“Why do moms in animations have to look like porn stars and the same age as their kids?” Schumer, 45, wrote via her Instagram Stories on Friday, November 6, alongside footage of the mother character’s backside and curves from 2017’s The Son of Bigfoot. “Slightly short haircut = mom?”

Directing duo Karni & Saul felt the same as the comedian, reposting her conundrum to their joint Instagram page.

“Couldn’t agree more,” a Saturday, November 7, Instagram Story caption read. “Because men design and direct them. The short answer. Get women in here, and it all changes.”

Amy Schumer Throws 1st Party as a 'Single Mom' for Son Gene's Birthday

Schumer, who reposted Karni & Saul’s message via her Stories, became a mother in 2019 when she welcomed son Gene with ex-husband Chris Fischer.

“I was throwing up through the first hour of my C-section,” Schumer recalled of childbirth on a December 2019 episode of the “Informed Pregnancy and Parenting” podcast. “It’s supposed to take about an hour and a half. Mine took over three hours because of my endometriosis.”

Schumer, who had surgery to remove endometriosis spots in 2021, further noted that labor was “brutal” and she was grateful to have Fisher’s support.

“Chris was so great. We just stared [into] each other’s eyes and he just held me there,” Schumer added at the time. “Then they let me hold Gene for a good amount of time. I got to see him and hold him.”

Schumer and Fischer, 46, ultimately went their separate ways six years later.

Amy Schumer and Chris Fischer’s Sweetest Family Moments

“Blah blah blah Chris and I have made the difficult decision to end our marriage after 7 years,” the Trainwreck actress wrote in a December 2025 social media statement. “We love each other very much and will continue to focus on raising our son. We would appreciate people respecting our privacy at this time. Amicable and all love and respect! Family forever.”

Schumer filed for divorce in January and the proceedings were finalized last month.

While Schumer has not publicly addressed her new chapter, she previously has been candid about moving through difficult times.

“When things are the absolute worst is when my family is the funniest,” she acknowledged in a December 2025 social media video with Noa Tishby, while lighting the menorah to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. “Just when we hit rock bottom is when we can laugh the hardest. And I think that that’s not unique to me.”

“From your lips to God’s ears. How fun would that be?” Hale, 37, said during an exclusive interview with Us, to which Harding, 40, replied, “What if we just went through every genre?”

The pair suggested a horror movie next where they are a “newly married couple” but one of them “is a ghost.” For Hale, the project didn’t matter as long as she got to share the screen again with Harding.

“Ian actually is the best. I love working with you. I love you as a person,” she told him. “And it was just nice to have all that built in history and something new to do.”

'Pretty Little Liars' Love Interests Through the Seasons: Where Are They Now?

Harding felt the same way, adding, “It was so fantastic. We were kind of remarking on this earlier about how we just stepped back into it. There’s the novelty of a new movie, a new set that you’re on and your very first day. Maybe there’s a little bit of jitters but I felt that way for about seven seconds and then it just was good to be back and getting to play with a dear friend.”

Hale and Harding captured our hearts when they played Aria and Ezra, respectively, in Pretty Little Liars. After the show came to an end in 2017, Hale and Harding weren’t in a rush to find their next collaboration.

“This was our first attempt and our last. No, I’m kidding,” she quipped. “This was our first attempt. Of course we’ve kept in touch here and there. But we live across the country from each other.”

Hale continued: “I just thought he was perfect for this and I was hopeful that he would say yes.”

Harding was thrilled at the prospect of sharing the screen with Hale again, telling Us, “I obviously enjoyed working with Lucy many years ago and I also know the love that people have for that show and perhaps even our dynamic. So I didn’t want to waste it on something ridiculous and so I loved this idea because it kind of plays on certain tropes. I just wanted to really play with her so this gave us the vehicle to do it.”

So Long Rosewood! See What the 'Pretty Little Liars' Cast Is Up to Now

12 Dates of Christmas follows a woman who has prioritized her work life over her personal life and is persuaded to go on 12 dates in 12 weeks just in time for Christmas. One of the disastrous dates was played by Carter Jenkins, which served as a throwback for Hale after she went out with the actor in real life.

“I’ve known since I was 15. He was actually my first boyfriend. That was my first boyfriend and we’ve been friends ever since,” Hale told Us. “He’s the best. I can’t remember where he took me on a date. I think the date was a movie he was in. And I think we got sushi with his mom after.”

While Hale’s character went on 12 disastrous dates, the actress didn’t pull much inspiration from her life, telling Us, “I’ve been fairly lucky. I never did the dating thing in my 20s. I was always in monogamous relationships. But I did do a fair share of dating a couple of years ago. But I must be very lucky because I don’t have any disastrous dates. Compared to [my character] Christina in [the] movie, nothing too crazy.”

12 Dates of Christmas is streaming now on Hulu.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been drunk enough to even have a hangover. I’m such a control freak with that,” Keen, 21, revealed on the Tuesday, November 3, episode of the “Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum” podcast. “Because also I think as a child actor I witnessed so much of that as a child that I just had no interest.”

When host Michael Rosenbaum asked whether she’d witnessed “a lot of drinking” as a kid in the industry, Keen said yes — and more.

“I was getting offered coke at wrap parties,” she said. “Like, tiny. Like 11, 12, 13. So I saw what that was, so I was like, ‘I don’t really have any interest in that.’”

Celebrities Who Revealed They Got Sober: Tom Holland, Ruston Kelly, More

Rosenbaum, 54, was shocked by Keen’s bombshell, responding, “11 or 12? Man, I didn’t start that early.”

“Well, me neither,” Keen explained. “I was saying no, fortunately.”

Keen made her acting debut on BBC’s The Refugees in 2014 when she was 9. She starred on the short-lived series throughout 2015 when she was 10 years old.

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The Spanish-British actress made her big splash in Hollywood two years later when she played Laura and X-23 alongside Hugh Jackman in Logan. Keen later reprised the role in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine.

