“Ansel Elgort is to this day one of my best friends,” Woodley, 34, said in an interview with Variety shared via the outlet’s YouTube page on Thursday, May 21. “I feel like he transcends the label of best friend. He is like family to me. I love him so, so deeply.”

Woodley and Elgort, 32, worked together on both The Fault in Our Stars and the Divergent films. They met for the first time on the set of the first Divergent film, which premiered in 2014. Woodley and Elgort played siblings Tris and Caleb, respectively. As they got to know each other on set, they formed a fast friendship.

“When we were doing the first divergent movie, we really connected, and we became sort of instant siblings,” she recalled on Thursday, “The dynamic between us is always very sweet, and it was very supportive, and he would come over to my house, and we would cook and just talk for hours after work.”

Actors Who Worked Together Again and Again

After working on that movie, Woodley and Elgort reunited to star in the 2014 movie The Fault in Our Stars, where they ended up playing love interests Hazel and Gus, respectively.

“When I heard he was auditioning for Fault in Our Stars. I was like ‘Oh that’s sweet, but like obviously it’s never gonna happen because he’s my brother in Divergent, like there’s no world where [that happens] … And then he was cast,” she said. “You know, he’s kind of the only person on Earth who could’ve played Gus.”

Woodley explained that her and Elgort’s real-life connection made their characters’ chemistry stronger on screen.

“I think actually what made our relationship in that movie as tender as it was and as truly like unconditionally loving as it was [because] Ansel and I do genuinely love one another,” she shared. “It’s so rare that you get to see love explored without intimacy, and although there is intimacy between Hazel and Gus, the core of it is just unconditional love. It’s two people walking each other home. It’s two people who have a desire to only be supportive to one another, and make the other person feel a little less lonely in a chaotic world.”

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In the film, which is based on the best-selling novel written by John Green, Woodley and Elgort’s characters had multiple romantic scenes. The Big Little Lies actress confessed it was “awkward” to film those intimate moments with Elgort.

“Of course it was awkward when we had to do intimacy scenes together, cause I remember [us] laughing in between takes a little bit together,” she said. “I know everything about you, that is so weird that we have to take our shirts off.”

Woodley and Elgort last worked together in 2016 on the final installment of the Divergent series. Since then, they have remained close and even took a trip to Italy together in 2022.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus went public with her breast cancer diagnosis in September 2017 via Instagram. Nearly one year later, she had successfully beaten the illness and returned to work on Veep.

“It sounds kind of corny, but there’s something about after you’ve walked through something like this, which is such a crisis, to be able to help someone who’s then going through,” she told Good Morning America in 2019. “It really is something that I’m happy to do.”

Cynthia Nixon underwent her own breast cancer battle after being diagnosed in 2006. Two years later, revealed that she was cancer-free.

“The only thing to really be afraid of is if you don’t go get your mammograms, because there’s some part of you that doesn’t want to know, and that’s the thing that’s going to trip you up,” she said on Nightline in 2008. “That’s the thing that could have a really bad endgame.”

Scroll down to learn about other famous breast cancer survivors:

“I really credit the Hallmark Channel with my pivoting into producing in earnest,” Cook, 46, said during the May 13 episode of the “I Love You So Much — ILYSM” podcast.

The actress noted that she began working for them a decade ago, but she “wasn’t sure how that was going to go.”

“One disagreement Daniel [Gillies], my ex-husband, and I always had was he was like, ‘You can’t handle challenging content!’ And I was like, ‘That’s not true!’ That was 100 percent true. Daniel, you win,” Cook recalled, noting that her so-called brand and aversion to darker story lines almost made her pass on Hallmark’s offer.

Rachael Leigh Cook Details the Difference Between Rom-Coms in 1999 and 2023

Cook confessed, “I cannot handle channeling content, so my resistance to working for the Hallmark Channel — is that I thought it was a little bit too soft.”

She remembered thinking, “It was sort of playing into my fears that I had about myself. Then I was just like, ‘Ah, screw it. This is who I am.’ I’m a huge cornball. I love love.”

The She’s All That star noted that once she was honest with herself, she realized that Hallmark’s heartwarming stories were exactly what she wanted to work on both in front and behind the camera.

“I went and worked for them and they’re so supportive of women, of their actors,” Cook said of the network. “They’re honestly also just doing so much that they don’t handcuff you to the words, to the punctuation, to the stuff. They really give you a lot of creative freedom. That was really empowering.”

Rachael Leigh Cook and Freddie Prinze Jr. Reuniting for New Christmas Movie

She recalled Hallmark’s belief in her work as a producer as the spark that “sort of set me on a journey of wanting to tell stories.”

Cook also revealed that Hallmark’s rom-com focused lineup perfectly aligns with what she likes to watch herself.

“I’ve always been so earnestly enthusiastic about the romantic comedy genre. I drink that Kool-Aid all day. I make it in my kitchen. It’s in my veins,” she said with a laugh.

Cook made her Hallmark Channel debut in 2016’s Summer Love. That same year she portrayed Frankie Baldwin alongside Brendan Penny’s Nate Deluca in Autumn in the Vineyard.

The actors’ connection sparked two more In the Vineyard movies and made Cook a staple for the network. Autumn in the Vineyard was also Cook’s first credit as an executive producer for Hallmark and she has since worked behind the scenes on multiple projects for them.

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Cook most recently was a producer on her 2025 Hallmark hit Sisterhood, Inc. and starred in 2026’s Caught by Love.

Her connection to Hallmark has also led Cook to her own real-life romance with Brandon Routh.

Following her 2019 divorce from Gillies — with whom she shares daughter Charlotte and son Theodore — Cook started dating Routh, 46, in 2025. Both Cook and Routh are Hallmark stars, with Routh making his network debut in 2014’s The Nine Lives of Christmas.

“I’m very supportive of [director Christopher Nolan’s] intention with [the film] and with the version of this story that he is telling. Our cast is representative of the world,” the Oscar winner, 43, told Elle in an interview published on Thursday, May 21. “I’m not spending my time thinking of a defense. The criticism will exist whether I engage with it or not.”

Nolan’s film is based on the ancient Greek epic of the same name by Homer, in which Helen of Troy is described as the most beautiful woman in the world. The filmmaker has amassed a star-studded cast for The Odyssey, including Zendaya as the goddess Athena, Matt Damon as the heroic Odysseus and Tom Holland as his son Telemachus, plus Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway and Elliot Page as other characters from Greek mythology.

Musk, 54, first took aim at The Odyssey’s diverse casting in January when he complained via X that “Chris Nolan has lost his integrity.” More recently, Musk agreed with conservative commentator Matt Walsh’s contention that “not one person on the planet actually thinks that Lupita Nyong’o is ‘the most beautiful woman in the world.’”

