Los Angeles: Details of actor Forest Whitaker's character along with others in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" have been revealed.
In the "Star Wars" standalone movie, Whitaker plays Gerrera, reports ew.com. The character first made an appearance in "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" animated series.
He is a guerrilla soldier from the planet Onderon who became the self-appointed leader of a rebel unit fighting against Count Dooku's forces in the animated film.
As for Whitaker's Gerrera, he is more battle-hardened with the years, and maybe a little shell-shocked. He is a man who has tried to do the right thing by occasionally doing questionable things.
The story follows Jyn Erso, a Rebellion soldier and criminal, who is about to experience her biggest challenge when Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) sets her out on a mission to steal the plans for the Death Star.
With the aid of the Rebels, a master swordsman, and non-allied forces, Erso will be in for something bigger than she thinks.
Based on a screenplay written by Chris Weitz, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" is slated to hit US theaters on December 16.
Los Angeles: "Baywatch" actor David Hasselhoff has slashed the spousal support he pays to his ex-wife Pamela Bach by over $10,000.
Hasselhoff had asked to cut his payments to Bach, 52, who he was married to from 1989 to 2006, after claiming he had just $4,000 in the bank. They have now agreed to adjust the figure from $21,000 to $10,000 per month, reports tmz.com.
David Hasselhoff. File pic
This comes just one month after Hasselhoff, 63, asked a Superior Court judge here to end the payments, claiming he could no longer afford them.
The actor claimed he earns $112,000 a month and spends $66,000, but his ex-wife argued her case, insisting that he is worth millions and has property all over the world.
The former couple have daughters Hayley, 23, and Taylor-Ann, 26, together.
Los Angeles: Ralph Stanley, one of the founding fathers and great originals of American bluegrass music, has passed away after battling skin cancer. He was 89.
Bluegrass is a form of American roots music and a related genre of country music.
His grandson, Nathan, posted on his Facebook page that Ralph died after a long battle with skin cancer, reports variety.com. He died on Thursday at his home in Sandy Ridge, Virginia.
“My heart is broken into pieces. My papaw, my dad, and the greatest man in the world, Ralph Stanley has went home to be with Jesus just a few minutes ago. He went peacefully in his sleep due to a long, horrible battle with skin cancer," Nathan wrote.
Partnered with his older brother Carter, Ralph helped develop the “high lonesome” sound of bluegrass, the virtuosic string band music established in the late 1940s by singer-mandolinist Bill Monroe and his dissident sidemen, guitarist Lester Flatt and banjoist Earl Scruggs.
Ralph always backed away from the “bluegrass” label, however, choosing to associate his highly personalised style with a more venerable type of music.
Winner of three Grammy Awards, Ralph was honoured with the National Medal of the Arts in 2006.
His survivors include his wife, Jimmi; son, Ralph II; and daughter, Jeanie.
Los Angeles: Michael Jackson's estate has slammed the report that suggested the late pop star kept a collection of pornography at his Neverland Ranch.
The estate issued a statement calling the disclosure "sleazy internet click bait", the Rolling Stone magazine reported.
Michael Jackson
"Those who continue to shamelessly exploit Michael via sleazy internet 'click bait' ignore that he was acquitted by a jury in 2005 on every one of the 14 salacious charges brought against him in a failed witch hunt," the estate added.
The statement also said that Jackson's "good name" was being "dragged through the mud by tabloid trash".
Earlier this week, a report claimed that Jackson was in possession of magazines and videos that contained images of nude children and animal torture.
This material was allegedly used to entice young men, and was reportedly found during a raid on Jackson's Neverland ranch more than a decade ago by the Santa Barbara country sheriff's department.
Los Angeles: Legendary British rock band Led Zeppelin did not plagiarise the opening chords of their famous song "Stairway to heaven" from the US band Spirit, a Los Angeles jury has found.
It said the riff that Led Zeppelin was accused of taking from Spirit's 1967 song "Taurus" "was not intrinsically similar" to Stairway's opening, the BBC reported.
But it said that Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant had access to "Taurus". "Stairway to heaven" was released in 1971.
The case was brought on behalf of Spirit's late guitarist Randy Wolfe.
