movies

CNN Anchor Sara Sidner Reveals Harrowing False Stage 4 Cancer Scare

Published

5 hours ago

August 8, 2026

CNN‘s Sara Sidner, who first revealed a stage 3 breast cancer diagnoses two years ago and has occasionally provided updates with her audience since, is now sharing a harrowing experience that had the anchor struggling through “15 days of torture” under the mistaken notion that her cancer had advanced to an incurable stage 4.

Directly addressing viewers during her CNN News Central segment Friday, a somber Sidner began, “I want to share this update with you, about me. During these past few weeks i thought that cancer had spread all over my body.” She then went on to describe how a recent PET scan “lit up like a Christmas tree.”

“It indicated I was likely metastatic,” she continued. “Stage 4 cancer, incurable. It appeared to have spread to my hip, my spine, my liver, my lungs. I was inconsolable at the time. I immediately, as one does, looked up how long do I have to live. The number came back: Less than five years. That is the median overall survival time for stage 4 breast cancer.”

Sidner was, understandably, gobsmacked. “It knocked the breath out of me, as you might imagine,” she said. “Then I cried. My husband cried with me. My mother was stunned and scared, but surprisingly hopeful, bless her.”

The PET scan was followed by a biopsy in which doctors, Sidner said, “stick needles in a few areas to try to get a sample of your body to test it. Fifteen days of torture later, waiting for results, they came back.”

She received the good news – the biopsy results were negative – via email while she was in the CNN studio.

“Like a moth to a flame,” she said, “I had to open it. ‘Negative,’ it said. I uncharacteristically grabbed [co-anchor] John Berman’s hand in the cubby hole where we work side by side. ‘Negative,’ I croaked. A lump of tears was in my throat.”

Sidner said that her doctor explained that “biopsy beats scan” in diagnosing cancer. “I had a deep, guttural sigh of relief,” she said, adding that a molecular cancer blood test confirmed the negative result.

Sidner also shared the advice given to her by co-anchor Berman after she told him the good news. Saying she shouldn’t “do what you always do, which is to look for the next worst thing that’s gonna happen down the road,” Berman told Sidner: “Just celebrate the win.”

movies

Rob Reiner Turned Stephen King’s Personal Story Into Surprise Hit

Published

13 minutes ago

August 8, 2026

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Forty years ago, Rob Reiner‘s career path took an unexpected turn with the success of Stand by Me. After starring on All in the Family, Reiner moved behind the camera to direct a pair of comedies: 1984’s This Is Spinal Tap and 1985’s The Sure Thing.

An adaptation of Stephen King‘s 1982 novella The Body, Stand by Me represented Reiner’s first foray into dramatic filmmaking. The introspective movie centers on four classmates setting out to find the body of a boy who went missing in the woods. In addition to taking a more nostalgic tone than the darker source material, Stand by Me puts its focus on Wil Wheaton’s Gordie, with Richard Dreyfuss stepping in after principal photography to narrate the movie as an adult version of the character.

Reiner said that he cast the young actors — Wheaton, River Phoenix, Jerry O’Connell and Corey Feldman — because they felt like real versions of their roles, and indeed, Wheaton has been open that surviving abuse at home inspired his performance as the neglected Gordie. Wheaton tells THR that he appreciates Reiner having sent the young cast to rural Oregon two weeks ahead of the shoot to bond. The actor adds, “More than once, we would be goofing off after rehearsal, and Rob would tell us to put that into the scene.”

Phoenix, who shot to stardom with the film before his death from an overdose at age 23, told THR at the time that he respected the director’s honest approach: “He knows how to bring the flavor of something to the screen.”

Columbia released Stand by Me on Aug. 22, 1986, and the film became a sleeper hit, grossing $52 million ($161 million today) and landing an Oscar nomination for its script.

Stand by Me was among the films of Reiner that were fondly remembered after he and his wife, Michele, were murdered late last year. King recalled in a December tribute in The New York Times how he “surprised the hell out of myself by giving him a hug” after Reiner showed him the completed film ahead of its release. Wheaton, O’Connell and Feldman have been sharing memories of the director and film during live Stand by Me anniversary shows. Reiner once said, “I look back on it as the richest experience I’ve had in making a film.”