During her teenage years, Keen starred on HBO’s His Dark Materials, playing the lead role Lyra Silvertongue/Lyra Belacqua from 2019 to 2022. She also portrayed Jecki Lon on Disney+’s The Acolyte in 2024.

In addition to being exposed to drug culture as a kid, Keen said she actively avoided illegal substances as a teen by fibbing about her sobriety.

“I did used to lie as a teenager so that I wouldn’t get peer pressured,” she shared on the podcast. “I’d be like, ‘Nah, I’m good. I don’t wanna drink. I already took something.’ Dead sober. Like, the goodest goody-two-shoes ever. I was like, ‘Oh my God, no I’m already so high.’ Literally had, like, a Coca-Cola.”

Despite forgoing party favors, Keen was adamant that she has a very good social life.

“I would say I’m a fun time,” the Whistle star said. “I don’t really need it. I’ll go out and stay out ‘til 6 but sober. Just for the vibes, just ‘cause I like music and I like dancing and I like people.”

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While Keen didn’t name names of the people who were offering her drugs as a child, she did praise Jackman, 58, for how much he protected her while filming Logan.

“He gave me a lot of really positive reinforcement and a lot of really good advice. And he was always so lovely,” she told Rosenbaum of the Greatest Showman actor. “He’s the best number one you could ever wish for. And he’s the best on-screen dad. He genuinely felt like a sort of parental figure.”

Keen gushed about Jackman’s ability to make her feel safe on set, adding, “He made sure that no one was abusing my hours, that I was having fun on set, that I wasn’t aware of any tensions that would’ve been happening behind the scenes.”

She added, “He was so incredibly protective and amazing.”

They may not always have the lead role, be the team captains or have millions of Instagram followers, but something about these individuals catches our attention and has Us googling them shirtless for more.

We’ve always known Zac Efron has it going on, but Dylan Efron’s unexpected rise to prominence on Traitors had Us looking up his Instagram — only to find it’s stock-full of thirst traps. (Thank you, Dylan Efron.)

Sure, Jalen Hurts is all the rage, but the Eagles’ run to the Super Bowl championship suddenly had Us drooling over Saquon Barkley’s “Saquads” and tuning into the Big Game.

And yes, John B. (a.k.a. Chase Stokes) is the obvious crush on Outer Banks, but series villain Drew Starkey’s nuanced and erotic performance in Queer had Us looking at the actor in a whole new light.

Keep scrolling for more of Us’ weekly picks for People We Googled Shirtless:

“There was this old mental hospital that had a couple empty wings, and that’s where the offices are, the Hobbs’ home, the mailroom; almost all the interiors of the movie are in a mental hospital that was still functioning a little bit. There was still a wing of the hospital that had patients in it,” the comedian, 60, exclusively told Us while promoting his new book, Elf Unwrapped: Behind the Scenes of a Modern Christmas Classic.

Richter notably played the character Morris in the film, and helped cowrite the new behind-the-scenes book. According to the actor and author, a “big vampire movie” was in the making, so studio space and filming locations were limited, which is why they shot scenes at Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam, British Columbia, near Vancouver.

“I wasn’t wandering around. … I went to the set. I went to the trailer. I got in the van. I went back to the hotel,” he said.

Richter did, however, speculate about what patients thought of Will Ferrell roaming the facility in his Buddy the Elf costume while shooting.

“Will was all over that place for a month or two, like what people were thinking? Patients were looking out the window and seeing this guy in February wandering around in an elf costume, and maybe recognizing, ‘Hey, isn’t that Will Ferrell?’” he joked.

Richter’s book uncovers new information about the making of the 2003 holiday classic through research and interviews with the cast and crew. Ferrell, 59, even wrote the foreword.

Richter shared he’s still close with some of his former Elf colleagues.

”Oh, the people I still talk to… Will Ferrell is probably the main one, and then Kent Alterman. … He was the one. The script was shown to him [and] he said, ‘I bet Will Ferrell would be great for this.’”

He also revealed that he and Zooey Deschanel, who played Jovie in the flick, go way back.

“I’ve known Zooey since she was a teenager, just because we lived in the same neighborhood, and we were in a movie together,” Richter said before revealing that Selma Blair was considered to play Deschanel’s character.

“I found out from Zooey that they talked about Selma Blair doing it before she was on board,” the comedian told Us. “Zooey told us that apparently at that time Selma Blair was like a big skateboarder, and so they were going to maybe have Jovi skateboard around Manhattan, which would have been interesting in December in Manhattan, somebody skateboarding around.”

Andy Richter Says This A-List Actress Almost Starred in ‘Elf’

Blair, 54, wasn’t the only A-list starlet up for the role, either.

“When I met with Jon Favreau, the director, I walked in and he was like, ‘Oh, you don’t need to read. We just offered it to Katie Holmes,’” Deschanel, 46, said on a December 2025 episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast with Alex Cooper. “And I was like, ‘Oh, OK, cool.’ And he’s like, ‘Well, sit down and talk for a minute.’ I was like, ‘OK!’”

She auditioned anyway and was offered the role when Holmes dropped out of the movie.

Richter’s Elf Unwrapped: Behind the Scenes of a Modern Christmas Classic hits bookshelves on November 3.

“I’ve got two shows that I’m developing. One I’ve sold, and Scream 8. So, you know that’s in the pipeline as well,” Campbell, 53, revealed in a recent interview with AP Entertainment, confirming she will reprise her role in Scream 8.

When asked whether she could share any details about the film, Campbell replied, “No. You know I could never tell you anything about Scream 8. I’ll be in it.”

Campbell rose to stardom after starring as Sidney Prescott in the slasher films from 1996 to 2011 alongside Courteney Cox and David Arquette. Campbell reprised her role in 2022’s Scream, but she didn’t return for the sixth film after rejecting the studio’s salary offer.