What to Know About Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey': Cast, Release Date

“Christopher Nolan knows that he would be called racist if he gave ‘the most beautiful woman’ role to a white woman,” Walsh alleged on May 12. “Nolan is technically talented but a coward. Too afraid to do anything that even slightly challenges the spirit of the age.”

Musk replied, “True.”

That same week, Musk accused Nolan of “desecrating Homer” with his multiracial casting approach.

“[Nolan] will never live it down,” Musk predicted via X on May 15.

The tech billionaire’s anger over The Odyssey reached a fever pitch on Friday, May 22, when he accused Nolan of being “an anti-White racist.”

Us Weekly has reached out to Nolan’s rep for comment.

His criticisms of The Odyssey were echoed by Trump, 48, who posted a meme on Saturday, May 16, comparing Nolan’s version to 2004’s Troy, which starred white actors Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger. Trump took particular issue with Nyong’o and trans actor Page’s casting in Nolan’s The Odyssey.

“Maybe one of theses [sic] days Hollywood will least [sic] to stop pushing this crap on us,” he vented.

Amid the backlash, Nyong’o pointed out to Elle that The Odyssey is “a mythological story” rather than a historical adaptation.

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“This is an industry where commerce is governing the art. The commercial part of it is unimaginative,” she also pointed out. “So the lack of imagination exists anyhow, and then it’s just exacerbated by the racial component.”

Nolan briefly addressed The Odyssey’s casting controversy earlier this month, likening his approach to the movie to his 2014 groundbreaking space epic, Interstellar.

“For Interstellar, you’re looking at, ‘What is the best speculation of the future?’ When you’re looking at the ancient past, it’s actually the same thing. ‘What is the best speculation and how can I use that to create a world?’” Nolan told Time on May 14.

The two-time Oscar winner went on, “Hopefully [audiences will] enjoy the film, even if they don’t agree with everything. We had a lot of scientists complain about Interstellar. But you just don’t want people to think that you took it on frivolously.”

The Odyssey opens July 17.

The Oscar winner plays the titular character in the recent A24 psychological thriller, which follows a pop superstar’s fractured relationship with her former BFF and costume designer (played by Michaela Coel) while on the comeback trail.

Hathaway, 43, sings and dances in the film, but she admitted she nearly walked off the movie after seeing early footage of herself performing original songs written by Jack Antonoff, Charli XCX and FKA Twigs.

“This is really bad… I don’t know that I can ask people to come to see this,” Hathaway recalled thinking at the time, she said in an interview with Elle published on Thursday, May 21.

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Per Elle, Hathaway went home to her husband, Adam Shulman, and declared that she was going to leave the film.

Eventually, however, “I came to the conclusion that there would be no shame if I was fired, but there would be if I quit,” she said.

Hathaway also told the outlet that she continued to work on her singing skills after the film finished shooting and rerecorded her vocals a year after production ended.

The actress recalled Antonoff’s reaction when she returned to the studio: “He whipped his head at me goes, ‘You have been working.’”

Anne Hathaway and Husband Adam Are All Smiles on 'Devil Wears Prada 2’ Set

Hathaway recently offered rare insight into her marriage with Shulman, 45, with whom she shares sons Jonathan, 10, and Jack, 6.

“He supports me completely. This year in particular was unusual. He and I both know that it’s probably never going to happen like this again,” she told People in April, referring to her busy year. (Her movies this year include Mother Mary, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Christopher Nolan’s epic The Odyssey and Colleen Hoover adaptation Verity.)

“In every possible way, he’s the most extraordinary person I’ve ever met,” she said, praising “the way he stepped up” amid her busy schedule this year.

“I’m so lucky that he’s my partner that I spend my life with,” she added. “If I didn’t know that before this past year, I think I really know it now because with absolutely everything he’s just, he’s on it. He holds it down.”

“I hope that doesn’t sound like I’m bragging, but he’s a dream partner to me,” Hathaway gushed over her husband, whom she wed in 2012. “It’s one thing to have dreams. It’s another thing to have somebody who helps you achieve them. I absolutely would not be able to have achieved what I’ve done without my husband.”

“I also have to sit back and, like, let it unfold,” Henry, 35, said on the Tuesday, May 19, episode of Today With Jenna and Sheinelle. “I mean, it is our baby, the readers’ and my baby, but it’s almost the filmmakers’ baby and the studio’s baby. I’m along for the ride with the readers, and we just have to trust, you know, the vision.”

A film version of Henry’s 2020 novel, Beach Read, is currently in development from director Yulin Kuang. Actors Phoebe Dynebor and Patrick Schwarzenegger have been cast as lead couple January Andrews and Gus Everett, respectively. Schwarzenegger’s portrayal, particularly, has already garnered mixed reviews from fans who don’t believe he will fit the bill as moody author Gus.

Who Is Starring in Emily Henry’s Book-to-Screen Adaptations? Casts Revealed

“It is so surreal, and I also just keep getting emails about everyone else that they’re locking in, which is not public news yet,” Henry teased of the rest of the cast. “I can’t share, but I’m getting really excited. They’re starting filming really soon.”

According to Henry, director Kuang, 36, is “brilliant” and undoubtedly will do “an amazing job” in bringing Beach Read to life.

Kuang has also defended enlisting Schwarzenegger, 32, to play Gus.

“‘Patrick is a slow burn,’ is what I wrote in my notes after meeting him for the first time. There was something about the way he talked about his feelings on love and romance that I couldn’t forget,” Kuang wrote via Instagram last month. “I was unconvinced we’d found our Gus, because I knew we had to be exhaustive in our efforts, given how important this character is to readers. We saw a lot of men for this role.”

Author Emily Henry Gave Us Her ‘Funny Story’ Dream Cast Before Movie News

She continued, “We reviewed a lot of tapes, sent a lot of avails checks and took a lot of meetings over a six-month period. I have always maintained that we are not casting a character, but a relationship. Once we knew Phoebe would be our January, my efforts became more focused and specific — not on who would play the best Gus according to the text, but who would play the best Gus opposite our specific January.”

After a chemistry test with Dynevor, 31, Kuang realized that the White Lotus alum was the right choice.

“The moment Patrick sat across from her, there was something electric in the room with us,” she wrote at the time. “‘There’s magic to chase here,’ I wrote in my notes afterwards. I checked in with Phoebe after the reads and she said, ‘It’s obviously Patrick, isn’t it?’ and I thought to myself, ‘So she feels it too.’”

Henry’s novel People We Meet on Vacation has already been adapted for Netflix. Her books Funny Story, Happy Place and Book Lovers were also optioned for the big screen.

“I think we’re in a really, really bad place. I really do,” Stan, 43, told reporters during a press conference for his new movie Fjord on Monday, May 18. “To be honest with you, when you’re looking at what’s happening, right — if we’re talking about the consolidation of the media, censorship, threats, the supposed lawsuits that seemingly never end but don’t actually go anywhere — the writing was on the wall. We encountered all that with the movie.”

