Seacia Pavao/AMC(LOS ANGELES) — San Diego Comic-Con@Home, kicking off today, is one of the many festivals and conventions pivoting in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, and, while NOS4A2 star Zachary Quinto won’t be on a stage in front of thousands of fans, he’ll do his best under the circumstances.
Quinto tells ABC Audio, “We’re excited to be sharing the show with them, with the world under the circumstances, you know, giving people a place to maybe escape a little bit and and and go into a bit of a ride with us on the show is something that I think we’re all grateful to be able to offer.”
That said, the 43-year old actor says he’ll miss the excitement of a live event.
“You know, there’s something really electric about those giant convention halls and people’s energy and excitement, enthusiasm and questions,” he explains. “I think as with anything in this current climate, you know, the immediacy and the connection is removed from the experience. And that’s always a little bit of a bummer, isn’t it?
So what will the show’s Comic-Con panel look like in the age of COVID-19?
“We did a virtual panel for this year’s Comic-Con. So it was a conversation, you know, between Jamie O’Brien, our show runner, and Joe Hill, who wrote the book on which NOS4A2, the series is based and myself. And it was a great moderated conversation.”
Adds Quinto, who plays the show’s vampire villain Charlie Manx, “Hopefully, you know, people who are relegated to their homes will feel somehow a little bit more connected to us than they would otherwise.”
Marc Piasecki/WireImage(LOS ANGELES) — Kim Kardashian addressed husband Kanye West’s bipolar disorder Wednesday, calling for “compassion and empathy.”
“Anyone who has this or has a loved one in their life who does, knows how incredibly complicated and painful it is to understand,” Kim wrote in a statement on her Instagram Story.
“I’ve never spoken publicly about how this has affected us at home because I’m very protective of our children and Kanye’s right to privacy when it comes to his health,” she continued. “But today, I feel like I should comment on it because of the stigma and misconceptions about mental health.”
Over the weekend, Kanye, who last month announced a desire to run for president, left fans concerned following an emotional appearance at a rally in South Carolina. His social media activity in the days since has also sparked worry.
Kardashian noted that in cases like these, “family is powerless unless the member is a minor.” She added that no matter how hard family and friends try to help, people experiencing mental health struggles must “engage in the process of getting help” themselves.
“I understand Kanye is subject to criticism because he is a public figure and his actions at times can cause strong opinions and emotions,” she wrote, calling her husband a “brilliant but complicated person.” She said he has the “pressures of being an artist and a black man,” on top of the loss of his mother in 2007.
“We as a society talk about giving grace to the issue of mental health as a whole, however we should also give it to the individuals who are living with it in times when they need it the most,” Kardashian concluded. “I kindly ask that the media and public give us the compassion and empathy that is needed so that we can get through this.”
Hulu/Christopher Willard(NEW YORK) — Rising star Tongayi Chirisa [TAHN-gai chee-REE-sah] says it was a “joy” to play his “fun-loving… life-of-the-party” character Jake in the new Hulu romantic comedy, Palm Springs.
The film, which follows comedian Andy Samberg as Nyles, a wedding guest who somehow manages to get himself stuck in a time-loop, was a rare opportunity for Chirisa to work with someone he personally admires.
“I love Andy Samberg’s comedy,” Chirisa tells ABC Audio. “And I think it’s just kind of fits in well with my style of what I deem to be funny.”
Even though playing a quirky character was a welcomed experience for the Zimbabwean actor, Chirisa isn’t at all surprised that fans still have many questions surrounding Jake — including his use of the word “shukran,” which means ‘thanks’ in Arabic.
“I think the obvious is going to be a lot of people coming up with conspiracy theories,” Chirisa says. “But, when I first got this script, Jerry is actually adopted. So, that’s a word that he uses from his native country…. Uganda, or something like that.”
“[T]hat obviously stayed in the script,” he continues. “But the explanation or a little bit of the background…got chopped out.”
Conspiracy theories aside, Chirisa says the fans’ response to the film and his character has been humbling.
“I think I’m still getting used to it,” he says, “because a lot of times it’s just my friends are like, ‘Oh, man, we saw your movie. That was great. That was fun.'”
“But to see fans of Andy… responding to this film… and then more particularly, to you know the character that I played, is kind of a surreal,” he adds.
Walt Disney Television/Heidi Gutman(LOS ANGELES) — The food delivery company DoorDash is touting the importance of keeping local eateries in business with take-out during the pandemic, and some Hollywood stars are piping in on behalf of struggling actors.
