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It took CBS 12 seasons, but when it finally happened, it was indeed worth the wait. Mark Harmon’s best NCIS episode had fans baffled, proving that sometimes, the best things really do come to those who wait.

Mark Harmon in NCIS | Credit: CBS Studios

After years of incredible performances, the show finally delivered the one episode that made fans shout, “Now that’s what we’ve been waiting for!” Here’s the full story.

Mark Harmon’s Gibbs takes center stage in NCIS’s most epic episode yet Mark Harmon in NCIS | Credit: CBS

It took CBS 12 seasons, but they finally gave us Mark Harmon’s best NCIS episode – and boy, was it worth the wait.

For over a decade, Harmon’s Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs has been the rock of the series, balancing tough guy charm with razor-sharp instincts. But in NCIS Season 12’s “Twenty Klicks,” they threw Gibbs...

Mark Harmon is best known for his role as Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs in the long-running CBS series NCIS. After spending 19 seasons on the show, Harmon hasn't starred in another TV series or film (aside from narrating NCIS: Origins). However, the actor will return to act in Freakier Friday, the sequel to the hilarious 2003 Disney fantasy comedy Freaky Friday with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. Joining the Freakier Friday cast, Harmon is reprising his role as Ryan (who marries Curtis' Tess Coleman in the first movie) in the sequel.

Harmon's return to acting in Freakier Friday raises the question of whether he could potentially play Gibbs again. A comeback for Gibbs in NCIS may be unlikely due to Harmon being away from the show for three years and the actor's advanced age, disapproving of the long schedule and physical demands. However, Harmon's Gibbs could be a recurring guest...

As a genre, romantic comedies are not known for having a particularly strong relationship to reality. Many of the most beloved films in the genre are heightened absurdities, relying on wild coincidences and fairy tale-esque logic to carry their love stories. But for all the silly screwballs and unbelievable farces in the romcom sphere, there’s a subcategory of the genre that tops them all in terms of absurd lack of realism: the royalty rom-com.

In a royal romantic comedy, one of the leads is a member of a royal family, universally a prince or a princess. The royal family member, whose country of rule is typically either completely made up or left unnamed, falls in love with a commoner or someone generally not of their station, and the main conflict comes from how they can circumnavigate the gaping class differences. Many of these movies often feel like live-action Disney Princess films,...

The “prince of England’s hearts” falls for the American president’s son (or is it the other way around?) in “Red, White & Royal Blue,” an effervescent gay rom-com that might be easily dismissed as a mere trifle, were it not for the still-historic novelty of its existence. Arriving less than a year after “Bros,” director Matthew López’s Amazon-backed, R-rated lark goes even further to normalize queer romance on-screen, taking a classic “chick flick” premise — the kind once reserved for Mandy Moore and Amanda Bynes movies, à la “Chasing Liberty” or “What a Girl Wants” — and recasting it with dudes.

Are gay men the target audience? No question, although “Red, White & Royal Blue” (adapted from the book by Casey McQuiston) reminded me more of that surprising subsection of manga known as “yaoi” — or “boys’ love” comics — marketed primarily to young female readers. These stories, which typically feature slender,...

There’s a world in which the film adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s novel Red, White & Royal Blue captures the horny energy and political idealism of its source material. It would be a campy romp that leans into the book’s bubble-gum logic without losing sight of what made the novel an immediate bestseller.

The version of Red, White & Royal Blue that we have, directed by Tony-award winning playwright Matthew López (The Inheritance) and premiering on Amazon Prime, lands like a fever dream. It’s a tangle of odd tones, roving direction and eccentric performances — a frenetic combo that makes it hard to buy the drama of this fantasy.

It shouldn’t be so tough. The story — the son of the U.S. president falls in love with a British prince — is charming in its improbability. Red, White & Royal Blue takes place in an alternate timeline, when...

Mark Harmon, or special agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs in a longtime role on CBS’s NCIS series, has signed with Gersh.

Harmon originated his Gibbs character with a guest appearance on Jag before being spun off to lead NCIS, a role he played on the CBS procedural for nearly two decades before signing off from his final case in 2021. Going into the ninth season, he was promoted to executive producer on NCIS and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In the 11th season, Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Harmon worked closely with showrunner Gary Glasberg on a special two-episode arc that reunited the Gibbs character with an old comrade working a case in New Orleans. Those episodes became the pilot for NCIS: Nola, also known as NCIS: New Orleans, with Harmon serving as executive producer on the spinoff.

Harmon also developed, executive produced and starred in Certain Prey,...

Exclusive: LeToya Luckett (Greenleaf), Romeo Miller (Honey) and Keith David (Greenleaf) have signed on to star in the film A Miracle Before Christmas, from writer-director LazRael Lison (#Unknown).

