Now a Family of Four

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are having a very good end of the month.

The two have welcomed their second child together into the world, a baby that, I will bet, is either a boy or a girl.

The kid – about whom we have only a place of birth: New York – joins big sister James, 22 months, at the Lively-Reynolds household.
Congrats, y’all.

Photo: PopSugar.com.

The Mechanic Will Save Us

I guess in the case of an Extinction event, we could do worse than to have James McAvoy on our side, right?

The actor is attached to star in a sci-fi actioner by that title, as a mechanic haunted by nightmares in which his wife is assaulted and he must rise to the occasion when an alien army invades Earth in an effort to eradicate humanity.

So the guy is psychically linked to the danger or som’in’?

Guess we’ll have to wait and see – but, first, this movie has to secure a director.

This has Steven Spielberg written all over it. Alas, this might be a little too been there, done that for him, no?

Photo: WallpapersQQ.net.

He’s in the Herd

Well someone’s buttering his bread and stretching his acting muscle som’in’ fierce, huh?

Chris Hemsworth has signed on to star in Horse Soldiers, a new Jerry Bruckheimer-co-produced war drama about a U.S. Special Forces team led by an untested captain that was sent into a rugged, mountainous region of Afghanistan in the aftermath of the events of Sept. 11, 2001. The team was meant to join forces with a Northern Alliance warlord to fight off an advancing Taliban...but something tells me things kinda went awry. I mean, y’ know.. if they’re making a movie outta that mission.

Michael Shannon is all set to co-star – just like he is to work with Benedict Cumberbatch, btw, in The Current War, a fact-based account of how George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison (the Cumber-stud) raced each other to come up with a sustainable electricity system that would be marketable to the United States.

But back to Hemsworth.

The sexy Aussie in fatigues.

Now there’s a fun image to usher in the weekend.

Photo: HelloMagazine.com.

GaGa’s Touchdown

I s’ppose the millennial hipster-like look is working out for Lady GaGa then?

Guess who is hosting the Super Bowl next year, gays? just booked the 2017 Super Bowl Halftime Show?

Got that right: The “Perfect Illusion” Mother Monster.

And now you know.

Super Bowl LI will be held next Feb. 5 in Houston, Texas.

Now. So, like, the NFL is like, totally cool with the gays now, no?

Photo: HuffingtonPost.co.uk.

American Oh

Sandra Oh is checking back in, you guys!

But only with ABC.

Gotcha.

Now for serious.

The Golden Globe winner is, indeed, returning to TV, but not via a reprise of her role as Dr. Cristina Yang on Grey’s Anatomy but, rather, as a featured performer of American Crime’s upcoming third outing. The actress will play Abby Tanaka, a social worker at a local shelter who has spent her life advocating for others, especially survivors of domestic abuse.

A btw, the overarching story of Season 3 will be set in North Carolina, and promises to examine labor issues, economic disparity, and the rights of individuals.

And another one: Show vets Emmy winner Regina King, Felicity Huffman, Timothy Hutton, Lili Taylor, and Connor Jessup will be back for more, and everyone will be joined by Cherry Jones.

Photo: GettyImages.com.

The Depp Train

Sorry, kids – that Tourist reunion you’d been itching for (ha!) will have to wait.

Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express is leaving the station, and while Angelina Jolie is no longer on board (mmm...I wonder why), Johnny Depp might be jumping on to star in the project based on the Agatha Christie classic.

Branagh will play the detective-hero of the story, Hercule Poirot, so Imma guess Depp might portray the American businessman who gets killed aboard titular locomotive.

Actor slash style icon Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton) is all set to co-star.

Photo: ContactMusic.com.

Update: Wanna know who else is going to be featured in the movie?

My, none other than Judi Dench, Michael Peña, and Daisy Ridley.

And Michelle fackin’ Pfeiffer!

Loves it.

Model-Turned-Agent

Kate Moss is going through the change.

After nearly 30 years as a titan of her industry, the English supermodel has established the Kate Moss Agency, a new venture that will help launch the careers of next big things in modeling. The focus, Moss has said, will be on “people that want to sing and dance and act – I want to create stars.”

Obviously. A multi-prong approach is most savvy nowadays, don’t you know, don’t you know.

The Kate Moss Agency, of course, also will serve as a lifestyle brand for La Moss, something to which girlfriend looks most forward.

“To do a collaboration and put your name on a product is a big thing for me.”

Well then, break a perfectly shaped leg, girl!

Photo: Heart.co.uk.

Alec Does Donald

Live from New York, it’s...Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump?

