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Opening Wednesday: 22nd annual Tribeca Festival

Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal - Tribeca Enterprises

On Wednesday in New York City, the 22nd annual Tribeca Festival kicks off. Founded in 2001 by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal in an effort to revitalize lower Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks, the event has broadened in scope from a film festival to celebrate visionaries in various media, from film and TV to interactive, audio and gaming. 

Rosenthal recently told ABC Audio that finding the right projects to celebrate during the event is a daunting task. "We're very fortunate that we have an extraordinary group of curators led by festival director Cara Cusumano, and they get to deal with the 12,000 plus submissions, and they cull it down."

She adds, "So Bob [De Niro] and I get the benefit of watching it pretty much after it's been really narrowed down." That said, she admitted she was still "bleary-eyed" from watching so much content before the event.

Rosenthal also spoke of the festival shifting primarily from film to highlight many mediums, from a documentary about trailblazing ballet dancer Misty Copeland to Disney-Pixar's movie Elemental and mainstream TV properties like AMC's The Walking Dead spinoff Dead City

"Whether they're on ... television or in a theater or whether you're streaming it, or whether it's a game or audio storytelling, the festival is about great stories," Rosenthal says.  

Apart from the submissions, this year's festival is special for one major reason: It's the first Tribeca since the U.S. COVID-19 public health emergency was declared over.  

"I'm really looking forward, especially after what feels like the long years of COVID and COVID protocols, to just be there and laugh or cry or yell in a movie theater," Rosenthal says.

The Tribeca Festival runs through Sunday, June 18.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Shannen Doherty gives sobering update on cancer fight

Doherty in 2019 - Rachel Luna/FilmMagic

Former Beverly Hills, 90210 star Shannen Doherty has given her Instagram followers a sobering look at her ongoing battle with stage 4 breast cancer.

Captioning a video from January showing her getting fitted with a face mask used for radiation treatment for brain cancer, Doherty explained Tuesday evening that a CT scan "showed Mets in my brain," meaning cancer cells have migrated there.

"January 12, the first round of radiation took place," she explained. "My fear is obvious. I am extremely claustrophobic and there was a lot going on in my life. I am fortunate as I have great doctors like Dr Amin Mirahdi and the amazing techs at [Cedars Sinai Hospital]."

She added, "But that fear…. The turmoil….. the timing of it all…. This is what cancer can look like."

Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, and after entering remission, she revealed in 2020 the disease had spread and returned as stage 4.

In an interview with Good Morning America, the actress said the diagnosis was "a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways."

"I definitely have days where I say, 'Why me?' And then I go, 'Well, why not me?' Who else? Who else besides me deserves this? None of us do," she said at the time.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


In Brief: 'Perry Mason' dropped by HBO, and more

HBO's reboot of Perry Mason, which is co-produced by Robert Downey Jr. and his wife Susan, and which stars The Americans Emmy winner Matthew Rhys in the title role, has been canceled by the cable network after two seasons, according to Deadline. The show, in which Rhys plays a private investigator who eventually becomes an attorney, debuted its second and final season in March...

Former Wild ‘N Out performer Jacky Oh -- born Jacklyn Smith -- was found “unresponsive” when emergency workers arrived at her Miami hotel room to assist her on June 1, according to a police report obtained by E! News. "She was transported by Miami Fire Department to Mercy Hospital where lifesaving efforts were conducted," the report added, "but unfortunately, she was pronounced deceased at the hospital." The report listed her age as 33. A cause of death has not been revealed...

Deadline reports Peter Pan & Wendy's Garfield Wilson has landed a recurring role in Syfy's Reginald the Vampire. He plays Balestro, "a confident, poised and intimidating Angel who descends from heaven to announce the eventual extinction of all vampires on the planet." Reginald the Vampire -- led by Jacob Batalon, star of the Spider-Man films -- follows Reginald Andrews, who, in a world populated by beautiful, fit and vain vampires, tumbles headlong into it as an unlikely hero," per the cable channel...