The love story centers on Mercedes Wright (Luckett), a famous, fast-talking relationship therapist who has the answers to fixing everyone else’s marital issues, but is challenged by problems faced with her own husband (Miller), leaning on help from an angel (David) to get past them. Lison and Tatiana Chekhova are producing the film under their Summer House Pictures banner, with Charles F. Porter of Black Bench Productions, and Jasper Cole (Never and Again). Marlon D. Haynes is serving as exec producer.

Luckett is represented by WME and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman; Miller by Pantheon Talent; David by Artists & Representatives, Silver J Management and Meyers & Downs; and Lison by Newman-Thomas Management and Kaye & Mills.

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Exclusive: Rose Reid (Finding You), Ruairi O’Connor...

Exclusive: Rory O’Malley is set as a lead opposite Jo Koy in Josep, ABC’s single-camera comedy pilot from 20th Television.

Josep follows the comedian as a recently divorced Filipino American nurse attempting to navigate dating, fatherhood and a very Filipino mother who loves to “help.”

O’Malley will play Seth, an earnest guy married to Jo’s sister, Gemmalyn. He loves his Filipino wife and her family so much he has embraced all parts of their culture and now acts more Filipino than Jo does.

Steve Joe, a co-executive producer on Doogie Kamealoha M.D. and Young Sheldon, Fresh Off The Boat’s Randall Park and Michael Golamco are writing and executive producing the half-hour comedy.

Josep is also exec produced by others from Fresh Off the Boat including Kourtney Kang, The Detective Agency’s Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar and Park alongside his Imminent Collision partners Golamco and Hieu Ho.

The new year is continuing apace at Hulu. The streamer’s list of new releases for February 2022 is highlighted by one very interesting project.

Pam and Tommy is set to premiere on Feb. 2. Perhaps the Groundhog Day release date is intentional as the show will cover a particular moment of celebrity, sex, and exploitation from the early ’90s that seems to have repeated itself over and over. Sebastian Stan and Lily James star as Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson and the series follows the events and fallout of their homemade sex tape being stolen and unleashed on a nascent internet. If nothing else, getting the promo photos of Stan and James as the ’90s stars was worth it.

Read more Movies Willem Dafoe on Noir, Fate and Geeks in Nightmare Alley By David Crow Movies Matthew Vaughn on Finding The Man Who Would Be King’s Man By David Crow

Another Hulu original,...

As Forest Whitaker prepares to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Newport Beach Film Festival on June 16, the prolific Academy Award- and Emmy-winning actor with a career spanning four decades says he finds himself increasingly reconnecting with the way he approached the work when he was just starting out.

There’s a “joy when I’m working on a part in the discovery of looking at it and trying to figure out the people,” he says.

For example, he notes that by focusing more deeply on the needs of his “Godfather of Harlem” character, real-life crime boss Bumpy Johnson, the character itself leads the way to his performance.

“That’s the way I was working before,” he says. “I started to go back to basics sometimes, and it’s making things more exciting for me again.”

Whitaker admits he feels fortunate to have been allowed to play an astonishingly...

Exclusive: Anna Akana (Jupiter’s Legacy), Alex Brightman (Beetlejuice), Ashley D. Kelley (Insatiable), Jay Klaitz (FBI) and Rory O’Malley (The Book of Mormon) are set as series regulars in NBC single-camera comedy pilot Hungry, starring and executive produced by Demi Lovato. The project comes from Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner’s Hazy Mills, Sb Projects and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.

Written and executive produced by Suzanne Martin, Hungry follows a group of friends who belong to a food-issues group helping one another as they look for love, success and the perfect thing in the fridge that’s going to make it all better.

Akana will play Wednesday, who looks exactly like what she is – a trophy wife. Sustaining that takes a lot of self-control, but she’s so in control that it’s actually out of control, and it’s driving her and her husband crazy.

Brightman’s Cooper is so sweet,...

Paramount Players’ newest installment in the “Paranormal Activity” franchise has found its lead cast, with Emily Bader, Roland Buck III, Dan Lippert and Henry Ayres-Brown joining the upcoming chapter, TheWrap has learned exclusively.

Will Eubank (“Underwater”) is directing from a script by Christopher Landon (“Happy Death Day”). Jason Blum is producing via Blumhouse, alongside Oren Peli, while Landon is executive producing along with Steven Schneider. It will debut on Paramount+.

The plot for the upcoming sequel is being kept under wraps. Paramount first teamed with Blum on the initial microbudget phenomenon in 2009, which went on to gross over $190M worldwide.

Created by Peli, who wrote, directed and shot the initial installment, the new “Paranormal” will be the first installment in the microbudget horror series since “Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension” in 2015. Known for their very low budgets — the original 2007 film was made on a $15,000 budget — the “Paranormal Activity” series was...