During the trial, defence lawyers argued that the chord progression in question was very common and had been in use for over 300 years.
The prosecution had argued Led Zeppelin became familiar with Spirit's song after the two bands played on the same bill in Plant's hometown at a club in the English city of Birmingham in 1970.
Spirit's bassist Mark Andes testified last week that he met Plant at the show and played snooker with him afterward.
Plant insisted he had no memory of that night, saying that in all the "hubbub and chaos" it would be hard to remember a one-off meeting 40 years ago.
Plant partially attributed his lack of memory to a bad car crash on his way home from the club. Both he and his wife suffered head injuries in the accident, he told the court, after the windshield of his Jaguar was left "buried" in his face.
Hollywood filmmaker Andrew Stanton's 3D computer-animated comedy adventure film “Finding Dory” has registered earnings of Rs 7.68 crore in its opening week.
Finding Dory
“Finding Dory”, which released alongside controversial Bollywood film “Udta Punjab” in India on July 17, is a sequel to the hit 2003 film “Finding Nemo”.
The film remained steady at the box office throughout the week. It made a gross collection of Rs 10.67 crore, read a statement from its India distributors.
“Finding Dory” focuses on the amnesiac fish Dory, and explores her journey to be reunited with her parents.
It features voices of Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Hayden Rolence, Ed O'Neill, Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell, Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy.
Los Angeles: The popular "Step Up" film franchise is getting a web series adaptation for video-sharing website, YouTube.
The site declared at the seventh annual VidCon that it has given a series order for the first season of "Step Up", the adaptation of the dance-centric film franchise.
Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan Tatum, who starred in the first "Step Up" movie, will serve as executive producers of the drama series, along with Adam Shankman, Jennifer Gibgot,
and Meredith Milton, who produced the original "Step Up" film and its four sequels, said The Hollywood Reporter.
Under Lionsgate, the show will start production later this year and will debut as the first original scripted series on YouTube Red in 2017.
Content chief Susanne Daniels said that she's been talking to Lionsgate about the project for years, "I just kept calling and calling and finally, when they were ready to take
it out, I was here."
I've been a fan of the 'Step Up' movies for years and always believed the films would translate into an awesome original series. We know that dance is a hugely successful global category on YouTube, so I'm excited to have a series rooted in such an enormously popular genre on our platform," she added.
Los Angeles: DJ Calvin Harris, opening up about his split from Taylor Swift, has said he did not call time on their relationship and he also knows that his ex is "definitely not sad" due to the break-up.
Taylor Swift. Pic/Santa Banta
In the now-deleted Instagram comments, Harris answered his fans' queries regarding their break-up. His comments came after Swift made her relationship with actor Tom Hiddleston
public.
"Bro I didn't leave anyone and she's def not sad. It's all good," Harris said to a fan.
The Scottish DJ seemingly shared with fans what went wrong between him and the 26-year-old singer that led to the separation.
"She controlled the media and this situation and I had no idea what was going on. So that kind of makes it a lot worse from my perspective," he wrote.
The 32-year-old singer also revealed why he re-followed Swift on social media, saying, "I cared too much and then I didn't care at all. I am a real person remember."
Harris added he is not jealous of Swift's relationship with Hiddleston and is enjoying being "free."
"Not jealous sir, FREE," he told another fan. The musician credited a follower for seemingly getting the things right.
"For all we know Taylor broke up with him to be with another man and this is quite upsetting. I would be hurt by that too. He's not being mean. He deserves to feel free while he's single and not feel jealous," the fan account posted to which Harris responded, "You're the only smart one at this point."
'Independence Day : Resurgence'
U/A; Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Director: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Liam Hemsworth, Maika Monroe, Bill Pullman
Rating:
'Independence Day: Resurgence,' sequel to the 20 year old block buster prequel, hopes to re-establish the sci-fi disaster movie genre with a bigger bang than the first issue. Then, even Oprah had gone to town discussing the mind-blowing special effects that earned the first movie millions of bucks at the Box office worldwide. This time round, though, the marketing appears to be feeble and the pre-release buzz is less than inveigling. To top that, the production house makes it a release day viewing for the critics – so even before you enter the theatres you have a premonition that all is not well here.
