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Tim McGraw on his method for choosing acting roles: "It has to be something I really like"

• No Comments • Country Music News

ABC/Mark LevineWhile Tim McGraw has been a longtime country music superstar, he’s also enjoyed a successful acting career. Part of that’s no doubt because the multifaceted star says there are certain stipulations he follows when selecting roles. 

“A series of things has to happen for me to be able to do a movie. First off, it has to be something I really like, and then they gotta want me for that part, and then it’s gotta fall into a time period that I’m able to do it,” he explains in an interview with his label, Big Machine Label Group. “It’s hard for those three things to happen at the same time.”  

The singer also revealed that a few years ago, he was working on adapting a book he’d read into a TV show, but the idea was ultimately scrapped. 

Tim’s films include featured roles in Flicka, as well as The Blind Side and Country Strong, starring opposite Sandra Bullock and Gwenyth Paltrow, respectively, and Tomorrowland, starring George Clooney. 

Tim is set to release his first solo album since 2015, Here on Earth, on August 21. He was scheduled to embark on a cross-country tour of the same name this year, but it was cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. 

By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Babysitter charged with murder in death of Philadelphia 2-year-old

• No Comments • National News

iStock/MotortionBy: KARMA ALLEN, ABC News

(PHILADELPHIA) — Police are searching for the body of a Philadelphia toddler who was allegedly abducted and murdered by his babysitter earlier this month.

Family members said 2-year-old King Hill had been presumed dead by police on Monday, nearly two weeks after he vanished from his home in Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion neighborhood.

Police arrested 24-year-old Tianna Parks of Philadelphia on multiple counts Monday, including murder, interference with the custody of children, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice.

“The death of King Hill is an unbearable tragedy that is compounded by Tianna Parks’ actions,” Philadelphia District Attorney Krasner said in a statement Monday. “This precious baby’s family and community deserve to know how he died. They deserve the opportunity to bury and mourn him with dignity. This child deserved so much better in life. My office will continue to work alongside the Philadelphia Police and FBI to seek justice for his death.”

Police said Marvin Reese, King’s stepfather, dropped off the child with Parks at least two weeks before making the missing persons report. Reese initially told police that King was last seen by a babysitter who claimed to have returned King to his mother on July 8. But the toddler’s mother said he was never dropped off and she assumed he was still in his stepfather’s care.

Family members said they called police as soon as they realized King was missing on July 8, but police believe the child was last seen alive on July 5. Investigators with the Philadelphia Police Department along with the FBI said cellphone and video evidence led them to believe that the child had died.

“Wherever he is at, whatever happened to him, just bring him back so we can put King to rest,” Kimberly Hill, King’s maternal grandmother, told ABC affiliate WPVI-TV on Monday. “He was amazing, everybody loved King.”

Parks was being held without bail on Monday. It’s unclear if she has retained an attorney.

Philadelphia Police Department Capt. Mark Burgmann said the case was one of the toughest in his 40-year career.

“We’ve put a tremendous amount of resources to this, probably more resources than we’ve ever devoted to any other investigation I’ve had here in the past over 40 years,” he said during a press conference last week. “We’re leaving no stone unturned here. We’re not going to stop until the child returns.”

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Mickey Rourke flames "crybaby" Robert De Niro over 'The Irishman'

• No Comments • Entertainment News

BG002/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images(NEW YORK) — In a powerful Instagram post, Mickey Rourke flamed his former Angel Heart co-star Robert DeNiro, claiming the “f***king crybaby” actor nixed Rourke’s chances of starring in The Irishman.

Next to an older photo of the Casino actor, Rourke said, “Hey Robert De Niro…you big fing crybaby. A friend of mine just recently told me that a few months back you’re quoted as saying to newspapers ‘Mickey Rourke’s a liar he talks all kind of s.’ Listen Mr.Tough Guy in the movies, you’re the 1st person that ever called me a liar and it was in a newspaper.”