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Pete Davidson: 'Poor choice of words,' but 'not sorry' for lashing out at PETA over criticism for buying new dog

Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

Pete Davidson addressed the profanity-laced voicemail he left for PETA after they criticized him for buying a dog from a pet store, acknowledging it was a "poor choice of words," but he's not sorry for standing up for himself.

The war of words started when the Bupkis star and his girlfriend, Chase Sui Wonders, were filmed filling out paperwork at a New York City pet store that confirmed to TMZ that the couple bought a 2-month-old cavapoo puppy Davidson saw online. Pete explained that the pet was for his mom, whose dog died earlier this year.

Daphna Nachminovitch, senior vice president of cruelty investigations at PETA, responded to the video, expressing her sympathy over the loss of their dog, but condemned Davidson, 29, for purchasing, rather than adopting.

In turn, the Saturday Night Live alum left Nachminovitch a voicemail, in which he explained that he was "severely allergic to dogs."

"And my mom’s f****** dog, who was 2 years old, died a week prior, and we’re all so sad, so I had to get a specific dog," he continued, before suggesting to Nachminovitch, "Do your research before you f****** create news stories for people because you’re a boring, tired c***. F*** you and suck my d***.”

"I was already upset that the store had filmed me without my permission or acknowledgement. Then this organization [PETA] made a public example of us, making our grieving situation worse," Pete explained. "I am upset. It was a poor choice of words. I shouldn’t have said what I said, but I am not sorry for standing up for myself and my family.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Al Pacino calls baby news "very special"

Dominik Bindl/Getty Images

For the first time since news broke that the 83-year-old Oscar winner was going to be a father again, Al Pacino says the imminent bundle of joy is "really special."

Pacino was out and about on a walk with a friend when a reporter congratulated Al on his baby-to-be with 29-year-old girlfriend Noor Alfallah. "Oh wow, thank you," Pacino answered graciously in the video obtained by the Daily Mail.

When asked how it feels to be a dad for the fourth time, Pacino responded, "Well, you know, it feels like it always did," Pacino commented. "It's very special. It always has been."

The iconic actor added, "I've got many kids. But this is really special coming at this time."

The Godfather saga star also claimed he didn't know if he was having a boy or a girl; Alfallah was said to be about eight months along when the news first broke late last month.

Pacino has a 33-year-old daughter, Julie, with ex-girlfriend Jan Tarrant, as well as 22-year-old twins Olivia and Anton, from his relationship with Vacation actress Beverly D’Angelo.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Jennifer Lopez's 'The Mother' now ranks as one of Netflix's biggest movies ever

Netflix/Doane Gregory

While the critics may not have been kind to Jennifer Lopez's action movie The Mother, the viewers have certainly responded: Netflix says the movie has moved into the Top Ten of its biggest films in its history.

With 117 million views over its four weeks of release on the streaming service, The Mother now ranks at #8 on Netflix's Most Popular English Film List. It has also held onto the #1 slot on its weekly English Movies list for the fourth straight week and remained in the top 10 for last week in some 89 countries.

With more than 229 million hours viewed according to the streaming service's metric in its first 28 days, The Mother landed just behind the #7 entry on Netflix's all-time Top Ten, 2020's Extraction starring Chris Hemsworth, which had over 231 million views in roughly its first month of release.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Does a post from Apple TV+ suggest a "potential" spinoff or more 'Ted Lasso'?

Apple TV+

Ever since Ted Lasso's third season finale, fans have had the burning question of whether they'd ever see more of the Richmond AFC gang — and a new social media post from Apple TV+ has just thrown gasoline onto the fire.

The post shows a key trio in their team jackets: Brendan Hunt's Coach Beard, Brett Goldstein's Roy Kent and Nick Mohammed's Nathan Shelley, all looking off camera.

The caption reads, "Smells like potential."

Of course [spoilers] the third season ended with Jason Sudeikis' Ted flying back to the States and Kent taking his job as Richmond's head manager. Beard had a change of heart about flying back over The Pond and remained as assistant coach, and Nate rejoined the team in an assistant capacity after his heel turn in season 2.

