Have no fear, your reality roundup is here! Here’s a look at what happened in the world of reality television this week:
Dancing with the Stars(ABC) After Anna Delvey was voted off of Dancing with the Stars on Tuesday, she gave a curt response when asked what she was going to take away from the experience. “Nothing,” Delvey said in a now infamous viral moment. Judge Carrie Ann Inaba told Entertainment Weekly she was taken aback by Delvey’s comment. “That was dismissive not only of the opportunity she was given, of her wonderful and supportive partner Ezra [Sosa] in his debut season, but also of all of us who work on the show-from the dancers to behind the scenes to the creative team,” Inaba said.
The Masked Singer (Fox) The identity of Leaf Sheep has been revealed. Yes, you read that correctly. On the season 12 premiere of The Masked Singer, which aired Wednesday, John Elway was the first celebrity to be unmasked. The two-time Super Bowl champion sang “I Like It, I Love It” by Tim McGraw before his true identity was made known. Panelist Ken Jeong guessed correctly, while the rest of the panel struck out.
The Golden Bachelorette (ABC) Joan Vassos has started her journey for love as the first-ever Golden Bachelorette. Unfortunately, reports have emerged that one of her potential suitors, Gil Ramirez, had a restraining order filed against him. The woman who filed the temporary restraining order said she is his former partner and listed the need for the filing as emotional harassment. “Despite telling him to not contact me, come to my house — he made repeated unwanted contact with me, family members and friends,” she wrote.
If you’re a Friends fan, Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood has just made some holiday plans for you.
In celebration of the sitcom’s 30th birthday, the tour is bringing back one of its fan-favorite traditions: Friendsgiving. Bookings are now available for you to get your seat at the table.
“This special event offers fans the ultimate opportunity to celebrate the beloved show with a unique behind-the-scenes tour and themed holiday dining at the location where the show was originally filmed!” the ad copy announces.
Highlights include a Friendsgiving holiday meal at the iconic fountain where the opening credits were shot. There are even vegetarian and gluten-free options for the Phoebe in your group.
Just remember to wear your Thanksgiving pants, like Joey did.
There’s also a 90-minute Friends-themed studio tour where fans can visit iconic locations, including the studio in which the show was shot. The tour will also include trivia contests and exclusive clips of the show’s stars.
For the sake of your Insta feed, there will also be a costume display where you can take photos of screen-used costumes from the show, and you can “sip character-inspired drinks at Central Perk Café” — and naturally there is exclusive Friends merch to be had at the boutique.
The event will be open Nov. 8 through Nov. 10; Nov. 15 through Nov. 17; Nov. 21 through Nov. 24; and Nov. 29 through Nov. 30.
Joker: Folie à Deux is almost here, and ahead of its premiere, the stars of the film — Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix — opened up on some of the challenges they faced while making the highly anticipated sequel.
“We were under a microscope from the very beginning, and then we bring Lady Gaga in,” director Todd Phillips told Good Morning America in an interview. “But it’s kind of the ‘why’ we do what we do, right? To take risks.”
Since the news of the sequel to Phillips’ 2019 Joker film was announced, audiences have been excited to see what’s in store for the protagonist, Arthur Fleck (Phoenix), who, in the first film, is introduced as a failed clown and aspiring stand-up comedian in Gotham City.
He transforms into the Joker, a criminal mastermind, after several moments in the film show how he’s isolated, bullied and disregarded by society. The role earned Phoenix an Academy Award for best actor in 2020.
Phoenix returns for the sequel, with Gaga joining as Harley Quinn.
“That was what really interested me in being a part of this one because I loved Arthur so much,” Gaga said. “Like, who would be the love in his life?”
While on the set of the film, which incorporates renditions of iconic songs, Phoenix said, “When we first started, I did not want anything to be spontaneous,” Phoenix said. “I wanted to sound as good as possible, and … Gaga said, ‘We should do them live.’”
“I was like, ‘Yeah, well, it’s easy for you to say, ’cause this is what you do,'” he said, adding that Gaga made him “feel comfortable” about singing.
Gaga called Phoenix’s natural voice “more compelling than any lip-synching would ever be.”
Joker: Folie à Deux arrives in theaters on Oct. 4.
Ready, set, binge! Here’s a look at some of the new movies and TV shows streaming this weekend:
Apple TV+ Wolfs: George Clooney and Brad Pitt reunite in the new action-comedy film.
Paramount+ Apartment 7A: A young dancer is offered a second chance at fame in the new thriller prequel to Rosemary’s Baby.
Netflix The Great British Baking Show: It’s time to return to the tent! Make sure to leave your soggy bottoms behind. The baking competition show returns for a brand-new season.
Will & Harper: Will Ferrell takes a road trip with his friend shortly after she comes out as a trans woman in the new documentary film.
