Mike, the new Hulu limited series that details the life of former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, is not afraid to go for it.

Trevante Rhodes, the acclaimed actor known for his lead role in the Oscar-winning film Moonlight, told ABC Audio he took on the role of Tyson without much time to prepare.

Rhodes called the shoot “tumultuous,” saying, “You get hurt, and they don’t care. You know what I mean? So, you just gotta keep it pushing.”

He was otherwise tight-lipped about any on-set injuries, but revealed he got a platelet-rich plasma injection during the shoot, which is used to accelerate healing in body tissue.

Injuries aside, the actor said “everything else was just beautiful” about shooting the series. The chance to portray as complicated a character as Tyson was not something Rhodes took for granted.

“To have the opportunity to … represent all that, that’s a blessing,” Rhodes said. “As a man, just having the chance to walk in those shoes, you know what I mean? It felt good.”

The series covers all aspects of Tyson’s life and career, everything from his unmatched boxing success to his rape conviction. Rhodes did not consult Tyson about the project, but said it was not for lack of trying.

“He’s not involved at all, but I’ll tell you, I shot him a DM, man,” Rhodes said. “He’s out in the world right now and he’s making himself known. Maybe because of the show, maybe not. I don’t know. So hopefully I get a chance to bump into him, and give him a hug and everything. But, I don’t know man, we’ll see.”

The two-episode premiere of Mike drops Thursday on Hulu.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

In the new Apple TV+ dark comedy series Bad Sisters, Sharon Horgan leads an ensemble cast centered on the Garveys – an Irish family with five sisters. When their sister Grace marries a guy who is emotionally abusive and manipulative, they hatch a plan to have him murdered.

Horgan stars as Eva, the eldest of the five Garvey sisters. She tells ABC Audio that getting the audience to root for their crime was a tricky needle to thread, but that it started with the characterization of the sisters themselves.

“You have to love them,” Horgan says. “You have to understand all the messiness within the relationship, as well – and why they need to save Grace. Because, if you’re gonna watch them try and kill a man over 10 episodes, you need to want them to do it, and to really be behind them and understand it.”

While the family dynamics in her real life are a bit different to those on the show, Horgan says she knows what it’s like to have a large family and brought that experience to her character. Having four siblings is “fun – if you all like each other,” she says.

“It’s sort of an instant party wherever you go. There’s a closeness and a camaraderie that you can’t really replicate. Especially with sisters, there’s an intimacy. You can be awful to each other but there’s extreme affection and you know each other so well,” Horgan says.

That affection bleeds over to all of her brothers and sisters’ spouses, who Horgan says she feels lucky to love as well, especially because she knows others who “aren’t quite so lucky.”

New episodes of Bad Sisters drop Fridays on Apple TV+.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Billy Porter makes his directorial debut with the groundbreaking new romantic comedy Anything’s Possible, out Friday on Prime Video.

The film follows confident teen Kelsa, who is a transgender girl, as she navigates her senior year and her crush on her artsy classmate.

Porter says that his film calls back to the coming-of-age classics while also doing something completely new. “When I grew up, I was obsessed with the John Hughes genre,” he tells ABC Audio.

“I had to superimpose myself onto all those white people. When I read this script, I knew instantly that this was a genre that needed to be revisited for the modern era, and that’s what we set out to do,” Porter says.

He wasn’t alone in searching for himself on screen. Actress Eva Reign, who plays Kelsa in the film, recalls the time she spent looking for a movie just like this one.

“I spent so much time scrolling through Tumblr and Instagram trying to find some movie or show, and I just wasn’t seeing myself anywhere,” she says. “This film is literally what me and a lot of my friends talked about wanting to see.”

At the end of the day, even with all that time spent wishing for a movie like this, Porter says he didn’t feel any pressure in making it.

“When you’re simply living inside of your truth and walking that path, the pressure is released. There was more pressure on me when I was trying to be straight,” he says. “There is no pressure now, because all I’ve got to do is show up and be myself.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

In the new film Rise, streaming exclusively on Disney+, brothers and newcomers Uche and Ral Agada play Giannis and Thanasis Antetokounmpo in the true story about the inspirational family that changed the world of professional basketball.

Uche knew the basics – that the Antetokounmpos immigrated from Nigeria to Greece and that Giannis eventually found success in the NBA draft – but there was still a lot he had to learn about the family.

“I knew that they had humble beginnings. I didn’t understand the extent of how hard it was, how difficult it was to survive,” Uche told ABC Audio.

Ral echoed his brother’s sentiment. “We went where they grew up and I saw that they lived in a one-bedroom apartment with four 6-foot-plus boys,” he said. “It just made me extremely grateful for what I have.”

There was much for them to be grateful for, especially the opportunity for the brothers to act alongside each other, telling a story about brotherhood and family.

“These guys, they all root for each other, they are happy for each other and all push each other. And I think it’s the same for Ral and I,” Uche said.

He added, “We both want to see each other improve and get better. I definitely think that’s something that we all have in common.”

Rise had its Greek premiere this week, which was held at the Sepolia Basketball Court in Athens. The Antetokounmpo family and the Agada brothers were all in attendance.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Downton is back! The new film Downton Abbey: A New Era is in theaters now, and actress Michelle Dockery – who has been with the series since season one – warns that fans may shed a tear or two.

“It’s very emotional,” she tells ABC Audio. “I feel like you could cry laughing as well, there’s lots of emotions in this film.”

Those emotions made Dockery work hard to stay in character as Lady Mary, who is known for her snide observations and cold demeanor. “The challenge is sometimes holding it back as Michelle and trying to stay like Lady Mary … a bit more stoic, and not blubber.”

A New Era is the sequel to 2019’s smash hit Downton Abbey, which saw the beloved Crawley family all follow one singular plot of welcoming the king and queen of England into their estate. In this film, the cast gets split into two – with half journeying to a home in the south of France, and the others holding down the fort while a film crew shoots at Downton.

“Downton has always been visually very cinematic, even in the TV show. So that transition from the small screen to the big screen really worked the first time around. And the second time it feels like it’s on an even bigger scale,” Dockery says.

Lady Mary is part of the group who stays at Downton, and Dockery acknowledges the plot’s meta, self-referential nature: “There’s something about the movie within the movie, and France. It adds an even more extravagant layer.”

The actress hopes its extravagance will entice fans, maybe even those who haven’t yet returned to movie theaters, to go out and see the film. “It’s an event, isn’t it? Downton always feels like a bit of an event,” she says.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.