December 4, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Disney+(NEW YORK) — Without giving away any of the many surprises included the new episode of The Mandalorian, which dropped Friday on Disney+, we can say Giancarlo Esposito returns as the calculating Moff Gideon. 

The Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul star earned an Emmy nomination for his character’s first appearances at the end of the show’s first season — and he’s back in a big way in the brand-new chapter. 

Considering he only appeared for a few minutes in total in the show’s inaugural season, Esposito answers “It sure did!” when asked if his Emmy nods came as a surprise.

“You know, I came into this show, I was asked to do it by [creator/writer] Jon Favreau and was so very excited to accept when I knew what the concept was,” he tells ABC Audio.  “And to play Moff Gideon was such a great challenge.“

As a Moff, or Imperial governor, Esposito is following in the well-polished boots of another fine actor, who portrayed the icy Grand Moff Tarkin in the original Star Wars.

“I really respected a great deal, Peter Cushing, who was so aristocratic and political in his portrayal of a Moff. And I … went, ‘Oh, OK. So maybe they’re choosing me for my grace and aplomb and my good looks,” Esposito said with a laugh. 

He adds, “I wanted to bring…power to this character. I wanted to wonder what he really wanted.”

What Gideon wants is The Asset — the little critter we know colloquially as Baby Yoda, whose real name was just revealed to be Grogu. “When [Gideon] emerges to…find The Asset for reasons that he hasn’t really explained, we get some mysterious things going on,” the actor teases. 

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

December 4, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

ABC(LOS ANGELES) — Sure, he sold his Casamigos tequila brand for a billion bucks, but to look like a million, George Clooney turns to his trusty Flowbee for his haircuts. 

The “as seen on TV” gadget has been his go-to hair cutting tool for years, the two-time Oscar winner recently revealed, and on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, he demonstrated his skills.

He and Kimmel both had one of the gadgets, and Clooney taught him the basics. “You turn the vacuum on, turn the buzzer on, and you go to town!” Clooney shouted over the din of the vacuum during the socially-distanced, in-studio visit.

Clooney explained he had his assistant first buy him the informercial device 20 years ago, to which Kimmel quipped, “People who have assistants shouldn’t be Flowbee-ing their hair.”

The 59-year-old actor, director and producer said after years of use, his original Flowbee “broke down, and then you couldn’t get them for a while,” he told Kimmel.

Whether Clooney’s affinity for the DIY hair-cutting tool causes a run on the Flowbees remains to be seen.

Clooney’s next film, the sci-fi drama The Midnight Sky, debuts on Netflix December 23.

 [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTDkfp5XdGA?start=326&w=640&h=360]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXUUqr3AFKs&w=640&h=360]

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

December 4, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Julien’s Auctions(LONDON) — Julien’s Auctions held Icons & Idols Trilogy: Hollywood on Thursday, and the top seller was the pistol used by Sean Connery in the 1962 James Bond movie Dr. No that fetched $250,000.

Dr. No, the very first Bond movie, also marked Connery’s debut as Ian Fleming’s now-iconic superspy, and the Walther, used throughout the film, helped define the character. The silhouette of the Walther PP and PPK, the first one ever used, helped define the image of the Bond character in that film and all that followed, Julien’s explained.

The winning bidder, who wished to remain anonymous, was an American who has seen every James Bond movie with their children, according to the auction house.

Other notable items included one of several production made fighter pilot helmets used by Tom Cruise in his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the first Top Gun movie, selling for $108,000. A white Navy officer’s cap also worn by Cruise’s Lt. Daniel Kaffee character in the 1992 film A Few Good Men went for $9,375.

Fred Rogers’ turquoise-cobalt blue cardigan sweater worn in an 1998 episode of his series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood sold for $16,000 — 16 times its original estimate of $1,000. The sweater came with a typed note from 1999 on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood letterhead where Rogers writes of sending this sweater to a fan in need.

Also hitting the auction block were a full-body latex foam alien predator costume suit from the production of the 1990 film Predator 2; items from the 1989 film Back to the Future Part II; and a 158-page script from the 1972 film The Godfather by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, dated March 29, 1971 and marked “Third Draft.”