‘House of the Dragon’s’ Fabien Frankel teases Sunday’s series premiere

Posted on August 19, 2022 by George Costantino and Jason Nathanson

The dragons are coming! HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, the highly anticipated spinoff of one of the most successful shows ever on TV, premieres Sunday night.

Fabien Frankel stars as the knight Ser Criston Cole, and he tells ABC Audio that while the new series is “still in the same world” as Game of Thrones, including “the decadence and beauty of the sets and the level of intricacy that goes into making the costumes…it still feel like its own show.”

The dragons — 17 of them — will also be there, and Frankel says working with the fire-breathers isn’t easy.

“It’s like a ball on a stick, and like a man holding the ball on the stick and he looks exhausted. His arms look like they’re going to give way at any moment,” he recalls. “And you have to sort of make this tennis ball look like it’s terrifying.”

And remember all those times you wanted to throw your remote at the TV because something crazy happened on Game of Thrones? Frankel says House of the Dragon will also have “that kind of constant feeling of surprise.”

“You kind of feel like you’re at the top of the rollercoaster and you have no idea when it’s going to go start going down,” he shares.

That craziness played out during rehearsals, when Frankel actually cut his co-star, Matt Smith, during a fight scene in the first episode, although Frankel thinks he’s getting a bad rap.

“His sword rebounded off my shield and hit him in the face…if you think about it from a…court of law…he’s to blame…I take no responsibility,” Frankel insists, adding, “He can’t stop talking about it and it’s getting me in some serious trouble.”

‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’ hits Disney+ today

Posted on August 18, 2022 by George Costantino and Jason Nathanson

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is open for business! The latest Marvel series for Disney+ is out today, starring Tatiana Maslany as the big green lawyer and she tells ABC Audio she wasn’t all that familiar with She-Hulk before taking the job.

“I kind of knew that that character existed just from having seen…images on T-shirts or like maybe passing the comic book, but I didn’t really know who she was,” she says.

The Orphan Black alum knows She-Hulk and Marvel have a voracious fan-base, and she hopes they like it, but she also likes that the series addresses the issue of toxic fandom.

“In so many ways just by putting She-Hulk at the center of it, we’re already pissing people off. Do you know what I mean? Like there’s already people who are upset about that.”

Unlike Maslany, executive producer Kat Coiro‘s She-Hulk fandom goes way back, noting she “fell in love” with the comic when she was nine years old, sharing, “I wanted to be her.”

“I didn’t know someone like this existed. She’s large. She’s in charge. She yells at the writers. She takes control of her own narrative.”

That humor is also what drew series creator Jessica Gao to the character.

“Traditional superhero comics, you know, are very dramatic and some of them tend to be very heavy and serious…And…then to have John Byrne‘s She-Hulk…it was so fun…she was so irreverent and like even when she was doing things like saving the world…she still dealt with it with humor.”

Marvel is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC.

‘I Love My Dad’ proves truth is stranger — and funnier — than fiction

Posted on August 17, 2022 by George Costantino and Jason Nathanson

Have you ever been catfished by your dad? James Morosini has. He’s the writer, director, and star of the new film I Love My Dad, which is in theaters and streaming on demand now.

The movie, which Morosini describes as as “almost a modern Mrs. Doubtfire,” follows “an estranged father — played by Patton Oswalt — who catfishes his son in an attempt to reconnect, and the son ends up falling head over heels for the girl that the father has created,” he tells ABC Audio. “And the father now has to figure out an off-ramp to this thing without destroying his son’s hopes and dreams.”

I Love My Dad is based on what actually happened between Morosini and his father when he was around 20 years old.

“I think [we] were fighting [and] I think he had lied about something. I got very upset with him. I decided to block him on social media,” he recalls. “I was going through a tough time, and he was very worried about me and wanted to talk with me about it and I wouldn’t talk with him about it. And then I got home one day, and this really pretty girl sent me a friend request online, and she seemed amazing. And then it turned out to be my dad. [He] had catfished me.”

James says he and his dad have a good relationship now, and the film has only made it stronger.

“The idea of making this movie was really stepping into my dad’s shoes and trying to understand our relationship from his perspective,” he explains. “It was kind of a challenge that I posed to myself to see if I could really take a walk in his shoes and if I could really empathize with where he was coming from.”

Jamie Foxx and Dave Franco go vampire hunting in the Netflix action comedy ‘Day Shift’

Posted on August 12, 2022 by George Costantino and Jason Nathanson

The vampire action comedy Day Shift hits Netflix Friday, starring Jamie Foxx and Dave Franco as two very different kinds of vampire hunters. The pair talked to ABC Audio about why they think people are fascinated with the fanged blood suckers.