Although it’s been two years since he played Trump, 79, in the biopic The Apprentice, Stan still remembers the lengths the president of the United States went to try and stop the film from coming out.

“Three days before the festival, [we were] unsure if the movie was going to play the festival,” he said via Variety. “So maybe people are paying attention more to that film, I think it will stand the test of time for that. But we went through all of it, right before Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert and so on. So, I wish it wasn’t like that.”

‘The Apprentice’ Director Responds to Donald Trump Threatening to Sue

While Trump has previously called for Kimmel’s firing for his controversial jokes, he also celebrated the cancellation of The Late Show, saying Colbert’s “talent was even less than his ratings.”

Stan himself knows what it’s like to have Trump call out his work and projects.

In October 2024, the president took to his Truth Social account and slammed The Apprentice, a movie that centers on his rise as a real estate businessman in New York City under the mentorship of Roy Cohn.

“A FAKE and CLASSLESS Movie written about me, called, ‘The Apprentice’ (Do they even have the right to use that name without approval?), will hopefully ‘bomb,’” Trump wrote at the time. “It’s a cheap, defamatory and politically disgusting hatchet job, put out right before the 2024 Presidential Election, to try and hurt the Greatest Political Movement in the History of our Country, ‘MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’”

Sebastian Stan's Donald Trump Movie 'The Apprentice': Everything We Know

Stan was able to put any drama with the president in the past as he celebrated the premiere of his latest movie, Fjord.

The drama, which received a 10-minute standing ovation, tells the story of an immigrant Romanian family living in Norway, who is subject to an investigation and faces the scrutiny of the local judicial system.

“There’s always this fine line as an actor of, what is my responsibility and is there a duty to uphold this mirror to the world as we see it?” Stan shared with Deadline when discussing the film. “All we can do is through storytelling, do our part to represent in any way we can, as truthfully as we can, the complexities that we are all dealing with.”

In Us Weekly‘s exclusive clip from the Tuesday, May 19, episode of Fox’s Bear Grylls Is Running Wild, Monaghan, 50, gushed about her marriage to husband Peter White, saying, “I met Pete right as I started acting.”

Monaghan and White dated for five years before tying the knot.

“We had gotten married in Australia, and I was getting ready to shoot Mission: Impossible III,” she shared. “We didn’t have time to take a honeymoon because I had to fly back. We get back to the hotel room, and I get the call sheet, and it is an intimate scene I am doing with Tom Cruise.”

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Monaghan continued: “[Peter] is like, ‘Baby, this is going to be amazing. Just follow his lead. He is a total pro.'”

Bear Grylls Is Running Wild follows legendary adventurer Bear Grylls as he takes celebrities into the wild for a 48-hour journey of a lifetime.

“With thrilling action and revealing conversations, Bear takes his guests on unforgettable adventures in breath-taking wilderness and reveals a side of some of your favorite people like you’ve never seen before,” the official season 9 synopsis reads. “On the season premiere, Bear Grylls takes Matthew McConaughey on an adventure 20 years in the making as the two traverse the secluded glacial alpine wilderness of Norway.”

In addition to Monaghan and McConaughey, the new season features Uma Thurman, Colman Domingo, Elizabeth Banks, Rhys Darby, Tiffany Haddish and Machine Gun Kelly.

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Monaghan, who shares two kids with White, previously recalled getting her big break alongside Cruise.

“I was so nervous about it,” Monaghan shared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in June 2025. “I get up at 4 a.m., I dart out of the hotel, I forget my key, of course. And I go to work, and I proceed to have the best day with Tom and J.J. Abrams, our director.”

After the first day, Monaghan was thrilled to update White.

“My husband said, ‘Baby, how did it go?’ And I said, ‘It was amazing. It was so good.’ He was like, ‘Brush your teeth and tell me all about it,’” she continued. “And so I said, ‘Oh, honey, he was so sweet. It was a lovely day. It was so perfect.’”

Monaghan added: “He looked at me, and he grabbed my arms, and he goes, ‘How cool is it that you were making out with Tom Cruise on our honeymoon?’ I was like, you know what? I married the right dude.”

Bear Grylls Is Running Wild airs on Fox Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.

Top Gun hit theaters exactly four decades ago, and in honor of the high-flying classic’s milestone, we’re breaking down 25 behind-the-scenes facts about the film that made Tom Cruise a superstar.

For instance, Val Kilmer — who played Iceman in the film — claimed that he was the only actor who didn’t have a certain physical reaction while up in the air.

Keep scrolling for 25 Things You Don’t Know About Top Gun, as seen in the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now:

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1. Top Gun soared into theaters on May 16, 1986 — and quickly became the highest-grossing domestic film of the year.

2. Inspired by a 1983 California magazine article titled “Top Guns,” the film follows a group of young naval aviators who are given the chance to train at the Navy’s Fighter Weapons School.

3. Cruise was just 23 when he took on the role of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.

4. Matthew Modine turned down the role of Maverick because it went against his politics, instead going on to star in Stanley Kubrick’s anti-war Full Metal Jacket.

5. Director Tony Scott helmed the film just three years after his feature debut, The Hunger.

6. Producers paid the military a reported $1.8 million for the use of Miramar Naval Air Station near San Diego, giving them unprecedented access to real fighter jets and aircraft carriers.

7. The Pentagon’s cooperation paid off: Navy recruitment reportedly surged after the movie’s release.

The ‘Top Gun’ Franchise Cast’s Honest Quotes About Working With Val Kilmer

8. Future NASA astronaut Scott Altman was one of the pilots enlisted for stunt sequences, and he can be seen giving the finger in the film’s iconic opening sequence.

9. According to Altman, the pilots earned $23 a day for their work on set.

10. Kilmer, who played fan-favorite Iceman, claims he was the only actor who didn’t throw up when going for plane rides on set.

11. Kilmer didn’t want the part originally, admitting in his 2020 memoir that his agent “basically tortured” him to meet with Scott about the role.

12. “None of us knew at the time what a crazy commercial success the film would be,” Kilmer reflected in his 2021 documentary. “All of a sudden I was being catapulted into the celebrity stratosphere, and for the rest of my life I would be called Iceman by every pilot at every airport I went to.”

13. The now-famous beach volleyball scene was only a paragraph in the script, but took a full day to shoot, causing the studio to threaten to fire Scott, according to the late filmmaker’s colleagues.

14. Kelly McGillis’s Charlie was based on real-life civilian instructor Christine Fox, who rose through the ranks at the Pentagon and retired as the Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense in 2014, the highest post ever held by a woman in the Department of Defense.

15. Cruise reportedly had to wear lifts in his scenes with McGillis, since he is 5-foot-7 to her 5-foot-10.

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16. “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins became instantly synonymous with Maverick’s “need for speed.”

