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Entertainment: Zac Efron; Rain Dove; Lee Daniels; Ruby Rose; Adele
Special to the online edition of Windy City Times
by Andrew Davis, Windy City Times
2015-12-15

This article shared 6344 times since Tue Dec 15, 2015
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Zac Efron is reteaming with his Neighbors co-star Seth Rogen for The Disaster Artist, New Line's making-of movie about the 2003 drama The Room—widely considered one of the worst movies of all time, according to The Hollywood Reporter. James Franco is directing and also starring in the movie, which is based on a 2013 book by Greg Sestero, who starred in Room, and Tom Bissell.

Agender model Rain Dove sent a message to Victoria's Secret, which recently aired its annual fashion show, according to Mashable. "Different can be sexy, too," Dove told Mashable. "Every year I see Victoria's Secret promote their show as featuring the 'most beautiful women in the world.' During my career path, I've experienced firsthand what people deem as beautiful. It's not me. It's not most people. It's limited and small; its needs to change." Dove measures at 32DD-26-34—ideal for a lingerie model. Because of her masculine features and close-cropped hair, though, landing these jobs has been difficult for her.

Just more than a month after the Empire co-creator was honored by the SAG Foundation, SAG-AFTRA is suing Lee Daniels in federal court in a six-year-old battle over residuals, Deadline reported. The union is seeking to have a judge enforce a 2011 arbitration ruling over nearly $340,000 in unpaid contributions and residuals from Daniels' directorial feature debut, Shadowboxer.

Grace and Frankie has yet to air its second season next year, but Deadline has learned that the Netflix comedy series has been given an unofficial green light for a third. The second-season renewal of Grace and Frankie—which stars Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston—came out in May, two and a half weeks after the series debuted and shortly after Miley Cyrus endorsed it on Twitter.

Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson shocked fans when he revealed a skin cancer scare, but he has since assured them that he feels fine, Entertainment Tonight revealed. On Twitter, he posted, "Thanks for all the well wishes! I'm feeling great & happy to be skin cancer free. Reminding you to get checked often by your Dermotoligist [sic]!" Ferguson's doctor, Richard G. Bennett—a clinical professor of medicine ( dermatology ) at UCLA and clinical professor of dermatology at USC—confirmed that the actor no longer has cancer.

Transgender model Carmen Carrera made history when she became the first transgender person to wed on reality TV, The Huffington Post noted. The broadcast of the wedding took place Dec. 9 during the season finale of Couple's Therapy With Dr. Jenn. The transgender model has been with her new husband Adrian Torres for the past 10 years.

Despite his bitter divorce from Olympic ice skater-turned-TV personality Johnny Weir, Victor Voronov is headed back down the aisle, Page Six reported. Voronov, 32, has fallen for 20-year-old Joti Polizoakis, an ice dancer for the German national team. Voronov, now the vice president and legal consultant for a real estate company, lives in Michigan, where his fiance trains.

Ruby Rose and fiancee Phoebe Dahl have called it quits, according to Page Six. Rose, 29, and Dahl, 27, were together for two years and officially announced their engagement in March 2014. "It's completely amicable and they wish each other the best," a source told E! News of the split. The insider also blamed their grueling schedules and distance for the breakup.

Adele's new 25 album has sold more than 5.1 million copies since its release Nov. 20—and it looks like all those fans and many more showed up for Adele Live In New York City, which aired on NBC on Dec. 14, according to Deadline. With 11.2 million viewers tuning in, the Lorne Michaels EP'd concert was NBC's most watched concert special since the 16.56 million who watched the Cher Farewell Tour on April 8, 2003. Not including awards show and the like, the Adele show was the most watched Big 4 music special since CBS' The Beatles: The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute on Feb. 9, 2014, which drew 14.045 million.

Madonna staged an impromptu mini-concert at the Place de la Republique in Paris, the site of massed tributes for the victims of the Nov. 13 attacks, according to The Guardian. Following a sell-out concert at the Bercy arena in the French capital as part of her Rebel Heart tour, the singer tweeted that she was heading to the square for an aftershow appearance. Beginning with "Ghosttown," she moved on to John Lennon's "Imagine" and her own "Like a Prayer."

Broad Green Pictures will produce a new biopic of the late Tennessee Williams, according to Gay Star News. The company have acquired the rights to John Lahr's biography of the iconic playwright. Lahr's book, titled Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage Of The Flesh, has won numerous awards, including the Lamda Award for best gay biography. Williams struggled with mental illness plus alcohol and drug addictions during his lifetime, and died in 1983 at the age of 71.

