August 18, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Terence Patrick/CBS ©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved(LONDON) — Production on Camila Cabello’s live-action musical adaptation of Cinderella, which was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic back in March, will join the growing list of major studio films safely returning to production following the shutdown, according to Deadline.

Among those cast members returning for physical production in London are Cabello as Cinderella, Minnie Driver as Queen Beatrice, Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Robert, Idina Menzel as the Stepmother, and Pierce Brosnan.

Of course, the usual safety protocols will be in place, including “widespread and extensive testing” which began during pre-production and will continue during filming, according to the entertainment website. 

Safety training seminars, social distancing, contact tracing, will also take place, along with thorough daily disinfection, daily testing and adherence to local guidance.  Actors are staying separately in apartments, and on set, everyone gets individually wrapped and pre-boxed food, rather than a buffet.

Fortunately for the production, most of what’s left to shoot are exterior scenes in several towns and castles. The large crowd scenes had been shot before COVID-19, adds Deadline.

The retelling of the classic fairy tale is based on an original idea from James Corden, who’s also producing and starring in the film, along with Billy Porter and Missy Elliot.

Cinderella was originally set for a February 5, 2021 release.

By George Costantino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 18, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic(LOS ANGELES) — According to Orlando Bloom, his fiancée Katy Perry is the one who convinced him to take on his latest acting role.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Orlando said he agreed to voice Prince Harry in The Prince, an upcoming HBO Max animated series about the British royal family, because Katy thought it was a great idea.

“Initially, I was like, ‘Hmm, how do I feel about this?’ because I’m a British boy who’s actually very proud of my roots,” says Orlando. “I’ve always understood it as part of my heritage and background, and I’m not someone who wants to poke fun at anyone normally, but this was so clever, witty and affectionately done.”

But, he notes, “Katy was like, ‘You’ve got to do this. This is genius.’”

The Prince is inspired by a popular Instagram account by Gary Janetti, which offers a satirical take on the Royals, and focuses on Prince George, the son of Prince William and Duchess Kate. 

Orlando says he actually met Harry after he took the job and calls him “such a nice guy” with a great sense of humor.”

“I hope he maintains his sense of humor through this because they’re sort of on a pedestal,” the actor adds. “We’re showing real adoration to them in one form or another.”

Katy and Orlando are expecting their baby daughter any day now.

By Andrea Dresdale
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 18, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

ABC/Todd Wawrychuck(LOS ANGELES) — After reports surfaced that The Bachelorette host Chris Harrison had to step aside from the show in order to quarantine after dropping his son off at college, he is now back and is already teasing what this season will bring.

Harrison documented his grand return to the show, complete with him being halted by Paul Danner, a longtime stage manager, who is also pointing at a COVID-19 guidance sign.  In return, Harrison has his hand outstretched in a “you have got to be kidding me” gesture.

The second photo in the slideshow uploaded Monday shows the host wheeling his luggage and golf clubs into the sprawling La Quinta Resort & Club in La Quinta, California.

“The most dramatic season ever!,” captioned Harrison on Monday, making light of all the behind-the-scenes changes that have been made in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 49-year-old host had left the show to drop his 18-year-old son Joshua off at Texas Christian University, but learned that by leaving the bubble — he had to undergo a mandatory quarantine to protect the health and safety of the contestants.

Other precautions that have since taken place involve the competition being filmed in one location, the upscale La Quinta Resort and not the Bachelor mansion. Unlike seasons’ past, the show will also not jet Bachelorette star Clare Crawley and her suitors across the globe. 

Beyond these changes, the show has been at the center of several rumors, such as former Bachelorette JoJo Fletcher taking over Harrison’s hosting duties while he underwent mandatory quarantine, as reported by People.

The Bachelorette, which was originally slated to start airing in May, returns this fall on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.  

By Megan Stone
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 18, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Edwin Koo/amfAR/Getty Images for amfAR(LOS ANGELES) — As part of the magazine’s TIME 100 Talks, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star Michelle Yeoh enthused about the overwhelming Asian representation in her latest film, Marvel Studios Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Yeoh, who also appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, celebrated the casting of Chinese-Canadian actor Simu Liu as Marvel Studios’ first Asian lead. “When that movie was announced last year and they introduced who they were doing as the Marvel superhero and it was an Asian superhero, it was like, ‘Yes, finally!’ When do we get to be represented like that?”

Yeoh credits one of her films with helping wake Hollywood up, when it comes to casting. “When Crazy
Rich Asians came out, it changed the map,” the actress said of the blockbuster. “It changed the whole way Asians were represented and seen. We were no longer invisible. We were no longer just a token. We were really represented in a contemporary way.”

Yeoh was already a superstar stunt performer and actor overseas before many Americans were introduced to her, in the 1997 James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies, in which she played a Chinese counterpart to Pierce Brosnan’s suave 007. “…[O]nce I got to America, I was like, I’m really a minority here and I have no representation,” Yeoh recalled.

“I think the turning point really came when I did the James Bond movie… It was a proud moment because here is a Chinese woman who is standing…toe-to-toe with the greatest spy in the world, James Bond. It made such a huge difference in the way we Asians were looked at.”

Shang-Shi, which also stars Awkwafina and Rosalind Chao, opens May 7, 2021.

Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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