idina menzel set to remake bette midler's character for a small screen reboot of the classic "beaches." should die-hard fans are kicking the sand saying, keep off this beach. first the "nightline 5." >> hey, need fast heartburn relief? try cool mint zantac. it releases a cooling sensation in your mouth and throat, working in 30 minutes. nexium can take 24 hours. try cool mint zantac. no pill relieves heartburn faster. i'm going 100 miles per hour! jump 50 feet over the rapids! and i crash land! check out my scar. >> you didn't jump the creek. >> there's a new neosporin that good evening. thanks for joining us. he's the nfl star who became a hero, re-energizing the big easy after the devastation of katrina. now as former new orleans saint steve gleason bravely faces down debilitating illness, his toughness and unrelenting spirit are shining through in a different way. sharing with the world the playbook he's crafting for his own newborn son. the searing new documentary that has everyone talking. he shares his story now with abc's michael strahan. >> what is this all about? >> i am making a video blog of myself. this is intended to be a gift for you, my child, who i have not yet met. >> reporter: on the football field, steve gleason was known for being fast and fearless. in 2006, he became a hero to a city that really needed one. this block clinching a win for the new orleans saints in their first home game after hurricane katrina ravaged the city. a hero then. a hero now. but for a very different reason. >> i have been diagnosed with amiotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease in the motor neurons. the disease is almost always fatal. >> reporter: just a few weeks after this devastating news, steve and his wife michelle found out they were having a baby. >> do you think it already has a hard head? that comes from his dad's side? >> reporter: they started filming everything. love letters and life lessons for their son. while steve still has a chance. >> i feel like he had this terminal diagnosis but we felt like we could walk on water. >> hello. hello. hey, how are you? how are you now? >> it was one of the happiest moments of both our lives, knowing we were going to have a baby and this is going to happen. do you remember that day? >> reporter: since then, als has robbed steve of his ability to move, to talk, and to breathe. today he relies on a computer to speak. >> i had some incredible moments on the football field. but i've had even more uplifting moments off the field. since diagnosis. >> we're doing the coolest thing we could do, right? >> that's right. >> it's a boy there -- that's my boy! >> reporter: they captured 1,300 hours of memories for their son, named rivers. ♪ >> reporter: the making of the new documentary called "gleason." >> i'm choosing to live with disease. and live with passion, intention, purpose. >> reporter: an unflinching story of love, marriage, and fatherhood. >> daddy. daddy. >> reporter: under the impossible pressures of als. >> i love you. i've been thinking about fathers and sons a lot. at this point it looks like we're not going to have the normal father-son relationship. >> what are you passing on to rivers? >> besides a hard head. >> it's a constant work in progress. i've tried to share not only my memories and my loves but also my shortcomings. i can't go out and play catch with you. i can't throw you batting practice. but -- i'm going to do everything i can to be a good father. to give you what a son needs from his father. and i'm going to be around, buddy. it's not going to be easy but it's going to be awesome. >> reporter: the movie, revealing intimate moments not just of strength, but also of struggle. >> it's crazy, man. i am to the point where i barely go out of the house by myself. michelle goes everywhere with me now. she helps me shower. she helps me put on my clothes. she helps me eat. >> all marriages have their challenges, their ups and downs. why did you decide to share these moments? >> we could have made a movie that glosses over the hard parts and just showed the hero part and the easy parts. but that's just -- it's almost like a falsity. we wanted to show the truth. >> you have a mom who is just incredible. incredible. remarkable. amazing. and we're both so lucky to have her. >> go, go -- >> throughout this film there is moments of incredible humor. how do you keep that going? how do you laugh in certain moments that other people say you should almost be crying? >> you've got to do something, and we're both funny. we're both funny people, i think. >> go, daddy, go! >> so laughing has been one of the best solutions to get through this. >> i'd like to say i'm a naturally funny dude. but in reality, i think i just have no choice. >>dy ever tell you i think you got funnier after diagnosis? >> reporter: their humor and courage seem to be speaking to people. the film is receiving critical acclaim and it's already getting oscar buzz. director clay twill jumped at the chance to tell the gleason story. >> when i joined the project i felt the story was going to be about this guy who through a tragic set of circumstances was finding his purpose and kind of this father and son story. but what i didn't know