Idris Elba Joins ‘Cats’ Musical Film Adaptation
Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, James Corden and Ian McKellen are also set to star in the adaptation of the hit Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.
Idris Elba is in final negotiations to join the movie adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats.
Elba will join Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, James Corden and Ian McKellen in the film to be directed by Tom Hooper.
Cats tells the story of a tribe of felines called the Jellicles and the night they make what is known as “the Jellicle choice” and decide which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life. Elba would play Macavity, a master criminal.
The musical — which is the fourth-longest-running show in Broadway history and was the longest-running Broadway show ever from 1997 until 2006 — features some of the best-known songs from the stage, including “Memory.”
Production on Cats is set to take place later this year in the U.K., with more of the cast to be announced. Lee Hall (Billy Elliot) has adapted Webber’s musical, which itself was based on the T.S. Eliot novel Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.
Universal and Working Title are behind the musical, which is dated for a Dec. 20, 2019, release.
Elba, who is repped by WME, The Artists Partnership and Ziffren Brittenham, is currently filming Universal’s Fast & Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw.
Article via HollywoodReporter
Stacey Dash secretly weds
“Clueless” actress Stacey Dash has a secret husband she married in Florida on April 6, just a few days after she withdrew from her campaign for Congress in California.
The groom, lawyer Jeffrey Marty, is best known as the creator of the fake Rep. Steven Smith of Georgia, the first “congressman” to endorse Donald Trump and a tea party gadfly who generates outrage in the Twitterverse, despite constant reminders that he is fictitious.
Sources say the couple got married just 10 days after they first met, but Dash’s manager Kerry Jones couldn’t answer how or when they met or why the wedding was so secret.
“They wanted it on the D.L. [down low],” Jones told me.
The Bronx-born actress, a cousin of Damon Dash, filed on Feb. 26 to run in California’s 44th congressional district. Dash said she wanted to “free people from the shackles of a plantation mentality.”
Dash, author of “There Goes My Social Life: From Clueless to Conservative,” dropped out a month later, citing “the overall bitterness surrounding our political process.”
Since she lives in Los Angeles and Marty lives in Florida, it seems they have a long-distance marriage.
But the pair are on the same political wavelength. He told a reporter two years ago, “There are a lot of people that have died mysteriously around [Hillary Clinton]. When they were supposed to testify against her — three or four different people. Within a week.”
photo credit: FilmMagic
‘What’s Happening!!’ co-star Danielle Spencer is ailing
NEW YORK — Danielle Spencer, who played the tattletale little sister Dee Thomas on the 1970s TV series “What’s Happening!!,” is home in Virginia recuperating from emergency brain surgery after a series of health setbacks.
Spencer, who had been working as a veterinarian, was released from a hospital Oct. 4 after surgery for a bleeding hematoma, a result of a 1977 car accident that killed her stepfather, Tim Pelt, as he shielded her from harm.
She can speak just slightly and must use crutches to walk, said a spokesman, Jason Hardy.
The 53-year-old Spencer began suffering symptoms in 2004, when she was confined to a wheelchair and did a long stint in rehab to learn how to walk again. In 2014, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy, Hardy said.
The ABC sitcom, which aired from 1976 to 1979, followed the lives of three working-class teens in the Los Angeles neighborhood Watts. Spencer played the sister of one, Roger “Raj” Thomas. She also appeared in a sequel, “What’s Happening Now!!”
Friends of Spencer, who lives in Richmond, have begun an appeal for financial assistance on her behalf at GoFundMe.com.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/10/12/whats-happening-co-star-danielle-spencer-is-ailing/
Fran Drescher wants Cardi B to join her in a reboot of The Nanny
Fran Drescher is ready to make money moves with Cardi B.
On Wednesday’s episode of PeopleTV’s Chatter, Drescher revealed that she’d love to reboot her ’90s sitcom The Nanny alongside the rapper behind “Bodak Yellow” and “I Like It.”
“I want to do a sitcom with Cardi B,” Drescher said. “Wouldn’t she be great as my daughter?”
Fans have been calling for Cardi and Drescher to link up since at least December, when the rapper gave off Nanny vibes during an appearance on The Tonight Show. Cardi also shared an Instagram post paying fashion homage to the actress last month, and Drescher, 61, said all the buzz got her thinking about teaming up for a potential revival.
After all, they do have a few similarities.
“I got my juices flowing and thought, ‘Wait a minute, she’s from New York, we both have funny voices, she could be my daughter!’” Drescher said.
Drescher noted that because her onscreen love interest, Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy), was white, Cardi’s character would have to have a different father. Despite the biological minutiae, however, fans have been all in on the idea on Twitter.
