| | | | What's news: Jennifer Lawrence has dropped out of Adam McKay's Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos film. Netflix has renewed The Sandman. Adult Swim has canceled Tuca & Bertie. Aubrey Plaza is joining the MCU. Ravi Patel has been cast to play the Con Queen of Hollywood. The WWE has so far spent $19.4m on a probe into Vince McMahon. — Abid Rahman |
THR's 50 Most Influential People in Comedy ►Golden age. Despite some misfires at the box office, the state of comedy is strong. We are living through a golden age of standup in which touring titans like Tom Segura, birthday boy Bert Kreischer and Sebastian Maniscalco are selling out arenas. Television and podcasts are also benefiting from the comedy boom. THR is out with its annual rundown of the top creatives and decision makers in the funny business, including perennial comedy legends, stadium-filling standups, and, yes, the makers of The Bear. The list.
—"I really just want to make a good TV show." Hailed as the savior of the traditional sitcom for creating Abbott Elementary, Quinta Brunson, THR's Comedy Star of the Year, has much of Hollywood blowing up her phone. THR's Mikey O'Connell spoke to the recent Emmy winner about the ABC comedy's incredible success, the genre’s shifting landscape and her recent boozy run-in with Paul Rudd. The interview.
—"The endgame for me is not being rich." Mikey also spoke to comedian Mike Birbiglia about his new Broadway show, The Old Man and the Pool. Comedy’s erudite goofball (and recent Taylor Swift collaborator) explains the difference between stand-up and theater and why he’ll always reject sitcom offers. The interview. |
Moonves, Paramount to Pay $9.75M to CBS Shareholders ►Settlement and more scandal. Paramount Global will pay an additional $7.25m to shareholders to resolve the New York attorney general’s probe into sexual misconduct allegations involving former CBS chief Leslie Moonves — and Moonves himself will pay $2.5m. The funds will supplement the $14.75m settlement that's awaiting final approval by a New York federal judge in a securities class action.
The settlement also disclosed a larger conspiracy, with a LAPD captain tipping off Moonves and other top execs at CBS about the sexual assault allegation. There is also a claim that a former top exec sold millions of dollars worth of shares before news of the assault allegations became public. The story.
—Suit moves forward. Alec Baldwin must face a lawsuit from Rust script supervisor Mamie Mitchell over his role in the on-set shooting that resulted in the death of one crewmember and injured another, a judge has ruled. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Whitaker on Tuesday refused to dismiss claims of assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence against the actor. The story.
—"I was like, ‘Yeah, we don’t need to redo that.’ She did it." Jennifer Lawrence says she has departed Adam McKay’s Bad Blood, the writer-director’s take on Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. NYT journalist Kyle Buchanan was first to report the departure, tweeting what Lawrence had told him she pulled out of the project after seeing Amanda Seyfried play Holmes in the Hulu limited series The Dropout. The story.
—It's official. Netflix has renewed The Sandman, the series based on Neil Gaiman’s beloved comic for a second season. An episode count and story details for season two are being kept under wraps for now. The 10-episode first season was based on the first 16 issues of the comic — there are 75 in all. The story.
—Finally. Aubrey Plaza is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe and will appear in Agatha: Coven of Chaos. The Disney+ series is a spinoff of WandaVision and stars Kathryn Hahn as the powerful witch Agatha Harkness. Also on the call sheet are Emma Caulfield, who appeared in WandaVision as a nosy neighbor, as well as Heartstopper actor Joe Locke. The story. |
Apple vs. Everyone: Why Rivals Are Sharpening Knives ►"I don’t understand how they’re applying their rules. I don’t understand how a reasonable developer is expected to interpret these rules." As Apple updates its App Store rules to collect more fees, THR's J. Clara Chan writes that longtime antagonist Spotify is gaining an ally in Meta in airing grievances against the tech giant. The analysis.
—Next up. Euphoria star Jacob Elordi has signed on to star in The Narrow Road to the Deep North, a limited series set during World War II that will film in his native country of Australia. The drama from Sony Pictures Television’s Curio Pictures is based on Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning novel. The story.
—"I still have a beautiful and weird ending for T&B in mind." Tuca & Bertie is facing a second cancellation. Series creator Lisa Hanawalt announced on Twitter Wednesday that Adult Swim has canceled the animated series after two seasons there. The cable channel revived Tuca & Bertie in 2020 following Netflix’s cancellation of the show after a single season. The story.
—Helmer in place. A Deadly Education, the upcoming fantasy adaptation from Universal, has found its director. Meera Menon, the director who has helmed episodes of Ms. Marvel, For All Mankind and The Walking Dead, is stepping behind the camera for the project. A Deadly Education is the first book in author Naomi Novik’s Scholomance trilogy, which Universal optioned in 2020 ahead of its publication. The story. |
How Pluto TV Is Gaining Market Share ►Breakout streamer. In September, Paramount’s Pluto TV became the first free, ad-supported platform to crack the Nielsen Gauge, the ratings provider’s monthly, all-platform snapshot of TV use. THR's Caitlin Huston spoke to Tom Ryan, head of streaming at Paramount, about how Pluto TV has managed to turbocharge its number of monthly active users all without ordering original shows or movies. The story.