17. The soundtrack’s romantic anthem, “Take My Breath Away,” took home the Oscar for Best Original Song.

18. Cruise’s fearless performance helped cement his reputation for doing his own stunts.

19. In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected Top Gun for preservation in the National Film Registry.

20. More than three decades later, Cruise returned for Top Gun: Maverick — and insisted on real aerial footage again.

21. The sequel became a box office phenomenon, earning over $1.5 billion worldwide and introducing a new generation of pilots.

22. The actors had to sustain up to eight Gs — up to around 1,600 pounds of pressure on the body — while shooting the flying sequences.

23. Cruise developed a rigorous five-month flight training program — dubbed “the Tom Cruise School for Being a Badass” by costar Danny Ramirez — for the cast of Maverick, which also included Glen Powell and Miles Teller.

24. Teller plays “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late best friend, “Goose.”

25. Paramount announced in April that a Top Gun 3 is in the works, with Cruise and producer Jerry Bruckheimer returning for the third installment in the franchise.

“I needed to get my feet on the ground,” McConaughey, 56, recalled during the May 5 episode of the “No Magic Pill with Blake Mycoskie” podcast. “ But at the same time, I needed to enjoy [that] all of a sudden the world was ‘yes’ to me.”

The actor, who initially rose to fame with 1993’s Dazed and Confused, noted that everyone knew his name following the success of 1996’s A Time to Kill, which led him to check out of Hollywood and travel to Peru under the name Mateo.

“So I click out. Boom. Go to Peru. I needed to find it — to check the validation. I knew I had it, I just had to go prove it again,” McConaughey explained of his reason to go somewhere and be someone different.

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He recalled, “But I did question, ‘Oh, like, OK, now that I just got famous, I’ve got all this affiliation for this and that and the other,’ and I’m trying to decipher which part’s real, which part’s bulls***.”

McConaughey said his trip lasted 22 days — which is the length of time he usually goes off-grid — noting that the first 12 days were “wonky.”

The last 10 days, however, were “great” and led the Oscar winner to know it was time to go back.

“I was now at the place long enough to go, ‘I could live this. This could be my existence,’” McConaughey shared. “As soon as you go, ‘I could do this,’ then you’re like, ‘Well, I can return home.’”

Looking back, McConaughey explained that he chose to use a fake name while in Peru because, “When you get famous, what happens is there’s a few salutations that are skipped” and people stop asking your name or what you do.

“I needed to meet people who knew me as Mateo. That was it,” he said. “And at the end of 22 days, the tears in their eyes and the tears in my eyes and the hugs we had on the sadness and happiness of saying goodbye were all based off of the man they met named Mateo, who had nothing to do with the celebrity and the experience and times we had together for 22 days.”

According to McConaughey, that experience “reaffirmed my own identity that, ‘Oh, I got it. This is based on me.’”

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While McConaughey did return to Hollywood and have even more success with rom-coms like The Wedding Planner and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days as well as dramas such as Dallas Buyers Club, his soul-searching trips still happen from time to time. (He currently lives in his home state of Texas.)

In fact, McConaughey revealed earlier in the podcast that he went on another solo trip to unplug while writing his 2025 book, Poems & Prayers, which includes reflections on his life’s ups and downs.

“I packed all my diaries away along with my steaks, water and tequila, and went to a place that had no electricity in the middle of the desert,” McConaughey recalled, “where I was locked in with nothing but me and who I’ve been in my past diaries.”

Matthew McConaughey Moved to Texas to Stop Being the ‘Rom-Com Dude’

The Interstellar star noted, “I learned from previous trips that there’s an initiation period when we go away with ourselves where the demons on our back are dancing and having a good time at our expense. Where the guilt can get really heavy. The shame can get heavy.”

He teased, “And I know for me, I do not enjoy my own company for a little while when I go off on these trips.”

Like his ‘90s pilgrimage, McConaughey said that around day 12 he “all of sudden” has a “purge or a wake-up and I go, ‘OK, dude. What are we going to forgive? And what are we going to change?’”

McConaughey concluded, “Instead of maybe crying about it or going pounding and making our knuckles bleed over it, there comes the breakthrough.”

Diesel, 58, and Meadow, 27, walked the red carpet on Wednesday, May 13, before a special screening of 2001’s The Fast and the Furious, which kickstarted the multi-billion dollar movie franchise. They were joined by two more of Paul’s late Fast Saga costars, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster, as well as producer Neal H. Moritz.

Before the screening, Diesel spoke about how special it was to revisit the very first Fast and Furious movie with Paul’s daughter in attendance, per People.

“The person who was not going to let me come alone here to represent that brotherhood was Meadow Walker,” he said. “I’m gonna go and shed a tear real quick.”

After some applause from attendees, Diesel honored the enduring legacy of the franchise as he works on the final chapter, 2028’s Fast Forever.

“The only reason why we’re making the finale for Fast for 2028… It’s because of each and every one of you that has given us your hearts and your loyalty,” Diesel said. “Each and every one of you has felt like you are a part of our family. You make us have to continue. You make us want to make you all proud.”

Meadow briefly spoke after the screening, stressing that the cast was a “source of strength” following her late father Paul’s death at age 40 in a 2013 car accident. Diesel wiped a tear from Meadow’s face while assuring her that Paul would be “so proud.”

Diesel and Meadow have often celebrated their bond over the years, including exchanging birthday greetings via social media and reuniting for Fast Saga events. Meadow even had a cameo in 2023’s Fast X as a flight attendant.

Inside the 'Fast and Furious' Cast's Relationship With Meadow Walker

In October 2021, Vin stood in for Paul to walk Meadow down the aisle when she wed her husband, Louis Thornton-Allan, in the Dominican Republic. (The couple announced in December 2023 that they’d “amicably” separated.)

Us Weekly exclusively reported in June 2021 that Meadow had forged a tight bond with Vin and his family over the years. (Diesel and his partner Paloma Jiménez share three children: daughters Hania Riley Sinclair, 18, and Pauline Sinclair, 11, and son Vincent Sinclair, 16. Diesel and Jiménez chose the name Pauline for their youngest daughter in tribute to his late costar Paul.)

“[Meadow] counts Vin and his kids as family and will talk to them on days she’s struggling, and she has their backs too,” a source told Us at the time.

Cameo Alert! Paul Walker’s Daughter Meadow Teases 'Fast X' Appearance

Meanwhile, Vin has hinted that Paul’s character Brian O’Conner will somehow return in 2028’s Fast Forever. (The character has appeared in some of the recent Fast Saga movies through the use of archival footage as well as Paul’s brothers, Caleb and Cody Walker, standing in as body doubles.)

“The studio said to me, ‘Vin, can we please have the finale of Fast and Furious?’” Diesel told fans at Fuel Fest in June 2025. “I said, ‘Under three conditions.’ First, [it is] to bring the franchise back to L.A. [and] the second thing was to return to the car culture, to the street racing. The third thing was reuniting Dom and Brian O’Conner.”

