October 9, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Storm Reid in 2018; Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic(LOS ANGELES) — Storm Reid is opening up about some of the backlash she faced when starring in the 2018 Disney movie A Wrinkle in Time.

In an interview with InStyle magazine, Reid, who was cast as protagonist Meg in the film, said she encountered racist Internet trolls following the announcement that she’d been cast.

“Some people had problems with me playing Meg because they’d loved her as a Caucasian girl for so long,” said Reid. “They were uncomfortable to have that shift, but the only way to create change in our world is through people willing to be uncomfortable.”

However, the Euphoria actress noted that with some of the initial negativity, there was also plenty of heart-warming praise from young fans.

“When the film came out, little girls would come up to me and say, ‘Thank you for allowing me to see a girl who looks like me save the world,’ ” she said. “That’s when I realized my career was bigger than myself.”

Based on the classic 1962 novel by Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, directed by Ava Duvernay, also starred Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling and Oprah Winfrey. Reid said it made it big difference knowing she had four Hollywood role models supporting her.

“It’s a blessing to have amazing women like Ms. Ava, Ms. Reese, Ms. Mindy, and Ms. Oprah in my corner championing me,” she said. “I try to make them proud, but I know I’m not always going to do or say everything the right way. I’m not perfect, but the goal shouldn’t be for me to be perfect.”

The November issue of InStyle, featuring Storm Reid, is available on newsstands and digitally on October 23.

By Candice Williams
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

October 9, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Jeong Park/Netflix ©2020

(NEW YORK) — Radha Blank is sharing her life with the masses in the new Netflix film The Forty-Year-Old Version.

Directed, produced, written and starring Blank, the film — which was the winner of the Directing Prize at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival — follows Radha as an up-and-coming NY playwright searching for a breakthrough before she turns 40. Blank tells ABC Audio that she was definitely hesitant about putting her real life on display.

“The character is named Radha Blank. So, I’m pulling from a lot of personal stories,” she says. “My family’s legacy as artists are in the film. We’re shooting in my apartment. And so, I am very exposed in the film.”

Blank reveals that being so exposed even made her have some second thoughts.

“And there were moments when I was like, ‘Oh, maybe we should have gotten another apartment, or maybe I should have lost another 30 pounds before we started filming,'” she explains.

Yet, it was the “things that scared” her that Blank says “probably [made] the film feel authentic.”

“And so when I go into the edits, even though I had… those fears or concerns, I’ve looked at the material as the director, who is kind of standing outside of the project saying, ‘This is what we need, you know?'” she says. “So, yeah, those fears were there. But ultimately, whatever is going to serve the storytelling I’m willing to kind of throw in there.”

The Forty-Year-Old Version, also starring Peter Kim and Oswin Benjamin, is now available on Netflix.

By Candice Williams
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

October 9, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Starz(NEW YORK) — The Spanish Princess Part Two, which premieres its epic final installment on Starz this weekend, initially teased new episodes with an iconic image: A pregnant Queen Catherine dressed in full armor, ready to lead troops into battle.

Star Charlotte Hope tells ABC Audio putting on that “maternity armor” and shooting that scene was just as empowering as it looked.

“I think it was like the most empowered I felt maybe in my whole life,” Hope recalls. “I remember walking down the stairs, getting on this horse, and I was so pumped with adrenaline because I knew I had to get the scene in one [take], basically.”

She adds, “I’m a very, very small person, so to get to feel that strong and powerful is very satisfying.”

Hope says she also relished playing out the demise of Queen Catherine’s marriage to King Henry VIII, played by Ruairi O’Connor — a story we all know from the history books. She says it was important to show the couple still had “that fight and that fire” all the way up until the end.

“This season feels like a really, really honest breakup story to me, because breakups are so messy,” she says. “It’s not just so simple as just being like, ‘OK, bye! Now we’ll never see each other or talk to each other again.’ So often you break apart and then you pull back together and then you break apart and you pull back together.”

The Spanish Princess Part Two premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Starz.

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

October 9, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

EIKE SCHROTER/NETFLIX (L-R: Amelia Eve, Victoria Pedretti)(NEW YORK) — The Haunting of Bly Manor is here to give you your ghost story fix just in time for Halloween. The follow-up to 2018’s The Haunting of Hill House debuts on Netflix Friday.

British actress Amelia Eve joins the cast as sarcastic groundskeeper of Bly Manor, Jamie, who, as she admits in the show, prefers plants over people. But Eve says her character’s gruff exterior is just hiding a fragile heart.

“She’s not a huge fan of people, but I think that’s kind of a surface thing for Jamie, I think,” she tells ABC Audio.  “In reality, she has a big heart and she loves people and she kind of loves them too much. And it’s more the fear of when she invests so much in people and they let her down or they hurt her.”

She adds, “And so that’s why she dedicates all her time to plants because she knows there’s a safety in that.”

We’ll see Jamie start to open up to the house’s new au pair, Dani, played by Victoria Pedretti. But there are enough spooky things going on at the manor to keep anyone on their guard — including viewers.

Eve recommends enjoying the show with a virtual watch party, rather than watching alone.

“You’ve got to make it all like real dark, turn all the lights off,” she says. “Get your popcorn, tuck your feet in because you don’t want your toes hanging off the edge in case someone grabs them. Make sure you got your blanket up high so you can lift it if you need to!”

The Haunting of Bly Manor is streaming now.

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

October 9, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Monty Brinton/CBS via Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — How I Met Your Mother turns 15 this year, stoking fans’ hopes that a reunion is around the corner.  Unfortunately, series star Alyson Hannigan was upfront in an interview with E!’s Daily Pop why they shouldn’t get their hopes up.

While the 46-year-old actress “would 100 percent be up for” a reunion, she explained that the chances of that ever happening are slim to none.

“Honestly, when I read the last episode script, I was sort of sad because I felt like there was no chance of a reunion, because they kind of gave away all the cards,” Hannigan explained. “They sort of showed everything.”

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum added that she was a little dismayed by the finale and even voiced her concerns.

“I was like, ‘Wait, you guys, now we won’t get to do a reunion because you’re telling the future and telling the stories of what we’re all gonna do,'” dished Hannigan, who said the finale was too big of an obstacle to overcome.

The People’s Choice Award nominee revealed there were discussions about a potential holiday special and that her co-star Jason Segel put forth some “great ideas” — but nothing ever came from them.

Still, she remains hopeful the gang will get back together again in some form or another.

How I Met Your Mother, which also starred Josh Radnor, Cobie Smulders and Neil Patrick Harris, aired its final episode in 2014.

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