Open Thread

Variety reports: A day after Don McLean pulled out of the NRA’s Memorial Day concert in Houston scheduled for this weekend, Larry Gatlin and Larry Stewart of Restless Heart have pulled out as well. The concert is part of a larger rally organized by the National Rifle Association, featuring speeches from former President Donald Trump, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Late-night hosts are brought in by networks to provide comic relief at their upfront presentations. But turns out Seth Meyers was only half joking when he told the thousands who had packed Radio City Music Hall for NBCUniversal’s presentation, “What a historic room to be able to tell people you got Covid in.” Ten days later, Covid …

Variety reports: For the past few years, Greta Van Susteren, one of the few anchors who can say they have been employed by CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel, has been working as a political analyst for Gray Television and doing a show for Voice of America. Now, she’s about to get back on the grid as an anchor leading …

Deadline Hollywood reports: There’s a lot of weird fetishes in this world, which we won’t go into, but for David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future, the new sex is surgery. The dystopian future, hipster pic starring Viggo Mortensen and Lea Seydoux as a performance art couple obsessed with being operated on, and the former getting his organs tattooed to club …

People Magazine reports: Kate McKinnon has officially departed Saturday Night Live after 10 years. The actress and comedian, 38, bid farewell to the late-night comedy sketch series over the weekend during the Natasha Lyonne-hosted season finale. McKinnon first appeared during the episode’s cold open, in the fan-favorite “Close Encounter” sketch, where she reprised her role of Miss Rafferty, a woman …

Variety reports: Pete Davidson, Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon and Kyle Mooney are all expected to leave “Saturday Night Live” after it ends its 47th season tonight, according to a person familiar with the matter. The actors’ departures are likely to draw a new burst of attention to the long-running program, which typically uses its summer hiatus to recalibrate its cast …

Broadway World reports: The Broadway League announced today that the owners and operators of all 41 Broadway theatres in New York City will extend the current mask requirement for audiences through at least June 30, 2022. Charlotte St. Martin, President of The Broadway League said, “We’re thrilled that nearly a quarter of a million people are attending Broadway shows weekly …

Variety reports: Universal Studios has released the first trailer for “Bros,” a meta gay rom-com written by and starring Billy Eichner. Premiering Sept. 30, the film is a major milestone as it is the first gay romantic comedy from a major studio featuring an entirely LGBTQ principal cast. In the trailer, Eichner’s character, Bobby Leiber, is seen on a podcast …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Tom Cruise was lauded with a surprise Palme d’or tonight at the Top Gun: Maverick premiere capping off a big day for the 3x Oscar nominee at the Cannes Film Festival. Prior to receiving the Palme, which wasn’t expected, he was given a tribute reel before the film played. As a prelude, French fighter jets took the …

Variety reports: A new series of “Black Mirror” is in the works at Netflix, Variety can reveal. It’s been almost three years since Season 5 of the dystopian drama premiered on the streaming service in June 2019, but sources indicate that a new anthology series of “Black Mirror” is shaping up, and casting is now underway. While details about specific …

Variety reports: Yasmin Finney is joining the cast of “Doctor Who” as a character named Rose, BBC announced Monday. Her role will debut in 2023, coinciding with the show’s 60th anniversary. “Life on ‘Doctor Who’ gets brighter and wilder, how can there be another Rose?” said “Doctor Who” showrunner Russell T. Davies in a statement. “You’ll find out in 2023, …

Variety reports: David Tennant and Catherine Tate are returning to “Doctor Who,” reuniting for new scenes that will coincide with the show’s 60th anniversary celebrations in 2023. Tennant and Tate will reprise their respective roles of the 10th Doctor and companion Donna Noble. The pair’s tenure on the series spanned from 2005 to 2010. When the characters were last seen …

Variety reports: Hulu has passed on “Rodham,” writer-producer Sarah Treem’s adaptation of the 2020 Curtis Sittenfeld novel that’s been in development at the streamer since summer 2020. But 20th Television is still is shopping the project to other streamers, now that Claire Danes and Dakota Fanning are attached to play Clinton at different stages of her life. “Rodham” — published …

Variety reports: Fred Ward, who starred in films including “Henry and June,” “Tremors,” “The Right Stuff” and “The Player,” died May 8, his publicist confirmed to Variety. He was 79. Among his other prominent roles were parts in “Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins,” “Miami Blues” and “Short Cuts.” In Ron Underwood’s horror-comedy “Tremors,” one of several films that boosted Ward’s …

Variety reports: The House Corrino has its ruler. Christopher Walken will join Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya in director Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune Part Two,” as Shaddam IV, the Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe. Walken’s casting fills out the major characters for the second half of Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal science-fiction novel. He joins Florence Pugh (“Black Widow”) as …

Variety reports: Broadway legend Patti LuPone is famous for her long history of calling out theatergoers who fail to follow proper theater etiquette, and that continued Tuesday when she exchanged harsh words with an anti-mask attendee during a production of “Company” on Broadway. The interaction occurred after the show, when LuPone — who stars in the musical as Joanne — …

Variety reports: Mario Batali has been cleared of charges that he groped a woman at a Boston bar in 2017, as a judge ruled on Tuesday that the celebrity chef is not guilty of indecent battery and assault. Batali — the famed TV chef and restauranteur who fell from grace in 2017 following a series of sexual misconduct allegations — …

Broadway.com reports: Nominations have arrived for the 75th Tony Awards! The 75th Tony Awards will take place on June 12, hosted by Oscar winner Ariana DeBose. The ceremony will return to Radio City Music Hall as a four-hour television and streaming event that will be broadcast live coast to coast for the first time. Leading the nominations are Michael R. …

Variety reports: Doctor Strange and his questionably effective book of spells has summoned a blockbuster $185 million at North American movie theaters over the weekend, reaffirming the box office dominance of Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe after a shakier, pandemic-battered year for the franchise. The timeline-bending “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” represents a return to form for Disney’s MCU …

Variety reports: Fred Savage, who serves as a director and executive producer on ABC’s “The Wonder Years,” has been fired due to the findings of an investigation about his conduct on set. Multiple employees complained about Savage’s behavior while working on “The Wonder Years,” a reboot of the ’80s-’90s series of the same name that starred Savage. The nature of …