newsmakers

newsmakers

Fallon takes ‘Tonight’ to Orlando this week

NEW YORK

Jimmy Fallon is visiting the Sunshine State for his first TV trip since taking over “The Tonight Show.”

The NBC show originates this week from the Universal Orlando Resort, where Fallon and company will tape editions to air through Thursday.

Guests included Jennifer Lopez and Keenen Ivory Wayans on Monday, and Jimmy Buffett and Kevin Hart are scheduled for tonight. Rosario Dawson joins Fallon on Wednesday, with George Lopez dropping by Thursday.

This Florida trip is the first week of remote tapings since Fallon took over the “Tonight Show” mantle from Jay Leno in February. With Fallon’s ascension to the host job, “Tonight” reclaimed New York as its home after decades based in Los Angeles.

“The Tonight Show” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m.

Spielberg’s next films set: spy thriller, ‘BFG’

NEW YORK

Steven Spielberg’s next two films have been slated for October 2015 and July 2016.

DreamWorks announced Monday that an untitled Cold War spy thriller from Spielberg will open Oct. 16 of next year, and “The BFG” is planned for July 1, 2016.

The Cold War thriller is to star Tom Hanks as James Donovan, an attorney negotiating the return of an American pilot from the Soviet Union in 1960. “The BFG” is a live-action adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1982 children’s book.

The 67-year-old Spielberg is juggling numerous producing jobs in television and film. His last directed movie was 2012’s Oscar-winning “Lincoln.”

‘Duck Dynasty’ kin running for Congress

BATON ROUGE, La.

A nephew of “Duck Dynasty’s” Phil Robertson says he is running for the Louisiana congressional seat held by Vance McAllister, who was elected with the TV family’s support and later was wrapped up in scandal when video surfaced showing him kissing a married staffer.

Zach Dasher, a 36-year-old Republican who has never run for office, said in a statement Monday announcing his candidacy for the Nov. 4 election that he opposed the federal health overhaul and abortion and supports a constitutional amendment requiring that Congress balance the budget.

“I got to looking around at the problems in politics today, and what I see in Washington, D.C., is no God. There is no God. The elite political class thinks they can be running our lives,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“I think there’s a vacuum in D.C. of people who understand where rights come from. Rights don’t come from men. They come from God.”

Associated Press