August 7, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Hulu(LOS ANGELES) — During Friday’s Hulu Press Tour, the streaming service unveiled its slate of original upcoming programming, including new and returning series.

Hulu announced the semi-animated comedy series Woke starring Lamorne Morris as well as No Man‘s Land, the dramatic tale of the Syrian civil war.

It also touted full-series orders of the documentary food series The Next Thing You Eat, starring James Beard Award-Winning Chef David Chang, as well as the ripped-from-the-headlines limited series The Girl From Plainville. That project stars Elle Fanning as Michelle Carter, who was convicted in 2017 of involuntary manslaughter for encouraging the suicide of her then-boyfriend via texts and phone calls.

Also on the docket are producer and star Selena Gomez, joining Steve Martin and Martin Short in Only Murders In The Building Alongside. Other upcoming Hulu Originals include Kate McKinnon in The Dropout, based on the ABC News investigative podcast of the same name, and the adaptation of the book Nine Perfect Strangers starring Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy.

Hulu’s returning slate also includes Love, Victor, as well as Padma Lakshmi’s foodie series Taste the Nation, plus second seasons of the middle school comedy Pen15, the new animated hit Solar Opposites, The Great, and more.

The streamer will also launch an eight-episode horror anthology called Monsterland, based on North-American Lake Monsters, a collection of short stories by Nathan Ballingrud and the documentary I Am Greta, centering on young activist Greta Thunberg.

A full schedule of everything that is coming to Hulu can be found on the website for the company, which is part-owned by ABC News’ parent company Disney.

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

August 7, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Brendan Adam-Zwelling/Netflix(NEW YORK) — Work It is about to join the ranks of iconic teen dance movies like Save the Last Dance, Step Up and Center Stage.

The Netflix movie, out Friday, stars Sabrina Carpenter as Quinn, a straight-A student who starts her own dance team in the hopes of impressing her dream college. Only problem is, she can’t dance. But with the help of her dancer bestie Jasmine, played by Liza Koshy, and a talented choreographer Jake, played by Jordan Fisher, her team just might have a shot at winning the prestigious Work It dance competition.

For the cast, they were all fans of the dance movie genre to begin with, and were giddy at the prospect of getting to star in their own.

“I’ve been craving a dance movie and I was like, ‘I don’t know when they’re gonna make one next’ and then I accidentally ended up in one!” YouTube star Koshy tells ABC Audio.

“I’ve been wanting to see, like, our generation’s Channing Tatum and, uh, he looks a little different, but here he is,” she jokes, gesturing at herself.

Carpenter, who also executive produced the film and has a song called “Let Me Move You” on the soundtrack, adds that she’s excited for their movie to follow in the footsteps of the dance movies that came before.

“It’s been like a minute since we’ve had, like, a really feel good, come together unified dance movie full of like so many different kinds of people,” she says. “And I just think that the story of our film holds a lot of really great messages and at the same time is just funny and doesn’t take itself too seriously.” 

Work It is out on Netflix now.

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

August 7, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.(NEW YORK) — Could we be any more disappointed? The long-anticipated and oft-delayed reunion of Ross, Rachel, Phoebe, Monica, Chandler and Joey has been bumped again. 

Variety reports that delays related to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis were to blame for the latest postponement of the unscripted HBO Max special. 

The special was initially supposed to shoot back in March with a live audience, with the plan it would be a main attraction for the new streaming service that launched in May.  However, the pandemic shut down production, which was just starting to ramp up in Los Angeles and elsewhere.  That in turn nixed plans the Friends special’s completion by the summer’s end.  

As of now, there’s no date set to start production, according to the trade.

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

August 7, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — In an interview on Instagram Live with Posecreator Steven Canals, Zoe Saldana tearfully confessed she regretted portraying Nina Simone in Nina, a widely-panned 2016 biopic of the legendary singer and social activist’s life.

“It’s painful,” an emotional Saldana said, “I should have tried everything in my power to cast a Black woman to play an exceptionally perfect Black woman.”

Saldana is of Haitian, Puerto Rican and Lebanese descent. However, her skin was darkened to play the role, and she wore prosthetics in an attempt to more closely approximate the singer’s appearance, which led to widespread criticism at the time. 

“I thought back then that I had the permission, because I was a Black woman,” Saldana said of playing the role as she did. “And I am, but it was Nina Simone. And Nina had a life and a … journey that should be honored to the most specific detail…She deserved better.”

Her voice breaking, Saldana added, “With that said, I’m so sorry. Because I love her music…She’s one of our giants. Somebody else should step up and tell her story.”

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

August 7, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

© 2018 WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC.(LOS ANGELES) — While the box office track record of Warner Bros.’ DC Comics universe has been uneven at best, a brand-new tease of its 24-hour virtual convention called DC Fandome is generating a lot of buzz. 

The tease was introduced in a tweet from Matt Reeves, the director of the upcoming The Batman, and he promised to share details about the upcoming movie. 

The taste of the August 22 event is nothing more of a scroll of names, but they include dozens of big ones — including the casts of James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984 including Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, cast members from upcoming sequels to Aquaman and Shazam!, Dwayne Johnson, who stars in the upcoming spin-off Black Adam, and more. 

Unlike San Diego Comic-Con and other like events, fans will have the best seat in the house for all the DC Fandome action, which likely will include the first look at dozens of small- and big-screen projects.

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