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The Penguin is one of the best comic book shows in recent years. If the series maintains its current quality, it will undoubtedly be regarded as one of the greatest superhero shows of all time. Currently airing on HBO, four out of eight episodes have been released as of this writing.

While Colin Farrell’s charismatic portrayal of The Penguin is the show’s centerpiece, we’ve noted multiple times that Cristin Milioti’s Sofia Falcone has emerged as a breakout character and a true scene-stealer.

Her backstory was further developed in Episode 4, “Cent’anni,” which garnered widespread acclaim from both critics and fans, earning the title of the best episode so far. In a recent interview, showrunner Lauren LeFranc revealed the real-life inspiration behind Sofia’s story, and that’s what we’ll be discussing in this article.

While The Penguin draws inspiration from various comic books, showrunner Lauren LeFranc shared that Matt Reeves,...

The Penguin is one of the best comic book shows in recent years, and if the series manages to maintain the same level of quality to the end, it will also remain one of the best superhero shows of all time, without a doubt.

The series is currently airing on HBO, with four out of eight episodes aired as of the time of writing.

Of course, Collin Farrel’s charismatic interpretation of The Penguin is the focus of the show. But we have written on multiple occasions that Cristin Milioti’s Sofia Falcone has been the series’ breakthrough character and a proper scene-stealer.

Her backstory was better explained in Episode 4 of the series, “Cent’anni,” for which Milioti received widespread praise from critics and fans, with the episode being labeled as the best one to date.

In a recent discussion, showrunner Lauren LeFranc revealed the real-life inspiration behind Sofia’s...

The question of which U.S. state Springfield is situated in has been a long-running gag on The Simpsons. Is it Oregon? Missouri? Some kind of extradimensional state that allows us to see multiple parallel realities at once?

Back in 2007, that debate was the subject of a promotional contest tied to the release of The Simpsons Movie. Real-life Springfields were invited by USA Today to compete for the opportunity to host the film’s premiere, and therefore become forever associated with America’s dumbest, most radioactive waste-filled town.

Each Springfield had to submit a three- to five-minute video showing off their town. Springfield, Minnesota declined to participate, claiming that they were “nothing like the dysfunctional town on the TV show” (though they did have a monorail at one point), while Springfield, Ohio ultimately participated, even though some residents worried that they would “come off looking like a bunch of buffoons.

ABC News’ political director Rick Klein has been named vice president and Washington D.C. bureau chief for the network.

Klein has been a member of the ABC’s team in Washington D.C. since 2007 and will now oversee bureau operations and manage all news teams based there on breaking news, daily coverage and special events. He will also oversee all political coverage, including the network’s Sunday morning public affairs program, This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

ABC News is scheduled to host the next presidential debate on Sept. 10, with World News Tonight anchor David Muir and ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis. President Biden sat down with ABC News for his first interview after the June 27 debate hosted on CNN.

“As a seasoned and highly respected journalist, Rick is uniquely qualified to lead our Washington bureau at such a pivotal moment in our nation’s history. His years...

In response to a lawsuit by Rolling Stone and National Security Counselors, the Department of Justice has turned over two tranches of FBI documents related to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Rolling Stone’s Freedom of Information Act request, filed hours after the announcement of his death in November 2023, seeks expedited processing of FBI files related to the former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor to President Nixon. Kissinger is widely considered to be a war criminal for his role in the bombing of Cambodia, a coup in Chile,...

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has disclosed a series of health issues he has faced in recent years, one of which involves a worm-like parasite that entered his brain but ultimately died.

Kennedy, 70, recounted his severe memory loss and mental fog in 2010, which prompted him to consult renowned neurologists familiar with his late uncle Sen. Ted Kennedy’s medical history. After a brain scan, a New York doctor suggested that Kennedy’s health problems could potentially be attributed to a worm that had entered his brain and consumed a portion of it before it died. In a deposition related to his divorce from his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, in 2012, Kennedy expressed that these cognitive issues had negatively impacted his earning potential.

In that same period, Kennedy also experienced mercury poisoning, a condition associated with neurological symptoms such as peripheral vision loss, muscle weakness, movement difficulties, hearing and speech impairment,...

On Thursday afternoon, members of the Kennedy endorsed President Joe Biden at a campaign rally in Philadelphia.

Biden’s rally in Philadelphia is the last major stop in a three-day swing through Pennsylvania.

During this trip, he laid out his economic and tax agenda and attacked former President Donald Trump as an enemy of working people.

