Movies

It's a 'Christmas Story' miracle -- the red-hot tension between the flick's actor Yano Anaya and the owner of the on-screen home is cooling down ... after their explosive confrontation.

Yano, who played Grover Dill in the 1983 film, tells TMZ ... he sent homeowner Brian Jones a few emails on the heels of their November blow-up, but initially got no response.

We broke the story ... Brian got face-to-face with Yano, accusing the actor of being a scammer, loser, and "piece of s**t" -- referring to a GoFundMe started by a member of Yano's 'A Christmas Story' group, which was launched to raise funds for the house.

Yano's efforts to smooth things over and find out why Brian was so upset failed until a week ago when Brian reached back out, agreeing to meet up for breakfast on NYE in Atlanta.

We're told Brian explained his reason for the outburst -- bringing up a ton of negative past business experiences with people trying to take advantage of him and use the house ... and Brian apologized for assuming Yano fell into that category.

The 2 were all smiles, posing for a photo together once all was said and done... posting it in a Facebook group for fans of the film. In the caption, Yano says they've been pals for 20 years -- adding, "when friendships can withstand the tests of life, you cherish those relationships."

Yano says Brian feels he and his group would be great potential buyers to keep the tradition alive. FYI, Yano claims his group has the money to score the pad, and will show proof of funds this week to begin the process of possibly purchasing.

Brian backed that up, telling TMZ things are indeed well now, and Yano's "working with our investment bank REAG to qualify as a buyer alongside other interested parties."

ICYMI, the iconic home from the movie recently hit the market and Yano told us he and other 'Christmas Story' cast members were interested in buying.

Jeremy Renner was working to get a family member's vehicle out of heavy snow when a freak accident caused him to be run over by his own plow ... according to cops investigating the incident.

The Washoe County Sheriff's Office held a press conference Tuesday about Sunday morning's incident when Renner was airlifted to a hospital.

Reps say Renner was working to free a family member's vehicle that got stuck in the snow near the actor's home in Tahoe. At some point, Renner got out of his Snowcat to talk to the family member and the vehicle started to roll ... Renner tried to get back in the driver's seat, but was run over.

Investigators say there's no evidence Renner was impaired at the time of the accident, and they're looking into the possibility of a mechanical failure.

A banged-up Renner shared a photo of himself in a hospital bed just as the press conference began, revealing facial injuries. We know JR's injuries also included a mangled leg and blunt chest trauma, which resulted in a lot of blood loss.

His rep tells us, "Jeremy is making positive progress and is awake, talking and in good spirits. He remains in ICU in critical but stable condition. He is overwhelmed by the showing of love and support. The family asks for your continued thoughts while he heals with his close loved ones."

TMZ got the first videos of Renner being rushed to a waiting helicopter that day, which took off quickly to get him help. We also obtained a clip of his Snowcat being towed away, and as you can see -- it's quite massive ... giving you a sense of just how serious this was.

Jeremy Renner is giving fans a glimpse of just how bad his condition is following the snowplow incident that left him badly injured ... sharing a photo of his bruised and battered face.

Renner posted the photo Tuesday with the caption, "Thank you all for your kind words. 🙏. Im too messed up now to type. But I send love to you all."

One of the actor's eyes is totally bruised and swollen, and he's got multiple scrapes on his face. His rep tells us, "Jeremy is making positive progress and is awake, talking and in good spirits. He remains in ICU in critical but stable condition. He is overwhelmed by the showing of love and support. The family asks for your continued thoughts while he heals with his close loved ones."

At a press conference Tuesday, cops revealed Renner was helping a family member get their vehicle out of the snow with his Snowcat plowing machine. The actor got out to talk to the family member, and the machine started to roll ... Renner attempted to get back inside the Snowcat and got run over.

Investigators don't believe Renner was impaired at all during the incident, and it was purely an accident. They are, however, checking into any sort of mechanical failure that may have happened.

The incident left Renner with blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries.

New video shows Jeremy Renner's helicopter flight to a hospital shortly after his horrific snowplowing accident, and TMZ has learned new details about his injuries which caused him to lose a serious amount of blood.

The video, obtained by TMZ, starts right after the two-time Oscar nominee was loaded onto the chopper Sunday around 9:50 AM. Eyewitnesses tell us Jeremy was plowing the road about a quarter mile from his Tahoe home so his family could get out after a massive New Year's eve storm.

According to a neighbor, the plowing machine -- called a Snowcat -- accidentally ran over one of Jeremy's legs, and he was losing a lot of blood from the injury. We're told another neighbor, who's a doctor, was able to put a tourniquet on his leg until paramedics arrived.