Rez Ball: LeBron James produces the new movie all about a Native American high school basketball team striving for success.
Prime Video My Old A**: An 18-year-old girl comes face to face with her 39-year-old self in the coming-of-age film.
That’s all for this week’s Weekend Watchlist – happy streaming!
Back in June, Sir Ian McKellen seemed to downplay a fall off a London stage during a performance of the Shakespeare adaptation Player Kings. A statement at the time said he was in good spirits and would make a speedy recovery. But now, several months later, McKellen reveals the whole thing was pretty scary.
“Apparently, I’m told by the company manager who’s holding my head as I lay on the floor, I said to her, ‘I’ve broken my neck. I’m dying,'” McKellen told ABC Audio in an interview from his home in London. “Now, I don’t remember saying that, but I must have felt it.”
He says he’s fine now, after fracturing his wrist and hurting his back, crediting the fat suit he was wearing in order to play rotund Knight John Falstaff with protecting his ribs and hips in the fall. And while physically he’s almost completely back to normal, the mental effects linger.
“I’m left with some disappointment,” McKellen confesses. “I’m ashamed that I didn’t complete — you know, my pride was bruised. How could this happen to me?” he asks with a chuckle. “And I suspect that although physically I’m healing, I wonder whether deep down there’s something mental or emotional that was jolted that needs to be attended to. And I’m attending to it by not working at the moment and resting.”
McKellen appears to be in a reflective mood as he discusses the fall, and his new film The Critic, in which he plays a prominent 1930s London theater critic named Jimmy Erskine, a once feared and respected tastemaker trying to recapture his glory days. Reviews, McKellen reveals, are a necessary evil for actors.
“We are seeking for approval. And we’re probably rather pathetic people who need that approval. We’re not confident enough of ourselves. So if you get a good review — oh, it’s an added pleasure. And if you get a bad review, it can be very hurtful,” McKellen admits.
And although he hasn’t been on the receiving end of a lot of bad reviews, the ones he has had are seared in his brain. Take for instance his turn in a Bernard Shaw revival in London’s West End when he was much younger. He starred in the play alongside a pre-Dame Judi Dench and recalls how he overheard a few fellow actors discussing his performance one night at a restaurant.
“One of them was going on and on and on about how dreadful I’d been. And I was typical of these modern young actors, using my voice in the wrong way and drawing attention to myself. And he just simply hadn’t enjoyed it.” McKellen says he laughed off the criticism, but the next night onstage it crept into his consciousness. “And as I looked into the audience talking away, I suddenly thought, ‘My God, every single person in this audience agrees with that actor that I heard last night. They all think I’m rubbish. I shouldn’t be here.’” He says he froze, forgot his lines and Dench had to rescue him.
Still, he swears if there’s a bad review out there, he’s going to read it. “I like to know. If people haven’t enjoyed the film of Cats I’d like to know about it.” 2019’s film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway musical Cats was savaged by critics, probably the worst-reviewed film McKellen has ever been in. McKellen didn’t get the blame, though. His portrayal of Gus the Theater Cat was mostly praised. And he may be returning to a role that garnered him some of the most praise of his film career: the mighty wizard Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings movies.
“There are going to be a couple of more films, I think, with some of the same characters in it. And I’ve been asked to stand by,” McKellen says. “But there’s no script that I read, and no date. All I can say, as far as I’m concerned, they better be quick.”
Quick, because at 85 years old, McKellen isn’t sure how much time he has left. “I’m rather living a year at a time, rather than two or three years at a time,” he says.
Gandalf is a part of his legacy, so if he can, he’s going to go to New Zealand and put on the robes. Legacy is a theme in The Critic, as well. In his downtime, legacy and what’s next are things McKellen has been thinking about a lot. He remembers going to visit a friend in the hospital, a friend who was dying, and asking him what he was thinking about as his life neared the end.
“And he said, ‘I don’t want to miss anything.’ And that’s rather my view,” McKellen says wistfully. He wants to know what’s going to happen. “How is AI going to really take over? I mean, what is life going to be like? When is the world going to settle down? Is the world going to survive? I won’t know. I won’t know. And I suppose I won’t care because I won’t exist.”
The arrest of Bad Boy Records head and hip-hop icon Sean “Diddy” Combs continues to reverberate throughout Hollywood, and Taye Diggs has now sounded off on the arrest of the person he says he once considered a hero.
In a three-count federal indictment, the music mogul faces charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and interstate transportation for prostitution. These charges threaten to end his entertainment empire and his freedom.
Combs was taken into custody Sept. 16 and confined at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal correctional facility.
On Thursday’s episode of Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson‘s Sibling Revelry podcast, Diggs said “all of it blindsided me.”
The stage and screen actor added, “He was a hero to me … he didn’t come from much, he started out as a dancer. All the things that I wasn’t growing up, he was.”
