

For the record, Eva says she was “totally fine” with turning 50, adding, “It’s just that number sounds crazy.”

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Daredevil: Born Again will premiere March 4, 2025, on Disney+, the streaming service announced at New York Comic Con Saturday, according to Variety. Daredevil: Born Again stars Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock, the blind superhero-lawyer, reprising the role he played for three seasons on the popular Netflix series Daredevil. Vincent D’Onofrio co-stars, along with Jon Bernthal, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson and Wilson Bethel …

Lost actor Michael Emerson will join the season 2 cast of CBS’ Elsbeth in a recurring role, opposite his wife, series star Carrie Preston, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Emerson will play Judge Milton Crawford, “a haughty, soft-spoken and bespectacled man from an old New England family of public servants who sees his place in the nation’s elite as a birthright,” per the outlet. The series follows Preston’s titular character Elsbeth Tascioni, a role she previously played on The Good Wife and The Good Fight, as she leaves Chicago and heads to New York for a new investigative role …

Only Murders in the Building‘s Martin Short has been added to the voice cast of the Fox animated series Grimsburg in a recurring role, according to Variety. He’ll will play Otis Volcanowitz — the newest, and youngest, detective at the Grimsburg police department. The series features Jon Hamm as the voice of down-on-his-luck detective Marvin Flute, who “must return to Grimsburg, a town where everyone has a secret or three, and redeem himself in the eyes of his fellow detectives, his ferocious ex-wife and his lovably unstable son.” Other guest voices set to appear in season 2 include Tina Fey, J.K. Simmons, Anna Osceola, Joel McHale, Tom Segura and Danny Trejo …

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Smile 2 opened with an estimated $23 million to top the domestic box office this weekend. The psychological thriller, starring Naomi Scott, did equally well overseas, where it grabbed an estimated $23 million, for a global tally of $46 million.

The Wild Robot took second place, delivering an estimated $10.1 million at the North American box office in its third week of release, for a total of $101.7 million. Overseas, the animated adventure earned an estimated $23 million, for a worldwide tally of $193 million.

Terrifier 3 scared up an estimated $9.3 million, bringing its domestic total to $36.2 million after four weeks. The horror flick added an estimated $3 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $44.8 million.

Fourth place went to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, collecting an estimated $5 million at the North American box office after seven weeks. Its domestic tally now stands at $284 million. Globally, the sequel has earned $434.5 million to date.

Rounding out the top five was the Florence Pugh/Andrew Garfield-led romantic drama We Live in Time, which added an estimated $4.1 million in its first week of wide release. It’s domestic total currently stands at $4.5 million and $4.8 million worldwide.

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