Spacey to "Voluntarily Appear" in U.K. Court to Face Sexual Assault Charges

►"I am entitled to a fair trial." Kevin Spacey says he plans to “voluntarily appear” before courts in the U.K. to defend himself against four charges of sexual assault that were authorized against him last week. In a statement given exclusively to ABC’s Good Morning America, the actor said he was “confident” he could prove his innocence against the charges brought by three men involving four separate incidents. The story. 

—"Everything’s not going to be for everybody." Ted Sarandos once again publicly defended Dave Chappelle's and Ricky Gervais' recent controversial comedy specials that have been criticized for being anti-trans, pointing to Netflix’s position on free speech. In a wide-ranging interview with the NYT published Saturday, Sarandos spoke about the backlash and doubled down in his support. The story. 

—Power cuts. Tim Robbins and Leslie Mann have exited Amazon Studios’ series The Power. Robbins and Mann’s roles in the thriller project, based on author Naomi Alderman’s 2016 novel of the same name, will be recast and reshot, according to a source familiar with the situation. The story. 

—"The end of an extraordinary and life changing journey." After seven seasons on AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead, original castmember Alycia Debnam-Carey has exited the series. Debnam-Carey played Alicia Clark on the show, which debuted in 2015 as a prequel to The Walking Dead. The story.

—Escaping the trial. Johnny Depp returned to his musical roots over the weekend, two days after lawyers delivered closing arguments in his defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard. According to multiple posts on social media and videos shared online, the actor surprised fans at a Jeff Beck concert Sunday in England. The story. 

'Top Gun 2' Opens to Record $156M 

►Tires kicked, fires lit. In a promising sign for the summer movie season, Top Gun: Maverick scored the best Memorial Day opening of all time with a projected three-day domestic haul of $126.7 million and $156 million for the four days. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was the previous record holder with a treasure chest of $153 million.

THR's Pamela McClintock writes that Top Gun 2’s launch is without a doubt a career best for Tom Cruise, and is the first time he has had a film open to $100 million or more.

Overseas, Top Gun 2 is doing equally impressive business, considering it isn’t playing in either China or Russia. The film opened to $124 million from 62 markets for an early global haul of at least $248 million through Sunday and more than $280 million through Monday. The box office report. 

—"Most beautiful person inside and out." Ray Liotta’s fiancee Jacy Nittolo reflected on her relationship with the late star in a touching tribute posted to social media. In her Instagram post Saturday, Nittolo, who had been engaged to Liotta since late 2020, shared a number of photos of the couple. The story.

—For the war effort. Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra, which won the Eurovision Song Contest, has sold off its trophy for $900,000 to raise money for drones for the country’s armed forces fighting Russia’s invasion. The money raised would be used to buy three Ukraine-made PD-2 drones, TV presenter Serhiy Prytula, who hosted the auction, announced. The story. 

—A first. Saudi Arabia will soon be getting its own remake of The Office. BBC Studios, which owns the format rights, and MBC Studios, the production arm of Saudi-owned Middle East satellite giant MBC, have unveiled Al Maktab, the first Arabic-language version of the long-running and award-winning comedy series. The story. 

—Surprise! Bo Burnham found a memorable way to celebrate the one-year anniversary of his award-winning Netflix special, Bo Burnham: Inside. On Monday, the comedian took to social media to announce he was sharing 63 minutes of previously unseen footage that had been recorded for Inside. The story. 

—"Our family is dealing with an overwhelming grief for the loss of my daughter." Master P took to social media on Sunday to share the news that his daughter Tytyana Miller had passed away. She was 29. She appeared with Master P and her brother Romeo Miller on Growing Up Hip Hop in 2016. The story. 

—"I feel so helpless." Wynonna Judd on Sunday opened up about the death of her mother and singing partner, Naomi Judd, who died by suicide April 30 following a long struggle with mental health issues. In a heartfelt Instagram post, she wrote about the pain of her mother’s death and her feelings of helplessness. The story.