In what will likely be scrutinized by fans like the cover of Sgt. Pepper's, Beard and Kent appear to be looking at the same thing, while Nathan is glancing off to his right.

Adding to the mystery, Mohammed replied to the streaming service's surprise post with a "zipped lips" emoji.

The original post had nearly 2 million views on Twitter alone in a matter of hours, while Mohammed's reply hit 1 million.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Chris Hemsworth talks to 'British GQ' about this life, career, marriage and whether there will be more Thor

Hemsworth in 'Extraction 2' - Netflix

Ahead of the June 16 Netflix release of his sequel to one of the biggest hits in the streaming service's history, Extraction, Chris Hemsworth sat down with British GQ for a wide-ranging conversation.

The 39-year-old Australian actor says he's happily "unemployed," enjoying downtime after a "busy 10 years."

In that time, he shot eight Marvel movies, the original Extraction — written by Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame co-director Joe Russo — and its sequel, and other high-profile projects.

Of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he called criticism from the likes of Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino "super depressing." He says, "There goes two of my heroes I won't work with. I guess they’re not a fan of me."

Instead, he's "thankful" the franchise kept people going to the movies. "Now, whether or not those films were to the detriment of other films, I don't know."

Hemsworth adds, "I don't love when we start scrutinising each other when there's so much fragility in the business and in this space of the arts." He added the two filmmakers are "still my heroes, and in a heartbeat I would leap to work with any of them."

The actor played any possible future as Thor close to his well-defined chest, but suggested it's possible. "But I really wanna do some other stuff for a while."

Hemsworth also shared of the near-fatal snowplow accident suffered by fellow Avenger Jeremy Renner: "None of us really knew how serious it was, I think anything like that, it's an immediate realization of 'Wow, any of us can go at any minute.'"

He also said of his marriage to actress Elsa Pataky, "Her sacrifice, commitment, work, support, forgiveness - everything that she has given me over the years ... I couldn't have done any of the things I've done without it."

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


'Vanity Fair' gets in-depth look at Zack Snyder's sci-fi Netflix epic 'Rebel Moon'

Boutella as Kora -- Netflix/Clay Enos

Zack Snyder, the director of 300, the Watchmen film and of course Zack Snyder's Justice League, tells Vanity Fair that his upcoming sci-fi epic Rebel Moon could very well have been a Star Wars film.

"I was in postproduction on Man of Steel,” Snyder says in the new issue's deep dive into his epic. "I had heard there were rumblings about possibly doing another three [Star Wars] movies at some point. My take was that, if you just let me have the IP, I'll make this cool movie, and I won't get in the way of anything that you guys are doing."

Ultimately, it didn't work out, but Disney-owned Lucasfilm's loss was Netflix's gain: His original 172-page script will be broken into two sprawling Netflix movies about inhabitants of a planet in the middle of nowhere that rise up against a galaxy-wide military empire.

The films star Charlie Hunnam from Sons of Anarchy and Pacific Rim; Sofia Boutella from Star Trek: Beyond; Djimon Hounsou from Gladiator and Guardians of the Galaxy; and Ed Skrein from Deadpool. An ancient robot named Jimmy will be played by Snyder's Sucker Punch star Jena Malone, but voiced by Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins.

There's also a ton of world-building, with mechanized knights; massive, planet-leveling battleships; and lots of in-universe lore.

Snyder understands the comparisons to that galaxy far, far away, yet allows, "I do believe that our thing is really an entirely different experience."

His wife and longtime producing partner Deborah Snyder offers, "It has a bit of Star Wars ... It's a little bit like Lord of the Rings, a little bit Game of Thrones with the palace intrigue," she says. "It has a bit of everything."

Part one of Rebel Moon drops on Netflix December 22.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Cuba Gooding Jr. settles with rape accuser before start of civil trial

Gooding in court in 2022 -- David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

Cuba Gooding Jr. settled his lawsuit with a woman who accused him of raping her a decade ago at the Mercer Hotel.