According to Drescher, networks have little interest in a reboot of The Nanny, but she has previously mentioned discussions with co-creator and real-life ex-husband Peter Marc Jacob about getting the adventures of Fran Fine, a sassy caretaker from Flushing, Queens, back on TV.
“We’re talking about it. Peter and I are talking about it,” Drescher said in June. “We’re working on a very big project. It’s going to be very exciting for the fans, but I’m not at liberty to announce it yet. But it’s going to be big.”
Article via EW
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#MeToo-Themed College Comedy Series From Whitney Cummings & Lee Daniels In Works At Amazon
2 Broke Girls co-creator Whitney Cummings has teamed with Empire co-creator Lee Daniels for a timely half-hour comedy, which is in development at Amazon. The untitled project, co-created by Cummings and Daniels and starring Cummings, hails from Fox 21 TV Studios and Amazon Studios.
Co-written by Cummings and Daniels, the comedy revolves around the staff of the Ombudsman’s office at a college that navigates PC culture and the #metoo climate. The lead character, played by Cummings, must reconcile the dissonance between different generations of feminism, and the struggle to reconcile our primal desires, and socially constructed identities with current ethical obligations regarding race, class, and gender.
Cummings and Daniels set it up the project at Fox 21 a couple of months ago via Daniels’ overall deal at 20th Century Fox TV. After a bidding war, the comedy landed at Amazon for development. Daniels is set to direct the potential pilot.
As it marks its first year anniversary, the #MeToo movement continues to be a major force for social change, toppling powerful businessmen and politicians and, most recently factoring into the selection of the next Supreme Court Justice. With White House pick Brett Kavanaugh facing sexual assault accusations from the time he was at Georgetown Prep and Yale, the #MeToo discussion has focused on high school and college.
Lee, an Oscar nominee for Precious, is the co-creator/executive producer of the Fox/20th TV drama series Empire and Star. He also executive produces the Fox/20th TV comedy pilot Culture Clash starring 2 Broke Girl alumna Beth Behrs.
This marks the first TV staring vehicle for Cummings since her self-titled NBC comedy series, which she also created and executive produced. Cummings, who also co-created and executive produced the long-running CBS comedy series 2 Broke Girls, recently served as executive producer/.co-showrunner on ABC’s highly rated Roseanne revival. Cummings and Daniels are repped by CAA.
Article via: #MeToo-Themed College Comedy Series From Whitney Cummings & Lee Daniels In Works At Amazon
Ruby Rose Named Most Dangerous Public Figure on the Internet
Cybersecurity firm McAfee says users interested in the actress are most likely to land on websites that carry viruses or malware.
Ruby Rose has played some dangerous characters, like an inmate in Orange Is the New Black and a scientist battling a prehistoric shark in The Meg. But the actress herself is now officially dangerous.
Cybersecurity firm McAfee on Tuesday crowned Rose the most dangerous celebrity on the Internet. No other celebrity was more likely to land users on websites that carry viruses or malware.
Reality TV star Kristin Cavallari finished behind Rose at No. 2, followed by actress Marion Cotillard (No. 3), the original Wonder Woman Lynda Carter (No. 4), actress Rose Byrne (No. 5), Debra Messing (No. 6), reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian (No. 7), actress Amber Heard (No. 8), morning TV show host Kelly Ripa (No. 9) and actor Brad William Henke as No 10.
Rose may have gotten a burst of online interest when she was named to play Batwoman on an upcoming CW series.
The survey is meant to highlight the danger of clicking on suspicious links. McAfee urges Internet users to consider risks associated with searching for downloadable content and always apply updated security fixes. The company used its own site ratings to compile the celebrity list and used searches on Google, Bing and Yahoo.
“In our hyper-connected world, it’s important for consumers to think before they click to be sure that they are landing on safe digital content and protecting themselves from cybersecurity threats that may be used to infect their devices or steal their identity,” writes Gary Davis, chief consumer security evangelist at McAfee. “So whether you’re looking up what Ruby did on the latest Orange Is the New Black episode, or what Kristin Cavallari wore to the latest awards show, make sure you’re searching the Internet safely.”
Rose deposes last year’s most dangerous celeb, Avril Lavigne. That top 10 included Bruno Mars, Carly Rae Jepsen, Zayn Malik, Celine Dion, Calvin Harris, Justin Bieber, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Katy Perry and Beyonce.
Musicians on the latest list took a hit. Adele was the highest ranked musician at No. 21, followed by Shakira at No. 27. Diddy, who finished at No. 9 in 2017, fell to No. 76.
Article via: Ruby Rose Named Most Dangerous Public Figure on the Internet
Mo’Nique Sends Message To Cardi B & Nicki + Addresses Katt Williams & Kevin Hart Beef
Monique has some words to say to Cardi and Nicki?
Do you agree with her?
Video via Power 106 Los Angeles