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Jul 17

Apple TV banks on ‘The Banker’ starring Samuel L. Jackson, Nia Long and Anthony Mackie

ABC/Randy Holmes(LOS ANGELES) — Apple TV has added a major addition to its growing slate.

According to Deadline, the provider has acquired the rights to George Nolfi’s fact-based period drama The Banker for their upcoming streaming service Apple TV+. The film stars Marvel movie co-stars Samuel L. Jackson and Anthony Mackie, as well as Nicholas Hoult and Nia Long.

The Banker is based on the true story of Bernard Garrett and Joe Morris, two African-American entrepreneurs in the 1950s who attempted bypass the “racial limitations of the era” by hiring a working-class white man to serve as the head of their business. The two men were able to build their real estate empire while they posed as a janitor and a chauffeur.

Mackie is set to play Garrett, while Jackson will play Morris. Long will play Garret’s wife, who had a “key role in setting up the enterprise.” Michael Harney, Colm Meaney, Paul Ben-Victor, and Jessie T. Usher have also been cast.

Although the film is set for a streaming release, sources tell Deadline that the film will have a significant theatrical release during awards season.

Jul 17

Sex assault charge dropped against actor Kevin Spacey

Nicole Harnishfeger-Pool/Getty Images(NANTUCKET) — Prosecutors in Nantucket, MA on Wednesday dropped a felony sexual assault charge against the actor Kevin Spacey.

The decision from Cape and Islands D.A. Michael O’Keefe came after Spacey’s accuser declined to testify at a pre-trial hearing about evidence.

Spacey had been accused of groping the young man at a Nantucket restaurant on July 7, 2016. The accuser told police he had gone over to ask the actor for a photo after his shift at the restaurant ended. He said Spacey bought him drinks, even though he was under 21 at the time, tried to get him to come home with him and then unzipped his pants and groped him for three minutes.

Spacey had pleaded not guilty.

The accuser declined to testify at a hearing earlier this month about exculpatory text messages the defense said were deleted, which raised questions about the viability of the case.

The hearing came days after the accuser dropped a civil suit he had filed against Spacey.

Jul 17

“It’s weird” seeing how the ‘Stranger Things’ kids have grown, says co-star David Harbour

Netflix(NEW YORK) — Millions of fans of Netflix’s Stranger Things have already binged the show’s entire third season, which debuted July 4. In fact, the streaming giant claimed just days after its anticipated debut that some 40.7 million accounts had tuned in to watch the continuing adventures of Mike, Jane, Dustin, Lucas and Will.

Fans have watched the Upside Down gang grow up — along with their real-life alter egos Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, and Noah Schnapp — and so have their adult co-stars, like David Harbour, who plays Sheriff Jim Hopper.

And that, Harbour laughs, is “weird!”

“There’s no other way to say it!” he tells ABC Radio.

“You know, the first season we were all saving Will Byers…and Noah wasn’t even around that much,” Harbour explains. “The first season [had] Hopper…obsessed with this little tiny boy — and then you know we’re on set for season three and he towers over Winona [Ryder]…And now, [he’s] approaching my height. And that’s just silly.”

Harbour adds that his young co-stars have grown up in unexpected ways.

“It’s almost like…you plant seeds in a garden and you think like, ‘Oh this seed is going to be this…'” he says. “And then you’re just wrong.”

In a touch of life imitating art regarding his relationship with Millie Bobby Brown, Harbour notes, “I think that’s one thing that we sort of put into the show…for Hopper is that he’s watching his teenage adopted daughter grow up and become a woman and, you know, the joys of that.”

He continues, “And also the terrors of that as a father…you know, that that sort of struggle that I think all parents go through.”

Jul 17

Watch Idris Elba, Rebel Wilson, James Corden and more rehearse some feline moves in ‘CATS’ first look

GILES KEYTE(LONDON) — Before we get the first trailer for CATS on Friday, a new behind-the-scenes glimpse of the making of the movie musical has been released.

The “Look Inside” features the movie’s stars — including Idris Elba, Rebel Wilson, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, James Corden, and more — discussing what being a part of the musical has meant to them, as we see scenes of them rehearsing on set.