Alexander Skarsgard appears to be in the best shape of his life as the title character in Warner Bros.' Legend of Tarzan, according to TheWrap. The studio released the first look, via USA Today, at the latest adaptation of the classic literary icon from director David Yates. In this movie, Margot Robbie co-stars as Jane, who will have already have tamed Tarzan and has been living alongside the British gentleman in 1880s Victorian London for 10 years before they venture back to the Congo, where Tarzan must once again embrace his wild side.

Out freeskier Gus Kenworthy, of Telluride, Colorado, won his second consecutive slopestyle championship title in the Men's Toyota Freeski Slopestyle event at Dew Tour Breckenridge, according to a press release. Kenworthy's first ( and top ) run featured feats such as a leftside double cork 1080 tail and a rightside double cork 1260 mute, but it was his technical rail game that sealed the top score of 92.20.

NBA referee Bill Kennedy confirmed he is gay, according to a USA Today item that cites Yahoo! Sports. Kennedy made the disclosure just days after the NBA suspended Sacramento Kings point guard Rajon Rondo one game without pay for "directing a derogatory and offensive term [toward] a game official and not leaving the court in a timely manner upon his ejection." Yahoo Sports reported that Rondo directed homophobic language at Kennedy.

Justin Theroux has said accusations of transphobia in his Zoolander 2 script "hurt my feelings," Towleroad noted. Zoolander 2 has been accused of employing "the modern equivalent of using blackface" in its portrayal of model All by Benedict Cumberbatch. The character is asked "if you have a hot dog or a bun?" Actor/writer Theroux ( the husband of Jennifer Aniston ) compared the situation to the outcry over the use of "the 'r' [retard] word" in his Tropic Thunder script.

Mixed martial arts fighter Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger has her first UFC fight Saturday, Dec. 18, making her "the only married lesbian with kids in the UFC now," she says, according to Mombian. Jones-Lybarger will face the unbeaten Tecia Torres in the 115-pound ( strawweight ) class, after an injury forced Torres' expected opponent off the fight card. Jones-Lybarger has a 6-1 professional record, but has never competed in the UFC, the premiere mixed martial arts ( MMA ) league.

Actress Amber Heard, aka Mrs. Johnny Depp, will face trial on charges she smuggled the couple's two Yorkshire terriers into Australia, Page Six noted. A four-day trial starts April 18. Heard, 29, is facing two counts of violating quarantine laws by flying the pups in via private jet in May.

Actor Jared Leto has apologized to Taylor Swift after being caught trashing her music on video—and now he wants TMZ to atone for publishing the video of him in the first place, according to TheWrap. Leto has filed suit against TMZ via his company Sisyphus Touring, claiming that the website obtained an "unauthorized or stolen copy" of the video. According to the copyright infringement suit, the video was shot at Leto's home studio, and "is private confidential and not meant to be publicly released."

Nominees for the 47th annual NAACP Image Awards have been revealed, AceShowbiz.com noted. In music field, Janet Jackson leads among other musicians with six nominations. Trailing behind Jackson are The Weeknd and Empire cast, with four nominations apiece. All winners will be unveiled during a two-hour ceremony on Friday, Feb. 5, 2016, on TV One.

Lionel Richie has said he would love to return to the Glastonbury Festival—only this time as a special guest of his friend Diana Ross, according to UK Metro. The "Dancing on the Ceiling" singer delighted crowds at the festival this summer on The Pyramid Stage, during what has become the "legends slot." Ross isn't the only person Richie's hoping to team up with though—as he's also got his eye on a duet with Adele. Reports of the pair teaming up began after the singer released her chart-topping smash "Hello," which has the same title as one of Richie's best-known songs, which topped the charts in 1984.

Margaret Cho is returning to TV, as the comedian-actress is set to star in comedy Highland, which is in development at Amazon, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Highland stars Cho as a version of herself, who, after a court-ordered rehab, gets a chance to start over but has to move in with her dysfunctional family, who now runs a pot dispensary.

MTV's docuseries True Life is turning its lens toward straight men who perform in gay adult films ( known as "gay for pay" ) as the subject of its next installment, according to Towleroad. The episode will focus on two guys who perform in gay adult films because of the lucrative payouts. However, while one performer is open about his involvement, the other keeps it a guarded secret.

As part of Roundabout Theatre Company's 50th-anniversary season, Broadway in Chicago and Roundabout Theatre Company have announced casting for the national tour of Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall's Tony-winning Cabaret, a press release stated. Randy Harrison—best known for his portrayal of Justin in the Showtime drama Queer as Folk—will step into the role of the Emcee while Andrea Goss, a veteran of Roundabout's Cabaret on Broadway, will return to the role of Sally Bowles. Cabaret will run at Broadway in Chicago's newly named The PrivateBank Theatre during Feb. 9-21, 2016.

