Disney's omnipresence will decrease just a bit next year, as its nationwide Radio Disney network will shut down in early 2021, the company announced Thursday.

The move comes amid significant restructuring at Disney, which has been reorganizing to place greater focus on its streaming platform and TV operations. On Thursday, the company announced a new wave of layoffs at its television group, with more than 100 executives reportedly affected. The Radio Disney shutdown will lead to 36 more positions being eliminated.

In addition to the restructuring, "Division leaders also took into account the fast-evolving media environment that provides more personalized music choices than ever to a generation of young consumers, and the ongoing public health crisis that continues to affect in-person music events," Disney said in a statement announcing the shutdown.

Launched in 1996, Radio Disney mainly catered to preteen and teenaged listeners with pop music and songs often featured in Disney Channel shows. It also became a key avenue for young artists to boost their profiles, with Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, and Ariana Grande, among those who received airplay early in their careers.

At its peak, Radio Disney owned 23 terrestrial stations nationwide; Disney sold off all but one of them in 2014, shifting to satellite and digital platforms instead.The remaining station, KRDC-AM in Los Angeles, will be sold next year.

Radio Disney Country, which launched in 2015 as a digital network, will also cease operations as a result of the decision.

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This story originally appeared on: EW - Author:Tyler Aquilina

David Lander, the actor known for playing Andrew "Squiggy" Squiggman on the popular ABC sitcom Laverne & Shirley, has died. He was 73.

Lander died Friday in Los Angeles from complications due to multiple sclerosis. The actor was diagnosed with the illness in 1984, but did not reveal it publicly until 1999. After going public, he toured widely on behalf of the National MS Society to promote treatment for the disease.

"Most people have no idea what MS is," the actor said in 2007. "One of the first things people asked me after I went public with my MS was 'Does this make you one of Jerry's kids?'"

Born David Landau in New York City in 1947, Lander planned from a young age to become an actor, studying at Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts, and later Carnegie Tech and New York University. At Carnegie, Lander met Michael McKean, who would become a longtime collaborator and his costar on Laverne & Shirley. It was here that they first created Lenny and Squiggy, the characters they would go on to play on the sitcom. After spending a year working on comedy projects rather than attending classes, the two were “not asked to come back,” as McKean told PEOPLE in 1978.

Lander moved to Los Angeles in 1968, briefly working with Rob Reiner as a TV writer before joining the comedy group the Credibility Gap along with McKean. The two were hired as writers on Laverne & Shirley in 1976, and wrote "considerably toned down" versions of Lenny and Squiggy into the first episode as the title characters' neighbors. Soon, Laverne & Shirley co-creator Lowell Ganz said in 2011, the writers "put them in every episode. We closed up their writers office, and they were part of the cast."

"Squiggy is a combination of people I knew and despised," Lander told PEOPLE at the height of the show's popularity. "You have more freedom playing people you hate. There are people like them who haven’t outgrown their silly dreams....Squiggy looks in the mirror and thinks he’s the handsomest guy in the world."

Lander's other credits included Steven Spielberg's 1941 and Robert Zemeckis' Used Cars, appearing alongside McKean in both, as well as voice work in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, A League of Their Own (directed by Laverne & Shirley's Penny Marshall), and The Iron Giant. On TV, he also appeared on Twin Peaks, The Bold and the Beautiful, and The Simpsons (as Squiggy), among many other shows.

Lander is survived by Kathy Fields, his wife of more than 40 years, and their daughter Natalie.

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This story originally appeared on: EW - Author:Tyler Aquilina

Wonder Woman 1984

• Movie

• Superhero

Wonder Woman 1984 has lassoed its first reactions from critics, and the largely positive responses are hailing Patty Jenkins' sequel as the burst of hope we need amid this terrible, awful, no good, very bad year.

"WONDER WOMAN 1984 is — forgive the term — wonderful," SlashFilm's Hoai-Tran Bui wrote on Twitter. "It doubles down on the compassion and cheese that made the first so great, as well as its tenacious belief in the best of humanity. A magical, sorely needed beacon of hope in this year."

"It’s definitely on the long side, and sometimes slathers on so much cheese that it might be a health hazard, but it’s the kind of aspirational superhero blockbuster that we need more of," she added.

That message of hope was noted in many reactions, with Perri Nemiroff of Collider writing, "I prefer Wonder Woman to Wonder Woman 1984. But I also much prefer seeing filmmakers take new, big swings with sequels and that’s definitely what Patty Jenkins and co. do here. Not everything adds up, but the value of selflessness, love and compassion do shine through."

Fandango's Erik Davis called the film "an absolute blast from start to finish" and "one of DC's best sequels," adding, "I was in tears when it ended."

Bui wasn't the only one to comment on the film's running time. (The film reportedly runs 151 minutes, about 10 minutes longer than its predecessor.) Germain Lussier of Gizmodo wrote that the film is "very long, to a fault at times," but added that "mostly it reminded me how wonderful a big blockbuster can make you feel." "The movie is hugely ambitious, incredibly exciting, and full of much needed hope," he wrote.

Several observers singled out the performances of Pedro Pascal and Kristen Wiig — as villains Maxwell Lord and Cheetah, respectively — for praise. "Pedro Pascal and Kristen Wiig are the highlights of #WonderWoman1984 for me," Brandon Davis of ComicBook.com wrote. "Pascal goes ALL IN on a wild portrayal of Max Lord, a conflicted but vile villain. Wiig's Cheetah evolution throughout the movie is heartbreaking yet epic."

Wonder Woman 1984 is set to debut in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously on Christmas Day, after repeated delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be the first release of what Warner Bros. has declared its new release strategy for 2021, as many movie theaters remain shuttered amid the ongoing pandemic.

See more reactions to the movie below.

