January 27, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Disney+/Marvel Studios(LOS ANGELES) — Marvel fans are already scrambling to figure out what happens next on WandaVision, but series star Paul Bettany hints the biggest surprise isn’t on anyone’s radar.

Speaking to the Lights, Camera, Barstool podcast Tuesday, the actor teased that a major Marvel character will debut on the Disney+ series.  Bettany added that the character is such a big deal, the company has gone into overdrive to keep their identity a secret.

“So many things get leaked, but there’s this thing that has been completely under wraps that happens,” said Bettany. “I work with this actor that I’ve always wanted to work with and we have fireworks together, the scenes are great and I think people are going to be really excited.”

Continued the British actor, “I’ve always wanted to work with this guy and the scenes are pretty intense!”

As for who that mystery character is, Bettany says fans will have to wait and see but made a promise about the upcoming fourth episode, which premieres Friday, January 29, saying “minds are going to explode.” 

The 49-year-actor also teased that the alternate sitcom reality the characters currently reside and the real world will “have more conflict.”

“I don’t want to give away too much about the future episodes, but I will tell you this, there were more special effects requirements for our TV show than there were for Endgame,” he boasted. “I think they’re going to be massively surprised by the end of the show.”

Bettany, teasing a big “payoff,” confirmed WandaVision will set the stage for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s next phase, adding, “[Fans are] going to look at the MCU in a whole new light and also have a much deeper understanding in what direction it’s moving.”

WandaVisionis exclusively available on the streaming service Disney+.

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

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

January 27, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

ABC(LOS ANGELES) — It’s safe to say that Zendaya hasn’t let her Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy win go to her head.

In an conversation with Promising Young Woman star Carey Mulligan for Variety’s Actors on Actors series, the Euphoria star says she still thinks of herself as a “Disney Kid.”

“The thing is, I am,” Zendaya says. “And to a degree, I am grateful for that. That’s where I started, and I learned so much from that experience. It’s just kind of been this slow progression, and I am happy that it’s all been to prove it to myself and not to anybody else, you know? I embrace it a little bit. It’s part of my heritage to a degree.”

Zendaya’s relationship with Disney runs deep. The actress first came on the Disney scene as Rocky Blue on the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up. From there, she guest starred on various Disney shows before taking on the lead role in K.C. Undercover as K.C. Cooper, a teenager who becomes a spy.

While fans have seen Zendaya over the years on both TV and film, the young actress tells Mulligan that her “love of acting” actually came from theater.

“[Because] my mom worked at the California Shakespeare Theater when I was a kid,” she explains. “I think it’s always like an actor’s dream kind of a little bit to do something like a play.”

Up next, Zendaya will star opposite John David Washington in Netflix’s Malcolm & Marie, which follows a not-so-perfect couple who hash it out after a movie premiere at which Washington’s character’s film debuted.

“There were tough days, and it was exhausting,” she says of making the film. “But here was so much family around us, it felt like. We created this set family of support.”

Malcolm & Marie premieres on Netflix February 5.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

By Candice Williams
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

January 27, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Neon(GERMANY) — The indie movie company Neon, which has produced films like the Oscar nominated I, Tonya, has released its first image of Kristen Stewart as Diana Spencer, aka Lady Diana, Princess of Wales, in its upcoming drama Spencer.

Production on the film just got underway in Germany for a planned release this fall, ahead of 2022’s 25th anniversary of Diana’s death.

The photo shows Stewart as the spitting image of the princess turned human rights advocate. She’s staring out of a window, wearing a black blouse and red jacket, with a black veiled hat atop her signature feathered blonde coif.

As previously reported, the period piece takes place in the 1990s and will have Stewart playing Diana over a crucial Christmas holiday during which she plotted her divorce from Prince Charles and began charting a life away from the British royal family.

The synopsis from Neon reads, “December, 1991: The Prince and Princess of Wales’ marriage has long since grown cold. Though rumours of affairs and a divorce abound, peace is ordained for the Christmas festivities at Sandringham Estate. There’s eating and drinking, shooting and hunting. Diana knows the game. This year, things will be a whole lot different.”

Princess Diana was killed August 31, 1997 in a car crash in Paris that was caused in part by a high-speed pursuit by paparazzi. Her partner, Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul, were also killed. Paul was later found to have been driving drunk.  A bodyguard survived the crash.

Pablo Larrain, who called the shots on Natalie Portman’s Oscar-nominated Jacqueline Kennedy 2016 biopic Jackie, is directing.

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

January 27, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Columbia Pictures/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — The Wedding Planner celebrated its 20th anniversary Tuesday and, to celebrate, stars Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey virtually reunited to reminisce about the romantic comedy.

Hitting up Instagram live, the two expressed disbelief over the movie’s major milestone, with Lopez, who played Mary Fiore, remarking, “Can you believe it’s been 20 years since we did The Wedding Planner?!”

McConaughey, who played Dr. Steve “Eddie” Edison, retorted, “Not when you say it like that. Twenty years, I was doing the math. That’s a while ago.”

Both agreed that “it still feels like yesterday” that they were together filming together, which brought them to reflect on the movie’s finale — the big kiss scene.

Lopez, 51, shared a cute anecdote about how her co-star acted like a complete gentlemen before they shared their on-screen kiss.

“Do you remember doing that scene where you were about to kiss me,”  the “On The Floor” singer smiled.  “You said, ‘Ms. Lopez, I’m going to kiss you now.’ And I was like, ‘OK, let’s do it. Let’s kiss.’ I remember that clearly.”

Another scene Lopez remembers fondly is when their two characters meet for the first time — where Eddie rescues a trapped Mary from a runaway dumpster and fall in love.

After saving Mary from certain disaster, Lopez reveals Eddie utters her favorite line in the entire movie, “You smell like sweet red plums and grilled cheese sandwiches.”

“It was just that idea of her fading out and kind of like this Prince Charming just rescuing her and her saying, ‘You smell like grilled cheese and plums,'” she laughed. “It was just so real.”

The Grammy nominee then sweetly added, “I so enjoyed working with you,” calling their time together “magical.”

The two also made a pact to reunite for another rom-com soon.

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

January 27, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

NETFLIX/David Lee(NEW YORK) — Chadwick Boseman was honored Tuesday when it was announced the Black Panther star earned a posthumous nomination for the 2021 Independent Spirit Awards for his final movie role.

Boseman, who died in August after a four-year silent battle with cancer, last starred in the Netflix hit Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which has earned him a nod for best male lead.

The 43-year-old actor joins a category populated by Riz Ahmed for The Sound of Metal, Steven Yeun for Minari, Rob Morgan for Bull and Adarsh Gourav for The White Tiger.

The 36th annual Independent Spirit Awards airs Thursday, April 22 at 10 p.m. ET on IFC.

Boseman’s Ma Rainey role also earned him a posthumous nomination for best actor at the IFP Gotham Awards, which he lost to Ahmed.

The late actor has also generated Oscar buzz for his final movie role, where it is expected he will earn a posthumous nod for Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor.

People reports that the last actor to be posthumously nominated for Best Actor was Massimo Troisi in 1995.  Should Boseman be nominated in the latter category, he will join Heath Ledger and Ralph Richardson — both of whom were posthumously honored in 2008 and 1984, respectively.

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