Exclusive: As the mystery at the center of Big Sky unfolds, so do the stories of the various characters living in David E. Kelley’s world. Set to join the ABC crime drama’s family are Camille Sullivan, Chad Willett and Patrick Gallagher in recurring roles.

Starring Katheryn Winnick, Kylie Bunbury and Ryan Phillippe, Big Sky centers on private detectives Cassie Dewell and Cody Hoyt, who team with ex-cop Jenny Hoyt, to search for two sisters mysteriously kidnapped by a truck driver in Montana. Upon learning that the kidnapping isn’t an isolated incident, the law officials must race against the clock to prevent any more abductions.

Sullivan and Chad Willet will play Joanie Sullivan and Robert Sullivan, the parents of two kidnapped sisters played by Jade Pettyjohn and Natalie Alyn Lind. The parents, arriving in Helena from out of town, are pushed to their limits as they search for their missing daughters.

More bad news out of Hollywood.

Bert Belasco, best-known for his lead role on BET's Let's Stay Together, has died.

He was 38.

Per TMZ, the actor's body was found in a Virginia hotel room.

Bert Sr., Belasco's father, revealed that his son was found dead Sunday after his girlfriend could not get in contact with him.

It is reported that his girlfriend asked hotel staff to check on him.

While details are still scarce, TMZ does note that there was blood on the bedsheets.

The family is currently awaiting autopsy results, but his father believes his son suffered a fatal aneurysm.

Belasco played Charles Whitmore on Let's Stay Together from 2011 to 2014.

The series lasted four seasons with Belasco's Charles playing the contractor and fiance of character Stacey Lawrence, played by Nadine Ellis.

He also appeared on multiple episodes of TV shows such as Pitch and I'm Dying Up Here.

He...

Max Ehrich isn't "afraid" to take his rumored new romance to Instagram. Less than a month after his very public split from fiancée Demi Lovato, the actor posted a photo of him FaceTiming Sonika Vaid, an American Idol alum Max was spotted out with in October.  Though Max didn't caption the pic, commenters were quick to call out the American Princess star.  One posted, "weren't you just engaged lol wtf," while another added, "So you got out of an engagement and post nonstop about Demi then date someone else? It's ok to be single and heal." In an exclusive interview with E!, Sonika said that she and...

Exclusive: Max Ehrich is starring in the musically-driven motion picture Southern Gospel which tells the true story of rock ‘n’ roll star Samuel Allen who must overcome seemingly endless obstacles on his journey to fulfilling his childhood dream.

Katelyn Nacon, who plays Enid on AMC’s The Walking Dead is also starring in the film.

Ehrich starred in the CBS-Amblin series Under the Dome as Hunter May and was most recently seen in the Jenji Kohan produced dramedy series, American Princess on Lifetime, as well as the Netflix original film Walk.Ride.Rodeo which featured one of Ehrich’s original songs, “Ride.” The actor previously earned four Daytime Emmy nominations for his work on The Young and the Restless.

The film is currently shooting using a number of Covid-19 safety protocols.

The supporting cast in the Jeffrey A. Smith directed feature includes J. Alphonse Nicholson, Gary Weeks and Justice Leak.

The feature is executive produced by Sunbreak Studios and produced by Kent Munsey, Jeffrey A. Smith, Neal Edelstein, and Karl Horstmann from Triple Horse Studios (The Case for Christ).

Ehrich is represented by Mgmt. Entertainment, A3 Artists Agency, and Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, P.C.

Actress Amber Midthunder, who is a regular on the CW series Roswell, New Mexico and previously co-starred in FX’s Legion, stars in The Wheel, an indie feature, which she also produced. Steve Pink is the director and also produced the pic. Pink is known for films like Hot Tub Time Machine 1&2, 2014’s About Last Night, and co-wrote the original High Fidelity film. Midthunder co-stars alongside Taylor Gray, whose credits include Star Wars Rebels and American Princess. The Wheel centers on Albee and Walker, a couple on the verge of divorce. Married at 16, they’re now 24 and miserable. Albee wants out, while Walker wants to make it work – no matter the damage. This is their Hail Mary; a weekend in the mountains to work through a book that might save their relationship via total, brutal honesty. Nelson Lee (Mulan), Bethany Anne Lind (Ozark), and Kevin Pasdon (New Amsterdam) round out the cast.

Georgia Flood and Ezekiel Simat.

Georgia Flood and Ezekiel Simat are starring in The Dog Days of Christmas, a romantic comedy directed by Don’t Tell’s Tori Garrett, which is now shooting on the Gold Coast.

Produced by the Steve Jaggi Company and scripted by American Holly Hester, the US-set movie revolves around Flood’s Annie Blake, an aid worker who has just finished an international mission and heads home to North Haven, Vermont, to spend the holidays with her family.