and what nobody talked about was michelle's experience. >> i think any caretaker, you're always kind of there trying to make things easier for him. i just feel like it's what i do. it's our relationship. it's what we do. it's just kind of like part of our life. like this is what it is. so i set up things for him in the morning, set up things for him in the night. help him walk, brush his teeth, help feed him. it's just kind of like a new part of life. just like it is learning how to take care of rivers. >> reporter: for a football star losing the ability to move is almost unthinkable. for steve and michelle, losing the ability to communicate was worse. >> i'm excited for the day when you are teaching me. >> the losing of the voice is the scariest and saddest part, i think, of this process. it's a brutal time. >> it transpires that -- >> reporter: just like on the football field, steve refused to give up. >> he researched this place where you can actually voice bank. so his mechanical voice is going to be his voice. then it goes to eye technology where he talks with his eyes. but he's talking a letter at a time. >> hi, michelle, you rock. >> reporter: since talking takes steve a bit of time, we gave him our questions in advance. making sure that all als patients have access to this kind of technology has become one of steve's missions. with the help of his family and teammates, he created a nonprofit called team gleason. >> a.l.s. doesn't just kill you, it steals your life a little bit at a time. unless we stop it first. >> most of what als takes away, technology can give back. >> i love you. >> i love you! >> reporter: maybe most importantly, the technology has given steve time to watch rivers grow. >> i often feel inadequate as a father. fortunately, because of this bad-ass technology and equally bad-ass care crew, i'm able to be very involved in rivers' life. did you make any new friends today? >> no. i didn't. >> did you play with dylan and april? >> no, he had fever. >> i pick up rivers every day from school. >> he's going to try harder than any other dad because he can't talk. rivers is fast, he's slow, eye difficult, it's easy to quit. steve is not a quitter. >> can you count to october 19 in this one, two -- >> there's my thinking. my life ain't easy. but it's awesome. nothing worthwhile is easy. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm michael strahan in new york. >> one, two, three, four, five -- >> he is indeed awesome. "gleason" opens in select theaters across the country this weekend. up next, how adorable animals plus a veterinarian with animal magnetism equals a social media superstar. later, putting new wind beneath her wings. how the star of "wicked" and "frozen" is breathing new life into the role bette midler made famous. ♪ you always walked a step behind ♪ and you're talking to your doctor about your medication... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. this is humira helping me go further. humira works for many adults. it targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. doctors have been prescribing humira for over 13 years. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ready for a new chapter? talk to your rheumatologist. this is humira at work. hey, you're yes, sir. clarence! you know, at the model year end clarence event, you can get a great deal on this 2016 passat. steve. yeah? clarence is on a roll. yeah. i wish they'd name an event after me. same here. but the model year end becky event? that's no good... stevent! that's just vandalism. whatever you want to call it, don't miss the volkswagen model year end event. hurry in for a one-thousand dollar volkswagen reward card and 0% apr on a new 2016 passat. and who doesn'tb then seize the day already. crabfest is back at red lobster with so many kinds of crab and the most crab dishes of the year. so dive into whatever floats your crab-loving boat. like crab lover's dream. crack open tender snow and king crab legs, and twirl creamy crab alfredo. or try the new alaska bairdi crab dinner. sweet and straight from the icy waters of alaska, you've gotta get it... to really get it. but it won't last forever, so hurry in. i'm not actually kidding when i say he's been named "people" magazine's sexiest beast charmer alive. now he's broadening his appeal, racking up over 366,000 followers on instagram. so we're once again checking in on this real-life dr. mcdreamy who spent time with abc's nick watt for our series "social stars." >> so we're scabbed up here. >> reporter: he smolders behind that mask. muscles ripple beneath the scrubs. he's saving a bunny rabbit's life. i'm not going to show his face just yet. first, what do colleagues have to say about dr. evan anton? instagram adonis. virile veterinarian. >> one person shouldn't than good looking, it's not fair to the rest of us. >> do you find yourself staring at him? >> you get used to it. but at first, a little bit. >> reporter: and parents of the pets he treats? >> my pet's happy, i'm happy. when i see him, he's easy on the eyes. how c how many hot guy dozen you see on the street every day, then having him be your vet? >> reporter: has an owner ever said, you're just a chippendale pretending to be a