July 20, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Courtesy of Millennium Media(NEW YORK) — The military thriller The Outpost, based on the true story of one of the bloodiest engagements of the War in Afghanistan, hit number-one on iTunes, GooglePlay and other VOD platforms. The end credits song, “Everybody Cries,” was co-written and sung by actress Rita Wilson.

“I think people are looking for really good movies, and it had excellent reviews,” Wilson says of The Outpost‘s popularity. “The director…[is] very connected to the military community, and it was a story he really wanted to tell…The sad thing is that it’s true.”

Wilson says the director “felt very strongly that it should be a female voice” on the song.

“Every one of those…young men that died has a mom,” she notes. “Sometimes I think you don’t take into consideration that there is a mother who is sending a child off to battle.”

Of course, our present-day battle is against COVID-19.  Wilson and husband Tom Hanks were among the first celebrities to contract the virus, which is why she’s frustrated by the debate over wearing masks.

“I had it, so I know how bad it is,” she tells ABC Audio. “I came through it and I survived, but there was a moment where you don’t know if it’s going to take a turn for the worst — if you’re going to be one of the ones that makes it. So why would you take that chance? I don’t understand why you wouldn’t do something for your health that you know works.”

“I know that…we have an economy that is hurting,” Wilson allows. “But it will hurt more if we have a health care system that’s overwhelmed and people [take even longer to] get back to work…so…I feel like we just have to do the right thing.” 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5qAVecrGr4&w=640&h=360]

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

July 20, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Netflix/Beth Dubber(LOS ANGELES) — Omar Epps reunites with his In Too Deep co-star Nia Long in the new Netflix thriller, Fatal Affair.

Unlike the 1999 crime thriller — which followed Epps as an undercover cop and Long as his supportive girlfriend — Epps now plays David, a sketchy college friend whose infatuation takes a dark turn when his advances are rejected.

Epps tells ABC Audio that he was excited to play a character who didn’t play by the rules.

“I think we go through life… we’ve got to follow rules,” he says. “We’ve got to stop when it says red light. We’ve got to go through all of these rigid motions.”

“And so the opportunity to live in a headspace where this guy is not playing by any rules of society and he’s delusional — he also had some mental health issues I think that went unchecked,” he continues. “That was a fun space to be in.”

While channeling his unpredictable character was one of Epps’ “favorite part[s] of the onset experience,” the actor say that there were other aspects just as amazing.

“You know, part of the attraction to the project, besides the opportunity to work with Nia again, was playing a character that I know my fan base is not used to seeing me in,” he says.  

Fatal Affair, also starring Stephen Bishop, is now streaming on Netflix.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxWPPrDpqr8&w=640&h=360]

By Candice Williams
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

July 20, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

BG002/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images(NEW YORK) — In a powerful Instagram post, Mickey Rourke flamed his former Angel Heart co-star Robert DeNiro, claiming the “f***king crybaby” actor nixed Rourke’s chances of starring in The Irishman.

Next to an older photo of the Casino actor, Rourke said, “Hey Robert De Niro…you big fing crybaby. A friend of mine just recently told me that a few months back you’re quoted as saying to newspapers ‘Mickey Rourke’s a liar he talks all kind of s.’ Listen Mr.Tough Guy in the movies, you’re the 1st person that ever called me a liar and it was in a newspaper.”

The comments may have been in reference to an installment of the Italian TV show Live — Non è la D’Urso, on which Rourke claimed that De Niro, who reportedly snubbed him decades ago during Angel Heart, shut him out of appearing in the Oscar-nominated The Irishman. 

“Marty Scorsese, great director, he wanted to meet me for a movie with Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Chris Walken and Robert De Niro,” but, “The casting person told my manager that Robert De Niro said he refused to work with me in a movie.”

Rourke’s post continued, “Let me tell you something, you punk a**, when i see you i swear to God on my Grandmother, on my brother and all my dogs, i gonna embarrass you severely 100%. Mickey Rourke ‘as God is my witness.'”

However, De Niro’s rep, Stan Rosenfield, told The New York Post no such offer was ever made to The Wrestler Oscar nominee. “According to The Irishman producers, Jane Rosenthal and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, and casting director Ellen Lewis, Mickey Rourke was never asked to be in The Irishman nor was he ever even thought of, discussed or considered to be in the movie,” Rosenfeld writes.

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

July 20, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Barry King/WireImage(LOS ANGELES) — The cast of The Parent Trap reunited Monday on Katie Couric’s Instagram, for the first time since the remake hit theaters 22 years ago.

The reunion — held to raise funds and awareness for World Central Kitchen to help those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic — featured stars Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid, Elaine Hendrix, Lisa Ann Walter and Simon Kunz, as well as the film’s writer-director, Nancy Meyers, and writer-producer Charles Shyer.

During the chat, the cast took a moment to pay tribute to the late Natasha Richardson, who played the mom of twins Annie and Hallie, both portrayed by Lohan, in the film.  Richardson died in a skiing accident in 2009.

“Natasha had such an elegance and grace and she was so maternal to me,” Lohan said.

The cast also discussed what made the film so memorable. Meyers chalked it up to the idea that “there’s another you somewhere,” in addition to the film’s themes of love and family.

Lohan even credited the film for helping her through a difficult time in her life.

“My parents were kind of separating at the time this was all going on,” she explained, “and it made it a lot easier for me to play these characters that were figuring it out.”

“Without this movie, I wouldn’t have gotten that acting bug,” Lohan added. “The Parent Trap is beautiful, it’s timeless and it’s special. I just feel really blessed and really grateful to have been a part of it.”

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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

July 20, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Netflix/Amy Spinks (LOS ANGELES) — (NOTE LANGUAGE) Both Netflix and Charlize Theron are celebrating that their collaboration The Old Guard is a smash for the streaming service, but the Oscar winner is looking ahead to a new role: WWE wrestler. 

Netflix touted that The Old Guard, in which Theron plays centuries-old warrior Andromache of Scythia, “is…currently on track to reach 72M households in its first 4 weeks!”

The streaming service also pointed out that The Old Guard‘s director, Gina Prince-Bythewood, is the first Black female filmmaker on their top-ten all-time most popular films list.

For her part, Theron replied with a meme of her character downing a bottle of vodka on Friday, split with a shot of her near immortal character dead on the floor Monday, noting in the caption, “I feel this.”

In the meantime, the actress — who’s been building quite the resume as an action movie star, including Mad Max: Fury Road, Atomic Blonde and The Old Guard — is eager to step into the ring.

In a video chat with WWE star Kofi Kingston, he said, “I think you might actually have a career or a future, if you wanted it, as a WWE superstar. The fact for you to be able to pick up those moves so naturally; I would love to see you go one-on-one with a Becky Lynch or like a Sasha Banks. Or Bayley, or Charlotte [Flair]. I feel like you would fit right in.”

Theron’s eyes lit up. “Wow, is this an invite? Yes! When and where?”

Excitedly, she said, “I know we’re in a crisis situation right now, so it’s not any time soon. But that sounds awesome and I will get my a** kicked. So that would be really entertaining for everybody to watch because I am a mere actor.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK-X2d0lJ_s&w=640&h=360]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko3xbsEloj4&w=640&h=360]  

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