Ya read that right.

The erstwhile Emmy-winning star of TV’s 30 Rock is going to be featured throughout the upcoming 42nd season of TV’s Saturday Night Live as the Republican presidential nominee. Writing that made me throw up in my mouth a little bit just now – FYI.

Baldwin, of course, will appear opposite fellow Emmy winner Kate McKinnon, who will continue rockin’ it as America’s next president, the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton.

The news was confirmed today, via the show’s Twitter account.

You can see Baldwin make his debut as the blowhard – that is probably the nicest thing I’ve ever called Trump... – on Oct. 1, when Margot Robbie hosts the first episode of the new season.

Photo: Deadline.com.

Wanna Dance for J. Lo?

Judging, and mentoring, and mentoring....

That’s what La Lopez will do.

Well, ish.

Jennifer Lopez – already an NBC star thanks to her headlining role on Shades of Blue – is doing even more for the Peacock now that she has signed on to executive produce a new 10-episode dance competition titled World of Dance.

Kinda like her previous foray into the real of reality-TV competition show, Q’Viva! The Chosen, World of Dance will seek to ID elite dancers from all over the planet to have them battle it out for a $1 million prize and a of Best in the World title.

Photo: Remezcla.com.

The Lion King Gets Real

Somebody needs to tell Disney that lightning hardly ever strikes the same spot twice.

In this case, though, yes, it more likely will – but still. Why chance it?

Because money.

Director Jon Favreau has announced that he is working on a semi-CGI, semi-live-action version of...The Lion King?

Yes, The Lion King is getting remade, too (with the songs you love in the mix). And who better to take on such a daunting task than the guy who delivered not only the first couple of Iron Man movies but also this year’s Jungle Book, a massive non-cartoon worldwide hit.

Guess when the jack is good for the gettin’, get it.

Photo: Collider.com.

Alpha Widow

What...an amazing come-together of talent.

Fences’ Viola Davis – y’ know, the Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning star of TV’s How to Get Away with Murder (who also has a Tony, btw) – is going to headline Widows, the new feature film that Academy Award winner Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) is getting ready to direct from a script co-written with Gone Girl’s Gillian Flynn.

A heist thriller, Widows, as the title suggests, will revolve around four women who have experienced unbearable loss as they team up...to pull a fast one.

The project is based on a British TV series from the ’80s, on which a group of armed robbers – all men – meet their maker during a robbery gone awry (for them).

Enter their wives, who then decide to finish the job.

Like total badasses.

Photo: TomAndLorenzo.com.

Margot on a Saturday

You’ve heard, yeah?

No, not that Tom Brady can be very bashful whilst sunbathing in the buff but that Margot Robbie’s hosting the 42nd season premiere of TV’s Saturday Night Live this weekend, with musical guest The Weeknd.

A fine, fun choice, except for the fact that I thought that SNL should and would pick someone a little more relevant, in the sense that I was anticipating someone who could set a certain tone for the year to come, given all the conflict plaguing America these days. I mean, the show historically has strived to make light of the day to day, which includes all the real-life drama we now witness 24/7/365.

More importantly, the powers that be did take to Twitter this summer to ask folks who they’d/we’d like to see say those famed seven words....

La Robbie may not have been one of my top choices – but I do look forward to having her give us a laugh on Oct. 1.

Photo: CelebMafia.com.

The Gosling Groom!

Wait, what?

Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes are married! Or so reported Us Weekly last week, and I just saw it.

Seems the longtime couple quietly made it official earlier this year.

The two have a couple of daughters together: Esmeralda Amada, 2, and 5-month-old Amada Lee.

Que lindo! Almost as cute as the doctored photo at right that I found on the Google.

Photo: Yahoo.com.

Doing the Right Thing

Denzel, Denzel, Denzel.

Oscar season’s gonna be interesting this year, alright.

The first teaser trailer for the long-in-the-works adaptation of August Wilson’s play Fences was released bright and early this morning. And lemme tell ya, from the brief, yet concise looks of it, director-star Denzel Washington – in his third feature effort from behind the camera – has done well by the Pulitzer- and Tony-winning material, which earned him a Tony, too, more than half a decade ago, when the show was revived on Broadway.

Washington’s film, which was adapted by Wilson himself and is scheduled to hit theaters on Christmas Day, will concern itself with the 1950s Pittsburgh-set story of Troy Maxson, a once-promising Negro league baseballer, who now works as a garbage collector. Together with Rose, his wife (portrayed by Viola Davis, reprising her role from the revival opposite Washington), Troy has devoted his life to ensuring that their son, Cory (Jovan Adepo, from HBO’s The Leftovers), gets to have a better life than they did.