Kennedy family members approached the Biden team and requested a joint event for the endorsements.

Joseph Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Rory Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy, Maxwell Kennedy and Christopher Kennedy backed Biden during this rally.

The event is a further rejection of their family member and independent presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The president’s campaign released a list of 15 Kennedys scheduled to appear at this rally but also mentioned that other family members would endorse him.

Joe Kennedy III, a former Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, introduced Biden at a second event.

“We can say today,...

Joe Biden was joined by members of the Kennedy family in Philadelphia today to promote their endorsement of the president, a conspicuous rebuke of the independent bid of Robert Kennedy Jr.

Kerry Kennedy, Rfk Jr.’s sister, introduced Biden at the event, noting that “nearly every grandchild of Joe and Rose Kennedy supports Joe Biden. That’s right, the Kennedy family endorses Joe Biden for president.”

She was joined by 14 other relatives. They include siblings Rory, Joe, Chris, Max and Kathleen, as well as Joe Kennedy III, who serves as a special envoy to Northern Ireland.

Kerry Kennedy said that “in 2024 there are only two candidates with any chance of winning the presidency. We know that well.”

Rfk Jr.’s campaign could prove consequential to Biden’s prospects, especially if he is able to secure ballot access in key swing states and siphon votes way from the president’s reelection effort.

Update: Robert Kennedy Jr. apologized to family members for a Super Bowl spot that mimicked an ad run by his uncle John F. Kennedy during his 1960 presidential run.

“I’m so sorry if the Super Bowl advertisement caused anyone in my family pain,” Kennedy wrote on X/Twitter. “The ad was created and aired by the American Values Super Pac without any involvement or approval from my campaign. Fec rules prohibit Super PACs from consulting with me or my staff. I love you all. God bless you.”

Kennedy did pin the ad to his X/Twitter account, where it remains.

Bobby Shriver, Kennedy’s cousin, objected to the spot, writing that his mother Eunice “would be appalled by his deadly health care views.” Mark Shriver wrote that he agreed with that sentiment against the ad, and Maria Shriver retweeted her brother’s objections.

The spot was from the American Values...

Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who was an influential partner to her husband, Jimmy Carter, in his unlikely rise to the Georgia governor’s mansion, then to the White House and later in his impactful post-presidency, died today at the age of 96, the Carter Center announced.

Carter, who suffered from dementia, entered hospice care on Friday. She died at 2:10 p.m. Et at her and her husband’s home in Plains, Ga, the center said.

Jimmy Carter said in a statement, “Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished. She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.” The Carters were married for 77 years, the longest of any presidential couple. The former president, now 99, entered hospice care earlier this year.

As first lady from 1977 to 1981, Carter used her platform...

Matthew Perry, who rose to major fame playing Chandler Bing on the smash hit NBC comedy “Friends” from 1994 to 2004, is dead. He was 54,

The actor was found unresponsive Saturday at around 4 p.m. in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home. First responding paramedics were unable to revive him. It’s unclear if his death was caused by drowning or cardiac arrest, but there were evidently no drugs found at the scene nor evidence of foul play. Perry had a long and storied history of substance abuse.

Born in Williamstown, Massachusetts on August 19, 1969, Perry was raised in Ottawa, Canada. His mother, Suzanne Morrison, was a journalist and press secretary to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. (His stepfather is “Dateline’s” Keith Morrison.) Perry moved to Los Angeles as a teenager to pursue an acting career. He made his television debut in 1979 on an episode of “240-Robert” and in the...

Matthew Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on Friends, has died. He was 54.

The actor was found unconscious late this afternoon at his L.A. home by first responders who were unable to revive him, law enforcement sources told Deadline.

Perry’s death is considered an ongoing investigation, we hear.

Throughout his career, Perry struggled with addiction, which he detailed in his memoir “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” published last year.

“I really lived life to its fullest and that got me in trouble from time to time,” he said in a US Weekly interview several years ago.

Perry made his television debut in 1979 on an episode of 240-Robert. He would go on to book roles in shows like Not Necessarily the News (1983), Charles in Charge (1985), Silver Spoons (1986), Just the Ten of Us (1988) and Highway to Heaven (1988). Perry would be a series regular on Boys Will be Boys...

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-mn), who represents a suburban Minneapolis congressional district, launched a challenge to President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination.

His announcement has been expected for weeks, as Phillips, 54, warns that Biden’s age and low approval mean that he very likely may lose to Donald Trump next year. Trump has a wide lead against the GOP field.