“DoorDash wants to thank you for helping restaurants,” a voiceover begins.
“Actually, you’re helping actors!” interrupts Ant-Man and Boardwalk Empire star Bobby Cannavale.
“Without restaurants, we wouldn’t even have actors!” Rocketman‘s Tate Donovan adds.
“Most actors got started in restaurants, like me!” George Lopez says. “Same here!” Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. star Ming-Na Wen adds.
“No actors means be no surperhero movies!” says Luge Cage himself, Mike Colter.
“So keep your orders coming to help actors,” Cannavale says.
“You’re really helping restaurants,” the DoorDash voiceover guy says. “…And we’re partnering with the National Restaurant Association to lend a hand.”
Columbia Pictures(LOS ANGELES) — If you think you’ve seen a lot of your old favorites like Road Trip and Ghostbusters on cable while you’re quarantined at home, you’re not wrong.
With so much competition from streaming services — and because they know we all need something familiar in this day and age of face masks and social distancing — cable networks have dusted off some classic movies, and are running them practically nonstop.
These movies include many classics from the ’80s, ’90s and beyond, which chances are make you drop your remote when you come across them.
For the record, Patrick Swayze’s bouncer opus Road House is the champ: it aired 83 times across 10 networks in the past year.
Chuck Saftler, president and COO of FX Networks, tells Variety, “With movies, it’s like flypaper. You can get people to join you at any time through the movie and they tend to stay longer than they think they’re going to.”
For TV execs like Saftler, this lets them squeeze new ad revenue from older movies, and also promote new original series with ads during them.
For us, these movies are like seeing an old friend, in the absence of seeing our actual old friends nowadays.
Here are Variety‘s 100 Movies That Saved Cable, by genre, all of which have aired dozens of times across various cable networks from July of last year to July of 2020.
Action/Thriller Die Hard (1988) Face/Off (1997) First Blood (1982) Four Brothers (2005) Gladiator (2000) Iron Man (2008) Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) Mission: Impossible (1996) Ocean’s Eleven (2001) Pale Rider (1985) The Perfect Storm (2000) Point Break (1991) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Road House (1989) Scream (1996) Seven (1995) The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Speed (1994) Taken (2008) Top Gun (1986) Twister (1996) Walking Tall (2004) We Were Soldiers (2002)
Comedy Ace Ventura (1994) Caddyshack (1980) Clueless (1995) The Devil Wears Prada (2006) Dumb and Dumber (1994) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) Forrest Gump (1994) Friday (1995) Ghostbusters (1984) Grumpy Old Men (1993) Harlem Nights (1989) Hocus Pocus (1993) Home Alone (1990) House Party (1990) Ice Age (2002) Joe Dirt (2001) Legally Blonde (2001) Liar Liar (1997) Madea’s Family Reunion (2006) Miss Congeniality (2000) Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) Office Space (1999) Old School (2003) Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009) Pineapple Express (2008) Rush Hour (1998) Scary Movie (2000) Shrek (2001) Soul Plane (2004) Stripes (1981) Trading Places (1983) Tropic Thunder (2008)
Drama Boyz n the Hood (1991) Catch Me if You Can (2002) Coyote Ugly (2000) Drumline (2002) A Few Good Men (1992) Footloose (1984) Full Metal Jacket (1987) Goodfellas (1990) The Notebook (2004) Obsessed (2009) Pulp Fiction (1994) Saving Private Ryan (1998) The Shawshank Redemption (1994) Stand by Me (1986) Titanic (1997) Unforgiven (1992)
Rom-Com 50 First Dates (2004) Grease (1978) Pretty in Pink (1986) Pretty Woman (1990) Sex and the City (2008) Sweet Home Alabama (2002) Wedding Crashers (2005) The Wedding Singer (1998) Knocked Up (2007) Maid in Manhattan (2002) Monster-in-Law (2005)
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Deep Impact (1998) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) I Am Legend (2007) Independence Day (1996) Jumanji (1995) Jurassic Park (1993) The Princess Bride (1987) Spider-Man (2002) Star Trek (2009) Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The Terminator (1984)
Sports Bull Durham (1988) The Karate Kid (1984) A League of Their Own (1992) Major League (1989) The Sandlot (1993) Space Jam (1996)
Seacia Pavao/AMC(LOS ANGELES) — San Diego Comic-Con@Home, kicking off today, is one of the many festivals and conventions pivoting in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, and, while NOS4A2 star Zachary Quinto won’t be on a stage in front of thousands of fans, he’ll do his best under the circumstances.
