Movies

Michael Caine ain't hanging it up just yet in the acting department -- this despite the fact that he strongly suggested he would be ... doing a 180, which has fans sighing with relief.

The legendary British actor clarified what his future professional plans were Saturday ... saying he is NOT retiring, while his rep also tells Variety that he's actually reading two scripts right now for potential projects down the road.

MC tweeted, "I haven't retired and not a lot of people know that." He also issued a more formal statement saying he's been waking up at 6 AM for 50 years to make movies, and he has no intention of chucking his alarm clock now.

The about-face stance comes about 24 hours after he caused a firestorm of sadness among movie lovers, telling a couple BBC radio hosts on "Kermode and Mayo's Film Review" that he hadn't worked in 2 years, and that he wasn't able to walk very well because of his health.

When asked directly if this upcoming feature of his, "Best Sellers," would be his last role ... the dude said yeah, probably. He noted he hadn't gotten any good offers for roles of late, and pointed out that he's 88 ... acknowledging there aren't too many films with 88-year-old leads.

Seems he's had a complete change of heart overnight, because he's totally backtracking now and saying he's gonna keep at it ... which, we're sure, fans of his are overjoyed to hear.

It's been nearly 6 months since Armie Hammer checked himself into a treatment center -- and the actor remains there -- committed to spending as long as it takes to get better.

Sources close to Hammer tell us he's "thriving" in the Florida facility, those around him feel he's changed (for the better) from when he arrived and you can hear the difference in his voice.

Not only that, we're told Armie has kept in constant contact with his kids and loved ones -- FaceTiming with them regularly and sharing his progress.

Our sources say there's still no exact timeline for when he'll complete treatment, but he's willing to do whatever it takes. We're told the "Call Me By Your Name" star understands he was in an incredibly dangerous place before treatment and doesn't want to backslide.

As for a report that he was recently "replaced" by Noah Reid in Broadway's "The Minutes" ... we're told Armie was never officially signed on for that gig. Sources with direct knowledge tell us Armie had verbal talks for the role pre-pandemic, but they were only talks.

It was back in May when Armie checked into rehab for drug, alcohol and sex addiction treatment. The move came after several months of women leveling sexual abuse allegations against the actor.

He and his wife, Elizabeth Chambers, announced they were splitting in July 2020, but their divorce has not yet been finalized.

Sean Penn's actress wife just waved the white flag on their union ... because she filed for divorce after just over one year of marriage.

Sean's wife, Australian actress Leila George, filed divorce docs Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court ... according to online records.

Sean and Leila, the daughter of actor Vincent D'Onofrio, tied the knot in July 2020 during the height of the pandemic ... getting hitched in a lowkey family wedding at their home.

They started dating way back in 2016 and did not have any children together.

It's unclear what led to the split.

Rosario Dawson says "Saturday Night Live" needs to give BF Cory Booker his due the next time 'SNL' impersonates the Senator ... and she's got a few ideas for the stars to workshop.

We got the actress leaving ABC Studios in New York and asked what she thought of the show's impersonation of her boyfriend.

Rosario doesn't seem too impressed ... she says she's yet to see anyone nail Cory's true personality, and she explains why he's like the Fred Rogers or Ted Lasso of the Senate.

The 'SNL' skit mocking the recent Facebook hearing in Congress featured tons of politicians, but the Cory jokes were mostly centered on him dating Rosario.

Next time, Rosario says, the show should instead give her man props for everything he's doing for his State, from cannabis to police reform.

Jay-Z must have been feeling it after showing off his new movie, because he hopped on the mic and threw down ... on a classic track he did with Kanye.

The hip-hop mogul put on an apparently impromptu show Wednesday night at L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium following a screening of "The Harder They Fall" ... a Western with a mostly Black cast that he produced.

Jay held a celebration event after the film, and gave a rare live performance with the band ... spitting some lyrics from "Gotta Have It," from his 2011 collab album "Watch the Throne" with Ye.

It's just another sign things are cool again between the legendary rappers ... on the heels of Jay surprisingly featuring on "Jail" from West's "Donda" album.

"The Harder They Fall" party only kept elevating, as Seal also joined the band and showed off his pipes ... and everyone appeared to be loving it.