In an interview with CBS News’ Robert Costa on CBS Mornings, Phillips said that he thinks Biden has “done a spectacular job for our country, but it is not about the past. This is an election about the future.”

“I will not sit still, I will not be quiet in the face of numbers that are so clearly saying that we going to be facing an emergency next November,” he said.

In the interview and in his campaign video, Phillips said that now was the time to “pass the torch” to a new generation.

Mitt Romney’s new book Romney: A Reckoning, written by McKay Coppins, shares the politician’s blunt assessments of his fellow Republicans.

Romney recounts an interaction he and former president Donald Trump shared at a New England Patriots game. The two were guests of the owner Robert Kraft.

Coppins writes, “Trump sidled up to Romney’s son Josh and pointed at a leggy brunette across the room. ‘Have you seen my girlfriend, Melania?’ he asked, smirking. ‘When I drop her, the phone is gonna ring off the hook. Every guy in New York wants to go out with her.’”

Romney and Trump have a social history since the mid-1990s.

The Washington Post had previously written, “In the 1990s, Romney began cultivating influential people who might become key supporters of a political campaign. Two months after his failed 1994 campaign for the Senate seat held by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts...

Christopher Nolan will be honored by the Federation of American Scientists for his cinematic portrait of J. Robert Oppenheimer in Universal’s Oppenheimer this November. The five-time Oscar nominee will be bestowed with the org’s Public Service Award which recognizes outstanding work in science policy and culture.

The awards ceremony, which will take place in Washington D.C next month, revives a decades-long tradition that began in 1971, which honors the contributions of a diverse group of scientists, policymakers, and tastemakers in pursuit of advancements in science and technology.

“Nolan’s film depicts the scientists who formed Fas in the fall of 1945 as the ‘Federation of Atomic Scientists’ to communicate the dangers of nuclear weapons to the public. We continue to pursue their vision of a safer world, especially as current events remind us that those dangers are real and resurgent,” Fas CEO Daniel Correa said.

Nolan tells Deadline, “I...

Veteran entertainment publicist Andrew Freedman died Feb. 8 in New York after being diagnosed with liver cancer in August. He was 67.

Freedman worked with clients including Gayle King, Barbara Walters, Joan Collins, Margo Martindale, Christopher McDonald and Harry Shearer. Prior to his career as a publicist, Freedman served as communications specialist to Sen. Ted Kennedy during his 1980 presidential campaign, which was followed by his campaign work for Sen. George McGovern in South Dakota and Reps. Jim Howard and Andy Maguire in New Jersey.

Following his campaigning involvement, from 1984-1991 Freedman worked at NBC and served as a spokesman for the network’s programming. Freedman oversaw the network’s press operation for the U.S.-Russian Reykjavík and Geneva summits, the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the network’s presidential election coverage and managed media relations for NBC Nightly News, “Meet the Press” and the “Today” show.

By 1990, Freedman launched Andrew E. Freedman Public Relations,...

Andrew Freedman, the news and entertainment publicist who ran the New York-based Andrew E. Freedman Public Relations for more than three decades, died February 8 following a cancer diagnosis last year. He was 67.

His death was announced by sons Al and Chris on the firm’s website.

Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Related Story Crime Procedural 'Archie & Pete' In The Works At Fox From Amy Holden Jones & Matt Nix Related Story Hilary Weisman Graham Tapped As Co-Showrunner For CBS' 'The Never Game' Starring Justin Hartley

“To us, he was our best friend, our biggest supporter, our inspiration, and our hero,” Al and Chris Freedman said of their father. “We’re thankful that he’s without pain and with our beloved mother, Patty, and our family dog Riley.”

Born on March 26, 1955, Freedman’s first major PR post came within the news division of NBC during the 1980s.

Andrew Freedman, the veteran news and entertainment publicist whose clients included Gayle King, Barbara Walters, Joan Collins, Margo Martindale, Christopher McDonald and Harry Shearer, has died. He was 67.

Freedman died Feb. 8 at Mount Sinai West hospital in New York, his son Chris told The Hollywood Reporter. He was diagnosed with liver cancer in August.

Freedman served as a senior spokesman for all NBC News programming from 1984-91 — managing media relations for NBC Nightly News, Meet the Press and the Today show — then was vp corporate communications for Special Olympics International for a year.

Those jobs overlapped with the launch of Andrew E. Freedman Public Relations in 1990 in New York.

His wife of 30 years and business partner, actress Patty Dworkin, died in February 2017 of breast cancer at age 64. She appeared on Broadway with Jackie Gleason, on TV shows including Eight Is Enough and The Love Boat and in such films as Airplane II and Mr. Mom.