Fast Forever will debut March 17, 2028.

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:

Held inside the Gran Tlachco Theater at Xcaret Park, the ceremony took place in a striking open-air venue surrounded by jungle and designed for large-scale live productions. With its covered roof and immersive setting, the space added a cinematic feel to a night that blended awards, music and performance into a full entertainment experience rather than a traditional ceremony.

‘The Secret Agent’ Dominates the Night

Brazil’s The Secret Agent, directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, emerged as the biggest winner in the film categories, taking seven awards in total. The film won Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay, while also earning recognition in categories such as Music, Editing and Production Design. Brazilian actor Wagner Moura received Best Actor for his performance, further cementing the political thriller as one of the standout titles of the night.

Mendonça Filho was one of the most celebrated figures of the ceremony, collecting multiple awards throughout the evening and paying tribute to his cast and crew during emotional speeches that highlighted the collaborative spirit behind the film.

Set in 1970s Brazil, The Secret Agent follows a man caught in a tense atmosphere of political surveillance and personal escape during the country’s military dictatorship, as he tries to reconnect with his young son while navigating a world of suspicion and danger.

‘The Eternaut’ Steals the Spotlight in Television

On the television side, Argentina ‘s The Eternaut led the series categories and became the most awarded title across the entire ceremony, taking eight awards in total. Ricardo Darín, who was not present at the gala, received Best Actor for his performance, while César Troncoso and Andrea Pietra were recognized in the supporting acting categories for their roles in the series. It also won Best Miniseries or TV Series, Best Creator for Bruno Stagnaro, as well as awards in categories such as Music, Editing, and Visual Effects.

The series, based on a classic Argentine science fiction comic created by Héctor Oesterheld between 1957 and 1959, was celebrated as one of the most ambitious television productions in the region, bringing a landmark piece of Latin American science fiction to a global audience. The story follows a group of survivors of a deadly alien invasion in Buenos Aires, forced to navigate an invisible threat that transforms everyday life into a struggle for survival. Pietra exclusively told Us that the role forced her to “dive deep within herself to confront fear in unknown places.”

Emotional Wins for the Leading Actresses

Spanish actress Blanca Soroa, just 17 years old, earned Best Actress for Los Domingos, in one of the most emotional moments of the night as she reflected on the experience of filming her first major role and the people who supported her throughout the process.

Mexican actress Paulina Gaitán was named Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Series for Las Muertas. Overwhelmed on stage, she celebrated the win with visible emotion. Earlier, on the red carpet, she exclusively told Us: “Serafina Baladro marked my career and I am a different actress after that character. I don’t like comfort, I like challenge, exploring very different characters.”

A Tribute to a Longstanding Career

A major emotional moment of the night came when Argentine actor Guillermo Francella received the Platino de Honor in recognition of his career in film and television. On stage, he reflected on the meaning of his profession, saying that what has sustained him throughout the years is “la pasión,” and adding that “nobody makes it alone,” while thanking the people who have accompanied him throughout his journey in the industry and in his personal life.

A Ceremony Blending Awards, Music and Celebrity Energy

The ceremony was hosted by Colombian actor Carlos Torres and Spanish actress Cayetana Guillén Cuervo, who guided the audience through a fast-paced evening of awards, speeches and live performances.

The show also leaned heavily into music, turning the night into a hybrid between awards ceremony and concert. Performances by Argentine María Becerra, Colombian Camilo and Spanish Manuel Carrasco brought different styles and energy to the stage, adding a festival-like atmosphere to the event.

The night wrapped with live performances as the final guests began to leave the Gran Tlachco Theater, with the Riviera Maya venue slowly emptying after an evening of awards, speeches and music. During the closing moments of the ceremony, the hosts announced that the Platino Awards will return to Madrid next year, continuing their journey between Spain and Mexico in celebration of the best in Ibero-American film and television.

According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly on Tuesday, May 12, Judge Lewis J. Liman denied Lively’s request to file additional briefs and offer additional information in the case.

Instead, the judge explained that he didn’t need to read any more from the parties before making a decision on whether Lively, 38, is entitled to any fees or damages. (TMZ was first to report the news.)

Us has reached out to Lively and Baldoni’s teams for comment.

A Complete Timeline of Blake Lively vs. Justin Baldoni's Lawsuit and Trial

News broke on May 4 that both parties had reached a settlement and would be avoiding a New York City trial later in the month.

“The end product — the movie It Ends With Us — is a source of pride to all of us who worked to bring it to life. Raising awareness, and making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors — and all survivors — is a goal that we stand behind,” attorneys for both Lively and Baldoni, 42, said in a statement to Us. “We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognize concerns raised by Ms. Lively deserved to be heard.”

The statement continued, “We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments. It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online.”

Days later, however, Lively filed a notice of settlement, in which she requested damages to cover her attorneys’ fees and costs, as well as compensatory and punitive damages.

“This settlement is a resounding victory for Blake Lively,” her attorneys told Us on May 7. “By agreeing to this settlement, and waiving their right to appeal, Justin Baldoni and every individual defendant now face personal liability for abusing the legal system to silence and intimidate Ms. Lively. And by admitting that Ms. Lively’s concerns ‘deserved to be heard,’ the defendants have ended once and for all the fiction that Ms. Lively ‘fabricated’ claims of sexual harassment and retaliation.”

Baldoni’s team, however, saw the settlement as a “total victory” and a chance for all parties to move on.

“The court had already dismissed 10 of Ms. Lively’s 13 claims, including every sexual harassment claim, every defamation claim and all claims against the individual defendants,” Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman said in a statement to Us on May 7. “Ms. Lively voluntarily dismissed the rest. In our view, they settled because they knew they were going to lose in court. All that remains is a pending request for fees based on a very narrow issue that has been with the court since September 2025.”

Lively and Baldoni’s legal drama began in December 2024, when the actress accused her It Ends With Us costar and director of sexual harassment, creating a hostile work environment and purposefully creating a smear campaign targeting the actress.

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's Lawsuit Settlement Explained

Lively sued Baldoni, his publicity team and a series of other defendants, alleging that she was retaliated against for coming forward with her sexual harassment allegations.

Baldoni strongly denied the allegations and countersued Lively. In June 2025, however, a judge dismissed his lawsuit against the actress.

In April, Lively faced her own legal setback when a judge ruled that most of her legal claims against Baldoni would be dismissed.

The film, directed by Short’s longtime friend Lawrence Kasdan, details the life and career of the beloved comedian through archived footage, never-before-seen home videos and exclusive interviews with Short’s dearest friends including Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and the late Catherine O’Hara.

While the documentary highlights many of Short’s biggest wins — from his jumpstart at SCTV, to Father of the Bride’s success, to falling in love with wife Nancy Dolman to welcoming their three children, Oliver, Henry and Katherine — it also tackles his most tragic of lows. The Only Murders in the Building star lost his older brother, David, and both parents, Olive and Charles, in an eight-year span before turning 21.

