Did you know that CHRISTOPHER WALKEN auditioned to play Han Solo in “Star Wars”? He also tried out for the Ryan O’Neal part in “Love Story”. And DAVID DUCHOVNY auditioned for every male part on “Full House”.
A list of actors who refuse to watch themselves on-screen includes: Emma Stone . . . Adam Driver . . . Joaquin Phoenix . . . and Nicole Kidman.
Disney pushed back the release dates of several upcoming sequels, including the new “Dr. Strange”, “Thor”, and “Black Panther” movies, plus the fifth “Indiana Jones” movie, which has been postponed a whole year.
Original TV Wonder Woman LYNDA CARTER will return for the third “Wonder Woman” movie. She says, “Who would have thought . . . at this time in my life . . . that this gift would just present itself to me, and that’s so cool.”
Starz is making a limited “John Wick” prequel series called “The Continental”, which is also the name of the hotel where international assassins gather. The first actor to be announced is MEL GIBSON.
MEL BROOKS is doing “History of the World: Part 2” as a series on Hulu. His classic comedy “History of the World: Part 1” came out 40 years ago, in 1981. He ended it with a fake trailer for Part 2, which was never made.
Some of this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony presenters have been announced. They include Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift, Drew Barrymore, and Angela Bassett. The ceremony takes place October 30th, but won’t air on HBO until November 20th.
LUKE BRYAN hooked himself a big one. He’s hosting next month’s CMAs. And they have a lot of faith in him, because he’ll be the show’s first solo host in 18 years. The last person to go it alone was Vince Gill in 2003. Vince’s shoes will be hard to fill because he was THE MAN for 10 straight years. Brooks & Dunn followed him and did three years. There was no host in 2007, and then Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood started their 11-year stretch in 2008. Carrie returned in 2019 to co-host with Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton. And then Reba circled back to co-host with Darius Rucker last year. And that brings us to Luke, who says, “Being asked to host was something I put a lot of thought into before answering. The pressure that comes with that can be overwhelming, [but] I knew it was something I couldn’t turn down. “I’m looking forward to making it fun and memorable and using this platform to continue to make country music shine.” Performers will be announced soon. The CMAs will air November 10th on ABC.
Forget concerts, festivals, or awards shows, THIS is something I’d wait in line AND pay top dollar to see live. ZAC BROWN is challenging JASON ALDEAN to a slap fight. He has NO beef with Jason, though. Zac’s a huge MMA fan and he was asked if he’d ever consider getting in the ring. He said, “I want to do slap fights. You just stand there and slap each other. I want to challenge Jason Aldean to a slap fight, and we’ll do it all for charity.” Why Jason? “He’s just a Southern boy, I think he might be game to do it. “I’ve been to his house before, I hung out there one time a long time ago, [but] I was watching these slap fights and I thought it would be pretty fun for people to watch us both get slapped.”
In an effort to stay in the media spotlight, Carole Baskin will be sharing her side of The Tiger King story. The docuseries will show her investigation into the GW Zoo and the claims of animal abuse and allegations of more serious crimes. Baskin said in a statement, “This is our real-life work within a dangerous world, and viewers will see it comes with our people being threatened, guns pointed at us and the bad guys shooting at our drones.”
TRAVIS TRITT is NOT down with vaccine mandates, and to prove his point he canceled four concerts at venues that are enforcing Covid-19 safety protocols. The shows are . . . October 23rd in Muncie, Indiana . . . November 6th in Philadelphia, Mississippi . . . November 11th in Peoria, Illinois . . . and November 13th in Louisville, Kentucky.
KELSEA BALLERINI’s book of poetry, “Feel Your Way Through”, is out November 16th. There’s an audiobook version, and she shared an excerpt of that on Instagram. She reads from a poem called “The Peacemaker”.
Former Secretary of State COLIN POWELL died yesterday of complications from COVID. He was 84. Powell was vaccinated, but he was also immunocompromised due to a battle with cancer.
Was KANE BROWN auditioning a backup dancer on Sunday in Dallas? Nah, it was his adorable 23-month-old daughter Kingsley Rose feeling the beat while his band practiced before the show. She’s wearing a pair of cat ears and oversized headphones.
Grammy Award-winning Tony Bennett just set a Guinness World Record for being the oldest person to release an album of new material. His collaboration with Lady Gaga, “Love for Sale,” was released on October 1. Bennett was 95 years and 60 days old on that date. He also holds records for oldest person to reach No. 1 on the US album chart, longest time between UK top 20 albums, oldest person to enter the UK top 20 album chart, and longest time between the release of an original recording and re-recording of the same single by the same artist.
The “Wizards Hollow” is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. It’s a 600-square-foot tree house that has one bedroom a spiral staircase that leads to a loft with an additional bed. The tree house has velvet wall hangings, colorful flags, Hogwarts-style pillows and other Harry Potter decorations. It’s booked until October 2024.
Ty Pennington is 57. “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”
Evander Holyfield is 59.
John Lithgow is 76. The Trinity Killer on “Dexter”, Dick Solomon on “Third Rock from the Sun”, and Lord Farquaad in “Shrek”.
Jeannie C. Riley is 76.
