| | | | | | What's news: Apple TV+ has renewed For All Mankind and ordered a Soviet spinoff. Lionsgate and Park Chan-wook are developing an Oldboy series. Take-Two Interactive is laying off 5 percent of its workforce. Tribeca has revealed is 2024 features lineup. Studio Ghibli will receive an honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes this year. — Abid Rahman
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Judith Regan on the Day O.J. Simpson (Almost) Confessed ►"He started talking in hypothetical terms, but as time went by, he felt more and more that he had charmed me and I understood him." In an exclusive for THR, the A-list book editor Judith Regan writes about her harrowing five-hour, on-camera conversation with O.J. Simpson in 2006 for Fox, that was so controversial it didn’t make it onto the airwaves until 2018 (and in the meantime, nearly destroyed her career). The story.
—Bob's world. The votes have been tallied, and Disney's victory over the activist investor Nelson Peltz and his Trian Partners is final. Thanks to a new filing with the SEC, we now have a sense of just how big a margin it was. Disney on Wednesday filed the “final, certified voting results” from the annual shareholder meeting and arguably the biggest winner was CEO Bob Iger. Iger's board seat was also up for a vote, and the filing shows that he secured about 94 percent of the votes, or 1,118,465,241 votes. The story.
—Layoffs. Video game giant Take-Two Interactive will be cutting its workforce by 5 percent as part of a broader cost-reduction plan. The plan, which was approved by the board of directors of Take-Two on Tuesday, also includes eliminating “several projects in development” and “streamlining its organizational structure,” leading to the layoffs. The company, home to popular game franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, NBA 2K, WWE 2K and Red Dead, expects to bring in $165m in cost savings. The story.
—🤝 Settlement 🤝 A lawsuit between Universal and two men who rented Yesterday and accused the studio of tricking fans into watching the film by featuring Ana de Armas in trailers when she didn’t actually appear in the movie has settled. Attorneys for both sides on Friday informed the court of a settlement to resolve the case. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The lawsuit, filed in 2022, revolved around accusations from Peter Michael Rosza and Conor Woulfe that they watched the trailer for Yesterday and thought that de Armas played a substantial role in the romantic comedy. The story.
—Maximum fine. The Los Angeles Ethics Commission has approved a $15,000 settlement between the city and Les Moonves, the former president and CEO of CBS who conspired with now-retired LAPD captain Cory Palka to prevent an explosive sexual assault allegation from going public. The settlement, passed on Wednesday, represents the maximum amount Moonves could have been charged in an administrative enforcement matter. The settlement centered on findings that Moonves tried influencing Palka into giving him confidential information on a sexual assault investigation. The story. |
Sundance Considers New Home for 2027 Festival ►"This exploration allows us to responsibly consider how we best continue sustainably serving our community." The Sundance Institute has confirmed that it has launched a process to explore potential host cities for the Sundance Film Festival in 2027 and beyond. A final location is expected to be announced by year’s end or during Q1 of 2025. There have long been rumors about the festival moving out of Park City, with locals complaining about the stress it brings to the small town, local businesses and public transport every January. The story.
—"I would have to pay the legal costs of both sides." Hugh Grant has settled a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., the publisher of The Sun tabloid newspaper. The London trial was to have determined whether the tabloid carried out unlawful information gathering, including tapping Grant’s landline phone, bugging his car and breaking into his home. But Grant, in a post on X, said he had decided to "settle my claim out of court before it goes to trial," to avoid possibly heavy court costs. The story.
—✊ Edging closer ✊ The workers who play characters like Goofy and Mickey Mouse and cheer and dance at parades at Disneyland have taken a step forward in their push to unionize with Actors’ Equity. The group of organizers, which is seeking to represent 1,700 employees, filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board, Actors’ Equity president Kate Shindle announced at a press conference in Anaheim on Wednesday. The story.
—"I just flat-out believe him." Bill Maher is making it known he strongly believes Woody Allen is innocent, years after sexual abuse allegations initially arose against the filmmaker. During a recent conversation with Katie Couric on his Club Random podcast, the Real Time host defended the filmmaker while discussing creatives who have been canceled in Hollywood. “I don’t think he committed that crime,” Maher said, referring to sexual abuse allegations from Allen’s adopted stepdaughter, Dylan Farrow. The story.
