Freeform/Eric McCandless(LOS ANGELES) — Weeks after he was accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct, The Hollywood Reporter says comedian Chris D’Elia’s upcoming show with Netflix has been scrapped.
D’Elia stands accused of sexual harassing women and asking for nude photos from at least one woman who claims he knew she was a minor at the time. D’Elia has denied the charges.
The controversy was enough to get D’Elia dropped from his talent agency.
The Netflix series was to see D’Elia partnered with friend and fellow comedian and actor Brian Callen, and was supposed to be an unscripted show dealing with pranks, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Netflix/Aimee Spinks(LOS ANGELES) — KiKi Layne and Charlize Theron were up to the challenge of kicking butt in the Gina Prince-Bythewood comic-book film The Old Guard. But, unlike most action films, which they note have been directed by mostly men, the actors tell ABC Audio that having a woman behind the camera allowed them to tap into a more “vulnerable” side.
“I know Gina was very much about the vulnerability of these characters, which I think is something that women naturally are more comfortable leaning into,” Layne tells ABC Audio. “And recognize that there is strength in that. And so I think she definitely invited us to lean into more of the vulnerability of all of these characters, even though they are people who could, you know, whoop your [butt] in like two seconds.”
Theron agrees, adding that she enjoys working with female directors, even though it’s usually on a rare occasion.
“I’m always embarrassed to acknowledge that I’ve worked with more — way more, just a disproportionate amount — male filmmakers than female filmmakers in my career,” Theron says. “I think that we can all acknowledge that when we see something like this, we realize there needs to be more of it.”
“[But,] it’s so celebrated. It’s so appreciated by audiences,” she continues. “And we have to actively, proactively, create those opportunities.”
Thankfully for fans, Theron reveals she is already committed to changing that landscape with her own personal projects.
“And so, for myself as a female producer, I take it very seriously when we take a project on,” she says. “We consciously make an effort to really — not just with the director — with our department heads, with our casts, to always pay attention to that diversity.”
iStock/aceshot(NEW YORK) — Fox Sports is borrowing some Hollywood magic to make this year’s crowd-free baseball season look like the real McCoy.
According to Variety, when the network airs the match-up between the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres Saturday night, the seats will be filled to capacity — by digital doppelgangers.
With COVID-19 barring real fans from major league parks, Fox Sports says between the digital crowd and the sound of the fans it will look to the home viewer like the real deal.
“We had a vision for making our Major League Baseball broadcasts look as natural as they were before COVID,” Brad Zager, executive producer and executive vice president and head of production and operations for Fox Sports, tells Variety.
The digital crowds can be “dressed” in various home team jerseys and will react as real fans would — even if the game isn’t going their way.
“If it’s an 8-to-1 game, the crowd can be thinned out,” says Zager.
Netflix/Des Willie(LONDON) — Imelda Staunton, announced earlier this year as the successor to Olivia Coleman as Queen Elizabeth II seasons five and six of in Netflix’s The Crown, will have to wait until 2022 to take her place on the throne.
Deadline reports production on the show’s fifth season won’t begin until June of next year.
The break in filming has always been been part of the plan, and not COVID-19 related according to the entertainment website, though sources say the hiatus has been “helpfully timed.”
In fact, there was also a two-year gap between seasons two and three of the series, as Claire Foy passed the crown to Colman.
Netflix reversed course a couple of weeks ago by announcing that its award-winning drama wouldn’t end with season five as previously announced.
However, with season five filming in June 2021, cameras won’t begin rolling on the sixth and final season until 2022.
Meanwhile, season four will launch later this year, taking the series into the 1980s — with X-Files veteran Gillian Anderson playing Margaret Thatcher, and Emma Corrin as Princess Diana.
The network says the Vegas locale will remove any difficulty posed by restrictions on international travel due to the virus.
CBS and ITV Entertainment say everyone associated with the show, including the show’s cast and all crew members, will be quarantined prior to the start of production. The cast and crew will also be tested for COVID-19 before and during production, crew members will work in pods to limit interaction between them and social distancing and sanitization protocol will apply.
Love Island is eyeing a late summer launch on CBS.
Freeform/Eric McCandless(LOS ANGELES) — Weeks after he was accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct, The Hollywood Reporter says comedian Chris D’Elia’s upcoming show with Netflix has been scrapped.