‘Scream’ TV Show Cast: Where Are They Now?

“Sadly, I won’t be making the next Scream film. As a woman I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream. I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise,” Campbell told Us in a statement in June 2022. “It’s been a very difficult decision to move on. To all my Scream fans, I love you. You’ve always been so incredibly supportive to me. I’m forever grateful to you and to what this franchise has given me over the past 25 years.”

Campbell returned ahead of the seventh Scream installment. The surprising news came three months after Melissa Barrera was fired following her comments about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. Spyglass Media Group, the production company behind the newest batch of Scream films, subsequently denied that Barrera’s exit was related to her pro-Palestine comments.

Jenna Ortega also didn’t return for the seventh movie. Director Christopher Landon, who was set to succeed Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, later pulled out as well. Scream creator Kevin Williamson returned to direct his first film in the iconic horror franchise.

During a May interview with Variety, Barrera, 36, was asked whether she thought her former Scream costars were “crossing the picket line” by returning to the franchise that dropped her.

Scream’s All-Star Cast Through the Years

“Oh, 100 percent,” she replied. “I think they all are. And they have to live with that.”

She continued: “The only way they were able to make that movie after what happened was to nostalgia-bait as much as possible.”

Barrera previously reacted to Campbell’s decision to return, telling Decider in October 2024 that she “fully respects” the Scream legend.

“We haven’t really spoken,” Barrera said. “I think everyone makes their choices and what they think is best for them.”

Barrera made it clear she wasn’t at odds with Campbell, adding, “I fully respect what people think that they need to do, to keep going in this life.”

“I found out from Zoey that they talked about Selma Blair doing it before she was on board,” comedian Andy Richter exclusively told Us while promoting his new book, Elf Unwrapped: Behind the Scenes of a Modern Christmas Classic.

“I have no idea why people come and go,” he explained, sharing that he believes Holmes, 47, couldn’t join the beloved Christmas classic because she was already committed to something else.

According to Richter, 60, Elf bosses wanted to highlight a real-life talent of whoever played Jovie, which he said was why Deschanel, 46, sang in the film.

But Blair, 54, brought something else to the table.

“Zoey told us that apparently at that time Selma Blair was like a big skateboarder, and so they were going to maybe have Jovi skateboard around Manhattan, which would have been interesting in December in Manhattan, somebody skateboarding around,” Richter added.

Deschanel previously shared that Holmes was initially offered the role of Will Ferrell’s character Buddy Hobbs’ love interest in the 2003 comedy.

“When I met with Jon Favreau, the director, I walked in and he was like, ‘Oh, you don’t need to read. We just offered it to Katie Holmes,’” she said on a December 2025 episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast with Alex Cooper. “And I was like, ‘Oh, OK, cool.’ And he’s like, ‘Well, sit down and talk for a minute.’ I was like, ‘OK!’”

Deschanel auditioned anyway. She was offered the role when Holmes dropped out of the movie.

“And then they were like, ‘Who should we have?’” she told Cooper, 32. “I think the character was kind of meant to be worked around whoever played her, and they knew I sang because I had a cabaret act, so that kind of worked out with the character.”

More than 20 years after Elf became the iconic holiday movie it is today, Richter is sharing several never-before-heard stories from the film’s making in his upcoming book.

He finished Elf Unwrapped on the set of Dancing With the Stars last year after he was voted off during week 9.

“We had a deadline in the middle of December last year, and then from August to November, I was dancing on TV, so I didn’t have a lot of free time. … After I was voted off of ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ I still had my trailer there, and that’s where I wrote the end part of the book,” Richter shared. “I did it in my trailer there because it was such a nice little isolated place.”

The comedian — who played the children’s book publisher employee Morris alongside James Caan’s character Walter Hobbs — even had Ferrell write the foreword.

Richter told Us that having Ferrell and Favreau’s support for this project was “essential.”

Why Zooey Deschanel Doesn't Watch Herself in 'Elf' — Even at Christmas

“Talking to him and John Favreau were the major marks of validation and endorsement that this is going to be a project that really reflected truly what the making of the movie was like. Without them, it wouldn’t have been complete, and it wouldn’t have been correct,” he said.

Like many families, as the holiday season approaches, Richter and his loved ones will make time to watch Elf.

“It’s a ritual for us and for everybody,” he said.

Richter’s Elf Unwrapped: Behind the Scenes of a Modern Christmas Classic hits bookshelves on November 3.

“That was certainly a surprise to me,” McLendon-Covey, 57, exclusively told Us on the set of Celebrity Weakest Link. “I can’t believe anybody cared.”

McLendon-Covey didn’t expect her skipping out on the awards show to become a trending topic, but she thought it was “hilarious.”

“That’s so odd [and] weird, but OK,” the comedian told Us, saying she was feeling “really good” after the procedure.

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Earlier this year, Bridesmaids stars Kristen Wiig, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph and Ellie Kemper reunited at the Oscars to celebrate 15 years since director Paul Feig’s comedy hit theaters and became a box office success.

McLendon-Covey later took to social media to address why she wasn’t on stage with her former costars.

“In response to some of the DMs I’m getting: I had a neck lift last week because I’m tired of looking like a melting candle,” she wrote via Instagram alongside a selfie of her head covered in bandages. “So I had to skip the Academy Awards. No drama. Everything is fine. 😘.”

While speaking with Us, McLendon-Covey didn’t rule out another Bridesmaids reunion in the future. “Life is long,” she said. “Who knows what could happen? … But everybody’s busy working. We got two [of us] on Broadway.”

The actress acknowledged that there could even be a Bridesmaids-themed episode of Celebrity Weakest Link someday.

Everything the 'Bridesmaids' Cast Has Said About a Potential Sequel

“There’s so many options. I watched an episode where it was doctors — TV doctors against real doctors,” she recalled. “That would be a good one. It’s such a fun show and such an iconic show. So I’m just happy I got to do this at all. It could be medical comedies against medical dramas.”