Will Smith may be absent but the rest of the gang is all back – including Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman and friends who join new recruits Liam Hemsworth and others in a fight against space invaders. Having learnt their lessons from the first alien blitzkrieg that hit the earth, the nations of the Earth collaborate on an immense defense program using recovered alien technology, to help protect the planet. But nothing can prepare them for the aliens' advanced and unprecedented force. So it's up to a few brave and ingenious men and women to bring the world back from the brink of extinction.
America is still the super-power the world looks up to and Madam President (Sela Ward) is called upon to take a call on destroying the alien spaceship that has invaded Earth's frontiers. With a heavy heart and against the advice of chief alien detection expert David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) she orders it's destruction but things are not as they seem. This alien ship and it's inhabitants are different from the one that attacked the earth 20 years ago. And there's another set who have slithered in between all that confusion. So it's not looking good for the earthlings.
This is bigger, louder, showier than the first one and goes through all the motions of the predecessor with bountiful imagination and cutting edge technique. Of course the science of it is just as ridiculous, the levity doesn't quite cut it, and the world monuments being ground to rubble look just as spectacular (and sometimes silly too) - Malaysia's Petronas towers are carried halfway round the world to send London's Tower Bridge falling down and there's many more just as wildly imaginative. To top it, there's a repeat of the dog rescue sequence from the original – this time round it's a terrier instead of a Golden Retriever being rescued from flying debris and instant immolation.
'Resurgence' is surely attempting to do a 'Jurassic World' for the franchise but this Roland Emmerich helmed sequel appears to have delayed it's coming by a good ten years. The current generation has already seen countless repeat and reprise efforts from contemporary spectacle specialists so this one doesn't quite have the blistering genre redefining power that the original did. The irreverence involved in the monument trashing on display here makes it all seem quite ridiculous, fanciful and tends towards tedium. To the extent that even a short 120 minute runtime begins to feel a little long in the tooth!
Selena Gomez is an international superstar and latest star to go on a musical ride along with 'Late, Late Show' host James Corden. Selena's Carpool Karaoke with James Corden is breaking the internet as they take an amusing detour in the newest Carpool Karaoke episode.
The video had exploded online and is close to eclipsing 2 million views in a matter of hours after its upload.
What was supposed to be a musical carpool session turned into an amazing roller coaster ride where Selena amazed her fans by singing her hit single 'Come & Get it' as she and James went down the rollercoaster ride, keeping her voice steady and staying calm. In a hilarious turn of events, James Corden can be seen feeling visibly sick on the ride while Selena is busy being the amazing artist she is. Being a fast food lover, the next stop was obviously Mc Donald's and James Corden being his goofy self, tries to get in the Selena-Taylor girl squad, to no avail.
After the heroic penultimate episode 'The Battle of The Bastards' where the Starks defeated Ramsay Bolton, viewers' excitement levels have risen to new heights as the show producers recently revealed the finale will be the longest episode in the series history.
The season started with a bang – Jon Snow's revival, Daenerys seizing control over the Dothraki yet again, Arya in the House of Black and White learning some cool assassination skills, Bran taking audiences through a journey back in time when Lyanna Stark lived and Ned Stark was a young lad, Sansa escaping Ramsay's cruel reign, The Hound's resurrection, Benjen Stark's appearance and so much more!
Now with Sansa Stark and Jon Snow having defeated Ramsay, Rickon Stark and Hodor dead, Daenerys back to Mereen and under the aid of Tyrion Lannister, Cersei Lannister and Loras Tyrell's trial up and coming, Petyr Baelish showing up to save the Starks in the Battle of the Bastards, unfinished conversations between Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth, Game of Thrones Season 6 has whetted the appetite of fans all the more!
Speaking of all the action and thrill packed in the finale episode, director of episode 9 'Battle of the Bastards' and now the finale episode, 'The Winds of Winter', Miguel Sapochnik said, "It feels equally as epic as episode 9... but for completely different reasons."
Everything changed with the previous episode of Game of Thrones 'The Battle of the Bastards'. Best of all, Sansa was proclaimed a hero after being brutalized and tormented for all the previous seasons and Sophie Turner who plays the role of Sansa expressed that she deserved her first kill! Sophie said, "It's amazing. It's Sansa's first kill and it's such a strong moment for her because all her life she's been affected by these men who have just done such terrible things to her. She's always carried it with her and this is the first moment you hear her say this dialogue ‘Your words will disappear. Your name will disappear. All memory of you will disappear.'"
