Chris Chesser Dies: ‘Major League’, ‘The Color Of War’ Producer Was 74

Spain has been named as the country of honor for the upcoming edition of the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film running May 16 to 24.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Chris Pratt’s voice role as Mario in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has been a point of debate ever since he was cast. Pratt is not Italian, after all, and many fans were left baffled when the movie’s first trailer dropped last October and revealed Pratt’s Brooklyn-heavy Mario voice. It’s not a concern for the film’s directors, Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath. The filmmakers told Total Film magazine that casting Pratt made sense given the Mario at the center of their story. “It’s a bit of an origin tale. It’s the story of Mario becoming Super Mario,” Horvath said about the film, adding that finding the perfect Mario voice meant finding an actor who could believably portray a plumber from Brooklyn who is “a blue-collar guy from a family of Italian immigrants.”

Academy Awards prepares to celebrate its 95th year, the prestigious awards show isn't without its fair share of controversy.Long before the headline-making slap between Will Smith and Chris Rock during the 2022 broadcast, there have been numerous scandals and controversies to come out of the Oscars.From reading out the wrong winner to cringe-worthy hosts and unwanted onstage PDA, ET is looking back at the most controversial moments in Oscars history:Will Smith's Oscars SlapIn arguably the biggest scandal to ever come out of the awards show, Will Smith took to the stage and slapped presenter Chris Rock across the face after Rock made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith's, shaved head during the 2022 broadcast. Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia.

Pulp bassist Steve Mackey has died aged 56, the band have announced. 

Pulp bass player Steve Mackey has died, the band have confirmed.In a post online, frontman Jarvis Cocker confirmed that the 56 year-old passed away this morning (March 2).He wrote: “Our beloved friend & bass player Steve Mackey passed away this morning. Our thoughts are with his family & loved ones. This photo of Steve dates from when Pulp were on tour in South America in 2012.“We had a day off & Steve suggested we go climbing in the Andes.

A couple of would be Duke boys ran out of luck — and road — when they wrecked their “General Lee” muscle car in Missouri on Sunday.The pair ran off of Highway 165 in Hollister, outside Branson, on Sunday afternoon, seriously damaging the vehicle.Photos posted by the Western Taney County Fire Protection District show the iconic orange Dodge Charger on a grassy roadside embankment.Its front end crumpled in from hitting a tree.According to authorities, the occupants, whose names were not released, were evaluated at the scene and taken to a hospital, but only suffered minor injuries.But while early reports identified the car as one of the dozens used during the making of either the “Dukes of Hazzard” TV show or the 2005 film based on it, a Western Taney County Fire Protection District spokeswoman told to Fox News Digital that it was just a custom-built replica.Part of the confusion stemmed from the fact that it had been autographed by cast members, but the owner of the car, who was not present during the accident, reached out to the agency to confirm that it was not a screen-used vehicle.

Julia MacCary editor Carl Reed, one of the producers of the Oscar-winning short “Hair Love,” and co-founder of Lion Forge Animation has launched Composition Media, an animation studio headquartered in St. Louis, Mo.for a global audience that highlights minority and underrepresented communities. “I am incredibly excited to finally unveil our animation studio and showcase the incredible work our team has been pouring their hearts and souls into,” said Reed. “Our aim is to break the mold and elevate the art of animation by producing content that truly represents our audiences. But more than that, we want to push the boundaries of what animation can be. It’s time to move past the limitations of animation as just a genre and explore the limitless possibilities of this medium.”

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Major Major, a full-service creative advertising agency, has officially opened its doors in Los Angeles. Staffed by veteran creatives and executives across filmed content and digital media, the company will specialize in areas like theatrical trailers, TV spots, branding, live-action production, social video, behind-the-scenes features, and more. The operation Is founded by Craig A Platt, Des Esposito and Chris Nesheim, along with senior execs like creative director Josh Beaumont and music EVP Toddrick Spalding.   The group has over 50 years of combined experience on major features (“Elvis,” “Dune,” “Logan,” and “Aquaman”), family animation (“Frozen,” “Coco,” “Zootopia,” “Mitchells vs The Machines”), art house dramas and popcorn faire. They most recently entered the streaming marketing sector with work on Amazon’s “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.”

Gigi Hadid and Tan France step out in major style for appearances all over New York City on Monday (February 27).

MLS Season Pass, available on Apple TV for $14.99/month or $99 for one season.Get the Season PassNorth American teams have brought us some of our favorite soccer players, like Frank Lampard, Landon Donovan, Steven Gerrard and David Villa. World-renowned soccer star and former LA Galaxy midfielder David Beckham now owns MLS team Inter Miami.

Academy Award-winning songwriter Tom Whitlock has died at the age of 68. According to the Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home, Whitlock died on Feb. 18 in Gallatin, Tennessee. No details about his cause of death were shared. Born on Feb.

Thania Garcia Harry Styles took home the major tour of the year award for the second year in a row at the 2023 Pollstar Awards, a peer-voted annual ceremony celebrating the achievements of the touring and live events industry. The evening honored executives, artists, festivals, venues and more, and included speeches that touched on hot topics from ticket scalpers to venue relief programs. Styles’ “Love on Tour” also took home the residency of the year award, with one of his team members joking that he couldn’t be there because he was on his seventh year of the lengthy “Love on Tour.” He and Everytown for Gun Safety were also honored with the brand partnership/live campaign of the year award.