If for no other reason than that’s always been his duty...his responsibility.

Check out the preview for Fences now:



See you at the movies, right?

Naomi and Liev Are Done

Talk about a surprising and truly sad Hollywood break-up.

Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts have called it quits after 11 years and two sons together.

The actors confirmed the news to People on Sept. 26, sharing that, after months of consideration, “we’ve come to the conclusion that the best way forward for us as a family is to separate as a couple.” In...not announcing but talking about this life event, the pair acknowledged that people will be curious about the relationship and its end, but asked that the press “be mindful” of their children, Sasha, 8, and 7-year-old Samuel.

It mustn’t be all acrimony for Watts and Schreiber, though.

While the star of Showtime’s Ray Donovan attended the Emmys with one of his sons, he and Watts recently did work the Venice and Toronto film festivals together, on behalf of The Bleeder, the story of heavyweight boxer Chuck Wepner, a.k.a. The Real Rocky – and I cannot imagine they won’t get out there together, with smiles on their faces, when the time comes to really push the film as it opens in theaters.

Because, above it all, these two are professionals. You can tell.

Photo: JustJared.com.

Wild Parents

What a showcase of friendship!

Real-life BFF – I’m pretty sure that he went to her wedding to Marcus Mumford and that they’re all like, tight – Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan are gonna be there for actor Paul Dano when he makes the transition to feature-film director.

The Swiss Army Man star is going to produce and helm his first movie, a period drama titled Wildlife based on the eponymous 1990 Richard Ford novel, the script for which he adapted with actress-writer Zoe Kazan, his real-life girlfriend, who also will executive produce the project.

The film will tell the story of a teenaged boy who sees how his parents’ marriage falls apart after the family moves to Montana.

I suppose Jakey-bear and Mulligan will portray the warring husband-and-wife duo. No word on who the lucky – ha! – young man will be that co-stars opposite them yet.

Photo: Variety.com.

Death Is Cumming

So no Florent, Alan Cumming?

The Emmy-nominated actor is staying close to CBS, the home of his dearly departed Good Wife, to star in Dr. Death, a new drama based on the upcoming James Patterson novel by that title, about a former CIA operative who has built a normal post-agency life for himself as a gifted professor and writer. Of course, as it would happen, he is pulled back into action when the NYPD calls upon him for an assist in catching a serial killer.

Cumming not only will topline the project but executive produce it as well.

Dr. Death, the book, is scheduled to hit shelves next summer.

Photo: Mahaiwe.com.

Parent Target

American Sweetheart Julia Roberts is breaking bad.

The Oscar winner is fixin’ to produce and star in an adaptation of Sam Rule and Kelli Peters’ “I’ll Get You!” Drugs, Lies, and the Terrorizing of a PTA Mom, the sordid story of some Orange County school parents’ plot for revenge on a woman that not only turned her life upside down but also shook their community to the core.

I’m pretty sure I was told about this crazy story like, 10 days ago or so, after someone who is quite clever read about it in the L.A. Times.... See, Peters was a PTA president and volunteer who unwittingly angered a full-of-itself couple when she kept their son waiting a little too long for their taste during the after-school pick-up run. (Rule is the pseudonym employed by a New York Times writer that contributed to the writing of the tome.)

People can be so ridikolous.
Roberts is the first name attached to the project, which is clearly coming together fast.

Photo: HawtCelebs.com.

Rooney Pops

Rooney Mara, pop star?

It’s what’s happening.

The two-time Academy Award-nominated actress is set to topline Vox Lux, a new musical drama from actor-turned-filmmaker Brady Corbet. The project will span 15 years, kicking off in 1999, and track the rise of Celeste, a young talent poised for world superstardom, as it examines the major milestones of our culture as the new century began.

Corbet will shoot the movie in 65mm large format, and the movie will be shown in 70mm. Furthermore, Sia is also involved.

The “Cheap Thrills” singer will work on original songs for the Vox Lux soundtrack.

Right on.

Now. What do you think Mara’s singing voice sounds like, kids? And who would you guess will design the quite-specific wardrobe that Celeste will wear?

I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see, huh.

Photo: YourNextShoes.com.

See Jane Do Sunday Mornings

Ask around my house and you will hear I called it.

Jane Pauley will replace the departing Charles Osgood as the anchor of the best show on TV, CBS News Sunday Morning.

Osgood, who is retiring from from the show after 22 seasons but will continue to see us on the radio thanks to his “Osgood File,” hosted his final edition of Sunday Morning today. 

