Ariana DeBose and Jennifer Jason Leigh have joined the cast of Poolman, a directorial debut of Star Trek and Wonder Woman star Chris Pine.

According to Deadline, Pine plays Darren Barrenman, a hapless dreamer and would be philosopher who spends his days looking after the pool of the Tahitian Tiki apartment block in sunny Los Angeles and crashing city council meetings with his neighbors Jack and Diane (DeVito and Bening). When Barrenman uncovers the greatest water heist in LA history since Chinatown he makes uneasy alliances with a beautiful and connected femme fatale while following every lead he can with corrupt city officials, burned out Hollywood types and mysterious benefactors – all in the name of protecting his precious Los Angeles.

Pine, who co-wrote Poolman with Ian Gotler, will also star in the film, which is described as a tribute to Los Angeles with nods to iconic movies set in L.A. Annette Bening and Danny DeVito also star in the upcoming pic. Pine produces with Stacey Sher and Patty Jenkins. Cinematographer Matthew Jensen has also boarded the title, which is slated to go into production in L.A. in June 2022. Poolman will reunite Pine and Jenkins, who is producing for Wicious Pictures. This marks their latest collaboration, following Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 1984, and the limited series I Am the Night.

On the work front, Ariana DeBose recently made history as the first openly queer woman of color to win an Academy Award for her performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s new film adaption of West Side Story. The Oscar-winning actress is slated to host the 75th Annual Tony Awards from the legendary Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Sunday, June 12, 2022. Her other credits include Hamilton, The Prom and HBO’s Westworld. Meanwhile, Jennifer Jason Leigh most recently starred in the TV series Hunters and Lena Dunham’s Sharp Stick. She was also nominated for an Oscar for her performance in The Hateful Eight. Other credits include Backdraft, Short Cuts and Single White Female.

Also Read:Kevin Spacey’s second feature Peter Five Eight headed to Cannes 2022 market

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Hunger Games prequel film has cast Billy the Kid star Tom Blyth as the young Coriolanus Snow in the highly anticipated prequel feature, based on the book of the same name by franchise author Suzanne Collins.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Tom Blyth has landed the starring role in Lionsgate’s adaptation of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, the prequel novel to the Hunger Games series. Blyth will portray a young Coriolanus Snow long before he grew to become the authoritarian President Snow, who was played by Donald Sutherland in the Hunger Games movies. Lionsgate announced back in April 2020 that the studio would officially be adapting author Suzanne Collins’ 2020 novel The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes as a film. Francis Lawrence, who helmed nearly all of the past Hunger Games movies, will return to direct the new installment.

“Coriolanus Snow is many things — a survivor, a loyal friend, a cutthroat, a kid quick to fall in love, and a young man ambitious to his core,” Lawrence said in a statement. “Tom’s take on the character showed us all the complex ambiguities of this young man as he transforms into the tyrant he would become.” The film’s official synopsis reads, “Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol.”

“With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, the girl tribute from impoverished District 12,” the description continues. “But, after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake.”

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is based on author Suzanne Collins’ 2020 novel of the same name. The book serves as a prequel to Collins’ original Hunger Games trilogy of novels, which consists of 2008’s The Hunger Games, 2009’s Catching Fire and 2010’s Mockingjay. The screenplay is written by Michael Arndt from a story adaptation by Collins. Collins is also producing the film alongside Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson. No casting information is available at the moment.

On the work front, Tom Blyth’s work credits include Billy the Kid, The Gilded Age, Robin Hood, Wash Club and Benediction. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is due in theaters on Nov. 17, 2023.

Also Read: Jack Reacher star Alan Ritchson joins the cast of Fast X

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Neil Patrick Harris issued an apology for a resurfaced image from a Halloween party he and his husband hosted 11 years ago, which featured a buffet platter made to look like the corpse of late singer Amy Winehouse.

Recently, social media users have resurfaced an elaborate joke that actor Neil Patrick Harris made about the late singer Amy Winehouse shortly after her death. In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, the How I Met Your Mother star said, “A photo recently resurfaced from a Halloween-themed party my husband and I hosted 11 years ago. It was regrettable then, and it remains regrettable now. Amy Winehouse was a once-in-a-generation talent, and I’m sorry for any hurt this image caused.” As the outlet mentions, Amy Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning on July 23, 2011 at age 27. A few months later, during that year’s Halloween season, Harris and his husband David Burtka threw a party that featured a buffet platter made up to look like “The Corpse of Amy Winehouse.”

