January 11, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

ABC/Randy Holmes(LOS ANGELES) — (NOTE LANGUAGE) Funnyman Kevin Hart is bringing in 2021 with a bang. The actor-comedian shared on Instagram that he and his HartBeat Productions have signed a massive, multi-film deal with Netflix.

“Excited about this new chapter for myself & my company,” Hart wrote, captioning the announcement published by Deadline. “I am beyond blessed and thankful for my team at HartBeat Productions….I truly believe in our ability to make global films that will make a lasting impact in cinema history for years to come.”

“We are just getting started people #HartBeatProductions …..It’s all about the “We” not the “Me,” he added.

According to Deadline, Hart’s new deal with Netflix will be a major commitment for the actor. It includes Hart starring in at least four films he’ll produce, in addition to a first-look film producing deal as part of the agreement.

Hart’s partnership with the streamer comes after his latest stand-up special, Zero F*cks Given, became Netflix’s number-one comedy special of 2020.

Up next, Hart will star in and executive-produce the recently announced Netflix scripted limited series True Story, marking his dramatic series debut.

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

January 11, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Marvel Studios/Disney+(LOS ANGELES) — In a press conference on Sunday, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige talked about Marvel’s upcoming Disney+ show WandaVision, and what it has to do with that other Disney+ show: the Emmy-winning The Mandalorian.

Feige explained, “We were all underway long before we saw The Mandalorian [but] there is lots and lots of [it] that has inspired us at Marvel Studios, not the least of which is the [set technology] that we’re using on some upcoming projects.”

He also admired Disney’s “event-izing” The Mandalorian, the first live-action Star Wars TV series, by releasing it on a week-to-week basis, rather than all at once.

As its name suggests, WandaVision reunites Elizabeth Olsen’s Avengers character Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch with her onscreen android love, Paul Bettany’s Vision. 

On its surface, WandaVision is tribute to classic TV sitcoms, which is one reason why Family Matters‘ Jaleel White was the moderator at the press conference. But there’s something darker behind why and how Wanda and Vision find themselves on sets similar to Betwitched and The Brady Bunch. 

That will become apparent as the series unfold. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Olsen appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America Monday, and confirmed that her character will appear in the upcoming big-screen sequel Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. 

“There’s never much we can talk about in Marvel, but I do think that WandaVision is a natural progression into what happens in Doctor Strange 2,” she said.

She added, “I think Kevin Feige’s doing a really amazing job intertwining the television format with the films so that we can tell more interesting stories moving forward.”

The Sam Raimi-directed Dr. Strange sequel hits theaters on March 25, 2022; WandaVision debuts on January 15. 

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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

January 11, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Philippe Antonello/NETFLIX(LOS ANGELES) — In the George Clooney-directed Netflix sci-fi drama The Midnight Sky, a group of astronauts are warned to stay in space after a global catastrophe makes Earth inhabitable. The cast says that even with their uncertain future, their characters all have a personal motivation to return home.

Tiffany Boone, who plays Maya, an astronaut on her first mission, tells ABC Audio that her character’s reason to “rush back” was based on love.

“For me, I created even more of a motivation that she fell in love with her best friend right before she went off,” Boone says. “She has to get back to her to tell her she loves her. So that’s the motivation to return to those people that she loves.”

Kyle Chandler, who plays Maya’s fellow astronaut, Mitchell, agrees and adds that he even “visualized” a scene of his last time on Earth as a reference point. 

“My motivation was the same thing,” he says. “I wanted to get home to my wife. And my little secret was also a promise [to] her, saying, “Yes, I’ll come home. And this was my last flight I was going to make.”

“And she gifted me that in a sense,” Chandler continues. “And I want to get home to my boys in my old life. Two years is an awful long time to ask people to wait for you.”

Meanwhile, Demián Bichir, who serves as one of the senior astronauts on the mission, says he saw a common thread in all of the astronauts’ desire to return to Earth.

“It’s always family and the closest love that you have around you and all that — that keeps you connected,” he says. 

The Midnight Sky, also starring David Oyelowo and Felicity Jones, is now streaming on Netflix.

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

January 11, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Steve Iervolino/ABC News(NEW YORK) — When it was announced last month that there was going to be a True Blood reboot, the former HBO show’s star, Anna Paquin, went viral when the actress who played Sookie Stackhouse tweeted, “Well, this is the first I’m hearing about this.”

The tweet kicked off a Twitter storm, with Paquin’s fans flipping out on her behalf because she wasn’t involved.  But Paquin insists to ABC Audio she wasn’t shading the new project.

“No!” she laughed. “Someone was kind of like, ‘Go queen, go off!'”

The Oscar-winning actress, who also won a Golden Globe for the vampire series, explained, “I got some really… amazing fans who…have my back. And trust me, I love it. I’m so grateful. But I was like, ‘No, no no, guys, guys, this is not a thing!'”

She added, “Literally, every single cast and crew member there was like text chains going back and forth, like, ‘Did you guys know about this?'”

“And literally none of us, even Charlaine Harris, knew anything about it,” Anna says, referring to the author of The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series on which the show was based.

“So we were all just kind of learning about it in real time. And then as things do, the Internet kind of explodes, but — which is all very flattering!” Paquin admits, saying there was another silver lining to the situation: “What was kind of nice is that a few quite long…chat groups got together of some of our peeps. It was just like, nice to catch up.” 

Riverdale creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is reportedly in talks to write the new show, with original series creator Alan Ball producing.

Paquin will be seen next as a PR wizard in Flack, which hits Amazon Prime on January 22.

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

January 11, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News