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The Iceman Cometh! Val Kilmer is suiting up to to star in 'Top Gun 2' with Tom Cruise.
Val Kilmer will star in upcoming sequel Top Gun: Maverick, which will also feature Tom Cruise in the lead role.
Kilmer's involvement with the sequel was confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter after the actor had previously campaigned to be in the film on social media.
The actor has been spotted around the San Diego hotel Paramount has been using since production began last week, The Wrap reported.
Kilmer famously portrayed skilled fighter pilot Iceman, a rival to Cruise's Maverick, in the original 1986 film.
Joseph Kosinski, who worked with Cruise on Oblivion, is directing the film with Jerry Bruckheimer returning to produce. German composer Harold Faltermeyer, who created the score for the original film, will also return.
Top Gun: Maverick, set for release on July 12, 2019, will follow Maverick in the present day as he deals with the rise of drone technology that is making his style of jet fighter flying obsolete.
I miss Val Kilmer. He's a great actor. It'll be nice to see the man...the Iceman once again. Can't wait!
Be Well,
Steve
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CNN confirms Anthony Bourdain's suicide at age 61
Celebrity chef and television personality Anthony Bourdain has committed suicide in France at the age of 61, his employer CNN announced Friday.
He had been working abroad on an episode for Season 11 of his travel and food series Parts Unknown when his friend found him unresponsive in his hotel room.
Details regarding the manner in which he died were not immediately disclosed.
"It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague, Anthony Bourdain," the network said in a statement Friday morning. "His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller. His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time."
Celebrities mourn the death of Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain's fellow celebrities are taking to social media to mourn his death by suicide at the age of 61.
The news comes just days after beloved handbag designer Kate Spade hanged herself in New York. She was 55.
"Bourdain's exceptional writing made this one formerly picky, fearful eater very brave and want to try everything and I'll always be grateful for him and the worlds he opened," Lin-Manuel Miranda said on Twitter.
"I am gutted and saddened upon hearing the news of @Bourdain, a beloved presence in the culinary community. You will be missed," The Chew co-host Carla Hall tweeted.
"According to AFSP, there are nearly 45,000 suicides every year in the US. Shocking. I was saddened to hear of the deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain. RIP. It illustrates that success is not immune to depression. We all need to be more aware of our friends who are suffering," Bryan Cranston posted.
"I knew Bourdain a bit. Late '90s, after Noise Funk on B'way, I used to hang at Sullivan's where he was chef. Would run into him later from time to time - on a plane, at some joint somewhere. But I knew him better as a rally cry for living in the world! Paris? Sacre bleu. To life!" Westworld star Jeffrey Wright wrote.
Patton Oswalt posted a phone number for a suicide hotline, stating: "I've brushed up against this darkness and I know it's a tempting exit but REACH OUT to ANYONE. Stay on this side of it - in the light and warmth. Where you get to try again, every day."
"When I traveled to some exotic place I'd not been before -the last were Beirut and Amman- I'd text Bourdain & ask where I should eat. He gave the best, most fun recommendations. I'd like to think he's scouting out the best watering holes and places to eat in heaven, right now," television personality Ana Navarro said.
Author Brad Meltzer offered: "Anthony Bourdain. Kate Spade. Happiness doesn't come from money, fame, or accumulating stuff. For some, doesn't come from loving family or friends. Hell, not even sure where it comes from -- except the ability to see what you have regardless of what you have. #PartsUnknown."
LOOSE LIPS:
"This would probably be awkward for any exes, but since we have to see each other every day it's beyond awkward. So I'm planning on staying friendly and keeping things light."
--Christina El Moussa, on continuing to co-host Flip or Flop with ex-husband Tarek El Moussa, in the first episode of the new season
??? Guess Who ???
Which actresses have joined 'The Addams Family' animated movie?
Jerry Maren, last surviving Munchkin from 'Wizard of Oz,' dies at 98
Jerry Maren, the actor who played a member of the Lollipop Guild in The Wizard of Oz and was the last surviving adult Munchkin from the classic film, has died at the age of 98.
Maren died last month, his niece and nephew reported in separate Facebook posts. He had been living at an assisted-care facility in San Diego, Steve Cox, co-author of Short and Sweet: The Life and Times of the Lollipop Munchkin told The Hollywood Reporter.