Eleven years later, photos of the edgy joke circled the internet again. The image, and the story surrounding it, resurfaced online last week after writer Ashley Reese tweeted, “I cannot believe how many very online people over the age of 25 are just now finding out about Neil Patrick Harris’s disgusting Amy Winehouse cake.” Twitter users responded vehemently, retweeting Reese and sharing their own opinions of the platter, which some called “disturbing” and “cruel.” The original image was first posted, and since deleted, on Twitter by Justin Mikita, husband of “Modern Family” actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

In 2008, at the 50th Grammy Awards, Amy Winehouse won five awards, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night and becoming the first British woman to win five Grammys, including three of the General Field “Big Four” Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (for “Rehab“), as well as Best Pop Vocal Album. Amy, the 2015 documentary about her life and struggles with substance abuse, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Also Read: Jason Momoa apologises after receiving backlash for taking pictures in the Sistine Chapel

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Amber Heard, who appeared at the Fairfax County Courthouse in Virginia on Monday to testify as part of the defamation case brought against her by former husband Johnny Depp, testified that she had to “fight really hard” to keep working in Hollywood after her volatile split from Johnny Depp. The actress claimed that Warner Bros. scaled back her role as Mera in Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom.

As Entertainment Weekly notes, Heard returned to the stand for a third day in Depp’s defamation trial against her on Monday, accusing her ex-husband of orchestrating a “smear campaign” to ruin her career and reputation, after she obtained a domestic violence restraining order against him in 2016. Heard testified that a “sophisticated PR machine” behind Depp conspired to label her a liar in the press, resulting in her removal from acting jobs and beauty sponsorships. While Heard ultimately did appear in 2017’s Justice League, the “biggest movie opportunity” of her career at that point,” she said she had to fight to keep the part.

She also testified that her role in Aquaman 2 was significantly pared down after the alleged attacks from Depp’s team in the press. “I had to fight really hard to keep my career after I got my [restraining order against Depp],” Heard told the court. “I lost opportunities. I got dropped from jobs and campaigns. I fought to keep my job and the biggest movie opportunity I had to date [with] Justice League with the option to [star in] Aquaman. I had to fight really hard to stay in Justice League because that was the time of the divorce.” Heard plays the character Mera, a princess from the underwater kingdom of Xebel, and Aquaman’s future wife and Queen in the comics. Heard has played Mera in the first Aquaman film as well as in Justice League, and will reprise her role for the Aquaman sequel.

Explaining her deal to appear in the superhero franchise, Heard said, “It’s structured like a three-picture option. I signed on to do Justice League, where my character was introduced. The fee is small relative to what it will become if and when you do the other options or movies under that umbrella. So it was the contract for Justice League, which could then become Justice League 2, or it could be Aquaman or it could be some other movie within the DC Universe. And the second picture ended up being Aquaman, and the third being Aquaman 2. And each time the fee goes up.” Heard said she earned $1 million for Aquaman and twice as much for the sequel, in which she reportedly appears on screen for just 10 minutes. Heard testified she fought hard to stay in Aquaman 2 as well, alleging that Warner Bros., the studio behind the film, “didn’t want to include me.”

When asked if she was “actively scheduling timing for filming” for Aquaman 2 before Depp’s alleged smear campaign, Heard responded yes. When asked if she was actively involved after Depp’s team called her a liar in the press, she answered, “No. The communications stopped at that point.” Heard said she ended up appearing in a “very pared-down version” of the original story planned for her character Mera in Aquaman 2. “I was given a script and then given new versions of the script that had taken away scenes that had action in it, that depicted my character and another character, without giving any spoiler aways, two characters fighting with one another, and they basically took a bunch out of my role,” Heard testified. “They just removed a bunch out.”

Asked if she’s been able to find work recently, Heard said, “I have done one small independent film. I shot a film in Guatemala. It’s a small independent, meaning it doesn’t have distribution or anything; it’s a lower budget film that I had been attached to for many years called Into the Fire.” She said she was paid $65,000 for the role. Regardless of how the defamation trial between Heard and Depp plays out, both actors have continued to face public scrutiny over their highly publicized trial.

Johnny Depp is suing Amber Heard for $50 million over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse”, while the 36-year-old is countersuing the Pirates of the Caribbean actor for $100 million, claiming his former lawyer defamed her by rejecting the abuse claims.

Also Read: Johnny Depp’s former agent claims Amber Heard’s abuse allegations cost the actor sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film

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