| | | | What's news: The AFI has revealed its 10 best films and 10 best TV shows. Brittney Griner will be the subject of an ESPN doc. Peacock has renewed Twisted Metal. Martin Scorsese will receive the PGA's David O. Selznick Achievement Award. Netflix and Adam McKay have been sued for copyright infringement over Don’t Look Up. James Gunn has been named PETA's Person of the Year. — Abid Rahman
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THR's WIE 2023: Adele Thanks Pioneering Women Who Came Before Her ►"This all feels very big and grown up, and I feel a little bit out of my depth, considering I’m only 35." Adele thanked the women who came before her for paving the way for her success during her acceptance speech for THR's Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at its Women in Entertainment breakfast gala, presented by Lifetime, that took place on Thursday at The Beverly Hills Hotel. Helen Mirren presented the 16-time Grammy winner and THR cover star with the prestigious award that recognizes trailblazers and philanthropists in entertainment and media, which was established in honor of Sherry Lansing, the first woman to head a Hollywood studio. The story.
—"Isn’t it just time for women to run the planet?" THR's Kirsten Chuba recaps all the highlights of the 2023 Women in Entertainment event. Will Ferrell kicked off the event and shouted out his producing partner Jessica Elbaum and the long list of female-led hits they’ve worked on together — including current awards contender May December. Kerry Washington also took the stage and was presented with the Equity in Entertainment Award. The recap.
—"I know what it feels like not to be seen." Also at WIE, Dua Lipa, Camila Cabello, Lily Gladstone and Billie Lourd presented $1m in college scholarships to high school students from underserved communities across Los Angeles. Scholarships were presented to mentees in the Women in Entertainment Mentorship Program. The story.
—All the looks. And here's an extensive gallery of the 2023 Women in Entertainment Gala with Adele, Kerry Washington, Helen Mirren, Ariana DeBose, Dua Lipa, Camila Cabello, Lily Gladstone and Billie Lourd, Connie Britton, Jurnee Smollett, Kate Beckinsale, Lily Singh, Xochitl Gomez, Alexandra Shipp, Anna Konkle, Annie Gonzalez, Diane Warren, Gloria Calderón Kellett, Kathy Hilton and Lucy Hale and more of Hollywood's A-list women (and Will Ferrell). The gallery. |
THR Film Writer Roundtable ►"I want to do more than just drive the plot forward." We are deep into awards season, so we have another edition of THR's award-winning Roundtable series. Up next are the film writers. Chloe Domont (Fair Play), Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers), Cord Jefferson (American Fiction), Tony McNamara (Poor Things), Eric Roth (Killers of the Flower Moon) and Celine Song (Past Lives) join THR's Scott Feinberg for a lively discussion and reveal the sources of their ideas, the trickiness of endings, and why they do what they do: "I hate writing, but I love having written." The roundtable.
—🏆 Contenders start to emerge 🏆 The American Film Institute has unveiled its choices for the year’s 10 best films and 10 best TV shows. The AFI Awards for films, which fête both Hollywood tentpoles and indie fare, goes to American Fiction, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, May December, Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Poor Things and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. On the TV front, the awards go to Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Beef, Jury Duty, The Last of Us, The Morning Show, Only Murders in the Building, Poker Face, Reservations Dogs and Succession. The winners.
—Slow and steady. The end of the Hollywood strikes caused employment in the sector to surge in November, but while the business is back, new data shows that there are still more than 25,000 fewer people employed than there were a year ago, suggesting that a return to normal could take longer than people think. The new U.S. labor report shows that the motion picture sector added 17,000 jobs last month, but employment is still below Nov. 2022, suggesting a slower return to normal. The story.
—"By telling the story of the millions of vulnerable animals abused in experiments, James Gunn has shown himself to be a true animal guardian." James Gunn has been named PETA's Person of the Year for 2023. The animal rights organization has singled out the blockbuster filmmaker for his use of CGI animals like Rocket Raccoon in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. Furthermore, Gunn has promoted the slogan “Adopt. Never shop” when referring to pet adoption. The story.
—✊ Unionized ✊ A group of production accountants employed by Netflix in New York and New Jersey has unionized with IATSE. A third party certified that a majority of the group of assistant production accountants, payroll accountants and clerks supported joining IATSE Local 161 in a card count Wednesday. The story. |
Biggest Hollywood Winners and Losers of 2023 ►No surprise where Disney lands. Even by Hollywood standards, 2023 was pretty nuts. There were two historic strikes that shut down the town for months. Sure-fire, money-printing movie franchises started collapsing at the box office, while some surprising efforts succeeded. Moreover, wealthy CEOs kept taking careful aim and publicly shooting themselves in the foot. THR's James Hibberd has our brutally honest rundown of who had the best and worst year in entertainment. The story.