“I think it’s the immortality. I think…it’s a sexiness,” says Foxx. “Everybody that’s played vampires, you know, has had a sexiness to it. Right?”

“For whatever reason, they’re all sexy,” Franco agrees.

Foxx is the lead in the film, which Franco thinks is only right. He says there’s no one else you want as the number one guy on set.

“He comes in, he’s playing music every day, he’s getting everyone hyped up,” he explains. “He just makes you feel confident and comfortable and willing to take risks and willing to fall on your face. And that’s when the best stuff happens.”

Day Shift director J.J. Perry, agrees, adding that Foxx is also one of the most amazing physical specimens he’s every seen.

“I watched him do 42 pull ups. He’s my age,” notes Perry, a stunt man with 149 credits to his name for movies ranging from the Fast and Furious films to John Wick, Django Unchained, and more. “…The strongest young stunt guy got to 24.”

So it’s no surprise that Jamie did almost all of his own stunts, according to Perry, who drew the line at “smashing” the Spider-Man: No Way Home star.

“There’s a couple of times we smashed him through a wall. I used a stunt double just because I can’t have him limping around on set,” he shares. “But he wanted to do everything and he did 99.9% of his business.”

Jamie Foxx and Dave Franco go vampire hunting in the Netflix action comedy ‘Day Shift’

Posted on August 12, 2022 by George Costantino and Jason Nathanson

“I think it’s the immortality. I think…it’s a sexiness,” says Foxx. “Everybody that’s played vampires, you know, has had a sexiness to it. Right?”

“For whatever reason, they’re all sexy,” Franco agrees.

Foxx is the lead in the film, which Franco thinks is only right. He says there’s no one else you want as the number one guy on set.

Day Shift director J.J. Perry, agrees, adding that Foxx is also one of the most amazing physical specimens he’s every seen.

So it’s no surprise that Jamie did almost all of his own stunts, according to Perry, who drew the line at “smashing” the Spider-Man: No Way Home star.

‘Aftershock’ director says Hulu documentary “comes at a crucial time”

Posted on August 5, 2022 by George Costantino and Jason Nathanson

Aftershock, a documentary out now on Hulu, follows the widowed husbands of Shamony Gibson and Amber Rose Isaac as they seek to raise awareness of the high maternal mortality rate of Black women and how the crisis can be solved.

The documentary’s director, Paula Eiselt, tells ABC Audio the film “comes at a really crucial time in this country,” noting, “with the overturning of Roe v. Wade our reproductive healthcare is under complete attack.”

As for what she believes the doc adds to the conversation going on right now surrounding reproductive rights, Eiselt says, “It’s really important that we speak about full spectrum reproductive rights in one conversation. That means talking about abortion care and maternal healthcare ’cause they’re one in the same. Abortion is healthcare and maternal healthcare is healthcare. We have to talk about this together.”

Adds Eiselt, “In the same way that a woman has the human right to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy, if she does choose to have a baby, then she has the right to a safe and dignified birth.

Her hope is that the film acts as “a conversation starter within our communities and also with the power structure of this country.”

“I hope that after watching Aftershock, more women and families understand that there are choices around birthing and that women feel empowered to make those choices, demand autonomy, and human centered care in their birth,” she adds.

‘LEGO Star Wars Summer Vacation’ star Yvette Nicole Brown reveals her dream role

Posted on August 4, 2022 by George Costantino and Jason Nathanson

Yvette Nicole Brown has been a part of Star Wars, The Muppets, The Avengers, and so many great franchises in her career, but there’s one thing that would really make her life complete.

“I still haven’t done Sesame Street,” she tells ABC Audio. “In my mind, I always thought to myself, if I ever get asked to do Sesame Street, it would mean I had finally really made a mark in this industry…Like I became the person in this industry that I hope to be….So I’m just praying one day it comes.”

Brown’s latest project is the Disney+ special LEGO Star Wars Summer Vacation, which features characters from the recent film franchise including Finn and Rey. The Community alum voices General Leia and Lt. Valeria, and she sets up the premise of the special for us:

“Well, it takes place right after Rise of Skywalker and Finn and all his friends who’ve been through a lot, [so] he says, ‘let’s take a vacation.'” she explains. “And so they leave to go on the vacation and get separated. And then Finn has this vision of three Force ghosts. There’s Leia and Anakin and Obi-Wan. And they tell him about vacations they’ve been on that didn’t go quite as planned.”

Brown has described herself as a “nerd,” and not just for sci-fi and fantasy.

“Being a nerd just means you just love something so much. And I’m a nerd about puzzles. I’m a nerd about knitting, I’m a nerd about naps,” she insists.

