March 18, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Vanity Fair has published an excerpt of Sharon Stone’s new memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice, in which she takes an unflinching look at Hollywood, her career, and that infamous scene in Basic Instinct. 

Calling herself a “nobody” in Hollywood before that film, she explains how hard she fought to get the role. 

“Basic Instinct was my 18th movie,” Stone writes. “For years, I had been getting pummeled doing a bunch of crap movies…I was 32 years old…aging out of the business I hadn’t really gotten into yet. I needed a break.”

She explains her manager at the time had to break into the office of a casting director working with director Paul Verhoven and steal the script for her.

“I had already done Total Recall with Paul, but Michael Douglas didn’t want to test with me. Hey, I was a nobody compared to him, and this was such a risky movie.”

Stone adds, “Eventually, after they had offered the part to 12 other actresses who had turned it down, Michael agreed to test with me.” The pair became good friends. 

Stone had to find her inner Catherine Tramell to play her killer character, and to find peace with that scene, in which her character strategically uncrosses and then crosses her legs, making her police interrogators sweat. 

“So I… chose to allow this scene in the film. Why? Because it was correct for the film and for the character; and because, after all, I did it,” she recalls. 

Stone adds, “By the way, you probably don’t recall, but my name wasn’t at the top with Michael Douglas’ on the poster.”

However, the movie became a smash, and her character gave her an edge she needed to navigate the industry that finally recognized her.

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

March 18, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Marvel Studios/Disney+(NEW YORK) — As a huge Marvel fan, being the head writer on The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was a dream come true for Malcolm Spellman. But to have the project center on Marvel movie frenemies — but real life buddies — Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan made it all the more sweet. 

The pair’s characters, Mackie’s Sam Wilson and Stan’s Bucky Barnes — the latter the formerly brainwashed assassin The Winter Soldier — were both friends of Captain America’s Steve Rogers in the MCU, and their competition over that led to some huge laughs onscreen in Captain America: Civil War.

In the Disney+ series, Mackie and Stan’s chemistry shines again, and for Spellman, it was easy to capture that magic.

“Everybody knows that moment in Civil War: ‘Can you move your seat up?’ ‘No.” Spellman recites. “It is crazy that in 14 seconds the entire planet Earth knew they could carry a movie or a series.”

He enthuses, “Literally, for us, it was the same thing, whatever it is that those two guys have: it was a cheat code, you know, what I’m saying? Because you could spend 42 million dollars on a set piece or you could put those two [characters] in therapy together and it’s going to be just as valuable.”  

See for yourself when Marvel Studios’ The Falcon and The Winter Soldier debuts on Disney+ Friday. 

Disney is the parent company of Marvel and ABC News.

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

March 18, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Christopher Polk/Getty Images for VH1(LOS ANGELES) — As it’s known today, 13 Going on 30 is a 2004 romantic fantasy that starred Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo but it almost didn’t end up that way.

During a recent interview with The Skimm, Garner revealed that her co-star considered dropping out of the project all because of that iconic “Thriller” dance scene he had to learn. 

“We started to learn the dance. Our first rehearsal, I think it was Mark and Judy [Greer], and Judy and I were both dancers growing up and poor Mark didn’t know that,” the actress shared. “And he came in and he hated the rehearsal process so much he almost dropped out of the movie.”

Obviously, we know that Mark stuck with it and, as it turns out, the scene is Garner’s favorite memory from 13 Going on 30. 

By Megan Stone
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

March 18, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Shannon Finney/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — (NOTE LANGUAGE) Tenured late night host Jay Leno is enjoying cars more than comedy these days, but that doesn’t stop him from revealing the secret of his success.

Appearing Wednesday on the Ask Iliza Anything podcast, Leno, 70, explained why his comedy never revolves around “the obvious joke.”

“It’s the same rule I used when I was working clubs and I would talk to the audience. If there’s a big fat guy in the audience and he’s heckling me; I make fun of his tie, or something else,” explained the former Tonight Show host. “I’m not there to kill a guy, I’m just there to have fun with the guy.”

Leno reflected on a time where he did allow his comedy to go too far, which happened after a “road rage incident” where a man gave him the finger as the two were sitting in traffic.  

The Jay Leno’s Garage star admits he did go for the obvious, mocking the man’s appearance and lack of a love live, which caused the driver to start sobbing.

Leno said he “felt so bad” for what he did, adding his words “literally stabbed the guy in the heart,” so he made things right. 

After making the man pull over, Leno learned from their chat that the man had a daughter who loved Taylor Swift, so the comedian extended an olive branch by inviting the man and his family to the late night show to meet Swift back stage.

Leno said that turned everything around and reflected, “It’s easier to be nice. It’s too much trouble to be a [jerk.]”

The Emmy winner also expressed that comedians rarely fail because of a lack of talent, saying they sink their own ship when they treat others poorly or let bad habits or bitterness rule their life.

By Megan Stone
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

March 18, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

CAROLE BETHUEL/NETFLIX © 2020(LOS ANGELES) — Emily in Paris star Ashley Park has gone viral with an impassioned plea about the plight of the Asian-American community, in the wake of Tuesday’s deadly shooting spree at Atlanta-area spas.

Six of the victims were Asian women, and although the alleged perpetrator said he wasn’t motivated by race, the incident comes on the heels of increasing violent incidents aimed at Asians across the country since the start of the pandemic last year.

Park captioned her video, “3 deadly shootings targeting Asian Women in Atlanta yesterday. I couldn’t sleep. …ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.”

Park, who is Korean-American, began the tearful video by saying she posted it because, “I’m so tired of people not knowing what’s going on.”

The actress said that violence aside, there is “societal programming” that degrades people in her community. “The amount of times in my life that I’ve been asked where I’m from before what my name is … you do understand…the undervaluing that does,” she said. “Starting with children, when every Asian kid should be able to be good at math and play a classical instrument…”

The Tony-nominated actress also declared, “This racism starts at a very small level. It starts with things that you say. It starts when someone calls a virus that shut down the whole world the ‘Kung Flu virus.’ It also starts when you roll your eyes or make fun of Asian waiters or Chinese food delivery people and the nail artist.”

“I’m guilty of that, too,” she admitted. 

Park added, “I do hope that this younger generation lives in a world where they don’t have to deal with this, or they at least have the tools and allies to deal with it better than I am dealing with it now.”

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