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• Watch Wonder Woman 1984 stars crack each other up discussing sequel ideas in EW's roundtable

This story originally appeared on: EW - Author:Tyler Aquilina

Cheers

• TV Show

• Sitcom

Raise your glass to the clever minds at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

With new reports emerging that the upcoming, Obi-Wan Kenobi-centric Star Wars TV series will begin filming in Boston in January, The Late Show dropped a hilarious video to mark the occasion. Billed as "an exclusive preview of the opening credits," the video is actually a Star Wars-themed riff on the title sequence for perhaps the best-known show ever set in Boston, Cheers.

"Hiding away in the Outer Rim takes everything you've got," the song begins. "Hiding away from all those Jedi and your garbage can robot." And, in an absurd spoof of one of the most iconic theme song lines ever: "Sometimes you wanna go where everybody has weird names."

Cheers, of course, was set in a Boston bar "where everybody knows your name," following the owner Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and his loyal patrons over 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993.

Kenobi star Ewan McGregor, who will be reprising his role from the Star Wars prequel trilogy, previously said the series would begin shooting in March 2021, after being delayed for script rewrites earlier this year. Few details on the series have been revealed, but it will reportedly follow the Jedi Master during his time on Tatooine between Star Wars Episodes III and IV, as he watches over a young Luke Skywalker.

Check out the full "theme song" above.

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This story originally appeared on: EW - Author:Tyler Aquilina

Alias

• TV Show

• ABC

Jennifer Garner is wading into a sexy throwback.

The actress recreated a scene from her cult-favorite thriller series Alias, where her character Sydney Bristow slowly emerges from a pool. Garner posted the video to Instagram to celebrate reaching the 10 million follower mark — despite apparently promising her representatives she would "never" do so.

"To celebrate all 10 million of you, here is THE video I promised my manager (hi, @nksolaka) and my publicist (hi, @mereowass) I would never post," the 13 Going on 30 star wrote in the caption, posting the original clip alongside her recreation. "At some point in 2021, Ladies, I will try to look cute just for you."

The video garnered (sorry) plenty of comments from other celebrities. Leslie Jordan wrote, "This is amazing. Love it and you. Oh, and you’re always cute." Robin Roberts commented, "Just when I think I couldn’t possibly adore you any more than I already do! Bless you for always making all of us smile. You are a gem, Jen." And Garner's Alias costar Gina Torres wrote simply, "the Best!"

Alias originally aired on ABC from 2001 to 2006, following Garner's Sydney, a double agent for the CIA, as she attempts to carry out her missions while concealing her activities from her friends and family. Created by J.J. Abrams, the show received critical acclaim and netted several Emmy nominations, but struggled in the ratings throughout its run.

Recently, Garner's 13 Going on 30 costar Christa Allen also got in on the recreation game, posting her own take on a memorable scene from the rom-com that originally featured Garner.

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• Alias writers address potential reboot — plus other highlights from their ATX panel

This story originally appeared on: EW - Author:Tyler Aquilina

The Equalizer is coming back in a big way.

CBS' reboot of the 1980s crime drama will premiere after the network's broadcast of Super Bowl LV on Feb. 7, becoming the latest show to land the coveted time slot following the Big Game. The new Equalizer stars Queen Latifah as Robyn McCall, an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn.

CBS also gave the post-Super Bowl slot to a new series in 2019, the last time it aired the game. The episode, the premiere of the talent competition show The World's Best, netted more than 22 million viewers.

The original version of The Equalizer aired on CBS from 1985 to 1989, starring Edward Woodward as a retired intelligence officer with a mysterious past. Denzel Washington later starred in two films based on the series. The reboot also features Chris Noth, Lorraine Toussaint, Tory Kittles, Adam Goldberg, Liza Lapira, and Laya DeLeon Hayes.

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This story originally appeared on: EW - Author:Tyler Aquilina

A president must be able to observe proper conduct when meeting royalty, so it's no surprise that Barack Obama knew how to handle himself when he met the Queen of Pop.

In an exclusive clip from Friday's episode of The Tonight Show, host Jimmy Fallon recalls introducing the former POTUS to Madonna when Obama appeared on the show in 2016 — and the commander-in-chief's very formal conduct when meeting her.

"We went over to see Madonna… she was very flirty, she's very sexy, and she was like, 'Hello, hi,'" Fallon recalls. "And you go, all business, 'Hello. Pleasure to meet you.' And I was like, 'That's right. That's the way Michelle would be like — that's right. That's how you do it.'"

"Don't think that you elected a fool," Obama quips. "I knew how to handle my business."

In the clip, the two also discuss Obama's two "Slow Jam the News" sketches on Late Night in 2012 and The Tonight Show in 2016. "I saw a different President Obama the second time around," Fallon says, recalling that the first time, the strait-laced president refused to perform a mood-appropriate "Oooh yeeeeah." The second time, however, Obama was much more enthusiastic about singing bars from Rihanna's "Work."

"That is a jam, and I know that jam well," Obama says.

The first volume of Obama's memoir A Promised Land recently debuted to favorable reviews and other associated late-night shenanigans. You can watch the full Fallon clip above.

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This story originally appeared on: EW - Author:Tyler Aquilina

Bryan Cranston is still living with some effects of COVID-19 after contracting the virus earlier this year.

Appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Friday, the Your Honor star discussed his experience with the virus, explaining that he and his wife got sick "early on" after the pandemic hit the U.S. "We didn't want to miss out," Cranston quipped. "So we made sure that we got it early on....She got it first, she gave it to me, 'cause we share."

"We were very lucky, though, in all seriousness," he continued. "We had a few days of achiness, but not enough to keep you in bed. I had a temperature of 99 for about three hours, and then just exhaustion for a week."

Still, Cranston added, he still hasn't regained his full sense of taste and smell, which many have noted as a persistent aftereffect of the virus.

"The only thing that lingered, and still is to this day, is that I lost a percentage of my ability to taste and smell," the Breaking Bad star said. "I think about 75 percent has come back, but if someone was brewing coffee and I walk into a kitchen, I cannot smell it."