For now, McLendon-Covey is thrilled to join fellow comedians Nicole Byer, Heather McMahan, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Sasheer Zamata, Zarna Garg, Judy Gold and Ms. Pat in the game show’s Ladies Who Laugh episode.

“I remember being a little girl and watching comedians and just being like, ‘Oh, my God, if I could ever make anybody feel this happy, I would love to do that,’” she recalled. “So that’s a very early memory for me is that I don’t know what this life is like, but I’m going in that direction. So it took me a long time to get there, but I think that’s true with a lot of things.”

Celebrity Weakest Link airs on Fox Mondays at 9 p.m. ET.

Skarsgård has made a name for himself playing strangely appealing creatures since his blood-hungry character on Hemlock Grove. From there, Skarsgård terrified Us as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the It franchise — and as Count Orlok in Nosferatu.

“He’s gross. But it is very sexualized,” he told Esquire in 2024 about the role he considered “erotic” for viewers. “It’s playing with a sexual fetish about the power of the monster and what that appeal has to you.”

Skarsgård continued: “Hopefully you’ll get a little bit attracted by it and disgusted by your attraction at the same time.”

On the small screen, Bower has left many of Us confused by whether we are more attracted to him as Mr. Whatsit or as the sadistic Vecna.

“I’m grateful … the whole effects team — we’re very grateful for the fact that you think [Vecna] is sexy,” Campbell joked in a 2022 Netflix featurette. “If you can’t have me at my Vecna then you don’t deserve me at my One.”

Keep scrolling for more TV and movie monsters that have Us questioning our taste in men:

The British actors — who knew each other for nearly 50 years ahead of Stewart’s death in October 2026 at the age of 86 — met in 1977 while working on Tom Stoppard’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

It wasn’t until decades later when they played enemies Professor Charles Xavier, or Professor X, and Erik Lehnsherr, a.k.a. Magneto, in 2000’s X-Men, that Stewart and McKellen forged their lifelong friendship.

“On those kind of movies, you spend more time sitting in your trailer than you do in front of the camera,” Stewart revealed on Wired’s “Web’s Most Searched Questions” YouTube series in February 2020. “So, Ian and I hung out together, drinking tea — and maybe in the afternoon, something a little stronger — and we got to know one another.”

The pair went on to play rivals in several X-Men movies and later joined forces on stage for Two Plays in Rep, before McKellen served as the officiant at Stewart’s 2013 wedding to Sunny Ozell.

Their final joint project was 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday.

Scroll down to relive McKellen and Stewart’s bromance:

“All of us at Marvel Studios are deeply saddened by the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart,” a Marvel Studios Instagram post read on Thursday, October 29. “Sir Patrick brought Professor Charles Xavier to life with extraordinary grace, intelligence, and humanity, defining the character for generations of fans, from X-Men to Logan to Avengers: Doomsday.”

The studio’s statement read, “He was a singular talent, a generous collaborator, and a true gentleman. Our hearts go out to his wife Sunny, his children, his friends, and the countless fans around the world whose lives he touched with his art.”

Marvel shared a sneak peek of Stewart’s final film appearance in Avengers: Doomsday, with a still photo showing a smiling Professor X inside what appears to be a dimly lit X-Mansion.

View this post on Instagram

The upcoming Marvel Studios blockbuster features heroes from three different universes — the Avengers and the Wakandans from Earth-616, the X-Men from Earth-10005 and the Fantastic Four from Earth-828 — converging to counter a multiversal threat from Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.).

In one of his final interviews, Stewart opened up to TV Insider about why he decided to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe more than 25 years after he first played Charles Xavier in 2000’s X-Men.

“As any actor my age will tell you, there are fewer and fewer available roles as we get older,” he explained in July. “That being said, I still continue to receive interesting offers and I love being challenged by new work. I can’t imagine ever officially retiring. … I’ll always and forever be an actor.”

Doomsday reunites Stewart with longtime pal and collaborator Ian McKellen as their X-Men characters, Professor X and Magneto, respectively, join forces one final time.

McKellen was one of Stewart’s many friends and colleagues to honor his contributions to the craft of acting after news broke on Thursday that he’d died at age 86 following a brief battle with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.

Relive Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen's Sweetest Friendship Moments

“Before everything else, Patrick was defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire, the proud county in the north of England which he loved to the end,” McKellen, 87, wrote via Instagram. “You could hear it in his accented voice and in the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt. Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues. He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love.”

McKellen recalled meeting Stewart when they were both “ambitious young actors” in the Royal Shakespeare Company “a half a century ago” — and maintaining a close friendship as their careers skyrocketed.

“America was his adopted home, where he met his adored [third wife, Sunny Ozell] who has cared for him through sickness and health, through thick and thin. But he never forsook his origins: and the proudest achievement of the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic, was his appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire,” McKellen added. “His farewell performance in Avengers: Doomsday is yet to be seen.”

Shortly after Stewart’s longtime representative, Kelly Bush Novak, confirmed that the legendary actor died at his Los Angeles home on Wednesday, October 28, Marvel Studios hailed him as a “generational talent.”

“Sir Patrick Stewart leaves behind an indelible cultural footprint and legacy,” the studio said in a statement. “Marvel Studios extends its deepest condolences to his family, friends, and fans around the world.”

Avengers: Doomsday opens in theaters on December 18 and will be followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on December 17, 2027.

“[When His Nerd blew up], it didn’t really feel like I was the face of microdramas. Nothing had changed in my real life,” Joseph, 27, who is the son of actor Dominic Purcell, exclusively tells Us. “But the momentum of the microdramas coming out and some of them being successful on the internet allowed me to have bigger auditions that I wasn’t getting.”

