March 26, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Greg Doherty/Getty Image(LOS ANGELES) — The Oscar nominated film The Father hits on demand streaming Friday, and audiences at home will get a chance to see why it was nominated for Best Picture, with acting noms for stars Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman.

Colman plays the daughter of Hopkins’ character, who is losing his mind to dementia. She tells ABC Audio they had some tough scenes together, but Hopkins was everything she could’ve asked for in an on screen partner, and more.

“When someone’s that good, all you have to do is watch them and just react to what they’re doing.  And he’s so heartbreaking that it makes my job really easy,” she says. “Just a joyful man to spend time with.  He loves work… He’s so happy to meet people and he tells funny stories.  He’s just gorgeous.  Lovely.”

The Crown actress says the script, written from the father’s point of view, blew her away.

“When reading it, I was experiencing what he was experiencing.  I was as confused and ‘Well, who the hell is that that’s just come into the room,'” Coleman explains. “It was totally original to me to experience it through that person’s eyes and from their point of view.  And I just found it gripping and just really emotional.”

And that’s exactly what Florian Zeller, who wrote and directed The Father, wants his audience to feel.

Says Zeller, “I wanted the audience to be in this unique position to try to understand what is going on.  And because you do not understand everything, you have to play with all the pieces of the puzzle.  It becomes like an experience.  Not only a story, an experience of what it means to lose your bearings, and I guess this is something scary.”

By George Costantino & Jason Nathanson
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved

March 25, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Marvel Studios/Disney+(LOS ANGELES) — Marvel Studios has just released a new featurette from the hit Disney+ show The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, the second episode of which debuts tomorrow. 

The clip features commentary from director Kari Skogland, producer Nate Moore and writer Malcolm Spellman, in addition to the two leads: Anthony Mackie, who plays Sam Wilson/Falcon and Sebastian Stan, who plays Bucky Barnes, the formerly brainwashed assassin known as The Winter Soldier.

“For Bucky, it’s the legacy of The Winter Soldier, Moore explains. “His anchor point to the person that knew him before he was a murder machine [Captain America] no longer exists. So Bucky feels unmoored in this series, and looking for his purpose. And Sam Wilson is very much doing the same thing.”

For his part, Mackie says the six-episode show is able to show a new “level of sincerity and humanity” to Sam that was impossible in a two-hour movie. 

Spellman discusses Wilson’s hesitancy to accept the mantle and shield of Captain America that Steve Rogers gave him at the end of Avengers: Endgame. “I felt like we would be dishonest just on a human level if we had this Black man just accept this symbol without having real ambivalence about it.”

Moore agrees: “The notion of what Blackness means in America ties very much into Sam’s journey…in the show.”

Says Stan, “I think fans will definitely get a kick out of the continuation of that kind of filmmaking that those [Marvel] movies had.”

Mackie adds, “The scope of these six episodes is really amazing.”

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is ranked as the most-watched series premiere ever on Disney+ during its opening weekend last week.

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

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

March 25, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic(NEW YORK) — Emmy-winning actress Jessica Walter died at her home in New York City on Wednesday, ABC Audio has confirmed. She was 80.

“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of my beloved mom Jessica,” her daughter, Brooke Bowman, said in a statement. “A working actor for over six decades, her greatest pleasure was bringing joy to others through her storytelling both on screen and off.  While her legacy will live on through her body of work, she will also be remembered by many for her wit, class and overall joie de vivre.”

Walter’s career spanned decades — she won an Emmy in 1975 for her starring role in the police drama Amy Prentiss — but her talents were introduced to a new generation thanks to her role as boozy socialite and matriarch Lucille Bluth in Arrested Development, and as dysfunctional mother and spy agency head Malory Archer in FXX’s hit animated series, Archer. 

About the former, Walter told ABC Audio in 2018, “Did I ever think I’d be sitting here 15 years later talking about it? No. But oh, it’s wonderful.”

Walter also starred in Clint Eastwood’s 1971 film directorial debut Play Misty for Me, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.  Other film roles included 1984’s The Flamingo Kid.

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

March 25, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Courtesy of ONE(LONDON) — Bono is among a variety of celebrities who have lent their voices to an new animated series called Pandemica that was created to promote the importance of making the COVID-19 vaccine available globally to help bring an end to the pandemic.

The series was launched Thursday by the ONE campaign, the global health and anti-poverty organization co-founded by the U2 frontman.  You can see it on ONE’s official website and YouTube channel.

Other celebs who have contributed their voices to the series include Penélope Cruz, Connie Britton, Nick Kroll, Kumail Nanjiani, David Oyelowo, Michael Sheen, and Wanda Sykes.

Pandemica depicts various animated characters stuck in situations and areas where they’re constantly being prevented from getting the vaccine. So far, seven 30-second episodes are available, most of which feature Bono’s voice reading the tag line, “If the vaccine isn’t everywhere, this pandemic isn’t going anywhere.”

In a statement, Bono said, “Pandemica‘s animated world animates a simple truth — that where you live shouldn’t determine whether you get these life-saving shots. Even while many of us still wait our turn, we need to commit to making sure that billions of people around the world aren’t left at the back of the line.”

He adds, “It’s the right thing to do, obviously, but it’s also the only way out of this pandemic for all of us.”

Adds ONE campaign CEO Gayle Smith, “This virus has waged war on the world, and we need to fight back with all we’ve got. Vaccine access isn’t just about what’s fair, it’s also about what’s smart — we can’t end a global pandemic until we stop the virus from spreading and mutating everywhere.”

Pandemica is being released in 12 countries and has been subtitled or translated into six languages, besides English.

By Matt Friedlander
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.