THR Critics Pick 20 Cannes Favorites

►Crème de la crème. A Queens-set memory piece from James Gray, a career best from Léa Seydoux, a devastating donkey story and a documentary about surgery that would make Cronenberg blush were among THR film critics' faves from the Cannes Film Festival. The picks. 

—Five takeaways. THR's Scott Roxborough, Alex Ritman and Patrick Brzeski run through the major talking points from the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Not only did organizers have to pull off a maskless/testless fest in the middle of a still-raging pandemic, but Cannes coming just as theaters worldwide are reopening made the 75th-anniversary event a litmus test for the health of the movie industry. The takeaways. 

—ICYMI. Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness, a broad, raucous satire on modern-day capitalism, won the Palme d’Or for best film at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. This is Östlund’s second Palme, after his last film, The Square, a satire on the art world, won the top prize in 2017. Cannes Grand Prix, the runner-up prize, was awarded Ex aequo to Claire Denis’ Stars at Noon and to Close, a coming-of-age story from Belgian director Lukas Dhont. The winners. 

TV Review: 'Pistol'

►"Lots of swagger, little substance." THR TV critic Angie Han reviews FX’s Pistol. The Danny Boyle-directed miniseries chronicles the meteoric rise and crash of the Sex Pistols amid the late 1970s London punk scene, based on the memoir by guitarist Steve Jones. The review. 

—"Inspired and inspiring." THR critic Sheri Linden reviews Julie Bertuccelli's Jane Campion: The Cinema Woman. Drawing upon interviews from throughout the filmmaker’s career, Bertuccelli’s documentary explores the process and philosophy of the Power of the Dog helmer. The review. 

In other news...

—Stranger Things star Charlie Heaton addresses fan complaints about his character’s path

—Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi on why they are helping save Rwanda’s gorillas

—Karlovy Vary Film Festival unveils lineup, including Jake Paltrow’s Adolf Eichmann drama June Zero

—“Weird Al” Yankovic reacts to Stranger Things season 4 reference to him

—French journalist fatally hit by shell shrapnel while covering Ukrainian evacuation operation

—Snoop Dogg cancels upcoming non-U.S. shows, citing “unforeseen scheduling conflicts”

—Margaret Qualley and Jack Antonoff are reportedly engaged

—Ronnie Hawkins, rockabilly singer, dies at 87

—George Shapiro, personal manager and Seinfeld producer, dies at 91 

What else we're reading...

—Michael Schulman has an interesting piece on whether Jerry West's threats to sue the producers behind Winning Time could kill the docudrama [New Yorker]

—This was (depressing) news to me: "Why do Harry Styles fans hate Olivia Wilde?" [Daily Beast]

—Daniel Flatley and Kelly Gilblom have some fascinating behind the scenes factoids and budget costs of Top Gun: Maverick [Bloomberg]

—Stuart Heritage interviews the always great Karl Urban, who talks the new season of The Boys, Star Trek and spending half his life away from home [Guardian]

—Noah Gittell writes that with his recent output, Tom Cruise has turned himself into a superhero [Ringer]

Today...  

...in 1985, Universal brought Chevy Chase’s neo-noir comedy Fletch to theaters stateside. Directed by Michael Ritchie, from a script by Andrew Bergman, was a critical and commercial hit and was followed by a 1989 sequel, Fletch Lives. The original review.

Today's birthdays: Clint Eastwood (92), Paolo Sorrentino (52), Colin Farrell (46), Archie Panjabi (50), Lea Thompson (61), Sarah Goldberg (37), Brooke Shields (57), Sebastian Koch (60), Phillipa Soo (32), Tom Berenger (73), Chris Elliott (62), Justine Lupe (33), Eric Christian Olsen (45), Meredith Hagner (35), Lee Majdoub (40), Roma Maffia (64), Susie Essman (67), Justine Cotsonas (37), Nancy M. Pimental (57)