July 28, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Orion Pictures/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — This week marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Caddyshack.  The classic comedy started Kenny Loggins’ reputation as the “soundtrack king” of the ’80s, thanks to his hit “I’m Alright” and three other songs he wrote for the film. Loggins tells ABC Audio he got involved with Caddyshack through his friend, movie producer John Peters.

“When I saw the rough cut…we laughed through the whole thing,” Loggins recalls. “And I said, ‘This is a great movie. I want to write every song!'” 

“It was the first movie that I wrote [multiple] songs for, and was really a fun project,” he notes. “And it’s amazing that it’s still so heavily rented…It is the golfer’s national anthem.”

As for “I’m Alright,” Loggins says when he first saw the movie, the director had thrown in a random song to suggest the kind of track he was looking for Loggins to write.

“The lead character, Danny, [in] the opening scene…he’s riding his bicycle through a condo development…probably golf course, and the temp[orary] music was a Bob Dylan song, ‘[Gotta] Serve Somebody,'” Loggins recalls. 

“And I thought. ‘So they’re trying to portray him as a rebel, even though he’s riding a bicycle through a golf course condominium area.’ And I thought, ‘I want to do something that has that vibe that says basically, “I’m fine, leave me alone.”‘ And that’s where ‘I’m Alright’ came from.”

Unfortunately, another character in the movie sort of co-opted “I’m Alright.”

“John said, ‘Oh, we got this gopher hand puppet that we’re going to use,'” Loggins laughs. “And I thought, ‘That’s a really stupid idea!'”

“It turned out to be a really great idea and people loved it! So the song, I think, is associated more with the gopher than with the character.” 

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

July 28, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

iStock/Vladimir Vladimirov(LOS ANGELES) — Regal Cinemas is opening its doors back up to U.S. moviegoers beginning on August 21, Deadline reports. The major theater chain, along with another, AMC, had shuttered amid the start of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic back in March.

At the moment its unsure how many of the company’s 549 locations will open up when the time comes — particularly with coronavirus hotspots popping up in California, Florida, and Arizona. 

Regal had outlined a series of safety protocols that were established to keep its patrons safe: these included enhanced sanitary measures, and the mandate that its staff and customers wear masks.

Titles currently set to open domestically on August 21 are the mystery thriller Unhinged, which stars Russell Crowe and the horror film Antebellum which stars Janelle Monáe.

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

July 28, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Rich Fury/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Although COVID-19 may have altered Sandra Bullock’s plans to celebrate the big 5-6 in style, she still managed to pull off a fun and memorable birthday bash with her friends.

The Bird Box star invited some of her closest friends, including Jennifer Aniston and Sarah Paulson for her little get together on Sunday.

According to photos shared by attendees, Bullock made sure everyone abided by social distancing guidelines.

“Celebrating our girl properly distanced with so much love,” Aniston posted to her Instagram Stories, sharing the fun selfie Practical Magic star snapped of her intimate party.  “HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANDY WE LOVE YOU!!!”

She also threw in several red heart and a party face emoji.

The snap was taken in an outdoor patio setting with a decorative box of succulents situated on the table and shows all the attendees, who are sitting apart from each other, sporting face masks.

However, it’s apparent that everyone is having a great time and smiling broadly with Aniston and Paulson — who also shared the image to her respective IG stories — making goofy gestures with their hands.  Also pictured was Holland Taylor, who is genially waving at the camera.

Aniston and Bullock have been friends for years and even interviewed each other in February for Interview magazine where the two ribbed each other about actor Tate Donovan — whom they both dated in the 90s.

The two women joked that he definitely had “a type.”

Bullock turned 56 on July 26.

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

July 28, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

HBO/Mark Hill(LOS ANGELES) — HBO’s Watchmen scored 26 nominations, the most of any program, when nominations for the 72nd Emmy Awards were announced Tuesday morning.

Via a virtual ceremony that streamed this morning at 11:30 a.m. ET/8:30 a.m. PT, Saturday Night Live veteran Leslie Jones revealed the nominations, which were streamed live at Emmys.com and YouTube, including some audio sync problems throughout.

Joining Jones were co-presenters Josh Gad from Frozen, Orange Is the New Black‘s Laverne Cox, and Orphan Black and Perry Mason star Tatiana Maslany.

Netflix earned the most nominations of any network in history, with a whopping 160 nominations — a record for the most nominations in a single year — followed by HBO in distant second, with 107.

