November 3, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

ABC/Craig Sjodin(LOS ANGELES) — Chris Rock says he’s not a fan of historical civil rights movies, simply because they “make racism look very fixable.”

“I hate all civil rights movies,” Rock said in an interview on Neal Brennan’s How I Feel podcast. “Don’t get me wrong, I applaud the effort and they should exist. The problem is they only show the back of the bus and the lunch counter. They actually make racism look very fixable.”

“They don’t get into how dysfunctional the relationships were in the ’40s and ’50s, white men would just walk in your house and take your food… it’s a predator-prey relationship,” Rock continued. “Do you think when it was time to rape, [white men] were raping white women? No. They would go and rape the women they could actually rape without going to jail for.”

Rock says the things that actually happened during that time were “much dirtier than any movie ever shows.”

“My mother used to get her teeth taken out at the vet because you weren’t allowed to go to the dentist,” he revealed. “No movie shows you that.”

Rock currently stars in the fourth season of the critically-acclaimed FX series Fargo, which is set in the 1950s. Up next, he’ll star in Spiral, a reboot of the Saw franchise, which is slated for release in May 2021.

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

November 3, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Photo: Gloria Obianyo(LOS ANGELES) — Sope Dìrísù has been making of most of his time during the COVID-19 pandemic, promoting two of his latest projects: AMC’s Gangs of London and Netflix’s His House.

In his AMC series, Dìrísù plays Elliot, an undercover cop who infiltrates London’s most notorious gang. The actor tells ABC Audio that it’s been a “different experience” seeing the success of his show in the U.S., considering most people are still under quarantine. 

“It’s not just necessarily people on the streets [or] seeing yourself on billboards or anything like that,” Dìrísù  says. “But it’s been great to know that the series has been successful and that people really enjoyed watching it… through many hours locked in their houses.”

While Dìrísù says he has “a predilection to physical roles” and enjoys “using [his] body to tell stories,” the actor took a different turn in the new Netflix horror His House. In this film, Sope plays Bol, a father who is haunted by his dead daughter after he and his wife seek asylum in the U.K. 

Dìrísù says he appreciates his character’s “determinedness” to not leave the haunted house and admits he even saw some of those traits in himself.

“I think there is a hypermasculinity and stubbornness in him that doesn’t allow him to speak and share his issues,” he says. “And that’s something that I’ve been learning how to do a lot better over these years.”

While Dìrísù says horror films aren’t his go-to genre to watch, the actor says when he does indulge, he’s looking for something to “terrify” him.

“If I’m watching a horror film I expect to be really scared,” he says. “…I’m looking for something that’s really psychologically thrilling, that doesn’t let me sleep at night.” 

Gangs of London is available to stream on AMC. His House is now available on Netflix.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pcx28IXkCc&w=640&h=360]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYY0QJhlXjc&w=640&h=360]

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

November 3, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Photo: Nicola Dove – © 2020 DANJAQ, LLC AND MGM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.(LONDON) — The James Bond film No Time to Die may have been repeatedly delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on motion picture distribution, but its villain, Rami Malek, is still staying spoiler-free.

Malek, who won an Oscar for playing Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody, officially plays a villain named Safin. However, since sharp-eyed 007 fans got a look at the movie’s trailer, they noticed one set looked like the 1963 lair of infamous — and titular — James Bond villain, Dr. No. 

For his part, Malek is staying mum. “Let the rumours fly… I will not add any fuel to that fire,” he coyly told British GQ, adding of Daniel Craig’s last go ’round as the suave super spy, “no matter what you expect from this movie, you will be shocked when you watch the film.”

Aside from contractual obligation to secrecy, Malek literally couldn’t say “No” — to the movie, that is.

“Look, there was no way I was going to say no,” he tells the magazine. “It’s a 007 film, man. They’re a part of our cinematic history…An opportunity to go toe-to-toe, head-to-head with Daniel and give them all I got? That’s something I’ll look back on as as big as it gets.”

No Time to Die also stars returning 007 players Ralph Fiennes, Jeffrey Wright, and Christoph Waltz, as well as Ana de Armas and Lashana Lynch. It was initially scheduled for an April release, and then was bumped from a November bow to now open theatrically on April 2, 2021.

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