Category: Entertainment

Good news for fans of The Agency — there’s another season on the way. The Showtime thriller series, which stars Michael Fassbender, has scored a quick season 2 renewal after its big debut weekend. The first two episodes of the show have earned 5.1 million viewers on streaming and linear since it premiered on Nov. 29. Jodie Turner-Smith, Katherine Waterston and Richard Gere also star in the show, which has already become Showtime’s most-streamed new series ever, according to Paramount Global …

Period drama fans can rejoice. Apple TV+’s The Buccaneers is adding four new actors to the mix for season 2. Greg Wise, Jacob Ifan, Grace Ambrose and Maria Almeida have joined the cast of the show based on Edith Wharton‘s unfinished novel of the same name. Wise’s casting marks his return to the source material — he previously starred in the 1995 miniseries based on the novel, also called The Buccaneers …

There’s nothing that can stop Wicked from becoming populer … lar! The 2024 musical film has been named best film by the National Board of Review. The organization made the announcement on Wednesday, also recognizing Jon M. Chu with the best director prize, and a special award for Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo‘s creative collaboration …
 

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Keke Palmer has been grinding since she was 11, but not without some ups and downs. The star of December’s SELF cover, Keke opened up about some of her struggles, which at one point included handling fame.

“I wouldn’t understand it at the time, but I think when I was younger, I did hold a lot of grudges and it was truly suffocating for me,” she said. “I felt so isolated in my experience and I blamed everyone around me … I never really told anybody. I was just writing it in my journal.”

Over time, Keke learned how to deal with the feeling of isolation by understanding she’s not alone. “How I deal with it is to not center myself,” she says. “I think about all the other people who feel weird in the world, because if we take all the glamour out of it, and all the specifics and uniqueness of what it means to be famous, it just means feeling weird.”

“I think everybody in the world feels extraordinarily alienated,” she continues, “and we feel even more alienated when we alienate others. And that’s what comes with fame.”

Though she knows her journey from humble beginnings was far from easy, Keke clarifies that her struggle made room for her success story.

“Everybody always felt so bad for me, like I was so much better than where I came from—when the reality is, I am who I am because of where I came from. I love my parents. We are doing this together,” she says. “So it’s also a lot of reclaiming the fact that my life may be different, but please don’t pity me and don’t make me feel like I’m some kind of sob story, because I’m proud of who I am.”

Meanwhile, the release of Keke’s buddy comedy with SZA, One of Them Days, has been moved up from Jan. 24 to Jan. 17.

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Amy Adams explores the transformative experience of motherhood in the new film Nightbitch as an artist turned stay-at-home mom who starts developing some canine-like abilities as she struggles to regain her sense of self.

The actress, who also produced the film, was initially drawn to the magical realism of the source material — the 2021 novel by Rachel Yoder.

“One of the things that really spoke to me was Rachel’s unique perspective,” Adams tells ABC Audio. “And not only that it was a tale of a woman who we call Mother, but of a relationship, of parenthood, of community. It just had so many themes that are very valuable to me in exploring.”

The themes also resonated with director Marielle Heller, who wrote the screenplay shortly after giving birth to her second child — a process she calls cathartic. “I was working out the exact things that were happening in my day into the script,” she says.

As for teaming up with Adams, Heller says, “I loved how much she trusted me and just went with the process and was willing to be vulnerable and really intimate. And let me just get right up in her face and film all aspects of her.”

That includes the scenes where Adams had to literally act like a dog — from barking to shoving her face into a meatloaf. She says she relished sinking her teeth, so to speak, into the animalistic parts of the role.

“There was definitely a lot of conversations, a lot of running ‘barks’ by Marielle to make sure I was the right tone for the size of dog that would be playing me, and working on the physicality,” she says. “But a lot of it was just so much fun to just sort of unleash that side of myself that is so grounded in play.” 

Nightbitch hits select theaters Friday, Dec. 6.

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Nicole Kidman is opening up on exploring self-identity and telling new stories of womanhood in her Babygirl role.

Kidman, who plays a high-powered CEO in the new erotic thriller that focuses on her affair with an intern, said the script made her explore new areas she had not previously explored as an actress.

“A lot of times women are discarded at a certain period of their career as a sexual being. So it was really beautiful to be seen in this way,” Kidman told The Hollywood Reporter, reflecting on her role in the new film in an interview published Wednesday.

“From the minute I read it, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is a voice I haven’t seen, this is a place that I haven’t been, I don’t think audiences have been,'” she continued.

The film, which explores the scandalous relationship between Kidman’s character and Harris Dickinson‘s character, Samuel, is set to be released on Christmas. Kidman’s role in the Halina Reijn-directed project has already been celebrated by critics, earning her the best actress prize at the Venice Film Festival in September.

“My character has reached a stage where she’s got all this power, but she’s not sure who she is, what she wants, what she desires, even though she seems to have it all,” Kidman told the outlet. “I think that’s really relatable.”

Kidman said the identity crisis faced by her character is one that may be common among women advancing through life’s stages.

“There are many women who are going, ‘Well, I’ve done this, I’ve got children, I’ve got this husband, and what do I actually want?'” she said. “‘Who am I and what are my desires? Do I have to pretend to be something else for people to love me?'”

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The nominations for the 40th Film Independent Spirit Awards were announced on Wednesday, unveiling that Anora and I Saw the TV Glow lead the pack with six nominations each.

Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anora and the A24 pic I Saw the TV Glow are nominated for Best Feature, along with Nickel Boys, Sing Sing and The Substance.

