| | | | What's news: Shonda Rhimes has publicly expressed her support for the WGA strike. Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers will help cover their staff’s pay during the stoppage. Paramount+ has hit 60m global subscribers. Hello Sunshine is developing an F1 docuseries. Nick Cannon will fill in for Jamie Foxx on Fox's Beat Shazam. — Abid Rahman |
WGA Holds Solidarity Rally With Hollywood Allies ►"The only way we’re gonna beat these motherf—ckers is if we do it together." Two days into the writers strike, union leadership assembled members for a “rowdy” and “raucous” meeting at L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium on Wednesday night. THR's Lesley Goldberg, Katie Kilkenny and Gary Baum report that the event brought out more than 1,800 people, including reps from six different entertainment unions, who gathered to hear from leaders about what led to the breakdown in negotiations between the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The story.
—"No one’s budging." Over on the East Coast, THR's Caitlin Huston and Abbey White report that the likes of Cynthia Nixon, Ilana Glazer, Bowen Yang, Jeremy O. Harris and more WGA writers picketed Netflix's office in Manhattan. The strikers took issue with recent comments made by Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos that the streamer could weather a strike better than others due to its large library of content. The story.
—"I am a writer on strike right now." Shonda Rhimes expressed her support for the strike on Wednesday, saying that for "writers to not be able to make a living wage while making a television show or making a movie is a problem." The Shondaland CEO and mega-producer spoke briefly about the stoppage during a fireside chat after receiving a BAFTA Special Award on Wednesday night in New York. The story. —Dipping into their own pockets. NBC late night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers will help cover their staff’s pay during the stoppage. Staffers for Fallon’s Tonight Show and Meyers’ Late Night learned in meetings Wednesday morning that NBC will cover two weeks of pay for workers on the two shows. Fallon and Meyers will personally pay their teams for a third week; health insurance for employees of both programs is guaranteed through September, per a source close to the two shows. The story. |
AI Could Covertly Cross Picket Line ►Do not praise the machine. THR's Katie Kilkenny and Ashley Cullins write that the WGA want artificial intelligence to be used only as a tool that can help research or facilitate script ideas — but studios have taken an expansive view of the labor-reducing possibilities. The analysis. —Can AI write a funny 30 Rock scene? Scribes calling AI an existential risk. To see how imminent that threat is, THR had ChatGPT write a scene for 30 Rock — about TV writers going on strike — and critic Dan Fienberg reviewed it. The story.
—"We no joke got 2,348,283,479 scripts dumped on us [Monday] night." The Hollywood workday is poised to change dramatically, should the strike carry on — but for now, creative executives insist they’ve got plenty to read. THR's Lacey Rose writes that some execs claim they were deluged with scripts right before the stoppage began and they are emailing notes to writers, though they're careful about which ones. The story. |
'Ted Lasso' Star Breaks Down That "Awful and Devastating" Fight ►"There’s a version of these two people who have a lot to learn from each other." For THR, Josh Wigler spoke to Ted Lasso star Jodi Balfour about bringing venture capitalist Jack Danvers to life in the third season of the hit Apple TV+ series. Balfour also discusses Jack's brutal role in episode eight, "We’ll Never Have Paris." Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—Still growing. Paramount+ hit 60m streaming subscribers worldwide as of the end of March, a gain of 4.1m as of the end of 2022. But parent company Paramount Global on Thursday posted a first-quarter loss amid a wider streaming loss and an 11 percent drop in TV advertising revenue. Paramount’s ad-supported streamer Pluto TV grew its monthly active users to 80m as of March 31 from 78.5m as of the end of Q4. The results.
—Strive to survive. THR's Alex Weprin has the scoop on Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine partnering with Formula 1 on a docuseries about the female drivers of the F1 Academy. The still-untitled series, which does not have a streaming or TV home yet, will follow 15 female drivers across all 5 F1 Academy teams and feature a similar format similar to Netflix's Drive to Survive. The story.
—"An incomparable figure." The first project to come out of the recently-announced NFL Films and Skydance Sports joint venture will be a “defining” docuseries about the Dallas Cowboys and the team’s owner, Jerry Jones. The yet to be named series will also feature and spotlight key figures in the rise of the Cowboys, including players like Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith, and the media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The story. |
Billie Lourd Confirms Family Discord ►"We have no relationship." Billie Lourd has long preferred to keep her personal life as private as possible but the actress has taken the rare step of releasing a public statement to quiet family discord by offering her side of the story ahead of a special ceremony honoring her late mother Carrie Fisher. In the statement shared with THR, Lourd opens up about the reasons why she excluded Fisher's siblings from the Hollywood Walk of Fame event. The story.
—"We were bonded ever since." Emilio Estevez has revealed that Laurence Fishburne saved him from drowning in quicksand when they were both 14 years old. In a new interview, Estevez spoke of the incident that happened in the Philippines while Fishburne and Estevez's father Martin Sheen were filming Apocalypse Now. The story.
—Jury complete. Brie Larson, Paul Dano, Palme d’Or-winning director Julia Ducournau and I Am Not a Witch filmmaker Rungano Nyoni will join the competition jury for this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The foursome join previously announced jurors Denis Ménochet, Damián Szifron, Atig Ranimi and Maryam Touzani. The Triangle of Sadness director Ruben Östlund will serve as jury president. Cannes also revealed that a screening of Disney/Pixar's Elemental will close the festival. The story.