“I was cast in 1981, just before we opened,” Judi Dench explains. “I snapped my Achilles tendon, and I thought that was my history with CATS. But it turns out not to be!”

Wilson says of the play, “I just remember loving it. So when CATS became a movie, obviously I jumped at the chance.”

Corden, a veteran of stage and screen, says, “I think it can really only be done by a director like Tom Hooper. He understands the spectacle of CATS.”

The filmmaker called CATS, based on the long-running Broadway musical, a “timeless story of inclusion and redemption.”

The clip also teases the film’s production design, use of state-of-the-art technology and combination of dance styles ranging from ballet to contemporary, hip-hop to jazz, street to tap. “It’s like directing a group of world class athletes,” Hooper adds.

“The scale of this thing is huge,” Elba says, and he means it literally: The sets are scaled to mimic how cats see the world. “Three of four times bigger for the cat perspective,” he marvels. “This is a moment for you to step into a world that’s completely designed to entertain.”

CATS is set to hit theaters December 20.

Jul 17

‘Modern Family’ star Sarah Hyland is engaged

Photo by Araya Diaz/WireImage(LOS ANGELES) — Modern Family star Sarah Hyland is officially off the market — her boyfriend, Wells Adams, has popped the question, she announced on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old actress posted a collection of photos on her Instagram page, along with the caption, “That can’t eat, can’t sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence, world series kind of stuff.” The caption refers to a quote from Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s 1995 film, It Takes Two.

Adams, 35, posted a video of the proposal, that included a photo montage of the couple, set to the Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors song, “I Like to Be with Me When I’m with You.”

“I’ll be Johnny, you be June. But forever,” read the caption, a quote from Heidi Newfield’s 2008 country hit, “Johnny and June.”

“I love you to Pluto and back FIANCÉ!!!!” Hyland commented.

Adams competed for JoJo Fletcher’s affections on season 12 of The Bachelorette, followed by an appearance on the show’s spin-off series, Bachelor in Paradise. He returned to the show as the house bartender after he and Hyland began dating in 2017.

Jul 17

Ava DuVernay says the most important “recognition” she received from ‘When They See Us’ was from “the men we chronicled”

Atsushi Nishijima/Netflix(NEW YORK) — Ava DuVernay’s critically acclaimed Netflix limited series on the Central Park Five — now referred to as The Exonerated Five — When They See Us has scored a stunning 16 Emmy nominations.

Even though the series is in major contention for key Emmys, including Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special and Outstanding Limited Series, DuVernay tells ABC Radio the most important acknowledgement she received from producing the project was the response from the five men it centered on: Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise.

“My recognition was when the men we chronicled in When They See Us cried and hugged me and told me that I told their story well and beyond what they imagined,” DuVernay says. “There’s no moment, no review, no award, no compliment from anyone else that can top that.”

The limited series is based on the true story of five teenagers from Harlem who were wrongly convicted of brutally raping a woman while she was jogging in New York’s Central Park. It documents each teen beginning in spring 1989, when they were first questioned, to 2014, when they were exonerated.

In addition to receiving an Outstanding Limited Series nom, many of the show’s central characters also received major nods, including Jharrel Jerome for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, and Niecy Nash and Aunjanue Ellis for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.

However even with all those accolades, DuVernay says she’s just happy with what she was able to accomplish for the men.

“And so, that’s really what I set out to do, and we did it,” she says. “And I’m satisfied.”

When They See Us is now available on Netflix. The 71st Emmy Awards will air live on Sunday, Sept. 22, at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.

Jul 17

Producer Norman Lear has set record for the oldest Emmy nominee

ABC/Eric McCandless(LOS ANGELES) — Norman Lear, the 96-year-old creator of the TV classics All in the Family, The Jeffersons and One Day at a Time, among others, made history on Tuesday, becoming the oldest Emmy nominee at the time of his nomination.

Lear, whose Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s All in the Family and The Jeffersons, which aired on ABC in May, passed Carl Reiner, who was nominated for 2018’s If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast. Reiner was also 96 at the time of his nomination, but Lear is eight months older.

