11 articles
Russia May Ban Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Over Josh Gad’s Gay Character
19 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
The Russian government is coming under pressure to ban Disney’s live-action movie “Beauty and the Beast” for allegedly contravening a 2013 law that prohibits “gay propaganda” aimed at children.
In Bill Condon’s film, LeFou (Josh Gad) has a crush on Gaston (Luke Evans). Condon told Attitude magazine that LeFou’s role is groundbreaking.
“It’s somebody who’s just realizing that he has these feelings. And Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it,” he said. “And that’s what has its pay-off at the end, which I don’t want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie.”
Gad spoke to Variety about being Disney’s first openly gay character during film’s L.A. premiere. “As subtle as it is, I »
- Leo Barraclough
Akira Kurosawa’s Shelved Script ‘The Mask of The Black Death’ to Be Produced in China
21 hours ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
Akira Kurosawa’s shelved script “The Mask of The Black Death” will finally see the light. Chinese studios Huayi Brothers (“Dragon Blade,” “Mojin: The Lost Legend”) and CKF Pictures (“Chongqing Hot Pot,” “Mojin: The Lost Legend”) will produce the film based on the late Japanese filmmaker’s screenplay. The studios made the announcement Wednesday during a press conference in Beijing, as reported by Chinese newspaper Global Times.
“Mask is one of Kurosawa’s films that never made it to the big screen,” said director/producer Chen Kuo-Fu, founder of Ckf Pictures. “So we thought, ‘Why don’t we make the film for him?'”
The legendary filmmaker wrote the script for “The Mask of The Black Death” based on Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Masque of the Red Death. »
- Yoselin Acevedo
‘Logan’ Roars to $33 Million at Friday Box Office
22 hours ago | The Wrap | See recent The Wrap news »
“Logan” is off to a strong start at the box office, making $33 million from 4,071 screens after bringing in $9.5 million at Thursday night previews.
Though Fox’s dark, violent Wolverine finale isn’t expected to reach the heights of its fellow R-rated superhero flick “Deadpool,” which made $47 million on its opening Friday en route to a $132 million weekend, “Logan”‘s opening weekend is expected to hold up well compared to that of previous Wolverine films.
On their first full day in theaters, 2009’s “X-Men Origins:. »
- Jeremy Fuster
Miriam Colon, Latina Film and Theater Pioneer Known for ‘Scarface,’ Dies at 80
21 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Puerto Rican actress Miriam Colon, best known for playing Al Pacino’s mother in the 1983 film “Scarface,” has died. She as 80.
Her husband told the AP that Colon died on Friday following medical complications from a pulmonary infection.
While perhaps best known for appearing in Brian De Palma and Oliver Stone star-studded remake of the 1932 gangster film, Colon made her mark on the entertainment community through various film and television roles, as well as founding the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in New York.
Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Colon began acting in high school and local plays until 1953 when she became the first Puerto Rican to enroll in the famed Actors Studio, founded by Elia Kazan.
During her early career, Colon appeared in television shows including “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and westerns such as “Gunsmoke,” and “Bonanza.” With several Broadway credits to her name, in the »
- Seth Kelley
Watch Kate McKinnon Turn Jeff Sessions Into Forrest Gump on 'SNL'
16 minutes ago | Rollingstone.com | See recent Rolling Stone news »
Kate McKinnon expanded her menagerie of masterful political impressions by recasting Attorney General Jeff Sessions as Forrest Gump in Saturday Night Live's latest cold open.
Like that 1994 film, the dim-witted "Sessions" sits on a bus stop bench, eating from a box of chocolate and commiserating with strangers about his troubles, which includes lying to Congress about meeting with Russian officials.
"I always say life is like a box of chocolates… Sure are a lot of brown ones in there," "Sessions" says.
