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Lance Baas disclosed he lost the CW sitcom as he came out of the closet ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

The 45-year-old actor Lance Bass made the stunning revelation while appearing on Tuesday’s “Politickin’” podcast episode with Gov. Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch, and Doug Hendrickson.

Lance Baas Had to Be Straight to Play a Straight Character

“We were about to shoot the pilot, and this came out, and they were like, ‘We can’t do the show anymore.’ They have to believe that you’re straight to play a straight character,” the former Nsync member said. He added that the executives told him, “I don’t know what we can do with you now.”

“Every casting director I knew, they’re like, ‘Lance, we can’t cast you because you’re too famous for being gay now that they can’t look at you as anything other than that,’” Baas further alleged,...

Shortly before he came out as gay in 2006, Lance Bass was in talks to film the pilot episode of a new sitcom at the CW. But when the news broke, the singer shared on a recent appearance on the podcast Politickin, certain opportunities started slipping away — including the show.

“They were like, ‘We can’t do the show anymore. Like, they have to believe that you’re straight to play a straight character,’” Bass said. He recalled hearing other Hollywood figures share similar sentiments. “Every casting director I knew, they’re like,...

Britney Spears’ best selling memoir The Woman In Me is heading to the big screen courtesy of Wicked director Jon M Chu.

In 2022, pop sensation Britney Spears signed what was reportedly one of the biggest publishing deals in history, snagging $15 million for her memoir The Woman In Me, which became a best seller.

According to Deadline, the book’s rights have been snapped up by Universal Pictures, who are in talks with Jon M Chu to direct a film adaptation.

Given the amount of music that will be in the film, Chu is a strong choice. He’s helmed both parts of Wicked, the long awaited film adaptation of Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s Broadway play, which stars Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh. Wicked: Part One arrives in UK cinemas on the 22nd November.

Britney Spears is no stranger to cinema, having starred in...

Scottish actor and marital artist Ray Park began his film career as a stunt double for actors Robin Shou and James Remar in the 1997 video game adaptation "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation." He played some other characters too, although only in a background capacity; his face could not be seen. 1999 saw Park's career explode, however, as he played the demonic Darth Maul in George Lucas' supra-blockbuster "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace." At the time, critics were mixed on "The Phantom Menace," but many "Star Wars" fanboys agreed that Darth Maul was really, really cool. He didn't speak much — and when he did, he was voiced by Peter Serafinowicz — but his double-sided lightsaber, black cloak, stoic demeanor, and striking facial markings made Maul one of the most memorable parts of an otherwise forgettable film.

Later in 1999, Park also served as the body/fight double for the Headless Horseman in Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow,...

Update:

Well, it was an interesting rumor while it lasted. Although Deadpool and Wolverine director Shawn Levy kind of/sort/not-really teased fans with the idea that Taylor Swift may make a cameo as the mutant Dazzler, it turns out that probably isn’t the case.

Entertainment Weekly has the exclusive news that the rumors were just that. The superstar singer/songwriter will not be in the long-awaited Deadpool sequel. How do they know this? They just do. The publication doesn’t go into details about how it learned this news, but it probably came down from Swift herself or her rep.

The original story continues below:

Shawn Levy, the director of the long-awaited introduction of Fox’s mutants into the MCU, addressed rumors that music artist Taylor Swift would be making a cameo as Dazzler. It’s not as off the walls as it sounds since Swift did have...

There's been chatter for years about singer/songwriter Taylor Swift joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yesterday evening, one scooper went so far as to claim she's had a "good meeting" with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige to discuss her joining the franchise. 

Swift, who has become nothing short of a global phenomenon in recent years, is no stranger to acting and has even stepped behind the camera to direct. With that in mind - and the singer's immense popularity - it's no great shock that Marvel Studios is interested in working with her. 

The question now is, who should she play? Many of the McU's biggest roles have already been cast and, given how successful Swift is as a writer and recording artist, we don't anticipate her signing any nine-picture movie deals! 

In this feature, we explore some of the most exciting and realistic possibilities for Swift's MCU role. To check them out,...