Then, in 2010, his wife, Nancy, died following a three-year battle with ovarian cancer.

What to Know About Martin Short's Late Wife Nancy Dolman Amid Daughter's Death

“What it developed in me was this muscle of survival and handling grief, and a perspective on it,” Short told CBS Mornings earlier this month, pointing out that enduring much loss has actually helped him as a performer. “I think if you’ve gone through that, an audience not liking you is really not that important anymore.”

In February, Short faced his most recent tragedy when his daughter, Katherine, died by suicide at the age of 42. Kasdan suggested they postpone the release of the documentary, but Martin wanted to move forward.

“My instinct was the opposite,” Short explained. “Because it’s about love, loss and survival … I think we proceed. We must figure a way to survive through grief without denying it or without in any way undermining its importance.”

Keep scrolling for the documentary’s biggest revelations:

Martin Short on Falling in Love With Girlfriend Gilda Radnor’s Understudy

Short opened up about dating Radner during their time in Godspell, where he said “everyone” fell in love with her “self-deprecating” sense of humor.

The cast was also interested in Radeor’s understudy: Martin’s future wife, Dolman.

“Nancy was drop-dead beautiful. It was insane,” Short recalled. “And she worked in an antique clothing store where she had smuggled clothes in from Detroit through the [Canadian] border. She had a Joni Mitchell look, long blonde hair. … but it didn’t bother me because I was with Gilda.”

After an on-and-off romance with Radner, Short’s focus shifted. “We’d broken up a few time and we’d now had a fight and we’d broken up again and I got to The Pilot bar and there’s Nancy,” he said. “She was funny … she had just broken up with her boyfriend.”

Short said that Dolman showed up to support him in a play he was doing, which led to them spending more time together off stage. “Nancy came and she was wearing short shorts and a halter top and I was wearing short shorts and a t-shirt. And we went to the Four Seasons hotel and I said to the guy, ‘My wife and I would like a room, please, and even he started laughing because we looked about 12,” Short said, adding, “And that was it.”

Catherine O’Hara Looked to Martin Short’s Marriage During Own Romance Woes

O’Hara confessed that during a troubling time in her own marriage to Bo Welch, the pair looked to Short and Dolman for inspiration.

“My husband and I went through a little rough patch in our marriage and we went to therapy, and one of the questions [the therapist] asked is, ‘Do you have friends, a couple, whose relationship you’d love to emulate? And she said, ‘We have these friends Marty and Nancy.’”

(O’Hara died in January at the age of 71. The documentary is dedicated to her and Short’s daughter, Katherine.)

Nancy Short’s Fertility Struggles

Short said he and Dolman were taken by surprise when they had trouble conceiving a child.

“Suddenly, we couldn’t get pregnant. We hadn’t even considered that,” he explained in the doc, noting they eventually discovered that Nancy suffered from endometriosis, which can cause fertility issues.

During a fight over a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the couple decided they wanted to adopt their children. They went on to welcome sons Henry and Oliver and daughter Katherine, who died in February at the age of 42.

Martin Short Reflects on the Death of His Brother David Short

Short looked back at his relationship with older brother David, who died at age 20 when the Father of the Bride star was just 12 years old. Calling him “funny and so sweet,” he detailed how he discovered that his brother had died while away at camp.

“They said, ‘Your brothers been in an accident and it killed him,” he recalled. “And I said, ‘Is he OK?’ … ‘No, it killed him.’”

Short said “nothing made sense” to him after David’s death until his late brother appeared to him in a dream.

“It was in technicolor. I was sitting by a stream in the woods and David came up, and he looked beautiful, and he said, ‘i’m fine everything is wonderful and I’ll see you in a minute,” he recalled. “And I woke up and a cloud had lifted.”

Martin Short Details the Death of Mother Olive and Father Charles Short

Short said that his mother, Olive, developed a “cough” while at the funeral for his brother David after battling breast cancer years earlier — an illness he was not aware she had.

“And by the end of that year, she really started going downhill,” Short shared, recalling how his sister, Nora, “was present when the doctor said you have three months to live.”

Olive, however, had other plans. “She said, ‘This can’t happen. I have another child to raise.’ And then she came home and went into this remarkable, can’t explain it, remission. And she was in perfect health for another two years. But by the time I was in grade 13, she died.”  Short said that after his mother’s death, his father Charles’ health faded “fast.”

“It was just strokes that diminished him. Most powerful guy in the room to being quieter, quieter,”  he explained, adding that even a trip around the world couldn’t bring his dad back to his old self. “Even when we were in Ireland, he didn’t want to see exhibits because he was not in great shape,” Short remembered, noting that his dad previously smoked “two packs” of cigarettes a day.

Olive died in 1968, while Charles died two years later in 1970.

Nancy Short’s Cancer Journey

Short shared that Dolman initially believed she had a hernia in 2007 before a doctor’s scan revealed it was an ovarian cyst. Days later, it was confirmed that the cyst was cancerous.

“At one point, I did have to go and shoot [my movie] Damages,” Short recalled of that time. “No one knew what was going on and I’d be like, ‘Just give me a second in the dressing room …’”

Short noted that his wife was a “positive” person in general, so her approach was, “I can fight it.”

Martin Short Through the Years: ‘SNL,’ ‘Only Murders’ and More

“She was on a new cocktail of chemo, went to the internet and said, ‘I’m not going to do that anymore,’” he recalled, adding that from that point on she just focused on living her life as fully as possible.

“She wanted to keep going until she couldn’t, and he was the perfect partner because he let her,” friend Eugene Levy explained. “He first threw himself into his children’s lives and then he threw himself into his work.”

Dolman died in 2010, three years into her fight. She was 58 years old.

“Like any family, it’s a simple fact that loss is something to negotiate,” Short explained of pushing forward after his wife’s passing. “It’s going to happen to all of us.”

Marty, Life Is Short is streaming on Netflix now.

According to documents obtained by Us Weekly on Monday, May 11, Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana, two police officers from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, are suing the actors’ production company over their depictions in the Netflix movie, created by Artists Equity and released on January 16.

Smith and Santana are not mentioned by name in the film, but the lawsuit alleges that performances by Affleck, 53, and Damon, 55, were “so heavily associated with the two officers” that the film caused “substantial harm to their personal and professional reputations.”

Us Weekly has reached out to Artists Equity and representatives for Affleck and Damon for comment.

Netflix's No. 1 Movie Has an 82 Percent on Rotten Tomatoes — Should You Watch It?

The lawsuit — which seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorney fees — is also the result of the film and its advertisements implying “misconduct, poor judgment and unethical behavior in connection with a real law enforcement operation.”