When the local animal shelter closes, Annie steps in to save it with the help of Dylan (Simat), the local vet and old school nemesis.

Adhering to strict Covid Safe filming practices and guidelines set by the Queensland government, the production is shooting at Warner Bros. Movie World and the hinterland.

All crew members are wearing personal protective equipment and the nurse on set is taking daily temperature checks,...

“Teenage Bounty Hunters,” which launched last week on Netflix, is a series set in a broadly satirized private high school environment, in which sheltered, Type A young people with a knack for rivalrousness and secrecy end up enmeshed in heightened drama.

In other words, it’s like “The Politician” — except good.

The new series, which has been perched in Netflix’s top-ten most-watched column in recent days, bears similarities in situation and in vervy energy to Ryan Murphy’s drama, which launched last year to a muted reception. The difference between the two shows may suggest a smart path for Netflix to continue walking down: Working on crafting purposefully small shows rather than reverse-engineering a zeitgeist hit through famous names.

“Teenage Bounty Hunters” features no major stars, at least not yet: Maddie Phillips and Anjelica Bette Fellini play fraternal twins who accidentally find themselves tracking and catching fugitives when not...

Charlie McElveen (The Deuce) is set as a series regular opposite Katherine Reis, Gina Torres and Erin Richards in The Brides, ABC’s Brides of Dracula drama pilot from Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros Television. Written by Aguirre-Sacasa and directed by Maggie Kiley, The Brides, a sexy contemporary reimagining of Dracula, is a family drama with a trio of powerful female leads at its heart — Cleo (Torres), Renée (Richards), and Lily (Reis). With strong horror elements, The Brides is a vampire soap about empowered, immortal women and the things they do to maintain wealth, prestige, legacy — and their nontraditional family. McElveen will play Arthur Seward. An ambitious young news reporter, Arthur works the graveyard shift at his paper, covering news of the bizarre. He becomes infatuated with Lily (Reis), a striving singer in New York City — unaware that she is, in fact, an immortal vampire. McElveen made his...

Exclusive: Eric Petersen (Kirstie) has been cast as the male lead opposite Schitt’s Creek’s Annie Murphy in AMC’s dark comedy series Kevin Can F*** Himself. Mary Hollis Inboden (The Real O’Neals) and Alex Bonifer (Superstore) also have joined the project, from Valerie Armstrong, Rashida Jones and Will McCormack and AMC Studios.

Created and executive produced by Armstrong, Kevin Can F*** Himself probes the secret life of a type of woman we all grew up believing we knew: the sitcom wife (Murphy). It looks to break television convention and ask what the world looks like through her eyes. Alternating between single-camera realism and multi-camera comedy, the formats will inform one another as we imagine what happens when the sitcom wife escapes her confines, and takes the lead in her own life.

Murphy plays Kevin’s wife Allison, a woman who escapes her confines and discovers her rage.

Exclusive: Darien Sills-Evans (Superior Donuts) and Mike Lane (American Princess) are set as series regulars opposite Jim Jefferies in his NBC comedy pilot Jefferies, from writer-producer Suzanne Martin, Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner’s Hazy Mills and Universal TV.

Written by Jefferies and Martin, Jefferies stars the veteran comedian as a fictionalized version of himself – a comedian with a unique and often controversial take on modern life, relationships and co-parenting with his best friend. In addition to Jefferies, they join previously announced Betsy Brandt.

Jefferies and Martin executive produce with Hayes and Milliner for Hazy Mills, along with Tim Sarkes and Alex Murray for Brillstein Entertainment Partners.

2020 NBC Pilots & Series Orders

Sills-Evans’ credits include the series regular role of James Jordan in CBS’ Superior Donuts. He’s repped by Jc Robbins Management and Artists & Representatives.

Lane’s most recent credits include a recurring role on American Princess. He’s repped by 3 Arts,...

Exclusive: I hear that Universal is in development on Tias, a female-driven Latina ensemble drama based on an original pitch by TV scribe Rob Sudduth. He will also write the script.

Will Packer and James Lopez will produce under Packer’s eponymous production company, Will Packer Productions. Eva Longoria and Ben Spector will also produce under their UnbeliEVAble Entertainment banner.

Sudduth is a Texan native who cut his teeth in acting with parts on such series as Felicity, Alias, The Young and The Restless, Veronica Mars and Desperate Housewives to name a few. He segued to writing and was accepted into the National Hispanic Media Coalition TV Writers Program, his first feature being Going to Gunn, which won Best Comedy in the Page International Screenwriting Awards. His TV writing career took off as a producer on ABC’s The Real O’Neals, Netflix’s On My Block, a supervising producer on Lifetime’s American Princess,...