Live in Front of a Studio Audience is up for a trio of Emmys, including Outstanding Variety Special (Live), Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special and and Outstanding Production Design for a Variety Special.

The 71st Emmy Awards will air September 22 on FOX.

Jul 17

Jennifer Lopez debuts ‘Hustlers’ trailer on ‘The Tonight Show’

Barbara Nitke/STX(NEW YORK) — Jennifer Lopez leads an all-star cast in the upcoming movie Hustlers, and she chose Tuesday’s Tonight Show to drop the first trailer.

Following his monologue, host Jimmy Fallon facetimed Lopez, whose concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden he attended the night before.

After chatting about the show, the conversation turned to the movie, which opens nationwide September 13.

“I’ll give you a little tease? J-Lo replied, before dropping about 45 seconds of the trailer. The full trailer debuted online immediately after that.

Hustlers, which is inspired by a 2016 New York Times Magazine article, follows “a crew of saavy former strip club employees” who come together to “turn the tables on their Wall Street clients.”

“They stole from everybody. Hard working people lost everything and not one of these d********* go to jail,” Lopez says in a voice-over, while the ladies are seen swindling their high-profile clients as Cardi B, who also stars in the movie, raps underneath.

“The game is rigged and it does not award people who play by the rules. It’s like robbing a bank; except you get the keys,” adds Jennifer.

Hustlers also stars Constance Wu, Lili Reinhart, Keke Palmer, Julia Stiles, Mercedes Ruehl, Trace Lysette, Mette Towley, Lizzo and Madeline Brewer.

Jul 17

Host Joel McHale genuinely wants contestants to win money on ‘Card Sharks ‘

ABC/Eric McCandless(NEW YORK) — The premise may be simple, but the prizes are extraordinary.

Joel McHale hosts the new revival of Card Sharks on ABC, a game show where contestants face a row of playing cards and have to guess if the next card is higher or lower than the previous one. If they guess correctly, they could win hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizes.

“I want to help them get the money,” McHale tells ABC Radio of his hosting style. “And also I’m not a jerk about it, like, ‘No, you’re wrong, go home!’ I don’t do, you know, that.”

He adds of the contestants, “Sometimes they lose a bunch of money but they come…in even. So if you lose 200 grand, you didn’t have it anyway. We are not taking anyone’s money. We’re trying to give it to them actively.

McHale also told Good Morning America earlier this week that he gets surprisingly invested in the outcome of the game.

“My heart is a tiny little burnt peach pit and I watch these people win money and I’m like, ‘This is the greatest moment of my life!’” he said. “I watched this woman win 200 grand and she’s like, ‘I can buy a house.’ And I was like, ‘Yes, let’s move away together!’”

Card Sharks airs Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

Jul 16

Director Jon Favreau and cast talk live-action ‘The Lion King’ in ABC special tonight

Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney(LOS ANGELES) — Just like he did for Disney’s 2016 The Jungle Book remake, director Jon Favreau wrote down what he remembered about the 1994 animated classic The Lion King. Then, he attempted to add to its legacy.

“We had to hit those moments that people knew so well,” Favreau tells ABC’s Robin Roberts tonight in the primetime special The Lion King: Can You Feel the Love Tonight. But Favreau was also aware that he had to “take it a step further, update it and not just make the same movie again.”

Favreau also noted that while his mission was also to make it “feel like a live-action film as much as possible,” he also confirmed that the entirety of the movie was created using CGI. All 1,400 shots — except for one.

“There’s one that’s actually photographed in Africa,” Favreau confessed, “just to see if people could pick it out.”

The Lion King: Can You Feel The Love Tonight also features interviews with some of the all-star cast, including Donald Glover, who plays Simba, as well as Florence Kasumba, Seth Rogen, Keegan-Michael Key and Billy Eichner.

In addition, original animated version voice actors Whoopi Goldberg, Matthew Broderick and Jeremy Irons pay tribute to the new film. So does Elton John, who co-wrote and performed songs in the 1994 classic and contributes to the new one.

Tuesday night’s special will also feature an exclusive, unreleased scene from the film.

The Lion King: Can You Feel The Love Tonight airs Tuesday, July 16 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. The Lion King hits theaters nationwide July 19.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.