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Sydney Sweeney's former acting coach is jumping to her defense after her talent and looks were slammed by a Hollywood producer.

Scott Sedita from Scott Sedita Acting Studios tells TMZ ... Sydney is a well-trained actress, whose career started when she was just a teenager. While he agrees Sydney doesn't have "supermodel" good looks, Scott does say she's beautiful for a myriad of other reasons.

As he put it to us, "Sydney is beautiful because she has inner depth, intellect, compassion, style and facial features -- eyes, smile, cheekbones -- that the camera angles pick up on. The camera loves her 'look' as well as the audience. Audiences love her because she’s relatable and approachable."

Jessica Chastain's claim about a popular baby name isn't holdin' water -- while she says lots of fans are naming kids after her "Interstellar" character ... Babynames.com says that's not the case.

The online database for baby names tells TMZ ... the name "Murph" -- Chastain's character's name from the hit 2014 movie -- isn't the big hit she thinks it is.

Babynames.com used the Social Security Office data, and it says "Murph" didn't make the top 1,000 names ... for men or women in any year.

Sydney Sweeney's camp hasn't wasted time clapping back at the attack on her looks and acting chops by a Hollywood producer ... even though the woman herself is walking it back.

A rep for the "Euphoria" actress called out Carol Baum for her recent remarks that classified SS as "not pretty" and not a good actress, saying, "How sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman."

The rep adds, "If that’s what she’s learned in her decades in the industry and feels is appropriate to teach to her students, that’s shameful. To unjustly disparage a fellow female producer speaks volumes about Ms Baum’s character.”

Chris Pratt looked like a legit action hero while filming a scene for his new movie -- and he's doing all his own stunts, it seems ... chasing a fictional bad guy into the Pacific Ocean.

The actor was spotted this week in costume and in character as an LAPD officer, shooting scenes up in Malibu -- which included one set piece that required him to chase a dude down into the sea, fully clothed mind you.

Chris was on the move in another clip too ... where he was seen holding out his gun and telling someone to get down. BTW, this movie he's filming is called 'Mercy,' and it's a sci-fi thriller where he plays a detective accused of a crime and needing to prove his innocence.

Sydney Sweeney ain't as hot as we all think ... that's Hollywood producer Carol Baum's take, anyway, and she's teeing off on the actress' looks and acting ability.

Carol ripped into Sydney during a discussion before a screening of her 1988 film, "Dead Ringers" -- and kinda outta nowhere, she took issue with Sydney's recent romantic comedy, "Anyone But You" ... slamming it as unwatchable.

Carol -- whose credits include "Father of the Bride" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" -- said she'd asked her students at USC to explain the craze surrounding Sydney.

Bill Maher went in hard for Woody Allen, saying flatly he doesn't believe the sexual abuse allegations and thinks actors who won't work with him are "pu**ies."

Bill was chatting it up with Katie Couric on his 'Club Random' podcast when Allen's name came up. Maher said, "I respect the artist and the man," and then he bore in on the long-standing allegations that Allen sexually abused Dylan, his adopted daughter when she was 7.

Bill believes the story was engineered by Mia Farrow to gain an advantage in their bitter divorce, saying Farrow was motivated by vindictiveness.

Johnny Depp hasn't retired from acting, despite the fact he's currently giving all his attention to directing right now ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to Johnny tell TMZ ... the Oscar nominee isn't done with performing in front of the camera, but his current passion has been directing the biopic "Modi," as he's been very happy being back in the director's chair.

The forthcoming drama about the life of Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani stars Riccardo Scamarcio, Sally Phillips and Al Pacino ... and the film has already gotten great buzz. It's his first time directing a feature film since 1997's "The Brave" ... which he also co-starred in with Marlon Brando.

The new trailer for "Joker: Folie à Deux" is stirring up some buzz among moviegoers and some filmmakers, who think some scenes very closely echo the musical "La La Land."

Austin Gorg, the art director of Damien Chazelle’s 2016 hit, "La La Land," hasn't really noticed the comparisons himself ... but he tells TMZ any similarities are no big deal 'cause filmmaking often involves borrowing a bit of inspiration from other people's work.