Tl;Dr:

John Lennon discussed what might have happened had President John F. Kennedy lived.He compared people’s feelings toward the former president with their feelings toward The Beatles.John sang about Kennedy and other important people in one of his songs. President John F. Kennedy | Central Press/Getty Images

John Lennon had a lot to say about President John F. Kennedy. In addition, he compared Kennedy to Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. John even mentioned Kennedy in one of his famous solo songs.

John Lennon said President John F. Kennedy was ‘a big dream for everybody’ for 1 reason

The book Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon includes an interview from 1980. In it, John discussed Kennedy at length. “Kennedy is a big dream for everybody because he didn’t live to fulfill or let us down,” he said.

“It’s not to negate what Kennedy was and what he means to people,...

Meet Jack Schlossberg, JFK's only grandson. The 29-year-old descendent of John F. Kennedy has taken after the late 35th president in a number of ways, even enrolling at his alma mater, Harvard University, which John, Bobby and Ted Kennedy all attended.  This week, Schlossberg celebrated his graduation from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School by sharing a photo of himself holding up cupcakes with the school's crest. A second shot showed him in a library, while a third displayed a banner marking his recent graduation. Though Schlossberg often avoids posting personal photos on Instagram, he again popped up in public life two years...

Harry Reid, the by-turns scrappy, mild-mannered and acid-tongued former Democratic Senate leader, has died of pancreatic cancer. Reid was 82.

Reid was a dominating figure in Democratic politics for decades, using his home base in Nevada to rise to the top of the Senate. As majority leader from 2007 to 2015, Reid proved a steady hand, guiding passage of the bank bailouts, the Recovery Act and the Dodd/Frank re-regulation of Wall Street. He also won the landmark passage of Obamacare in 2010. Serving in Congress for more than three decades, Reid left his...

Update, with reactions Anne Beatts, an original Saturday Night Live writer who created some of the show’s earliest breakthrough characters, among them the nerdy high schoolers Todd DILAMuca and Lisa Loopner, died yesterday. She was 74.

Her death was announced in a tweet by SNL original cast member Laraine Newman. A cause of death has not been disclosed.

“Struggling to find adequate and appropriate descriptive words to describe her singular self,” tweeted Sarah Jessica Parker, who starred in the Beatts-created 1982 CBS sitcom Square Pegs. “I need time. Cause I’m coming up short. Gosh, she was really something. Rip Anne. Thank you. For memories very few 17/18 yr olds get to make. X, Sj”

Beatts began her career in comedy writing with a stint at National Lampoon magazine, becoming the Harvard Lampoon spin-off’s first female editor. She wrote one of the magazine’s most notorious spoofs – an ad for the...

Jason Clarke plays the youngest Kennedy brother, self-pityingly facing prosecution and trying to salvage his political career, in this over-lenient film

“I learned a great lesson from Chappaquiddick … don’t drive over narrow bridges when you’re pissed out of your mind.” This gag from the BBC’s 1970s sketch show Not the Nine O’Clock News, with Griff Rhys Jones playing a sombre Ted Kennedy, perfectly encapsulates his cynicism and self-pity. It seems to me more apposite than this lenient movie about Chappaquiddick, which now belatedly appears in the UK, starring Jason Clarke as Kennedy, scripted by first-time feature writers Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan, and directed by John Curran.

While driving back in darkness from a party at Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts in July 1969, Kennedy’s car went off a narrow bridge into the water. Kennedy swam clear, but his passenger drowned: Mary Jo Kopechne, a woman who had...

Most of the time, Joe Biden is so middle of the road that they should name that yellow line after the former vice president – regardless if he wins the election next month or not.

“There’s not one single syllable I’ve ever said that could lead you to believe that I was a socialist or a communist,” Biden declared in Miami tonight at an NBC Nightly News town hall with Lester Holt in classic Mor fashion.

“Do I look like a socialist? I’m the guy who ran against the socialist,” Biden noted of his primary victories over now loyal supporter Sen. Bernie Sanders when a question sought to trip him up over appealing to GOP leaning Cuban and Venezuelan voters who are being told he is a prisoner of the left. “I’ve taken on the Castros of this world, the Putins of this world,” Biden added. “I...

