| | | | What's news: Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson have donated $10m to a fund to help victims of the Maui wildfires. Taylor Swift's Eras Tour is heading to AMC theaters. Gary Oldman and Paolo Sorrentino are teaming up for a Naples-set feature. Hulu has canceled The Great. Netflix has renewed The Lincoln Lawyer. — Abid Rahman
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Gallup: Majority of Americans Support Strikers Over Studios ►Overwhelming. Seventy-two percent of Americans are more sympathetic to the plight of television and film writers than that of television and film studios amid the strike, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday. That’s compared to 19 percent who felt more sympathetic toward the members of the AMPTP, the group that reps major studios. Additionally, survey respondents felt more sympathetic toward television and film actors, at 67 percent, compared to 24 percent who sided with the studios. The survey.
—Welcome Maer! On Wednesday, THR announced the appointment of Maer Roshan to co-editor-in-chief, sharing the role with editorial director Nekesa Mumbi Moody. Both Roshan and Moody report to Penske Media chief operating officer George Grobar and are based in Los Angeles. Maer will begin in his new role Sept. 25. The story.
—"The community has come together in so many wonderful ways." Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson have announced the establishment of a fund to distribute cash directly to people who were displaced and affected by the devastating wildfires that hit Maui. The People’s Fund of Maui is launching with an initial $10m donation from Winfrey and Johnson. Every adult resident over the age of 18 who lives in the affected area and was displaced by the wildfires in Lahaina and Kula is eligible to receive $1,200 per month from the fund. The story.
—Eras heads to the theater. Taylor Swift is set to see her concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, launch in AMC Theatres and Cinemark venues on Oct. 13 in the U.S. market. AMC expects big business, promising every U.S. location will run at least four showtimes every day on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets for the theatrical event will be priced at $19.89 for adults and $13.13 for children. The story. |
Downbeat Opening for Venice Amid Strikes ►Buongiorno! With the Venice Film Festival fully underway, here's the latest from THR's team in Italy. The day 2 digital daily.
—Muted. THR's Scott Roxborough reports that Venice kicked off its 80th edition Wednesday night on a somewhat muted note, with the dual Hollywood strike casting a pall over the glitz and glamour that typically exemplify the world’s oldest cinema fest. Edoardo De Angelis' WW2 drama Comandante opened the festival, replacing Zendaya starrer Challengers, which was pulled due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. The story.
—Will any Hollywood stars show up? SAG-AFTRA has given festival promotion waivers to star-studded films like Ferrari and Dogman, but actors might still opt out in solidarity with strikers: "Glamming it up at Venice while your colleagues are on the picket line isn’t a good look." The story.
—Starry collab. Gary Oldman is set to star in the next film from Paolo Sorrentino. Announced in Venice, the two Oscar winners will team up for the as-yet-untitled project, which is being produced by Lorezeno Miele for The Apartment Pictures, part of Fremantle. The feature is set to be another love letter to Sorrentino's native Naples, and is about a woman with the same name as the mythological siren the city is supposedly named after. The story.
—"Why is it that a smaller distribution company like Neon or STX International can meet the dream demands of what SAG is asking for?" Adam Driver and the cast of Michael Mann’s Ferrari revved up Venice on Thursday, giving the festival a much-needed boost of star power. Driver and Mann alternated between discussing the film and talking about the dual strikes, with Driver in particular calling out Netflix and Amazon for failing to support creatives. The story.
More from Venice...
—Venice flashback: After 20 years, the fest’s love affair with Sofia Coppola continues
—Venice hidden gem: Bashful bloodsuckers in Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
—Venice rising star Jojo T. Gibbs
—Venice according to hometown hero Vincenzo Bugno |
'Golden Bachelor' Reveals 22 Women Vying for Senior Star ►Golden gals. The Golden Bachelor contestants have made their debut. Twenty-two women will be vying for a final rose from Gerry Turner, the 71-year-old widower who will be leading the ABC franchise’s highly anticipated senior dating spinoff when it premieres Sept. 28. The format will be similar to that of flagship shows The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, except that Turner will be dating from a group of eligible women in his age cohort. The contestants were revealed on Wednesday, and they range from 60 to 75 years old. The story.
—"I ccc uuu mama." The Bachelor alum Matt James took to social media to share his support for his mom, Patty Cuculo James, on her journey to compete for the affections of Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner. Cuculo James, 70, featured on The Bachelor’s season 25 that aired in 2021 with her son as the star. The story.
—Canceled. Hulu has canceled its period dramedy The Great after three seasons. The news comes some three-and-a-half months after the show’s third (and now final) season premiered as a binge release in May. The series stars Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult and explores the relationship of Russian Empress Catherine II and Emperor Peter III in the 18th century. The show earned seven Emmy nominations over the course of its run, winning the award for outstanding period costumes last year. The story.