The latest episode of "X-Men '97," called "Motendo/Lifedeath, Part 1," features the return of Mojo, a longtime X-Men villain who made his debut in "Longshot" #3, published in November of 1985. Mojo was a horrible, mutilated cybernetic monster with robotic spidery legs and a series of mechanical tubes sprouting from his body. He ruled a dimension called the Mojoverse, and oversaw one of the realm's most popular TV shows, "Mojovision," a gladiatorial show wherein superpowered beings from across multiple dimensions would be forced to fight to the death. Mojo lived for ratings and only cared about watching his numbers increase. He was modeled after the shallow TV executives and schmoozing moneymen who oversee most creative efforts in Hollywood. 

Mojo made a memorable appearance in two episodes of "X-Men: The Animated Series" wherein he was enthusiastically played by Canadian voice actor Peter Wildman. In "Mojovision", he snarled and cackled as he forced the...

This X-Men ’97 article contains spoilers.

It takes five minutes for “Motendo” segment of the latest episode of X-Men ’97 to reveal its big bad. A stomach-churning yellow creature covered in metal appears on screen and yells, “I am Mojo, your primetime psycho inter dimensional TV producer who feeds off ratings!”

That’s actually a pretty good description for Mojo, one of the strangest Marvel villains of all time. The “Motendo” segment finds Mojo kidnapping Jubilee and Roberto Da Costa (not yet taking his Sunspot moniker) and sending them into a video game. There, they battle various computerized baddies and garner praise from an audience, which in turn makes Mojo more powerful.

Unsurprisingly, the segment includes plenty of nods to the history of X-Men video games. And if you’re the type of person who got upset that the episode used a Snes portmanteau to describe a system that looked...

Comic book fans in the late 1990s likely recall the ambitious plan by Artisan Entertainment, a then-rising indie film studio, to make a long series of mid-budget films based on Marvel superheroes. Avi Arad, then the CEO of Marvel Entertainment, had overseen a deal that would allow Artisan to make movies with Black Panther, Thor, Deadpool, Ant-Man, Iron Fist, and Morbius, as well as Power Pack, Longshot, and an irreverent dark comedy about Mort the Dead Teenager. The deal was finalized in 2000. In 2003, however, Artisan was acquired by Lionsgate, effectively ending what would have been the ambitiously planned early-2000s mid-budget version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

Despite how successful Disney's MCU would become a decade later, Marvel was once considered a non-viable source of film revenue. Indeed, while comic book sales were up across the board in the 1990s, Marvel was struggling to make their characters more visible in the marketplace.

Ice Cube loved playing villainous Superfly in the ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ film as he felt there were “no rules”. The 54-year-old rapper and actor added the human-sized fly character in the newly-released animation – who says his dad created the crime-fighting turtles by dumping toxic waste down a sewer – is a street-wise “king of New York”-style character. He told Capital Xtra’s ‘Evenings with Omah Howard’ radio show: “Playing a villain is great – there are no rules playing a villain so it was just fun to be able to let loose. “Superfly is the king of New York – everybody knows his name in the streets. “Nothing happens in New York without going through Superfly or it’s gonna be a problem.” Ice – real name O'Shea Jackson Sr – stars alongside Seth Rogen, 41, in the turtles movie, who plays the heroes in half-shells’ mutant warthog nemesis Bebop. He said...

Watch the Short Film The Lake: "When a young man takes his girlfriend out on the lake to propose, they come face to face with the dark spirits beneath the surface."

Writer/Director/Editor - Joey Greene

Producer - Alexander Anderson, Julian Terry, Joey Greene

Starring:

Michael - Tommy Schneiders

Jaimie - Gina Vitori

Lake Spirit - Sonny King

Crew:

Creative Producer - Julian Terry

Co-Producer - Malcolm Garvey

Story By - Joey Greene, Julian Terry

Director of Photography - Paul Houston

1st AC - Efrain Pineda

Gaffer - Dijon Herron

SFX Makeup - Emma Lu Marshall

Sound Mixer (Location) - Nico Pierce, Chris Nawrocki

Composer - Alex Winkler

Sound Design - Christina Gonzalez

Color - Matthew Macar, Joey Greene

Additional Color - Caleb J. Phillips

VFX - Paul Houston

Set Lifeguard - Elizabeth McDowell

Casting Support Services - Breakdown Services

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5’7 Films inks with The Gersh Agency...