Amazon Prime’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel continued its comedy category domination, earning 20 nominations.  Netflix’s Ozark and HBO’s Succession earned 18 nods each.

Disney+’s Star Wars show The Mandalorian surprised expectations out of the gate, with 15 nominations, including one for Outstanding Drama and one for Giancarlo Esposito. The Better Call Saul star was nominated in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for playing the cunning Moff Gideon.
All told, the streaming service, owned by the parent company of ABC News, earned 19 nominations.
The 72nd Emmy Awards will will be broadcast Sunday, Sept. 20 starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time on ABC.  Jimmy Kimmel is slated to host the event.  As of now, that ceremony will likely also be virtual.

Here are the Emmy nominees in the major categories:

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Anthony Anderson – black-ish
Don Cheadle – Black Monday
Ted Danson – The Good Place
Michael Douglas – The Kominsky Method
Eugene Levy – Schitt’s Creek
Ramy Youssef – Ramy

Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series
Christina Applegate – Dead to Me
Rachel Brosnahan – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Linda Cardellini – Dead to Me
Catherine O’Hara – Schitt’s Creek
Issa Rae – Insecure
Tracee Ellis Ross – black-ish

Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series
Jason Bateman – Ozark
Sterling K. Brown – This Is Us
Steve Carell – The Morning Show
Brian Cox – Succession
Billy Porter – Pose
Jeremy Strong – Succession

Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series
Jennifer Aniston – The Morning Show
Olivia Colman – The Crown
Jodie Comer – Killing Eve
Laura Linney – Ozark
Sandra Oh – Killing Eve
Zendaya – Euphoria

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Helena Bonham Carter – The Crown
Laura Dern – Big Little Lies
Julia Garner – Ozark
Thandie Newton – Westworld
Fiona Shaw – Killing Eve
Sarah Snook – Succession
Meryl Streep – Big Little Lies
Samira Wiley – The Handmaid’s Tale

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Nicholas Braun – Succession
Billy Crudup – The Morning Show
Kieran Culkin – Succession
Mark Duplass – The Morning Show
Giancarlo Esposito – Better Call Saul
Matthew Macfadyen – Succession
Bradley Whitford – The Handmaid’s Tale
Jeffrey Wright – Westworld

Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series or a Television Movie
Jeremy Irons – Watchmen
Hugh Jackman – Bad Education
Paul Mescal – Normal People
Jeremy Pope – Hollywood
Mark Ruffalo – I Know This Much Is True

Outstanding Actress in a Limited Series or a Television Movie
Cate Blanchett – Mrs. America
Shira Haas – Unorthodox
Regina King – Watchmen
Octavia Spencer – Self Made
Kerry Washington – Little Fires Everywhere

Outstanding Limited Series
Little Fires Everywhere – Hulu
Mrs. America – FX on Hulu
Unbelievable – Netflix
Unorthodox – Netflix
Watchmen – HBO

Outstanding Comedy Series
Curb Your Enthusiasm – HBO
Dead to Me – Netflix
The Good Place – NBC
Insecure – HBO
The Kominsky Method – Netflix
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – Amazon
Schitt’s Creek – Pop
What We Do in the Shadows – FX

Outstanding Drama Series
Better Call Saul – AMC
The Crown – Netflix
The Handmaid’s Tale – Hulu
Killing Eve – BBC America
The Mandalorian – Disney+
Ozark – Netflix
Stranger Things – Netflix
Succession – HBO

Outstanding Variety Talk Series
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah – Comedy Central
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee – TBS
Jimmy Kimmel Live! – ABC
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – HBO
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert – CBS

July 28, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

ABC/Randy Holmes(LOS ANGELES) — (NOTE LANGUAGE) Dwayne Johnson says he once was considered for the role of Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

The former pro wrestler made the admission on Sunday alongside a clip from the original 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

“Some cool history – back in the early 2000’s, iconic director, Tim Burton had considered me to play Willy Wonka is his remake, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” he began. “I remember thinking “HOLY S***, IM IN.”

Johnson admitted that this opportunity came at a time when he had no “real acting experience to even pull it off” but was still humbled by the idea that such a legendary director would even consider him. 

He continued, “The role, of course went to Johnny Depp, who at that time was the biggest star in the world. The rest was history. And down the road I went.”

“I’ll always raise a glass to the dreams that don’t come true, because sometimes they’re the best thing that never happened,” he concluded. 

By Danielle Long
Copyright © 2019, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.