"Sessions" then compared that photo of Kellyanne Conway »
Ed Sheeran sings two different version of ‘Shape of You’ on ‘The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’
2 hours ago | Gold Derby | See recent Gold Derby news »
Ed Sheeran started and ended the week performing his No. 1 single “Shape of You” on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” Don’t worry, Friday’s edition of the NBC late-night staple was not a rerun of Monday’s instalment. Rather, Sheeran showed off his versatility by offering up two very different renditions of this tune. He kicked off the […] »
- Paul Sheehan
HBO, BBC One Order ‘Shibden Hall’ from Sally Wainwright
6 hours ago | Variety - TV News | See recent Variety - TV News news »
HBO and BBC One have teamed up on a new project: “Shibden Hall,” an eight-part drama created and written by Sally Wainwright (“Last Tango In Halifax,” “Happy Valley”).
Set in West Yorkshire in 1832, “Shibden Hall” is the story of landowner Anne Lister. Returning home after years of travel, Anne determines to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home in Halifax. To do so, she must marry well. But she has no intentions of marrying a man — she plans to marry a woman.
“Anne Lister is a gift to a dramatist. She is one of the most exuberant, thrilling and brilliant women in British history, and I can’t wait to celebrate her” said Wainwright. “To bring Anne Lister to life on screen is the fulfillment of an ambition I’ve had for twenty years.”
Casey Bloys, president of HBO programming, said, “We are thrilled to partner with the extraordinarily talented Sally Wainwright on this epic story »
- Debra Birnbaum
‘SNL’ Skips Doing #Couchgate Sketch, Goes with McKinnon Running Gag Instead
7 hours ago | The Wrap | See recent The Wrap news »
Viewers were likely expecting “SNL” to sport a sketch featuring Kate McKinnon as Kellyanne Conway to blast her for sitting with her feet up on an Oval Office couch. But “SNL” didn’t go for the obvious joke — instead, it just slipped McKinnon as Conway onto stage no fewer than three times in a perfect reference to the moment. The show’s cold open featured McKinnon as Jeff Sessons in a “Forrest Gump” parody in which he directly referenced the #Couchgate photo, even going so far as to hold up a printout of the photo at one point. “This is my. »
- Phil Hornshaw
Here’s What The Fine Print Says At The End of The ‘Deadpool 2’ ‘Logan’ Short
8 hours ago | The Wrap | See recent The Wrap news »
Audiences seeing “Logan” this weekend were treated to another little bit of superhero goodness ahead the movie: a short teasing “Deadpool 2.” The short features Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) attempting to stop a mugging. He rushes into a phone booth, Superman-style, to change into his costume. Unfortunately, the amount of time it takes to squeeze into Deadpool’s tight ninja-inspired costume means he misses the action, and the mugging victim is shot and killed. The short ends with Deadpool mocking “Logan” star Hugh Jackman for his Australian accent while a block of fine print runs over a black screen. But what does all that. »
- Phil Hornshaw
‘SNL': America’s Republican Savior From Donald Trump is ‘Tbd’ (Video)
8 hours ago | The Wrap | See recent The Wrap news »
Like many in America, “SNL” is waiting for someone in the Republican party to stand up to Donald Trump. Since nobody in the party has yet taken on that role, “SNL” went ahead and made a trailer for the eventual biopic about that brave conservative — but with the subject “Tbd.” The “SNL” trailer for “Courage, Compassion, Country: The Tbd Story” opened with a series of news clips from news reports, mentioning scandals and social upheaval. Ending with a call for Republicans to get their act together, the trailer launches into the brave story of an as-yet undetermined Republican who »
- Phil Hornshaw
‘SNL': Kate McKinnon Lampoons Jeff Sessions in ‘Forrest Gump’ Parody (Video)
9 hours ago | The Wrap | See recent The Wrap news »
Kate McKinnon kicked off “SNL” after a two-week hiatus, playing a version of Attorney General Jeff Sessions that channeled “Forrest Gump.” McKinnon’s Sessions found himself waiting for a bus with a box of chocolate, talking to the Alabama natives who happened to share it with him. Of course, the subject of conversation ranged from Sessions’ new appointment as attorney general to discussing how he talked to the Russians, but maybe just doesn’t totally remember it. You can watch the full bit above. “I am the attorney general of the whole United States,” Sessions told one of the folks who happened to sit. »
- Phil Hornshaw
‘Saturday Night Live’: Host Octavia Spencer Skewers Oscars, Trump
9 hours ago | Variety - TV News | See recent Variety - TV News news »
“Saturday Night Live” host Octavia Spencer poked fun at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony in her monologue.