Cranston first revealed he battled COVID in July, announcing in an Instagram post that he was donating plasma for scientific research. "About now you're probably feeling a little tied down, restricting your mobility and like me, you're tired of this," he wrote in the post. "Well, I just want to encourage you to have a little more patience. I was pretty strict in adhering to the protocols and still… I contracted the virus."

"I count my blessings and urge you to keep wearing the damn mask, keep washing your hands, and stay socially distant," he added. "We can prevail - but ONLY if we follow the rules together."

Cranston is returning to TV in his first leading role since Breaking Bad with Showtime's Your Honor, a 10-episode limited series debuting Friday.

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This story originally appeared on: EW - Author:Tyler Aquilina

A mere two weeks after announcing Wonder Woman 1984 would be released in movie theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously, Warner Bros. has upended the film business again. In a jaw-dropping move, the studio declared Thursday that its entire 2021 film slate would do the same, including such boldfaced titles as Dune, The Suicide Squad, and The Matrix 4. It's a strategy with massive implications for the future of the industry — but also one clearly born out of desperation and a dearth of options, as the COVID-19 pandemic looks likely to keep many movie theaters shuttered well into next year.

"It's probably most shocking because they're doing it before Wonder Woman's release, and not opting to at least see how that strategy plays out, and are committing themselves to a full year of what is a massive, arguably risky experiment," says Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice Pro. "Obviously I can't speak for the studio, but to me, what it suggests is that they were in the position of either doing this or just committing to more delays."

Ann Sarnoff, Chair and CEO of the WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group, essentially said as much in a statement, calling the strategy "a unique one-year plan" intended to serve both theaters and consumers amid the pandemic.

“We’re living in unprecedented times which call for creative solutions, including this new initiative for the Warner Bros. Pictures Group,” said Sarnoff. "No one wants films back on the big screen more than we do. We know new content is the lifeblood of theatrical exhibition, but we have to balance this with the reality that most theaters in the U.S. will likely operate at reduced capacity throughout 2021."

“After considering all available options and the projected state of moviegoing throughout 2021, we came to the conclusion that this was the best way for WarnerMedia’s motion picture business to navigate the next 12 months,” added WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar. “Our content is extremely valuable, unless it’s sitting on a shelf not being seen by anyone. We believe this approach serves our fans, supports exhibitors and filmmakers, and enhances the HBO Max experience, creating value for all.”

Short-term strategy or not, however, this is a decision with likely long-term consequences for the film business, confirming beyond all doubt (as if there was any at this point) that studios are all-in on streaming going forward. Both WarnerMedia and Disney have recently restructured to prioritize their streaming platforms, and Warner is clearly hoping to prove HBO Max can play in the same league as Disney+.

"[WarnerMedia] had already cut a lot of people, they were streamlining their business, the same way that Disney had done to make Disney+ the flagship product," says Jeff Bock, a senior box-office analyst at Exhibitor Relations. "And now that's what HBO Max looks to be becoming. Direct-to-consumer content is the wave of the future, and all major corporations are already pivoting in that direction."

In that light, Warner's move to bring a blockbuster film slate to streaming hardly seems surprising. HBO Max has been a victim of clumsy rollout and branding; the name belies the fact that the streaming service hosts much more than HBO content, and only added confusion to a streaming landscape that already included HBO Go and HBO Now. Evidence suggests many HBO subscribers remain unaware they already have access to HBO Max, and more than six months after its launch, the service is still unavailable on Roku devices. (It was also unavailable on Amazon devices until last month.) The subscription numbers speak for themselves: 8.6 million as of October, a pittance compared to Disney+'s 73.7 million and Netflix's 195.2 million.

"If they wanted to make a splash and a huge subscription drive to HBO Max, this is the way to do it," Bock said in the wake of Wonder Woman's move to the streaming service.

With all of that in mind — plus WarnerMedia's stated goal of 50 million HBO Max subscribers by 2025 — the studio's assertion that their new film strategy is temporary looks a good deal more questionable. Still, "to include theaters in that plan says a lot about [Warner's] commitment to theatrical," Robbins says. "The good news for theaters is, they don't have to worry about major films being delayed for Warner Bros. again next year. There is a strategy now to see through the rest of the pandemic. But it obviously hurts on some level at the same time."

Indeed, theater owners are clinging to the promising news of an imminent COVID vaccine as evidence that a return to normalcy is quickly approaching — and a reason to register their disapproval with Warner Bros.

Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Entertainment, said in a statement, "These coronavirus-impacted times are uncharted waters for all of us, which is why AMC signed on to an HBO Max exception to customary practices for one film only, Wonder Woman 1984, being released by Warner Bros. at Christmas when the pandemic appears that it will be at its height. However, Warner now hopes to do this for all their 2021 theatrical movies, despite the likelihood that with vaccines right around the corner the theatre business is expected to recover.

"Clearly, WarnerMedia intends to sacrifice a considerable portion of the profitability of its movie studio division, and that of its production partners and filmmakers, to subsidize its HBO Max start up," he continued. "As for AMC, we will do all in our power to ensure that Warner does not do so at our expense. We will aggressively pursue economic terms that preserve our business. We have already commenced an immediate and urgent dialogue with the leadership of Warner on this subject."

"Movie theaters are really interested in getting new movies however they can right now," another exhibition executive tells EW. "We don't expect this to be setting a precedent or for a model that should exist after the pandemic has passed. We think that the theatrical business and what it contributes to the rest of the studio business is fundamental and hasn't changed."

Universal, which struck a deal with AMC this summer to allow its movies to play on VOD after 17 days of theatrical release, might disagree. (Will the theater chain's "dialogue" with Warner lead to a similar deal for that studio?) And it remains doubtful whether theaters can stay afloat until a vaccine arrives; AMC has publicly declared it is close to bankruptcy. The sheer amount of variables in play make it almost impossible to divine whether studios will, or even can, return to their pre-pandemic playbooks once theatrical releases are viable again.

