December 9, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Naya Rivera may be gone but her Christmas tradition of giving back will live on thanks to her Glee co-stars. 

The stars of the musical dram-edy, including Kevin McHale, Dianna Agron, Heather Morris, Chord Overstreet, Matthew Morrison and more, have started a GoFundMe in honor of Rivera. The funds raised will go to Alexandria House in Los Angeles, a charity that provides “safe and supportive housing for women and children in the process of moving from emergency shelter to economic stability and permanent housing.”

Speaking with Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday, Glee alum Jenna Ushkowitz explained that Rivera’s annual Christmas party, dubbed Snixxmas after her alter ego Snixx, would always turn into a charitable event, which is why they chose the GoFundMe to carry on the tradition. 

“Yeah so Naya actually, at Snixxmas, the party that she threw every year, would kind of turn it into a toy drive,” Ushkowitz explained. “And she worked with a bunch of different organizations, she was always very giving in how she could give back to the community. But Alexandria House was something that she had found more recently and kind of flew under the radar with it.  She would volunteer her time, she also raised funds for them earlier this year with her son Josey.”

The SNIXXMAS Charity Drive in Memory of Naya Rivera has already raised over $82,000, surpassing the initial goal of $50,000. The new goal is now set at $100,000.

Rivera died of an accidental drowning in July while on a boating trip with her son.  She was 33.

By Danielle Long
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

December 9, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Disney (LOS ANGELES) — When Frozen 2 premiered in theaters last year, songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez had no idea of the impact the movie would have on the 2020 audience.

Robert and Kristen, the Oscar-winning husband and wife team behind the music of both Frozen films, spoke to ABC Audio about how Elsa and Anna’s challenges resonated with an audience adjusting to a new normal.

“To me the main strength of Frozen 2 is that it is about change,” explains Robert. “I think that the themes that they touch are applicable to a society that is going through maybe the most change that society has gone through in a hundred years!”

Frozen 2 made an impact on pop culture as well, scoring Grammy nods for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media and Best Song Written for Visual Media.  

Kristen says the songs “Into the Unknown” and “Show Yourself,” which are about Elsa finding her destiny, now speak to the world’s collective resilience during these uncertain times.

“We do show ourselves in these times of adversity, the strength that we didn’t think we had,” Anderson-Lopez notes. “In my 15-year old’s case, the strength to do all this virtual learning and find a way to keep her friendships.”

The Grammy-nominated “Into the Unknown,” Kristen adds, sums up what many were feeling at the start of the pandemic.

“The stakes of the song are sort of this call that is dangerous and…forces Elsa to take action,” she said. “I think that does resonate with the current situation of everybody kind of being lost in the woods having to find their way forward.” 

You can hear more from Kristen and Robert in a special bonus episode of ABC Audio’s Inside Frozen 2 podcast,  available for streaming now.  

Disney is the parent company of ABC News. 

December 8, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Girls, Inc.(LOS ANGELES) — Girls Take the Lead, a star-studded fundraiser that first aired Sunday night, is now available to watch online, The event raised $600,000 for Girls Inc., which works to advance the rights and opportunities of girls nationwide and prepare them to be the leaders of tomorrow.

The event, hosted by Tina Fey, features performances by Chaka Khan, Audra McDonald and Annie Lennox, and includes appearances from Gloria Estefan, singer/songwriter H.E.R., Marsai Martin, Maya Rudolph, Wanda Sykes, Robin Roberts, Tamron Hall, Rita Moreno and even Hillary Rodham Clinton, who read the Girls Bill of Rights.

Many of the women women shared their experiences in entertainment and comedy, and also spoke about breaking down barriers and creating opportunities for the next generation of female leaders.

Of note, one of the participants at is Symone D. Sanders, who’ll serve as chief spokeswoman for Vice-president elect Kamala Harris. Sanders is an alumna of Girls, Inc, which offers programming and experiences to girls ages five to 18 in more than 350 North American cities. Nearly 80% of the program’s attendees are Black and brown girls.

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

December 8, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Brooke Palmer ©2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved(LOS ANGELES) — CBS has released a teaser trailer for its upcoming crime drama Clarice, centering on the Clarice Starling character from the 1993 Academy Award-wining thriller The Silence of the Lambs. 

The snippet is just that — in fact, we don’t even get a clear shot of Rebecca Breeds in the role that earned Jodie Foster her first Oscar, and then was played by Julianne Moore in Hannibal in 2001.

Instead, we’re left with haunting images of a body being fished from a river, and creepy shots of beetles and moths — a nod to the first film and the Thomas Harris novel that spawned it.

There’s also shots of a lone male figure hunched over a sewing machine, the way Silence‘s killer Buffalo Bill did to make his, well, you know. “What do you do with all your rage?” a voice asks Starling.

Set in 1993, the year after the newbie FBI agent met a certain brilliant cannibal psychologist, the network promises the series will “explore the untold personal story of Clarice Starling,” as [she] returns to the field to pursue serial murderers and sexual predators while navigating the high-stakes political world of Washington, D.C.”

Clarice premieres Thursday, February 11 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS and CBS All Access.

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

December 8, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, who won the Best Director Academy Award in 2000 for Traffic, is on the team that’s producing the next Oscars telecast. 

Soderbergh, also known for Erin Brockovich, Magic Mike and the Ocean’s Eleven film series, will co-produce along with Emmy-nominated producer Jesse Collins and Oscar-nominated producer Stacey Sher, Academy President David Rubin announced Tuesday.  It will be the first time producing the awards telecast for all three. 

The show will be broadcast live on ABC worldwide on Sunday, April 25, 2021.  The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) insists it will stage a live telecast, unlike the virtual soirees to which fans are becoming accustomed because of COVID-19.

Referencing the pandemic and its effect on the industry, Rubin and AMPAS CEO Dawn Hudson said, “The upcoming Oscars is the perfect occasion for innovation and for re-envisioning the possibilities for the awards show. This is a dream team who will respond directly to these times.”

In the same statement, Soderbergh, Sher and Collins added,”We’re thrilled and terrified in equal measure. Because of the extraordinary situation we’re all in, there’s an opportunity to focus on the movies and the people who make them in a new way, and we hope to create a show that really FEELS like the movies we all love.”

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