Hollywood: Top Gun: Maverick
By Tony Rizzo
HOLLYWOOD -- Oscar-winner Diane Keaton's 55th film, "Mack & Rita," opens Aug. 12. The star of movie classics like "The Godfather" and "Annie Hall" has surrounded herself with three great actresses in her new comedy. First up is 91-year-old Lois Smith, who started her career on the CBS soap "Love of Life" (1951) and appeared in such classics as "East of Eden" (1955), with James Dean; "Five Easy Pieces" (1970), with Jack Nicholson; "Fatal Attraction" (1987), with Michael Douglas and Glenn Close; "Dead Man Walking" (1995), with Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon; and most recently "The French Dispatch" (2001). Also starring with Keaton are Emmy winner Loretta Devine, for "Grey's Anatomy" (2011), and "Hot in Cleveland's" Wendie Malick, most recently in nine episodes of "Young Sheldon."
Miles Teller in "Top Gun: Maverick" Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures
Will "Top Gun: Maverick" finally push Miles Teller to superstardom? After 19 films -- including "Footloose" (2011) and "Whiplash" (2014) -- is his time at hand? At 35, "Maverick" is his best shot to break through. Teller's personal life has come together nicely, marrying model Keleigh Sperry in 2019. His futuristic sci-fi thriller "Spiderhead" (opposite "Thor" himself, Chris Hemsworth), in which they play convicts who volunteer as medical subjects, hits Netflix June 17, and his 21st film, "The Fence," which was to have reunited him with his "Divergent" co-star Shailene Woodley, was postponed due to the death of their other co-star, William Hurt.
Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon, Bette Midler (who has three Emmys, a Grammy and a Tony) and two-time Emmy winner Megan Mullally are joining forces for the feel-good comedy "The Fabulous Four," which will shoot July through September (with a mysterious fabulous fourth?). Sarandon is lending her voice to the superhero animated film "Blue Beetle" and stars with Trace Adkins in the Fox series "Monarch," about a fictitious country-music dynasty. Midler has completed "Hocus Pocus 2," which will drop on The Disney Channel just in time for Halloween. Mullally stars in Hulu's just-released coming-of-age film "Crush" and has the drama "Summering" due in August.
"Father of The Bride" (1950), which starred Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett and Elizabeth Taylor, was reinvented in 1991 as a star vehicle for Steve Martin and Diane Keaton, and grossed $129 million. It's being revived yet again, this time starring Andy Garcia and Gloria Estefan. But film buffs will hardly recognize it since it's about a Cuban family, the intended bride proposes to the would-be groom, and her parents have a dark secret to reveal ... they are getting divorced. It hits HBO Max on June 16, and since all that's left of the classic film is the title ... "Everything old is new again!"
(c) 2022 King Features Synd., Inc.