—🎭 Casting news 🎭 Ravi Patel (Meet the Patels) has nabbed the lead role in the true crime thriller Kiss of the Con Queen. Patel is set to play the role of a mastermind impersonator known as the Con Queen of Hollywood. Writer Eoin O’Brien based the script on his own experiences of being scammed by Hargobind Tahilramani, an Indonesian food blogger who was finally arrested in December 2020 in Manchester, England. Thai-British director Tom Waller will helm the project. The story.
—So far. The WWE’s investigation into alleged misconduct claims against founder and former CEO Vince McMahon has cost the company $19.4m in expenses, so far. The admission on the probe costs came in WWE's Q3 results presentation on Tuesday, with the company handily beating Wall Street expectations, delivering net revenue of $304.6m, and operating income of $58.9m. The story.
—As you were. After what was widely seen as a tryout for a primetime slot, Jake Tapper is returning to his afternoon show following the midterms. A temporary shake-up ahead of the midterms sent the State of the Union and The Lead host to primetime, but plans are changing for post-election coverage. The story. |
AFM 2022: Day 3 ►Snapped up. Sony Pictures Classics has pre-bought Freud’s Last Session, a feature from director Matt Brown (The Man Who Knew Infinity) and starring Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins as famed neurologist Sigmund Freud. Written by Mark St. Germain and based on his play of the same name, the film also stars Matthew Goode as The Chronicles of Narnia author C.S. Lewis. The story.
—Why indie production companies are selling out. THR's Scott Roxborough looks at how European studio juggernauts Banijay and Fremantle have been able to gobble up smaller banners in a bid to gain scale and secure IP, and writes that U.K. producer ITV Studios is perhaps the next target. The story.
—Buzzy acquisition. Magnolia Pictures has picked up the U.S. rights to Paul Schrader’s Master Gardener. Joel Edgerton stars in the crime thriller as Narvel, a master gardener of a grand American estate owned by wealthy dowager Mrs. Haverhill (Sigourney Weaver). The film is the last entry in the loose Schrader-directed trilogy that includes First Reformed and The Card Counter. The story.
—Classy addition. Mark Strong will join Joel Kinnaman in The Silent Hour, a Boston-set action thriller from director Brad Anderson. Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios will finance and produce the movie with producer Eric Paquette’s Meridian Pictures. Anderson will direct from an original screenplay by Dan Hall. The story.
More from AFM...
—AFM flashback: Platoon was a big win for Oliver Stone — and the market
—Léa Mysius on her ambitious second film The Five Devils
—Grandave strikes distribution deal with China’s M-Star International
—Cam Gigandet, Sam Trammell action-thriller 72 Hours rounds out cast
—Veronica Ferres joins the cast of Red Sonja |
Film Review: 'Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me' ►"Generous in its candor." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Alek Keshishian's Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me. The pop star opens up about the tension between her mental health, fame and self-discovery in this AFI Fest opener from Apple TV+. The review.
—"Sweet, simple and nothing particularly special." THR TV critic Angie Han reviews Netflix's Blockbuster. Randall Park and Melissa Fumero lead a workplace comedy set in the very last location of the video rental chain, from Superstore and Brooklyn Nine-Nine writer Vanessa Ramos. The review.
In other news...
—Dead to Me final season trailer reunites Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini as outlaws
—Shelley Duvall returns to screen as tormenting mom in The Forest Hills trailer
—Producers Guild screeners going digital
—Netflix unveils Chinese-language slate topped by Agent From Above, Warriors of Future
—Academy adds four to SciTech council
—Beloved Brentwood spot Vincenti Ristorante closes due to rent hike
—Lindsey Beer signs with CAA
What else we're reading...
—Adrienne Westenfeld on the problems navigating "The Canon" related to popular IP and how the MCU and Star Wars can learn from The Rings of Power [Esquire]
—Emily Yahr interviews Ken Jennings on how he's helping to fix Jeopardy! [WaPo]
—Miles Surrey writes that Netflix's Blockbuster isn't the first Hollywood "spite project" [Ringer]
—Kaitlyn Tiffany wonders whether liberals are really leaving Twitter [Atlantic]
—Mekado Murphy spoke to Babylon writer-director Damien Chazelle and production designer Florencia Martin on how the film captured the excesses of the 'roaring 20s' [NYT]
Today...
...in 2006, Sacha Baron Cohen arrived in theaters with Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, a surprise hit that nabbed more than $120m at the box office. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Dolph Lundgren (65), Antonia Thomas (36), Kate Capshaw (69), Davis Guggenheim (59), Anna Wintour (73), Diana Silvers (25), Tom Savini (76), Dylan Moran (51), Bert Kreischer (50), Kendall Jenner (27), Aria Wallace (26), Brian Henson (59), Gary Ross (66), Heather Stephens (51), Sticky Fingaz (49), Adam Ant (68), Hal Hartley (63), William Monahan (62), Yamaneika Saunders (44), Daniel Pemberton (45) |
| Patrick Haggerty, the openly gay frontman for acclaimed country outfit Lavender Country, and self-described "screaming Marxist bitch singer," has died. He was 78. The obituary. |
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