Netflix has confirmed that 26 new original series, movies and specials will be debuting on the streaming service in November. Leading off the lineup is the eagerly awaited Martin Scorsese crime drama “The Irishman” starring Academy Awards champs Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci. You’ll have to wait till the end of the month to see that Oscar frontrunner.

Before then, you can stream another strong contender for year-end awards: season 3 of “The Crown,” with Oscar winner Olivia Colman taking over the role of Queen Elizabeth II from Claire Foy, who bagged an Emmy for her efforts.

In the lead-up to Christmas, Netflix is programming a slew of holiday fare, including the movies “Dear Santa,” “Holiday Rush” and “Let It Snow” as well as a Yuletide-themed edition of “The Great British Baking Show.”

Below is the full schedule of everything that is coming and leaving Netflix in November...

Spring is in the air, and with it a fresh batch of Netflix movies to whet your appetite. Next month, the streaming behemoth is rolling out a slew of classic titles as well as a robust slate of Original films and series. With the pending launch of Disney+ threatening to overtake Netflix’s command of the streaming market, the platform will have to step up its game if it wants to keep ahead of the game. Luckily, Netflix has the goods to back up its claim as the Iron Throne of streaming.

Beginning on the first of the month, Netflix will debut the Sundance hit political documentary, “Knock Down the House,” which follow four women running for congress in 2018, including New York’s rock star progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Two days later, Zac Efron’s Ted Bundy flick, “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile,” hits the platform. Those preferring a powerhouse-filled...

“This Is Us” star Mandy Moore successfully transitioned from a teenage pop star to an adult who juggles singing, acting and, soon enough, producing professionally. On March 25 she is being celebrated for her achievements with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, an honor she calls “tremendously humbling.”

“I feel like I’m operating at my best now. I know what I want; I know how to ask for it; I know how to not settle until I get that,” Moore says. “I’m better at stepping up to the plate and acknowledging the value I bring to the plate. I guess that just only comes with the wisdom and clarity of time and age.”

The singer-turned-actress got her first taste of fame at the turn of the century when her debut single “Candy” hit the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Two years later she was dipping her toes in acting...

Lifetime said today it has greenlit two movies for 2019 to add to the network’s collection of originals. The first is Victoria Gotti: My Father’s Daughter, which will be executive produced, narrated, and co-written by the real-life Victoria Gotti. The second is a remake of Death of a Cheerleader, the cult hit that< originally starred Kellie Martin, who will be back for the new iteration.

Victoria Gotti takes us deep into the world of what it was like to grow up as the daughter of mob boss John Gotti, revealing the glamour, glitz and unique hardships of her world. Chelsea Frei will play the titular Victoria as she shares never-before-revealed stories about her life, from being a sensitive child growing up with her father (Maurice Benard), the tragedy of her younger brother’s death, and her relationship with a the man who would become her husband — a relationship...

Two more actresses are accusing Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein of horrifying behaviour. “Chasing Liberty” actress Annabella Sciorra and “Blade Runner” star Daryl Hannah added fuel to the fire with new allegations against Weinstein. Sciorra, 57, accused Weinstein of raping her after he barged into her apartment in the 1990s. “He walked in like it was […]...

Mandy Moore knows how to give us all the feels on This Is Us, but she also knows how to get us feeling nostalgic with her Instagram. The former child star has a penchant for kicking it old school with her plethora of #tbt and #fbf posts on her Instagram account and we aren't the only one are feeling her too-cute throwback photos—her 1.4 million fans also dig 'em. Moore first caught the world's attention with sugary pop hit "Candy" in 1999 and then she charmed Hollywood with her roles in A Walk to Remember, How to Deal and Chasing Liberty. Over the past 18 years, the 33-year-old has grown from a teen pop princess and into a serious actress. From hanging out in the '90s with fellow...

As if America needed another reason to adore Milo Ventimiglia, the actor shared the profound patriotism he experiences every time he returns home from abroad.

“Every time I travel internationally — and it’s quite a bit — the moment that I get back to the U.S. and a U.S. customs agent … looks at my passport, hands it back and says, ‘Welcome home,’ it fills me with joy and pride and honor to be raised in our country,” he tells People in this week’s special 100 Reasons to Love America double issue.

The This Is Us star, 39, has even more...

We’ve reached the near mid-point of this Definitive List; 20 down, 30 to go. As we move forward, the story of “boy meets girl” becomes more complicated, as plenty of stumbling blocks stand in the way: lack of experience, insecurity, unsupportive parents, and, as in most cases, ego. So, when we watch all these films, what do we learn? Hundreds of romantic comedies end happily, but none end in the same way. Perhaps there’s a method to the madness, but the more we tread through these highlights, the more it’s clear that to make an impact, you have to change the game or perfect the existing one.

