Season seven of The CW’s The Vampire Diaries will find Caroline Forbes still grieving over the death of her mother and attempting to get her life back together. At the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con during roundtable interviews, Candice Accola explained where we’ll be picking up with Caroline as the new season begins on October 8th.
“Her main goal is to keep a friendship with Stefan and to distract herself. She’s trying to also combat the heretics and Lily and she’s very involved in that drama. We’re going to see how the town of Mystic Falls gets to be where it is, which we got a glimpse of at the end of season six. So, Caroline will be very busy.”
As to the question on Vampire Diaries fans’ minds – what’s going to happen this coming season between Caroline and Stefan (played by Paul Wesley) – Candice had this to say: “It will definitely a little bit more challenging than Caroline anticipated to figure out what kind of ‘ship’ she has with Stefan, whether it’s a friendship or a relationship. So we’re going to see her struggle being able to play it cool.”
What we likely won’t be seeing is Caroline following in her mother’s footsteps. “I don’t see Caroline putting on a badge anytime soon, but who knows? Maybe they’ve got bigger plans down the line. But I know we’re going to see that Matt is more the one who’s falling in line and taking over for Sheriff Forbes, which is nice,” revealed Accola. “We know how long the show has been on, but it’s nice to see the characters’ evolution as well, that he’s kind of becoming grown up and representing the humans of Mystic Falls in such a new way.”
We also won’t be seeing Caroline reuniting with Klaus on The Originals, according to Accola. “Not at this point,” said Accola, laughing. “I don’t know if Caroline would want to go visit Klaus but I know everyone else wants her to. But at this point, no.”
This upcoming season will find new characters introduced, including some who will get Caroline’s attention. “Caroline will definitely have some very fun interactions with the heretics and the women that are gathered around Lily. It kind of reminds me a little bit when Caroline met Rebekah, and she’s definitely got her guard up and her nose up a little bit to who these women are,” said Accola.
But, unfortunately, there won’t be much interaction between Caroline and Bonnie (played by Kat Graham) as season seven unfolds. “At this point, Caroline and Bonnie will be focused on taking care of themselves independently. Bonnie’s working to maintain her friendship with Damon while that obviously has a little bit of a strain on it considering that Elena’s life is tethered to Bonnie being alive,” offered Accola. “Caroline’s more focused on trying to mend her broken heart from her mother’s death. So, they’re together in the bigger spectrum of things but as we come into season seven that’s where they’ll be independently.”
A Scooby-Doo animated film is in the works at Warner Bros. Pictures, however it won’t arrive until September 21, 2018. The new adventure will find Scooby-Doo and the gang back on the big screen with Emmy nominee Tony Cervone directing, Dan Povenmire executive producing, and Matt Lieberman penning the script. Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, and Allison Abbate are on board as producers.
“Like countless fans, I have always loved the Hanna-Barbera cast of characters. As one of their most famous brand ambassadors, Scooby-Doo will take the lead in re-introducing this pantheon of enduringly popular animated stars on a grand scale with an exciting new movie,” stated Greg Silverman, President of Creative Development and Worldwide Production.
“It’s always a treat to see Scooby-Doo on the big screen and to share his larger-than-life adventures with audiences,” added Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution. “As anticipation grows throughout production, the movie’s mid-September release date should start the fall season with a burst of fun.”
And Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, President of Worldwide Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures said, “Scooby-Doo and his friends have the kind of universal appeal that reaches across cultures as well as generations. We expect this new take on the franchise to generate even more fans around the world.”
Warner Bros Pictures released the live-action Scooby-Doo film back in 2002 starring Freddie Prinze Jr, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, Linda Cardellini, and Isla Fisher. Guardians of the Galaxy writer/director James Gunn penned the script and Raja Gosnell (The Smurfs) directed. WB followed that Scooby-Doo film up with 2004’s Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed with the same teams in front of and behind the camera.
Hotel Hell follows Gordon Ramsay as he travels across America attempting to fix horrid hotels, awful inns and bed & breakfasts where you’d rather not sleep and definitely won’t want to eat breakfast.
After more than a decade of running restaurants in some of the top hotels around the world, Gordon knows first-hand the crucial importance of surpassing guests’ expectations. To get to grips with the problems, Ramsay will endure hotels at their worst so you don’t have to. From dirty bedrooms and mold-ridden bathrooms to incompetent staff or customer service that’s not up to par, Ramsay will work with the hotel owners and employees to turn these hapless establishments around.
Gordon is determined to give each location the competitive edge they need to survive in the cut-throat hospitality industry, so he’ll turn these struggling establishments upside down, from the bar staff to the bedrooms, the receptionists to the room service. As he tries to turn these “No”-tels into successful hotels, Ramsay – in his own inimitable style – will go head-to-head with the owners and staff, raising the tension to maximum capacity.