The settlement comes as jury selection was about to begin Tuesday in a civil trial that could have caused the actor to pay millions in damages had the jury found for the woman, who was identified as Jane Doe.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

“The parties have resolved the matter,” a brief entry on the court docket said.

Gooding had denied raping the woman, saying their encounter was consensual.

The woman accused Gooding of raping her twice on the night of August 24, 2013.

After meeting the actor at a restaurant where she was having dinner with a friend, the woman said he invited her for drinks at the hotel where he was staying.

According to her lawsuit, the Oscar-winning actor asked her to come to his room so he could change clothes. Gooding stripped naked, blocked the door and pushed the woman onto the bed, ignoring her repeated cries of "no," the lawsuit alleged.

Three other women who have accused Gooding of sexual abuse were set to testify had the case gone to trial. The judge said their allegations were "sufficiently similar" to Jane Doe's.

The defense had suggested there was evidence that after the encounter with Gooding the woman returned to meet her friend and bragged about sleeping with a celebrity. The evidence never materialized.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Rachel Brosnahan shares emotional tribute to late aunt Kate Spade

Amazon Studios/Andy Kropa

Actress Rachel Brosnahan is remembering her aunt Kate Spade five years after her death.

Spade, the fashion designer who co-founded and co-owned the designer brand Kate Spade New York, died by suicide on June 5, 2018.

In a moving Instagram post, she shared of a photo of her when she was a baby with Spade. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star reflected on her aunt's memory and how she stayed with her in New York City when Brosnahan starred on Broadway in the 2013 revival of The Big Knife.

"Can't believe it's been 5 years," Brosnahan began. "I've been thinking about Katy a lot lately because 10 years ago, when I was making my Broadway debut, she let me crash in their extra bedroom while I figured out my living situation."

"She included me in family dinners every night while we were in rehearsals and would keep extra food for me in the fridge for when I came home from...previews," she continued. "She would always ask about the play and came with bells on (and the most fabulous outfit) to our opening night. She told me she sobbed through the bows because she was proud."

Brosnahan added, "She spread stardust over everyone she came into contact with. I was lucky to be in her orbit."

Brosnahan, who is back on Broadway in The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window alongside Oscar Isaac, ended her post by saying, "It's strange to be in New York without her," she said. "It's strange to be back on stage without her. But also, she's still here."

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. You can reach Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 (U.S.) or 877-330-6366 (Canada) and The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Elliot Page opens up about trans journey, relationship with mom in ABC Pride special

ABC News

Actor Elliot Page's rise to fame was meteoric -- and complicated.

"Yeah, that whole Juno time. That was quite the time," Page told ABC News in an exclusive network interview for The Freedom to Exist -- A Soul of a Nation Presentation, airing June 6 on ABC, coinciding with the release of the Umbrella Academy star's memoir, Pageboy: A Memoir.

When the 2007 movie Juno premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, it was a smash. The film went on to earn four Oscar nominations, ultimately winning the Academy Award for best original screenplay.

In an excerpt from his new book, Page said he had planned to wear jeans and a shirt to the premiere but that he needed to wear a dress and heels instead.

"It's not like someone was forcing clothing on my physical body, but that is what it felt like..." he explained.

When Page was a 6-year-old kid growing up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he had asked his mother, Martha, if he could be a boy, and his mother said no. But at the age of 10, Page wrote that he cut his hair short and people started addressing him as a boy.

"It was the first time I really could see myself," he said. "I was lucky to have a mom that let me get to that place at 10...but...I could sense her embarrassment."

Fast-forward to December 2020 when, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Page announced on Instagram he was transgender. He told ABC News that the announcement was a moment of freedom.

"I was able to finally make the steps and the decision to be myself and...to live fully," he said. "I'm feeling that joy every day. What it has allowed me is what feels like truly being alive for the first time."

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Marvel Studios gives sneak peek, new title to fourth 'Captain America' film: 'Brave New World'

Mackie in 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier'/Marvel Studios

In a social media post, Marvel Studios gave a behind-the-scenes peek at its upcoming fourth Captain America film, and revealed a new title.