Arlene Golonka, best known for her portrayal of waitress Millie on the classic CBS sitcom The Andy Griffith Show and its spinoff Mayberry R.F.D., died Monday at a West Hollywood memory care facility following a battle with Alzheimer’s. She was 85.

Her death was announced by her friend, the literary agent Cary Kozlov.

Golonka, who made her Broadway debut in 1958’s short-lived The Night Circus before landing stage roles in 1962’s Come Blow Your Horn and 1963’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, already had made numerous appearances on television prior to her breakthrough role on The Andy Griffith Show in 1967, among them Car 54, Where Are You?, The Doctors, The Flying Nun and The Big Valley.

She made her first Griffith appearance on Oct. 16, 1967, in an episode that introduced her as Millie Hutchins, initially intended as a love interest for bookish bachelor Howard Sprague (played by Jack Dodson...

Nathan Jung, best known for his portrayal of Genghis Khan in the original Star Trek series, died April 24 at age 74. The location and cause of death has not been disclosed by his friend and attorney, Timothy Tau.

Jung began his acting career in 1969 with a role as Genghis Khan in “The Savage Curtain” episode of the original Star Trek.

From that launching pad, he went on to numerous guest shots on some of the biggest television shows of the 1970s and 1980s, including M*A*S*H*, Starsky & Hutch, CHiPs, General Hospital, Manimal, Riptide, Hunter, Sanford and Son, and Kung Fu.

In the 1990s, he had stints on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Martial Law and Burke’s Law.

Jung also can claim to be one of the few actors who worked with both Bruce Lee and his son, Brandon Lee. Opposite Bruce, Jung appeared on a 1969 episode of Here Comes the Brides.

Nathan Jung, the actor who appeared in “Star Trek: The Original Series,” “The A-Team” and “Kung Fu,” has died. He was 74.

Jung died on April 24, his close friend and attorney, Timothy Tau, confirmed to Variety. The cause of death has not been disclosed.

Jung kicked off his acting career in 1969 with his role as Ghengis Khan in “The Savage Curtain” episode of “Star Trek: The Original Series.” From there, taking advantage of his tall stature, his television resume exploded with roles on the biggest shows from the 1970s and ’80s. Jung appeared on “M*A*S*H*,” “Starsky & Hutch,” “CHiPs,” “General Hospital,” “Manimal,” “Riptide” and “Hunter.” He also held roles in “Sanford and Son,” in which he played Helen Funai’s cousin, Saburyo, and “Kung Fu,” in which he plaed the Dark Rider. In the ’90s, he had stints on “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” “Martial Law” and “Burke’s Law.

Exclusive: The mysterious death of former NFL player Jim Duncan is the subject of a new narrative podcast series from publishing company McClatchy and iHeartMedia.

The two companies are launching Return Man, eight-part documentary series that is to be the first in an anthology of character-driven audio series, titled Longshot, that focus on the intersection of sports and social change.

The first episode will launch on Tuesday January 26 and you can listen to the trailer below.

Duncan was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1968, nearly two decades before the team moved to Indianapolis. According to the official account of his death, he entered the Lancaster, S.C., police station on the morning of October 20, 1972. Police said the 26-year-old Duncan walked up behind a lieutenant, and without saying a word ripped the officer’s revolver from his holster, stepped back, and shot himself in the head. For half a century, his...

David Nichols, a production designer and visual consultant on more than 20 films, such as “Rocky,” “Taxi Driver” and “Groundhog Day,” died on Wednesday in Taos, N.M., Variety has learned. He was 78.

Nichols had a 30-year career in the film industry, serving as a production designer, art director, visual consultant, writer and actor at various times. His work stretched across Hollywood films and on Broadway shows.

As a production designer, he worked on the 1993 hit comedy “Groundhog Day,” starring Bill Murray. His other credits include “Gossip,” “Buddy,” “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” “A Midnight Clear,” “Great Balls of Fire!” “The Serpent and the Rainbow,” “Hoosiers,” “Heartbreakers,” “Found Money,” “Testament,” “Swamp Thing” and “Longshot.”