Some of the other celebs in attendance included Regina King -- who stars in the movie -- Tiffany Haddish and Swizz Beatz.

A UFC champ is no match for Halle Berry -- at least that's how it looks in the trailer for the actress' new UFC flick, where she goes head-to-head against Valentina Shevchenko ... and beats her face in!!

The Academy Award winner has been working on her Netflix project, "Bruised," for years -- teaming up with big fighters like Brian Ortega and training at Cris Cyborg's gym in Huntington Beach to prepare for the role.

Now, the first glimpse of the movie has been released -- and it's pretty badass.

FYI -- Berry plays a fighter aiming to make a comeback in the sport while battling her own demons ... all while raising her young son.

Shevchenko plays Berry's rival fighter in the movie ... and the trailer shows their characters facing off in the Octagon for a bout.

Berry looks like the real deal in the clip ... and remember, she claimed she broke several bones after taking shots from "Bullet" while filming the flick.

"She had to throw some real kicks and I had to really take them and that really broke some bones," Berry said on "The Tonight Show."

"She’s a beast but I couldn’t have asked for a better teacher, a better scene mate, a better fight partner."

Life has officially imitated art as William Shatner made history by becoming the oldest person ever to go to space.

Captain Kirk and crew hopped on Blue Origin's New Shepard capsule Wednesday morning and successfully blasted off into space ... never mind a couple of delays due to "vehicle readiness." Shatner himself said he got more nervous with each delay.

The 90-year-old and the other 3 crew members experienced 4 minutes of weightlessness before the capsule ultimately parachuted and landed safely in the west Texas desert at exactly 9:59 AM CT. Shatner gave a thumbs up before exiting the capsule.

Jeff Bezos opened the hatch, poked his head inside the capsule and greeted the newest astronauts. Shatner was second to exit and he said "Wow" before hugging Bezos.

Shatner started describing his experience to Bezos but he was briefly interrupted when Bezos popped open a bottle of champagne. Shatner turned down the bubbly. He later became visibly emotional and poetically described the once-in-a-lifetime experience.

He said, "What you have given me is the most profound experience I could imagine. I'm so filled with emotion about what just happened. It’s extraordinary. I hope I never recover from this. I hope I maintain what I feel now. I don’t want to lose it. It’s so much larger than me, and life." Shatner also urged Bezos to make this experience widely available ... even if it means using 3D technology.

Shatner's crew included Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers, former NASA engineer Chris Boshuizen and software mogul Glen de Vries.

We got our first look of Shatner in the space suit moments before liftoff ... and though the suit wasn't as silky smooth as what he wore on the Enterprise all those years ago, he still looked pretty damn good. He's seriously 90?!?!

Bezos drove the space travelers to the launch site in a Rivian electric pickup truck, Shatner was stuck with the middle seat, but didn't seem to care.

Shatner became the oldest person to ever go up into space ... beating out 82-year-old test pilot Wally Funk ... who joined Bezos, his brother, Mark, and recent HS grad Oliver Daemen, when they took Blue Origin's New Shepard capsule up for its premiere launch in July.

As you'll recall ... that initial crew went up to space for about 15 minutes, reached an altitude of 66.5 miles, floated around for a bit in zero-gravity while playing with ping-pong balls ... then came back down for safe landing.

Shatner's civilian flight will be very similar, but our sources say the mission will be also filmed for a documentary. Any moment now we'll have video of Shatner & co. inside the capsule.

"Mean Girls" star Jonathan Bennett's so down to give the 2004 classic another go-around ... and that's so fetch!!!

We got Jonathan out Tuesday afternoon in Hollywood where he surprised guests on the TMZ celebrity tour bus by hopping on. He told the passengers he wants to make happen what everyone seems to crave ... a reunion of the cast in one way, shape or form.

Check it out ... Jonathan -- who, of course, played Lindsay Lohan's BF, Aaron Samuels -- says he doesn't care if the reunion comes in the form of a reboot as a series, prequel or sequel.

Jonathan says the film brought a lot of happiness to LOTS of people ... not to mention all the classic memes and quotes. ICYDK ... October 3rd is unofficially "Mean Girls" Day thanks to the film's most famous scene. ☝🏽

Jonathan knows fans are split ... some think it's better to leave well enough alone, but others are all about the reboot. The doubters have one receipt ... "Mean Girls 2" -- which didn't feature the OG cast -- went straight to video in 2011.