The lawsuit accuses “Damon’s LLC production company Falco Productions of defamation per se and defamation by implication.” The officers also claimed “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

Damon and Affleck starred as Lieutenant Dane Dumars and Detective Sergeant JD Byrne, respectively, in The Rip. The film followed their journey after discovering $20 million of cartel cash and subsequently unearthing corruption within the Miami-Dade Police Department. As widely reported around the project’s release, the plot is based on the true story of Miami police officer Chris Casiano, who served as the head of the department’s Tactical Narcotics Team in 2016 when a cash stash was uncovered.

Ben Affleck Shares Why He Feels 'Lucky' to Have BFF Matt Damon in His Life

Smith and Santana’s lawsuit details that the pair themselves “seized more than $21 million in June 2016” as part of the event. The pair reportedly allege that “the film’s use of unique, non-generic details of the June 29, 2016, investigation, combined with its Miami-Dade setting and portrayal of a narcotics team, creates a reasonable inference that the officers depicted are Plaintiffs.”

The lawsuit also alleges that Smith and Santana’s lawyers sent the companies responsible for the film a letter “enumerating” the allegedly defamatory details in the movie and demanded that they cease and desist from releasing it in December 2025.

Per the lawsuit, a representative for the companies responded “after the film was released” and alleged that the concerns were “unfounded because the film did not expressly name Sergeant Smith and there was no implication that the Plaintiffs engaged in any misconduct in the film.”

To celebrate the milestone anniversary, we broke down some must-know facts about the groundbreaking disaster film in the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now.

For instance, did you know that actors Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt were temporarily blinded by electric lamps used on set to keep the sky looking dark and stormy?

Or that Twister was actually one of the first films released on DVD in the United States?

Keep scrolling for 25 Things You Don’t Know About Twister:

‘Twisters’ Trailer: Glen Powell Chases Storm, Battles Tornado

1. Twister was released on May 10, 1996, kicking off the summer blockbuster season in a big way.

2. The film starred Hunt and Paxton as storm-chasing exes, with an early performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman as fan-favorite Dusty.

3. It was directed by Jan de Bont, who previously helmed Speed.

4. The screenplay was written by Michael Crichton and his then-wife Anne-Marie Martin.

5. According to de Bont, Crichton and Martin based the central relationship dynamic on the 1940 screwball comedy His Girl Friday.

6. Much of the film was shot on location in Oklahoma, giving it an authentic Tornado Alley backdrop.

7. To keep the sky looking dark and stormy, electric lamps were used that temporarily blinded Paxton and Hunt. “The guy burned my retinas,” Hunt joked of working with de Bont.

8. The team behind Twister — including producer Steven Spielberg — consulted with real-life scientists to make the script as accurate as possible.

9. The production was notoriously grueling, with long shoots in harsh weather conditions.

10. The actors were frequently blasted with wind, dirt and debris from massive industrial fans.

11. The film was one of the first to use large-scale CGI to realistically depict tornadoes.

12. It was also among the first films released on DVD in the United States.

13. The iconic flying cow scene became one of the most memorable — and parodied — moments in disaster movie history.

14. “At the time, I thought it was just fun as a quick thing. But then, it became an iconic moment in the movie that people remember forever,” de Bont said of the flying cow’s legacy.

15. The fictional “Dorothy” device in the film was inspired by real tornado research equipment called Totable Tornado Observatory (TOTO).

16. The soundtrack features artists like Van Halen, Stevie Nicks and Shania Twain.

17. Twister was a massive box office success, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 1996 worldwide, behind Independence Day.

2024 Films Are Giving Us Deja Vu: Do Recycled Movies Actually Work? 

18. It earned nearly $500 million globally, a huge number for the time.

19. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, including Best Visual Effects.

20. Universal Studios later created a Twister-themed attraction, “Twister… Ride It Out,” which ran in Orlando from 1998 to 2015.

21. Rumor has it a recording of a camel’s moan was slowed down and used as the sound of the tornado.

22. Standalone sequel film Twisters hit theaters on July 19, 2024, nearly three decades after the original.

23. It stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos as a new generation of storm chasers.

24. Director Lee Isaac Chung intentionally shot on Kodak 35mm film on location in Oklahoma — just like the original — to capture the same Tornado Alley feel.

25. Twisters continues the original film’s legacy of The Wizard of Oz references, including code names “Scarecrow,” “Tin Man” and “Lion” in Javi’s Storm Par group.

“There’s no reason in the world why Ace [isn’t here], he’s younger than I am,” Simmons, 76, exclusively told Us Weekly as he promoted his new film Deep Water. “It’s interesting. I use the present term sense, because Ace is always here.”

Us confirmed in November 2025 that an autopsy determined that Frehley suffered from a stroke and had a subdural hematoma caused by a fracture to the back of his skull. His death was ruled to be accidental.

In the years before his death, Frehley was open about his decades’ long struggles with alcoholism and drugs dating back to when he was just 13 years old. (The guitarist told Blabbermouth in 2024 that he had been sober for 18 years.)

Inside Kiss Guitarist Ace Frehley's 'Last Moments' Prior to His Death at 74

“I kept telling [Ace] to his face, ‘You got to stop this stuff. You’re going to die sooner than you should,’” Simmons told Us. “It’s horrible, because when that happens, they think ‘Well, it’s my business.’ No, it’s not. You’ve got children, you’ve got a family, you’ve got fans, friends, you hurt everybody else. Death doesn’t just affect you. ‘It’s my life. I can do whatever I want.’ No, that’s not the way it works. So it’s very sad.”

Simmons admitted that he tries to choose his words carefully when discussing Frehley out of sensitivity for KISS fans.

“Almost anything I say will trigger the fans. They get very upset,” he acknowledged. “You know, mother and father are there when life is given and there’s a beautiful child and all and all of a sudden, because of a lifestyle, the father starts to shirk his duties and isn’t such a good provider, and starts making bad decisions in life, chemicals, alcohol, you know, all that stuff which makes him less of a father, which hurts the family and the children or his friends. And eventually he flakes out.”

Simmons continued, “Then, the mother, who’s always there with the family, has the responsibility or not [to consider], ‘Do I tell our children the truth that her father was a loser?’”

“He gave in to the weaknesses that society allows you to have drugs and alcohol and all that, and the children get hurt, and they wind up not loving their mother as much as they should because she told the truth,” Simmons argued. “You’d want this fairy tale idea, and fans are like that. I mean, I wouldn’t be here without the fans, but I’ve got to watch what I say, because they get triggered so fast. The truth is, without the alcohol and the drugs, Ace was just a pure soul who never said anything bad about anybody. But as soon as you succumb to drugs and alcohol, it’s Jekyll and Hyde, you become a different person.”

Frehley was an original member of KISS but famously quit the group multiple times over the years, last performing with them in 2002. The current lineup of KISS features Simmons on bass and vocals, fellow original member Paul Stanley on vocals and rhythm guitar, Tommy Thayer on lead guitar and Eric Singer on drums.

