Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o has turned narrator for Discovery's new documentary series Serengeti, directed by John Downer.
The new series tells the story of a group of different animals living in the astonishing African region, and how they not only navigate their need to survive but manage raising children and finding love, according to IndieWire.
Downer has been filming animals for 35 years and the new documentary gave him the chance to explore a wide cross-section of life.
"There's nowhere else on Earth where you get such a concentration of incredible animals, from baboons to cheetahs and lions, the director said.
When producer Simon Fuller pitched the project to Downer, the director said his goal was to make it dramatic, giving narrative life to what these animals were experiencing.
Nyong'o, who narrates the U.S. version of Serengeti, said it presented her with a new way of looking at an area she knew only a bit better than most.
Having grown up in Kenya and gone on safari, ...

Lupita Nyong'o turns narrator for Discovery's new documentary series Serengeti'

PTI Automatic

Singer-songwriter Lorde has informed fans that she is coming up with new music three years after the release of her critically acclaimed album Melodrama.
The 23-year-old singer had revealed in November 2019 about her third album with producer Jack Antonoff was delayed due to the death of her dog.
In a newsletter to her fans on Instagram, Lorde said she has been working on new music since December.
I started going back to the studio again in December, just for something to do, and to my surprise, good things came out. Happy, playful things. I felt my melodic muscles flexing and strengthening, she wrote.
The singer said she and Antonoff, who also collaborated on Melodrama,  have been working remotely due to the coronavirus situation but will meet up soon.
A thing started to take shape. And then, of course, the world shut down. We're still working away  Jack and I FaceTimed for over an hour this morning going over everything. But it'll take a while longer, she said.
New Zealand-based ...

Lorde says third album on its way

British star Jude Law and his wife Phillipa Coan are expecting their first child together.
The news comes days after the couple, who tied the knot in April 2019, were photographed leaving a grocery store near their home in north London on Sunday.
In the photos, Law is walking behind Coan, who has a very visible baby bump, according metro.co.uk.
Law, 47, is already a father to five children from three previous relationships. The actor and his ex-wife, Sadie Frost, have three children together -- 23-year-old son Rafferty, 19-year-old daughter Iris and 17-year-old son Rudy.
Law also has a 10-year-old daughter, Sophia, with model Samantha Burke, as well as a five-year-old daughter, Ada, with singer Catherine Harding.
In January, the actor had admitted that he was keen to have another child after marrying 32-year-old Coan.
"I'm fortunate to be with someone where I'm having more fun than I've ever had in my life. We have an incredibly stable and healthy, wonderful family existence and that .

Jude Law, Phillipa Coan to welcome their first child together

Sony Pictures is reportedly developing a female-centric movie based on a Marvel Comics character with "Jessica Jones" director SJ Clarkson.
According to Variety, the character has not been disclosed officially but it is rumoured to be Madame Web.
As per Marvel comics, the character is usually depicted as an elderly, clairvoyant blind woman suffering from a chronic neuromuscular disease that makes it difficult to move and breathe, and as such, she's connected to a life support system that looks like a spider web.
Given her frail condition, she does not actively fight any villains.
Sources told the outlet that the studio is planning to rope in an A-list actor for the film and then hire a writer to develop the film around them.
Clarkson is best known for her work on television, where she has directed episodes of Netflix's "Jessica Jones", HBO's "Succession" and Showtime's "Dexter".
Sony is currently has multiple superhero movies lined up for next year. Jared Leto-starrer "Morbius" will ..

SJ Clarkson to direct Sony's new female-led Marvel movie

"Game of Thrones" alums Peter Dinklage and Jason Momoa will be teaming up for the vampire action-adventure"Good Bad & Undead".
According to Variety, the two actors are in discussions with Legendary to star in the movie, to be directed by Max Barbakow of "Palm Springs" fame.
Based on an original idea by Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, the project has been described as a "fun action-adventure that's like'Midnight Run'in a Bram Stoker world".
Dinklage, 50, will essay the role of Van Helsing, the last in a long line of vampire hunters.
"He develops an uneasy partnership with a Vampire (Momoa) who has taken a vow never to kill again. Together they run a scam from town to town, where Van Helsing pretends to vanquish the Vampire for money.
"But when a massive bounty is put on the Vampire's head, everything in this dangerous world full of monsters and magic is now after them," the official logline of the movie read.
Dinklage and Momoa, 40, will also produce the movie.
Though the two actor ...