This story appeared in the Aug. 5 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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Olivia Wilde Talks Fight For ‘The Invite’ Theatrical Release

Published

29 minutes ago

August 8, 2026

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Olivia Wilde has revealed that she was “passionate” about getting a theatrical release for The Invite following the audience response to the comedy at Sundance.

“I wanted to investigate this phenomenon that we found at Sundance when we felt the film have that chemical reaction with the audience the first time and it was extraordinary,” she told a press conference at the Locarno Film Festival where the film screens on the Piazza Grande this evening.

“I thought, well, this was magic. We have to listen to this… we have to fight for it,” she continued. “If you don’t fight for it, listen, you know this… they bribe you to not take theatrical. It’s a bribe. You get paid more. Not me, not the filmmaker. The financiers will get a lot more money to go to streaming, and you can take that bribe and give that up if that’s where your priorities lie.”

Wilde thanked producer Megan Ellison at Annapurna for getting on board with her desire to get the film into cinemas, and agreeing to accept A24’s theatrical offer, hinting that the streamers had gone higher. She also credited FilmNation Entertainment, which co-handled the domestic sale with UTA, for securing individual theatrical distributors internationally.

“But we were really lucky that our financier gave me the opportunity to make this decision, which is something I don’t take lightly. She could have very easily said, no, we’re going to go with the much bigger offer. But I know that she, too, felt this incredible reaction that had happened at Sundance and that it was something worth investing in.”

Wilde was speaking ahead of a sold-out screening of the film on the Locarno’s 8,000 capacity Piazza Grande.

“Today’s very special for me and all of us because I was hoping we would all be seen a few theaters maybe a couple of hundred people in a theater and tonight we’re going to watch it with 8,000 people. I actually can’t believe it. I am in shock.

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Olivia Wilde Fought for ‘The Invite’ Cinema Release: ‘They Bribe You’

Published

1 hour ago

August 8, 2026

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Olivia Wilde met the international press during the 79^th edition of the Locarno Film Festival on Saturday. Her latest film as a director-plus-actress, The Invite, is scheduled to screen in the Swiss town’s big central square, the Piazza Grande, on Saturday evening.

Ahead of the screening in front of 8,000 people, Wilde was asked why she was adamant for the movie to get a run in cinemas. “They bribe you to not take theatrical,” she replied. “We have to fight for it” to have a run in theaters.

“It’s a bribe. They pay you more,” Wilde continued. “Not the filmmaker, no; the financiers will get a lot more money to go to streaming, and you can take that bribe and give that up if that’s where your priorities lie. But we were really lucky that our financier gave me the opportunity to make this decision, which is something I don’t take lightly. She could have very easily said no.”

Concluded Wilde: “A24 has been extraordinary because they really believe in the theatrical game. FilmNation made the international deals around the world, all theatrical. So all these great distributors around the planet have invested in this film being seen in theaters. So, I’m very grateful.”

The filmmaker also suggested: “There is no genre that benefits from the communal [viewing] experience more than comedy.” Comedies have often “been delegated to that second tier that really doesn’t deserve cinema,” she added. But Wilde said she and her partners on the film felt they wanted to allow the film to get a “chemical reaction” from a cinema audience.

With a screenplay by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, the movie stars Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton.

The Invite focuses on Joe and Angela, whose marriage is on thin ice. When they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors Piña and Hawk for a dinner party, the night spirals into unexpected places. The question is: Have they reignited the spark or lit the match that burns it all down?

Saturday evening screening of The Invite was a hot ticket in Locarno. “We are writing to let you know that this evening’s screening in Piazza Grande (Saturday, Aug. 8) is sold out for all ticket and day pass categories,” an email from the festival early Saturday afternoon highlighted. “As a result, we are expecting very high attendance.” It added: “To help ease the flow of entry and ensure the screening starts promptly, gates open at 20:00 — we strongly advise all guests to arrive well in advance.”