As a visual consultant in the different art departments, he helped with Sylvester Stallone’s Oscar-winning movie “Rocky” and Robert De Niro’s “Taxi Driver,” which picked up four Oscar nominations. Nichols also appeared as an extra in a...

While a strong contender like “Parasite” does not need the Oscars to validate its place in history — it’s the first Korean film to receive the Palme d’Or, the highest-grossing foreign film of the year (topping the $20 million mark), the first Korean film to receive Golden Globes nominations, and so on.

The Oscars, however, may need “Parasite.” Inclusion sells, and Bong Joon Ho’s celebrated tale of class warfare would mark the first international Oscar nomination for a Korean movie. A 2015 Nielsen report found a direct correlation between Oscar nominee diversity in major categories and viewership. The more diverse the nominees, the larger the audience, and vice-versa. Given that ABC’s Oscar telecast generates a significant share of the Academy’s annual earnings, it’s crucial that the awards show maintains high ratings.

Of course, even the increasingly diverse Academy voters are at the mercy of their options. That...

Jim Dandy Jul 19, 2019

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is getting a comic book follow-up!

If you had told me 20 years ago that Spider-Man's defining characteristic would eventually be that he's friends with all the different versions of himself from throughout the multiverse, I would have run screaming from the time traveler with weird diseases. But also it wouldn't have made much sense - Peter Parker was Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's attempt at making a more human hero with real person problems that everyday folks could relate to. Now, however, he's the guy who bounces around the multiverse taking out enormous, reality-destroying threats, and I'll be 100-percent upfront with you: I'm here for it.

At Sdcc 2019, Marvel announced that Spider-Man will once again swing around the multiverse in Spider-Verse, a six-issue limited series from Jed Mackay (Black Cat) and a rotating team of artists, including Juan Frigeri (Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man...

Sports games have a tough task year in and year out. How do you take something static, like a major sport, and make it new and fresh annually? Unless a game goes through a widespread engine change, the annual updates boil down to a polish and a roster refresh — usually at full price. There’s really not more you can do to represent a game like football, though EA Sports still tries each year with the Madden NFL series. While the sport itself seldom changes, the only recourse developers have is to add new game modes that are engaging and above all fun, without damaging the core mechanics of the sport itself. With Madden NFL 19, developer EA Tiburon has added new features to the popular Madden Ultimate Team (Mut) modes, created new in-game moves for runners, tweaked the franchise interfaces even more, and they present the second chapter in the Longshot story,...

The latest entry in the long-running “Madden” franchise will launch on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on Aug. 10, publisher Electronic Arts announced on Friday.

“Building on the success of last season, ‘Madden 19’ is set to provide a new level of control to more game modes to make this the best season in franchise history,” EA Sports writer Daniel Williams said in a post on Xbox Wire.

This season’s biggest additions include Real Player Motion (Rpm), which creates more realistic character movements and animations. It allows players to do things like push blockers to gain more yards and make quick, realistic cuts up-field after the catch.

A popular game mode called Madden Ultimate Team is getting some improvements. Mut Squads is back and lets players engage in online three vs. three matchups, while Solo Battles is a leaderboard-driven reward system that compares a player’s performances in daily single-player challenges.

“Madden...

Rex Dickson, creative director for Electronic Arts’ Madden NFL video game franchise for the last six years, has left the company. He announced his departure Wednesday on Twitter.

“Time to confirm the rumors,” he wrote. “I have left EA Tiburon and the ‘Madden’ team.”

Time to confirm the rumors. I have left EA Tiburon and the Madden team. Statement below. pic.twitter.com/4eiJlrkxUU

— Rex Dickson (@RexDEAFootball) May 3, 2018

Dickson said he made his decision to leave after numerous talks with other leaders on the team. “We collectively agreed this was the best path forward for everyone involved,” he said. “This is as much for me and my family as it is about giving the team, the community and the ‘Madden’ franchise a chance for a new direction.”