The Kennedy family has lost a beloved member.  Jean Kennedy Smith, the last surviving sibling of late former President John F. Kennedy, has died. The former diplomat was 92 years old and died in Manhattan on Wednesday night, her daughter Kym Smith confirmed to NBC News, noting her mother "lived an amazing life." That life began in February 1928 as Joseph Kennedy and Rose Kennedy's youngest daughter and the eighth of nine children, which famously included the 35th president of the United States, as well as late former Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy.  "My parents felt very strongly, my mother in particular, for if you have a happy...

Our guest today on Crew Call is two-time Oscar nominated and Primetime Emmy-winning composer Nicholas Britell whose classical score for the second season of HBO’s Succession continues to evoke the onscreen emotions of the complex, warring adult childs of media magnate Logan Roy (Brian Cox) in the Jesse Armstrong-created series.

Season 2 for Britell centers around the turnaround of Roy scion Kendall (Jeremy Strong), who was significantly humbled in the season 1 finale after trying to takeover his father’s Waystar Royco, ultimately getting himself into a Ted Kennedy-like-Chappaquiddick situation at his sister’s wedding in England. Kendall is quietly under the thumb of papa Logan, and eats plenty of crow in season 2, but the tables turn. And it’s Britell’s score that beautifully accentuates the fall and rise of Kendall as he looks to reclaim power over his siblings of his father’s media empire, which is...

Sherrod Brown has always defied easy categorization. A Yale graduate from a well-off family, he became a state representative in Ohio at the age of 21 and spent his free time in local union halls, absorbing the stories of auto and steelworkers. In the 1990s and 2000s, when Bill Clinton and the New Democrats preached the gospel of globalization, Brown, then a congressman, warned about the ugly consequences of free-trade deals like Nafta — jobs shipped overseas, factories abandoned, towns and cities hollowed out. During the Obama years, Brown, now in the U.

I’m such a big Nasa nerd that when the 1202 alarm went off during an Apollo 11 simulation in For All Mankind, Apple TV+’s new alternate history of the space race, I immediately knew it was the same alert that in real life nearly scuttled the first lunar landing. I’m such a big Nasa nerd that as soon as it was established that the show’s lead astronauts, Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) and Gordo Stevens (Michael Dorman), were on the Apollo 10 mission that came within a few hundred...

Capitol Hill media figures took a break from ongoing impeachment coverage on Thursday evening to honor NBC News Correspondent Kelly O’Donnell with a career achievement award.

O’Donnell is the first woman to receive the Radio & Television Correspondents Association’s Career Achievement Award for Distinguished Reporting on Congress. A 25-year veteran of the network, O’Donnell quipped, “Could I ask this of the Rtca board. Could we call this the ‘Mid-Career Achievement Award’?”

Also honored at the event were Mary Bruce, ABC News’ senior congressional correspondent, who won the Joan S. Barone Award for political reporting in the past year. She covered the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. The BBC’s Clive Myrie won the David Bloom Award for his reporting on the source of the opioid crisis. CNN’s Kim Uhl received the Jerry Thompson Memorial Award, recognizing career achievement in photojournalism.

O’Donnell has covered not just Capitol Hill,...

Australian actor Jason Clarke is a rare breed — the character actor leading man. He gives a virtuoso performance as Grigory Potemkin, opposite Helen Mirren, in the new HBO mini-series Catherine The Great. He also stars in Pet Cemetery, Dawn of the Planet of The Apes, Terminator Genysis, Zero Dark Thirty, and won accolades for his portrayal of Ted Kennedy in Chappaquiddick. In this half hour he talks about his love of research, his dedication to the text, being there for the other actor, and the uselessness of fame. Plus much more! Back To One can be found wherever you […]...

Australian actor Jason Clarke is a rare breed — the character actor leading man. He gives a virtuoso performance as Grigory Potemkin, opposite Helen Mirren, in the new HBO mini-series Catherine The Great. He also stars in Pet Cemetery, Dawn of the Planet of The Apes, Terminator Genysis, Zero Dark Thirty, and won accolades for his portrayal of Ted Kennedy in Chappaquiddick. In this half hour he talks about his love of research, his dedication to the text, being there for the other actor, and the uselessness of fame. Plus much more! Back To One can be found wherever you […]...

In times of tragedy, Katherine Schwarzenegger understands the importance of holding her loved ones close.  One day after the Kennedy family laid 22-year-old Saoirse Kennedy Hill to rest in their native Massachusetts, Katherine is reflecting on the time they spent together in a heartfelt Instagram post.  "After wiping away the tears, after the beautiful sunsets, there is always a new day," the 29-year-old daughter of Maria Shriver, who is a niece of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy, wrote. "It's not the big events or pretty things that hold you up at the end of the day, it's family." Maria and Saoirse were cousins, making...