—Jury incomplete. Acclaimed Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof has been prevented from leaving the country to attend Cannes. Rasoulof had hoped to serve on the Un Certain Regard jury this year after Iranian authorities granted him a temporary release from Tehran’s Evin prison due to ill health. The story. |
Chastain on Confronting Fears for 'A Doll's House' ►"It’s the hardest thing I’ve done." THR's Caitlin Huston spoke to Jessica Chastain about the challenge of playing Nora Helmer in Amy Herzog's revival of the Henrik Ibsen play A Doll's House. The Academy Award winner, and now Tony nominee, talks about her long-simmering fear of returning to the stage and about what it takes to lead the stripped-down version of the classic play. The interview.
—🎭 Stacked cast 🎭 Diane Keaton, Patricia Hodge, David Harewood, Lulu and Boy George have joined the cast of the upcoming comedy Arthur’s Whiskey. The film tells the tale of a woman, who when her husband dies is shocked to discover he had invented an elixir which makes the drinker look young again. Arthur’s Whiskey is being launched in Cannes by Arclight, and is directed by Stephen Cookson from a script by Alixis Zegerman. The cast also includes Hayley Mills, Bill Paterson, Adil Ray and Lawrence Chaney. The story.
—🎭 "A Kafkaesque tale of murder, love and deception" 🎭 THR's man in London Alex Ritman has the scoop on Bobby Cannavale, Elizabeth Debicki and Ruth Wilson joining the cast of romantic thriller Andorra, which Oscar-winner James Ivory is set to exec produce. The Burnt Orange Heresy filmmaker Giuseppe Capotondi will direct the feature from a script by Peter Cameron who is adapting his own acclaimed novel of the same name. The story. |
'Fatal Attraction' Stars on Revisiting Alex Forrest ►"Labeling a woman crazy and that being the whole story doesn’t work in 2023." THR's chat queen Jackie Strause talked to Fatal Attraction stars Joshua Jackson and Lizzy Caplan about taking on characters first played by Michael Douglas and Glenn Close. Times have changed, point out the stars of the Paramount+ series, which is what attracted them to explore and expand the roles of Dan Gallagher and in particular Alex Forrest. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—Re-upped. Jim Lee, the artist-turned-publisher and CCO of DC, has re-upped his deal with the comics giant and been promoted to president. The executive will continue to report to Pam Lifford, president of global brands, franchises and experiences at Warner Bros. Discovery. The story.
—Stepping in. Nick Cannon is expected to fill in as a guest host for season six of the game show Beat Shazam following Jamie Foxx’s ongoing hospitalization. The Fox show's sixth season, which is deejayed by the actor-producer's daughter Corinne, is set to debut May 23. Meanwhile, on his Instagram story, Foxx thanked Cannon for filling in to host Beat Shazam in his absence. The story.
—Sweet and lowdown. Netflix has handed out a third and final season renewal for Sweet Tooth, the Warner Bros. TV drama based on the DC Comics title. In a twist, production on season three of the series from exec producer Robert Downey Jr. and his Team Downey banner has already been completed in New Zealand. The sophomore season of Sweet Tooth bowed April 27 and drew more than 48m hours of viewership during its first four days on the streamer. The story. |
TV Review: 'Bupkis' ►"A flawed but occasionally fascinating portrait of uneasy celebrity." THR's Angie Han reviews Peacock's Bupkis. Pete Davidson stars as a fictionalized version of himself in a semi-autobiographical dramedy series co-starring Edie Falco and Joe Pesci. The review.
—"A richer, deeper romantic fantasy." Angie reviews Netflix's Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. The show chronicles the romance between Charlotte (India Amarteifio) and George III (Corey Mylchreest), which transformed both their lives and eventually an entire nation. The review.
In other news...
—Dune: Part Two trailer brings the war to Arrakis
—Joel Grey, John Kander to receive special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
—Maria Menounos reveals she survived pancreatic cancer
—Pinewood Group acquires full ownership of Toronto mega-studio
—More movies shot in Canada last year, offsetting drop in TV series production
—Nigerian media mogul Mo Abudu launches new cinema label
What else we're reading...
—A.O. Scott looks at the racial ideology revealed in that Tucker Carlson text message [NYT]
—Mary McNamara writes that streamers profited when television became art in the Peak TV age, but they forgot that writers made it that way [LAT]
—Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski have another jaw-dropping exclusive about Clarence Thomas and the largesse of his friend Harlan Crow [ProPublica]
—On top of Elon Musk's best attempts to ruin Twitter's user experience and ad business, Aisha Counts reports that the company's unpaid bills threaten to be an even bigger problem [Bloomberg]
—Thanks to Alyssa Shelasky, TIL about Disney adults who are willing to pay $30,000 in annual fees and millions more on property to live within the Walt Disney World Resort [Curbed]
—Sarah O'Connor has a fascinating piece on why our brains struggle to comprehend big numbers [FT]
Today...
...in 1944, MGM premiered Gaslight in New York at the Capitol Theatre. The thriller went on to claim two Oscars at the 17th Academy Awards, including a best actress nod for Ingrid Bergman. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Richard Jenkins (76), Will Arnett (53), Shameik Moore (28), Alex Lawther (28), Darrell Britt-Gibson (36), Ana Gasteyer (56), Ashley Rickards (31), Miles Robbins (31), Mary Beth McDonough (62), Julian Barratt (55), Óscar Jaenada (48), Toby Schmitz (46), Stefano Sollima (57), Lance Bass (44), Randy Travis (64), Eleanor Coppola (87), Trystan Gravelle (42🏴), Alexander Gould (29), Darren Mann (34), LaRoyce Hawkins (35), Cat Simmons (42), Christian Howard (39), Jean Yoon (61), Kimora Lee Simmons (48), Steve Barron (67) |
| Barbara Bryne, the British actress who portrayed mothers in the original Broadway productions of Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park With George and Into the Woods, has died. She was 94. The obituary. |
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