Tina Fey, who wrote "Mean Girls," is also writing the script to "Mean Girls the Musical" film.

English actor Harry Melling was only 12 years old when he landed the small role as the muggle cousin Dudley Dursley -- who makes home life hard for Harry Potter before he starts his magical schooling at Hogwarts -- in the 2001 fantasy film "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

Melling continued to be included in the 'Potter' series ... photographed above in "Harry Potter and and the Prisoner of Azkaban" ... and shared the big-screen with A-listers like Rupert Grint as the school BFF, Ron Weasley, Emma Watson as the quick-thinking, Hermione Granger ... and of course Daniel Radcliffe as the magical young man, Harry Potter.

Harry made a resurgence in the streaming world when he was cast as the chess mate Harry Beltik in "The Queen's Gambit" last year.

William Shatner's space flight won't take a toll on his body despite his age ... so says Neil deGrasse Tyson who explained why, by dropping some serious science knowledge.

The famed astrophysicist tells TMZ ... he's not worried about the fact Capt. Kirk's all of 90 years old and off to space Wednesday morning. He says the kind of space flight Blue Origin's designed to take is not like the old days where astronauts needed strenuous physical training.

So, what's changed? Neil explains it's not even about advances in the spacecraft itself ... it's more about where the New Shepard capsule ends up.

He says the bottom line is ... Captain Kirk should have a cakewalk of a "mission" to space. As for being weightless up there -- Neil says it's not the lack of gravity Shatner needs to worry about, but the opposite.

TMZ broke the story ... William will be part of the second crew to take the space flight ... making him the oldest person ever to be launched into space.

He'll be joined by Chris Boshuizen, founder of Earth-observation company Planet Labs, microbiologist Glen de Vries and Blue Origin's Audrey Powers. They're scheduled to launch at 10 AM ET from West Texas ... and TMZ will be streaming live.

The new 'Halloween' flick features a frighteningly inspired performance from James Jude Courtney, who leaned on an old friend/real-life murderer to pick up tips on playing the legendary villain behind the mask.

The "Halloween Kills" star joined us Tuesday on "TMZ Live" to reveal part of his process to portray Michael Myers -- something James has done more than anyone else -- and it was downright chilling.

He told us he prepped for one of his very first killer roles by living in a psych ward with paranoid schizophrenics who had killed people ... but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Later in his career, James says he lived with a guy who had done hard time for murders -- he'd been a hitman -- but apparently wanted to moonlight as an acting coach.

James told us his killer roommate actually critiqued one of his movies, and told him how to make his character more believable, more realistic. That sounds great for James' acting career, but there's still the matter of actually LIVING under the same roof as a cold-blooded killer!!!

Brooklyn born actor Mitchell Whitfield was in his 20s when he took on the role of the best friend Stan Rothenstein -- who was one of the two youts behind bars after they were wrongly accused of murder while on their way to college on the west coast -- in the 1992 court comedy "My Cousin Vinny."

Whitfield was cast alongside some bright stars including Ralph Macchio as the innocent nephew, Billy Gambini, Marisa Tomei as the auto expert and fiance, Mona Lisa Vito ... and of course Joe Pesci as the unconventional lawyer, Vinny Gambini.

A few years later Mitchell landed a reoccurring gig as Barry Farber on the sitcom "Friends."

Granville Adams -- famous for his ongoing role as Zahir Arif in "Oz" -- has died after a battle with cancer.

His costar, Kirk Acevedo, made the announcement Sunday ... writing, "I lost my brotha today after a long battle with cancer. I don’t do well with loss because I'm unfamiliar with it." He adds, "Yo Granny we'll be chopping it up on the other side one day. Until then… Rest easy my friend."

Adams appeared to announce his diagnosis back in December of last year, posting a photo of himself in a hospital bed, looking ill, and captioning it ... "F*** CANCER!"

His "Oz" family started a GoFundMe on his behalf shortly thereafter, explaining that the guy's hospital bills were mounting for both him and his family ... asking the public for help. At the time, they wrote ... "In this quarter alone, the unpaid bills have piled up to $69,550. We want to gather together and show Granville our love by clearing this quarter’s bills, giving Granville concrete support in his fight against this vicious disease."