—"The last two years have been the most harrowing, transformative and illuminating period of my life." Brittney Griner will be the subject of an ESPN documentary, and potentially a scripted series from ABC Signature as well. The WNBA star has partnered with the two Disney units to tell her story, including the months she spent in a Russian prison after being arrested for cannabis possession in 2022. The deal also includes an exclusive interview with Robin Roberts of ABC News, with an airdate still to be determined. The story.
—"I have to give a Sweet Tooth-sized thank you to our incredible fans." Peacock has ordered a second season of Twisted Metal, its action comedy series based on the PlayStation video game. Star and executive producer Anthony Mackie announced the renewal at Thursday night’s Game Awards ceremony. The show debuted in July and made Nielsen’s top 10 streaming original series the week after its premiere. Peacock says Twisted Metal ranks among its top three original series to date. The story.
—Please make it stop! CNN has unveiled plans to host two more Republican presidential primary debates in Iowa and New Hampshire in January. The first debate on Jan. 10 in Des Moines, Iowa, will take place just before Iowa caucus-goers vote in the 2024 Republican presidential race. The second new debate will take place on Jan. 21 in Goffstown, New Hampshire, with that state being another early contest for GOP contenders. Neither of the planned CNN debates will be sanctioned by the Republican National Committee. The story.
—Some good, some bad. Loki scored its biggest tune-in of season two for the week of its finale, rising by almost 200m minutes over the prior week. That’s the good news. The bad news for the Marvel/Disney+ series is that despite the jump, Loki still finished its second season well behind the first in terms of viewing time, according to Nielsen’s streaming ratings. Kids’ favorite Bluey led the overall rankings for the week of Nov. 6-12, and Friends continued to post higher than usual numbers two weeks after the death of star Matthew Perry. The streaming rankings. |
Are Studios Shy to Market Musicals as … Musicals? ►Sing it loud and proud! After showing promise at the box office a half-decade ago with original standouts like Hugh Jackman’s The Greatest Showman, studios are wary of marketing musicals explicitly as such. THR's Mia Galuppo writes that the trailers for the Timothée Chalamet-fronted Wonka at Warner Bros. barely, if at all, hint at the song-and-dance numbers, while Tina Fey’s Paramount adaptation of the Broadway musical adaptation of her 2003 teen comedy Mean Girls has yet to show singing in online marketing materials. The analysis.
—🎭 All set 🎭 A quintet of actors has signed on for Ron Howard's survival thriller Eden. The feature, which is currently in production in Australia, with a small unit also filming in the Galapagos, has added Richard Roxburgh, Felix Kammerer, Toby Wallace, Paul Gleeson and Ignacio Gasparini to a cast that includes previously announced stars Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney, Ana de Armas and Daniel Brühl. The film is based on real-life events and hails from Tetris scribe Noah Pink. The story.
—Marty's big year. Martin Scorsese, the legendary filmmaker currently generating awards buzz for his Apple film Killers of the Flower Moon, has been tapped by the Producers Guild of America to receive the David O. Selznick Achievement Award, which recognizes producers for their outstanding body of work in motion pictures, at the 35th PGA Awards. Previous recipients of the Selznick Award include Steven Spielberg, Barbara Broccoli, Mary Parent, Tom Cruise, Brian Grazer, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas. The story.
—"I am thrilled to be here in New Orleans with all of you to celebrate this amazing film." Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance on Thursday night at the New Orleans premiere of American Symphony, Matthew Heineman’s Netflix documentary feature about musician Jon Batiste and his wife Suleika Jaouad, on which she and Barack Obama are credited as executive producers. Heineman, Batiste and Jaouad were also in attendance. The story.
—"Strikingly similar." Netflix and Adam McKay have been sued for copyright infringement over the star-studded 2021 feature Don’t Look Up. Louisiana-based author William Collier claims that the Oscar-winning director-writer ripped off his 2012 novel Stanley’s Comet, which McKay allegedly got a copy of more than a decade ago. Netflix and McKay didn’t respond to requests for comment on the suit, which seeks at least $5m. Don’t Look Up, which was written and directed by McKay, was nominated for four Academy Awards, as well as best original screenplay by the WGA. The story. |
The Making of Celine Song's 'Past Lives' ►"It becomes this really big, kind of cosmic thing to create this weird emotion of longing for each other." THR's Rebecca Sun spoke to the creative team, including filmmaker Celine Song, on how they created the wonderful Past Lives. Rebecca writes that to achieve the hyper-naturalistic, lived-in connections among her trio of characters in Past Lives, writer-director Song put both her cast and crew through a number of unusual exercises to ensure that her actors hit just the right notes. The story.
—"My honorary Oscar would love to get a friend." For THR, Matthew Jacobs spoke to the legendary Diane Warren about her 14 Academy Award nominations for best song. Warren is doubling her chances this year with a pair of songs: “The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot and “Gonna Be You” from 80 for Brady. Warren discusses how she wrote the numbers, what it’s like to have such impressive Oscar statistics without ever winning, and the two losses that most disappointed her. The interview.