There’s a long list of celebrities who deserve to compete on “Dancing with the Stars” when the series returns this fall for its 28th season, and ABC entertainment president Karey Burke recently said they’re “going after bigger stars than we have in a long time.” Below is a list of male celebs I think the show should consider inviting to vie for the Mirror Ball Trophy (and check our my female cast suggestions here). Do you agree with my picks? Vote in our poll at the bottom of this post to let us know which (if any) of them you’d most like to see on “DWTS.” And feel free to let us know in comments what other stars you would like to see when the show comes back in September.

Brandon Victor Dixon

After receiving Tony nominations for Broadway’s “The Color Purple” (2006) and “Shuffle Along” (2016), Dixon...

Exclusive: Director John Curran is taking to the ice to direct Turk, a biopic based on the rise, fall and redemption story of 1970s Boston Bruins hockey star Derek Sanderson. The Chappaquiddick helmer is attached to direct a script written by Boston-based author Casey Sherman, who also wrote the book on which it was based. The film will be produced under Sherman’s Fort Point Media banner with Black Mass producer Michael Bassick and Sherman’s partner Dave Wedge.

Deadline exclusively reported the news about Turk last month. The titular “Turk” Sanderson was a key cog of the Bruins’ 1970 and 1972 Stanley Cup victories — he assisted on Bobby Orr’s iconic Cup-winning Ot goal in ’70, when he was named the NHL rookie of the year and became a pop culture star with his bachelor good looks. In 1972, he bolted the NHL to sign the highest-paying contract in pro sports history with...

It is easy to think that there’s nothing left to be said, and even less to be seen, about the flight that took place on July 16th, 1969 — one that took three men hundreds of thousands of miles away from earth and let two of them step foot on the moon. The countdown to lift-off, that massive flaming metal ring that drops away and burns in the stratosphere, the mirror-helmeted figure planting a flag on the lunar surface, “One small step for man …”: you don’t have to been...

To create the year’s first must-see documentary, director Todd Douglas Miller worked with Nasa to restore fascinating unseen footage from 1969

A man sips a beer, eyeing the horizon from a Florida parking lot. Nasa techs sit in a lobby as headlines blare of Ted Kennedy’s car crash in Chappaquiddick. They’re two of the many striking details – ordinary, recognizable moments amid one of humankind’s most extraordinary achievements – restored to full vitality in Apollo 11, an all-primary source documentary, meticulously restored. The 93-minute documentary, released for a limited time in the Us on Imax before a wider release, and to be shown in museums later this year, captures the first moon mission and its spectators in the visceral, wide-lens color of cinema epics – an achievement in historical preservation that hinged on the discovery of long-unopened boxes idling in archives.

Related: Apollo 11 review – eye-opening documentary is a five-star triumph

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Some big things have come from sharks — Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, Steven Spielberg’s career and “Sharknado,” to name a few. Showbiz mogul Byron Allen used one to launch his theatrical distribution company, Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures.

“I studied all of the release patterns, genres and movies, and noticed that a shark movie opening in the summer never fails,” Allen says. So less than a year after his company purchased vet distributor Freestyle Releasing in 2015, he walked down the beach to his Malibu neighbor Bob Weinstein, having heard that Dimension’s “47 Meters Down” was having trouble getting released, and went in for the kill.

“I said, ‘If I [offer] 3 million bucks, are we done?’ Next thing I know, he calls and says, ‘You know that movie you bought from me on the beach? There are 10,000 DVD units on trucks heading to video stores all across America.’ ”

Allen wired the payment,...

12:33 Pm Pt -- Katherine is showing off her engagement ring after grabbing breakfast Monday with her younger sister, Christina ... check out that rock on her ring finger!   8:32 Am Pt -- It appears Anna Faris is excited for the new couple too, commenting, "I'm so happy for you both!! Congratulations!"Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger are engaged!!! Chris posted this Monday Am ... "Sweet Katherine, so happy you said yes! I'm thrilled to be marrying you.