The movie will now be called Captain America: Brave New World.

The snap from the set of the movie formerly subtitled New World Order shows Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, having taken up the Captain America mantle at the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, sharing a laugh with movie icon and MCU newbie Harrison Ford.

Ford plays Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, formerly played by the late William Hurt, who died in 2022. The character has gone from a Hulk-obsessed general in 2008's The Incredible Hulk to the Secretary of State in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, to his position in the new film, the President of the United States.

Ford is dressed casually in a crew chair bearing the movie's new name, in front of a pair of video monitors as he converses with a smiling Mackie, who seems to be wearing a version of the navy blue Cap "stealth suit" Chris Evans wore as the character in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. And of course, on Mackie's back, is Captain America's mighty red-white-and-blue vibranium shield.

The film also stars Liv Tyler, reprising her Incredible Hulk character Elizabeth "Betty" Ross -- Thaddeus' daughter -- who was the love interest of Edward Norton's Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk before that role went to Mark Ruffalo.

Captain America: Brave New World also stars another Incredible Hulk player, Tim Blake Nelson, again portraying scientist Samuel Sterns, as well as Falcon and the Winter Soldier's Danny Ramirez, and MCU veterans Emily VanCamp and Samuel L. Jackson, among others.

The movie hits theaters May 3, 2024 from Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of ABC News' parent company, Disney.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Kaley Cuoco says daughter Matilda is burnin' up for the Jonas Brothers

Republic Records

Kaley Cuoco's two-month-old daughter Matilda is "obsessed" with the Jonas Brothers.

"She loves the Jonas Brothers," The Big Bang Theory alum tells E! News.

"We turned it on, and I thought it was a fluke, and she was listening," Cuoco explains, "and then the next night I put it on in the bathroom when she was crying, and again she looked up and was listening."

"I was like 'Oh, it's not a fluke.' She loves them," Kaley continues, joking, "So this is her first crush, on the Jonas Brothers."

Also high on Matilda's playlist is "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," adds Cuoco. "So if Jonas Brothers could record a 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,' that would be really great for our household."

Kaley and her partner Tom Pelphrey welcomed Matilda on March 30. She's the first child for both.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


In Brief: 'Sybil' gets another life with Elle Fanning and Sarah Paulson, and more

Bad SistersEve Hewson is set to join Creed III and Thor: Love and Thunder's Tessa Thompson in the upcoming film Hedda, which is described as "an epic and visceral reimagination of Henrik Ibsen’s famed 1891 stage play Hedda Gabler," according to Deadline. Details on Hewson's role have not been revealed, but the play centered on the wife of a powerful man who feels trapped in her marriage. Hewson will next be seen in the upcoming Netflix murder mystery series The Perfect Couple, opposite Nicole KidmanLiev Schreiber and  Dakota Fanning...

A documentary chronicling embattled stand-up comic Louis C.K.'s return to the stage after five women accused him of sexual misconduct in 2017 is not moving forward at Showtime, according to Entertainment Weekly. Following the accusations, Netflix, HBO, and FX cut ties with the Emmy winner. In 2020, The Washington Post reported he was again selling out comedy venues and fellow comedian Dave Chappelle started bringing C.K. out as a surprise guest at his own comedy shows. C.K. has released four comedy specials since 2017, including last year's Sincerely Louis C.K., which won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album...

The Great's Elle Fanning and American Horror Story's Sarah Paulson are attached to star in I Am Sybil, according to Deadline. Sybil was a pseudonym given to Shirley Mason in a 1973 work of nonfiction by Flora Rheta Schreiber, which examined the young woman’s treatment for Multiple Personality Disorder by psychologist Connie WilburI Am Sybil is based on Debbie Nathan’s 2011 book Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case, which disputes the facts of Schreiber’s account. Mason's case was previously adapted into a pair of TV movies. The first, starring Sally Field and Joanne Woodward, aired on NBC in 1976 and four Emmy Awards. The second, starring Tammy BlanchardJessica Lange and JoBeth Williams, premiered on CBS in 2007...

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


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