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Tom Holland taking a year off from acting after emotionally exhausting 'Crowded Room'

Posted today at 5:00am

Tom Holland has taken on some tough roles over the years, but nothing quite as emotionally exhausting as playing Danny Sullivan, a man mistakenly accused of being the culprit of a 1979 New York City shooting in the Apple TV+ series The Crowded Room, premiering Friday, June 9.

"We were exploring certain emotions that I have definitely never experienced before," Holland says in an interview with Extra. "And then on top of that, being a producer dealing with the day-to-day kind of problems that come with any film set added that extra level of pressure." He adds, "I really enjoyed it, but then again, the show did break me."

So much so, that the Spider-Man: No Way Home actor says he's "taking a year off," and trying to be a "regular bloke from Kingston and just relax." That includes "seeing my family" and "seeing my friends. I've been playing golf. I've been, you know, going to the garden center and buying plants and doing my best to keep them alive and all that sort of stuff."

The Crowded Room is a psychological thriller, which explores the real-life crimes of Billy Milligan, who was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder and blamed his alternate personalities for his crimes.

Jodie Comer walks off Broadway matinée stage over breathing problems from imported Canadian smoke

Posted yesterday at 3:02pm

The cloud of smoke from Canadian wildfires currently smothering New York City was too much to bear for Emmy winner Jodie Comer, who had to stop her Broadway performance of Prima Facie Wednesday afternoon because of it, ABC Audio has confirmed.

The smoke from up north is currently choking the Big Apple, and the afternoon performance of the drama — for which the Killing Eve star nominated for a Tony — was restarted with understudy Dani Arlington taking Comer's place.

In a statement obtained by ABC Audio, the play's reps said the matinée "was halted approximately 10 minutes into the performance after Jodie Comer had difficulty breathing due to the poor air quality in New York City."

The statement added, "The performance started again from the top" with the understudy "going on for Ms. Comer in the role of Tessa."

The one-woman play, centering on Comer's lawyer character, has been nominated for four Tonys.

Comer has already won an armful of awards for her performance during its West End run, including the Olivier Award for Best Actress.

Pro wrestler The Iron Sheik dead at 81

Posted yesterday at 12:35pm

The Iron Sheik, a legendary competitor from the glory days of '80s pro wrestling, has died, according to his social media accounts.

He was 81.

The WWE legend and pro wrestling Hall of Famer, a trash-talking longtime foil of Hulk Hogan, was born in Iran as Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri. He made headlines under his fighting name in the Reagan era.

During real-life rising tensions with Iran and Russia, the Iron Sheik was paired with Nikolai Volkoff in Cold War-era face-offs with American pros. In 1985, the pair took the WWF tag team title during the first Wrestlemania, defeating The U.S. Express (Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham).

In a statement on his social media about his passing, a message noted, "Today, we gather with heavy hearts to bid farewell to a true legend, a force of nature, and an iconic figure who left an incredible mark on the world of professional wrestling."

The post said outside of the ring, The Iron Sheik was a "devoted family man" who "cherished the love and support of his wife of 47 years, Caryl, who stood by his side through thick and thin."

The message concluded, "We also take solace in knowing that he departed this world peacefully, leaving behind a legacy that will endure for generations to come."

'Black Mirror' creator says he "toyed around" with ChatGPT for the new season, but pulled the plug

Posted yesterday at 11:00am

The dark side of technology is Black Mirror's stock-in-trade, so it makes sense that creator Charlie Brooker is keeping up with the headline-grabbing AI technology.

He tells Empire he has "toyed around with ChatGPT quite a bit," and even tried to get it to write an episode for the Netflix show's forthcoming sixth season.

"The first thing I did was type 'generate Black Mirror episode' and it comes up with something that, at first glance, reads plausibly, but on second glance, is s***," he tells the magazine.

"All it's done is look up all the synopses of Black Mirror episodes, and sort of mush them together," he adds. "Then, if you dig a bit more deeply you go, 'Oh, there's not actually any real original thought here.'"

