Tag: legend

MCU Legend Ming-Na Wen Basically Has Disney's Version of an EGOT

Being an EGOT (winning a Tony, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) is a rare designation for a notable. Only 15 exist in the world, though more are almost there. However, in the world of Disney, a whole other process exists.

Those loyal to the Disney studios long-term are often rewarded in some way, sometimes with their own award for legendary status. One of the recent standouts is Ming-Na Wen.

Wen has worked for Disney going back two decades, with her most famous job being the voice of Mulan in the self-titled 1998 animated classic. After that, her career with Disney went in some ironic directions.

It led to her being one of the few working for four different Disney studios, now a Disney EGOT designation.

The first Disney project Ming-Na Wen worked on was not ‘Mulan’

RELATED: Ming-Na Wen: Joining the Star Wars Universe Was a Lifelong Dream Come True

Perhaps it might surprise some to learn Wen’s first job with Disney was not voicing Mulan. Her movie career essentially began winning a role in the ensemble The Joy Luck Club in 1993. This was produced by Walt Disney Studios (or Hollywood Pictures at the time).

Her role in that as daughter June Woo was a standout. No doubt Disney put her to the front of the list for any future projects, even if Wen became booked with other acting jobs for the next five years.

For whatever reason, The Joy Luck Club did not take her into the stratosphere like it should have. The movies and TV roles she did over the next several years arguably never lived up to her true abilities.

Once her voice became iconic in 1998’s Mulan, her association with Disney was on solid ground, if also spread out over the next 20 years.

Continuing to work for Disney Animation Studios

A few years passed, but Wen went back working for Disney Animation after Mulan. She voiced the Mulan character in 2002 for Disney’s House of Mouse. It was a series designed for Saturday mornings on ABC, one of the last remnants of such programming for kids.

A few years later, she voiced Mulan yet again in the direct-to-video release of Mulan II. As much as people derided Disney’s decision to go into animated sequels, it would become Wen’s last work for Disney Animation to date.

By this time, she had worked for two Disney studio divisions. Little did she know she would eventually do a full-circle trip back to Disney thanks to the Mouse House acquiring so many media properties.

Winning roles in Disney-owned studio projects

RELATED: Sweet Fan Theory Finally Connects ‘Agents of SHIELD’ Back to the Larger MCU

Landing a role as Agent Melinda May in Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD was another casting coup for Wen. When winning the role in 2013, Disney did not yet own Marvel, adding some odd synchronism when Disney bought the studio while Wen was still on the show.

This confluence of irony also led to her being cast as Fennec Shand in The Mandalorian last year. Had Disney not bought Lucasfilm or Marvel, perhaps Wen would have never worked for Disney again.

As Screen Rant points out, this places her in a unique position as the equivalent of a Disney EGOT. The only thing potentially progressing this further is if she does the voice of a character in a Pixar feature.

Oddly enough, she was never asked to participate in the still unreleased live-action remake of Mulan.

What other associations will Ming-Na Wen have with Disney?

Already designated a Disney Legend, Wen may have a stronger association with Disney now than when she first started. Her role as Fennec Shand looked like it ended with her death in the first season of The Mandalorian. Yet, with some mystery behind that (possibly related to Boba Fett rescuing her), a good bet exists Fennec is still alive.

If so, it means fans will likely see Wen again just as she wraps up her association with Agents of SHIELD. Perhaps eventually, Wen will double-back and do something for Disney Animation again, proving one thing Disney has always done: They keep reusing their talent often through the decades.

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WWE legend Undertaker admits Goldberg match was ‘couple of inches from being catastrophic’ as he narrowly avoided injury – The Sun

THE UNDERTAKER admits his botched match with Goldberg was just “a couple of inches from being catastrophic”.

The 55-year-old Dead Man battled the WCW legend, 52, in a dream match in June last year at Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia but things ended badly.


Taker looked furious after he claimed victory in an error-strewn clash that failed to deliver after a number of mistakes.

And afterwards Goldberg, who busted his head open during the contest, took to Twitter to answer his critics and admitted he had let down his supporters with his performances.

He wrote: “Knocked myself out and thought I could finish…. love my fans…..but let u down.

“Everyone else that found ‘pleasure’ ….. hope ur happy.”

The match was Goldberg’s first in over two years since he lost to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 33, but despite it lasting just under nine minutes, it was heavily criticised.

It began in explosive fashion as Goldberg hit Taker with two spears before his physical condition quickly declined after colliding head first with a ring post, which caused him concussion.