Peter Dinklage, Jason Momoa to reunite for vampire thriller 'Good Bad & Undead'

Filmmaker David Robert Mitchell is set to direct the superhero project "Heroes & Villains".
The director is best known for his supernatural horror film "It Follows", which debuted in 2014 to critical acclaim and box office success.
The new movie, which Mitchell will also produce, has been picked by MGM studio, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Described as a "genre-blending and genre-bending" project, the film will be directed by Mitchell from his own script.
The plot details have been kept under wraps currently.
Good Fear Content's Chris Bender and Jake Weiner are also producing, and casting on the film will begin shortly.

'It Follows' director David Robert Mitchell to helm superhero film 'Heroes & Villains'

The prayers of DC fans have finally been answered as Warner Bros has announced that it will be releasing the mythical 'Snyder-cut' version of its superhero movie "Justice League" on HBO Max.
The film featured an ensemble cast of Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash and Ray Fisher as Cyborg.
The unreleased version will debut on the streamer in 2021. The announcement was made by the film's director Zack Snyder during the live Q&A on Wednesday, following a virtual screening of Cavill-led film "Man of Steel".
DC Extended Universe (DCEU) fans have been petitioning the studio time and again to release the original cut of the 2017 film from Snyder.
The filmmaker, who had previously helmed "Man of Steel" and "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice", had left "Justice League" during the post-production due to a family tragedy.
The studio had then roped in Joss Whedon, best known for Marvel tentpole "The ...

Snyder cut version of 'Justice League' to finally come out on HBO Max in 2021

"The Handmaid's Tale" creator Bruce Miller is set to adapt Ivy Pochoda's new thriller novel "These Women" to a series.
The Emmy-winning writer will also produce the project as part of White Oak's overall deal with MGM/UA, reported Deadline.
Miller will supervise the project and will bring in a writer to pen the adaptation.
Described as a serial killer story, the book, published by HarperCollins, is a literary thriller of female empowerment and social change.
Set in West Adams, a rapidly changing part of south Los Angeles, "These Women" revolves around five very different women whose lives are steeped in danger and anguish.
What is common between them is a man and his deadly obsession, something which the women are unaware about.
Priscilla Porianda is attached as executive producer along with Miller.
Meanwhile, the shooting on the fourth season of "The Handmaid's Tale" is on hold amid the coronavirus pandemic.

'The Handmaid's Tale' creator to develop thriller novel for series adaptation

Director Michael Bay is collaborating with producer Adam Goodman to back "Songbird", a thriller with pandemic as backdrop.
The low-budget film will be directed by Adam Mason of "Into The Dark" fame, who wrote the script with Simon Boyes, reported Deadline.
The makers plan to begin production within five weeks, and it might be the first film to shoot in the city.
Casting is underway and remote training is being provided to the actors.
But none of the participants can pinpoint how they plan to shoot a movie at a time when the guilds are still compiling their own safety protocols so that productions can resume.
The film is set two years in the future, where the pandemic persists.
"Lockdowns have been rolled back and then reinstated and it becomes even more serious as the virus continues to mutate. There is governmental conspiracy and paranoia and how it impacts the cast of characters who remain in lockdown," as per the publication.
It is reported that there will never be people in room ..

Michael Bay to co-produce pandemic-themed thriller 'Songbird'

"Money Heist" star Itziar Ituno will make her English-language debut in the short animation film "Salvation Has No Name".
Ituno broke out on the world stage with her performance as Inspector Raquel Murillo aka Lisbon in the hit Netflix series.
According to Deadline, the 16-minute stop motion project comes from producers Delaval Film and is being partly-funded by the British Film Institute (BFI).
The film will also feature the voice of Yasmine Al Massri, who starred in ABC thriller series "Quantico".
Joseph Wallace is attached to direct and the team includes animators from Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr Fox" and Tim Burton's "Frankenweenie".
The short was being filmed at Aardman Animations, the studio behind "Wallace And Gromit", before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
The makers have now launched a kickstarter to help the project resume post-pandemic.

'Money Heist' actor Itziar Ituno sets English debut

Filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh says Indian entertainment industry will face many changes in the post-lockdown world, but one will have to learn to narrate their story while adhering to the rules and regulations.
The director, who often sets his films in Kolkata, said given the state of the coronavirus pandemic, people will have to exercise caution from now on.
"As it's a health crisis, we all need to be careful and follow the safety regulations that will be incorporated while making movies. I will tell stories that appeal to me whether they are set in Kolkata or Glasgow. It is the story that matters.
"Filmmaking is literature and not calculations. We have to be careful given the condition. I am sure all this will get sorted," Ghosh told PTI in an interview.
In the wake of the pandemic, movie theatres have downed shutters from mid-March and films such as "Gulabo Sitabo" and "Shakuntala Devi" are heading straight for a digital release.
Ghosh said the three mediums of entertainment -- OTT, films .