—"This is not a wine film, this is a geopolitical thriller." THR's Ashley Cullins spoke to filmmaker Jason Wise about his fourth doc, Somm: Cup of Salvation. Wise explains how the film, ostensibly about attempts to revive the ancient grapes of Armenia, took a dramatic pivot during filming and documents a covert trip to Iran to harvest grapes from vineyards that date back thousands of years and haven't been made into wine since the country banned alcohol in 1979. The interview.
—"I believe we have a home at paramount+ for several years to come." For THR, Cori Murray spoke to Kelsey Grammer about the Frasier revival. Grammer talks about finally having his say on returning to the beloved character, continuing onscreen father John Mahoney’s legacy and giving American audiences what he says they really need: a good laugh. Warning: Spoilers! The interview. |
TV Review: 'Culprits' ►"Promising start, but fails to land the big score." THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg reviews Hulu’s Culprits. The well-acted eight-part heist series from Brit creator J. Blakeson, stars Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Gemma Arterton and Kirby Howell-Baptiste. The review.
—"Holy kiddie fun, Batman!" THR's Frank Scheck reviews Mike Roth's Merry Little Batman. The now-retired Batman is merely a supporting character in an animated film that finds his eight-year-old son Damian battling an array of classic supervillains. The review. |
Thank Pod It's Friday ► All the latest content from THR's podcast studio.
—TV's Top 5. THR's Lesley Goldberg and Dan Fienberg break down the latest TV news. This week's episode celebrates the podcast's five-year anniversary with an interview with our first guest ever — One Day at a Time co-creator Mike Royce — who joins us for the fifth time for a wide-ranging conversation about the state of the industry in 2018 and how much things have changed since then. The interview was conducted Tuesday, we called Royce back for another segment following the passing of television icon Norman Lear. Listen here.
—Awards Chatter. THR's executive awards editor Scott Feinberg talks to the great and the good of Hollywood. In this episode, Scott spoke to Dua Lipa. The Grammy-winning pop superstar opens up about her childhood split between London and Kosovo, breaking into the music biz with hits like "New Rules" and "Levitating," the unique challenges of writing "Dance the Night" for Greta Gerwig's summer blockbuster Barbie. Listen here.
In other news...
—Mr. & Mrs. Smith teaser puts Donald Glover and Maya Erskine in peril
—Feinberg Forecast: Updated Oscar projections post Spirit, NYFCC, NBR and AFI
—TV ratings: NewsNation sets record with Republican debate
—Where to dine in Santa Monica now
—Walter Boxer, longtime United Artists executive, dies at 99
—David McKnight, actor in J.D.’s Revenge and Robert Townsend films, dies at 87
—Ellen Holly, pioneering Black actress on One Life to Live, dies at 92
What else we're reading...
—Tara Patel and Angelina Rascouet have a fascinating piece on how Hermès has thrived, and created Europe's largest family fortune, after it skillfully rebuffed LVMH [Bloomberg]
—In an opinion piece, Ernest Owens writes that Sean "Diddy" Combs' whole "Brother Love" persona was a total sham [Daily Beast]
—Chris Gayomali profiles John Wilson, the hero of HBO's How To With John Wilson, talks about walking away from a series at the height of its popularity and what he's up to next [GQ]
—Amanda Hess has a depressing piece on how social media, and particularly Instagram, is struggling to deal with pictures of dead children from Gaza despite flagging “sensitive content” and trying to hide stuff behind a gray digital sleeve [NYT]
—Here's your Friday list: "Ranking Frank Serpico’s "weirdo" outfits" [Vulture]
Today...
...in 2000, Sony Pictures Classics unveiled Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in theaters, where it would eventually gross $213m globally. It went on to be nominated for 10 Oscars at the 73rd Academy Awards, picking up four honors including best foreign language film. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Teri Hatcher (59), Kim Basinger (70), Nancy Meyers (74), Wendell Pierce (60), Nicki Minaj (41), Michael Kahn (93), Bill Bryson (72), Ian Somerhalder (45), AnnaSophia Robb (30), Matthias Schoenaerts (46), Ned Dennehy (58), Dominic Monaghan (47), Tanner Buchanan (25), Owen Teague (25), Utkarsh Ambudkar (40), David Harewood (58), Tyler Mane (57), Alexander Elliot (19), Mary Woronov (80), Hannah Ware (41), Katie Stevens (31), Matt Adler (57), John Rubinstein (77), Rick Baker (73), Tom Holkenborg (56), Greg Collins (71), Carina Lau (58), Gastón Duprat (54) |
| Benjamin Zephaniah, a British poet and political activist who drew huge inspiration from his Caribbean roots who also starred in Peaky Blinders, has died. He was 65. The obituary. |
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