He continued to fight and attempted to hit the Reaper with a jackhammer, but the weary Goldberg could hardly lift his foe and he ended up dropping Taker on his neck.

Worse was to come as Goldberg himself narrowly avoided a broken neck.

Undertaker lifted Goldberg up to hit his famous Tombstone piledriver, but the latter failed to tuck his head in between Taker’s legs, and that caused a sickening collision as the top of his skull struck the apron upon impact, bending his neck in the wrong direction.

And in an interview to promote the next episode of his “The Last Ride” documentary on the WWE Network, he has lifted the lid on the disaster for the very first time.

He told Pardon My Take podcast, he said: “The bump that I had in Saudi when I was working with Goldberg, I think that one was a couple of inches from being catastrophic.

“The way I hit on that one, it kind of set out nerve impulses to all of my injuries at once.

“It was like an electrical charge went through my body.”

You can watch Undertaker: The Last Ride exclusively on the WWE Network.

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Hollywood legend Mel Gibson reveals he wanted to film the whole of Braveheart in GAELIC – The Sun

HOLLYWOOD legend Mel Gibson has revealed he wanted to film the whole of Braveheart in GAELIC.

The actor and director dropped the bombshell during a UK exclusive chat with The Sun to mark the 25th anniversary of the blockbuster movie.

Eager to keep the William Wallace epic as authentic as possible, the Lethal Weapon and Mad Max star, 64, even learned some key phrases ahead of shooting the Oscar-winning flick.

But he dropped the idea after considering how it could appeal to a global audience.

Speaking from his Los Angeles home, Mel said: “It’s always been a thing of mine — an interest in languages which aren’t dead, but hardly spoken anymore.

“I’ve made two films like that. I found it to be something that would make it so real for people like with The Passion Of The Christ in Aramaic and Apocalypto in Mayan.

HOW KEY LINES COULD LOOK…

"They may take away our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!"

'S docha gun toir iad bhuainn ar beatha, ach cha toir iad bhuainn gu brath ar saorsa!

“There’s something utterly believable about people and their culture when it’s in another language.

“Ultimately, I didn’t have the stones to jump right in and do it at that point. It was only my second film and I thought it might not work so didn’t have the balls to do it until around ten years later.

“It’s also important for the audience to understand the words.

“I was jazzed by that idea but ultimately didn’t have the cojones to do it.”

He added: “I hung out with the Wallace clan in Glasgow and they say things all the time.

“I know how to say shut up and F**k off and do all that but that’s it.”

Mel, who is isolating at home with girlfriend Rosalind Ross, 29, and their three-year-old son Lars, admits he’s been thinking a lot about the impact of Braveheart during the pandemic.

The movie was hailed by historians as helping to pave the way for Scotland's independence referendum.

The flick — which took £300million at the box office — was the biggest movie ever shot in Scotland at the time.

Mel said: “I haven’t been following the ins and outs of the politics of Scotland. I’m not from Scotland so don’t really have the right to have a dog in that fight.

“But I thought it was phenomenal that a piece of art could influence how people govern themselves. It’s remarkable.

“I can say that 25 years goes by in a heartbeat and it still seems like yesterday. I wasn’t exactly a fledgling director as I had directed one small film and had put my toe in the water a year or two before Braveheart.

“This was the second outing and I just went big and, for its time and place, it was a big film.

“And had we not had the assistance of Scotland and Ireland in making it would have been almost impossible. They welcomed us with open arms.

“The drive from the hotel to Stirling Castle where we screened the film in Scotland for the first time was quite a journey. All the way there, I was amazed by the crowds as I’d never seen anything like it.

“There were so many people on the side of the road for the entire journey. I got choked up. It was an amazing experience.

“My 30-year-old son Milo sent me a photograph the other day of me standing on set in a raincoat with a kilt on looking glum on   a miserable day and he was this tiny kid standing there. I told him I want a copy.”

Last year Mel played a Scot for the first time since Braveheart when he portrayed Professor James Murray in the Professor And The Mad Man, who in 1879 began compiling the Oxford English Dictionary.

And he refuses to rule out a return for another flick.

He even has an idea for his pal and Braveheart screenwriter Randall Wallace to write a movie about The Battle Of Culloden in 1746.

Mel reckons the final confrontation in the Jacobite rising of 1745, would be different to Braveheart because the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart lost to British government forces in the Highlands. He said: “The Jacobites lost but it’s such a remarkable event in history and so sad.