Filmmaking is literature, not calculation: Sujoy Ghosh

Actor Ranvir Shorey on Wednesday claimed that he was stopped by Mumbai Police personnel after he was on his way to the hospital with his house help for a medical emergency.
In a series of tweets, the actor said he had provided his car to his house help to rush his pregnant wife to the hospital for delivery.
He alleged that the officer-in-charge told him that child birth is not an emergency.
"@MumbaiPolice My car being impounded for taking my household help for his wife's delivery to hospital. Officer in charge says a child being delivered is not an emergency. Please advise," Shorey wrote on Twitter.
The "Angrezi Medium" actor said officer-in-charge at the Jogeshwari Highway Police Chowki has "decided to file an FIR and impound", which he described as "plain harassment".
He added that the officer was also speaking to the press about him.
Shorey further said he was "saddened and disappointed" with the "transgression and highhandedness of one policeman".
"... Even after 3 hours, there ...

Ranvir Shorey seeks help from Mumbai Police after his car gets seized

Eros Now original series "Metro Park" is all set to roll out a special "quarantine" edition, wherein actors of the show, including Ranvir Shorey and Omi Vaidya, have shot episodes from home.
The new edition of the series, written by Ajayan Venugopalan, will feature five episodes of 3-5 minutes each.
The show, which debuted last year, chronicles the story of a fictitious Gujarati family settled in New Jersey, USA.
The quarantine special had actors shoot their portions independently at their residence. It also stars Purbi Joshi, Pitobash Tripathy and Vega Tamotia.
"Shooting for 'Metro Park - Quarantine Edition' has been truly exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time because it is entirely shot from home by the cast, which is turning into the new normal in the times of COVID-19.
"I'm hopeful that fans will enjoy watching these specials especially made for them," Ranvir said in a statement.
Ridhima Lulla, chief content officer, Eros Group, said the team is excited to put together the .

Ranvir Shorey-starrer 'Metro Park' to have 'quarantine' edition

Actor Zoey Deutch has revealed that she contracted coronavirus before the lockdown began and said she is doing "okay" now.
"The Politician" star admitted that she felt guilty for recovering from COVID-19 infection, which continues to wreak havoc around the world.
"People keep asking me, 'Where did you get it?' and I wish I knew. I'm okay now. I'm so grateful for my health and I also feel guilty, in a way, for making it out okay. I think this virus is bringing up so many conflicting emotions.
"I have to say I'm also so grateful for my inherent neuroses, which caused me to stay inside before I was supposed to. I've been quarantined longer than there was a mandated shut-in," Deutch, who continued to test positive for a month, wrote in an essay for Vulture.
The 25-year-old actor said she decided to speak out about her experience with the disease as she wanted to encourage people to wear masks.
"I am so lucky to be healthy, that I'm safe and not immunocompromised and have access to ...

Zoey Deutch reveals she battled coronavirus for a month

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray on Wednesday asked the entertainment industry to  prepare an action plan on limited resumption of film shooting  and post-production activities by adhering to social  distancing norms amidst the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
Thackeray, however, ruled out reopening of cinema  halls or theatres anytime soon.
Shooting for films as well as other production  activities remained suspended since mid-March in view of the  coronavirus pandemic.
"The government would consideraaction plan on how  shooting and post-production activities can be resumed in a  limited way by adhering to social distancing and other norms,"  Thackeray told a delegation of representatives of the  entertainment industry, especially from the Marathi theatre,  television and cinema.
The prominent demands of the industry included saving  single-screen theatres, helping poor music composers, and  waiving GST on film production.
Thackeray told the delegates that he didn't believe  .

Ready action plan on limited resumption of film shoots:Maha CM

The filming of comedy action drama "Blockbuster Gang", featuring actor Sanjay Dutt, is expected to begin as soon as the nationwide lockdown is lifted, producer Sandip Ssingh said.
According to the filmmaker, the team plans to go on floors in July-August if all goes well.
Co-produced by Dutt and Anand Pandit, the story of "Blockbuster Gang" revolves around three dons and their gang members who aspire to become a don one day.
The cast of the film will be complete when the lockdown is lifted, Ssingh said.
"We will make the official announcement after that. The moment we get the dates of all the actors, it shouldn't be difficult to start. We hope to start shooting in July-August if all goes well," he told PTI.
There were reports that actor Arshad Warsi is part of the project, in which he will reunite with his "Munna Bhai" co-star.
However, Ssingh said Warsi's casting isn't confirmed as yet.
"Arshad and I are great friends, and I want him on board. We have approached Arshad, once it's ...