Joseph’s work on microdramas at CandyJar — including His Nerd and Falling for My Bodyguard — “changed a bit” of his trajectory. After his scene-stealing performances on Inkitt’s streaming app, Joseph isn’t walking away from microdramas any time soon.

“They work with me and try to find the script that best suits me. The last two scripts I’ve done have been my favorite that I’ve done so far,” he says. “It’s definitely a case-by-case thing, but plot and character are definitely the driving forces that helped me decide what to do.”

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Joseph’s newest project is Haunted, a 40-episode short-form vertical series that follows a high school student who can secretly see and talk to ghosts. Joseph plays Cade, a fellow student who becomes a prime murder suspect because his father is a notorious serial killer.

“I got a chance to develop the character of Cade very specifically,” he tells Us. “And it didn’t feel as much of a horror to me. I really felt with Cade that I loved creating his backstory. That one just meant a lot to me personally. I treated it more seriously.”

Looking ahead, Joseph isn’t opposed to working both in front of and behind the camera. “I wanted to be a writer first and I still write,” he says. “I haven’t produced anything [yet].”

Vertical Dramas' Hottest Leading Men: From Joseph Purcell to Cameron Porras

When it comes to his budding career, Joseph is grateful for the support he has received from his family. Stepmom Tish Cyrus, who married Dominic in 2023, is also playing a big role in the young actor’s life.

“The support from my family is great. I love them all. They’re so good. And Tish is also managing me,” Joseph tells Us. “It’s great to have someone that you can really trust that’s on your team. She knows what is best for you and her intentions are pure.”

Haunted is now streaming on CandyJar.

After Tarantino’s mom, Connie Zastoupil, mocked his writing ambitions when he was just 12 years old, the Pulp Fiction director said he vowed to keep the fruits of his labor — which is reportedly $150 million — to himself.

“My mom always had a hard time about my scholastic nonability,” Tarantino, 63, recalled in a 2021 appearance on “The Moment” podcast, resurfaced by Fortune on Wednesday, October 28.

The Oscar winner claimed his mom was always “bitching at me” about writing screenplays instead of doing his school work.

Quentin Tarantino Slams Rosanna Arquette Over His Use of N-Word in Films

Tarantino remembered one incident when Zastoupil, 80, apparently went on a “little tirade” about his work ethic, allegedly telling him, “‘Oh, and by the way, this little writing career,’ with the finger quotes and everything. ‘This little writing career that you’re doing? That s*** is over.’”

In that moment, the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood writer and director made a promise to himself that he’s kept for decades.

“When she said that to me in that sarcastic way, I was in my head, and I go, ‘OK, lady, when I become a successful writer, you will never see one penny from my success,’” Tarantino told podcast host Brian Koppelman. “‘There will be no house for you. There’s no vacation for you, no Elvis Cadillac for mommy. You get nothing because you said that.’”

George Clooney Is 'Irritated’ With Quentin Tarantino Over Career Remark

When Koppelman, 60, asked if Tarantino had kept his promise, he said, “Yeah.”

Tarantino noted at the time that he had “helped her out with a jam with the IRS. But no house. No Cadillac, no house.”

While the podcast host suggested that maybe Tarantino’s mother’s disapproval of his passion “drove him” to become an even bigger success, the Reservoir Dogs creator wasn’t having it.

“There are consequences for your words as you deal with your children,” Tarantino, who shares son Leo, 6, and daughter Adriana, 4, with wife Daniella Pick, pointed out. “Remember there are consequences for your sarcastic tone about what’s meaningful to them.”

Despite his mother’s dismissal of his writing ambitions in his younger years, he pushed forward, coming up with a screenplay called Captain Peachfuzz and the Anchovy Bandit by the time he was 14.

Two years later, Tarantino dropped out of high school with his mom’s OK and agreed to get a job instead.

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The prolific director used his five years working at a video store in California — following an usher gig at a Torrance movie theater — as a way to educate himself on the entertainment industry.

“When people ask me if I went to film school, I tell them, ‘No, I went to films,’” Tarantino previously told Rolling Stone.

The studying paid off, as Tarantino has won two Oscars while writing, directing and producing more than 30 projects.

“As we have said to Page Six, this reporting is categorically false,” Lopez, 57, said in a joint statement with Netflix and Zemeckis, 75, to Page Six Hollywood on Wednesday, October 28. “Any suggestion that the filmmakers are not working in unison is without merit.”

The statement came after Page Six Hollywood reported that Lopez and Zemeckis disagreed over the edit of their Netflix thriller, which does not yet have a release date.

An insider claimed to the outlet that Lopez made her own edit of the film after Zemeckis’ version allegedly tested “terribly” with audiences. (Netflix denied the claim, stating, “The film tested well, particularly with fans of Jennifer.”)

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The insider called the alleged clash “a Blake Lively situation.” (Lively, 39, feuded with director and costar Justin Baldoni over the final cut of their 2024 film It Ends With Us. The disagreement became part of a larger, months-long legal battle between the two and ended in an out-of-court settlement in May.)

According to Page Six Hollywood, Zemeckis and Lopez, who also serves as a producer on The Last Mrs. Parrish, worked together on the cut of the film last week and plan to meet again soon to discuss the next steps.

The Last Mrs. Parrish began production in September 2025 and is expected to arrive on Netflix in 2027. The project reportedly cost $100 million to make.

The movie is based on Lynne and Valerie Constantine’s (pen name Liv Constantine) 2017 novel of the same name. It follows a con artist who targets a wealthy couple with a plan to befriend the wife, seduce the husband and become the next Mrs. Parrish. However, she soon discovers the marriage hides dark, complicated secrets.

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The Last Mrs. Parrish also stars Isabel May, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Pierson Fodé, Debi Mazar and Denis O’Hare. The script was written by Oscar nominees Andrea Berloff and John Gatins, who previously worked with Zemeckis on the Denzel Washington drama Flight.