“I remember watching a BBC film called Culloden, directed by Peter Watkins, when I was 12 years old.

“It was phenomenal and I remember thinking how crazy it was. It really fired my imagination.

“That’s another story you could tell. It’s very political and they almost pulled it off that time. Randall should look at that, why not!

“All the clans came down and it was an interesting time. Amazing yet so sad.

“I went to visit the battlefield and looked at the markers of all the dead,  they buried them with their families. It was pretty moving.”

However, Mel, who has multiple movies which can’t be released properly because of the pandemic, fears it could be a while before any of his big ideas come to fruition.

He stars in the flick Force Of Nature alongside Kate Bosworth and Emile Hirsch which is set for release next month.

He is also writing a film which he describes as a new take on The Wild Bunch, a 1969 western about a troop of ageing outlaws who  plot a grand heist.

With Hollywood shut down, he’s not sure how everything is going to pan out. Mel said: “I was in a few movies and two or three  are in the can but there’s nowhere to release in the cinema.

“Maybe they can have some kind of life on some of these streaming services but I don’t know how anybody is going to do it.

“The whole industry has been thrown to the dogs. I was talking to a theatre owner,  one of the big chain guys, who was telling me what he’s losing every month.

“It’s around $40million a month he’s just bleeding. He said he’d be OK until the New Year then he’d be out of business.

“And this is a big corporation so the cinema industry is being beaten to death by this pandemic and it’s hard to say where it’ll go.”

Mel was also scheduled for his first return to Scotland since Braveheart with An Experience With Mel Gibson on December 8 at Glasgow’s DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Glasgow Central. But after many other of his speaking engagements were cancelled, he’s hoping this one goes ahead.

Mel admitted: “I’ve not been back since Braveheart so I really want to get back.

“I’m hoping that it  will come together but what’s happening is so crazy that there’s no guarantees.

“But I’m sure it will all come together one way or another.”

 

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Boxing legend Carl Froch believes Earth is flat – and slams ‘fake’ Nasa – The Sun

BOXING legend Carl Froch has bizarrely claimed the Earth is flat – and accused space agency Nasa of being "fake".

The former super middleweight champion, 42, is adamant the entire planet has been sold a lie.

And he is certain the planet we all call home is flat – joining the likes of cricket great Freddie Flintoff in believing the conspiracy.

Froch told the Pound for Pound with Jake Wood and Spencer Oliver podcast: "The Earth is flat, 100 per cent.

"There's no proof of the Earth's curvature and this fake space agency Nasa use CGI images and every one is different.

"I'm looking at them thinking, 'Hang on a minute, they're like cartoons'.

"When someone like Richard Branson goes up there and starts doing chartered flights… and you can look back on Earth and see the Earth's curvature, I'll believe the Earth is a globe."

Froch, who retired in 2015 after winning 33 of his 35 fights, also reckons the moon landing in July 1969 by Neil Armstrong was faked.

Some of his fans weren't quite so sure, though.

'NASA IS A FAKE AND USE CGI IMAGES'

In response to Froch's claims, one said: "This is what happens when people hit you in the head for a living."

Another posted: "Please educate @Carl_Froch he's took too many blows to the dome."

The Cobra joins a list of well-known sporting stars who also believe the Earth is flat.

Ashes legend and England cricket hero Flintoff, 42, insists there is "evidence to suggest the world isn't round".

He told The Sun: "If you’re in a helicopter and you hover why does the Earth not come to you if it’s round?

"Why, if we’re hurtling through space, why would water stay still? Why is it not wobbling?

"Also if you fire a laser about 16 miles, if the world was curved, you shouldn’t be able to see it but you can.


"The middle is the North Pole, around the outside is the South Pole which is like a big wall of ice.

"This is why all governments now have bases on the South Pole."

Several NBA stars including Shaquille O'Neal have also come out in support of the theory.

LA Lakers icon O'Neal came to the conclusion after noticing the road was flat when he drove from Florida to California, and said: "It's true. The Earth is flat."

Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving issued an apology after he claimed: "This is not even a conspiracy theory. It's right in front of our faces. They lie to us.

"If you really think about it from the landscape of the way we travel, the way we move, and the fact that – can you really think of us rotating around the sun and all planets aligned, rotating in specific dates, being perpendicular with what's going on with these planets?

"The truth is right there. You've just got to go searching for it."

And a Spanish football club even changed their name to Flat Earth FC to publicise their owner's theory.