#30. Bull Durham (1988)

Baseball movies had worn out their welcome a bit in the mid-80s and audiences weren’t clamoring for a romantic comedy based around the national pastime. Enter writer/director Ron Shelton, who decided to write a film based on...

Zachary Levi and guest on the Oscars' Red Carpet Zachary Levi at the Academy Awards Pictured above is Zachary Levi and a guest on the 83rd Academy Awards' Red Carpet this past Sunday, Feb. 27, just outside the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. At the Oscar ceremony, Zachary Levi and Mandy Moore performed "I See the Light," a Best Original Song nominee – music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater – from the animated feature Tangled. The 2011 Best Song winner turned out to be Randy Newman's "We Belong Together," from another animated feature, Toy Story 3 – last year's biggest domestic box office hit. Zachary Levi movies Below is a partial list of Zachary Levi films.* His movie debut took place in Mark Douglas Miller's comedy short Reel Guerrillas (2005), while his feature film debut was in a supporting role in John Whitesell's comedy Big Momma's House 2 (2006). Thor: The Dark World (2013). Director: Alan Taylor.

Gurinder Chadha’s hit film Bend It Like Beckham is being readied for the West End stage and following a host of auditions and workshops, the cast for the highly anticipated stage version Bend It Like Beckham the Musical has been formally announced.

Natalie Dew will play football crazy Jess with Lauren Samuels as Jules, a player with the Harriers, a local women’s football team, and Jamie Campbell Bower as their coach Joe. The three young leads will be supported by some familiar faces, including comedian Ronni Ancona who plays Paula, Jules’s Mum, with Jamal Andréas as Jess’ good friend Tony.

Preeya Kalidas who appeared in the original film as one of the cousins, will take on the role of Pinky, Jess’ sister and Tony Jayawardena andNatasha Jayetileke take on the all important roles of her parents, Mr and Mrs Bhamra.

Jess needs extra time. She is facing...

In almost every set of “dueling” movies, whether they’re competing biopics or similar-premise disaster flicks out within months of each other, there’s a right one and a wrong one as far as which you’re supposed to prefer. It’s okay to enjoy Michael Bay’s Armageddon, but you should recognize Mimi Leder’s Deep Impact as the better movie. Capote over Infamous. Observe and Report over Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Top Gun over Iron Eagle. Dantes Peak over Volcano. Tombstone over Wyatt Earp. 1492: Conquest of Paradise over Christopher Columbus: The Discovery. The Prestige over The Illusionist. Mission to Mars over Red Planet. Chasing Liberty over First Daughter. Leviathan over DeepStar Six, and The Abyss over both of them. Some pairs are nearly a draw as far as neither actually being worth a preference, such as Lambada and The Forbidden Dance. Here’s a more recent one: Cheap Thrills over 13 Sins. The...

Mandy Moore turns the big 3-0 today!The pop star first entered the music scene in 1999 when she released her first single, "Candy" off of her debut album "So Real." The album rapidly reached platinum certification, and she went on to release three more albums before parting ways with her record label in 2003. Following a successful music career, the singer-songwriter switched her focus to acting and made her film debut in the 2001 film "Dr. Dolittle 2," before staring alongside Anne Hathaway in the "The Princess Diaries" later that year. In 2002, the singer-turned-actress landed her first starring role playing Jamie Sullivan in the movie adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ novel "A Walk to Remember," which also spawned a soundtrack filled with songs she performed.On the heels of her breakthrough performance, the brunette beauty appeared in various films, such as "Chasing Liberty," "Saved!" and "How to Deal," and later voiced the character...

Keeping it cool in West Hollywood, "Tangled" starlet Mandy Moore strutted her stuff around town on Wednesday (March 5).

Looking good in a leather jacket over a plain white tee, the 29-year-old beauty sported a pair of blue jeans and colorful designer heels.

In related news, the "I Wanna Be With You" singer has scored high on the scales of AskMen.com, which states, "Mandy Moore is the quintessential 'girl next door.' Her friendly and warm features are hard to resist, but she makes a point of keeping her public admirers at arm's length and avoiding any major sexual displays. She handpicked her own body double for a nude scene in 2004's Chasing Liberty and was upset by her Cosmopolitan cover shoot when the final product yielded the shocking word "orgasms" in close range of her picture. In short, she just doesn't strike us as a crazy sexy girl who...

We’ve reached the near mid-point of this Definitive List; 20 down, 30 to go. As we move forward, the story of “boy meets girl” becomes more complicated, as plenty of stumbling blocks stand in the way: lack of experience, insecurity, unsupportive parents, and, as in most cases, ego. So, when we watch all these films, what do we learn? Hundreds of romantic comedies end happily, but none end in the same way. Perhaps there’s a method to the madness, but the more we tread through these highlights, the more it’s clear that to make an impact, you have to change the game or perfect the existing one.