Liza Chasin is producing the project for 3dot Productions, along with Molly Sims for Something Happy Productions, and Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and Benny Medina for Nuyorican Productions. Margaret Chernin of 3dot is executive producing, along with the Constantines, Jack Rapke and Derek Hogue.

Zemeckis’ past work includes Romancing the Stone, Cast Away, Back to the Future and Contact.

Meanwhile, Lopez has starred in several films on Netflix, including Atlas, Halftime, The Mother and most recently, Office Romance, alongside Brett Goldstein.

According to multiple outlets on Thursday, October 22, a new instalment of the franchise is being worked on and will air on Disney Channel and stream on Disney+ if it is greenlit.

While no plot or cast details have been publicly released, the new incarnation comes 20 years after the last sequel, Return to Halloweentown, was released in 2006.

Kimberly J. Brown, who starred in the first three Halloweentown movies as Marnie Piper, previously told Us that she would love to return to the franchise.

Kimberly J. Brown Is ‘Totally Down’ to do Another ‘Halloweentown’ Movie

“I’m totally down for anything. The fans certainly ask me every day for another one,” Brown, 41, told Us in September 2024. “The cast is totally all down and it’s up to Disney at this point.”

Brown played Marnie Piper, a teen who discovers her family is a powerful group of witches who hail from the spooky town. The Disney Channel Original Movie franchise, which premiered in 1998, also featured Judith Hoag, Joey Zimmerman, Emily Roeske and the late Debbie Reynolds. (Reynolds died in December 2016 shortly after the death of her daughter Carrie Fisher.)

The actress suggested some ideas about how they could move the story forward and shared what she thought her character had been up to in the past two decades.

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“I think Marnie could be running for mayor or be mayor of Halloweentown,” she said. “Like, she was always so progressive in her ideas for Halloween time and everything. I think she would be in some kind of position like that, you know, trying to still bring about new ideas and things like that.”

Phillip van Dyke, who played goblin Luke in the first two movies, also expressed interest in coming back when asked about whether he’d be on board for a reboot by E! News in November 2020.

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“You know what, I think I could be talked into it,” he told the outlet at the time. “If the rest of the cast came back and wanted to do that, I would be up for it. I’ll actually go on record and say I would.”

Halloweentown was a massive success for Disney when it was first released and the franchise has remained relevant in today’s pop culture zeitgeist as it’s become a must-watch film during spooky season.

“When we filmed the first Halloweentown, we only thought we were doing one movie. And the fans and everybody have loved and embraced it so much over the years that we got to do more movies,” Brown told Us in 2024. “And we are just so honored we were here all these years later that people who still come up to me, literally everybody on the street. And that the movies become a part of their Halloween traditions and everything.”

“I am [in upstate New York] shooting a film. I could not be in L.A. for Dancing With the Stars last night,” Krumholtz, 48, said in a Wednesday, October 21, Instagram video. “I would have loved, loved, loved to have been there. Everyone looked so amazing.”

DWTS season 35 contestant Julia Stiles reunited with several members of the 10 Things I Hate About You cast — including Joseph Gordon Levitt, Gabrielle Union and more — on Tuesday, October 20, for a performance dedicated to the late Heath Ledger. (Ledger was found dead in 2008 following an accidental overdose at age 28.)

Stiles, 45, and pro partner Ezra Sosa honored the late actor with a contemporary routine to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” by Frankie Valli, which Ledger’s character sings in the iconic rom-com, and ultimately earned a 36 out of 40 from the judges.

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“Julia’s tribute to my dear friend who I miss every single day was amazing and stunning, and I’m so proud of her. I thought the cast looked amazing. They all looked so young still,” Krumholtz said before taking off his hat to reveal his partially bald head.

He joked, “It would have been weird because I shaved what’s left of my hair and then it becomes a whole internet fodder, ‘Oh, look what happened to him.’ I didn’t want that. But that’s not why I wasn’t there. I would have dealt with it. Anyway. Love them all. Love you all.”

Ahead of the performance, Stiles opened up about her connection to Ledger, who played her love interest in the hit 1999 film.

“We made 10 Things I Hate About You together. I learned a lot from Heath. He was so authentic,” Stiles recalled in her intro package while holding back tears. “I see pictures from that time and I’m like, ‘Wow.’ It was so easy with him.”

Stiles added to the cameras, “I have so many great memories, but I’m also sad because I really wish that I could pick up the phone and be like, ‘Hey dude, people really care about that movie. We did something special.’ And I can’t do that.”

Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.

“Production is underway on a documentary film untangling the story of what came next for the Gosselin family,” a Wednesday, October 21, announcement from Netflix’s Tudum reads, revealing that Jon Gosselin and his kids Collin Gosselinand Hannah Gosselin, both 22, will be interviewed. “The new documentary pieces together the story from the perspectives of the children who grew up on camera, the adults who built a brand around them and the audience that couldn’t look away.”

The documentary, which is currently untitled and does not have a release date, will be produced by Mike Gasparro and Julia Willoughby Nason.

Jon & Kate Plus 8 aired on TLC from 2007 to 2009, following Jon, 49, and then-wife Kate Gosselin’s daily life with eight children. (The exes share twins Mady and Cara, 26, as well as sextuplets Collin, Hannah, Joel, Aaden, Alexis and Leah, 22.)

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Jon and Kate, 51, divorced in 2009 after a decade of marriage, during which the TLC reality TV show was rebranded as Kate Plus 8 as the nurse was granted primary custody of all eight kids. Collin, however, later claimed that he was often separated from his siblings and institutionalized for alleged behavioral issues. Jon subsequently sought custody of Collin, later also gaining primary custody of Hannah. Kate has long denied the accusations.

In the years since the TLC series were canceled in 2017, Collin in particular has been vocal about the challenges of growing up on TV.