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John Legend Jokes That He Fell for Chrissy Teigen After Ed Hardy Show

Some throwback! Chrissy Teigen shared a very dated picture of herself at the Ed Hardy fashion show and John Legend joked that he knew then he wanted to spend forever with her.

Denise Richards Shares 7 Throwback Magazine Covers and Kyle Richards Has a Lot to Say About Them

On Wednesday, May 20, the 34-year-old model posted a #TBT from an Ed Hardy fashion show back in 2011. “2011. Ed Hardy fashion show. Almost positive Jon Gosselin sat front row,” she wrote in the accompanying caption. “I was star struck.” If only she knew what her life would become!

In Wednesday’s snap, the cookbook author has a full, flawless face of makeup, which includes a smokey eye, nude lip and an unbelievable glow. Her hair was braided at the front, with small plaits falling on either side of her face.

Chrissy Teigen Claps Back at a Troll Who Criticized Her ‘Square’ Body in a Swimsuit

“This was the year I proposed to you,” Legend wrote in the comments. “After seeing you in the Ed Hardy show, I was convinced you were the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.”

However, one fan pointed out that this picture, which Teigen found through the Instagram account @chrissyicon, was actually taken at another very hot 2011 brand’s show.

“You’re so gorgeous as always,” @bellechrissyt wrote in the comments. “I thought it was for True Religion Swimwear ! @chrissyteigen 😘💕.”

Teigen replied in agreement, “U are right!! I ran to Ed Hardy after.”

Continuing to reminisce, that same night the mom of two posted a couple of clips of her speaking backstage at the True Religion show to her Instagram Story. “F–king cringe, lol,” she wrote over top of one.

In one of the clips, she even discusses her then-boyfriend. “I mean he sings all the time. Like, that kid loves to sing,” she said. “I wish I could sing. I would sing all the time. Like I feel like I can’t sing in the car anymore.” We have a feeling that might have changed since then, though.

Listen on Spotify to Get Tressed With Us to get the details of every hair love affair in Hollywood, from the hits and misses on the red carpet to your favorite celebrities’ street style ‘dos (and don’ts!)

For access to all our exclusive celebrity videos and interviews – Subscribe on YouTube!

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WWE legend Nikki Bella reveals she was raped twice in high school in harrowing memoir – The Sun

WWE legend Nikki Bella is opening up about her painful past by revealing that she was raped twice in high school.

In her new memoir, Incomparable — co-written with twin sister Brie — the two-time Divas Champion plans to empower others after sharing the grueling details of her sexual assaults.

I finally got maternity clothes! I’m so grateful for @legoeheritage What I’m obsessed with them the most is their clothes don’t look like maternity, I still feel like me! And they are great for breastfeeding too! So it’s nice to buy maternity clothes that you can rock through your entire motherhood journey! 🥰 Use my code NIKKIXLEGOE for 10% off your purchase!

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The Total Bellas star, 36, wrote that when she was 15 years old, she was raped by a fellow high school student she "thought was a friend."

A year later, Nikki was attacked again after being drugged by a college-aged man.

People magazine quote her as writing: "There is the horrible offense in the moment, and then the shame and blame that follow and feel almost worse than the original pain.

"When something like this happens to you, you understand the blame-the-victim mentality, how easy it is to feel shame rather than anger, how easy it is to feel like you could have stopped it yourself."

Future WWE Hall of Famer Nikki, who is pregnant with her first child, admitted she spent years feeling ashamed and blamed herself for the horrific incidents.

If I'm having these younger women look up to me, maybe I can help them and have them not hold onto this as long as I did

She told People: "When that happened to me, I immediately just felt so ashamed and blamed myself, and that's what made me want to keep it such a secret.

"And keeping that a secret and blaming myself, I started to lose my confidence. I started to disrespect myself. And then the relationships I got into at a young age, I let other people disrespect me and felt like, that's okay, this is what I deserved."

The retired WWE star revealed she went to therapy "on and off" for years to deal with the trauma but wishes she would have "let go" of the emotions earlier in life.

Nikki – real name Stephanie Nicole Garcia-Colace – now hopes sharing her story can help others struggling in a similar situation.

She added: "When the #MeToo movement happened, I was just like, 'Oh my gosh'.

"I feel like, if I'm having these younger women look up to me, maybe I can help them and have them not hold onto this as long as I did.

"It wasn't until I was 28 and in a relationship where someone started to teach me how to respect myself. That's how long I held on to things and felt I had no boundaries.

