Here's the Scoop...

Any Avatar fans out there?

Avatar 2 star Sigourney Weaver says the long-delayed movie will start filming in the fall.

The 67-year-old actress, who played Dr. Grace Augustine in the original 2009 film, promised in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that the sequel will be "well worth" the wait.

"We're starting!" Weaver said Monday at a New York screening of The Assignment. "We're starting training, and we're starting -- hmm, I probably can't say anything. We will be actually shooting it by the fall."

Avatar was directed by James Cameron, and earned $2.7 billion at the box office. Cameron will also helm the sequel, which was initially expected to premiere in 2014, but has been pushed back year after year.

"I'm telling you, these scripts are so amazing, I'm not worried about [disappointing fans] at all," Weaver said. "Am I worried about how we're going to bring them to life? Yes, because they're so ambitious."

"They're so worth it," she assured fans. "They're well worth waiting for. I'm not worried about that at all. We're trying to get it done as quickly as possible."

Cameron confirmed plans in April 2016 for four more Avatar movies -- Avatar 2, Avatar 3, Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 -- that will "form a complete saga." He told the Toronto Sun in March that Avatar 2 had once again been pushed back.

"Well, 2018 is not happening. We haven't announced a firm release date," the director said.

James Cameron better pickup the pace because at this rate the first sequel could take around a decade to make and with 3 more sequels in the works...

Be Well,
Steve

Comments? Questions? Nooz? Email Steve



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President Trump gets star billing in Comedy Central show
Laughing at the president is a "proud American tradition," said Anthony Atamanuik. And if he does it right, we'll also be laughing with him.

Atamanuik will star as President Trump in a new Comedy Central series, the network announced Monday.

The President Show will air Thursdays following The Daily Show with Trevor Noah at 11:30 p.m. starting on April 27.

Atamanuik's Trump will host a late-night show direct from the Oval Office, joined by sidekick Mike Pence, played by Peter Grosz.

"Just like a certain chief executive in Washington, The President Show gleefully tosses out the rulebook of its predecessors," the network said in a news release.

Added Atamanuik: "Mostly I'd just like to thank Comedy Central for giving us this platform to speak truth to power and if we're lucky, end up in prison!"


Rupert Sanders: Kristen Stewart affair was 'a momentary lapse'
Rupert Sanders says his affair with Kristen Stewart was "a momentary lapse" in judgement.

The 46-year-old English director opened up in an interview with Metro about his highly-publicized 2012 fling with the 26-year-old actress, who starred in his movie Snow White and the Huntsman.

"You never know what's coming in life," Sanders told the publication. "Around every corner there's something unexpected, and that's life. You just have to brush yourself off and continue moving forward the best you can."

"Everyone makes mistakes," he added. "I am bound to make more mistakes and I wouldn't expect my life to be exciting if I didn't."

Sanders was married to Liberty Ross when Us Weekly published photos in July 2012 of him kissing Stewart, then 22. The incident followed the release of Snow White and the Huntsman, but the director was not asked back to helm the sequel.

"If you took people off the table for a momentary lapse, there would be no one making art," he told Metro.

Ross, who shares daughter Skyla and son Tennyson with Sanders, filed for divorce from the director in 2013. Stewart also split from her Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson, whom she was dating at the time of the affair.

"The public kind of burned me at the stake," the actress told Marie Claire in 2015 of fan reaction to the scandal. "At one point, you just let go and give yourself to your life."

Sanders' first feature film since the affair, an adaptation of the Japanese manga Ghost in the Shell, opened in theaters Friday. The movie, which was plagued by whitewashing claims, stars Scarlett Johansson.


LOOSE LIPS:
"When I first met Tina Fey...I fell in love."
--Alec Baldwin, on his initial meeting with his future 30 Rock costar, in his memoir Nevertheless



??? Guess Who ???
Which 'Full House' star split his pants onstage during concert?


Chris Evans and Mckenna Grace discuss on-set swear jar on 'Ellen'
Chris Evans and his 11-year-old co-star Mckenna Grace told Ellen DeGeneres how they used a swear jar to raise money for charity.

The Gifted co-stars appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to promote the upcoming film and discuss their on-sent swear jar as well as Grace's adoration of Ellen and Evans' tap dancing skills.

"You still have to pay me for the swear jar," Grace told Evans after he joked he paid her to give him compliments.

The Captain America actor and his young co-star then explained to DeGeneres he was forced to pay $5 for every swear and $10 for every use of the "F-word" on set, which Grace then donated to charity.

"Although I kept like $5," Grace joked.

The 11-year-old actress began the interview showing off her stuffed animal "DD" before she and DeGeneres shared their mutual admiration fore each other.

"I watch your show all the time," Grace said. "And it's so exciting to be here because you're my role model and I look up to you."

After the touching moment, Evans paid off one of his debts to Grace by briefly showing off his tap dancing abilities for DeGeneres and the audience.


Broadway makes way for Olivia Wilde's debut in June
Olivia Wilde, who just wrapped two movies, will make her Broadway debut in June.

She will co-star with Tom Sturridge and Reed Birney in the new stage adaptation of George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984.

Wilde, Sturridge and Birney will play the novel's classic characters -- Julia, Winston Smith and O'Brien, respectively.

The preview will begin May 18 ahead of a June 22 opening at the Hudson Theater. The play arrives in New York after winning acclaim in four different runs in the U.K.

Wilde (Vinyl, House), recently completed the films A Vigilante and Life Itself opposite Oscar Isaac.


??? Guess Who ???
Which 'Full House' star split his pants onstage during concert?

John Stamos kept playing Sunday after he split his pants onstage during a concert.

The 53-year-old actor and musician poked fun at himself on Instagram after having the wardrobe malfunction mid-performance with the Beach Boys.

"...and then, somewhere towards the end of Fun, Fun Fun - I felt a slight breeze in the buttocks area.... #SplitPants #TheBeachBUNS #showmustgoon," he captioned a video of the incident.

Stamos played the congas in the Beach Boys' music video for "Kokomo," and has occasionally performed with the band since the 1980s. He discussed his time with the group in an interview with al.com in 2014.

"I'm in a very enviable position and love [that the Beach Boys are] so open with me and allow me to play different things," the actor said. "That's what fun for me."

Stamos portrays Uncle Jesse on the Netflix series Fuller House, which was renewed for a third season in December. He enjoyed a trip to Disney World with girlfriend Caitlin McHugh, an actress known for The Vampire Diaries, in March.

"I'll be Prince Eric to your Ariel any ol' time @caitlinskybound #disneybound," the actor wrote at the time.