Marion Curtis(NEW YORK) — Patrice Lovely is ready for fans to see her reprise her hilarious role as Hattie in the upcoming Tyler Perry film A Madea Family Funeral.

For many fans of Perry’s Madea film franchise, Hattie has become a staple character. In addition to being one of Madea’s best friends, the spry elderly woman is known to offer outrageous commentary with a much-needed dose of honesty.  Lovely tells ABC Radio that although Perry created her character, the director definitely allows her to make Hattie her own.

“It is scripted,” Lovely says. “But then, he allows me to play. He allows me to just create in the moment.  And um, maybe Cassi [Davis] probably,” she adds. “[We’re] the only ones he allowed to just venture off a little bit.”

Lovely says Perry — who this time around takes on more characters to portray — thrives on “creative” energy.

“Because, you know, how creative he is with all of these different characters,” she says. “With all this dialogue. We’re just as creative. And he just wants everything to just…be as big as possible. Whatever you can do to bring the funny, he allows us to play.” 

A Madea Family Funeral, also starring Rome Flynn and Cassie Davis, opens Friday, March 1.

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Nick Wall/Netflix(LONDON) — Idris Elba is letting fans know he’s man of many talents, both on and off the screen.

Elba, who actually started his career behind the turntables before branching out into film and TV, is also showing that he can hold his own as a rapper.

In an new Instagram post, Elba shared a video that teased his upcoming video to “Boasty.”

Boasty, which was released in January, features UK rappers Wiley, Stefflon Don, and dancehall artist Sean Paul. In the song, Elba uses Jamaican patois to show off his emcee skills.

“Video coming soon,” Elba captions the upbeat clip.

For those unfamiliar with patois, Boasty loosely translates to one being excessively proud or braggadocios.

While this may be Elba’s first major stab at rhyming, the actor is a vet when it comes to the turntables. He recently served as deejay for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding. He is also scheduled to perform a set this year’s Coachella festival in April.

Of course, the Luther actor still has plenty of on-screen projects underway. He made his directorial debut with his film Yardie and will next star in the Netflix comedy Turn Up Charlie, where he will play a struggling DJ who reluctantly takes a job as a male nanny in hopes rebuilding his music career.

Turn Up Charlie launches on March 15 and Elba’s “Boasty” video is expected to drop very soon.

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ABC/Randy Holmes(LOS ANGELES) — Jordan Peele is close to nailing down his Candyman. Variety reports that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who recently played the villainous Black Manta in Aquaman, is in talks to star as the titular villain — originated by Tony Todd in the 1992 original — in Oscar winner Peele’s upcoming reboot.

Candyman is based on a short story by Clive Barker and centers on the son of a slave who became an artist and was later mutilated and killed by a lynch mob hired by his lover’s father. The movie’s urban legend states that if you say the Candyman’s name five times in a mirror, he’ll appear and kill you with the hook he wears in place of his right arm.

Production on the Candyman reboot is expected to start in the spring, in hopes of a June 2020 release.

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ABC/Randy Holmes(LOS ANGELES) — Miley Cyrus is dressing in drag – as a man – to kick off season 11 of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

In a sneak peek from the premiere episode, Miley goes undercover to surprise the contestants. Donning a fake beard and mustache, a hat and glasses, she poses as “Barry ‘B.J.’ Johnson,” a crew member for Drag Race’s production company, World of Wonder.

“I’m going to go and meet the queens for the first time, but they don’t know they’re meeting me,” she explains in the video. “I wanted to go undercover with the ladies. So I’m going in as a crew member. They’re never going to know what hit ’em.”

To find out how they react, and to see how Miley does as a guest judge, tune in Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on VH1.

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Robert Viglasky/MGM(ATLANTA) — An audience attending a screening of Dwayne Johnson’s latest movie, Fighting with My Family, at an Atlanta, Georgia movie theater over the weekend were also treated to a surprise appearance from “The Rock“ himself.

“Surprise! I popped into a theater this past weekend to surprise an AMAZING audience who so graciously gave me one of those standing Ovation thingy’s when I walked in, but more importantly, they LOVED OUR MOVIE and I was able to send them home buzzing & stoked,” Johnson shared on his Instagram page, along with a video of the appearance. “Mission Accomplished.”

Johnson produced and makes an appearance in the biopic, which takes a funny look at the journey of professional wrestler Saraya “Paige” Bevis — played in the film by Florence Pugh — from growing up a family of professional wrestlers, to winning the WWE Divas Championship in 2014.

Fighting with My Family, co-starring Lena Headey, Nick Frost, Jack Lowden and Vince Vaughn, is in theaters now.

Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Photo by Heidi Gutman/ABC via Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Emma Thompson’s decision to quit the Skydance Animation film Luck — which is being produced by embattled former Pixar and Walt Disney Animation head John Lasseter — has everything to do with him.

Lasseter was a part of the blockbuster-minting machine behind the Toy Story, Cars, and Incredibles films, but the Oscar-winning producer’s career with ABC News’ parent company came to a messy end due to accusations of sexual misconduct. Lasseter admitted to “inappropriate hugging” and “other missteps.”

Lasseter was recently scooped up by Skydance Media Chief Executive David Ellison, in an effort to get the company off the ground, but the takeoff has been less than smooth. Following a series of apologies for past behavior to his new co-workers, Lasseter was slammed on social media.

Now, Thompson has written a letter to Skydance, explaining her decision to leave Luck, and putting the blame squarely on Lasseter.

“If a man has been touching women inappropriately for decades, why would a woman want to work for him if the only reason he’s not touching them inappropriately now is that it says in his contract that he must behave ‘professionally’?” she asked.

