December 2, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

© 2020 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.(NEW YORK) — The LGBTQ-themed romantic comedy Happiest Season scored the biggest audience for a Hulu original film’s opening weekend, and Variety reports the film also spiked subscriptions for the service more than any other feature title.

In the movie that debuted on November 25, Kristen Stewart plays a young woman who plans to propose to her girlfriend at her parents’ home over the holidays — only to learn that her partner, played by Mackenzie Davis, never told them she’s gay. 

Actress and Happiest Season writer-director Clea DuVall and her partner, Mary Holland, wrote the film.  DuVall tells ABC Audio she felt the pressure to get it right.

“Yeah, I was so excited by the idea of getting to tell a big, bright, warm holiday story with a gay couple at the center of it, but yeah, it was intimidating. Because you want to get it right and you want to you know…hopefully create a movie that does well enough to that makes people see that content like this is something that audiences really want,” says DuVall.  

Happiest Season also stars Holland, Mary Steenbergen, Aubrey Plaza and Alison Brie, as well as Schitt’s Creek co-creator and star Dan Levy.

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

December 2, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Fast & Furious fans can finally rejoice: the beef between Tyrese Gibson and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has finally been squashed.

During an interview on Stir Crazy with Josh Horowitz, Gibson shared an update on his very public feud with The Rock. The spat, which started in 2017, came after it was revealed that Johnson’s character, Luke Hobbs, would be receiving his own FF spinoff, Hobbs & Shaw. In a series of social media posts after the announcement, Gibson explained he wasn’t pleased about the spinoff, saying it would delay the upcoming Fast & Furious film, F9.

“Congratulations to The Rock and your brother in law aka 7 Bucks producing partner for making The Fast and the Furious franchise about YOU,” he wrote in part. “It’s about #TeamDewayne. 3 yrs will it be worth the wait?”

Now, the singer-actor says it’s all good between them.

“Me and ‘The Rock’ peaced up, by the way,” Gibson revealed. “We talked for like four hours about three weeks ago.”

“It was great,” he added.

However, Gibson did note that he still felt the Fast & Furious franchise films weren’t about just one individual.

“What’s interesting about the Fast and the Furious is: It’s not about any of us individually,” he said. “We’re like the U.N. at this point. Everyone gets to go to the theater and say ‘he and she looks like me.’”

“I just could not make it about me,” Tyrese said of a potential spin-off for his character, Roman. “That’s been really strange.”

F9, which was scheduled to be released in 2020, has been pushed back to May of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Candice Williams
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. 

December 2, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

People(LOS ANGELES) — Oscar winners George Clooney and Regina King, as well as singer, actress and activist Selena Gomez, and Dr. Anthony Fauci have been unveiled as the faces that will grace a four-cover special edition of People magazine’s annual People of the Year issue.

Clooney was singled out for his advocacy and financial support of COVID-19 relief and his half-million-dollar donation to the Equal Justice Initiative in the wake of the police-involved death of George Floyd.

Fellow Oscar-winner Regina King was also hailed not just for her onscreen work but also for her advocacy for racial justice. King’s 2020 saw her winning an Oscar for her role in the romantic drama If Beale Street Could Talk, and an Emmy for HBO’s Watchmen. The Emmy ceremony saw King wearing a t-shirt with the face of Breonna Taylor on it, the 26-year-old Black woman who was shot and killed in her own bed by Louisville, Kentucky police in a raid gone wrong in March.

Gomez, one of the most followed people on Instagram, gave her global social media voice to Black activists during protests against police brutality, and was also praised for her inclusive makeup brand, Rare Beauty, which is dedicated to raising $100 million to give people access to mental health services. Oh, and she also release a hit record, Rare.

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

December 2, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Cliff Lipson/CBS ©2020 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved(LOS ANGELES) — Like other shows, production on CBS’ hit military drama SEAL Team was abruptly shut down earlier this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic — right in the middle of star and episode director David Boreanaz’s shooting schedule.

However, the show returns tonight with a bang: a two-hour season four debut that will kick-off where last season’s cliffhanger left off: in Afghanistan, where Boreanaz’s character, Jason Hayes, and his Bravo Team track the son of a terrorist leader who took up the family business after the soldiers took daddy out. 

For Boreanaz, getting the chance to honor the real-life operators like the SEALs is one of his favorite elements of the series. Their reactions to the show are especially rewarding, the actor and director tells ABC Audio.

“You know, people have run into, people that even that I work with…the Tier One operators, Mark Owen, who brought the show to CBS, he’s kind of like the line to a lot of these guys, obviously, because he’s on deployment missions with them, and he’s the pipeline to kind of their reactions,” Boreanaz explains, adding, “They’re very enthusiastic about it.”

He adds of his character, “The way Jason Hayes compartmentalizes his existence in order to survive on the battlefield as well as the troubles he has at home — it hits true for a lot of people…”

Boreanaz goes on: “But what we’re so proud of is that it hits home to the people that matter and that they get what we’re doing. And that’s…some strong evidence that we’re we’re on the right path as far as telling these stories are concerned, of these brave men and women who serve our country and what they have to deal with when they’re on deployment and where they are at home.”

SEAL Team airs tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern on CBS.

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