With reputations on the line, one thing is certain: if they can’t meet Gordon’s high standards, they will never check out of HOTEL HELL.
Tracy Morgan appears on NBC News’ ‘Today’ (Photo by Peter Kramer / NBC)
Tracy Morgan is still recovering from the devastating car accident he was involved in back in June 2014, however, he’s doing well enough to return to the Saturday Night Live stage this upcoming season. Morgan’s been tapped to host the October 17, 2015 episode, marking his second time as host. He appeared as a cast member on SNL for seven seasons.
NBC also announced Miley Cyrus will be the host of the 41st season of SNL‘s first episode. Cyrus will make her third appearance as host on October 3rd.
In addition, Amy Schumer will take on the SNL hosting gig for the very first time on October 10th. Schumer’s Trainwreck is currently playing in theaters and Amy Schumer: Live From the Apollo will premiere on October 17th.
NBC announced the hosts of the first three episodes, however, the musical guests were not announced. The network says they’ll be revealed at a later date.
Laura Regan says one of the reasons she wanted to be involved in Fox’s new sci-fi series Minority Report was that she was a huge fan of the Tom Cruise film that spawned the series. “I loved it, and I actually particularly loved the character of Agatha,” said Regan during our roundtable interviews at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con. “So it’s kind of very lucky for me.”
Both Regan and her co-star Wilmer Valderrama are big fans of sci-fi which made signing on to a series in the genre very appealing. “When I heard Harrison Ford’s voice in the new Star Wars trailer, I not only got goosebumps I got a little teary-eyed. I was like, ‘Wow, this is like a dream to see that character come to life again.’ You know, I feel like today not only technology but directors have reinvented the way we tell stories – the narrative stories – and based on the tools that we have today, the technology that we have today, imagine the stories that we can now tell.
Steven [Spielberg] has been that pioneer that creates new technology to tell a story. You go back to the movie…that was 2002…now when you look at the technology that we have now to tell that story today, the fact that he was able to pull that off in 2002 – imagine what he can do in 2015,” said Valderrama. “Therefore, take that technology to television and do it on the scale that the fans really want to see.”
Asked what, if anything, from the original movie helped inform their performances in the series and what about the film’s tone makes its way into the show, Regan replied, “I think the tone and feel [of the movie] there’s continuity into the series because we have when they went outside into the house that was where Tom Cruise’s wife lived it’s more like a lush green landscape and yet the city had more dark and threatening elements. There’s continuity in that. And, you know, of course just in the effects. The effects are unreal. I didn’t do much green screen stuff – a little bit – but there’s something that happens with my character. These guys are doing so much green screen stuff that when they see it afterward they’re like, ‘Wow!’ So there’s very much that going on and happening in the film.”
So who exactly are they playing? Regan describes Agatha as a very complicated individual. “She had a very strange history that she shares with Dash and she basically was a drug baby, was sort of a non-functioning human. They sort of were able to fix her but she had this accidental gift that she’s psychic. So when they realized this, she was basically put into service. She was exploited and from a very young age, as you remember from the film lying in a milk bath, sedated, and subject to these haunting, horrible visions. So, that’s her history,” explained Regan.
Regan added: “At the end of the film PreCrime is dismantled and here we are 10 years later. I think at this point at the beginning of the series my character has chosen to remove herself from that world and really ignore it. Isolation for her is really a form of maintaining her own sanity. But, if she were to be thrust back into that world – which she may well – I think she could really go many different directions. She could really be someone who, because she doesn’t trust anyone, she becomes more calculating herself. Or, maybe she acts out out of bitterness. Or, maybe she does take a benign approach. I’m not sure. Where she goes from here is a great journey for me.”
Valderrama plays Lt. Will Blake, Lara Vega’s (played by Meagan Good) boss. Will and Lara have had something in the past and that makes their relationship unique. They work well together and are a formidable team when it comes to solving cases. “I am more about the book. I believe in the program; I believe in the system and in the law and therefore he is climbing up the ladder fairly quickly because he’s the overachiever,” said Valderrama. “But she’s a little bit more rogue. She doesn’t mind going off the grid to try and figure something out. We’re going to see that clash a little bit throughout the process and eventually he may get some kind of information that she’s working with an informant. She’s definitely very good about solving these cases and eventually I go, ‘You’ve got to share that informant.’ He’ll find out that it’s a precog and how is he going to feel about that based on his character traits being by the book.”