Robbins, for one, is doubtful Warner Bros. would maintain its HBO Max approach for event movies like The Batman, should the world be back to normal by its March 2022 release date. "It's very hard to imagine this incredibly important piece of IP for the company losing that event status by being available in homes at the same time it's in theaters because that is one of those communal movies that people go see together," Robbins says.

That said, "It's a very different story for any of the lower- to mid-budget films," he continues. "Those are the ones, I think, we will see going more and more to streaming. That's been very clear this year."

In other words, the future could look very similar to what it looks like right now: Blockbusters still play far and wide on the big screen, while mid-range and smaller movies go to streaming, perhaps with a limited theatrical run to qualify for Oscars (if they still need one). If that's the case, Warner Bros. hasn't exactly changed the game. But they've helped get the pieces in place much faster than anyone expected.

Related content:

• Warner Bros. to release every 2021 movie on HBO Max at same time as theaters
• Disney CEO hints at plans for more PVOD releases on Disney+ in wake of Mulan
• Warner Bros.' Wonder Woman 1984 strategy won't kill theaters, but it won't save them, either

This story originally appeared on: EW - Author:Tyler Aquilina

The new documentary Collective is many movies in one: a journalistic thriller on the level of All the President’s Men and Spotlight, a Kafkaesque exploration of bureaucratic ineptitude, the story of a politician’s loss of innocence. It’s also the latest exemplar of what’s been a great year — and what’s certain to be a great awards season — for documentary films.

We’re living in a glorious time for documentaries, as demonstrated by the last decade or so of Oscar contenders, which have long since proven Best Documentary Feature as a riveting race to watch. In any given recent year, you could assemble a top-tier crop of nominees just from the films that didn’t make the cut: Blackfish. Weiner. Going Clear. This Is Not a Film. Cameraperson. This year-plus (with the Academy’s eligibility window extending into February 2021) will surely be no exception, boasting another superb crop of contenders, many of which will inevitably be left off the final list of five nominees.

Take Collective (now available on VOD), which has already been selected as Romania’s entry for Best International Film. (Last year, Macedonia’s Honeyland became the first movie ever to receive Oscar nods for both Best International Film and Best Documentary; it’s very possible that Collective could be the second.) The doc begins by following a team of journalists in the wake of a deadly nightclub fire, as they uncover staggeringly vast corruption in the country’s medical system. As the reporters dig ever deeper into a mountain of conspiracy and dysfunction, the film boldly switches its focus, turning its eye on Romania’s idealistic new Minister of Health as he attempts to turn a festering system around. Collective packs the experience of an entire season of a David Simon series into less than two hours and shows the power of old-fashioned, cinéma-vérité docs in an era marked by genre-blurring experiments.

But then, what’s wrong with genre-blurring experiments? If the Best Documentary race has a frontrunner right now, it’s probably Dick Johnson Is Dead, Kirsten Johnson’s hilarious, horrifying, heartwarming tribute to her dementia-stricken father. The film is an intensely personal, audacious blend of Jackass-style grotesquerie, intimate family portrait, and memory play, as Johnson “kills” her dad repeatedly through elaborate stunts while attempting to preserve him in cinematic form. That it coheres at all is a miracle, but it does much more, striking a deeply emotional note while upping the ante for documentary filmmaking.

One of the most acclaimed films of the year, Dick Johnson won big at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards in November, netting Best Documentary Feature and Best Director for Johnson. As with any category, though, docs should perhaps be wary of pulling ahead too early in the race. While last year’s Critics’ Choice Best Director winners Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar (for American Factory) went on to win the Oscar, 2018’s big champ Won’t You Be My Neighbor? ended up without a nom from the Academy. Still, with the marketing might of Netflix behind it, Dick Johnson is likely headed for a very fruitful awards season.

If there’s anything that could work against Dick Johnson, it might be its lack of socio-political resonance in a field of docs loaded with those qualities. Contenders like Boys State, Time, and All Inspeak volumes about contemporary America, with the former spotlighting several teenagers well on their way to becoming the next generation of political power brokers. The extraordinary Time, meanwhile, uses the heart-rending story of one family’s struggle with the U.S. criminal justice system to illustrate the human cost of its deep flaws. And All In attempts to tackle nothing less than, as its subtitle declares, The Fight for Democracy, with Stacey Abrams and her voting rights activism in Georgia framing an examination of voter suppression throughout the country.

Then there’s Totally Under Control, which examines not just contemporary America, but the America of this very moment. An astonishing account of how the Trump administration lost control of the COVID-19 pandemic (or never had it to begin with), the film meticulously unpacks the early missteps and malfeasance that got us to where we are now. Of course, being so current has its drawbacks; Totally Under Control already feels a bit outdated, and will only feel more so by the Oscars, when we’ll be three months into Joe Biden’s presidency. But the film is hard to shake off, and the astounding details of its production — it was completed in just five months in total secrecy — could very well work in its favor.

Several upcoming docs, on the other hand, turned their cameras abroad, joining Collective in shining a light on international crises. Oscar-winning Icarus director Bryan Fogel returns this Christmas with The Dissident, digging into the 2018 assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. And before that, on Dec. 11, arrives Assassins, which traces the 2017 murder of Kim Jong-un’s half-brother Kim Jong-nam. Both fit into the “stranger-than-fiction thriller” subgenre of documentary, relitigating recent history in an attempt to dig deeper than its rough first draft. (This type of film often plays well with Oscar voters; see 2010’s winner Inside Job, about the causes of the Great Recession, or 2014’s, Citizenfour, about Edward Snowden. The Dissident and Assassins hit VOD in January 2021.)

Still other films looked further into the past to illuminate our present. Fresh off last year’s Best Documentary winner American Factory, the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions and Netflix released Crip Camp, a revelatory look at how people with disabilities fought for their civil rights — a fight that remains frustratingly incomplete — amid the 1960s and '70s movements for change. The upcoming, equally revelatory MLK/FBI (Jan. 15, 2021) is a blistering look into J. Edgar Hoover’s surveillance campaign against Martin Luther King Jr., bringing yet another shameful episode in America’s racial reckoning to the screen. And another Civil Rights Movement icon received a fitting tribute with John Lewis: Good Trouble, released just two weeks before the congressman’s death in July.

