Rufus Sewell calls Allison Janney ‘the perfect addition’ to ‘The Diplomat’

October 31, 2024

L-R: Rufus Sewell, Kerri Russel/ Photo courtesy of Netflix

(SPOILER ALERT) The second season of Netflix’s The Diplomat returns on Thursday, and while Rufus Sewell’s character, Hal Wyler, was the victim of a car bombing at the end of season 1, he is indeed back for another go-round.

“He has survived. Not everyone has made it,” he tells ABC Audio, noting that the bombing will have a “tremendous effect”on his wife, United States ambassador to the United Kingdom Kate Wyler, played by Keri Russell.

While the couple seemed to be on the outs at the end of season 1, Sewell says the bombing does bring them back to each other.

“So for a while afterwards, there’s a closeness between them, exacerbated by the fact that it seems like no one else can be trusted,” he says. “So they only really have each other.”

He adds, “She’s reminded how much she loves and cares for him, but it doesn’t mean all the old problems have gone away.”

Former The West Wing star Allison Janney joins the cast in season 2 as Vice President Grace Penn, and Sewell calls her the perfect addition to the show.

He says he was “a massive fan” of the White House drama, noting he “loved her character so much and I’ve loved her in everything she’s done.”

“So her coming on board was a big thing for us,” he says. “It was just a lovely vote of confidence and she is so much fun to work with.”

‘John Wick’ back in theaters for special 10th anniversary event

Liongate

It’s hard to believe, but Keanu Reeves first unretired as seemingly unstoppable hitman John Wick nearly 10 years ago — Oct. 13, 2014, to be precise — and now Lionsgate is getting ready to celebrate.

Fans who had previously signed up for text alerts about the John Wick franchise were keyed in on Monday to 10th anniversary screenings of the original film, taking place Nov. 3 and Nov. 6, via Fathom Events.

For those in attendance, there will also be a special look at Ballerina, the spin-off starring Ana de Armas that features an appearance by Baba Yaga.

Check out at all the details here.

Don’t forget to close your eyes for that puppy scene.

Marlon Wayans says Harvey Weinstein’s imprisonment was “God’s revenge” after ‘Scary Movie’ deals

Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Level 8

In a chat on the Club Shay Shay podcast, Marlon Wayans went off on Harvey Weinstein and his “evil, ugly brother Bob,” who were producers on the Wayans family’s Scary Movie franchise via their Miramax company.

Further, he suggested to host Shannon Sharpe that Weinstein’s downfall — and eventual imprisonment on sex charges — was “God’s revenge.”

The horror spoof franchise started with 2000’s original Scary Movie, for which they were given a “crappy deal” by the company.

“We opened at $42 million,” noting it was the biggest opening for “any” comedy at the time, not just “for a Black director,” which is how it was spun.

He said his director brother Keenan Ivory Wayans said, “No, no, no, don’t you try to marginalize me … with that label … there’s no such a thing as ‘Black success,’ just success.”

After the “huge” first film, “We got a good deal for the second one,” but then “Miramax did what they did.”

What the studio did was “stole” the franchise from the Wayans family, he says.

“I always say they didn’t just rape and molest women, they raped n***** too and molested us with them deals,” Marlon said. “They were terrible people.”

“They took it from us,” he insisted, and they paid for it at the box office. “You can’t do Wayans s*** without the Wayans. You can try, but … [what] we do is special. We have 200 years of comedy between me, Shawn and Keenan. Damon, Kim. We have a lot of years of excellence of what we do.”

Ultimately, Marlon adds, “God comes for you. All the toxic things you did to me and my family, you took the franchise from us. Vengeance is mine.”

“Sometimes you ain’t gotta do nothing because God’s gonna do it all — God’s revenge,” Marlon says.

A Very Royal Scandal stars on their no-nonsense historical drama

Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images

The bombshell Prince Andrew interview about Jeffrey Epstein that caused Andrew to step back from his royal duties is the subject of the limited series A Very Royal Scandal, which started streaming Thursday on Prime Video.

Michael Sheen plays the prince, opposite Ruth Wilson as Emily Maitlis, the former BBC Newsnight anchor whose hard-hitting questions sent shock waves through the U.K. and beyond. Wilson remembers that interview vividly and tells ABC Audio that like the rest of the nation, she was left “gobsmacked.”

“My takeaway from that was, ‘How on earth did this happen? … Why did he put himself in that scenario?’ And now, you know, having done this drama, we’ve interrogated that and we’ve got all the answers on that. Or not,” she laughs.

The fallout came as no surprise to Sheen, who tells ABC Audio that the interview checked a lot of boxes when it comes to the kinds of things that fascinate the British people.

“There’s both the kind of media frenzy, the tabloid fodder kind of nature of it. … And then also, of course, underlying it all was this much darker, more serious, more disturbing issue that it was dealing with about, you know, the exploitation of young women and the relationship with Epstein and all that kind of stuff.”

Sheen had to gain a bit of weight for the role and tried to portray Andrew as this former military stud who was far removed from his glory days.

“The aging process, losing your looks, putting on a bit of weight, all of that stuff, the media no longer being interested in you as being kind of, you know, tabloid fodder. … It’s getting, moving further and further away from the center of power and all that kind of stuff. … It was that sort of trajectory.”