A new trailer has arrived for the romantic drama Carol starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. StudioCanal UK just unveiled the trailer for the upcoming film from director Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven, Velvet Goldmine), based on The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, and adapted for the screen by Phyllis Nagy. The cast also includes Kyle Chandler, Jake Lacy, Cory Michael Smith, and Sarah Paulson.
The Plot: Set in 1950s New York, two women from very different backgrounds find themselves in the throes of love in CAROL. As conventional norms of the time challenge their undeniable attraction, an honest story emerges to reveal the resilience of the heart in the face of change.
A young woman in her 20s, Therese Belivet (Mara), is a clerk working in a Manhattan department store and dreaming of a more fulfilling life when she meets Carol (Blanchett), an alluring woman trapped in a loveless, convenient marriage. As an immediate connection sparks between them, the innocence of their first encounter dims, and their connection deepens.
While Carol breaks free from the confines of marriage, her husband (Chandler) threatens her competence as a mother when Carol’s involvement with Therese and close relationship with her best friend Abby (Paulson) comes to light. As Carol leaves the comfort of home to travel with Therese, an internal journey of self-discovery coincides with her new sense of space.
Warner Bros Pictures announced filming has begun on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them starring Eddie Redmayne as magizoologist Newt Scamander. The film is a return to J.K. Rowling’s world of wizards and has Harry Potter director David Yates (Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince, Deathly Hallows Part 1, Deathly Hallows Part 2) at the helm. Rowling wrote the script for the film which was inspired by the Hogwarts textbook of the same name.
In addition to Redmayne, the Fantastic Beasts cast includes Katherine Waterston as Tina, Alison Sudol as Queenie, Dan Fogler as Jacob, Ezra Miller as Credence, Samantha Morton as Mary Lou, Jenn Murray as Chastity, Faith Wood-Blagrove as Modesty, and Colin Farrell as Graves. Harry Potter producer David Heyman is back producing this Harry Potter spin-off. Rowling, Steve Kloves, and Lionel Wigram are also on board as producers.
Philippe Rousselot is the director of photography and Stuart Craig is the production designer. Colleen Atwood designed the costumes and Harry Potter editor Mark Day reunites with David Yates for Fantastic Beasts.
Filming is taking place at Leavesden in London, England. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in 3D and IMAX on November 18, 2016.
Teen Choice hosts Josh Peck, Gina Rodriguez and Ludacris (Photo: Ray Mickshaw / FOX)
The Teen Choice 2015 awards were held on August 16, 2015 with Ludacris, Josh Peck, and Jane the Virgin‘s Gina Rodriguez hosting, and after 25 million votes were cast the winners were announced during a ceremony that aired live on Fox. In addition to the presenters and winners, Empire‘s Jussie Smollett and Bryshere Gray, 5 Seconds of Summer, Rachel Platten, Little Mix, and Flo Rida & Robin Thicke took to the stage to perform.
Among the Teen Choice 2015 winners was Paul Walker who earned the Choice Movie Actor award posthumously for his performance in Furious 7. Pitch Perfect 2, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, Pretty Little Liars, and One Direction were some of this year’s biggest winners, and the Teen Choice voters also recognized Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, and The Vampire Diaries with multiple awards.
Disney’s Chairman Bob Iger took to the stage at the 2015 D23 Expo to break the news that Star Wars-themed lands will be coming to both Disneyland in Anaheim, CA and Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios in Florida. The announcement did not indicated when the Star Wars-themed lands would open in either location, but did include artist drawings of the proposed new lands.
Each land will be comprised of 14 acres and will, according to the official announcement, transport “guests to a never-before-seen planet, a remote trading port and one of the last stops before wild space where Star Wars characters and their stories come to life.” The parks’ largest ever theme land will feature a battle experience and the opportunity for visitors to fly the Millennium Falcon on a secret mission.
“I am thrilled to announce the next chapter in the long and exciting history between Disney Parks and Star Wars,” stated Iger. “We are creating a jaw-dropping new world that represents our largest single themed land expansion ever. These new lands at Disneyland and Walt Disney World will transport guests to a whole new Star Wars planet, including an epic Star Wars adventure that puts you in the middle of a climactic battle between the First Order and the Resistance.”
There’s no official word on where the new theme land will be located at Disneyland in Anaheim, however Disney fans have been speculating that it will be behind Toon Town.
Barricaded in her Paris apartment for the final decade of her life, Marlene Dietrich made a career out of being mysterious in her films as well as in real life. She never appeared in public after retiring from the silver screen.
It was different during her heyday. At the height of her career, she made a terrific impact with her strong, sensual screen image. Women adored her for her independent spirit. Men scrambled over each other to get what was available but couldn’t control her. They had to accept her as she was or not have her at all. Marlene was freedom personified.