However, the experience wasn't a total loss. Brooker admits it made him take a hard look at what episodes had come before.

"I was aware that I had written lots of episodes where someone goes 'Oh, I was inside a computer the whole time!'" he tells the magazine with a laugh.

"So I thought, 'I'm just going to chuck out any sense of what I think a Black Mirror episode is.' There's no point in having an anthology show if you can't break your own rules. Just a sort of nice, cold glass of water in the face."

Brooker had previously told Netflix's new blog TUDUM of the new season, "I've always felt that Black Mirror should feature stories that...keep surprising people — and myself — or else what's the point?"

The series -- written by human hands -- will return in June, starring Emmy winner Aaron Paul, Salma Hayek Pinault, Ben Barnes, Danny Ramirez, Kate Mara, Zazie Beetz, and more.

Ellen Pompeo, Katherine Heigl reflect on 'Grey's Anatomy' in "Actors on Actors" chat

Posted yesterday at 10:00am

Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images, FILE

Grey's Anatomy stars Ellen Pompeo and Katherine Heigl reunited to reflect on their residency on the ABC's hit medical drama.

The actresses, who played Meredith Grey and Izzie Stevens, respectively, recently took part in Variety's "Actors on Actors" series and reminisced about working on the landmark show, having been part of the cast when it premiered in 2005.

While Heigl said she "hasn't gone there yet" and watched Grey's with her eldest daughter Naleigh, Pompeo revealed she has tried to watch it with her eldest daughter Stella.

Pompeo said Stella came up to her and said it was "embarrassing and weird" that all her friends had seen the show and she hadn't, so Pompeo decided they'd take the plunge together.

"At first I was like, 'Oh, this is so amazing, and we're going to watch it together,'" she recalled. "And then it was episode after episode after episode, and I was just like, 'I don't have the stamina for this! I filmed all these episodes. I did it. I can't now go back and watch it again.'"

Unlike Pompeo, Heigl revealed when she was on the show, she watched every episode as it aired.

Meredith left Seattle during season 19 and popped back up in the season finale -- and Pompeo said that won't be the last we see of the titular character.

"I will be making some appearances hopefully next year, if I can find some time," Pompeo teased. "It's not a complete goodbye, and I think we've got an interesting story to tell."

Pompeo explained in September, she'll start working on a Hulu series that's under the working title of The Orphan.

"I haven't played another character in 18 years," she said of the "intense" part. "That's crazy -- crazy town, crazy town," she added.

Opening Wednesday: 22nd annual Tribeca Festival

Posted yesterday at 9:00am

Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal - Tribeca Enterprises

On Wednesday in New York City, the 22nd annual Tribeca Festival kicks off. Founded in 2001 by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal in an effort to revitalize lower Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks, the event has broadened in scope from a film festival to celebrate visionaries in various media, from film and TV to interactive, audio and gaming.

Rosenthal recently told ABC Audio that finding the right projects to celebrate during the event is a daunting task. "We're very fortunate that we have an extraordinary group of curators led by festival director Cara Cusumano, and they get to deal with the 12,000 plus submissions, and they cull it down."

She adds, "So Bob [De Niro] and I get the benefit of watching it pretty much after it's been really narrowed down." That said, she admitted she was still "bleary-eyed" from watching so much content before the event.

Rosenthal also spoke of the festival shifting primarily from film to highlight many mediums, from a documentary about trailblazing ballet dancer Misty Copeland to Disney-Pixar's movie Elemental and mainstream TV properties like AMC's The Walking Dead spinoff Dead City.

"Whether they're on ... television or in a theater or whether you're streaming it, or whether it's a game or audio storytelling, the festival is about great stories," Rosenthal says.

Apart from the submissions, this year's festival is special for one major reason: It's the first Tribeca since the U.S. COVID-19 public health emergency was declared over.

