August 17, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Roy Rochlin/Getty Images(FLORIDA) — WWE star Sonya Deville is thanking the officers who helped foil an armed, would-be kidnapper.

ESPN reports that Deville, born Daria Berenato, was targeted by a man named Phillip Thomas who had spent the better part of the year stalking her online.

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department, Thomas journeyed to the 26-year-old wrester’s home in Florida on Sunday.  There, he hid on her property for four hours until he knew she had fallen asleep.

Around 3 a.m. ET, Thomas then slipped onto her patio after cutting a hole in the screen and made his way inside. Thankfully, he didn’t account for her security system and triggered it.

The alarm woke the Total Divas star who then spotted her would-be kidnapper fleeing the scene.

Thomas was later arrested and pressed with a litany of charges, such as armed burglary, attempted armed kidnapping, aggravating stalking and criminal mischief.

According to the police report, Thomas was carrying “a knife, plastic zip ties, duct tape, mace and other items” when he was apprehended.

Sheriff Chad Chronister added in a statement, “Our deputies are unveiling the suspect’s disturbing obsession with this homeowner who he had never met, but stalked on social media for years.”

“It’s frightening to think of all the ways this incident could have played out had the home alarm not gone off and alerted the homeowner of an intruder. Our deputies arrived within minutes and arrested this man who was clearly on a mission to inflict harm,” added Chronister.

Deville has since thanked her fans for their support, tweeting on Sunday, “A very frightening experience but thankfully everyone is safe.”  She also thanked the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office for “their response and assistance.”

Deville, who is openly gay, is currently starring in WWE’s SmackDown on Fox.

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

August 17, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

ABC/Rick Rowell(LOS ANGELES) — The Democratic National Convention starts Monday and one of the many esteemed guests speaking at the ceremony will be Pose star Billy Porter, who is eagerly looking forward to the event for several important reasons.

One thing he’s anxiously awaiting is his performance.  Speaking with ABC Audio, Porter revealed, “I’m singing ‘For What it’s Worth,'” which is a cover of the Buffalo Springfield protest anthem.

When asked how he worked with the DNC to put together a show-worthy performance, the Tony winner disclosed, “They came to my house, they set up a green screen, I sang the song.”  Porter also tossed in that he “put on a cute outfit” and that “It was social distanced. Everybody had on a mask.”

Porter is also looking forward to leaving a mark on new voters in this time of uncertainty because it mirrors his hard-fought life experiences.

“I am first generation post-civil rights movement, and then I came out as gay in 1985 and, you know, we went straight to the front lines to fight for our lives during the AIDS crisis,” The 50-year-old actor recounted. “So activism is in my DNA. Fighting is the only thing I know. It’s the air I breathe.”

The Grammy winner also said the 2020 election is important because “these last four years has been a horror show” and that it’s time for everyone to pack the polls on November 3 because “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. That’s what Frederick Douglass said.”

When asked about his thoughts about Joe Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris, Porter could barely contain his approval.

“He got the right one,” the American Horror Story alum affirmed. “I’m glad he chose Kamala. She was my first choice, but whoever he chose was gonna get my vote.”

August 14, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for Clusterfest(LOS ANGELES) — Comedian Chris D’Elia, who has been accused of sexually harassing underage girls — a claim he has denied — is being digitally replaced in Zack Snyder’s zombie movie Army of the Dead. 

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that comedienne Tig Notaro would be replacing D’Elia in the film, using a combination of reshoots and digital trickery. 

The film, about a Las Vegas heist amid a zombie apocalypse, also stars Marvel movie star Dave Bautista, Theo Rossi, and Omari Hardwick, among others. The trade notes the film wrapped shooting last year, and was in post-production when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down Hollywood. 

The post-production process allowed the director to have an opportunity to swap D’Elia with Grammy-winner Notaro, who will reportedly shoot her scenes using “a combination of techniques,” including green screen and computer-generated digital compositing, to seamlessly make her part of the cast, which, naturally, has already dispersed. 

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

August 14, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Mick Jagger with fans at 2019’s Venice Film Festival – ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images(ITALY) — September’s Venice Film Festival will look very different than years prior, and not only because COVID-19 has reduced the number of attendees and movies screened. 

Deadline obtained a copy of the rules the festival has put in place to keep its attendees safe from the virus, including a socially-distanced red carpet, mandatory nasal swabs, temperature checks and more. 

As the first major movie awards event to soldier on following the pandemic, all eyes are on the organizers. 

All guests will have to follow the protocols, the trade explains, but only travelers from outside the EU have to go through mandatory tests for the virus at least three days before they leave their home countries. Negative test results must be presented at the border, along with an invitation, before guests can attend. 

What’s more, guests from outside the EU who plan to spend less than 120 hours at the Venice Film Festival will have to get swabbed 24 hours after arrival; flunking it with a positive test “will result in confinement,” according to the trade. The festival will cover the cost of testing, Deadline also explains.

Spending longer than 120 hours buys you a third mandatory test, and while awaiting results, attendees are advised to socially distance, wear masks, and “avoid tourist activities.” 

Gone will be the usual scrum of paparazzi on the red carpet — a reduced number of photographers will shoot arrivals, around which the public will not be allowed to congregate or get autographs as in years past. Instead, the red carpet festivities will be broadcast for viewing both online and on TV.

Mandatory temperature checks will be in place, as will be hand sanitizing stations. The festival’s grounds, as well as hotels serving the guests, will also be sanitized regularly in accordance with new safety standards.

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

August 14, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Skip Bolen/Netflix © 2020(NEW YORK) — Jamie Foxx had a lot good reasons to sign on to his new Netflix thriller Project Power. 

The film, which also stars Dominque Fishback as an impressionable drug dealer, follows the Academy Award winner as Art, a former Army Ranger, who’s on the hunt to find his abducted daughter. Foxx tells ABC Audio that being involved in a film about special abilities was a big draw for him.

“The project to me was just super dope,” he says. “Like the idea that you could take a pill and get superpowers. I was like, ‘I ain’t got to read the script. I need to know where the pills at. I need to know where that is.'”

But special powers aside, Foxx says another reason why he decided to take on the role was because he got the opportunity to work with a promising new talent.

“Once we got started, there was this wonderful light that walked into the chemistry process of getting this together. Her name is Dominique Fishback, and she took us to the moon… in the movie,” he says. 

According to Foxx, Dominque’s dedication to the role was truly inspiring and made him want to “get up and go to work in the morning.”

“She’s on her way,” he says. “And so that’s what made me want to jump into it.”

The feeling was clearly mutual for Fishback who says working with Foxx was like “getting a chance to fill out [her] childhood dreams” of [starring in] Man on Fire opposite Denzel Washington.

“And I got to do it with Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt,” she says. “So I don’t really think about…the [superpower] pills. I mean that was like the cherry on top.” 

Power Project is now available on Netflix.

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