Tag: HollywoodReporter

Ryan Reynolds gave maximum effort while angling for a role in Avengers: Doomsday during San Diego Comic-Con.

As the star-studded team for the forthcoming Marvel Studios film was onstage at SDCC on Saturday, Reynolds surprised fans when he appeared among the crowd while dressed in Deadpool‘s gray suit that has not yet appeared on the big screen but can be seen in X-Force comics. Doomsday directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo were among those participating in the panel alongside Kevin Feige to promote the Disney film that hits theaters Dec. 18.

Reynolds joked that his name was Ricky and that he was “cosplaying hard.” He went on to say, “First question is for Mr. Paul Rudd. Where is Thor, and why was he crying?” This referenced a moment in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine, during which Chris Hemsworth’s Norse God of Thunder appears to hold a dying Deadpool in a scene set in the future.

Rudd quipped, “He’s a Wrexham fan?” in a dig at the soccer team that Reynolds and friend Rob Mac own. Reynolds fired back, “You know goddamn well why he was crying.”

Reynolds’ Deadpool continued, “This seems like an awfully expensive way to announce a film. When do you start filming?” This spurred Robert Downey Jr., who stars as Doctor Doom after initially playing Iron Man in the MCU, to reply, “It’s in the can, bro. Look around you. Did you bump your head?”

After a pause, a deflated Deadpool responded, “I see. So there’s no additional photography, no overages, hot costs — maybe last minute additions?” The star then said abruptly, “No further questions. Happy Hogan, fetch the Audi. We’re leaving.” Reynolds dropped the microphone and made his way out of Hall H.

Although Reynolds has not been officially confirmed to appear in Avengers: Doomsday, media rumors have persisted about a possible role for Deadpool. The opinionated anti-hero was last seen on the big screen opposite Hugh Jackman in Deadpool vs. Wolverine, which surpassed $1.3 billion at the global box office.

Earlier this month, Reynolds confirmed during an appearance at Fanatics Fest that a new Deadpool film would indeed come to fruition at some point.

Other highlights from this year’s Marvel panel included Ryan Gosling teasing his starring role in a Ghost Rider movie that Shawn Levy will direct. Additionally, Black Panther 3 filmmaker Ryan Coogler took the stage to announce that David Jonsson will star as T’Challa’s adult son for the movie that will hit theaters in 2028.

Morgan Stewart has revealed more about the harsh reality of being burglarized twice at her Beverly Hills home.

The reality TV veteran, fashion influencer and podcast host joined Jake Shane on the newest episode of his show, Therapuss, and opened up about experiencing firsthand a crime wave that has impacted such celebrities as Brad Pitt, Lionel Richie, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, Tracee Ellis Ross, Rachel Zoe, Kathy Hilton, Sutton Stracke and more.

“Bought it in France, brought it home, stolen out of my house two days later,” Stewart told Shane of a rare Hermes Birkin purse that was taken. “I was camping with my kids for their school camping trip, and we got a call from security. We had security [and he had fallen asleep] in front of the house. I’ve just now gotten past [him falling asleep], and they smashed through my office door and they went into our bedroom and ransacked my husband’s watches.”

Stewart then commented on the rash of burglaries and said “this is happening a lot in the area, unfortunately, it’s happening all the time,” so much so she claimed that “everyone I know has gotten robbed.” The robbers took armfuls of her rare purses but left a glass case full of bags untouched. “They didn’t touch because I think they probably would have thought there was an alarm or something attached to it.”

“I was just furious. I was angry. I’m pissed. It’s a violation,” she said of the emotions she experienced after the fact. “I saw the video of them climbing over my gate in the middle of the day. And they had six bags on each arm, and they tossed them over the gate onto the driveway. I’m like, ‘You are so disrespectful. Hop politely because you’ve just scratched the Box Kelly I just got.’ It was literally just like trash on the floor.”

Stewart also revealed that she experienced a second burglary at her home. “My security caught them on the hillside,” she said. “That was when they took all my jewelry. But we got it back, thank God.”

She now says her home is guarded like “Fort Knox.” The Therapuss episode is available on Netflix and Spotify, and finds Stewart also dishing about style trends for summer, what life was like on Rich Kids of Beverly Hills and more.

President Trump appeared at the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, which took place in Washington, D.C. on Friday with a new location and a drastically reduced list of attendees, following the cancellation of the event in April after a gunman fired shots as the event was underway. 