Diggs admitted, “So much confidence and a certain arrogance that I loved, and he made being Black cool. … He wore it like a badge.”
He continued, “I really put him on a pedestal and it was disappointing to see some of what happened. I couldn’t believe it. And I didn’t like that feeling.”
Taye tried to see a silver lining in the news. “On one side, I’m like, this is great for people to know that this happens: We can think life is to be lived a certain way, we can think a person is a certain way and they can be the exact opposite and get used to that, you know?”
Oliver noted, “If these allegations and the things are they’re saying are true, you know,” before sighing and saying, “People are sick.”
An “incredibly relieved and grateful” Artem Chigvintsev is speaking out after the Napa County District Attorney’s Office in California announced it would not file criminal charges against the Dancing with the Stars pro in the wake of his arrest on Aug. 29 on suspicion of felony domestic violence.
In a press release Tuesday, a statement from the office of Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley said in part, “While we take every arrest seriously and stand firmly against domestic violence … If the available evidence doesn’t rise to this level of proof, then we cannot ethically file charges.”
On Wednesday, in the wake of that announcement, Artem issued a statement saying he was “incredibly relieved and grateful.”
“This has been an extremely difficult time for me. I am thankful that the truth has prevailed,” he said.
He added, “My focus has always been and will always be, our son Matteo. He is my world, and being his father is the greatest blessing in my life. All along, my main concern has been for him. I am committed to continuing to provide him with the love, support, and care he needs as we move forward. I am hopeful that securing an equal custody arrangement will help us move on.”
Artem’s attorney, Ilona Antonyan, said in a statement to Good Morning America that her client is now focused on negotiating custody of Matteo, whom he shares with his estranged wife Nikki Garcia.
The statement comes two weeks after Garcia filed for divorce from the dance pro.
Maggie Smith, the venerable British actress whose career on stage, film and television spanned more than 60 years, has died. She was 89.
Her sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, confirmed she had died in a statement to the Press Association.
Having appeared in more than 50 films, Smith was considered one of Britain’s best-known actresses and was beloved by recent generations for her roles as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films and the Dowager Countess of Grantham on television’s Downton Abbey.
In addition to winning two Academy Awards, Smith earned five BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards, three Golden Globes, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Tony Award. In 1990, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Netflix has officially greenlit a series adaptation of author John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. As previously announced, Florence Pugh will lead the cast, which also includes Poor Things‘ Christopher Abbott, Challengers’Mike Faist and Warrior‘s Hoon Lee. Zoe Kazan, the granddaughter of director Elia Kazan, who previously adapted the novel into a 1955 film that launched James Dean‘s career, will executive produce and write for the seven-episode limited series …
Variety reports Jennifer Hudson and comedian Fortune Feimster have been added to the voice cast of the third Paw Patrol movie, joining McKenna Grace, who reprises her lead role as Skye. Plot details and specifics on Hudson and Feimster’s characters have not been revealed. The first two Paw Patrol movies have collectively grossed over $345 million worldwide, per the outlet …
The Critics Choice Association has announced the honorees for its fall 2024 Critics Choice Association’s celebration series. Zoe Saldaña will be honored with the Groundbreaker Award at the fourth annual Celebration of Latino Cinema & Television for her starring role in Netflix’s Emilia Pérez. The third annual Celebration of AAPI Cinema & Television will recognize actress Joan Chen with the Career Achievement Award for her performance in Dìdi; and filmmaker Tyler Perry will receive the seventh annual Celebration of Black Cinema & Television’s Icon Award for his incredible body of work and achievements throughout the years …
In Megan Park’s new coming-of-age film, My Old A**, 18-year-old Elliot comes face-to-face with her 39-year-old self.
The fantastical, chance meeting comes after the teenager trips on mushrooms. Park told ABC Audio the story came from the idea of “wanting to talk to an older or younger version of yourself,” as well as the nostalgic feelings that came with returning home to Canada.
“I grew up not far from where we shot the movie and spent my summers there. And I was like, ‘Why did I ever want to leave?’” Park said. “It was really just the sentimental, nostalgic feeling that made me want to explore this idea.”
Aubrey Plaza and Maisy Stella play older and younger Elliot, respectively, and Stella said working with Plaza was a dream come true.
“It was, like, the coolest thing I’ll ever do. I’ve admired her for so long. I think she’s such a genius,” Stella said. “Anywhere near her would have been so exciting to me. Playing the same character was just so cool to me. I’ll never get over it.”
While Park says she relates to both older and younger Elliot, she was happy to center the movie on the younger character.
“I wanted to explore it through this fun coming-of-age entry point because it was a lighter headspace to be in,” Park said. “I think coming-of-age movies are really timeless if they’re done well, because you’re always kind of coming of age at different points in your life.”
My Old A** streams worldwide Friday on Prime Video.