—"I’m not changing my material or apologizing for my jokes to anybody. Enough with this woke bulls—." Comedian Rob Schneider is refuting a news item that appeared on Politico this week that stated that his stand-up set at a GOP event in late 2023 was cut short when his jokes were deemed too lewd for the conservative crowd. Schneider rebuffed the story on Wednesday, saying that he performed his full 50-minute set at the event, and said many of his jokes are in his 2020 Netflix special. The story. |
Tarantino No Longer Making 'Movie Critic' as Final Film ►No dice. Quentin Tarantino is going back to the drawing board for his 10th and final film. The auteur had been preparing to start shooting The Movie Critic this year, but is backing away from the project. Set in 1977 California, the project initially drew inspiration from a cynical movie critic that the filmmaker grew up reading. But sources say it morphed along the way into a film that would feature Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth. But in recent weeks, Tarantino had a change of heart again and moved away from The Movie Critic entirely. The story.
—Stacked. The Tribeca Festival has revealed the features lineup for its 2024 edition, which will open with the Hulu doc Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge. Other highlights in this year’s features lineup include the world premieres of docs about Liza Minnelli (Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story), Harry Belafonte (Following Harry) Renee Elise Goldsberry (Satisfied), Ani DiFranco (1-800-ON-HER-OWN), Linda Perry (Let It Die Here) and Avicii (I’m Tim) dream hampton (It Was All a Dream) and “the Brat Pack” (the Andrew McCarthy-directed BRATS). The lineup.
—"For the first time in our history, it’s not a person but an institution that we have chosen to celebrate." The Cannes Film Festival will award legendary Japanese anime house Studio Ghibli with its honorary Palme d’Or this year, the first time Cannes has given its highest award to a company instead of an individual. Ghibli is currently riding a wave of success after Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron won the best animated film prize at the Academy Awards this year. The story.
—Best of the best. New York University has revealed its 2024 picks for its Black List-inspired Purple List of the best production-ready screenplays from Tisch School of the Arts graduate film students and recent alumni. The four screenplays, selected via a blind reading process by industry insiders, are Blue Comedy by Vincent Lee Accettola, Little Phnom Penh by Chheangkea, Rubber Hut by Hanna Gray Organschi and Satoshi by Sara Crow and David Rafailedes. The list. |
Apple Renews 'For All Mankind,' Plans Soviet Spinoff ►FAMCU. Apple TV+ has handed out a fifth season renewal for Ron Moore’s For All Mankind and a straight-to-series order for Star City, a spinoff following the Soviet space race. As with the flagship series, Moore, Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi co-created Star City, with the latter duo set to showrun both programs for producer Sony Pictures Television. Apple describes Star City as a "propulsive paranoid thriller that takes us back to the key moment in the alt-history retelling of the space race — when the Soviet Union became the first nation to put a man on the moon." The story.
—Oh boy. Korean auteur Park Chan-wook is partnering with Lionsgate Television to develop a series version of his 2003 revenge thriller Oldboy. The project would be an English-language adaptation of the story, which was loosely based on a manga with the same name. In addition to directing The Handmaiden and Decision to Leave, Park previously produced the dystopian thriller Snowpiercer which was likewise adapted into a series. He’s also directing and producing HBO’s new limited series The Sympathizer. The story.
—"An authentic portrait of one of the most storied and beloved institutions we have in American pop culture." The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders once again will be the subject of an unscripted series — this time at Netflix. The streamer says its show, titled America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, will premiere in the summer and counts Cheer and Last Chance U’s Greg Whiteley among its executive producers (he also directs). The Netflix series will debut some 2 1/2 years after the long-running Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team ended after 16 seasons on CMT. The story.
—"Even in the darkest of times, the power of love can triumph and endure." Barbra Streisand is looking to make the final scene in The Tattooist of Auschwitz memorable and poignant as the credits roll after recording a new song, “Love Will Survive,” for the Peacock and Sky original drama. Marking her first ever recording for a TV series, Streisand has performed the original song for the series that was composed by Hans Zimmer and Kara Talve. The series is about two young Jewish prisoners in the Nazi concentration camp who fall in love and commit themselves to survive the Holocaust together. The story. |
Doc Producers Draw Up AI Guidelines ►Do not praise the machine, Part I. As filmmakers start to incorporate more generative AI into documentary production, leading to mounting concern over the use of “fake archival” materials, a group of producers is pushing ahead in their efforts to establish guardrails around the use of the technology in fact-based storytelling. On Tuesday, leaders of the Archival Producers Alliance presented their first draft of a set of proposed best practices for the use of generative AI in their field. The story.