Moved to the Waldorf, Astoria, in the nation’s capital instead of the Washington Hilton and reduced from  2,600 guests down to around 680, it was less a star-studded event that each year sees celebrity guests brush elbows with reporters and editors as they sit with the politicians they cover — the optics of which are criticized each year by journalists and critics alike. 

For the make-up dinner, the WHCA is also bringing back the Secret Service member who survived the April shooting, when 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, who allegedly intended to target multiple Trump administration officials, was arrested near the screening area outside the banquet hall after running past the security checkpoint. Plus honoring the Washington Hilton staff who stayed on the scene and continued tending to rattled guests.

Elements of the first dinner remained. The awards were handed out; mentalist Oz Pearlman, who got just one private trick for the White House press secretary at the first dinner before gunshots caused chaos, returned to deliver some levity; and ahead of the event, a group of hundreds of former journalists and press freedom groups sent a letter to the WHCA. Now, they were urging the association to capitalize on Trump’s attendance by calling him out for his administration’s attacks on First Amendment rights, which include recently subpoenaing New York Times reporters over their coverage and threatening to revoke licenses of broadcasters.

The president took to the stage around 9:30 p.m. ET and brought up the attempted attack early in his much-anticipated speech, which has been speculated upon heavily in April and again ahead of the July event. Traditionally, the dinner’s speeches are a roast of the attendees and the president himself.

“The attempted mass murder at the Washington Hilton — that’s what it could have been — was an assault on our democracy itself,” Trump said. “A very serious situation. Many of you were there with me, and some showed extreme bravery, like Pete Hegseth, Steve Miller, Tom Holman. Really, they were standing on tables. And most of you were under the table,” he said to Friday night’s attendees, which got some laughs.

Trump’s first joke to fall completely flat came soon and involved a rapper and MAGA convert who he recently had at a White House event. 

“After hearing the gunshots, many people yelled, ‘Get down! Get down!’ which caused Nicki Minaj to start twerking,” he said, referring to the dance. “Do you believe it? Get down. She’s the only one that really understood what that meant.”

Trump’s speech began to meander as he at first reminisced about the Waldorf Astoria in the 1980s and moved to several topics and name-dropped celebrities not in the room and with whom he has personal gripes, some going back for decades. Rosie O’Donnell, Bette Midler and Bruce Springsteen all got a mention, with the latter’s looks as he ages compared to the president’s own. Trump joked that his live show, where he was railing about the administration’s policies, was now called “Bored in the U.S.A.” 

More to come…

The writing process has just begun for the second season of Apple TV‘s latest hit series Widow’s Bay.

Show creator Katie Dippold participated in Collider’s Showrunners on Showrunning panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday, where she opened up about the project’s startling success. Starring Matthew Rhys as the mayor of a New England island that the residents are convinced is haunted, Widow’s Bay quickly became one of television’s buzziest shows after its April launch and went on to land a whopping 19 Emmy Award nominations, including best comedy series.

“It took a long time,” Dippold said about how soon she got a sense that the show had picked up as many fans as it did. She joked that she remains “terrified” of Reddit but eventually took enough of a look on the social media platform to see that the amount of discussion about Widow’s Bay was increasing wildly. “Seeing that was really shocking.”

The writer, also known for her work on such features as The Heat and Snatched, explained that she did not know that the series had been renewed for a second season until just before the news went public. “But I was still always hoping and thinking about it,” she continued, pointing out that the writers room for season two started earlier this week. “It’s a great room, and then we’re going to be writing for the next 20 weeks.” Dippold noted that her goal is to begin filming next year for the show that also stars Kate O’Flynn, Kevin Carroll, Dale Dickey, Kingston Rumi Southwick and Stephen Root.

As for lessons from the initial season that the first-time showrunner plans to incorporate for the second one, Dippold said, “I learned pretty quickly in making it.” Dippold pointed out that she felt that the comedy worked because the actors played things straight and dramatic: “Throughout the process, it was making sure everything served that, and so that’s top of mind going into season two. Also, the scripts were longer and pretty dense. I had to make last-minute cuts for time, so I’ll just be more mindful of that because we didn’t need that much.”

She added, “In the edit, I just could see, ‘Oh, you actually didn’t need any of this stuff anyway.’ I learned a lot about what you don’t need and getting to things quicker.”

