Month: May 2024

Drew Barrymore will serve as the famed ‘center square’ on an updated, reimagined version of  the classic game show “Hollywood Squares,” set to air on CBS in January. Past “center square” celebrities have included Whoopi Goldberg, Joan Rivers, Martin Mull and Paul Lynde, with the show dating back to 1965.

CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach and CBS president/CEO George Cheeks revealed the news at a news conference, with a press release stating: ‘Hollywood Squares’ involves two contestants who play tic-tac-toe to win money and prizes, with the ‘board’ for the game is a vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants. The celebrities are asked questions and the contestants judge the legitimacy of their answers to win the game. Award-winning actress and talk show host Drew Barrymore will take her place as the famed ‘center square’ answering questions for the contestants.”

CBS president/CEO George Cheeks shared: “Drew’s already a part of our CBS family. She’s adorable, she’s engaging, she’s going to bring her friends under the squares. We think this is going to be a great 10 o’clock show for us. We now have a really solid Wednesday night of game shows to bridge the ‘Survivor’ seasons .. We’re reimagining ‘Hollywood Squares.’ We’re going to be true to to the the old school elements, but like having an anchor of somebody with that personality, those relationships, and just someone who actually is so such a diehard fan of that franchise. We’re super excited about her in the center square.”

Hollywood Squares will run on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET starting in January, paired with “The Price is Right at Night” (hosted by Drew Carey) at 8 p.m. and a new season of “Raid the Cage,” hosted by Damon Wayans, Jr. and co-host Jeannie Mai, at 9 p.m.

 

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Kristen Stewart and Oscar Isaac are set to star in the vampire thriller Flesh of the Gods, directed by Panos Cosmatos, the filmmaker best known for his 2018 horror film, Mandy. Flesh of the Gods is written by Andrew Kevin Walker, best known as the screenwriter behind 1990s classic Se7en, and is based on a story by Cosmatos and Walker.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Flesh of the Gods is set in Los Angeles during the glittering 1980s. The story follows a married couple, Raoul (Isaac) and Alex (Stewart), who descend each evening from their luxury skyscraper condo and head into an electric nighttime realm of 80’s LA. When they cross paths with the mysterious and enigmatic woman and her hard-partying cabal, Raoul and Alex are seduced into a glamorous, surrealistic world of hedonism, thrills, and violence. Cosmatos in a statement: “Like Los Angeles itself Flesh of the Gods inhabits the liminal realm between fantasy and nightmare. Both propulsive and hypnotic, Flesh will take you on a hot rod joy ride deep into the glittering heart of hell.”

Flesh of the Gods will begin filming later this year, and will be presented at the Cannes film market.

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Elvis Presley’s granddaughter, actress Riley Keough, is fighting the court-approved sale of Graceland, the late singer’s compound in Memphis, Tennessee.

Keough, identified in the court filing as Danielle Riley Keough, filed a claim in Tennessee civil court that alleges the creditor behind the foreclosure claim used forged signatures. According to an apparent foreclosure notice, Graceland had been set to be auctioned off at the Shelby County courthouse in Memphis, Tennessee, on Thursday this week, however court documents show that a Memphis judge blocked the sale after Keough sought a temporary restraining order and filed a lawsuit.

The foreclosure allegedly occurred after Elvis’ daughter, the late Lisa Marie Presley, used Graceland as collateral to secure a $3.8 million loan from a company called Naussany Investments and Private Lending in 2018, but she failed to pay it off before she died last year.  Keough was granted virtual control of Graceland Mansion and much of Elvis’ estate after her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, died.  She alleges in the suit that the creditor’s paperwork on a $3.8 million loan to Graceland trustees, with a deed of trust on the compound pledged as collateral, is fraudulent. Keough claims in the lawsuit that Naussany Investments “appears to be a false entity created for the purpose” of defrauding her family. The lawsuit also says Keough’s mother “never borrowed money” from the company, or gave them a deed of trust to Graceland, and further alleges that documents claiming otherwise “are forgeries.” The suit alleges the foreclosure sale would thus be “non-judicial” and based on lien paperwork that violates Tennessee law.

In a statement, Elvis Presley Enterprises, the entity that runs Graceland and the assets of the Elvis Presley Trust, suggested the sale is a scheme: “Elvis Presley Enterprises can confirm that these claims are fraudulent. There is no foreclosure sale. Simply put, the counter lawsuit has been filed is to stop the fraud.”  According to CBS affiliate in Memphis WREG, an attorney for Keough says a temporary restraining order was granted Monday. A judge will consider Keough’s court filing in a hearing on Wednesday.

Built in 1939, Graceland Mansion was purchased by Elvis in 1957, where he lived until his death in 1977.  Five years later it was opened to the public as a music history theme park, where it currently attracts roughly 600,000 visitors a year, according to the venue.  Graceland was named to the American National Register of Historic Places in 1991; it is also the final resting place for Elvis and his daughter, Lisa Marie.

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Jennifer Lopez and Simu Liu star in the latest trailer for Netflix‘s upcoming sci-fi movie Atlas.

The trailer for Atlas, written by Leo Sardarian and Aron Eli Coleite and directed by Brad Peyton (San Andreas), sees Liu introduced as the AI character Harlan, whom counter-terrorism analyst Atlas Shepherd (Lopez) has long hunted. Harlan is shown to have nearly ended humanity after first being engineered to advance it.

Sterling K. Brown, Gregory James Cohan, Abraham Popoola, Lana Parrilla and Mark Strong also star in the film.

Atlas premieres May 24; take a look at the trailer – here.

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Steve Carell, 61, has joined the cast of the Netflix comedy The Four Seasons, starring alongside Tina Fey in the upcoming series.

The Four Seasons, co-created and written by Fey with ’30 Rock’ collaborators Tracey Wigfield and Lang Fisher, is based on the 1981 film of the same name which was written, directed by and starred Alan Alda. The original The Four Seasons followed three New York couples as they vacation together during each of the four seasons.

The series will mark Fey’s first starring TV role since 30 Rock, which concluded in 2013 after seven seasons on NBC. Carell’s recent TV credits include the Apple TV+ series The Morning Show and the FX limited series The Patient; he has voice roles in the upcoming films IF, and Despicable Me 4.

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Netflix is teasing the new thriller series Eric, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. The streaming service shared a trailer for the show featuring Cumberbatch, who ‘plays a desperate father whose world becomes unraveled.’

Eric, written and created by Abi Morgan (‘The Iron Lady’, ‘Shame’) and directed Lucy Forbes (‘This is Going to Hurt’), stars Cumberbatch as New York puppeteer Vincent, the creator of the hit children’s show Good Day Sunshine, whose life unravels when his nine-year-old son, Edgar, goes missing on the way to school. The trailer shows Vincent create Eric, a blue monster puppet inspired by his son’s drawings, and become convinced that the puppet is the key to bringing Edgar home.

Showrunner Morgan told Netflix’s Tudum that “Eric is a dark and crazy journey into the heart of 1980s New York — and the good, bad, and ugly world of Vincent.” Gaby Hoffmann, McKinley Belcher III and Ivan Howe also star.

Eric premieres May 30; take a look at the trailer: here.

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