vet? >> yeah, yeah, it has. they're like this guy looks like a model, i want a real doctor. >> does he look like a real doctor? >> no, i question it sometimes. >> he looks like he plays a vet on tv. >> reporter: he is mcdreamy, vintage clooney, all in one. here he is in all his glory. an exotic pet specialist. "people" magazine's sexiest beast charmer alive. closing in on 400,000 instagram followers. >> refresh my phone and it would be a few more hundred, a few thousand every couple of minutes, it was crazy. >> reporter: posts like this, this, and this. exotic. comments like this. if he's a vet, i'm an animal. this guy is literally perfection. and, found my husband. marriage proposals? >> yeah, we've gotten a few of those. >> reporter: but the 31-year-old dreamboat is, i'm afraid, engaged to be married. and not to someone who stalked him on instagram. okay, let's break this down. why has his social media star ascended so? >> if you were an ugly veterinarian, this would not have happened. >> i don't know, whatever, i mean, we see cool stuff, maybe not. >> reporter: dr. evan started working at the conejo valley veterinarian hospital in california three years ago. >> everybody i know wants to knowfy work with that hot doctor. >> i started about a year or so into practice, maybe six months, started posting neat cases, neat animals. we see so many cool things. >> people started saying, i don't care about the snake, wasn't to look at the dreamy doctor? >> that happens sometimes yeah. >> what does your day look like? you look like you go to the gym. >> thank you. getting to the gym is something i like to do daily. just get some training in. >> reporter: he does. every day. two hours a day if he's not too busy saving animals' lives. he paid his way through vet school as a fitness train over the side. i'm beginning to hate this guy. i hear he's also a nice guy. >> he is, which is his saving grace. but it kind of -- it's kind of irritating when a really good-looking person is also nice. it's like, can't you be mean so i can hate you for that? >> reporter: sometimes all it takes to succeed on social media is a pretty face and a rock-hard body. like instagram mega star brocko hearn who we've profiled before. >> do you have a girlfriend? >> i don't, actually. >> reporter: with dr. evan there's more. >> on instagram he posted a video of a baby. okay. animals and babies? every girl's drooling. >> reporter: part of the peel as with any social media star is genuine passion. >> it's not an act? >> no, i don't think you're going to go through this much school and work, it's a lot of work. >> reporter: you can't fake that you're enjoying extracting a stinking compacted egg from inside a macaw's you know what. >> there must be something wrong. bad temper? flatulence? late? bad breath? >> slow to surgery. >> apparently you're not that great at timekeeping. >> is that right? is that what they said? >> i'm trying to find the achilles heel. >> can i tell you a secret? >> yeah. >> when he first started working here, before he would go into an exam room, he would like stand in front of the door. do this. straighten scrubs, put on a smile. and then walk in. it was very entertaining. don't tell him i told you that. >> it's not a dumb question. are any of the animals grateful? >> i think animals can be grateful. i had a bird, it had a fish hook stuck in its beak. it's an immediate fix and they can make an association to it. it's all about association with pets. >> reporter: twinkky's about to go under dr. evans' knife. >> good luck, twinkie. dr. evan will take good care of you. you don't care that dr. evans is good looking. but he is. >> oh, she does. look at that face. she's happy. >> reporter: my wife says she needs to take our dog in for a checkup. hang on. we don't even have a dog. i'm nick watt for "nightline," thousand oaks, california. next, the big news about a cult classic soon to be remade for the small screen. 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[dramatic music] ♪ hey, everybody, i'm chris harrison. welcome to the show. are you guys ready to play "millionaire" today? [cheers and applause] good, because it's "bachelor" fan favorites week. as newlyweds, today's contestants are proof you really can find love on "the bachelorette." hopefully they'll be as lucky today, as they play to win money to donate to their charity, the plymouth housing group. from seattle, washington, please welcome my good friends, desiree and chris siegfried. [cheers and applause] what's up, brother? good to see you. >> hi, how are you doing? >> welcome. guys, come on in. >> thank you. >> oh, oh, whatever. >> you guys are here two seconds, and you're already lost. >> i was already lost. >> pull it together. good to see you guys. >> both: nice to see you. >> plymouth housing group. >> both: yes. >> what is this charity you're playing for? >> the plymouth housing group is actually an organization in seattle that they--they home the chronically homeless. so right now they have 2,000 tenants that they home. the majority of them are disabled, have a mental illness, or they're a veteran. so we've been able to be a part of them, see the housing, and

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