KEVIN HART TO HOST MDA TELETHON: The Muscular Dystrophy Association is set to relaunch its signature event, the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, with Kevin Hart as host. The event has been renamed the MDA Kevin Hart Kids Telethon, and will aire globally on October 24th at 8 pm EST, with streaming partners to be announced. Hart will be joined by celebrity guests including Jack Black, Usain Bolt, Josh Gad, Michael B. Jordan, Eva Longoria, Jillian Mercado, among others. “This is an incredible opportunity to bring the work of Jerry Lewis and the Muscular Dystrophy Association forward,” Hart said. “I’m honored to collaborate with MDA and my organization, to educate and entertain the public about the need to support people with disabilities and disadvantages, because we are all in this together. I can’t wait to have an incredible night for two critically important causes that are in urgent need of funding and hope.” Donations will also go to Help From the Hart, which supports community-based organizations that address the educational, health and social needs of underserved communities.
9/11 FIRST RESPONDERS DOC IN THE WORKS: Activist John Feal and Jon Stewart‘s push to ensure that 9/11 first responders had access to affordable healthcare, is being explored in a new documentary. Paradox Pictures is producing the 90-minute doc No Responders Left Behind, and Blue Ant International has snagged global rights. Stewart told Deadline, “I have the greatest admiration for John Feal. He made all of this his life’s work. If he hadn’t done what he did for over 18 years, and gone to Washington, DC and knocked down so many doors to those who wouldn’t listen, it would not have gotten done. And then you have guys like Ray Pfeiffer, who had cancer and spent his final days in a wheelchair going door to door in Congress just so he could help out his brothers and sisters. It’s all just so admirable. John Feal’s passion forced the government to do the right thing. It should never have been this hard, but he refused to give up and he carried them through.”
DAISY RIDLEY TALKS CHARACTER CHAOS: In Star Wars, Daisy Ridley tells guest host Josh Gad on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that her character evolved and changed with different directors. “At the beginning, there was toying with an Obi-Wan connection — there were different versions — then it really went to it was no one, and then it came to episode nine and J.J. Abrams pitched me the film and was like 'Oh, yeah, Palpatine is granddaddy,' ” said Ridley. “Then two weeks later he was like, 'Oh, we’re not sure,' So, it kept changing. So, then even as we were filming, I wasn't sure what the answer was going to be.”
SHAWN MENDES TO PERFORM AT TIFF: Shawn Mendes will perform at the 2020 Toronto Film Festival Tribute Awards. Mendes will also unveil the Shawn Mendes Foundation Changemaker Award, given to a film that tackles issues of social change.