1. “A Star Is Born”

The beauty of Bradley Cooper’s romantic drama is that it finds a way to re-imagine old-school Hollywood classicism as something contemporary yet timeless. The soap-opera beats are all in place, and they pay off with all the grandeur you hope for, but as directed by Cooper with a slow-burn voyeuristic spaciousness, “A Star Is Born” is like something from the ’70s — not just a melodramatic weeper but a journey. Lady Gaga, in her captivating movie-star debut, plays the beguiling songstress Ally — innocent, spirited, calculating, loving — as someone who echoes Gaga herself while remaining her own mystery creation. (Does Ally hold onto herself as an artist or become part of the machine? The answer is both.) And Cooper, in a performance of broken-down shaggy power, creates the most lived-in hellbent movie rock star in a generation. Their acting meshes so intimately that the entire movie feels like a dance.

Entertainment Studios boss Byron Allen is seriously interested in buying Tribune Media, The New York Post reports.

Allen shelled out $300 million for the Weather Channel in April, and he’ll be up against three other bidders for Tribune. It’s the company’s second go-round on the auction block.

The FCC blocked Tribune’s sale to Sinclair Broadcasting three months ago in what was to be a $3.9 billion deal. The market cap for Tribune, which includes New York-based Wpix-tv and Chicago’s Wgn, is at $3.4 billion.

Tom Hicks Jr., the head of private equity firm Hicks Equity Partners, and head of America First, a super Pac connected with President Trump, has submitted a joint bid for Tribune with Cerberus Capital. The Post reports that Allen’s rival bid has backing from Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

Also vying for Tribune Media is Nexstar Media Group and Leon Black’s Apollo Global Management.

Longtime distribution executive Mark Borde is leaving his post as president of Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures.

Borde held the post for three years following the 2015 sales of his Freestyle Releasing to Allen who then formed Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures. The distributor’s top performers have been shark thriller “47 Meters Down,” which grossed $44 million domestically; Christian Bale’s western “Hostiles” ($29.8 million); and Ted Kennedy drama “Chappaquidick” ($17 million).

Borde has been a part of the independent movie business as a distributor, a film producer, a theater owner, and as a voting member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences in the Producers Branch.

“Mark Borde, a second-generation movie distribution entrepreneur, co-founded Freestyle Releasing over 17 years ago with the late, great Susan Jackson,” Allen said. “One day at lunch in 2015, Mark graciously agreed to sell me the company, instantly putting our corporation into the movie business. Since acquiring Freestyle,...

Mark Borde, president of the theatrical motion picture distribution unit at Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios, is leaving the company after three years in the position, the company announced Monday.

In 2015, Borde sold his Freestyle Releasing to Allen, who then formed Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures. Borde was an executive producer behind Entertainment Studios’ “47 Meters Down,” Christian Bale’s “Hostiles” and the Ted Kennedy thriller “Chappaquiddick.”

Back in October, TheWrap reported that Entertainment Studios was “aggressively” pursuing mergers after launching an international sales and distribution division and raising $500 million in credit facilities. The company said the money raised would be used for general business purposes: productions, co-productions and acquisitions.

Also Read: Mel Gibson's 'Boss Level' Lands at Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios

Borde has been a part of the independent movie business as a distributor, a film producer, a theater owner, and is a voting member of the Academy.

Richard Roxburgh in ‘Rake’ (Photo: ABC)

Richard Roxburgh is playing Grigory Orlov, a former lover of the 18th Century Russian Empress in the HBO/Sky UK miniseries Catherine the Great.

Helen Mirren is playing the title role in the four-part drama written by Nigel Williams which is now shooting in palaces and on sets in Russia, Latvia and Lithuania.

With his brother Alexei (Kevin McNally) Roxburgh’s character helped orchestrate the coup that brought Catherine to power. Gina McKee is Countess Bruce, her lifelong friend and confidant, with Joseph Quinn as Prince Paul, Catherine’s son and heir.

Rory Kinnear is Minister Panin, a skillful politician, adviser and governor to Prince Paul, and Sam Palladio as Alexander Vasilichikov, Catherine’s young lover.

Jason Clarke is Grigory Potemkin, a Russian military commander who became Catherine’s lover and favoured statesman. Despite scandal, intrigue and immense conflict, they had a devoted relationship...

Exclusive: Here’s the first look at American Dreamer, the new thriller directed by London Town helmer Derrick Borte and starring Jim Gaffigan. The pic from Storyland Pictures is having its world premiere Thursday at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Gaffigan, who made his bones as a stand-up comic, takes another jump into more dramatic fare. In this movie (and especially in this exclusive clip — don’t turn it up too loud at work) you almost can’t tell that’s Gaffigan playing Cam, a down-on-his-luck rideshare driver who makes extra cash chauffeuring a low-level drug dealer around town. He finds himself in a serious financial bind and, amid growing desperation, decides to kidnap the dealer’s child.