#30. Bull Durham (1988)

Baseball movies had worn out their welcome a bit in the mid-80s and audiences weren’t clamoring for a romantic comedy based around the national pastime. Enter writer/director Ron Shelton, who decided to write a film based on...

Can you believe Mandy Moore turns 29 years old today?!The adorable pop star won the world and our hearts with her 1999 debut single "Candy." Moore dominated MTV in the early '00s alongside fellow pop princesses Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera -- but she's always maintained her good-girl charm. In 2002, Mandy was the envy of women everywhere when she landed her first starring role in "A Walk To Remember," playing the love interest of fellow '00s heartthrob, Shane West. After that, the brunette beauty starred in a slew of romantic comedies like "Chasing Liberty," "The Princess Diaries" and "Because I Said So." Today Mandy continues to act and sing, recently appearing on shows like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Tron: Uprising" and voicing a Disney princess in "Tangled." In 2009, Moore tied the knot with fellow singer/actor Ryan Adams. Click "Launch Gallery" above to see more "Trl" stars then & now! Read...

Before Chasing Liberty, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, The Princess Diaries, and Kate Middleton there was Roman Holiday, the story of a princess (Audrey Hepburn) looking to be free and the reporter (Gregory Peck) who takes her on a journey through Rome. The new poster for the restored film has the Vespa featured in most of the film’s earlier posters, but has a postcard feel, adding the map and keeping the picture of Hepburn and Peck in black and white. And thus the Audrey Hepburn nostalgia continues. Unfortunately, the movie isn’t ”back in cinemas” in the United States,...

There was a time when The B Team was a cop comedy starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, before a certain A-Team caused a name-switch to The Other Guys. But with The Other Guys now come and gone, and The A-Team a distant, tank-flying memory, The B Team is back, this time in the form of a spy spoof being developed by Seth Rogen. It just goes to show you can't keep a good name down. Or something.This project actually pre-dates those others, and its title was presumably in flux there for a while. Development being as slow as it is though, it's fair game again. The story in this case is about a "top secret-agent" who gets kidnapped and has to be rescued by his back-up gang of researchers and techies, who presumably aren't quite as "top" as he is.The original pitch to the studio was by Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman,...

Seth Rogan has attached himself to a new film project at Disney called The B Team. He will serve as a producer on the action spy comedy and will most likely end up taking a starring role in the movie. 

As you can imagine, The B Team is a lower level group of operatives that are not as awesome as The A Team. The film is still in the development stage, but the story focuses on a top secret agent who is kidnapped, leaving his tech support team and researchers to rescue him.

Sounds like there could be some fun elements in the film, but there's not much to go off of right now. According to Variety Disney has been sitting on the project for over three years after they bought the pitch from screenwriters Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman (Chasing Liberty). Better late than never I guess. The reason...

Although the duo seems odd at first glance, Pineapple Express star Seth Rogen is teaming up with Disney for their latest project. Variety informs us that the actor is joining Disney’s The B Team as a producer, with the possibility of starring in the project as well.

Disney obtained the project back in 2008, after they bought a pitch from Chasing Liberty screenwriters David Schneiderman and Derek Guiley. The script is based on “a top secret agent being kidnapped, leaving his tech support team and researchers to rescue him.”

With little information to go on, I’m not sure if the project is going to be animated or live-action. Judging by Disney’s upcoming releases, I’m just going to assume animated — which is a good move, considering Rogen has voiced several animated characters over the past few years. His fist voice work was on 2007′s Shrek the Third, with...

‘Disney’ and ‘Seth Rogen’ are three words you probably wouldn’t expect ever to hear in the same sentence, but the movie industry is full of surprises, and if Robert Rodriguez can include Spy Kids and Sin City in his credits, then there’s nothing to stop Seth Rogen from coming on board to produce a Disney film.

Variety are reporting that Rogen, fresh from his turn in the indie comedy 50/50, which has been doing brilliantly in the past few months, is now set to board Disney’s spy comedy The B Team as a producer, with an eye to star in it too.

The project focuses on,

“a top secret agent being kidnapped, leaving his tech support team and researchers to rescue him.”

Disney picked up the project back in 2008, buying a pitch from the writing team of Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman (Chasing Liberty), with Charles Segars set...

What is this, a leftover SNL sketch? The family-friendly comedy genre is a lean one and with good reason -- they usually don't work. "I Spy"? "Leonard Part 6"? "Get Smart"? "Spies Like Us"? You see where we're going with this? But Seth Rogen thinks he can figure it out and has set up a new movie over at wholesome Disney studios. Entitled "The B Team" (clever!) the project was a pitch picked up by the studio three years ago, and will now enter development with Rogen set to star. Dreamed up by Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman (the duo behind the Mandy Moore rom-com "Chasing Liberty") the story will center on a secret agent who is kidnapped, forcing the rest of his team to come to the rescue. So imagine if Ethan Hunt was inept and had to be rescued by Simon Pegg. Hilarious? Everything is still in early...

