Celebrity World Archives

Mel Gibson has been hired to co-write and direct a remake of The Wild Bunch. The original 1969 Western movie, directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden, followed an aging outlaw band caught up in changing times and a last job gone terribly wrong. Though the film met with some controversy upon release, it’s become a classic of American film. Director Tony Scott was originally attached to a remake, but his untimely death in 2012 put the project on hold indefinitely. Now the remake has been revived with Gibson at the helm. Gibson has had his share of ups and downs over the last decade, but his career has been on the rise after his most recent directorial effort, 2016’s Hacksaw Ridge, earned nominations for Best Director, Best Picture, and a number of other awards. 

“America’s Got Talent” finalist Michael Ketterer will no long perform at the Garth Brooks concert at Notre Dame Stadium after he was arrested on a domestic violence charge last week. The 41-year-old Ketterer, a father of six, came in fifth place on the most recent season of AGT. On Wednesday’s finale, Ketterer — a pediatric mental health nurse from Knoxville, Tennessee — performed the song that Brooks wrote for him, and Brooks also invited the singer to perform the song in front of 86,000 people at his upcoming show. However following the arrest, both men decided together that it’s best for him to not perform. “Called him this weekend, we talked. We decided it was better that he not appear at Notre Dame and not perform there,” Garth said on his Inside Studio G Facebook Live show on Monday, September 24. “That family will figure it out and find it within themselves, and of course the good Lord, and figure it out. Michael Ketterer will not be at Notre Dame.”

On Monday, Celine Dion announced she’s ending her Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace after eight years. Her last show will be on June 8, 2019. Pre-sale for the final shows (Feb. 26 to June 8) will start on Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 10 a.m. PT, before the public on-sale date of Friday, Sept. 28 at 10 a.m. PT. Dion said in a statement posted on Facebook: “I definitely have mixed emotions about this final run. Las Vegas has become my home and performing at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace has been a big part of my life for the past two decades. It’s been an amazing experience and I’m so grateful to all the fans who have come to see us throughout the years. Every show we do at the Colosseum throughout this fall, and right up until the final one, will feel very special.” 

Jane Fonda in Five Acts, a documentary premiering this month on HBO, explores the complicated and fascinating life of one of America’s most famous celebrities. “There’s a whole segment of the population who only knows her from the workout tape or who only knows her [as] Hanoi Jane, or who only knows her from Grace and Frankie,” Jane Fonda in Five Acts’s director, Susan Lacy said in an interview. “I would say that this is a woman who has led the way for six decades or more as a great actress, a great activist, [and] an extraordinary beacon for feminism…That’s why it’s called Jane Fonda in Five Acts. Because there’s so many different parts to Jane.” “Jane Fonda in Five Acts ” will receive a brief theatrical opening ahead of its Sept. 24 premiere on HBO and its streaming platforms. 

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” announced Friday that comedienne Ego Nwodim will join the cast of late-night show when Season 44 kicks off later this month. Nwodim made a name for herself at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade in Los Angeles and has appeared in roles in several film and TV projects, including “Law & Order True Crime” and “2 Broke Girls.”  SNL has also added four new writers to the mix: Alan Linic, Alison Gates, Eli Mandel and Bowen Yang. Nwodim will make her debut on “SNL’s” season premiere on September 29, which Adam Driver is set to host along with Kanye West as the musical guest.