Robbie Jones, Tammy Blanchard, Alejenadro Hernandez, Eric Hill Jr and Isabel Arraiza co-star.

Borte...

On Friday, Bill Maher called for the return of Al Franken, and questioned the credibility of the women who accused the former senator of sexual harassment.

“Women should be heard and we should always keep in mind the vast majority of women reporting serious abuse are truthful. But women also didn’t completely lose the ability to lie in in 2017,” Maher said.

The comments came on HBO’s “Real Time,” during Maher’s “New Rules” segment. Maher said Donald Trump’s “kryptonite” is “being made fun of.”

Also Read: 'Alex Jones Gets to Speak': Bill Maher Defends Conspiracy Theorist Ousted From Social Media

“We need someone who can shred Trump like a stand up takes down a heckler. Because Trump is a heckler. And to fight him, we need a comedian,” Maher said. “It would be a great idea if Al Franken got back in the game.”

In November...

Christopher Lawford, a veteran actor and activist whose uncles were Ted, Robert and President John Kennedy and was the son of Peter Lawford, has died. He was 63. His cousin Kerry Kennedy announced the news on social media but gave no details:

We mourn the loss of my cousin Christopher Lawford, Rest in Peace.

Pictured here with our family at the 2004 Democratic Convention and with his wonderful son, David. pic.twitter.com/GLlCvN7xkv

— Kerry Kennedy (@KerryKennedyRFK) September 5, 2018

Lawford had dozens of film and TV credits during a 30-year acting career. He appeared in features ranging from Impulse and The Doors to Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Thirteen Days — a Cuban Missile Crisis tale that featured his uncles JFK and Rfk as characters. He also guested on such popular TV series as Frasier, Silk Stalkings, Chicago Hope and The O.C. He also appeared on the daytime soaps All My Children and General Hospital.

Former Vice President Joe Biden remembered his enduring friendship and bond with John McCain at a memorial for the late Senator in Phoenix, Arizona Thursday.

In a nod to their relationship, which crossed partisan lines, Biden opened his speech with the line, “My name’s Joe Biden. I’m a Democrat. And I love John McCain.” Biden added, “I always thought of John as a brother. We had a hell of a lot of family fights.”

"My name's Joe Biden. I'm a Democrat. And I love John McCain." (via ABC) pic.

For someone who talks a big game about respecting the military, President Trump spends a lot of time offending service members. His latest affront came after John McCain died Saturday. That night, the president reportedly nixed the released of a statement honoring McCain’s legacy, instead opting to fire off a perfunctory tweet that failed to commend the senator. The next morning, Trump occupied himself by attacking the Justice Department, and on Monday he ordered the American flags at the White House to return to full-staff, despite the tradition that...

Stars: Jason Clarke, Kate Mara, Ed Helms, Bruce Dern, Jim Gaffigan, Olivia Thirlby, Clancy Brown, Taylor Nichols, John Fiore, Gillian Mariner Gordon, Katie Henoch, Lexie Roth, Angela Hope Smith, Vince Tycer, Victor Warren | Written by Taylor Allen, Andrew Logan | Directed by John Curran

The Senator, also know as Chappaquiddick in its domestic Us territory has had a somewhat quick and lukewarm release internationally, yet garnered relatively positive reviews. The topic of Chappaquiddick itself is deeply tragic and mesmerizing moment of Us history involving Ted Kennedy. Whose surname may give away his notoriety be known as the brother of Us President John. F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Little is truly know about that fatal night of Friday, July the 18th, 1969, in which Kenndey veered his car off the side of bridge into the cold water of Chappaquiddick with insufficient facts and figures brought to the public and private attention surrounding the vent,...

Jason Clarke has been tapped to star opposite Helen Mirren in the HBO/Sky limited drama series Catherine the Great.

Written by Nigel Williams and directed by BAFTA and Emmy winner Philip Martin, the four-episode series is set against the politically tumultuous and sexually charged court of Russian empress Catherine the Great (Mirren). Catherine wielded supreme power throughout Russia for nearly half of the 18th century; strong-minded, independent, brilliantly intelligent and sexually liberated, she was the definition of the modern woman.

Produced by Origin Pictures and New Pictures, the limited series will follow Catherine toward the end of her reign and her passionate affair with Grigory Potemkin (Clarke), a Russian military commander who became Catherine’s lover, favored statesman and life-long friend. Amid scandal, intrigue and immense conflict, they develop a unique and devoted relationship, overcoming their adversaries and together...