With the finale billed to be the biggest yet, fans are hoping that the ample time that the series will take, will be utilized to tie all the loose ends and set the scene for the premiere of the next big season! Whatever happened to Dorne? And the Tyrells and the Greyjoys?
Tune-in to the season finale as this epic show reaches its much awaited end this Tuesday, June 28th at 10 PM on Star World Premiere HD.
London: Hollywood actor David Schwimmer says Britain is underestimating the number of children who are victims of sexual abuse.
David Schwimmer
The "Friends" star says becoming a father to five-year-old daughter Cleo, whom he has with wife Zoë Buckman, has made these issues carry an "even more emotional" importance to him, reports mirror.co.uk.
"When all of us on the TV show ('Friends') first became celebrities, we were all approached by all these different charities, 'Will you come on board? Will you do this? Get involved, will you speak out?'," Schwimmer said on a TV show.
"I have several friends, men and women, who are victims of child sexual abuse. Especially as a father of a 5-year-old daughter, the entire subject matter is even more emotional and more meaningful to me.
"In the US, our figures are very different and I feel are closer to the truth. In the US, it's one in four girls, and one in six boys that are victims of abuse," he added.
The 49-year-old expressed that he is glad for being able to lend his name to raise awareness of important causes such as these.
"That's the great benefit of celebrity, to use it to do this, to communicate something more important, something bigger than oneself," said the "Madagascar" actor, who was here to be a part of National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children's annual How Safe conference.
The event is to support the urgent fight for the creation of more comprehensive Child Advocacy centres in Britain, which would allow children who have been abused to access all services they need in one place.
Los Angeles: Jenna Dewan-Tatum struggled to get her hunky husband to embrace her vegan diet, as he does not like vegetables.
Channing Tatum with wife Jenna Dewan
The 35-year-old actress has been married to 'Magic Mike XXL' star Channing Tatum for six years, but despite their mutual love of keeping in shape, they haven't been able to find an eating plan they both love, reported E!Online.
"He really did try to be vegan for six months. The guy doesn't like vegetables, which makes it tough. It was hard in the beginning because you want someone to be on the same page, but you've got to let people be themselves," she said.
Jenna shows off the results of her healthy lifestyle on the cover of the magazine, posing in a blue and white tie-dye bikini and a white shirt, revealing her toned torso.
London: Actress Salma Hayek finds happiness through her family not through success or money.
Salma Hayek. Pic/Santa Banta
The 49-year-old actress feels lucky that she made a name in the movie industry, reported Femalefirst.
"It's not success in this or in that, or money or things, or beauty, what if you're really beautiful and you're not loved? That's not gonna make you happy. But what makes you happy is, for me, my family. They are the biggest blessing I have," she said.
The actress isn't planning to add to her family anytime soon.
"I'm very blessed because I have three stepchildren, so I have a family of four kids. Four is enough" she added.
Los Angeles: Actor Matthew McConaughey has revealed that it was love at first sight when he first laid eyes on his now-wife Camila Alves.
Matthew McConaughey. Pic/Santa Banta
The "Dallas Buyers Club" star was taken aback when he first met the 34-year-old model but insists he wasn't looking for a relationship at the time, reported People magazine.
Recalling his first meeting with the brunette beauty, McConaughey said, "I was very happily single and healthily single. I was not looking. I was sleeping well, I was spiritually sound, I was good hanging with me.
"Out of the corner of my eye, this sort of aqua-green figure went floating across the frame about 20 feet in front of me. My eye went up and I remember what came out of my mouth, 'This is not the kind of woman you call over across the room, McConaughey. Get off your chair and go get her', Which I did", he added.
Nearly a decade later, it's still easy for McConaughey to describe what immediately drew him to Alves.
"The self-respect she had, the way I understood her and her relationship with family, the way she respected me but never took anything for granted, not putting on any airs whatsoever," the 46-year-old star revealed.
The couple have three kids, Levi, Vida, Livingston.