Austin reckons the Todd Phillips-directed 'Joker 2' drawing comparisons to Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone's flick is likely just a case of both films tapping into well-worn cinematic tropes explored by many movies -- as he points out, "La La Land" was essentially a love letter to classic films, even using sets from old-school musicals.

Prop tanks from the 2014 war film "Fury" are about to hit the auction block, and they're expected to fetch tens of thousands.

Tracks & Trade -- an auction platform for unique historical military vehicles -- has listed the 2 tanks featured in the movie starring Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf, which were used in place of actual WWII vehicles during filming to prevent potential damage to the authentic ones.

One of the tanks listed is called the "Sherman," while the other is named the "Tiger" -- the latter which had limited gear change opportunities.

Sydney Sweeney and fellow actress Hadley Robinson had a euphoric night out in Key West ... as the duo belted out some karaoke gold.

The "Anyone But You" costars hit up The Backyard Bar in Key West, FL Saturday night ... and what they may have lacked in vocals, they definitely made up for in flair!

Hadley kicked things off with a spirited rendition of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" ... followed by a group performance of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline."

Eleanor Coppola -- the filmmaker and wife of famed director Francis Ford Coppola -- has died ... according to a statement made by her family.

The matriarch of the famous film family passed away Friday at her home in Rutherford, CA ... a small town in Napa Valley. They did not give a cause of death.

Eleanor met Francis in 1962 while working as an assistant art director on his first movie, "Dementia 13" ... and the couple started dating.

Eleanor got pregnant shortly thereafter, married Coppola in Las Vegas and gave birth to their first son, Gian-Carlo.

Michael Jackson's biopic promises to be a pretty long film -- that's what the film's key producer is saying anyway, and it's gonna be chock-full of all his greatest hits.

Graham King made a surprise appearance at Lionsgate's CinemaCon panel Wednesday, where he talked about the forthcoming "Michael" movie that chronicles the late singer's life ... and they even played a first-look trailer at the event.

The footage for that has yet to surface publicly, but word is ... it looks pretty dang good.

Margot Robbie is the go-to gal for toy-inspired movies after "Barbie" ... this time passing go and collecting laughs with the movie adaptation of the classic board game, "Monopoly."

The actress and her production company, LuckyChap, are teaming up with toy giant Hasbro Entertainment and Lionsgate to take a trip around the board and bring it to life for the big screen ... news that just came out Wednesday at CinemaCon.

The "Monopoly" movie concept has been brewing for a while now, with actor Kevin Hart and director Tim Story reportedly attached to the project back in 2019.

Hundreds of Black and non-binary artists are rallying around Francesca Amewudah-Rivers in the wake of the racial abuse she's facing since being cast opposite Tom Holland in "Romeo & Juliet."

An open letter -- initiated by Susan Wokoma and Somalia Nonyé Seaton -- was signed by almost 900 performers and published Wednesday in The Guardian ... where they praised Francesca as a rising star in London's West End theater district.

However, the note also addressed the racially charged abuse Francesca faced after being revealed as the romantic lead in the new production of the Shakespeare classic.

The casting director of "Tulsa King" claims she quit after Sylvester Stallone insulted the extras on the set, but the director tells TMZ no such insults were hurled and she quit because she was called out for not doing her job.

Casting Supervisor Rose Locke reportedly claimed Sly and the director called the extras "ugly, "tub of lard" and referred to one actor as a "fat guy with cane." A Facebook page for the Atlanta-based actors claims the man with the cane said the comment "hurt his soul."

According to a Facebook post, Locke also claimed Sly said, "Bring in pretty young girls to be around me."

Mel Gibson's infamous arrest and antisemitic tirade in 2006 left him blacklisted for years ... but he's now giving thanks to pal Robert Downey Jr. for throwing his legacy a lifeline.

The actor/director gave his thanks to RDJ in a new Esquire interview profiling the recent Oscar winner -- and he detailed how Rob was one of the only A-listers back in the day who were willing to give him a second chance

MG says, "One time, I got into a bit of a sticky situation where it kind of ended my career. I was drunk in the back of a police car and I said some stupid s**t, and all of a sudden: blacklisted. I’m the poster boy for canceled."