Anora also picked up a Best Lead Performance nomination for Mikey Madison, Best Supporting Performance nominations for Yuri Borisov and Karren Karagulian, a Best Director nomination for Sean Baker and recognition for the Producers Award.

The gender-neutral Best Lead Performance category is stacked, with Amy Adams, Ryan Destiny, Colman Domingo, Keith Kupferer, Demi Moore, Hunter Schafer, Justice Smith, June Squibb and Sebastian Stan picking up nominations for the award.

The Independent Spirit Awards will take place on Feb. 22 in Santa Monica, California. Aidy Bryant returns to host the event, which will stream live on IMDb and YouTube.

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Wednesday Addams will be returning to Netflix sooner than you think.

The hit series Wednesday has wrapped production on season 2, and to celebrate the streamer released the first image of Jenna Ortega dressed as the titular, gloom-loving daughter of the fictional Addams family.

In the photo, Ortega stands in front of a spooky, cemetery-esque backdrop with her arms crossed and a frown on her face. Season 2 of the series is set to return in 2025, where it will follow Wednesday’s continued adventures at Nevermore Academy.

Not much is known about the plot of season 2, though showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar are teasing more complexity.

“This season, Wednesday’s journey is darker and more complex as she navigates family, friends, new mysteries, and old adversaries, propelling her headlong into another year at Nevermore,” they told Netflix’s Tudum.

Catherine Zeta-Jones, who stars as Morticia Addams, recently teased in a behind-the-scenes clip shared by Netflix that the second season will “be bigger and more twisted than you could ever imagine.”

She celebrated her return home from filming Wednesday in Ireland in a post shared to Instagram on Nov. 26.

“Thank you to all in Ireland … who welcomed me and the whole Wednesday @wednesdaynetflix team so graciously whilst we were shooting season 2!” Zeta-Jones wrote.

She also shared a video reuniting with her dog, Taylor, after months of separation.

“After seven months away from my little guy, Taylor my dog was the best homecoming gift. Oh yes, why 7 months…I was shooting season 2 of @wednesdaynetflix Wednesday!!!” Zeta-Jones wrote.

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If you just can’t wait until Christmas Day to see the Bob Dylan movie A Complete Unknown, there’s now a chance to catch it earlier … and bigger.

The film, starring Timothée Chalamet as the iconic singer, is set to play in IMAX theaters starting Dec. 18, a week earlier than its Dec. 25 official release day.

A Complete Unknown: IMAX Early Access will screen in select AMC, Regal, Cineplex and Cinemark theaters in 19 major cities, including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Nashville, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. 

All screenings will be followed by a prerecorded Q&A with the cast, and attendees will get a commemorative mini poster and lanyard with their ticket. 

Tickets for the IMAX screenings are on sale now.

A Complete Unknown, directed by James Mangold, follows a 19-year-old Dylan as he arrives in New York from Minnesota and tracks his rise as a folk singer during the ’60s to the top of the charts, ending with his electric rock ‘n’ roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

The film also stars Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Elle Fanning as a character named Sylvie Russo, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash and Nick Offerman as Alan Lomax.

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While we doubt most people would want to live with Deadpool, a new report finds that many wouldn’t mind shacking up with the vigilante superhero’s portrayer, Ryan Reynolds. 

According to a new survey by Zillow, Reynolds is America’s preferred roommate, with 17% of those polled wanting to live with him. The actor actually beat out his good friend Taylor Swift for the top spot, with Tay only earning 14% of the vote.

Zendaya lands at three on the list, although she is the top roomie choice for Gen Z, followed by Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Sabrina Carpenter, Timothée Chalamet, Chappell Roan and Glen Powell.

When it comes to sports figures, gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles is the preferred roommate. Comedian Drew Desbordes aka Druski is the top influencer people would want to live with.

But when it comes to roommates, most people have not had the best experience living with one.

Zillow’s survey finds that while 81% of people have lived with a roommate at one time, 93% say the person they lived with had at least one annoying habit, with 28% saying the most annoying habit is “not helping clean.”

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People magazine is out with its list of the 25 Most Intriguing People of 2024.

Stars making the list this year include Demi Moore, who had a buzzed about role in the horror movie The Substance; The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri; Zendaya, who starred in Challengers and Dune 2 this year; Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan; Sing Sing’s Colman Domingo; and Nicole Kidman, who had multiple TV projects out this year and is set to star in the steamy film Babygirl.

Also on the list are Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Bowen Yang, and Gladiator II stars Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington.

Jennifer Lopez is on the list as well, thanks to a roller-coaster of a year that saw her release a less-than-successful album and big-bucks documentary, cancel her tour and split with husband Ben Affleck.

The magazine’s People of the Year issue hits newsstands Friday.

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Bel-Air is coming to an end. The modern-day dramatic reimagining of the ’90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has been renewed for a fourth and final season. Sources say this fourth season of the Peacock series will have eight episodes. Its renewal comes three months after its season 3 finale dropped …

The New York Film Critics Circle named The Brutalist its big winner on Tuesday. After three hours of deliberation, the critics named the Brady Corbet-directed feature Best Film and its star, Adrien Brody, Best Actor. Best Director went to RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys, while Best Actress went to Marianne Jean-Baptiste for her work in Hard Truths …

The wait is nearly over for fans of The Recruit. The Noah Centineo-led spy thriller, which delayed its second season due to Hollywood’s 2023 strikes, is returning to Netflix on Jan. 30. Six brand-new episodes will arrive on the streamer more than two years after its first season dropped in December 2022. First-look images of the new season were also released along with the season 2 drop date, which show off Centineo’s Owen Hendricks’ journey over the season …

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