Of course, President Trump and his administration were also targets of skewering as the NBC late-night mainstay returned with a new episode after a two-week break.
“SNL’s” cold open featured a “Forrest Gump” spoof with Kate McKinnon as embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the guise of Gump discussing his “bad week.” The former Alabama senator is battling accusations that he was less than truthful during his confirmation hearings about his contacts with Russian officials during Trump’s presidential campaign. McKinnon’s Sessions noted that the growing controversy over perjury allegations distracted from the positive coverage of Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday night, when the President spoke “real words in a row for a whole hour.”
Sitting on the bus bench with a box of chocolates in his lap, McKinnon’s Sessions told his aw-shucks story to »
- Cynthia Littleton
‘Shin Godzilla’ Takes Seven Japan Academy Prizes
11 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
“Shin Godzilla,” a CGI-heavy reboot of the iconic Godzilla series, took seven Japan Academy prizes at the awards ceremony in Tokyo on Friday, the most of any of the nominees. The film, which earned $72 million at the Japanese box office last year, scooped best picture and best director honors for co-directors Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi, who brought Toho’s signature series back to the screen after a 12-year hiatus.
The best actor prize went to Koichi Sato for his turn as a police public relations officer haunted by a long-ago murder case in Takahisa Zeze mystery/thriller “64.” Rie Miyazawa received the best actress trophy for her portrayal of a mother dying of terminal cancer in the Ryota Nakano drama “Her Love Boils Bathwater.’
The year’s biggest hit, animation “Your Name,” won awards for best script and music, as well as the most popular film prize. Best animation honors, »
- Mark Schilling
Stephen King Tweets Hilarious New Obama Conspiracies for Trump: ‘He’s in the Closet! He Has Scissors!’
13 hours ago | The Wrap | See recent The Wrap news »
If that whole horror-novelist thing doesn’t work out for Stephen King, there might be a bright new career available for him: Coming up with new crazy things for Donald Trump to accuse Barack Obama of. On Saturday, after President Trump unleashed accusations that former President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower prior to the 2016 presidential election, “The Shining” author whipped up some social media magic of his own and provided more bizarre Obama scenarios for the new Potus to ponder. “Not only did Obama tap Trump’s phones, he stole the strawberry ice cream out of the mess locker,” King tweeted Saturday. »
- Tim Kenneally
Netflix Renews ‘One Day at a Time’ for Season 2
14 hours ago | Variety - TV News | See recent Variety - TV News news »
Netflix has given a second-season order to the revival of “One Day at a Time.”
The Sony Pictures TV comedy, from Norman Lear and showrunners Mike Royce and Gloria Calderon Kellett, bowed in January to rapturous reviews. The multicamera laffer puts a contemporary spin on the groundbreaking 1970s CBS sitcom about a divorced mother. Justina Machado stars as a newly single mother trying to raise her two children, with the help of her mother.
Netflix has ordered 13 episodes for the second season. “One Day at a Time” marked a triumphant return to series TV by Lear, the legendary 94-year-old producer of such indelible TV hits as “All in the Family,” “Maude” and “Good Times.” The original series, which ran from 1975 to 1984, starred Bonnie Franklin, Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli.
The new-model “One Day at a Time” shifted the location from Indianapolis to the Echo Park area of Los Angeles. Machado is seen as an Emmy contender for »
- Cynthia Littleton
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