KISS officially retired from touring in 2023 with the conclusion of their End of the Road World Tour, which saw the hard rock pioneers perform in more than 30 countries over four years.

The band’s future includes a long-awaited biopic for Netflix, which is tentatively titled Shout It Out Loud and will be directed by Charlie’s Angels and The Babysitter’s McG, per NME.

Gene Simmons Blames Kiss Bandmate Ace Frehley's Death on 'Bad Decisions'

Asked who he wanted to play KISS in the movie, Simmons teased, “Somebody unknown, because I’d like the story to be the star, not the stars who make the story. There are actors who meld and become [their characters].”

Simmons has ventured into film producing with the new survival horror movie Deep Water, directed by Cliffhanger’s Renny Harlin and starring Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley and The Dark Knight actor Aaron Eckhart. Deep Water revolves around the survivors of a crashed Los Angeles-to-Shanghai flight who must fight for their lives in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

“Deep Water has the distinction and the honor of having Renny Harlin, a wonderful director who’s directed Die Hard 2, and, you know, he had another amazing shark film [1999’s Deep Blue Sea],” Simmons said. “And our cast, by the way, we have Sir Ben Kingsley, Aaron Eckhart, this is a stellar international cast. We also have some terrific Chinese actors and so on.”

The rocker praised Harlin for his hands-on approach throughout the filming of Deep Water.

“He hired everybody. His wife, Johanna [Kokkila], is also a production assistant, who we have, it’s so many extras, and of course, you have to interview the extras to make sure nobody is just looking at the camera the whole time. That doesn’t work,” Simmons noted. “So you had to have a really good, complete cast, because you’ve got hundreds of people on this giant plane, and then [Renny] was there from the very first until all the way to the last bit of film was edited, special effects and all this kind of stuff. “

Deep Water is in theaters now and will be available for streaming on digital retailers June 16.

Tubi announced on Thursday, May 7, that Beck, 25, will return for Sidelined 3 following the success of the first two films, The QB and Me, which was released in 2024, and Intercepted, which came out in 2025.

“Fox Corporation’s ad-supported streaming service, today announced it has officially greenlit Sidelined 3, the third and final installment in the hit YA franchise, as it heads into production,” Tubi shared in a press release.

Beck will reprise his role as Drayton Lahey, while Siena Agudong and Charlie Gillespie will return as Dallas Bryan and Skyler, respectively.

TikToker Noah Beck's Sister Allegedly Groomed and Had Sex With Student

“The third film will be set two years later, as USC quarterback Drayton Lahey lands in New York City as a Heisman hopeful… but it may turn out he’s not just there for football,” the statement continued. “Somewhere in the city is his former high school sweetheart, Dallas Bryan, who is building her new career, navigating her love life alongside Skyler (Gillespie, 27), chasing her dreams, and not looking back.”

The press release added that Drayton has “one shot to prove he’s not just chasing a trophy” to Dallas, but the “one who got away.”

The news of Sidelined 3 comes amid accusations that Noah’s sister Haley Beck allegedly groomed a minor while teaching at Centennial High School in 2025. While the alleged investigation began when the student was 18, she allegedly started grooming him while he was still underage.

Peoria Unified spokesperson Danielle Airey told AZ Central last month, “After a review of the investigator’s findings, the decision maker found that Ms. Beck groomed a student, which resulted in her having a sexual relationship with that student, and therefore [we] recommended her termination.”

Us Weekly obtained an official report filed by the Peoria Police Department that included sexual text messages allegedly exchanged between Haley, 27, and the student.

On Tuesday, May 5, a spokesperson for the Peoria Police Department told Us in a statement that they completed a second interview regarding Haley having an alleged second relationship with another student.

“We have completed the interview with the reporting party and are continuing to follow up on all leads,” the department said. “We take all reports of potential criminal activity seriously and are working to determine the facts.”

Noah and Haley’s mom, Amy Beck, was also put on administrative leave from the Coyote Hills Elementary School in Peoria, Arizona in April after a video of her stimulating oral sex with Noah resurfaced, which the school district told Us was “out of an abundance of caution.” She was allowed to return to work on Monday, May 4.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.

During an interview with Variety, which was published on Wednesday, May 7, Barrera, 35, was asked whether she thought her former costars were “crossing the picket line” by returning to the franchise that dropped her.

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

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

'Scream' Cast: Where Are They Now?

Before filming began on Scream 7, news broke in November 2023 that Barrera was fired following her support for Palestine. The production company behind the newest batch of Scream films, Spyglass Media Group, subsequently denied that Barrera’s pro-Palestine comments were what caused her exit.

Barrera later broke her silence about no longer playing Sam Carpenter.

“First and foremost I condemn Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. I condemn hate and prejudice of any kind against any group of people,” she wrote via her Instagram Story in November 2023, noting she felt a “responsibility” to speak out. “As a Latina, a proud Mexicana, I feel the responsibility of having a platform that allows me the privilege of being heard, and therefore I have tried to use it to raise awareness about issues I care about and to lend my voice to those in need. Every person on this earth — regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or socio-economic status — deserves equal human rights, dignity and, of course, freedom.”

Jenna Ortega also didn’t return in the role of Tara Carpenter. Director Christopher Landon, who was set to succeed Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, later pulled out as well.

Kevin Williamson, who was involved with the original Scream, subsequently returned to direct the horror franchise for the first time. Neve Campbell came back after previously sitting out the sixth movie due to failed salary negotiations with the studio. (Williamson wrote the original film as well as sequels Scream 2 and Scream 4.)

“Hi All. I’m so excited to announce this news!!! Sidney Prescott is coming back!!!!” Campbell, 52, wrote via Instagram in March 2024. “It’s always been such a blast and an honor to get to play Sidney in the Scream movies. My appreciation for these films and for what they have meant to me, has never waned. I’m very happy and proud to say I’ve been asked, in the most respectful way, to bring Sidney back to the screen and I couldn’t be more thrilled!!! Well actually I could.”

Scream’s All-Star Cast Through the Years

Campbell offered some information about the creative team behind the seventh movie, adding, “While I’ve been so incredibly lucky to make these films with both the master of horror Wes Craven and the wonderfully talented Matt and Tyler team, I’ve dreamt for many years of how amazing it would be to make one of these movies with Kevin Williamson at the helm. And now it’s happening, Kevin Williamson is going to direct Scream 7! This was his baby and it’s his brilliant mind that dreamt up this world.”

She concluded: “Kevin is not just an inspiration as an artist but has been a dear friend for many years. To the amazing Scream fans, I hope you are as excited as I am. See you on set @kevwilliamson.”

Scream 7, which was released in February, received mixed reviews from critics but reportedly found success at the box office.

“I think they lied about the numbers,” Barrera told Variety. “I don’t think it made that much money. … People who love me from those movies are coming to see [my new Broadway] show, and they can’t ever take that away from me.”