Even as audiences increasingly looked to escape the real world through entertainment (Tiger King notwithstanding; which, by the way, is ineligible for the Oscars with the new, post-O.J.: Made in America rules in place), this year showed us why we need docs so badly: to help us process and make sense of our reality. Come Oscar night, no matter which films have made it to the final five, they’ll all have that in common.

Related content:

• Dick Johnson Is Dead postmortem: Director Kirsten Johnson on Netflix film's touching ending
• How Totally Under Control pulled off a secret, explosive COVID-19 documentary
• Oscar race analysis: Ma Rainey sings for Netflix, Borat strokes ahead at Amazon

This story originally appeared on: EW - Author:Tyler Aquilina

The Call Me By Your Name star will play producer Albert S. Ruddy in The Offer, the upcoming limited series based on Ruddy's experiences making the Oscar-winning classic. The series was previously announced alongside the news that CBS All Access will rebrand as Paramount+ next year.

Michael Tolkin (Escape at Dannemora) will write the 10-episode series, with Ruddy executive producing along with Nikki Toscano (Hunters), and Leslie Greif (Hatfields & McCoys).

By the way, you're not having déjà vu; another dramatization of The Godfather's production was indeed announced recently. Oscar Isaac and Jake Gyllenhaal will star as director Francis Ford Coppola and Paramount studio head Robert Evans in a film directed by Barry Levinson (Rain Man). Why all the Godfather content all of a sudden? We can only speculate, but it might have something to do with the fact that the movie's 50th anniversary is coming up in 2022.

Hammer, who recently appeared in Netflix's Rebecca, is also set to star in the upcoming action-comedy Shotgun Wedding alongside Jennifer Lopez and will be seen in Kenneth Branagh's Death on the Nile, whenever that film sees the light of day.

This story originally appeared on: EW - Author:Tyler Aquilina

Saved by the Bell (revival)

• TV Show

• Peacock

• Sitcom

Selena Gomez fans are slamming Peacock's Saved by the Bell revival over its multiple references to the musician's 2017 kidney transplant.

In a scene from the series' sixth episode, two Bayside High students whose phones have been taken away argue over who Gomez's donor was. “I know for a fact that Selena Gomez’s kidney donor was Justin Bieber’s mom,” one says. “God, I wish that I had my phone so I could prove it.”

“Prove what? That you’re an idiot?” the other student responds. “It was Demi Lovato’s kidney. They’re best friends, like you and I were.” (The actual donor was Gomez's close friend, actress Francia Raisa.)

In another scene, graffiti on the school's wall reads, “Does Selena Gomez even have kidneys?”

Many social media users criticized the show and Peacock for the references, which they perceived as offensive and disrespectful. "You should be ashamed to air a show where a person is mocked for their serious illness," one user wrote, addressing the streaming service. "It is not only offensive to Selena Gomez, but to all those who have had to go through a process as difficult as that."

The streamer, studio, and executive producers apologized for the jokes in a statement provided to EW. "We apologize. It was never our intention to make light of Selena’s health," the statement reads. "We have been in touch with her team and will be making a donation to her charity, The Selena Gomez Fund for Lupus Research at USC."

Gomez was diagnosed with lupus several years ago and underwent the kidney transplant due to complications from the disease. In an Instagram post at the time, she wrote, "I want to publicly thank my family and incredible team of doctors for everything they have done for me prior to and post-surgery."

“There aren’t words to describe how I can possibly thank my beautiful friend Francia Raisa,” she added. “She gave me the ultimate gift and sacrifice by donating her kidney to me. I am incredibly blessed.”

Saved by the Bell is currently streaming on Peacock.

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• Alycia Pascual-Peña is Saved by the Bell's newest football star — and she's ready to smash the patriarchy
• Selena Gomez and David Henrie know exactly how a Wizards of Waverly Place reunion would look
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Saved by the Bell (revival)

Author:Tyler Aquilina - Source: EW

Glenn Close is not exactly in love with Shakespeare in Love.

Appearing on ABC News' Popcorn with Peter Travers to promote Netflix's Hillbilly Elegy, the actress got frank about her thoughts on entertainment industry awards, saying pitting actors' performances against each other "doesn't make sense" and citing Gwyneth Paltrow's 1999 Oscar win for Shakespeare as a key example.

"I've never understood how you could honestly compare performances," Close said. "I remember the year Gwyneth Paltrow won over that incredible actress who was in Central Station. I thought, 'What?' It doesn't make sense. So I think who wins has a lot of things to do with... whether it has traction or whatever. Publicity, how much money did they have to put it out in front of everybody's sight."

Indeed, Shakespeare in Love's Oscar campaign is a notorious episode in Hollywood history, not least because it marked the high (or low) point of Harvey Weinstein's aggressive, mudslinging style of awards-circuit PR. The strategy netted a Best Actress trophy for Paltrow and Best Picture for the film itself, a win that remains controversial to this day. (Shakespeare triumphed unexpectedly over frontrunner Saving Private Ryan, widely considered the superior film then and now.)

Paltrow triumphed over fellow nominees Meryl Streep (of course), Cate Blanchett, Emily Watson, and Fernanda Montenegro, the actress from Central Station that Close mentioned. In 2009, an EW "Oscar recall" survey of industry insiders picked Blanchett over Paltrow for that year's Best Actress.

In the Popcorn interview, Close, who has been nominated for seven Oscars (the most without a win for any actress), added, "I honestly feel that to be nominated by your peers is about as good as it gets....I'm very proud of the times that my peers have felt that my performance was worthy of attention."

Close may well get her eighth nod for Hillbilly Elegy come next year. Though the film itself has been savaged by critics, her transformative performance has been singled out for praise. But Close isn't exactly enthusiastic about potentially receiving her first Oscar amid a global pandemic.