We're told the area was treated like an active crime scene ... with police arriving at 8 PM to impound the Snowcat, which Jeremy's previously posted video of himself using on his property after snowstorms. The issue, we're told, is the machine has extensive safety features, and should not have rolled over Jeremy.

As we reported, Jeremy is in "critical but stable condition with injuries suffered after experiencing a weather-related accident while plowing snow" ... according to a rep.

According to dispatch audio, obtained by TMZ, first responders were initially concerned about the conditions to access the accident due to the storm.

A source close to Jeremy tells us his injuries are "extensive" -- along with his leg, other parts of his body have been injured.

Leonardo DiCaprio continues to be one of the most eligible bachelors in Hollywood, spending time on a luxury yacht surrounded by a ton of hot women in bikinis.

A shirtless Leo was spotted in St. Barts Monday while getting some serious vitamin D and chatting it up with multiple models on board before taking a dip and then laying in the sun.

Unclear who all of Leo's female friends are ... but one of the bikini-babes was Madison Headrick, Leo's pal Joe Nahmad's fiancee.

Of course, Leo recently ended his relationship with Camila Morrone, after several years together.

He's been linked to several others since the split, including Gigi Hadid and more recently has reportedly been spending time with 23-year-old actress Victoria Lamas.

Jeremy Renner was seriously injured during a snowplowing accident at a Nevada ski resort -- and had to be airlifted to a hospital.

The two-time Oscar-nominated actor was in "critical but stable condition with injuries suffered after experiencing a weather-related accident while plowing snow earlier [Sunday],” a rep told Deadline.

The rep says Jeremy's receiving excellent care, but would not disclose details about the accident or the injuries.

Renner has a house in the Mount Rose Ski Tahoe resort near Reno, which got slammed by a snowstorm on New Year's Eve. Thousands of homes in the area apparently lost power ... it's not clear if Jeremy's house was also impacted.

As you probably know, Renner was nominated for an Academy Award in 2010 for his performance in the film, "The Hurt Locker." The following year ... he got another Oscar nom for his role in "The Town." He has also starred in countless other movies, including "The Avengers" and "Captain America: Civil War."

Mekhi Phifer has some bad news for "8 Mile" fans, on the heels of the flick's platinum anniversary -- don't waste time looking for a sequel, ''cause it ain't happening!!!

We caught up with the "8 Mile" star shortly after the classic film marked its 20th anniversary ... and we had to ask if there was anything in the works for a new story related to the OG characters.

Mekhi tells TMZ Hip Hop ... there will never be a follow-up to the film, as far as he's concerned. He says, sometimes it's best to leave the classics alone ... adding there's never been any convo about making one happen.

Now, he does acknowledge a sequel could be interesting -- just story-wise -- but he says he wouldn't want to be in it, and he doubts his costar Eminem would be a part of it either.

As far as their relationship goes ... he says they're still pals and they keep in touch. He adds, Em is focusing more on his music right now, so that's another reason they won't be returning to 8 Mile Road.

Since the film dropped in November 2002, Eminem's music career's had its ups and downs, but he's still widely recognized as a hip hop icon ... and he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year.

From Mr. Paris to Mr. Bond -- that seems to be the trajectory Lucien Laviscount might be on ... if you believe the reports that he's in the running as the next 007.

The British actor -- famous for his recurring role on Netflix's 'Emily in Paris' -- is said to have captured the attention of movie producer Barbara Broccoli ... who also holds the rights to the James Bond franchise, and who's in search of a new agent to replace Daniel Craig.

According to the Daily Mail ... his work in 'EIP' -- where he plays the main character's love interest, Alfie -- is what landed him as a frontrunner for the job. He's been on for 2 seasons.

DM cites one purported insider as saying, "Lucien ticks all of the boxes. He is a super talented actor, is extremely handsome and in the past 18 months has won lots of new fans since he joined Emily In Paris. Bond bosses are already saying how you can see him in the 007 tuxedo, how dapper and fitting to the role he will look."

The thing that might hurt him, apparently ... his time on 'Celebrity Big Brother,' on which he competed in 2011. According to this source, the Bond producers think it's low brow stuff not fitting of a Bond actor, even though they're supposedly still pretty high on him in general.

The other interesting tidbit coming out of this report ... Broccoli is said to have greenlit stunt work testing over at Pinewood Studios, where they've shot a lot of Bond content. If true, that would mean they're ramping up to start the next chapter post-Craig/'No Time to Die.'