Hope to begin shooting of Sanjay Dutt's 'Blockbuster Gang' by July, producer

British explorer Ed Stafford believes a common man's everyday struggles, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, is akin to being in a survival television show where one must learn to adapt to overcome the difficulties.
Stafford has been part of a number of survival shows such as "Ed Stafford: First Man Out" and "Ed Stafford: Left For Dead" and he can understand what it feels like to live under a lockdown with strict rules that must be followed.
"I think lockdown and dealing with coronavirus is very much like being thrown into a survival show. Suddenly there are new parameters and rules, suddenly you have to adapt to overcome new difficulties.
"I think being resourceful, resilient and optimistic are traits that serve me well when I'm racing through remote parts of the world but they are also the things that make you a proactive and a positive person to be locked down with during a pandemic. Its more relevant than ever," Stafford told PTI.
In his brand new documentary "Ed Stafford: 

Survival shows are more relevant than ever: adventurer Ed Stafford

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, writer Varun Grover and comedian Kunal Kamra are auctioning their trophies to raise funds for COVID-19 test kits.
The campaign aims to raise Rs 13,44,000 in the next 30 days for ten kits which will help one thousand people get tested.
Kashyap took to Twitter and said whoever bids the highest, gets the winning Filmfare trophy for his acclaimed gangster-drama "Gangs of Wasseypur".
"Highest bidder gets the original trophy for the Filmfare critics award best film 2013, 'Gangs of Wasseypur,'" Kashyap tweeted.
Grover shared a picture of his trophy for penning the lyrics of "Moh Moh Ke Dhaage" for the Ayushmann Khurrana-Bhumi Pednekar starrer "Dum Laga Ke Haisha".
"Adding the TOIFA trophy I won for 'Moh Moh Ke Dhaage' (DLKH, 2015) for charity auction to raise funds for Covid test kits. Putting it up on ebay in 2050 was my retirement fund plan but i believe now is a better time to use it to secure India's future," he wrote.
Kamra said he's giving away his YouTube ...

Anurag Kashyap, Varun Grover auction their trophies to raise funds for COVID test kits

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is mulling about postponing the 2021 Oscars award ceremony.
Sources told Variety that it is "likely" that the coveted award show, which is currently set to take place on 28 February, 2021, might be moved to a later date.
However, nothing concrete has been discussed by the members as yet, a potential new date for the ceremony.
Academy president David Rubin had recently told the outlet, "It's impossible to know what the landscape will be. We know we want to celebrate film but we do not know exactly what form it will take."
Last month, the Academy announced a historic change due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced theatres to shutdown worldwide and delayed several films in its wake.
In its temporary rule change, the AMPAS had announced that it will allow streaming movies that have not had a cinematic release to qualify for entry in the Best Picture categories and others.
"I think everyone is sympathetic to the filmmakers' .

AMPAS considering postponing Oscars to a later date next year

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan on Wednesday appealed to his fans to let go of grudges and tend to their relationships in these difficult times.
The 77-year-old actor uploaded a video on Instagram where he smiles looking into the camera.
"Let's put in quarantine whatever bitterness we have for others in our hearts, so that we prevent our relationships from going on ventilators," the actor captioned the clip.
Earlier, Bachchan had expressed his gratitude towards sanitation workers who were on duty outside his bungalow, Jalsa, amid the nationwide lockdown.
The actor will be next seen in Shoojit Sircar's "Gulabo Sitabo", scheduled to be released on Amazon Prime Video in June.

Let's put bitterness in quarantine, says Amitabh Bachchan

Veteran actor-producer Savita Bhatti on Wednesday said she feels "rejuvenated" after Doordarshan announced the re-run of "Flop Show", the satirical sitcom which is an intrinsic part of her identity.
"Flop Show", created and directed by Savita Bhatti's co-star and late husband, satirist Jaspal Bhatti, joins the long list of DD's iconic old shows such as "Ramayan", "Mahabharat", "Buniyaad", "Shaktimaan", among others to make a come back on the small screen amid the coronavirus-led lockdown.
On Monday, the national broadcaster revealed that it was bringing back the serial, which first aired in 1989.
"#JaspalBhatti's all time superhit #FlopShow is back. Watch everyday at 6pm only on @DDNational," the channel said on Twitter.
"The coming back of 'Flop Show' has rejuvenated my life... It's emotional as it's so intrinsic to my identity. All those layers of life's ups and downs, they just disappear.
"Now that it's back on TV, your identity is being refreshed in your own eyes. Otherwise you ...

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