"I'm really looking forward, especially after what feels like the long years of COVID and COVID protocols, to just be there and laugh or cry or yell in a movie theater," Rosenthal says.

The Tribeca Festival runs through Sunday, June 18.

Shannen Doherty gives sobering update on cancer fight

Posted yesterday at 8:11am

Former Beverly Hills, 90210 star Shannen Doherty has given her Instagram followers a sobering look at her ongoing battle with stage 4 breast cancer.

Captioning a video from January showing her getting fitted with a face mask used for radiation treatment for brain cancer, Doherty explained Tuesday evening that a CT scan "showed Mets in my brain," meaning cancer cells have migrated there.

"January 12, the first round of radiation took place," she explained. "My fear is obvious. I am extremely claustrophobic and there was a lot going on in my life. I am fortunate as I have great doctors like Dr Amin Mirahdi and the amazing techs at [Cedars Sinai Hospital]."

She added, "But that fear…. The turmoil….. the timing of it all…. This is what cancer can look like."

Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, and after entering remission, she revealed in 2020 the disease had spread and returned as stage 4.

In an interview with Good Morning America, the actress said the diagnosis was "a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways."

"I definitely have days where I say, 'Why me?' And then I go, 'Well, why not me?' Who else? Who else besides me deserves this? None of us do," she said at the time.

In Brief: 'Perry Mason' dropped by HBO, and more

Posted yesterday at 7:30am

HBO's reboot of Perry Mason, which is co-produced by Robert Downey Jr. and his wife Susan, and which stars The Americans Emmy winner Matthew Rhys in the title role, has been canceled by the cable network after two seasons, according to Deadline. The show, in which Rhys plays a private investigator who eventually becomes an attorney, debuted its second and final season in March...

Former Wild ‘N Out performer Jacky Oh -- born Jacklyn Smith -- was found “unresponsive” when emergency workers arrived at her Miami hotel room to assist her on June 1, according to a police report obtained by E! News. "She was transported by Miami Fire Department to Mercy Hospital where lifesaving efforts were conducted," the report added, "but unfortunately, she was pronounced deceased at the hospital." The report listed her age as 33. A cause of death has not been revealed...

Deadline reports Peter Pan & Wendy's Garfield Wilson has landed a recurring role in Syfy's Reginald the Vampire. He plays Balestro, "a confident, poised and intimidating Angel who descends from heaven to announce the eventual extinction of all vampires on the planet." Reginald the Vampire -- led by Jacob Batalon, star of the Spider-Man films -- follows Reginald Andrews, who, in a world populated by beautiful, fit and vain vampires, tumbles headlong into it as an unlikely hero," per the cable channel...

Pete Davidson: 'Poor choice of words,' but 'not sorry' for lashing out at PETA over criticism for buying new dog

Posted yesterday at 5:00am

Pete Davidson addressed the profanity-laced voicemail he left for PETA after they criticized him for buying a dog from a pet store, acknowledging it was a "poor choice of words," but he's not sorry for standing up for himself.

The war of words started when the Bupkis star and his girlfriend, Chase Sui Wonders, were filmed filling out paperwork at a New York City pet store that confirmed to TMZ that the couple bought a 2-month-old cavapoo puppy Davidson saw online. Pete explained that the pet was for his mom, whose dog died earlier this year.

Daphna Nachminovitch, senior vice president of cruelty investigations at PETA, responded to the video, expressing her sympathy over the loss of their dog, but condemned Davidson, 29, for purchasing, rather than adopting.

In turn, the Saturday Night Live alum left Nachminovitch a voicemail, in which he explained that he was "severely allergic to dogs."

"And my mom’s f****** dog, who was 2 years old, died a week prior, and we’re all so sad, so I had to get a specific dog," he continued, before suggesting to Nachminovitch, "Do your research before you f****** create news stories for people because you’re a boring, tired c***. F*** you and suck my d***.”