There'd been rumblings that Idris Elba was being considered to play the next Bond, but frankly ... he's too old, and Lucien fits the bill for what Broccoli and co. have recently said they want in their next iteration of the character. A young whippersnapper, that is.

We'll say this ... Lucien's definitely got the look down. Handsome, fit and natural elegance. All the right stuff that makes Bond an international heartthrob.

Here's hoping the Bond honchos figure it out sooner than later. The gap between Pierce Brosnan and Craig (4 years) was longer than any period from previous actors -- meaning, when one guy left ... the other slid in rather seamlessly in a matter of a year or two.

Ice Cube says he's never giving up on the fight to obtain the rights to his beloved "Friday" franchise -- but won't go to court to get the job done.

TMZ Hip Hop recently caught the legendary rapper outside of Dash Radio, asking him about his struggle to own "Friday" and about any potential spin-off opportunities for the franchise.

Cube, clearly amused by the question, reminded us the contracts he's got with Warner Bros for the film have a ton of fine print -- including that using the same characters in any capacity on a new project wouldn't fly.

Cube has been pushing to get the rights back from WB for years now ... and it's been an uphill battle. Several original cast members like Tommy Lister Jr. and Anthony Johnson have passed away and Cube recently scoffed at the suggestion from Mike Tyson to buy his own rights back.

Angela Bassett's son pulled a pretty mean prank on his mom to cap off the year -- telling her Michael B. Jordan had just died (not true) ... but he realized it wasn't a good idea.

The actress' 16-year-old, Slater, posted a since-deleted video to his TikTok account this weekend ... a quick 20-second clip showing him break some would-be tragic news to AB -- namely, that another one of her "Black Panther" costars had passed away.

He's obviously trying to get a crazy reaction out of Angela, and boy does he get it ... you see his mom freaking out, saying "no" repeatedly as she approaches to see what he's seeing.

It sounds like Slater might've said he was joking in the clip, and we don't get to see what Angela's reaction is once she realizes the death story is fake. But, we imagine it wasn't great ... because, like we said, Slater took the video down -- but he's getting dragged regardless.

His video was captured by folks and is spreading like wildfire on social media ... and the consensus seems to be -- dude, how could you do that to your mom?!? Even as a prank.

Of course, Angela has already experienced tremendous loss on this front with the passing of Chadwick Boseman. As everyone knows, both Chadwick and Michael starred in the original "Black Panther" ... and the latter made a cameo in the recent sequel. So, they're all tight.

Neither Angela nor Slater have addressed the joke-gone-wrong since it went up. But, in light of the backlash, it's probably best to leave these fake death announcements in 2022.

Lord knows we already got our fair share of real deaths this year, especially in these last few days. Considering everything the 'BP' family has gone through, something like this would be way too much.

A valuable lesson learned, indeed.

Leslie Jordan fans are eager to get their hands on the place he was just about to call home ... hoping to buy the new condo he purchased right before he died.

The condo was listed a few weeks ago, and fans have been flocking to the property ... so says Eric Ronjoy, the listing agent. He says some fans are even reaching out just to tour!

We're told some folks inquiring about the pad are self-proclaimed Leslie Jordan fans ... who feel a connection to the property since he bought it right before he passed and would have been the first property he ever owned.

Eric tells us ... out of 30 groups who have recently toured, half are lookie-loos who just wanted to see where Leslie was planning to live. Others are people interested in purchasing. One potential buyer even toyed with the idea of turning the condo into a Leslie Jordan memorial.

Some of you might remember the heartwarming video he posted back in August ... and he was over the moon about his new home.

TMZ broke the story ... Leslie died in October after suffering a medical emergency ... crashing his BMW into the side of a building.

In addition to the Leslie Jordan hook, the 2-bedroom pad has a lot of cool amenities ... including a rooftop pool, tennis court, gym and a balcony.

Before he died, Ronjoy says LJ ordered around $500K worth of new furniture. Fortunately, the purchases were canceled after he passed.

So far, no one has made an offer ... but with all the interest, it should only be a matter of time.

Actor Bob Penny, who scored minor roles in the films "Forrest Gump" and "Sweet Home Alabama," has died.

Bob passed away in Huntsville, Alabama on Christmas Day, according to an online obit from Laughlin Service Funeral Home. His cause of death was not disclosed.

Penny was a bit part actor in dozens of films and TV shows during his long career stretching back to the '80s. Some of his movie credits include, “Mississippi Burning,” “My Cousin Vinny” and “The Legend of Bagger Vance." He played a “crony” in “Forrest Gump,” and a bumbling, small-town lawyer in “Sweet Home Alabama." He also landed a role in the TV series “In the Heat of the Night.”

