Kurt Russell confirms he has completed his final two scenes in the latest Fast & Furious 7 scenes without the late Paul Walker.
Russell had a day left of shooting when Walker died in a car crash in November outside of Los Angeles. In an interview this week, the 63-year-old actor said he returned to work on the two scenes left to do with Walker about two months ago. He said he filmed the scenes with Walker's two brothers Caleb and Cody. The F&F 7 team was "trying to work the best magic they can to make Fast & Furious 7 complete, Russell said, but did not say whether his scenes had been rewritten. Russell signed on to the seventh film in the franchise to play the father of Vin Diesel's character Dominic Toretto. Acknowledging that Walker's death left the filmmakers in a "tough spot", Russell said the brothers had a great relationship with the "Fast & Furious people" and Diesel had been "really working it hard". Vin Diesel and some of the cast filmed some F&F 7 scenes at various locations in Abu Dhabi earlier this year, including Emirates Palace. The film will have its premiere in April 2015. – AP
Bang Bang to release in three languages
Hrithik Roshan's and Katrina Kaif's much-awaited action drama Bang Bang will be out on October 2 in three languages – Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. "Bang Bang is a true-blue entertainer and we are going to have the widest possible release for the film. We are releasing the film in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu," said Vijay Singh, the chief executive of Fox Star Studios. "The buzz on the film is tremendous and we are going out to market and distribute the film day and date worldwide," he added. Some key scenes were shot in Abu Dhabi earlier this year. – IANS
Bryan Cranston to reprise LBJ role for HBO
HBO says Bryan Cranston will be reprising his role as President Lyndon Johnson in a TV adaptation of his recent Broadway debut. HBO Films has acquired rights to the Tony Award-winning play that opened earlier this year to critical and popular success while also winning Cranston the Tony as best actor. The company said on Wednesday that Robert Schenkkan will adapt his play for HBO. All the Way focuses on Johnson early in his presidency after the death of President John F Kennedy in 1963. Cranston made his Broadway debut in the play fresh from the much-acclaimed finale of his AMC drama series, Breaking Bad. He is nominated for a Best Actor Emmy for that show. – AP
Desi girl Priyanka Chopra to promote sari worldwide
The Bollywood A-lister Priyanka Chopra will soon be promoting the sari on international platforms. Banarasi silk and handloom saris would be at the forefront of the branding, officials said. The union government wants to promote the desi handloom and textile industry in a big way the world over and a “detailed publicity campaign is being planned for the same”, they added. – IANS
Ron Howard to direct Beatles documentary
Ron Howard will direct a documentary on the Beatles that focuses on the band's touring years during the early 1960s. Howard announced the project on Wednesday. The film is being made with the cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison. The Beatles company, Apple Corps, is co-producing the film. The as-yet-untitled film is the second documentary directed by Howard, who said he's long been a Beatles fan. Howard previously made the 2013 Jay-Z documentary Made in America. The film will run up to the Beatles' final concert in San Francisco's Candlestick Park in 1966. Much footage for the documentary has already been gathered. The movie is tentatively slated for release late next year. – AP
RGV to soon start working on Ice Cream 2
Despite the fact that his new horror drama Ice Cream was panned by critics, the director Ram Gopal Varma has announced a sequel. Ice Cream, starring Navdeep and Tejaswi Madivada, hit cinemas on July 12. "I'm ready with Ice Cream 2. I will soon start working on it," Varma said in an interview. While critics say they "hated" the film, it did reasonably well at the box office. "The film was made on a budget of 15 million rupees, and it managed to collect about a million rupees in its opening weekend in the state. We are expecting to make some money from satellite rights as well," said the producer T Rama Satyanarayana. – IANS