"And I'd always look at Brie like, 'Oh, she has boundaries, she treats herself with such respect. How do I not have this?' And I knew why. But I held onto it for so long.

"When I look back at just decisions I made based off of it, I wish I could have heard my words now as a 36-year-old woman then, and be like, 'You're going to be OK.'"

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Writing our memoir with @eliseloehnen has been a project in the making for over two years. Elise didn’t realize (or may have lol) that it was very deep therapy sessions fro @thebriebella and I. She help bring out so much pain and victory that we held deep down and never knew how to express it. In this memoir we share stories that we never have told before and how we became the heroes of our own stories. This book is very deep, honest, funny and loving. Pre order it today! Click link in bio. Can’t wait for you all to read it! And a huge thank you to @simonandschuster for the faith in my sister and I as well as Jennifer Joel and her team at ICM, thank you for your motivation to tell our story so we can inspire others and help others become heroes of their own stories too! ❤️ #incomparable

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Writing our memoir with @eliseloehnen has been a project in the making for over two years. Elise didn’t realize (or may have lol) that it was very deep therapy sessions fro @thebriebella and I. She help bring out so much pain and victory that we held deep down and never knew how to express it. In this memoir we share stories that we never have told before and how we became the heroes of our own stories. This book is very deep, honest, funny and loving. Pre order it today! Click link in bio. Can’t wait for you all to read it! And a huge thank you to @simonandschuster for the faith in my sister and I as well as Jennifer Joel and her team at ICM, thank you for your motivation to tell our story so we can inspire others and help others become heroes of their own stories too! ❤️ #incomparable

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Man Utd legend Roy Keane silences Sky Sports host when asked about his beard leaving Neville and Carragher in stitches – The Sun

ROY KEANE this morning rendered Sky Sports presenter David Jones speechless in trademark fashion – leaving fellow pundits Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville in stitches.

The Irishman was appearing on "The Football Show", courtesy of a group video call with Jones, Carragher and Neville.

And the legendary former Manchester United skipper was seen on the call sporting a shaggy, greying beard.

The look evoked memories of Keane's time as assistant boss at Aston Villa, in which he sported huge, two-tone facial hair.

While not quite as long, and more grey than two-tone, Keane's new lockdown beard sparked a joke from Jones.

The host and Sunderland fan, with tongue in cheek, asked his guest: "182 days until hairdressers are open potentially, what's your reaction to that?"

To which the 48-year-old replied: "I didn't see that this morning, that's good… I don't know what you want me to say."

With Neville and Carragher giggling, Jones probed further, asking Keane: "Who does the beard normally?"

Keane, with the faintest hint of a smile, responded: "What do you mean who does the beard?"

Following further questioning from the determined Jones, Keane remained blunt, putting the matter to bed by saying flatly: "We'll see it goes."

Come on Dave, you're supposed to be a presenter!

Jones, seeing that he was getting nowhere ended the matter by saying: "Good," with the others in hysterics.

As he tried to move the conversation on Carragher, also sporting a beard, and Neville laughed at him, with Carra quipping: "You look a bit nervous Dave!"

Neville then added: "Come on Dave, you're supposed to be a presenter!"

Meanwhile Keane merely sat back and watched with a mildly amused grin.

The quartet were getting together via the internet from their respective homes, unable to make it to a studio because of the coronavirus lockdown.

 

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UFC legend Joe Rogan reveals dramatic transformation over past 23-years after footage emerges of first report – The Sun

THE UFC have released footage of Joe Rogan during his first ever event with the MMA promotion 23 years ago.

Legendary commentator Rogan has gone through a dramatic transformation from the start of his career to now, with his loss of hair the most striking change.

And fans could barely recognise the now esteemed pundit with a full head of hair.

One said: Ohhhhhh! He had a hair!

Another said: "Who is this stranger doing a damn good Joe rogan impression?"

The first event he covered was UFC 12, which took place on February 7, 1997, working as a backstage and post-fight interviewer.

But the American, who was also working in stand-up comedy, quit after two years as his wage barely covered the cost of travelling.

After Dana White's school friends Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta brought the UFC in 2001, Rogan was offered a commentary role.

He initially declined a staff job, and instead worked on the mic for the company in exchange for free tickets for him and his friends.

But in 2002 Rogan accepted a full-time commentator job and has remained a synonymous part of UFC fights nights ever since.

During his rise in notoriety, Rogan's podcast continued to grow.

And after 190 million downloads per month in 2019, according to Forbes, The Joe Rogan Experience is the most popular podcast, earning £24m in revenue.

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