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“Filming did give me and my family a steady income and a lot of great opportunities, but being put on camera [so young] is not healthy for a child’s development,” Collin exclusively told Us in his digital cover story earlier this month. “My parents should’ve done better to understand that kids should have a choice. They should have left it after the documentary they did [2006’s Surviving Sextuplets and Twins].”

He continued, “It turned into this machine that was dangerous for a child; [it became] a money grab versus parents looking out for the welfare of their children.”

Collin, who also opened up about his experience in his new In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood memoir, further alleged that a handful of his siblings had their own issues with the show.

“I’m not gonna say names, but I feel there were some who also didn’t want to be on camera,” he claimed to Us. “There were many vulnerable moments, and sometimes the steam would build and we’d voice it. There were interviews where I’d sit off to the side and be withdrawn and upset; that was my silent rebellion.”

Mason would soon learn the harrowing details of what had happened. While filming at the Bonanza Creek Ranch movie set near Santa Fe, New Mexico, Hutchins and Baldwin were rehearsing a scene in a small church when the actor drew a prop gun from his holster and it went off. The bullet struck Hutchins in the chest and wounded director Joel Souza in the shoulder. Hutchins, 42, was airlifted to University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, where she was pronounced dead. (She is survived by her husband, Matthew Hutchins, and their son, Andros, who was 9 when she died.)

The tragedy rocked the movie industry and dominated the news cycle. Baldwin faced intense scrutiny as reports emerged of on-set tensions and crew departures over safety concerns and working conditions. In a statement after the shooting, Baldwin, now 68, called Hutchins’ death “a tragic accident.” During a December 2021 interview with ABC News, he denied pulling the trigger. Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter in January 2023, but prosecutors dropped the charges that April. He was indicted again in January 2024; that July, a judge dismissed the case with prejudice after finding that police and prosecutors had withheld evidence from the defense.

Five years after the incident, questions remain about what went wrong and who’s to blame. “There are 15 safety measures for weapon safety on set,” Brook Yeaton, a film industry firearms expert appointed by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees in 2024, tells Us. “In my opinion, all were disregarded,” he adds. “This was completely avoidable.”

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For Hutchins’ loved ones, the loss remains deeply personal. “I miss her so much,” says Mason, who directed the 2025 documentary Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna. “I wish more people could know what a wonderful, spectacular person she was.”

Horrible Loss

Those closest to Hutchins describe the Ukrainian-born cinematographer as a kind soul who was passionate about her work. “She was deeply connected to her friends and her family and also her career,” says Mason, adding that it’s hard to describe her friend’s brightness and enthusiasm adequately. “She was so present. And she was committed. If she said she was going to be somewhere, she showed up — with bells on.” In a social media post after her death, Matthew said the family’s loss was “enormous,” adding, “Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision.” Mason says making Last Take and exploring Hutchins’ personal archives deepened her appreciation for her friend. “It gave me a sense of her goodness. She was such a good human being to the core.”

Chaos on Set

By many accounts, the production of Rust — an indie Western with a tight budget — was troubled well before Hutchins’ death. In his resignation letter, first assistant camera operator Lane Luper cited a lack of safety meetings, two accidental weapons discharges and an accidental discharge of special effects explosives.

Actress Shannon Lee — whose brother, Brandon Lee, was fatally shot in 1993 while filming The Crow — says she was “filled with rage” when she heard about Hutchins’ death. (Their dad was martial arts legend Bruce Lee.) Brandon died after a blank cartridge propelled a bullet lodged in the gun’s barrel. “[The similarities between Brandon and Halyna’s deaths] are the lack of concern for the very real consequences that were possible and the absolute s***show of a production that was being run by the producers,” she says.

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Shannon tells Us that after her brother’s death, she hoped the Screen Actors Guild would implement firearms safety training for actors — “how to check a gun, where not to point a gun.” She also believes visual effects should replace real guns on sets. “Entertainment shouldn’t involve the risk of someone’s life,” she says. “And for those who say that actors need a real gun in order to react better, [they] should hire better actors.”

The film’s armorer and props assistant, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison in April 2024. She was released on parole in May 2025. Assistant director Dave Halls pleaded no contest to negligent use of a deadly weapon and received six months of unsupervised probation. Prosecutors in Baldwin’s case said they had evidence he “was not present for required firearms training” prior to filming, while his lawyers said he “was an actor, acting” and had “committed no crime.”

Calls for Accountability

In a February 2022 interview with Today, Matthew said he was angry at Baldwin for not “accepting responsibility,” adding, “The idea that the person holding the gun and causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me.” That October, Matthew announced a settlement in the family’s wrongful death lawsuit against Baldwin and other defendants. The terms were not disclosed. Lawyers for Hutchins’ parents and sister, who refiled a negligence lawsuit in New Mexico in June 2024, criticized Baldwin’s 2025 TLC reality series, The Baldwins, calling it a shameless attempt to rehabilitate his image. In the show’s pilot, the father of eight spoke of the toll Hutchins’ death has taken on his family and said, “I think about her every day.”

Yeaton feels the industry has made some positive changes, citing the hiring of skilled armorers and increased use of nonlethal “green gas” or “blow back” weapons. “I do feel that progress, not perfection, has been made,” he says. Shannon questions whether Hollywood has done enough to improve safety. “As far as I know, [since Brandon’s death] there were not many — if any — actual rules implemented to make sets safer around the use of guns.”

Finding Closure

Production on Rust resumed in April 2023, 18 months after Hutchins’ death, and the movie was released in the U.S. in May 2025. The decision to finish the film drew criticism, but Mason says she wanted Last Take to explain why Hutchins’ loved ones supported sharing her final work with the world. “It was important to show that Rust was completed out of love for her and for her family.”