“You can be a nerd about a thousand things,” adds the 50-year-old actress. “I’m a nerd about my dog Harley, you know?”

LEGO Star Wars Summer Vacation hits Disney+ on Friday.

“The Resort” is a serious mystery that’s also a lot of fun

Posted on July 28, 2022 by George Costantino and Jason Nathanson

It’s time to check in to The Resort!

Peacock’s new mystery series The Resort starts streaming today, starring William Jackson Harper and Cristin Milioti as a couple celebrating their anniversary at a fancy Yucatan Peninsula resort, but instead of hitting the beach with mai tais, they’re investigating a possible murder. It’s serious, but there’s also some comedy, and Milioti tells ABC Audio she and Harper were given a lot of freedom to explore this couple who has hit a stale point in their 10-year marriage.

“We would try takes and complete silence. We would throw all the lines away. We would get in a mini fight. We would…almost get to the fight and then back off,” she recalls. “And like it just was so much fun to explore that…that’s the type of stuff as an actor where it’s like the dream.”

The show is from Palm Springs writer Andy Siara, which also starred Milioti, and she says they don’t leave you in too much suspense. Answers will be coming, “but they’re not going to be the answers that you think. Better tune in!”

“I think Andy has written something that is, like, very unexpected,” she continues. “And even the answers that you get…you just don’t see them coming, but they make sense and I find them to be very satisfying. But it’s like what you would least expect.”

Harper says he also loves a good mystery, but it has to be really good.

“Like a really good mystery I’m just like, yo, I need to go see what’s going on,” he explains. “But then like other, you know, other stuff, it’s just like, okay, well, either we’re going to have a twist or I called it. And so, you know, I kind of I do enjoy it.”

‘Harold and Kumar’s John Cho hits the road for new father-daughter dramedy ‘Don’t Make Me Go’

Posted on July 15, 2022 by George Costantino and Jason Nathanson

In the new coming of age dramedy Don’t Make Me Go, out Friday on Prime Video, John Cho plays a single dad who embarks on a cross-country road trip with his less than thrilled teen daughter, played by newcomer Mia Isaac, and Cho tells ABC Audio it was a movie he wanted to make the second he read the script.

“The father daughter relationship obviously was the thing that was really attractive,” he says. “I’m a parent, so there was so many similarities for me in sentiment and worldview. But beyond that, my impression when I closed the script was, I wish I could see this movie…I wish it existed. And it seemed like something I would watch.”

The Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle star particularly enjoyed the road trip scenes, noting, “It was a lot like a real road trip. There were games and singing and trivia and conversation and being bored and snacking.”

Don’t Make Me Go marks Isaac’s big screen debut, and the 18-year-old actress admits she wasn’t that familiar with her co-star’s Harold and Kumar movies until her parents filled her in.

“I remember like getting off of the directors call back and I was like, yeah, apparently I’m supposed to be working with this guy, John Cho,” she recalls. “And my parents were like John Cho! And I was like, and then of course they had me watch everything. And I was a true John Cho fan by the time we got to New Zealand.”

Jokes Cho, “That seems like irresponsible parenting, if you ask me.”

Ray Liotta’s ‘Black Bird’ co-stars remember the late actor

Posted on July 14, 2022 by George Costantino and Jason Nathanson

The new Apple TV+ series Black Bird features one of the last performances from Ray Liotta, who died in his sleep in May at the age of 67.

Black Bird tells the true story of a convicted drug dealer, played by Taron Egerton, who can go free if he gets a confession from a serial killer and finds out where his victims are buried. Liotta plays Egerton’s father, a former cop in ill health who wasn’t the most honorable officer, and Egerton tells ABC Audio it’s a fantastic performance.

“I was very inspired by working with Ray, and I felt kind of changed by it as an actor,” he recalls. “I think the scenes are some of the best that I’ve been a part of in, not just this show, but my entire career.”

“I know he was very excited about this and I know he was very passionate about the role,” adds Egerton. “So it’s a nice way, because I believe that Ray ended his life at the peak of his acting powers.”

The show’s creator Dennis Lehane calls Liotta’s death “a big blow,” explaining, “Nobody had a clue — absolutely none. He was fine right up until he didn’t wake up.”

In fact, Lehane says he and Liotta even had plans to work together on a future project.

“The last conversation I ever had with Ray was, he said ‘what are you working on?'” he says. “I told him and he said, ‘Is there a part in there for me?’ And I said, ‘Of course there’s a part in there for you.’ And he said, ‘Well, make it a big part.'”

Black Bird is currently streaming on Apple+, with new episodes airing Fridays.