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Good luck to those braving the desert winds at Coachella. For the road, this edition of The Weekender brings some winding tales, studio worker angst, between-the-lines reads and a telling selection of quotes. — Erik Hayden
Ticker: Bieberchella creator chaos; David Geffen settles; Karen Bass' Baywatch order; Zendaya and Tom Holland win the week.
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Pixar’s Axed Movie
"Disney reps were like, 'We can't have a girl power movie,'" an insider tells Ryan Gajewski of its scrapped title Be Fri. One former Pixar employee who worked on Be Fri and asked to remain anonymous says that the project went through four iterations after various sets of notes from higher-ups and would have been ready for the animation stage when Disney opted to pull the plug. The details.
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Cannes Not Go
Where are the studios at Cannes this year? Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day at Universal was never a sure bet, same with Tom Cruise’s Digger (Warner Bros.) or Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (also Universal) or Disney's Toy Story 5. The fest's artistic director Thierry Frémaux had pointed words: "When the studios are less present in Cannes, they are less present full stop." Lily Ford's report.
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Red Carpet Royals
Behind every newly minted star — Heated Rivalry's Connor Storrie, One Battle After Another‘s Chase Infiniti and Sentimental Value‘s Renate Reinsve number among 2026’s biggest Hollywood breakouts — there is always a stylist working overtime to ensure every Choo and Cartier diamond aligns with what’s now and what’s next. These are the top 25 power stylists.
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Playing Moneyball
He scored huge with The Housemaid and has the next Hunger Games waiting in the wings, but can Lionsgate film chair Adam Fogelson turn the scandal plagued King of Pop into a box office thriller? "This first movie stops well short of telling the full story of Michael Jackson." David Canfield's interview.
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On Call
Warner Bailey’s popular Instagram account Assistants vs. Agents has ballooned to 163,000 followers and expanded far beyond memes. It’s now a full-on brand catering to ambitious early career pros inside and outside the business, with a job board and events. And now a live show, too. Katie Kilkenny's interview.
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Harvey Bulks Up
It took a few years for Hollywood’s love-to-be-hated gossip hound Harvey Levin to find his place within Rupert Murdoch’s Fox empire. Now he’s trying a new formula at TMZ and following his D.C. "obsession" again. Alex Weprin's feature.
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Streamflation
Right as the biggest players in entertainment are turning streaming into a viable business, there is growing concern: Consumers are grappling with rising prices everywhere they look, and there are signals that their willingness to keep paying more might be nearing a breaking point. Alex Weprin's report.
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They Said It
"$886 million represents one of the highest golden parachute estimates ever observed." — a report from key watchdog ISS, calling David Zaslav's Warner sale payday "extraordinary" and "problematic." "There is no zeitgeist anymore. We’ve been disassociated." — Harrison Ford, on the future of moviegoing. "Eventually these celebrities will move on, and the podcast companies will be left holding the bag." — an anonymous podcast showrunner, in a candid assessment of the industry. "We think it’s wildly inappropriate that somebody has leaked." — Bo Pearl, a lawyer for CAA, on a very consequential press leak in its Range case. "I’m tired of people debating if I’m a real person or if I’m three men." — The Housemaid author Freida McFadden, who revealed her real name, Sara Cohen, and identity this week. "Factual, verifiable, true things [and] historical things, too." — ex-Miramax CEO Bill Block, on how his app GammaTime will look to adapt the infamous National Enquirer's archives for video content.
By the Numbers
(Most-read stories on THR.com this week)
1.) "Howard Stern’s Former Executive Assistant Is Looking to Void Her NDA, Citing Hostile Work Environment"
2.) "How the Other Morning Shows Covered — or Didn’t Cover — Savannah Guthrie’s Return to Today"
3.) "Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair Review: Frankie Muniz and Bryan Cranston Return for a Hulu Sequel That’s More Sad Than Funny"
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Seeing (TV) Stars
The television industry is making room for big-name actors to appear in multiple shows at the same time — a shift that’s simultaneously depressing and exciting. As fewer TV shows are being produced and the ones that are produced have shorter episode counts, the industry is becoming more star-dependent. Daniel Fienberg's column.
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Gilead’s It Girl
When Lucy Halliday walked onto the set of The Testaments for her first starring role — opposite Chase Infiniti and in only her third acting job, period — she had a couple of very strong voices in her head helping her along. The first was her character; The second was James McAvoy. Seija Rankin's profile.
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Call Your Lawyer
Meltdowns on movie sets, billion-dollar megamergers, backend battles — sooner or later, everybody needs a good lawyer. The lawyers on this list are each top of their field, and each of them worked on cases or deals in the past year that in some way, big or small, helped shape the town. Hollywood's 100 best lawyers.
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Around Town
O-T Fagbenle, Zoe Lister-Jones, Elizabeth Banks, Matthew Macfadyen and Sofia Rosinsky attended the L.A. premiere for Peacock's The Miniature Wife. Marcello Hernández, Kenan Thompson and Chloe Fineman supported Lorne Michaels at the NYC premiere of his new doc Lorne on Thursday. Nick Offerman, Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning celebrated the NYC premiere of Apple series Margo's Got Money Troubles on Wednesday. Taylour Paige and Andy Muschietti attended a FYC event for HBO's It: Welcome to Derry in L.A. Ayden Mayeri, Izabel Pakzad, Alison Brie and brother-in-law James Franco had a night out at Bar Lis following the Fashion Trust U.S. Awards. Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan and Charles Melton walked the carpet at the L.A. premiere of the second season of Beef. All 40 photos from this week's premieres and events.
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The Bottom Line
Snapshots from THR's team of critics:Jonah Hill’s second narrative feature Outcome, starring Keanu Reeves, is a "glibly unfunny comedy about a Hollywood star in crisis." Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page's rom-com You, Me & Tuscany is a "predictable but charming crowd-pleaser." Tommy Wirkola’s climate change disaster thriller Thrash is "preposterous but enjoyable Netflix pulp." Daniel Goldhaber's Faces of Death, starring Barbie Ferreira and Dacre Montgomery, is "a gratuitous horror remake." Exit 8, director Genki Kawamura ’s big-screen take on the indie video game, is "probably more fun to play than to watch." Peacock's The Miniature Wife, starring Elizabeth Banks and Matthew Macfadyen, is "a big misfire." AMC's Silicon Valley satire The Audacity is "too real to be fun, not deep enough to be interesting." Season three of HBO's Euphoria has "great moments and tawdry moments still competing." And finally,
Hollywood Flashback...
"Every day that he was shooting, every agent in town and every executive was coming to the set."
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