"I was already upset that the store had filmed me without my permission or acknowledgement. Then this organization [PETA] made a public example of us, making our grieving situation worse," Pete explained. "I am upset. It was a poor choice of words. I shouldn’t have said what I said, but I am not sorry for standing up for myself and my family.”

Al Pacino calls baby news "very special"

Posted Tuesday afternoon

For the first time since news broke that the 83-year-old Oscar winner was going to be a father again, Al Pacino says the imminent bundle of joy is "really special."

Pacino was out and about on a walk with a friend when a reporter congratulated Al on his baby-to-be with 29-year-old girlfriend Noor Alfallah. "Oh wow, thank you," Pacino answered graciously in the video obtained by the Daily Mail.

When asked how it feels to be a dad for the fourth time, Pacino responded, "Well, you know, it feels like it always did," Pacino commented. "It's very special. It always has been."

The iconic actor added, "I've got many kids. But this is really special coming at this time."

The Godfather saga star also claimed he didn't know if he was having a boy or a girl; Alfallah was said to be about eight months along when the news first broke late last month.

Pacino has a 33-year-old daughter, Julie, with ex-girlfriend Jan Tarrant, as well as 22-year-old twins Olivia and Anton, from his relationship with Vacation actress Beverly D’Angelo.

Jennifer Lopez's 'The Mother' now ranks as one of Netflix's biggest movies ever

Posted Tuesday afternoon

While the critics may not have been kind to Jennifer Lopez's action movie The Mother, the viewers have certainly responded: Netflix says the movie has moved into the Top Ten of its biggest films in its history.

With 117 million views over its four weeks of release on the streaming service, The Mother now ranks at #8 on Netflix's Most Popular English Film List. It has also held onto the #1 slot on its weekly English Movies list for the fourth straight week and remained in the top 10 for last week in some 89 countries.

With more than 229 million hours viewed according to the streaming service's metric in its first 28 days, The Mother landed just behind the #7 entry on Netflix's all-time Top Ten, 2020's Extraction starring Chris Hemsworth, which had over 231 million views in roughly its first month of release.

Does a post from Apple TV+ suggest a "potential" spinoff or more 'Ted Lasso'?

Posted Tuesday afternoon

Ever since Ted Lasso's third season finale, fans have had the burning question of whether they'd ever see more of the Richmond AFC gang — and a new social media post from Apple TV+ has just thrown gasoline onto the fire.

The post shows a key trio in their team jackets: Brendan Hunt's Coach Beard, Brett Goldstein's Roy Kent and Nick Mohammed's Nathan Shelley, all looking off camera.

The caption reads, "Smells like potential."

Of course [spoilers] the third season ended with Jason Sudeikis' Ted flying back to the States and Kent taking his job as Richmond's head manager. Beard had a change of heart about flying back over The Pond and remained as assistant coach, and Nate rejoined the team in an assistant capacity after his heel turn in season 2.

In what will likely be scrutinized by fans like the cover of Sgt. Pepper's, Beard and Kent appear to be looking at the same thing, while Nathan is glancing off to his right.

Adding to the mystery, Mohammed replied to the streaming service's surprise post with a "zipped lips" emoji.

The original post had nearly 2 million views on Twitter alone in a matter of hours, while Mohammed's reply hit 1 million.

Chris Hemsworth talks to 'British GQ' about this life, career, marriage and whether there will be more Thor

Posted Tuesday afternoon

Ahead of the June 16 Netflix release of his sequel to one of the biggest hits in the streaming service's history, Extraction, Chris Hemsworth sat down with British GQ for a wide-ranging conversation.

The 39-year-old Australian actor says he's happily "unemployed," enjoying downtime after a "busy 10 years."

In that time, he shot eight Marvel movies, the original Extraction — written by Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame co-director Joe Russo — and its sequel, and other high-profile projects.

Of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he called criticism from the likes of Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino "super depressing." He says, "There goes two of my heroes I won't work with. I guess they’re not a fan of me."

