Morgan Freeman’s voice can be on your phone.
Tired of hearing the generic lady on your GPS? She can be replaced, using the Google navigation app Waze, with the “voice of God,” the company says.
“Morgan Freeman was one of the most requested voice of all time,” a representative from Waze told CNBC on Tuesday.
Other popular vocals for the app have come from Darth Vader, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mr. T, Kevin Hart and Stephen Colbert.
Freeman, whose narration skills are famed in documentaries, feature films, commercials and, most recently, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, is lending his iconic voice to the community-based traffic and navigation app to promote his upcoming movie “London has Fallen,” opening March 4.
The app is free — sort of. When Freeman relates directions (and shares lines like “The American people are counting on you… to drive – let’s go” from the action thriller), users will be subject to ads for the movie, offers to buy tickets, and directions to nearby theaters screening the film.
Freeman’s dulcet tones will be available in the U.S. through March 31.
DIRTY DANCING NEWS
Here’s the skinny on the “Dirty Dancing” film remake: Newcomer Colt Prattes will fill Patrick Swayze’s shoes.
On Tuesday, ABC and Lionsgate announced that Prattes — the impossibly chiseled singer, dancer and actor who appeared with P!nk in her “Try” music video — will play the iconc role of Johnny.
Abigail Breslin already has been tapped to play Baby; and Debra Messing will portray Baby’s mom.
Meanwhile, the touring live stage show based on the film — which opens at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre this week –– features two alumni from San Francisco Ballet School. Jenny Winton, who portrays Penny Johnson, is a native of The City with a classical dance background. Similarly and coincidentally, Katelyn Prominski, a member of the ensemble, also studied at the school.
QUICK TAKES
Prince is playing the first North American date of his “Piano & A Microphone tour” in concerts at 7 and 10 p.m. Sunday at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland. … “Selma” director Ava DuVernay is set to direct Disney’s upcoming film adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s 1964 classic time travel book “A Wrinkle in Time.” … Working with former Industrial Light & Magic veteran Catherine Tate, whose credits include “Star Wars,” “Men in Black,” “Hulk” and “Hellboy,” Academy of Art University students from San Francisco helped create visual effects for “Theeb,” a 2016 best foreign language Oscar nominee. In the past, Tate’s students worked on Oscar-nominees “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Fruitvale Station,” about Oscar Grant’s fatal BART incident in Oakland.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Actor Billy Zane is 50. … Singer Michelle Shocked is 54. … News correspondent Paula Zahn is 60. … Poet Jane Hirshfield is 63. … Musician George Thorogood is 66. … Actor Edward James Olmos is 69. … Singer-producer Rupert Holmes is 69. … Composer Michel Legrand is 84.
— Wire reports
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