Pop quintet Fifth Harmony received their Group of the Year honor at Billboard's Women in Music 2015 ceremony, the music publication reported. Pitch Perfect 2 star Hailee Steinfeld offered this high note before presenting them with their award: "Great things can happen when women come together and bring their voices as one." The X-Factor graduates—composed of vocalists Camila Cabello, Normani Kordei Hamilton, Lauren Jauregui, Allyson Brooke Hernandez and Dinah Jane Hansen—sang renditions of "Worth It" that segued into Destiny's Child's "Independent Women" and Sister Sledge's "We Are Family."

On a related noted, Billboard Women in Music 2015 premieres Friday, Dec. 18, on Lifetime, according to a press release. The annual star-studded event ( taped in New York City ) honored six-time Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and actress Lady Gaga as Woman of the Year; Missy Elliott as Innovator; Loretta Lynn as Legend; Selena Gomez as Chart-Topper; Kelsea Ballerini as Rising Star; Tori Kelly as Breakthrough Artist; Fifth Harmony as Group of the Year, Demi Lovato as Rulebreaker, Brittany Howard as Powerhouse; and Lana Del Rey as Trailblazer.

Iconic actor Burt Reynolds is facing backlash after making controversial remarks about Charlie Sheen's HIV-positive status, according to People.com . In an interview on British talk show Loose Women, Reynolds said of Sheen, "His father [Martin Sheen] is a very, very decent man and a dear friend of mine. I feel bad for him but Charlie, I don't feel bad for him. He's getting what he deserves. If you're going to misbehave like that, they're going to get you." Twitter users were quick to criticize Reynolds, calling his comments "ignorant."

Dance Moms' Abby Lee Miller said that she might not be showing up for portions of the upcoming next season of the Lifetime dance series because of conflicts with a show producer, according to Deadline. This comes as Miller is battling the feds on her indictment of 20 counts of fraud with a possible five years behind bars and $5 million in fines—a case she now wants delayed further.

On the heels of her title role in The Wiz Live, Queen Latifah has signed on for a starring role in another music-themed project: Fox's untitled pilot from Empire co-creator Lee Daniels, Deadline reported. The pilot, which launched a nationwide open casting call for its young leads, also has locked in actresses/singers to play the three girls whose stories will be at the center of the drama series—up-and-comers Jude Demorest ( Dallas ), Ryan Destiny ( Low Winter Sun ) and Brittany O'Grady ( The Messengers ). The pilot follows three young women ( Demorest, Destiny and O'Grady ) who form a girl group with hopes of making it big in the music industry.

X-Men's Shawn Ashmore is hoping to come back to the franchise—and hoping to play Iceman as gay, according to Gay Star News. "Obviously, the comics and movies are separate. I wonder what the transition would be because we've sort of established Bobby as having a love interest in Rogue and having a love interest in sort of Kitty Pryde, but I think it'd be really interesting," Ashmore told IGN. The ice-wielding mutant was outed as gay in an issue of the All New X-Men comics.

Dec. 11 marked the final issue of Playboy containing images of naked women, Time.com noted. The magazine chose Pamela Anderson to be the last naked cover model. CNBC added that the top-selling issue was November 1972, at 7.16 million copies; in 2015, the circulation has been 0.82 million.

Dirty Dancing—an adaptation of the hit 1987 movie that starred Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey—is heading to the small screen, according to Deadline. ABC has set a three-hour remake starring Abigail Breslin ( Scream Queens, Little Miss Sunshine ) as Baby. ABC's production will not be live like Fox's staging of Grease, but in the vein of that network's planned filmed remake of Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Dreamgirls star and The Good Wife regular Anika Noni Rose is joining the cast of Starz drama series Power for a multi-episode arc, Deadline noted. She plays LaVerne Thomas, a streetwise cop. She's best known for her role as Princess Tiana in The Princess and the Frog, and Lorell in the film adaptation of Dreamgirls.

A Dallas Voice article contends that, as some LGBT ski weeks get cancelled, others gain in importance. OutBoard has held its last event, and Lake Tahoe Winterfest, Utah Gay Ski Week and Telluride Gay Ski Week seem to have expired as well. However, there are still Aspen Gay & Lesbian Ski Week ( Jan. 17-24 ); Winter Rendezvous XXXII, in Stowe, Vermont ( Jan. 20-24 ); the Whistler Pride and Ski Festival, in Whistler, British Columbia ( Jan. 23-31 ) and Elevation: Mammoth, at Mammoth Lakes, California ( March ).


This article shared 6344 times since Tue Dec 15, 2015
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