"It's so sad if it happens when we're all unable to celebrate in a room together," Close told Travers. "I mean, that would be ironic, but that's what life does, right? I just hope I can keep finding the parts because a lot of times I think it's about the role."

You can watch the full interview above.

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Author:Tyler Aquilina - Source: EW

Barack Obama has a message for Drake: Yes you can. That is, yes you can play me in a biopic.

The former president has expressed his approval for the "God's Plan" rapper's longstanding ambition to play the lead in an Obama biopic. Asked if he would approve of the casting in an interview on Complex's 360 With Speedy Morman, Obama said, "I will say this, Drake seems to be able to do anything he wants. I mean, that is a talented, talented brother. So, if the time comes and he's ready..."

Asked by Morman if Drake has his "stamp of approval," Obama replied, "Drake has, more importantly I think, my household’s stamp of approval. I suspect Malia and Sasha would be just fine with it."

Though the President has already been played on screen by a few actors, most recently Kingsley Ben-Adir on Showtime's miniseries The Comey Rule, a full-scale Obama biopic has yet to be made. The recently-released first volume of his memoir, A Promised Land, will likely serve as helpful material for anyone hoping the get one off the ground.

Drake first expressed interest in playing Obama in 2010, during the then-President's first term in office. "I hope somebody makes a movie about Obama’s life soon because I could play him," the rapper told Paper at the time. "I watch all the addresses. Anytime I see him on TV, I don’t change the channel, I definitely pay attention and listen to the inflections of his voice. If you ask anyone who knows me, I’m pretty good at impressions. Slowly but surely, I’m not in the study mode because nobody’s called me about anything, but I just pay attention so when the day comes I’m not scrambling to learn how to speak like him."

In other words, when that hotline bling, he'll be ready. You can watch the full Complex interview below.

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Author:Tyler Aquilina - Source: EW

Errol Morris is perhaps modern cinema's premier detective; his most acclaimed and well-known film, 1988's The Thin Blue Line, famously resulted in its subject's conviction for murder being overturned. Yet Morris couldn't quite get to the bottom of the mystery at the heart of his latest documentary — but then, neither could the woman at the heart of the mystery.

My Psychedelic Love Story, premiering Sunday on Showtime, is a strange tale centered around famed counterculture figure Timothy Leary and his paramour Joanna Harcourt-Smith. The two met in Europe in 1972 when Leary was on the run from the U.S. government, and embarked on a tumultuous, LSD-powered love affair that continued after they were arrested by American agents in Afghanistan. Leary was re-imprisoned for the next three and a half years, and was only released in 1976 after he and Harcourt-Smith agreed to become federal informants. Shortly thereafter, they broke up.

The counterculture accused Harcourt-Smith of manipulating Leary and operating as a "sex spy" on behalf of the CIA. Decades later, even she wasn't completely sure what happened and why, and Morris' film served as an outlet for her to sift through her memories and feelings about this defining period in her life.

"Our attempts to get additional information from the CIA proved not fruitful," the filmmaker tells EW. "And so there's a card at the end of the film that says that the CIA would neither confirm or deny the presence of any material relating to Joanna Harcourt-Smith and Timothy Leary. It remains a mystery. But what isn't mysterious, of course, is that both of them were pursued by the federal government in earnest."

There's more to the film than the mystery, however. Inspired by her 2013 memoir Tripping the Bardo With Timothy Leary: My Psychedelic Love Story, the documentary truly serves as a character study of and memorial to Harcourt-Smith, who died of breast cancer on Oct. 11 at age 74.

"I find her story endlessly interesting," says Morris. "It cuts a wide swath through a lot of contemporary history, whether it's the counterculture or rock and roll, or Timothy Leary, or drugs, or the CIA and the FBI. It's a rich mix material, and the list of names of people that she knew, and were friends of hers, is almost endless."

"She's also an extraordinarily romantic character," he continues. "She saw her life very much as an adventure that she was inventing as she went along. Joanna says fairly early on in the film, 'I always wanted to be with an outlaw.' And indeed she was."

Ahead of the documentary's TV debut, Morris spoke to EW about his approach to the project, capturing Harcourt-Smith on camera, and how the film became a parting gift to her.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You've often said that you're always interested in playing with documentary as an art form. How did that manifest for you with this project?
ERROL MORRIS: I would have to say circuitously, because we intended to make one kind of project and ended up making another. The idea was to create something a little bit like [Morris' 2017 Netflix miniseries] Wormwood, where there would be [scripted] drama integrated with an interview. That interview was shot in December of last year, and then guess what happened: COVID-19. And the whole idea that we were shooting drama was more or less out of the question. It meant that we would have to wait until, probably, next year to actually go into production. And so we were asked by Showtime, "Would you be willing just to do this as a one-off documentary film, and deliver it before the end of 2020?" And we said yes, of course. I much prefer just to keep working and keep producing, rather than to simply sit on my hands and wait.

How do you feel about the way it turned out, having diverged from your original plan?
I kind of love it. As it turns out, even though we only interviewed Joanna for two days, I was surprised that from that interview, there was so much remarkable material, and it was possible to make a film out of what we had done. And the film came alive as we started to work on it. You can't always predict these things. In fact, in my experience, the best films often come out unexpectedly. There's no way you really could have thoroughly planned for them.

But here, there was this amazing wealth of archival material. There was Joanna herself, who is, I believe, extraordinary on film. I often point out that this whole idea that there's no element of performance in documentary is just wrong. Of course there's an element of performance, and her performance is great. Yes, she is Joanna Harcourt-Smith. Yes, she's describing events from her life. But she's describing them in a way that is unendingly interesting and revealing. And it's in part, which I also like, a detective story where she is the detective, examining herself, trying to figure out what actually transpired. Why did this love affair come to such an abrupt and brutal end? Was she being used in some way by the federal government? What was her role? She's not even sure of that. What was her role in this entire story?