The documentary was Matthew’s idea, Mason says. “He helped to get it started, and then his job was to walk away and find a path to a new life without Halyna — another unthinkable task which he handled with grace.” Mason’s main goal was to honor her friend as an artist, wife and mother. “It felt like something necessary to protect her, and I was very committed to making a film that wasn’t going to be a true-crime TV show about her death. I want her to be remembered for the person she was.”

The 1987 classic followed Frances “Baby” Houseman (Jennifer Grey) as she spent the summer with her family at Kellerman’s resort in the Catskills. During her stay, she falls in love with the camp’s dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). Between romance and now-iconic dance routines, the story tackled real-life issues like abortion and classism.

Dirty Dancing made over $214 million worldwide following its debut, but a sequel was never confirmed until August 2020.

“It’s very early days,” Grey told Woman’s Day at the time. “But I do know that it’s very important to me that certain things are represented, that life is not over and sexuality and pleasure and satisfaction and feeling very alive and excited about what’s coming has got to continue. It cannot be just for the young. It’s about how many times can we recognize that we’ve given up again on ourselves and that there’s more to be excited about, to discover about ourselves, and it’s not over until it’s over.”

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Grey has also addressed concerns about the film moving forward without Swayze, who died in 2009 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She reassured fans that her former costar and his character will not be replicated in the sequel.

Scroll down for everything to know so far about the long-awaited sequel:

When Was the ‘Dirty Dancing’ Sequel Announced?

The project was confirmed to be in the works in August 2020.

“And to reveal one of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood, we’re pleased to confirm that Grey will both executive produce and star in a new Dirty Dancing movie for Lionsgate,” the studio’s CEO Jon Feltheimer announced in a statement at the time. “It will be exactly the kind of romantic, nostalgic movie that the franchise’s fans have been waiting for and that have made it the biggest-selling library title in the company’s history.”

News broke in January 2026 that production would likely begin later that year.

Who Is Directing the ‘Dirty Dancing’ Sequel?

Jonathan Levine was previously attached to direct the sequel, but he is no longer involved with the project. A new director has not yet been confirmed.

Who Is in the ‘Dirty Dancing’ Sequel Cast?

Grey is so far the only confirmed cast member in the sequel.

“The role of Baby has held a very deep and meaningful place in my heart, as it has in the hearts of so many fans over the years,” Grey said in a January 2026 statement. “I’ve long wondered where we might find Baby years later and what her life might be like, but it’s taken time to assemble the kind of people that I felt could be entrusted to build on the legacy of the original film… and I’m excited to say that It looks like the wait will soon be over!”

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What Is the ‘Dirty Dancing’ Sequel About?

A plot has yet to be revealed, but Grey told Good Morning America in 2022 that the story will continue at Kellerman’s. “There will be dancing,” she said. “There will be a lot of music and romance.”

Will Patrick Swayze Be Replaced in the ‘Dirty Dancing’ Sequel?

Grey told People in 2020 that her chemistry with Patrick Swayze cannot be replicated.

“All I can say is there is no replacing anyone who’s passed — you never try to repeat anything that’s magic like that,” she said. “You just go for something different.”

Meanwhile, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2022, Grey said, “What happened happened, and that will never happen again. There will never be another Johnny. There will never be another Patrick. This sequel has got to be its own standalone piece. It’s very tricky.”

While discussing how the sequel will honor Swayze, producer Nina Jacobson said during a panel at IndieWire’s Future of Filmmaking Summit in October 2026, “That’s one of the things that you really have to focus on: how to let people mourn him in a movie. Don’t worry, we won’t be bringing him back with AI.”

“That’s one of the things that you really have to focus on: how to let people mourn him in a movie,” Nina Jacobson, one of the sequel’s producers, said during a panel at IndieWire’s Future of Filmmaking 2026 Summit on Saturday, October 17.

Swayze died in September 2009 at age 57 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

“Don’t worry, we won’t be bringing him back with AI,” Jacobson added of the original Dirty Dancing’s leading man.

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Set in the summer of 1963, Dirty Dancing follows 17-year-old Frances “Baby” Houseman (Jennifer Grey), who falls in love with dance instructor Johnny Castle (Swayze) while on vacation with her family at a resort in the Catskill Mountains of New York.

The 1987 romantic drama, directed by Emile Ardolino and written by Eleanor Bergstein, became a global phenomenon, grossing $214 million worldwide on a $4.5 million to $6 million production budget. The film also won an Oscar for Best Original Song for “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life.”

“I remember when I first saw it, it seemed like very glossy entertainment,” Jacobson said on Saturday. “Now it feels like kind of an indie. They take a lot of risks, and they touch a lot of topics that people don’t touch in movies anymore.”

Though the plot of the Dirty Dancing sequel has remained under wraps, Jacobson said she and the team behind it are “trying to chase the feeling of that original movie.” (The project will be written by Kim Rosenstock of Dying for Sex and coproduced by Jacobson and Brad Simpson.)

Everything to Know About the Long-Awaited 'Dirty Dancing' Sequel

“Being able to tell a young love story that could take some of those risks but also inspire those feelings felt like an incredible chance for us,” Jacobson added.

A prequel to the original film, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, was released in 2004 and starred Diego Luna, Romola Garai, Sela Ward, John Slattery, Jonathan Jackson, January Jones, Mika Boorem and Swayze.

Lionsgate confirmed in January that the follow-up to the 1987 film would begin filming later this year, with Grey, 66, reprising her role as Baby.

“The role of Baby has held a very deep and meaningful place in my heart, as it has in the hearts of so many fans over the years,” Grey said in a statement at the time. “I’ve long wondered where we might find Baby years later and what her life might be like, but it’s taken time to assemble the kind of people that I felt could be entrusted to build on the legacy of the original film.”

She added, “I’m excited to say that it looks like the wait will soon be over!”

Grey previously opened up about the sequel in 2020 when the project was first announced.

“All I can say is there is no replacing anyone who’s passed — you never try to repeat anything that’s magic like that,” she told People at the time. “You just go for something different.”