Academy Awards prepares to celebrate its 95th year, the prestigious awards show isn't without its fair share of scandal.Long before the headline-making slap between Will Smith and Chris Rock during the 2022 broadcast, there have been numerous scandals and controversies to come out of the Oscars.From reading out the wrong winner to cringe-worthy hosts and unwanted onstage PDA, ET is looking back at the most controversial moments in Oscars history:Will Smith's Oscars SlapIn arguably the biggest scandal to ever come out of the awards show, Will Smith took to the stage and slapped presenter Chris Rock across the face after Rock made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith's, shaved head during the 2022 broadcast. Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia.

Academy Awards prepares to celebrate its 95th year, the prestigious awards show isn't without its fair share of scandal.Long before the headline-making slap between Will Smith and Chris Rock during the 2022 broadcast, there have been numerous scandals and controversies to come out of the Oscars.From reading out the wrong winner to cringe-worthy hosts and unwanted onstage PDA, ET is looking back at the most controversial moments in Oscars history:Will Smith's Oscars SlapIn arguably the biggest scandal to ever come out of the awards show, Will Smith took to the stage and slapped presenter Chris Rock across the face after Rock made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith's, shaved head during the 2022 broadcast. Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia.

Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker dressed in the style of various British Rail train tickets has been shared online.Acrylic Afternoons, a fansite of the band named after their 1994 song of the same name, has posted a thread of the frontman on Twitter in outfits which match the colours of rail tickets to various places around the UK.The thread includes pictures of Cocker in a bright blue jacket which matches the colour of a Northampton Rail Day Rover, right up to outfits which match a Chelmsford to London annual Gold Card.Unfortunately there isn’t an outfit that matches a ticket to Mile End after the band’s famous song from the Trainspotting soundtrack.You can view the frontman’s extravagant attire below:Jarvis Cocker dressed in the style of British Rail tickets.

Katie Reul editor Chris Chesser, the producer known for his work on the sports comedy “Major League,” has died. He was 74. Chesser died suddenly Feb. 2 while at his Los Angeles home, brothers Alan and Steve Chesser announced Tuesday. The cause of death has yet to be confirmed. In 1974, the producer took his first steps into the entertainment industry as an executive in international sales at Columbia Pictures. Two years later, Chesser became general manager of the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Between 1980 and 1983, Chesser helmed two production companies: he served as vice president of production at Marble Arch Productions and functioned as head of production for Filmways, until the company was acquired by Orion Pictures.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Margo Martindale and Chris Diamantopoulos have been cast in the lead roles of the upcoming Amazon series “The Sticky,” Variety has learned exclusively. The show was originally ordered at Amazon back in April 2022. As previously reported, the series is inspired by the true story of “The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist.” The real heist involved the theft of $18 million dollars (CAD) of of Quebec’s national maple syrup, which is more than 70% of the global maple syrup supply. Per the official logline for the half-hour comedy series, “‘The Sticky’ revolves around Ruth Clarke (Martindale), a tough, supremely competent middle-aged Canadian maple syrup farmer who’s had it with being hemmed in by the polite, bureaucratic conventions native to her country’s identity. Especially now that that very bureaucracy is threatening to take away everything she loves: Her farm, her comatose husband, and her right to freedom. With the help of Remy Bouchard, a local blockhead and Mike Byrne (Diamantopoulos), a low-level mobster, Ruth changes her fate—and transforms the future of her community with the theft of millions of dollars’ worth of maple syrup.”

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Elsa Zylberstein, one of the most famous – and bankable — faces of French cinema, known for her Cesar-winning performance in “I’ve Loved You For So Long,” is preparing to emerge as a major film producer. Having recently set up banners in France and the U.S., Zylberstein is actively developing a raft of films and series, working with the likes of Oscar-winning Syrian filmmaker Feras Fayyad (“The Cave”), Ted Braun (Darfur Now”) and Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton (“The Father”), among others. These include “Kingdom of Hope,” a movie about Elise Boghossian, a French acupuncturist and humanitarian worker in a war zone who has healed children victims of ISIS . The movie will be directed by Fayyad, who is based in Berlin, and is being penned by Braun, based on Boghossian’s autobiographical book “Au royaume de l’espoir, il n’y a pas d’hiver.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor DirecTV is trading one kind of football for another. After agreeing to part ways with the NFL’s Sunday Ticket package, DirecTV is picking up soccer. The satellite-programming distributor will become the national provider of MLS Season Pass, a new subscription service from Apple and Major League Soccer, to commercial establishments such as bars, lounges and restaurants. The offering is knows as DirecTV for Business. “DirecTV for Business boasts an unrivaled nationwide network of more than 300,000 venues where local sports fans gather who count upon us to deliver the very best in live action,” said Rob Thun, chief content officer at DirecTV, in a statement. “We welcome the addition of MLS Season Pass to an already market-leading lineup of sports properties that our commercial customers can continue to receive seamlessly through their existing satellite equipment and offer to their patrons.”

Canadian artist Daniel Caesar has got a new album on the way.