How does that affect your dynamic, when she's also trying to figure out the truth, and ordinarily you're the one trying to do that?
It changed it, of course, because she's an active participant in this whole story. I'm immensely sympathetic with this whole idea of really not knowing who you are. It's assumed that we are who we are and hence we should know who we are, but I'm not sure it works that way. We can be very much a mystery to ourselves, and many of the things that happen to us in the course of our lives can also be deeply mysterious. And throughout this film, she points this out very clearly. "Was I a CIA plant? Was I being used in a way that I didn't really understand?" The mystery of the failure of their love affair, that really came to a sudden and abrupt end. I find the story deeply mysterious and powerful.

Joanna's also really honest. You know, whatever honesty means in an interview. She tells us a lot of things that are not necessarily favorable to herself but really enrich the story and give it multiple dimensions.

How did you first connect with Joanna?
Well, she approached me. That happens more and more often, in my case. Maybe it's because I'm becoming better-known, but you tell me. She was a fan of my work; she loved Wormwood. After all, it's about the CIA and a possible conspiracy. She also loved my son's work. My son [Hamilton Morris] has done a series for Vice, Hamilton's Pharmacopoeia. And Joanna loved that series, and hoped that both of us could be involved. Hamilton has been very busy finishing the third season of Hamilton's Pharmacopoeia, but [My Psychedelic Love Story] probably wouldn't have happened without him also being in the mix.

And then what convinced you to ultimately take on the project?
I read the book, and I talked to Joanna, and I liked Joanna. This is an incredible story and an incredible character. I don't ever know in an interview situation what I'm going to hear. It's truly investigative; you don't know what to expect, what actually is going to be said or not said. And what can I say, it turned out to be a good bet, 'cause she was great. And over time, over the year working on this film, I'm reminded again and again and again as I work on it how amazing Joanna really is, or was. And it's a great tragedy. She saw the finished film before she died, and I believe she watched it almost constantly in the week before she died, and loved it. I think it gave her an enormous amount of comfort.

I find it ironic that I've now had this experience twice in my recent films. A film [2016's The B-Side] that I made about Elsa Dorfman, a photographer and friend who died shortly after the film was completed, and now Joanna. And in both cases the film I produced gave them enormous comfort at the end of their lives. So, for that I'm grateful.

Did Joanna know she had cancer while you were making the film?
She was in remission. She had cancer, but she believed that she had conquered it. And it did recur, and she got seriously ill very, very fast and died. But I'm very glad that she saw the film before she died. It was interesting, she was still giving advice about the editing. There was one passage that she had hoped could be removed, and I said, "Of course," we removed it, and then she wanted it back in again. And so we put it back in again. It's a section about her grandfather and grandmother and mother, where she talks about the depravity of rich people. It's a very interesting and very moving section. I didn't want to take it out, but on the other hand, if someone makes a dying request, you want to be respectful and you want to listen. I'm glad that she asked me to put it back in the film.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

My Psychedelic Love Story premieres Sunday, Nov. 29 at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime.

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Author:Tyler Aquilina - Source: EW

How did John Oliver end up with Adam Driver yelling at him after he demanded of the Star Wars actor, "Crush my larynx, you unwieldy boulder"? It all began quite simply, with the Last Week Tonight host deciding to troll his studio audience.

Stopping by Late Night to chat with Seth Meyers on Wednesday, Oliver explained how "the initial seed" of "a very weird joke out of absolutely nowhere" became the mighty tree that was his long-running bit imploring Driver to "demolish" him. "The water on that seed was, back when we had an audience, feeling real resistance from the audience at the [initial] joke," Oliver said. "It felt like they about 40 percent enjoyed it....So we did it as a callback a few weeks later, and they weren't really happy to have it back. And so at that point, it became something of an obsession in our staff."

The first Driver joke occurred in the second episode of the show's recently-concluded seventh season, when Oliver demanded, "Step on my throat, Adam Driver, you rudely large man. Break my fingers, you brooding mountain." (In the clip, you can indeed feel a somewhat muted response from the audience.)

Throughout the rest of the season, much of which took place in an audience-less "void" due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Oliver would frequently return to the well, asking Driver to "Shatter my knees, you f---able redwood," "Impale my brain, you unacceptable monstrosity," and "Ravage my lungs, you relentless hillock," among many, many other bizarre demands.

On Late Night, Oliver also revealed how he and his staff engineered the bit's grand culmination in the season 7 finale, with Driver himself appearing on the show to confront the comedian. "A few months into the bit...we reached out to him and said, 'I don't know if you know what we've been doing,'" Oliver said. "'We've been making some comments about you, and would you hypothetically be interested in responding towards the end of the year?'"

Then the reply came: "'He has heard about it, he thinks it's very strange, and he's in.'"

"We didn't know what we were gonna do, but at least we knew at that point that we had an end in sight," Oliver explained. "And as it turned out, what the end in sight was, was him calling into the show and explaining the ways in which he was gonna demolish me."

Watch the video above for more, including Meyers and Oliver fawning over Driver's acting skills. ("He was really flexing muscles!")

Author:Tyler Aquilina - Source: EW

Though the quiz show's longtime host died at age 80 on Nov. 8, Trebek taped enough episodes before his death to run through the holiday season. On Thursday, the official Jeopardy! Twitter account shared a clip from the episode airing Thanksgiving Day, featuring Trebek sharing a message of hope with viewers at the start of the game.

"Happy Thanksgiving, ladies and gentlemen," Trebek says in the clip. "You know, in spite of what America and the rest of the world is experiencing right now, there are many reasons to be thankful. There are more and more people extending helpful hands to do a kindness to their neighbors, and that’s a good thing. Keep the faith. We’re going to get through all of this, and we will be a better society because of it."

Jeopardy! also recently reshuffled its schedule; Trebek's final week of episodes, which was originally set to conclude on Christmas Day, will now air beginning Jan. 4, 2021. The weeks of Dec. 21 and Dec. 28 will be filled instead by a selection of the host's best episodes as a special tribute. After that, new episodes will feature "a series of interim guest hosts from the Jeopardy! family," beginning with 74-time winner Ken Jennings.