Thompson added, “Much has been said about giving John Lasseter a ‘second chance.’ But he is presumably being paid millions of dollars to receive that second chance. How much money are the employees at Skydance being paid to GIVE him that second chance?”

The multiple Oscar winner added, “I am well aware that centuries of entitlement to women’s bodies whether they like it or not is not going to change overnight…But I am also aware that if people…do not take this sort of a stand, then things are very unlikely to change at anything like the pace required to protect my daughter’s generation.”

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ABC(LOS ANGELES) — Actress Selma Blair stunned on the red carpet Sunday night — with the aid of a bedazzled cane — at the Vanity Fair Oscars after-party.

The 46-year-old actress is now revealing the agony she went through before receiving a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) last August.

MS is a chronic, often unpredictable disease of the central nervous system, and can cause problems with vision, balance and muscle control.

“Ever since my son was born, I was in an MS flare-up and didn’t know, and I was giving it everything to seem normal,” Blair told Robin Roberts in an interview that aired Tuesday on Good Morning America.

As her voice quavered from the disease’s affect on her speech, Blair recalled being in pain and exhausted, and not knowing why. “I was really struggling …and [being] not taken seriously by doctors, just, ‘Single mother, you’re exhausted, financial burden, blah, blah, blah.'”

The Cruel Intentions and Legally Blonde actress claimed she was often dead tired. “I was ashamed and I was doing the best I could and I was a great mother, but it was killing me,” she said. “And so when I got the diagnosis I cried with some relief. Like, ‘Oh, good, I’ll be able to do something.'”

During her interview with GMA at her Los Angeles home, Blair was in an “exacerbation” — a flare-up — of MS, which causes new symptoms or the worsening of existing symptoms.

Blair admitted that she was “a little scared of talking” during her flare-up, but that her neurologist encouraged her to speak out and “bring a lot of awareness” to the disease.

“No one has the energy to talk when they’re in … flare-up,” the actress said, adding, “But I do ’cause I love a camera.”

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Centr(LOS ANGELES) — Thanks to the Avengers movies, Chris Hemsworth’s fitness level is on display the world over, thanks to his role as Asgardian god Thor. However, aside from the occasional peek on a DVD supplemental feature, how he achieved his godlike physique — described in Infinity War as what would happen “if a pirate had a baby with an angel” — was a mystery.

Until now.

The actor has launched Centr, a customizable fitness program created by Hemsworth and his hand-picked team of experts, “including elite trainers, celebrity chefs, meditation teachers and well-being experts,” according to its reps.

The app gives users access to workout and fitness regimens curated by Hemsworth, his wife Elsa Pataky — no slouch in the fitness game herself, seeing as she’s a model, fitness author, and actress — as well as Chris’ personal trainer Luke Zocchi. Other experts who have collaborated on the app are chef Dan Churchill, fitness trainer to the stars Gunnar Peterson, vegan bodybuilder Torre Washington. There’s even a music playlist to inspire your workouts and aid in meditation.

The program, which purports to “take the guesswork out of fitness,” gives users 24/7 access to support and motivation, tailored to their fitness level.
 
“From the moment we’re made, we’re not finished,” Hemsworth says in a sumptuously-shot promo video that shows him and Pataky working out, and getting their nutrition on. “We’re all different, but with one inherent power in common: a choice to be a work in progress…to be a human doing rather than a human being.”

“But know this,” he invites: You don’t have to make yourself by yourself.”

Accessible via iOS app, Apple Watch and online, Centr costs $19.99 a month, $49.99 for three months of access, or $119.99 for a full year.

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NBC/Andrew Lipovsky(NEW YORK) — Jimmy Fallon celebrated his fifth anniversary hosting The Tonight Show on Monday with a tribute to the late Garry Shandling’s groundbreaking HBO sitcom, The Larry Sanders Show.

The 1990s series, which provided a behind-the-scenes look at what happens behind the scenes of a fictional late-night talk show, featured Shandling as Sanders and actual celebrities appearing as themselves.

Some of Monday’s highlights:

Ben Stiller, who previously made a surprise cameo appearance as “Hashtag the Dancing Panda” — one of Fallon’s recurring bits —  planning to reprise the role in a surprise walk-on. The surprise is blown when Jimmy bumps into Stiller backstage before the show but he convinces him to go ahead with the bit anyway, telling Stiller he’ll act surprised. When it’s over, Stiller tells Fallon he “can’t act” and storms off.

Tina Fey, promoting her upcoming Netflix film Wine Country, is Fallon’s first guest. She makes it clear that — for reasons unbeknownst to Jimmy — she’s mad had him. As a trailer for her movie plays in the background, she tells him that in the future she’ll be, “shopping my wares elsewhere.”

“You got Trump elected,” she quips, as she heads backstage — a reference to Trump’s September, 2016 appearance on The Tonight Show when Fallon mussed Trump’s hair, which drew criticism from some for Fallon “humanizing” the soon-to-be president.

Fifteen-year-old animal expert Robert Irwin stops by, whom Fallon blames for a cockroach infestation at 30 Rock after he pulled out several of the creepy crawlers out during his last Tonight Show appearance. 

Finally, six-time musical guests Florida Georgia Line are disappointed when, following performing of “Colorado,” they’re denied couch time with Jimmy.

Robert De Niro also makes an appearance, supposedly recording a promo to congratulate Jimmy on his fifth anniversary. However, after spotting several cockroaches, he leaves the set echoing Fey’s line, “I’ll be shopping my wares somewhere else.”

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