Dietrich was the first German import to make an impact of such magnitude on the American — and world — public. She was born in the sinful city of Berlin on December 27, 1901. The first few decades of the 20th century saw Berlin become the center of European arts. Talented people flocked there to make their marks in the theatre, ballet, music, films, and politics.
While Germany was nurturing the budding Dietrich (born Maria Magdalene Dietrich), it was also cultivating someone who would later want to see Marlene dead: Adolph Hitler.
Young Marlene originally wanted to be a concert violinist. An injury prevented that direction of her career, so she turned to films as a lark to work as an extra. While she was languishing in the chorus of a stage revue, director Josef von Sternberg (born in Vienna in 1894 but raised in Queens, New York) discovered her. Von Sternberg was in Germany to direct German actor Emil Jannings in UFA Studio’s first talking picture, The Blue Angel. He needed a leading lady who exuded the raw sexuality of the vamp, Lola Lola.
He felt he invented the screen Dietrich and was later quoted as saying, “In my films, Marlene is not herself. Remember that Marlene is not Marlene. I am Marlene.” Dietrich became an overnight sensation. Paramount Studios signed both her and von Sternberg to contracts and brought them to Hollywood.
Von Sternberg directed Dietrich’s first seven films in Hollywood, and he transformed her into a glamorous woman of mystery. Her first film at Paramount’s Hollywood studios was Morocco (1930) in which she is seen traipsing across the desert in high heels and flowing gowns in hot pursuit of her man, the handsome Gary Cooper. Not very realistic, but glamorous. In 1931 she made Dishonored, in which she sacrificed her own life rather than betray her lover. Shanghai Express once again saw her self-sacrificing side when she gave up her body to save her leading man’s life.
When Blonde Venus completed the three-film bomb combo at the box office, Paramount hired Rouben Mamoulian to direct Song of Songs (1933). It didn’t amount to much, either.
In order to make Dietrich happy, the studio reteamed her with von Sternberg. She played Catherine the Great in Scarlet Empress in 1934, a film of startling images that helped her use her powers of sexuality to secure the throne. Her final film with her Svengali-like director was The Devil is a Woman (1935) in which she played a woman whose main goal was to ruin men’s lives.
While in England filming Knight Without Armor in 1937, she was approached by Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitler’s ambassador, with an offer to return to German films. Dietrich hated everything the Nazis stood for and snubbed the demonic dictator. Hitler was furious and banned her films from being shown in Germany. He also put her name at the top of his hit list.
In the meantime, Dietrich became an American citizen in 1939. Her film career began to fizzle with such lackluster films as Garden of Allah, Desire, and Angel. Those pictures drove audiences to cover their eyes in the theaters. Dubbed “box-office poison” (along with Katharine Hepburn!), she spent the next two years at home baking apple strudel.
What the dazzling star needed was another chance, and she got it in Destry Rides Again with James Stewart. The picture was a huge smash and it revitalized her career. She followed with the hit films Flame of New Orleans (1941) and The Spoilers (1942). Interspersed with her filmmaking, she gained the love and respect of French and American GIs by endangering her life to entertain troops overseas, often right at the front lines. She was wildly popular with the boys because she never failed to show off her beautiful legs, an item that was in short supply. She brought some much-needed feminine beauty to many remote battle areas. For her patriotism and courage, she was awarded the Congressional Medal of Freedom and the French Legion d’Honneur.
She didn’t make many distinguished films after the war. Among the very best were Billy Wilder’s A Foreign Affair (1948) and Alfred Hitchcock’s Stage Fright in 1950. One of her better parts was as a lady outlaw in Fritz Lang’s Rancho Notorious in 1952. It was four years before she appeared on screen again in a cameo for Mike Todd’s extravaganza Around the World in 80 Days, along with nearly every star in Hollywood.
As her film career waned, Dietrich found new fame and a whole legion of new, enthusiastic young fans when she began appearing in Las Vegas and in concerts around the world. She still possessed that elusive “star quality” when she appeared in a flesh-colored gown sprinkled with a few sequins that gave the impression she was nearly nude.
The world’s most glamorous grandmother — as Dietrich called herself — wound up her screen career with a few more guest-starring roles in Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil (1958) and in Judgement at Nuremberg. Dietrich’s final screen appearance was in a star cameo bit in Paris When it Sizzles in 1964 when she is seen swathed in white furs emerging legs first from a white Rolls Royce. She was glamorous to the end.
We won’t see the likes of Marlene Dietrich again. Dietrich died in her Paris apartment May 6, 1992. So long, Marlene, and see what the boys in the back room will have.
