Whoopi Goldberg reveals her look for Broadway’s ‘Annie’

Whoopi Goldberg reveals her look for Broadway’s ‘Annie’
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On Thursday’s installment of The View — and on her Instagram — EGOT winner Whoopi Goldberg revealed her look as Miss Hannigan in the forthcoming New York City performances of Annie.

Miss Hannigan, the show’s antagonist, runs the orphanage in which the main character, Annie, lives; Hannigan sings the song “Little Girls” and “Easy Street” in the production.

The revival of the classic musical will run at The Theater at Madison Square Garden for a limited engagement from Dec. 4, 2024, through Jan. 5, 2025.

To her View audience, Whoopi said, “It may not be your grandma’s Annie, but it will be fun.” She added it’s “been a while” since she’s done theater — she last appeared on Broadway in 2011. Whoopi called it “kinda exciting and scary” to be returning.

When Whoopi announced she’d be on board, she commented, “I love the theater, and in my mind, there is no better way to spend the holidays than to get back on stage. I can’t wait to step in to the delicious role of Miss Hannigan and perform for the greatest audiences in the world — in my hometown of New York City.”

 

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Timothée Chalamet on becoming Bob Dylan for ‘A Complete Unknown’
Timothée Chalamet on becoming Bob Dylan for ‘A Complete Unknown’
Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Timothée Chalamet is opening up about his experience playing Bob Dylan in the upcoming movie A Complete Unknown.

In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Chalamet calls playing Dylan “the most unique challenge I’ve taken on,” but notes he gained his confidence by performing all the movie’s music live.

“Maybe it was the least responsible thing on the actor’s part because the music exists and the performances exist,” he said. And while Chalamet did prerecord songs, in the end he opted to sing live during filming because he felt the recorded tunes were “too clean,” noting, “There’s not a single prerecord in the movie.”

While fans may be hoping to learn a lot more about Dylan watching the film, Chalamet warns that they aren’t really seeing a true biopic on the legendary singer.

“This is not definitive, this is interpretive, this is not fact, this is not how it happened,” he says. “This is a fable.”

As for how he approached playing Dylan, Chalamet explains why he didn’t want to directly mimic the singer. 

“Somebody once said to me, ‘You can’t make a movie about a painter because it’s not interesting to watch paint dry,’” he said. “Bob has that element because he’s not one of these forward-facing musicians.”

And while he did have a vocal and dialect coach, Chalamet says he found that it wasn’t “my style” or Dylan’s either.

“Bob did not have a vocal coach. He had two bottles of red wine and four packs of cigarettes,” he said. “There’s no way to impersonate that.”

A Complete Unknown opens Dec. 25.

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Aldis Hodge talks trailer reaction, early renewal of Prime Video series ‘Cross’
Aldis Hodge talks trailer reaction, early renewal of Prime Video series ‘Cross’
ABC Audio/Stephen Iervolino

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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Can’t lose? ’Friday Night Lights’ reboot reportedly in the works
Can’t lose? ’Friday Night Lights’ reboot reportedly in the works
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Much like Texas, it seems like reboots are also forever.

According to Variety, Universal Television is working on bringing back the high school football drama Friday Night Lights with a new storyline and characters.

The original Friday Night Lights show ran from 2006 to 2011 and centered around the fictional Dillon Panthers high school football team in West Texas. It was inspired by the 1990 book of the same name and its 2004 film adaptation, both of which were about the real-life Permian High School Panthers of Odessa, Texas.

The show starred Kyle Chandler as Eric Taylor, coach of the Dillon Panthers and, in later seasons, the school’s crosstown rivals, the East Dillon Lions. Connie Britton, who also starred in the FNL film, played Eric’s wife and Dillon High faculty member, Tami Taylor.

Among those who portrayed the players and students were Zach Gilford, Taylor Kitsch, Scott Porter, Minka Kelly, Gaius Charles and Adrianne Palicki, as well as Michael B. Jordan and Jesse Plemons in early breakout roles.

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