December 4, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Momentum Pictures(NEW YORK) — Black Bear is an unpredictable new indie flick that tackles complicated relationship dynamics and what it’s like to suffer for your art.

Split into two different yet intertwined parts — one of which features a movie within a movie — it stars Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon in a unique kind of love triangle. 

Plaza’s role of Allison, a filmmaker/actress, was written by director Lawrence Michael Levine specifically with her in mind. Plaza tells ABC Audio she felt the pressure of taking on the project. 

“I was terrified, actually,” the former Parks and Recreation star says. “I mean, even the way that the script was written was so hyperbolic in the sense that it said things like, ‘And then Allison does another take and gives the best performance that anyone has ever seen,’ you know, as the description for the scene. And I’m going like, ‘Larry, how can you write that and expect me to do that?’”

Ultimately, Plaza was drawn to the challenge. 

“It felt like he was kind of going like, ‘Are you up for this? Are you down?’ And I’m a very competitive person,” she says. “I’m always drawn to things that scare me or things that, you know, are challenging. So…I felt very excited when I read it.”

As for the movie’s mind-boggling plot, Plaza is eager to see the theories and discussions that come out of it.

“I really do think it’s the kind of movie that you need to watch more than once, because it could really go either way,” she says. “It’s really interesting for me to hear what people think about how the first part relates to the second part.” 

Black Bear is in select theaters and on VOD today.

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

December 4, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

“Hustlers” – Barbara Nitke/STX(LOS ANGELES) — Jennifer Lopez started 2020 with a brand new mindset when she took over the Super Bowl halftime stage and included a direct homage to her 2019 film Hustlers during her empowering routine.

As for why the 51-year-old singer decided include pole dancing in her performance, which critics later blasted for being too risqué, she says it’s because she finally stopped caring what others think about her.  

“It really came to fruition for me when I got snubbed for an Oscar,” Lopez told Billboard on Thursday, adding that “it did hurt” to hear that Hustlers was completely shut out of last year’s Academy Awards ceremony.

However, she says that moment taught her something invaluable: “I realized I don’t need to prove anything to anyone.”

The “On the Floor” singer, who was crowned this year’s Billboard Women in Music Icon, said she went into the Super Bowl aiming to prove that a woman’s worth isn’t determined by her age, her ethnicity or her looks.

“As a woman, people want to write you off: ‘Who’s the next hot girl?’ When you’re an actress, you’re always waiting for that,” Lopez explains. “I decided I’m not going to let that happen. I’m going to keep surprising everybody, and I’m going to keep surprising myself.”

Lopez says that she is also breaking barriers for other women by constantly challenging the public’s perception and standards of worth.

“I’m the people’s icon. I’m the person that you look at and say, ‘I can do that because she did it,'” the Grammy nominee smiled, saying she strives to impart this message to her fans: never put yourself in a box because “You’re limitless.”

Lopez’s full interview will be available in the upcoming December 5 issue of Billboard magazine. 

By Megan Stone
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

December 4, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

ABC(LOS ANGELES) — Sure, he sold his Casamigos tequila brand for a billion bucks, but to look like a million, George Clooney turns to his trusty Flowbee for his haircuts. 

The “as seen on TV” gadget has been his go-to hair cutting tool for years, the two-time Oscar winner recently revealed, and on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, he demonstrated his skills.

He and Kimmel both had one of the gadgets, and Clooney taught him the basics. “You turn the vacuum on, turn the buzzer on, and you go to town!” Clooney shouted over the din of the vacuum during the socially-distanced, in-studio visit.

Clooney explained he had his assistant first buy him the informercial device 20 years ago, to which Kimmel quipped, “People who have assistants shouldn’t be Flowbee-ing their hair.”

The 59-year-old actor, director and producer said after years of use, his original Flowbee “broke down, and then you couldn’t get them for a while,” he told Kimmel.

Whether Clooney’s affinity for the DIY hair-cutting tool causes a run on the Flowbees remains to be seen.

Clooney’s next film, the sci-fi drama The Midnight Sky, debuts on Netflix December 23.

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

December 4, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Disney+(NEW YORK) — Without giving away any of the many surprises included the new episode of The Mandalorian, which dropped Friday on Disney+, we can say Giancarlo Esposito returns as the calculating Moff Gideon. 

The Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul star earned an Emmy nomination for his character’s first appearances at the end of the show’s first season — and he’s back in a big way in the brand-new chapter. 

Considering he only appeared for a few minutes in total in the show’s inaugural season, Esposito answers “It sure did!” when asked if his Emmy nods came as a surprise.

“You know, I came into this show, I was asked to do it by [creator/writer] Jon Favreau and was so very excited to accept when I knew what the concept was,” he tells ABC Audio.  “And to play Moff Gideon was such a great challenge.“

As a Moff, or Imperial governor, Esposito is following in the well-polished boots of another fine actor, who portrayed the icy Grand Moff Tarkin in the original Star Wars.

“I really respected a great deal, Peter Cushing, who was so aristocratic and political in his portrayal of a Moff. And I … went, ‘Oh, OK. So maybe they’re choosing me for my grace and aplomb and my good looks,” Esposito said with a laugh. 

He adds, “I wanted to bring…power to this character. I wanted to wonder what he really wanted.”

What Gideon wants is The Asset — the little critter we know colloquially as Baby Yoda, whose real name was just revealed to be Grogu. “When [Gideon] emerges to…find The Asset for reasons that he hasn’t really explained, we get some mysterious things going on,” the actor teases. 

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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

December 4, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Julien’s Auctions(LONDON) — Julien’s Auctions held Icons & Idols Trilogy: Hollywood on Thursday, and the top seller was the pistol used by Sean Connery in the 1962 James Bond movie Dr. No that fetched $250,000.

Dr. No, the very first Bond movie, also marked Connery’s debut as Ian Fleming’s now-iconic superspy, and the Walther, used throughout the film, helped define the character. The silhouette of the Walther PP and PPK, the first one ever used, helped define the image of the Bond character in that film and all that followed, Julien’s explained.

The winning bidder, who wished to remain anonymous, was an American who has seen every James Bond movie with their children, according to the auction house.

Other notable items included one of several production made fighter pilot helmets used by Tom Cruise in his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the first Top Gun movie, selling for $108,000. A white Navy officer’s cap also worn by Cruise’s Lt. Daniel Kaffee character in the 1992 film A Few Good Men went for $9,375.

Fred Rogers’ turquoise-cobalt blue cardigan sweater worn in an 1998 episode of his series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood sold for $16,000 — 16 times its original estimate of $1,000. The sweater came with a typed note from 1999 on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood letterhead where Rogers writes of sending this sweater to a fan in need.

Also hitting the auction block were a full-body latex foam alien predator costume suit from the production of the 1990 film Predator 2; items from the 1989 film Back to the Future Part II; and a 158-page script from the 1972 film The Godfather by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, dated March 29, 1971 and marked “Third Draft.”