The comments may have been in reference to an installment of the Italian TV show Live — Non è la D’Urso, on which Rourke claimed that De Niro, who reportedly snubbed him decades ago during Angel Heart, shut him out of appearing in the Oscar-nominated The Irishman. 

“Marty Scorsese, great director, he wanted to meet me for a movie with Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Chris Walken and Robert De Niro,” but, “The casting person told my manager that Robert De Niro said he refused to work with me in a movie.”

Rourke’s post continued, “Let me tell you something, you punk a**, when i see you i swear to God on my Grandmother, on my brother and all my dogs, i gonna embarrass you severely 100%. Mickey Rourke ‘as God is my witness.'”

However, De Niro’s rep, Stan Rosenfield, told The New York Post no such offer was ever made to The Wrestler Oscar nominee. “According to The Irishman producers, Jane Rosenthal and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, and casting director Ellen Lewis, Mickey Rourke was never asked to be in The Irishman nor was he ever even thought of, discussed or considered to be in the movie,” Rosenfeld writes.

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

Omar Epps explains why he enjoyed channeling his 'Fatal Affair' character that "didn't play by any rules"

• No Comments • Entertainment News

Netflix/Beth Dubber(LOS ANGELES) — Omar Epps reunites with his In Too Deep co-star Nia Long in the new Netflix thriller, Fatal Affair.

Unlike the 1999 crime thriller — which followed Epps as an undercover cop and Long as his supportive girlfriend — Epps now plays David, a sketchy college friend whose infatuation takes a dark turn when his advances are rejected.

Epps tells ABC Audio that he was excited to play a character who didn’t play by the rules.

“I think we go through life… we’ve got to follow rules,” he says. “We’ve got to stop when it says red light. We’ve got to go through all of these rigid motions.”

“And so the opportunity to live in a headspace where this guy is not playing by any rules of society and he’s delusional — he also had some mental health issues I think that went unchecked,” he continues. “That was a fun space to be in.”

While channeling his unpredictable character was one of Epps’ “favorite part[s] of the onset experience,” the actor say that there were other aspects just as amazing.

“You know, part of the attraction to the project, besides the opportunity to work with Nia again, was playing a character that I know my fan base is not used to seeing me in,” he says.  

Fatal Affair, also starring Stephen Bishop, is now streaming on Netflix.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxWPPrDpqr8&w=640&h=360]

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

Rita Wilson reveals why she sang the end credits song for 'The Outpost'

• No Comments • Entertainment News

Courtesy of Millennium Media(NEW YORK) — The military thriller The Outpost, based on the true story of one of the bloodiest engagements of the War in Afghanistan, hit number-one on iTunes, GooglePlay and other VOD platforms. The end credits song, “Everybody Cries,” was co-written and sung by actress Rita Wilson.

“I think people are looking for really good movies, and it had excellent reviews,” Wilson says of The Outpost‘s popularity. “The director…[is] very connected to the military community, and it was a story he really wanted to tell…The sad thing is that it’s true.”

Wilson says the director “felt very strongly that it should be a female voice” on the song.

“Every one of those…young men that died has a mom,” she notes. “Sometimes I think you don’t take into consideration that there is a mother who is sending a child off to battle.”

Of course, our present-day battle is against COVID-19.  Wilson and husband Tom Hanks were among the first celebrities to contract the virus, which is why she’s frustrated by the debate over wearing masks.

“I had it, so I know how bad it is,” she tells ABC Audio. “I came through it and I survived, but there was a moment where you don’t know if it’s going to take a turn for the worst — if you’re going to be one of the ones that makes it. So why would you take that chance? I don’t understand why you wouldn’t do something for your health that you know works.”

“I know that…we have an economy that is hurting,” Wilson allows. “But it will hurt more if we have a health care system that’s overwhelmed and people [take even longer to] get back to work…so…I feel like we just have to do the right thing.” 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5qAVecrGr4&w=640&h=360]

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