The GFM also notes that Adams hadn't been able to work over the past year (2020) and that all funds would be donated directly to his loved ones. As of this writing, it's reached nearly $100k in contributions.

Like we said, GA is perhaps best known for appearing on 48 episodes of the hit HBO show, first appearing as a guest and then a recurring supporting role until it went off the air in 2003. Adams played Arif -- a Muslim inmate who served as a lieutenant to Kareem Said.

Adams had a few other acting credits under his belt ... including roles in "Homicide: Life on the Streets," the movie "Empire" and "Magic City Memoirs."

Granville is survived by his wife, Christina. He was 58.

Timothee Chalamet is set to douse himself in chocolate and meet Oompa Loompas -- he's playing Willy Wonka in his early days, and showing off his new look ... which is ... cool???

The actor just posted a photo of himself on set for this new flick he's been cast in ... simply titled, "Wonka," which is basically a prequel to "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." Of course, that means we're gonna see a young Bill ... and Tim's giving us the first glimpse.

It shows TC in costume, wearing a Wonka-esque burgundy coat, scarf and a brown top hot. A second photo features him reaching for a tiny little present. Tim's caption reads, "The suspense is terrible, I hope it will last ..."

He's staring slyly ... kinda mischievous-like, which is also pretty Wonka-y. It also seems he'll be rocking his signature long, wavy locks -- so this is certainly more in the vein of Gene Wilder's turn as the titular character than Johnny Depp's ... which was its own animal.

Of course ... you have to respect that Depp's/Tim Burton's take was totally different -- both in appearance and expression of the famed Roald Dahl character. Gene's depiction is the OG, obviously, but we must say ... the 2021 portrayal, at least thus far, seems a little ... plain.

That's not to say it won't be good by any stretch -- it'll probably be solid, considering there'll reportedly be a ton of dance and musical numbers ... for which Tim trained. Plus, the guy's got chops ... even though this will be a new role for him unlike any other he's taken on.

Most of his movie parts up until now have been dramatic and relatively low-key (ish) -- and he hasn't had an opportunity to get zany or off the wall ... which you'd think he certainly will have to be here. Gene did it to perfection, Depp held his own -- now, Tim's up to bat.

Word is ... Warner Bros. (which also distributed the Burton flick) has had Timmy in mind for this project for a while, and finally locked him down after a lot of scheduling issues. So, they obviously see something in him.

George Clooney is shooting down any notion of diving into politics -- saying he doesn't want the stress ... while also noting Joe Biden deserves a break after Trump's presidency.

The actor sat down with BBC's Andrew Marr Sunday to plug his new movie, "The Tender Bar," and eventually ... they got to talking about President Biden and ex-Prez Trump -- the former of whom GC says will need time to clean up the mess he says DT left behind.

Marr noted Biden's poll numbers are down -- in the wake of Afghanistan and other issues -- but George brushed those off as fleeting and ever-changing. He likened the U.S. today as a battered child, and that thinking they'll be okay on the first day of school is foolish.

Bottom line ... George says there's a lot of healing that still needs to happen, and that these repairs will take time. So, Biden not fixing things ASAP is NBD to him -- and he backs him.

Speaking of Trump ... Clooney also dishes on what Donald was like back in the day -- saying he was nothing but a knucklehead chasing girls. He also says Trump despises his staunchest supporters ... rural folks from middle America, who come out in droves to his rallies.

Tom Cruise may be one of the biggest movie stars in the world, but Saturday night he was just a fan at a baseball game.

Cruise hit up Oracle Park in San Francisco where the Giants squared off against the Dodgers, where he paid $1k for a seat. You gotta watch the video ... as fans notice him and start fawning ... Cruise handles it like a pro. He's gracious, even chatty with everyone.

At one point, he takes to a dude behind him and they talk about where the guy is from, and Tom is fully engaged.

There were celebs on hand ... Tom and Danny Glover hugged it out between innings.

He was also seen fist bumping fans, and everyone seems stoked.

BTW ... in one of the photos you see what looks like an injury on the side of his face, near his ear. Could be a remnant from the latest "Mission Impossible" movie.