He began his acting career doing TV commercials for a local department store and ad campaigns for The United Way.

Bob was 87.

Mark Wahlberg is all sun, smiles and muscles this holiday season -- hitting the beach with his family in tow.

Mark and his wife, Rhea Durham, were spotted in Barbados this week getting a little rest and relaxation before hitting the water to cool off. The two seem to be recharging before 2023 -- and what better spot to do it than on the Caribbean island.

Always a health junkie, the 51-year-old recently revealed he's altered his workout routine ... now waking up at 2:30 in the morning instead of 3:30 to complete his daily exercise.

UFC fighter Angela Hill's grandfather and wife claimed they were abducted in one of the most famous UFO encounters ever, and now Barack Obama and his production company are making a Netflix movie on the notorious incident.

And, Angela tells us she wants to be a part of the project!

If you're not familiar, Barney and Betty Hill claimed they were both abducted by extraterrestrials in a rural area of New Hampshire in mid-September 1961. The incident called the "Hill Abduction," was the first widely publicized abduction.

The Hills said they were driving when they witnessed a flying saucer-type object with humanoid figures inside, watching them ... which eventually shot some sort of light at their vehicle. They came to two hours later, 35 miles away from their last known location and with little recollection of anything that occurred.

Now, Barack and Michelle Obama's Higher Ground Productions is reportedly creating a movie titled "White Mountain" that's based on the encounter.

We asked Hill, who posted on social media earlier in the week about her desire to be a part of the project, if any reps for the former president or anyone else had reached out.

"No, no. I just put it out there because it's not the first thing I've heard," Angela said, adding, "Ever since they released those documents, the UFO documents that they were hiding for so long, ever since that, I think it was about two years ago, I've been seeing a lot of Barney and Betty Hill stuff in production."

37-year-old Hill added ... "It sucks when you see something being produced and it's already greenlit, it's ready to go and you're like man I really wish my family was part of it because we've pretty much been written out of that part of the story. I think it's one of the parts that make it more interesting."

Details outside of the Obama's involvement and name of the project are not yet known.

We also asked Hill what she'd say to the people behind the movie.

Stephen Greif, who played Speaker of the House Sir Bernard Weatherill on Season 4 of "The Crown," has died.

Greif's reps announced his death Monday, but did not disclose the cause.

The British actor's role in the Netflix hit was his most recognized, but he was a working actor for many decades with numerous credits.

Greif appeared in Touchstone Pictures' flick, "Casanova" back in 2005. He was on numerous TV shows, including "Tales of the Unexpected," and he appeared in the '70s science fiction series, "Blake's 7."

He was also a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company back in the '60s.

His fellow actors took to social media in droves honoring him, one calling Greif "a consummate professional and an absolute gent."

He's survived by 2 sons.

Stephen Greif was 78.

Margot Robbie's latest film bombed at the box office, marking the second such flop she's been in this year ... both of which were huge ensemble numbers with top A-list talent.

Of course, we're talking about 'Babylon' -- which hit theaters this holiday weekend ... and only raked in a meager $3.5 million domestically through Sunday, with an estimated $5.3 mil expected to come in through Monday. Either way ... it's not a good turnout whatsoever.

The movie -- which is about old Hollywood and the emergence of "talkies" -- had massive star power attached to the credits ... in addition to Margot as the lead, it also featured Brad Pitt, Tobey Maguire, Olivia Wilde, Chloe Fineman, Eric Roberts, Flea, Max Minghella, etc.

Plus, there's the director -- Damien Chazelle -- who's an Oscar winner ... and with a somewhat hefty budget of $80 million (and a lot of marketing) it's unclear why this one didn't do well with moviegoers this holiday season. The mixed reviews probably didn't help.

Interestingly, there's another movie Margot was a part of earlier this fall that had very similar vibes -- another star-studded lineup (Christian Bale, Robert De Niro, Rami Malek, Taylor Swift, etc.) that came together for 'Amsterdam' ... which also flamed out in theaters.

It only made about $6.4M during its opening weekend in Oct., and went on to collect just $16M or so domestically overall -- this after yet another $80 mil budget spent to make it.

Bit of a tough year for Margot on the film front -- not only were things meh at the box office ... but she also said the 'Pirates' movie she was attached to had been killed by Disney -- even though one of the producers for the franchise insisted that's not quite the case.

She's got a lot on the horizon for 2023, though -- MR's already set to star in 'Barbie', as well as a Wes Anderson flick, 'Asteroid City,' ... not to mention her own 'Ocean's Eleven' prequel. The only (potential) problem ... all of those will have super stacked casts too.