Instead, he's "thankful" the franchise kept people going to the movies. "Now, whether or not those films were to the detriment of other films, I don't know."

Hemsworth adds, "I don't love when we start scrutinising each other when there's so much fragility in the business and in this space of the arts." He added the two filmmakers are "still my heroes, and in a heartbeat I would leap to work with any of them."

The actor played any possible future as Thor close to his well-defined chest, but suggested it's possible. "But I really wanna do some other stuff for a while."

Hemsworth also shared of the near-fatal snowplow accident suffered by fellow Avenger Jeremy Renner: "None of us really knew how serious it was, I think anything like that, it's an immediate realization of 'Wow, any of us can go at any minute.'"

He also said of his marriage to actress Elsa Pataky, "Her sacrifice, commitment, work, support, forgiveness - everything that she has given me over the years ... I couldn't have done any of the things I've done without it."

'Vanity Fair' gets in-depth look at Zack Snyder's sci-fi Netflix epic 'Rebel Moon'

Posted Tuesday morning

Zack Snyder, the director of 300, the Watchmen film and of course Zack Snyder's Justice League, tells Vanity Fair that his upcoming sci-fi epic Rebel Moon could very well have been a Star Wars film.

"I was in postproduction on Man of Steel,” Snyder says in the new issue's deep dive into his epic. "I had heard there were rumblings about possibly doing another three [Star Wars] movies at some point. My take was that, if you just let me have the IP, I'll make this cool movie, and I won't get in the way of anything that you guys are doing."

Ultimately, it didn't work out, but Disney-owned Lucasfilm's loss was Netflix's gain: His original 172-page script will be broken into two sprawling Netflix movies about inhabitants of a planet in the middle of nowhere that rise up against a galaxy-wide military empire.

The films star Charlie Hunnam from Sons of Anarchy and Pacific Rim; Sofia Boutella from Star Trek: Beyond; Djimon Hounsou from Gladiator and Guardians of the Galaxy; and Ed Skrein from Deadpool. An ancient robot named Jimmy will be played by Snyder's Sucker Punch star Jena Malone, but voiced by Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins.

There's also a ton of world-building, with mechanized knights; massive, planet-leveling battleships; and lots of in-universe lore.

Snyder understands the comparisons to that galaxy far, far away, yet allows, "I do believe that our thing is really an entirely different experience."

His wife and longtime producing partner Deborah Snyder offers, "It has a bit of Star Wars ... It's a little bit like Lord of the Rings, a little bit Game of Thrones with the palace intrigue," she says. "It has a bit of everything."

Part one of Rebel Moon drops on Netflix December 22.

Cuba Gooding Jr. settles with rape accuser before start of civil trial

Posted Tuesday morning

Gooding in court in 2022 -- David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

Cuba Gooding Jr. settled his lawsuit with a woman who accused him of raping her a decade ago at the Mercer Hotel.

The settlement comes as jury selection was about to begin Tuesday in a civil trial that could have caused the actor to pay millions in damages had the jury found for the woman, who was identified as Jane Doe.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

“The parties have resolved the matter,” a brief entry on the court docket said.

Gooding had denied raping the woman, saying their encounter was consensual.

The woman accused Gooding of raping her twice on the night of August 24, 2013.

After meeting the actor at a restaurant where she was having dinner with a friend, the woman said he invited her for drinks at the hotel where he was staying.

According to her lawsuit, the Oscar-winning actor asked her to come to his room so he could change clothes. Gooding stripped naked, blocked the door and pushed the woman onto the bed, ignoring her repeated cries of "no," the lawsuit alleged.

Three other women who have accused Gooding of sexual abuse were set to testify had the case gone to trial. The judge said their allegations were "sufficiently similar" to Jane Doe's.

The defense had suggested there was evidence that after the encounter with Gooding the woman returned to meet her friend and bragged about sleeping with a celebrity. The evidence never materialized.