Trebek died earlier this month after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. In a tribute attached to the first Jeopardy! episode to air after his death, executive producer Mike Richards said, "He will forever be an inspiration for his constant desire to learn, his kindness, and for his love of his family. On behalf of everyone, thank you for everything Alex." 

Author:Tyler Aquilina - Source: EW

Matthew Morrison-as-the Grinch has arrived to steal Christmas... and many viewers' optimism about NBC's The Grinch Musical! event.

The network has unveiled our first look at Morrison playing the iconic Dr. Seuss character in the upcoming musical special. A brief preview aired during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, featuring Morrison in full Grinch regalia introducing a musical number from the Troubadour Theatre in London. The song itself, "Who Likes Christmas," did not feature Morrison, sung instead by the Whos of Whoville, who as we all know like Christmas a lot. (Sample lyrics: "Who likes Christmas? Whos like Christmas!")

NBC also released a brief promo for the special, featuring Morrison looking very Jim Carrey-ish in costume and makeup.

Reaction to the first look on social media was not exactly receptive, with many viewers sharing their horrified and/or disgusted responses on Twitter.

Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical! is set to air Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC, with Denis O’Hare, Booboo Stewart, and newcomer Amelia Minto costarring with Morrison. Incidentally, NBC will also air the beloved, Chuck Jones-directed Grinch animated special on Friday at 8 p.m. ET, in case anyone is interested.

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Author:Tyler Aquilina - Source: EW

"I've been roundly criticized through my entire career," Morris tells EW, recalling how his acclaimed 1988 film The Thin Blue Line was rejected for a Best Documentary Oscar nomination due to its stylized reenactments of disputed events. "A story that I was told, why the Academy turned it off after a couple of minutes, they saw the first quote-unquote re-enactment and they decided 'This is not a documentary,'" the filmmaker says, adding dryly, "Many of the techniques that I've pioneered over the course of my career now are everywhere. Go figure."

Indeed, the flourishing true-crime documentary genre is populated with numerous stylistic descendants of The Thin Blue Line; re-enactments are par for the course now, from The Jinx to Tiger King. The success of those docs also reflects another point Morris emphasizes: Documentaries have become much more popular and accessible since he was starting out.

"Forty years ago, you couldn't hardly see a Frederick Wiseman film anywhere," recalls Morris, referring to the filmmaker behind 1968's seminal High School and this year's City Hall. "I'm not so sure it's that easy now, but back then it was impossible. You had to go visit Fred. I made a pilgrimage to come up to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where I now live, to visit him, and to watch a number of Fred Wiseman films.

"I'm reminded of this line from Conan the Barbarian, where one person says to another, 'Used to be just another snake cult, now you see it everywhere,'" Morris continues. "That's certainly true of documentary. They were few and far between. They had very, very limited distribution. If anything, we had television distribution. Fred Wiseman's films were distributed through public broadcasting. I was fortunate enough, my first films went into theaters, but that was considered totally anomalous. And in the intervening 40 years, [documentaries are] everywhere. I'm not sure that ubiquitous is exactly the right word, but they're ubiquitous."

That ubiquity has helped bring Morris to a larger audience than ever. In 2017, his miniseries Wormwood debuted on Netflix — taking re-enactments even further with full-on sections of scripted drama — and his latest film, My Psychedelic Love Story, premieres Sunday on Showtime.

"I still love filmmaking," the director says. "And I love the idea of mixing drama and documentary. I love being able to explore new ways of telling true stories and exploring the medium. There are a lot of documentary purists who are still in love with a handheld camera, and being in the middle of some ongoing action. But it's good to remember that there's something spontaneous about a good interview too, when it's happening in front of the camera. And there is most certainly an element of the unpredictable and the spontaneous."

More than four decades into his career, he's not done innovating, either. "Each time that I get a chance to make one of these things, I like to try to do something different," Morris says. "And hopefully I can keep it up for a while longer."

Author:Tyler Aquilina - Source: EW

The Weeknd is not happy about being shut out of the 2021 Grammys.

The "Blinding Lights" singer was one of the most notable snubs of this year's crop of nominees, earning zero nods despite the commercial success and generally positive reception of his 2020 album After Hours, and he registered his displeasure on Twitter Tuesday evening.

"The Grammys remain corrupt," the Weeknd wrote. "You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…"

"We understand that The Weeknd is disappointed at not being nominated," Recording Academy chief Harvey Mason Jr. said in a statement to EW. "I was surprised and can empathize with what he’s feeling. His music this year was excellent, and his contributions to the music community and broader world are worthy of everyone’s admiration."

As for reports that the Grammys issued an ultimatum to the Weeknd, saying he had to choose between performing at the ceremony or at the Super Bowl, Mason said, "We were thrilled when we found out he would be performing at the upcoming Super Bowl and we would have loved to have him also perform on the Grammy stage the weekend before. Unfortunately, every year, there are fewer nominations than the number of deserving artists. But as the only peer-voted music award, we will continue to recognize and celebrate excellence in music while shining a light on the many amazing artists that make up our global community. To be clear, voting in all categories ended well before The Weeknd’s performance at the Super Bowl was announced, so in no way could it have affected the nomination process. All Grammy nominees are recognized by the voting body for their excellence, and we congratulate them all.”

The Grammys have often been criticized in the past for a perceived bias against Black artists in the Big Four categories. The Song and Record of the Year awards went to a rap song for the first time ever in 2019, with Childish Gambino's "This Is America" taking both trophies. Black musicians including Drake, Frank Ocean, and Diddy have also been outspoken in their criticism of the awards.

Earlier this year, the Recording Academy announced it was eliminating the word "urban" from all but one category, following outcry from artists like Tyler, the Creator, who said their music was categorized as "urban" because of their race.

Author: Tyler Aquilina - Source: EW