—Do not praise the machine, Part II. A24 has released a series of epic new posters touting its acclaimed film Civil War. However, the internet was quick to pick up on a couple of problems with the images, namely that none of the scenes depicted in the posters are actually in the movie and the images are AI generated. Predictably, there's been some backlash to the posters on social media. “You know DAMN well how the film community feels about the use of AI generated content,” wrote one person on A24's Instagram page. The story.
—Do not praise the machine, Part III. Henry Cavill fans can finally see the British actor as James Bond — sorta. A "Bond 26" movie trailer “starring” the former Witcher star has been racking up millions of views on YouTube despite being a total fake. The trailer introduces Cavill as the new Bond using a mix of footage from other movies and cursed AI. The clip also ambitiously casts Margot Robbie as a Bond girl. So far, the wannabe teaser has generated 2.3m viewers. The story. |
'Jinx' Filmmakers Revisit That Robert Durst Confession ►"We screamed." In the lead up to the highly anticipated launch of HBO's The Jinx — Part Two, the docuseries followup to the explosive 2015 true-crime series about Robert Durst, the filmmakers have been talking about Durst’s infamous hot mic confession and the jaw-dropping Jinx finale that captured the nation. The story.
—"You realize cancer doesn’t care who you are; it doesn’t care if you have a baby or if you don’t have time." Olivia Munn has revealed the harrowing details of her breast cancer journey, which has led her to have a medically induced menopause. In a People Magazine cover story published Wednesday, Munn reflected on her breast cancer diagnosis she revealed publicly last month, which has since led to four surgeries and a double mastectomy. The story.
—"Three months? They make all of my relationships seem very long." Tyler Cameron has offered his thoughts on The Golden Bachelor's Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist divorcing after three months of marriage. In a recent interview, the reality star, who became the runner-up on Hannah Brown’s season of The Bachelorette, said that the couple’s separation put a “true stain on love in The Bachelor world.” The story. |
TV Review: 'Conan O'Brien Must Go' ►"More silly than substantive, as intended." THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg reviews Max's Conan O'Brien Must Go. In his four-episode show, Conan O'Brien meets with fans and has new experiences in Finland, Ireland, Thailand and Argentina. The review.
—"Distinguished by its restraint and emotional integrity." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Uberto Pasolini's Nowhere Special. Inspired by a real-life adoption case, this Northern Ireland-set tearjerker follows a single parent (James Norton) with a terminal illness as he seeks a new family to raise his four-year-old boy. The review.
In other news...
—Director John Ford is focus of next TCM Plot Thickens podcast
—Camille Claudel seen anew in Getty Museum show
—Ashanti announces she is pregnant and engaged to Nelly
—American Gladiators creator Johnny Ferraro signs with Range Sports
What else we're reading...
—Despite enjoying the film, Fletcher Peters wonders why everyone in Alex Garland's Civil War is so unbearably annoying [Daily Beast]
—Susana Polo talks to the X-Men ’97 composers about why the original theme tune to the animated series is so damn catchy [Polygon]
—With the DOJ going after Ticketmaster, Nicole Narea writes that the Biden administration might actually do something about ludicrously expensive concert tickets [Vox]
—Tim Hanrahan reports that House Republicans revised their proposal to ban or force the sale of TikTok in the U.S. and tied it to a sweeping package of aid for Ukraine and Israel is now on the fast track to becoming law [WSJ]
—With people seemingly sick of smartphones and doomscrolling, Kyle Chayka reports that the "dumbphone" boom is real [New Yorker]
Today...
...in 2014, Warner Bros. released Wally Pfister's directorial debut Transcendence in theaters. The sci-fi thriller about an AI-takeover of the world, starred Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany and Cillian Murphy but was a huge critical and commercial flop. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Conan O'Brien (61), Vanessa Kirby (36), America Ferrera (40), David Tennant (53), Maria Bello (57), Edgar Wright (50), Hayley Mills (78), Alia Shawkat (35), Melissa Joan Hart (48), Eric McCormack (61), Eric Roberts (68), Rick Moranis (71), Moises Arias (30), Britt Robertson (34), Jane Leeves (63), Virginia Gardner (29), Chloe Bennet (32), Laura Mennell (44), Abigail Hawk (42), Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (37), Sean Maguire (48), David Hewlett (56), Kevin Rankin (48), Frederick Weller (58), Kenny Ortega (74), Lisa LoCicero (54), Derek Phillips (48), Mary Birdsong (56), Bryce Johnson (47), Baran bo Odar (46), Tamara Braun (53) |
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