"I wish I had grown up with him and had spent more time and being around him growing up," Marren's niece Stacy Michelle Barrington told Fox News. "I'm grateful to have had such important people in my family. Uncle Jerry would want the legacy of the Wizard of Oz to continue."
Maren appeared in the iconic 1939 movie as one of the three Lollipop Guild Munchkins who handed a lollipop to Dorothy, played by Judy Garland. There were 124 adult actors who portrayed Munchkins in the film.
"I believe the scene where Dorothy lands in Munchkinland is one of the finest sequences in the history of motion pictures," Maren told UPI in a 1996 interview.
Maren also decried the Munchkins' characterization as drunken partiers in the 1981 Chevy Chase comedy Under The Rainbow, about the making of the MGM movie classic -- and by Garland and producer Mervyn LeRoy in The Munchkins of Oz by author Stephen Cox.
"Nobody swung from the chandeliers," Maren said. "There wasn't much hell-raising because we worked from 6 in the morning to 8 at night. No time for joviality."
Maren enjoyed a successful career in show business, also appearing in films such as At the Circus, Superman and the Mole-Men, Battle for the Planet of the Apes and in Little Cigars, where he appeared alongside fellow Munchkin actor Billy Curtis.
Television roles included a regular appearance on the Gong Show and recurring roles on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and Lidsville. Other roles included guest appearances on The Odd Couple, The Beverly Hillbillies, Get Smart, The Wild Wild West and Seinfeld.
The Munchkins received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007. Maren attended the ceremony alongside seven others, including Mickey Carroll, Ruth Duccini, Margaret Pellegrini, Meinhardt Raabe, Karl Slover and Clarence Swensen.
"It's taken a long time," he said of getting the star. "We have a lot of fans. I can understand that now."
Maren's wife, Elizabeth Barrington, died at age 69 in 2011.
Jared Leto to star in, executive produce solo Joker film
Jared Leto is developing a standalone film about Batman villain The Joker which he will executive produce and star in.
Leto famously portrayed the Clown Prince of Crime in 2016's Suicide Squad which also featured The Joker's girlfriend Harley Quinn played by Margot Robbie.
Plot details surrounding the project are unknown with Warner Bros. wanting the film to expand on the Suicide Squad property and tie into future installments, Variety reported.
No writer or director is currently attached.
Leto's Joker film is the latest in development featuring the classic Batman foe with Warner Bros. previously announcing a Suicide Squad sequel from director Gavin O'Connor and a Joker and Harley Quinn movie set to star Leto and Robbie from This Is Us helmers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa.
A Joker origin film from producer Martin Scorsese and director Todd Phillips which will feature Joaquin Phoenix in the title role is also in the works. The origin film will take place outside the continuity of the DC extended universe and will help launch a new DC Comics banner that will allow Warner Bros. to tell unique comic book stories using different actors.
??? Guess Who ???
Which actresses have joined 'The Addams Family' animated movie?
Charlize Theron and Chloe Grace Moretz have joined the vocal ensemble of the animated movie The Addams Family, MGM announced Tuesday.
The actresses will play the vampish Morticia and morbid Wednesday in the film, which is being directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan.
Oscar Isaac is set to play Gomez Addams, while Finn Wolfhard is to play Pugsley, Nick Kroll will play Uncle Fester, Bette Midler will play Grandmama and Allison Janney will play the family's archnemesis Margaux Needler.
The film is set for release Oct. 11, 2019.
"Greg and I have always been a fan of the Addams Family in past versions, so when we set out to make this movie, we were excited to do something new," Vernon said in a statement. "With that in mind, I drew from the brilliantly original Charles Addams New Yorker cartoons for the look of the film and decided to tell the story of how Gomez and Morticia meet, find their house and start their family. This unique approach is what drew me in to direct the film. The reimagining also extends to the stellar cast we've put together who will each bring their own spin to our film that will appeal to longtime fans of the Addams and introduce them to a new generation."
Moretz posted on Instagram an image of the quirky, cartoon family.
"Excited to be Wednesday with such an amazing cast #TheAddamsFamily #October2019," the actress wrote.