In her review of Widow’s Bay for The Hollywood Reporter, critic Angie Han wrote, “At its best, Widow’s Bay highlights the blurry line between comedy and horror.”

As Descendants enters a new chapter, so does Malia Baker.

The 20-year-old Botswana-born actress returns as Chloe Charming in Descendants: Wicked Wonderland, stepping back into the Disney franchise, not as the newcomer who once idolized the original cast, but as one of the faces leading its next generation.

“It’s like entering this world as camp counselors this time instead of these nervous campers that we were the first time around,” Baker tells The Hollywood Reporter on a recent Zoom.

“We put so much pressure on ourselves just because we loved the movies so much. They were so integral, not just for my formative years, but my peers as well,” she continues. “You hold so much respect and love for them, so it was a really big deal. But it was still so much fun to film.”

Returning for a second film also meant welcoming a new group of cast mates, who quickly turned into some of Baker’s closest friendships. She’s excited for the “world to fall in love” with her friends and the new characters.

Ahead of the film’s release, the Descendants and Zombies casts embarked on a tour, giving Baker the chance to witness fan excitement firsthand. “It’s so wild to be able to literally watch it unfold in front of you and have people be so excited and joyful around something that’s so close to your heart,” she says.

The Descendants films are among the most beloved Disney movies in modern time. Baker feels that the films strike a necessary chord of timeless themes and represent young people well, which is why they’ve been able to remain relevant.

For Baker, stepping into the character of Chloe meant embracing the legacy of Cinderella and Prince Charming, two of Disney’s most recognizable characters. While audiences were already familiar with Chloe’s parents, the young actress had the opportunity to help define a new character entirely her own.

“I think we all put our hearts and souls into it,” she says. “Yes, these are iconic characters, but Chloe Charming has never been done before, which is a lot of trust to put into a person.”

With Disney’s trust in Baker to represent the beloved character over the course of two films, she says she’s found herself growing alongside Chloe. “As things in your life start changing, you can find different levels and depths to whatever character you’re playing,” she says. “I think Chloe and I have been very fortunate to have been at very similar stages in our lives. It feels like we really are learning these lessons at the same time and inspired by one another’s growth.”

The actress hopes that Wicked Wonderland viewers watch it and enjoy it. “It can seem like it’s your responsibility to not enjoy something, because it’s not as ‘serious,’” she says. “But I think there’s something really magical in being able to learn a great lesson while having fun.”

While Chloe Charming may be the role she’s most known for today, sitting at the top of her acting bucket list is Starfire from Teen Titans. “I love the role of Starfire, I think she’s the coolest ever she is just such a baddie in her own right,” she says, laughing. “I would swap out the blue for some pink hair any time any place.”

The actress says a role in a biopic would also be a dream for her. “I don’t know who, what or when, I keep joking with Brandy about playing her,” she says. “I told her I’ll start practicing for it.”

While Starfire, and maybe a Brandy biopic if she ever gives that call, remain on Baker’s manifestation board, she’s still wrapping her head around the fact that she’s become one of the faces of Disney’s newest generation with Descendants.

“Sassy little me would’ve been shocked, flabbergasted, everything in between. It’s still a dream now,” Baker says of her younger self. “I have to have little reminders every now and then. I don’t think it’ll ever fully sink in, and honestly, I’m happy it won’t.”

Veteran TV director, writer, producer and showrunner Ralph W. Hemecker has died. He was 65.

Hemecker, whose work spanned three decades and included directing 31 episodes of Blue Bloods and 28 episodes of Once Upon a Time, died July 10 at his home in Glendale.

He also directed episodes of The X-Files, Millennium, Ghost Whisperer, Numb3rs, The Vampire Diaries, Nikita, V, Legends of Tomorrow, Quantico, Body of Proof, The Flash and Pacific Blue as well as the 2000 TNT TV movie Witchblade, going on to serve as showrunner, writer and executive producer of the Witchblade TV series across its two-season run from 2001 to 2002.

And he directed the pilot for Roar, starring a then little-known Heath Ledger, as well as the pilots for Lawless and Dead at 21.

Born on June 12, 1961, Ralph William Hemecker graduated from Bucknell University where he studied English, made short films and developed a passion for visual storytelling. He went on to take filmmaking courses at New York University and began his career in production and post-production.

