In its first three seasons, the Netflix series Ozark has won plenty of critical acclaim, including a pair of Emmy Awards. One of those went to Julia Garner, who won a Best Supporting Actress, Drama trophy for the role of Ruth Langmore, a young woman who finds it difficult to escape the shadow of her family, which is deeply entrenched in criminal activities. Garner has won a lot of praise for her nuanced portrayal of a young woman who would like a better life, and she says she draws a lot of inspiration for her performance from the Darwinesque debate of “nature vs. nurture.” (Click on the media bar below to hear Julia Garner)
All three seasons of Ozark are streaming now on Netflix.
If there’s one thing that defines Nathan Fillion’s career as an actor, it’s that he’s managed to land himself on shows that people get passionate about. His short-lived Firefly is one of TV’s most beloved “gone too soon” cult classics, but after that, he was fortunate enough to land on a show that lasted for eight seasons, Castle. And while the show built a devoted audience, earning Fillion even more fans, the relationships he’s most proud of are the lasting friendships he made with the cast and crew of the show. (Click on the media bar below to hear Nathan Fillion)
Fillion’s new show, The Rookie, has been renewed for a third season on ABC, and you can catch up with what you’ve missed at ABC.com. Meanwhile, Castle is available for streaming rental or purchase on most digital platforms, and it’s also available on DVD.
Before Normal People was a Hulu miniseries, it was a best-selling novel by Irish author Sally Rooney. It was a sensation in the UK, winning “Book of the Year” at the 2019 British Book Awards. So, obviously, to get a leg up in the audition process, Daisy Edgar Jones and Paul Mescal spent hours reading and re-reading the book to become more familiar with the characters, right? Wrong. (Click on the media bar below to hear Daisy Edgar Jones & Paul Mescal)
WORLD OF DANCE — “Qualifiers” — Pictured: Jennifer Lopez — (Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC)
Considering that Jennifer Lopez earned her way into show business as a dancer — she was one of the In Living Color Fly Girls — it’s no surprise that she’s remained loyal to the dance world, even after all her success as an actress and singer. It’s that passion for dance that inspired World of Dance, her competition that’s entering its fourth season on NBC. As she prepared for the new season, she told us she’s just as excited about it now as she was when it started. (Click on the media bar below to hear Jennifer Lopez)
Force of Nature, an action thriller starring Mel Gibson, Emile Hirsch and Kate Bosworth, hits Blu-ray and DVD on June 30. Directed by Michael Polish, the feature centers on a retired detective named Ray (Gibson) who teams up with his daughter (Bosworth) and a cop (Hirsch) to battle several cutthroat thieves.
The criminals believe $55 million is hidden in an apartment complex and they will do whatever it takes to leave with the money, even if it means killing a few innocent bystanders along the way. A hurricane is also wreaking havoc in the city, so there is basically danger at every conrer. David Zayas, best known for his work in the series Dexter, and Stephanie Cayo round out the ensemble.
Directed by Benjamin Ree, The Painter and The Thiefcenters on Barbora Kysilkova, a Czech artist who Karl-Bertil Nordland one of the people who stole two of her paintings.
Kysilkova asks Nordland to sit down for a portrait, and from that sublime connection the pair form an inexticable bond that anchors them during their respective challenges. Ree shot his documentary over a three year period, and he gives viewers an intimate look at how both friends view the complex friendship.
“I started to understand that it is indeed a compliment to my work that somebody just goes for getting my paintings this way,” said Kysilkova. “So this started to shape my whole feeling about the whole situation and I tried really hard to feel angry but I just could not.”
Click on the media bar to hear Barborta Kysilkova discuss what inspired her to do a portrait of Karl-Bertil Nordland:
The Painter and the Thief is now available on Hulu, VOD, Virtual Cinemas and participating Drive-Ins.
With appearances in 13 Marvel films — including the two pre-Marvel Cinematic Universe Fantastic Four movies — Chris Evans has actually appeared in more of the Marvel films than Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr. But when it comes to their stature in the MCU, Evans has no illusions about which one comes out on top. In fact, he describes Downey as being the heart and soul of the MCU, and Evans always enjoyed working with him. (Click on the media bar below to hear Chris Evans)
All of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, including Evans’s Captain America films, are currently streaming on Disney+, and the finale of Evans’s current miniseries, Defending Jacob, airs this Friday on Apple TV+.
THE BAKER & THE BEAUTY – (ABC/Francisco Roman) VICTOR RASUK, NATHALIE KELLEY
Even though Victor Rasuk has been acting for more than 20 years, his career has been largely under the radar, consisting of smaller roles in bigger projects and bigger roles in smaller projects. Now that he’s landed the lead role in a network TV series, The Baker and the Beauty, he says he can relate to the show’s premise of a “regular guy” thrust into the limelight when he starts dating a superstar. (Click on the media bar below to hear Victor Rasuk)
The Baker and the Beauty airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC.
For a film actor, one of the keys to a long and successful career is choosing your roles wisely. Sure, plenty of young actors have had to make some bad movies on their way to stardom — just ask Tom Hanks about Joe Versus the Volcano or Jason Bateman about Teen Wolf Too — but the biggest actors in Hollywood always seem to have a knack for finding great roles. While Bruce Willis has been able to sustain his career over four decades, he admits that choosing roles hasn’t always been his forté. With his latest movie, Survive the Night, generating mostly negative reviews, he gave us a tongue-in-cheek description of his decision-making process. (Click on the media bar below to hear Bruce Willis)
Survive the Night is now available for streaming rental on most digital platforms.
THE TITAN GAMES — Season: 2 — Pictured: Dwayne Johnson — (Photo by: Hiram Garcia/NBC)
The Titan Games is back for a second season. The competition, created and hosted by multimedia star Dwayne Johnson, featured “ordinary athletes” — everyday people — competing against each other in grueling physical and mental challenges when it first aired last year. But now, Johnson has upped the ante. He’s giving the new season’s contestants the opportunity to prove themselves not just against each other, but against some world-class professional athletes. Johnson told us why he wanted to throw some pros into the mix, and he talked about some of the star athletes we’ll be seeing on The Titan Games this season. (Click on the media bar below to hear Dwayne Johnson)
In its first three seasons, the Netflix series Ozark has won plenty of critical acclaim, including a pair of Emmy Awards. One of those went to Julia Garner, who won a Best Supporting Actress, Drama trophy for the role of Ruth Langmore, a young woman who finds it difficult to escape the shadow of her family, which is deeply entrenched in criminal activities. Garner has won a lot of praise for her nuanced portrayal of a young woman who would like a better life, and she says she draws a lot of inspiration for her performance from the Darwinesque debate of “nature vs. nurture.” (Click on the media bar below to hear Julia Garner)