Do not be fooled by its title: the film Burning Man, currently screening at the Toronto Film Festival, has absolutely nothing to do with the popular festival. “I didn’t even know about all that,” says Burning Man’s star, Matthew Goode. It involves a lot of sun and costumes and time spent out in the northern Nevada desert, EW told him. “I don’t think all that is for me,” he laughs. “Look at this English skin!”

Well, we certainly get an eyeful in this movie! Burning Man, directed by Jonathan Teplizky, chronicles a man grieving for his wife after she dies from cancer.

Having two films with near-identical premises open only a few months apart from each other certainly isn't a new phenomenon: Dante's Peak and Volcano. Deep Impact and Armageddon. Tombstone and Wyatt Earp. Chasing Liberty and First Daughter (who, after all, could forget that one-two punch of sheer creative inspiration?). Indeed, if a Hollywood studio feels there's money to be milked from a concept, not even a competing project is going to keep them from making a movie about it.

The 2011 version of this is the dynamic duo of No Strings Attached and Friends With Benefits, starring Natalie Portman/Ashton Kutcher and Justin Timberlake/Mila Kunis, respectively. The surface similarities are pretty obvious: both are romantic comedies about two friends who decide to start a sexual relationship without becoming emotionally attached; both feature two strikingly attractive young stars in the lead roles; both are rated "R" for their frank depictions of sexuality and on-screen nudity.

Lakeshore Records has announced two new soundtrack albums to be released later this summer. Coming up in July is the soundtrack for the drama The Devil’s Double. The film’s score is composed by Christian Henson (Severance, Black Death, Chasing Liberty). No word yet on the album’s contents, but details should be announced within the next couple of weeks. The Devil’s Double stars Dominic Cooper as an Iraqi who is forced to act as a body double for Uday Hussein (also played by Cooper), the son of Iraqi dictator Sadam Hussein. Ludivine Sagnier and Philip Quast are co-starring. The film is directed by Lee Tamahori who has previously worked with a number of top film composers including Jerry Goldsmith (The Edge, Along Came a Spider), David Arnold (Die Another Day), Marco Beltrami (xXx: State of the Union), Mark Isham (Next) and Dave Grusin (Mulholland Falls). The Devil...

The big topic of conversation around the AfterElton employee break room this week — other than snicks stinking up the microwave with his damn tuna melts — was: "What is your favorite guilty pleasure movie?"

Some of the responses we heard were surprising, giving a disturbing glimpse into the twisted dark souls of some of our writers. Meanwhile, some responses (like, you know, mine) just stand as excellent movie recommendations. We thought we'd round up all the various answers in this new feature we're trying out called "AfterElton Trending Topics."

But we don't want to just hear from the Ae writers. As you might have noticed, most of them are blowhards. In the comments, we'd love to hear from our readers too. What is the biggest guilty pleasure in your DVD collection?

From the staff...

Ed Kennedy

Ok, so this is going to date me fairly precisely, but if I'm flipping through...

In an interview with New York Magazine this week at an after-party screening for Scream 4, Mickey Rourke not only said that the movie he recently made with 50 Cent was a "really bad movie," but also went on to bash both his upcoming feature, Passion Play and his co-star, Megan Fox. Refreshingly honest? Yes! Kind of a dick move? Absolutely. But occasionally, it is nice to know that, when we think a movie is crap, that the actors who worked on them at least agree. Rourke's admission is different here, because it's one of the few instances where an actor called out his own movie before it was released.

To commemorate Rourke's honesty, I have tallied up nine more glorious instances of an actor shitting on his or her own work, although the nine other instances were long after the fact.

Sam Worthington on Terminator Salvation

"I gotta be a...

Cartoon Network revealed today that they will be launching a new block of DC animation properties for TV and Online in 2012 called DC Nation. The new programming line-up will be "populated with event programming, interstitials, exclusive behind-the-scenes of theatrical production and an insider look into the world of all things DC."

The animated line-up includes 13 new animated series, 19 returning shows, and the network’s newest live-action scripted comedy series, Level Up. During the presentation DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg talked about the company's new CG-animated series for Cartoon Network based on How to Train Your Dragon. The network also announced fourth season renewals for the LucasFilm Animation's Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Here's a list a description of all of the new series coming to Cartoon Network, which includes ThunderCats, Green Lantern and Looney Toons.

The Problem Solverz: Created by celebrated artist Ben Jones, The Problem Solverz presents a fresh,...