Some of his earliest directing work was on America’s Most Wanted, helming dramatic reenactments of real-life crimes, and he directed episodes of Silk Stalkings, on which he worked behind the scenes, as well as Renegade.

“Some losses are impossible to put into words,” Once Upon a Time actress Lana Parrilla wrote in part on Instagram. “Ralph Hemecker was one of the kindest, most generous souls I’ve ever known. One of Once Upon a Time’s defining directors. A truly passionate, beautiful man and my dear friend. I was lucky enough to shadow Ralph as a director as he knew Once, behind the camera, best. He was always carrying a camera in hand, staying up all night in the director’s office putting his shots together, studying the scripts and endlessly visiting sets in preparation. His passion was infectious. We always knew if Ralph was directing, we were in good hands.”

Hemecker is survived by his two stepdaughters as well as his father, sister and brother; two nephews; one niece and one great-nephew.

Hemecker admired the Navy SEALs’ courage, discipline, resilience and commitment to service, and he was inspired by their leadership principles. As a result, in lieu of flowers, his family asks that memorial donations be made to the SEAL Future Foundation in Hemecker’s memory.

A celebration of Hemecker’s life will be announced at a later date.

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, The Hollywood Reporter may receive an affiliate commission.

The Monaco Grand Prix, the Rose Ball and the Red Cross Gala: the Monégasque social calendar’s trifecta of prestige.

Serving as the pinnacle of black tie elegance, Monaco‘s Red Cross Gala — or the Gala de la Croix-Rouge Monégasque, in French — is the yearly flagship fundraiser for the Monaco Red Cross, which, from 1958 to 1982, was presided over by none other than Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco. Cut to the evening of July 18, 2026: Even without the Oscar-winning movie star’s physical presence, the Old Hollywood glamour at the 77th annual charity ball was palpable.

On Saturday night at the Sporting Monte-Carlo, esteemed guests eagerly awaited the arrival of Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene, son and daughter-in-law of Grace Kelly and respective President and Vice-President of the Red Cross Society’s Monaco branch. Charlene, Princess of Monaco, statuesque as ever, channeled the timeless style of her late mother-in-law in a custom-made Elie Saab golden draped gown. The couple was joined by niece Camille Gottlieb, one of Kelly’s 11 grandchildren, plus the evening’s hosting duo, actress and model Estelle Lefébure and actor and comedian Michel Boujenah.

Following arrivals, guests glided through a sea of white tablecloths to dine on a multi-course meal imagined by three-Michelin-starred chef Marcel Ravin. And while only one lucky winner walked away with the gala’s grand prize, a Cartier Grain de Café jewelry set fit with 58 total diamonds, every guest in attendance went home with a generous parting gift from the luxury House, a supple leather cardholder stamped with the Double C emblem.

On the heels of an otherworldly fireworks show and ahead of the jazz-inspired after party, guests enjoyed the world premiere of SOUL! Where Legends Come Back. This dance-inducing live show, which traces the journey of African-American music, is the newest original production by Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer (SBM), the luxury hospitality and entertainment company that doubles as the annual gala’s organizer and venue host. In many ways, SBM feels like — and, quite honestly, is — the brain behind much of Monaco’s social, cultural and hotel scene, with the sovereign city-state sitting at under one square mile.

SBM’s crown jewel has to be the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, a palatial escape located at Place du Casino in Monte Carlo, smack dab in the heart of Monaco. Widely regarded as one of the world’s most luxurious properties, Hôtel de Paris is every bit as breathtakingly lavish as you’d hope and expect. It, therefore, only makes sense that a conveyor belt of black cars promptly escorted guests from their accommodations and pre-event drinks to the main festivities at the Sporting Monte-Carlo.

So what’s next on the Principality of Monaco’s social calendar? Well, you’ll have to consult Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer’s extensive annual agenda. But for now, a few more highlights from the 77th annual Monaco Red Cross Gala.

Film crews on Hollywood and local productions shooting in Ontario are being urged to mask up as fast-moving wildfires sweep across the province’s far north and southwest, blanketing southern Ontario — and at times the U.S. Eastern Seaboard — in thick smoke.

So far, however, the provincial film sector has largely weathered what is shaping up to be Ontario’s worst-ever summer wildfire season.