Pauley, a contributor to and substitute host on the show since 2014, will debut as its new anchor on Oct. 9. When she does she will become only the third person to take on the role for the show during its 37-year history.

The broadcaster – one of the faces of NBC for a good couple of decades last century – says she, “look[s] forward to bringing loyal viewers the kind of engaging, original reporting that has made the broadcast so irresistible for so long.”

#YasQueen! In Pauley I trust.

And, again, I say: Thanks for everything, Charlie. I shall miss you on the telly.

Photo: USAToday.com.

Nashville Went Looking...

And it found.

Nashville is getting into some cool casting for its upcoming fifth season – its first on its new home, CMT.

Not only is Jen Richards coming to town, now, so is Murray Bartlett. You know...Dom, from HBO’s Looking).

The actor is going to take on the recurring role of Jakob Fine, a very charismatic and successful men’s fashion designer. (That the character is a stud should be obvious.)

This could get interesting for someone.

For Chris Carmack’s Will Lexington, perhaps?

Photo: GettyImages.com.

Baby SoFine Has Arrived!

Congratulations are in order for Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo.

The pair recently welcomed their first daughter together – as recently, perhaps, as this past Monday or Tuesday, since Maroon 5 cancelled a concert they were scheduled to give in Hartford, Conn, on Monday night.

No further detail about Baby SoFine has been made available at this time.

Photo: Today.com.

Update: People reports that the Prinsloo-Levines have named their baby girl Dusty Rose, and that she was born on Sept. 21 in California.

Leave Marion Cotillard Alone

Marion Cotillard is pregnant with her second child with French filmmaker Guillaume Canet – a bit of happy news that has been made to be extremely consequential to the zeitgeist this week (much more than it ever would have been) in the wake of the announcement that Brangelina are over.

Why?

Because the Oscar winner recently worked with Brad Pitt on Robert Zemeckis’s upcoming Allied, a World War II love story that’s set to open on Nov. 23, and now the Internet believes that she is the reason why Angelina Jolie filed for divorce earlier this week. Never mind that the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services reportedly is investigating Pitt for an alleged child abuse that occurred on Sept. 14 (the day before, court docs show, La Jolie listed as the date of their separation) on the family’s private plane. Cotillard has to be party to the drama because.

I guess because she’s a woman, and, in this particular déjà vu-ish scenario, another accomplished and beautiful actress in the mix will sell more tabloids. It’s a fresher take on the Brangelina narrative, one that does not require that Jennifer Aniston be completely involved again.

Cotillard, for one, wants to make one thing absolutely 100 percent clear: She had nothing to do with this break-up. She stated so herself – in what will be her first and only comment on the subject – in a lengthy, bilingual Instagram post that also has made me wise to the fact that she is, y’ know, on Instagram.

“This situation [the speculation, I presume] is spiraling and affecting people I love. [Canet] is my love, my best friend, the only one that I need. This crafted conversation isn’t distressing. To all the media and the haters who are quick to pass judgment, I sincerely wish you a swift recovery.

“I do very much wish that Angelina and Brad, both whom I deeply respect, will find peace in this very tumultuous moment.”

And there you go. Nail on coffin, as far as Cotillard is concerned.

Now. Let’s all leave the Jolie-Pitts be. For real.

This split does not concern us – they do not owe us an explanation. Not even Pitt, against whom grave accusations are being lobbied. Does he sometimes drink one too many or enjoy smoking weed, as just about everyone has said the last couple of days? Show me someone who doesn’t?

Does he parent to sternly? Who knows! Perhaps.

Who knows.

Brangelina know.

Let them sort themselves out, and let’s all of us demand answers with this sort of passion from the people who actually matter these days: Our politicians...our police...ourselves.

Photo: TomAndLorenzo.com.

Update 1: Whoa.

Although the allegations of child abuse against Brad Pitt are not/were not (?) being investigated the police in L.A., his case reportedly has been referred to the FBI (since the alleged abuse happened en route back to California from France).

This has gotten real real fast, huh.

I wonder if Pitt will be raked over the coals in the same manner as Nate Parker has been as of late (not to bring Parker into this as well, but, you know...fair is fair – and this divorce is obviously going to carry the discussion for a while).

Update 2: On Sept. 23, Guillaume Canet echoed on Instagram many of the thoughts and sentiments put forth by Marion Cotillard on the same social-media platform in the wake of the Brangelina split.

His move, combined with hers, thus presents a united front that appears to be effectively working against the rumors surrounding them in this ordeal.