The last entry in the “Madden” franchise, “Madden NFL 18,” came out in August 2017 and received generally favorable reviews from critics. It’s the...

From college football to the WWE to A-list movie stardom, Dwayne Johnson has had quite the career.

After several years gaining fame as the Rock in professional wrestling, Johnson landed his first leading film role in 2002’s historical fantasy “The Scorpion King,” following parts in “The Mummy Returns” and “Longshot.” More roles soon followed, including box office failure but cult favorite “The Rundown,” “Be Cool,” and “Doom.”

One of his most famous roles, however, came in 2011, appearing for the first time as Luke Hobbs in “Fast Five.” He would continue to appear in all the “Fast & Furious” films that followed, including the most recent, “The Fate of the Furious.” His character is such a fan favorite that Universal is currently developing a spinoff focusing on Hobbs and Jason Statham’s character.

In recent years, Johnson has found even more success with high-profile blockbusters. In 2015, he fronted the big-budget disaster film “San Andreas,...

Justin Timberlake is that rare superstar combo: a celebrated singer who’s also a popular actor. Hot off of the heels of being announced as next year’s Super Bowl Halftime performer, he’ll soon be seen going up against Oscar winner Kate Winslet in Woody Allen’s Wonder Wheel.

How did a former ‘Nsync boy band member end up in a film with mounting Oscar buzz? Here’s a look at the 36-year-old’s evolution from singer to thespian.

From the Mickey Mouse Club to ‘Nsync

As a kid in 1983, the Memphis-native sang country songs on the singing competition show Star Search.

Now that CeeLo Green has said "Forget You" to "The Voice," who will take his place in the spinning chair?

AccessHollywood.com runs down five great coach options and alternatives:

Usher: Give the singer - who fans and contestants love - the chair on a permanent basis!

Photos: The Voice Coaches: Then & Now

Woo A Major Longshot!: Amp up the star power to the nth degree with someone like Justin Timberlake, Adele, Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, Lady Gaga -- we'd even settle for Justin Bieber.

Land Someone From Music's Leftfield!: We would love to get someone ...

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The following is a list of all comic books, graphic novels and specialty items that will be available this week and shipped to comic book stores who have placed orders for them.

Aam Markosia

Christopher Marlowe And The Bards Of Nemeton Gn, $18.99

Accent UK

Missing Have You Seen The Invisible Man (One Shot), $5.00

Action Lab Entertainment

Fracture #1 (Of 4)(Cover A Chad Cicconi), $2.99

Fracture #1 (Of 4)(Cover B Jamal Igle), $2.99

Skyward Volume 1 Into The Woods Tp, $8.99

Adhouse Books

B Plus F Hc, $19.95

Altus Press

Doc Savage The New Adventures Volume 6 The Miracle Menace Sc, $24.95

Amigo Comics

Rogues #6, $3.99

Westwood Witches #4 (Of 4), $3.99

Amryl Entertainment

Cavewoman Labyrinth (One Shot), $3.75

Cavewoman Labyrinth (One Shot)(Devon Massey Special Edition), Ar

Cavewoman Labyrinth (One Shot)(Budd Root Special Edition), Ar

Arcana Studio

Steam Engines Of Oz Volume 2 The Geared Leviathan #2, $3.99

Archie Comics

Afterlife With Archie #3 (Francesco Francavilla Regular Cover), $2.99

Afterlife With Archie #3 (Tim Seeley Variant Cover), $2.99

Archie #651 (Dan...

The complete list of Grid 2 achievements have been released this week and we have them here for your viewing pleasure.

When it comes to racing games, the Grid series is amongst the best. The first game offered a truly exciting and at times, exhilarating driving experience. The sequel, Grid 2, boasts exotics locations like Abu Dhabi and Paris and will also include cars from the past four decades. Additionally, Codemasters has also developed a new handling system which they are calling TrueFeel. They claim it will achieve the perfect balance between realism and accessibility. Hopefully they make good on that claim.

The game promises to push boundaries and offer gamers the purest racing experience yet. Judging by what the studio did with the first Grid, I see no reason to doubt them. There’s also a lot of buzz surrounding the re-imagined multiplayer mode, which has its own has its own...