Production hubs in northern Ontario cities like Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay are feeling the effects most acutely, with film crews sharing hotels with evacuees from neighboring communities. A massive blaze covering some 3,200 square kilometers (1,235 square miles) north of Thunder Bay in Wabakimi Provincial Park has been of particular concern for firefighters. As of Wednesday, around 146 wildfires remained active across the province.

“While Thunder Bay has been affected by the wildfires in several ways, the active fires remain approximately 150 to 250 kilometers from the city and at the moment we aren’t in danger of being evacuated,” a spokesperson for Thunder Bay, which is a two hour flight from Toronto, told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement.

Unlike the 2025 wildfires in and around Los Angeles that directly impacted Hollywood movie and TV production, the forest fires in Ontario and the ongoing devastation is mostly contained in sparsely-populated northern and southwestern regions of the province. That’s left fire crews to tamp down or attempt to put out destructive wildfires that have destroyed some communities in the province and led to the evacuation of others.

Even so, the distant spread of wildfire smoke has the province urging film crews to limit outdoor filming when air quality is poor. In addition, the Transport Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources departments have asked film and TV productions not to use drones during filmmaking as they may interfere with firefighting aircraft, including water bombers and helicopters.

In Sudbury, which is only an hour flight from Toronto, city officials tell THR forest fires have not impacted filming in the region, and local shoots are under no specific forest fire-related restrictions when cameras roll in the city.  

At the same time, the city adds in a statement sent to THR: “Typically, safety-related decisions of this nature are left to the discretion of the production team. We would recommend that they follow applicable public health guidance regarding air quality.”

Local soundstage and location shooting in Ontario by the major studios and streamers in recent years has become a major business for the province. So no cancellations or major disruption evident from the current spate of wildfires in the province has eased concerns over the long-term recovery of the Ontario production sector after major disruptions from the pandemic and the 2023 Hollywood strikes.

Cecilia Vega, the former 60 Minutes correspondent who was fired in May, is reflecting on her time with the newsmagazine, alleging that she felt pressure to insert political bias into segments that did not make it to air.

In an interview with ABC News’ John Quiñones at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists conference, Vega alleged that higher-ups requested specific changes to three of her segments from this year that she could did find evidence for, per The New York Times.

“I’ve gone head-to-head with editors for 25 years in this business,” she said at the Thursday conference. “But never in my career, until now, have I felt that those edits, that those suggestions, came from a place of misinformation or politics.”

Per the Times, Vega said executives asked her to add video of protestors attacking citizens whom they thought were Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in a January segment about ICE; she was also asked to add video of a police chief rolling his eyes during a news conference. Vega did not find video of either incidents, she said.

The ex-60 Minutes correspondent also said in a February segment about West Virginia poverty, she was asked to mention Vice President JD Vance, as he’d previously written about poverty in Ohio. “She said the piece was not focused on politicians or political voices,” the Times notes.

The third requested changed, Vega said per the Times, was to include a line saying Iran was outgunned by the United States and Israel in another segment. Vega described it as “an administration talking point.”

The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to CBS News for comment.

Vega previously claimed she had “experienced efforts to insert political bias into our stories” in a statement after her firing. “Reporting teams have held back on submitting story pitches about important news topics out of fear of the internal repercussions,” she wrote at the time.

“Let’s call this what it is: censorship, both imposed and self-driven,” Vega added. “It is dangerous for the show and dangerous for democracy.” At the time, a CBS News spokesperson said in response to her statement, “We respect Ms. Vega and her contributions, but her claims are not based in reality.”

Vega was fired from 60 Minutes as part of CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss‘ major overhaul that also saw the dismissal of executive producer Tanya Simon, Scott Pelley and Sharyn Alfonsi. Pelley was fired after an intense meeting with 60 Minutes‘ new EP, Nick Bilton, where he claimed that Weiss is “murdering 60 Minutes. She does not love this place; she was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.” He also told Bilton that he had “slender qualifications” for the job, and suggested he was not welcome at the flagship newsmagazine.

After the news was announced that he was let go from 60 Minutes, Pelley released a statement where he accused Weiss of “incompetence and unprofessionalism,” and claimed that CBS News management “instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story.”

Weiss pushed back against Pelley during a morning call with staff shortly after, arguing that he broke “trust and mutual respect.”

Status newsletter was the first to report on Vega’s remarks at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists conference.