February 5, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

iStock/Dkart(LOS ANGELES) — From the “it had to happen sooner or later” file, HBO will produce a movie based on the recent GameStop stock market saga, according to Variety.

The headline-making situation saw a bunch of amateur day traders beating wealthy hedge fund managers at their own game, “shorting” a low-priced stock — in this case for the company GameStop — to boost its value.

The “David and Goliath” story boosted the price of the stock some 1,700%, until “Goliath” — in this case, established Wall Street insiders — called foul and used their clout to have some of the trading shut down. A class action lawsuit against the online trading app Robinhood quickly followed, after it stopped the amateur traders from doing business.

Variety reports the HBO project will be produced in part by Jason Blum of Blumhouse Television — but it’s not the only one on the subject.  There’s a documentary in the works, as well as another feature film written by Zero Dark Thirty‘s Mark Boal and starring actor Noah Centineo from Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, according to the trade.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

February 5, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)(NEW YORK) — Rupert Grint, who played the beloved Ron Weasley in all eight Harry Potter films, broke his silence about the rumor that streamer HBO Max is planning to reboot the series.

The 32-year-old actor, who last starred as Ron in 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, spoke to Variety about the potential revival.

“It’ll be weird if it was a continuation kind of thing,” confessed Grint. “I weirdly feel quite protective of that character.”

The British actor furthered, “Even when I saw the stage shows, it was a very strange experience.”

If Harry Potter was to come back, Grint admits he’s not entirely on board with rebooting the series with a new cast of actors playing Harry, Ron and Hermione.

“If it’s like a different group of friends, I guess it would be interesting,” he allowed.

However, he did reveal something shocking — despite playing Harry Potter’s best friend for a decade, he hasn’t watched all the movies.

“I’ve probably seen the first three at the premieres, but after that I stopped watching them,” he shrugged before turning his attention onto his newborn daughter, Wednesday.  “But now that I have a daughter, I will probably have to watch them with her.”

Grint shares Wednesday, who was born in May, with wife Georgia Groome.

The original Harry Potter films also starred Daniel Radcliffe as Harry and Emma Watson as Hermione.  Of the main trio, only Grint has shared his thoughts about the possible HBO Max reboot.

By Megan Stone
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

February 5, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Courtesy HBO(NEW YORK) — “Who on earth could believe that about Woody Allen? I couldn’t believe it.”

That comment, from Woody Allen’s ex-wife Mia Farrow, is one of the first heard in the teaser for Allen v. Farrow, an upcoming HBO documentary about the sexual abuse investigation into the famous filmmaker.

The four-part documentary series, which examines the accusations Allen abused his then-7-year-old daughter Dylan, was “meticulously pieced together via intimate home movie footage, court documents, police evidence, revelatory videotape and never-before-heard audio tapes,” according to HBO. 

The project features interviews with Farrow, as well as with her children Dylan and Ronan, family friend Carly Simon, the case’s prosecutor, Frank Maco, and “relatives, investigators, experts and other first-hand eyewitnesses,” many of whom, HBO teases, are “speaking publicly about the events for the first time.”

The special will also deal with Allen’s relationship with Farrow’s adoptive daughter Soon-Yi, who he later married, as well as the aftermath of the abuse investigation and how it changed perceptions of the Oscar-winner’s work.

Dylan Farrow, then 32, made the allegations against her adoptive father in 2018. At that time, Allen issued a statement that read in part, “When this claim was first made more than 25 years ago, it was thoroughly investigated by both the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of the Yale-New Haven Hospital and New York State Child Welfare.”

“They both did so for many months and independently concluded that no molestation had ever taken place,” the statement continued. “Instead, they found it likely a vulnerable child had been coached to tell the story by her angry mother during a contentious breakup.”

Allen v. Farrow will premiere on Sunday, February 21. 

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

February 5, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images(CONNECTICUT) — Christopher Plummer, the acclaimed Canadian actor perhaps best known for his role in The Sound of Music, has died. He was 91.

The Oscar winner died at his home in Connecticut with Elaine Taylor, his wife and best friend of 53 years, by his side, his manager confirmed to ABC News.

“Chris was an extraordinary man who deeply loved and respected his profession with great old fashion manners, self-deprecating humor and the music of words. He was a national treasure who deeply relished his Canadian roots. Through his art and humanity, he touched all of our hearts and his legendary life will endure for all generations to come,” Lou Pitt, his longtime friend and manager of 46 years, said in a statement.

Plummer, who began his career on stage, made his film debut in 1958’s Stage Struck and went on to a successful movie career that spanned more than six decades.

He starred in a vast variety of films, including The Return of the Pink Panther, Murder by Decree, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, A Beautiful Mind, Up, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, All the Money in the World, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Knives Out.

He earned his first Oscar nomination in 2010 for playing Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station. He told Canadian television just before the Oscar broadcast, “Well, I said it’s about time! I mean, I’m 80 years old, for God’s sake. Have mercy.” He lost that year to Christoph Waltz.

Two years later, at 82, he won the Academy Award for best supporting actor in Beginners.

Accepting the award, he famously quipped, “You’re only two years older than me, darling. Where have you been all my life?”

In addition to his Oscar, Plummer also won two Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a SAG Award and a BAFTA Award.

But Plummer remained best known to film audiences as the patriarch of the singing von Trapp family, starring alongside Julie Andrews in the 1965 hit musical The Sound of Music.

By Lucina Fisher
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

February 5, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Marvel Studios(LOS ANGELES) — Tom Holland cannot reveal too much about the upcoming Spider-Man movie, but did promise one thing: it is going to raise the bar on all superhero flicks.

Holland, who stars as Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, chatted with Variety on Thursday about his Apple TV+ film Cherry before the conversation gravitated toward the MCU.

When asked if he could reveal “anything” about the third Spider-Man film, Holland replied, “Obviously, I can’t really say anything.”

However, it appears the 24-year-old actor is struggling to keep the movie’s secrets under lock and key because, later, he confessed to the interviewer, “What’s funny is like, I nearly told you then. You were so close to getting what you want.”

Holland admitted he is extremely excited about this film and cannot wait for it to hit theaters.

“I can say that it’s the most ambitious standalone superhero movie ever made,” he gushed. “You sit down, read the script, and see what they’re trying to do, and they’re succeeding. It’s really impressive. I’ve never seen a standalone superhero movie quite like it.”

The interviewer tried unsuccessfully to squeeze Holland on the movie’s casting rumors, namely if former Spideys Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are on board.

“Beats me, I don’t know. If they are, they haven’t told me yet,” shrugged Holland. “That would be something that Marvel would do. I watch the film and be like ‘So that’s who that tennis ball was!'”

Holland added that he feels extremely “lucky” to be playing Spider-Man in the upcoming third installment.

“I’m just as excited as everyone else to see it, let alone be a part of it,” he furthered.

The yet unnamed Spider-Man 3 is expected to hit theaters December 17, 2021.

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

By Megan Stone
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.