—Renewed. Netflix has renewed the David E. Kelley legal drama The Lincoln Lawyer for a third season. The series — which is based on the book series by author Michael Connelly — will have another 10 episodes. The next season will be based on the fifth Lincoln Lawyer novel, The Gods of Guilt. All the main cast is returning aside from Neve Campbell, who had a diminished role in the second season and whose character accepted a new job in a different city in the finale. The story. |
Telluride Unveils Its Strike Year Lineup ►"There’s going to be plenty of sparkle and glitter in places, but we didn’t list any of it in-person." Telluride Film Festival kicks off its 50th annual festival on Thursday in the Rockies. But this year, thanks to Hollywood’s dual strikes, the festival arrives with a high potential for awkwardness, writes THR's Rebecca Keegan. With actors arriving unannounced and studio logos kept off the festival theaters, "I want people to feel like Telluride is Switzerland," says fest director Julie Huntsinger. The story.
—"You know when you are working, you think about not working." Jimmy Kimmel said that he was ready to hang up his late night host hat before the WGA took to the picket lines, but has since changed his mind. During the first episode of the limited Spotify podcast Strike Force Five, with Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and Seth Meyers, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host shared the revelation. The story.
—"He was truly one of the greats." Jamie Christopher, the valuable first assistant director whose work spanned such films as Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and all eight Harry Potter movies, has died. He was 52. Christopher died Tuesday from heart complications in Los Angeles. He worked for and developed strong relationships with Rian Johnson, James Gunn, David Yates and Sam Raimi, among others, and in the process became the second highest-grossing AD in the business. The obituary.
—Interim no more. Mark Marshall has been named chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal after filling in on an interim basis. Marshall has been acting as interim chairman since May, when Linda Yaccarino departed the company to serve as CEO of Twitter. He stepped in to lead the team through its upfront, a day after Yaccarino’s departure. The story.
—"I wasn’t really given the opportunity." Bonnie Wright, who played Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter franchise, is opening up about her time in Hogwarts and why she was frustrated over her character’s limited screen time in the films. In a new interview, the actress, who was just 9 years old when she was cast in the film, admitted that she had some anxiety going into filming because she wanted to do the beloved character justice. The story. |
TV Review: 'One Piece' ►"A sweet, spirited adventure to delight your inner child." THR TV critic Angie Han reviews Netflix's One Piece. The live-action series adaptation of Eiichiro Oda's incredibly popular manga centers on a young, superpowered pirate captain who dreams of finding the ultimate treasure. The review.
—"Laudable but overwrought." THR film critic Jordan Mintzer reviews Edoardo De Angelis' Venice opening film Comandante. Pierfrancesco Favino stars in the writer-director's Venice opener, a true story of an Italian submarine captain who defied orders, so he could save lives. The review.
—"More interesting as a commentary on documentary access than as a documentary itself." THR's Dan Fienberg reviews Ibrahim Nash'at's Hollywoodland. This documentary, screening out of competition in Venice, follows two Taliban officials through the first year after the American withdrawal from Kabul. The review.
In other news...
—Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi star in trailer for Emerald Fennell’s twisted thriller Saltburn
—Adam Driver is a motoring icon on a mission to save his company and legacy in Ferrari trailer
—Bradley Cooper, Sofia Coppola, Martin Scorsese movies join London Film Festival lineup
—Amazon’s Thursday Night Football Nielsen ratings are under fire
—Nils Larsen’s management firm Integral Artists adds Matt Gogal as manager
—The best new Indonesian hotels in Bali and beyond
What else we're reading...
—Megan Cerullo reports that the personalized video message app Cameo has seen a surge of signups from out-of-work actors since the strikes began [CBS News]
—Khadeeja Safdar and David Benoit report that before the 2016 election, Jeffrey Epstein tried to tap into Trump’s circle [WSJ]
—Lisa Respers France talks to Preston Mutanga, the 14-year-old prodigy who became part of the animation team behind Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse [CNN]
— Ahead of the release of Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Alison Willmore profiles lead Lily Gladstone who is already getting Oscar buzz [Vulture]
—After a wave of prominent YouTubers like Jeffree Star and James Charles were "cancelled," Kat Tenbarge reports that they have made a comeback on TikTok, podcasts and livestreams [NBC News]
Today...
...in 2018, Focus Features released gothic drama The Little Stranger, Lenny Abrahamson's follow-up to his Academy Award-nominated best picture feature Room. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Sara Ramirez (48), Richard Gere (74), Chris Tucker (52), Marc Webb (49), Stephen McKinley Henderson (74), Daniel Bernhardt (58), Debbie Gibson (53), Jeff Russo (54), Mark Mangini (67), John Cameron (65), Van Morrison (78), Mark Lewis Jones (59🏴), Devan Chandler Long (40), Rajkummar Rao (39), Dee Bradley Baker (61), Yara Martinez (44), Mimi Ndiweni (32), Jonathan Cake (56), Lisa Waltz (62), Ryan Kelley (37), Blake Lee (40), Joe Swanberg (42), Jaylen Barron (25), Elizabeth Cullen (26), Jack Thompson (83), Nick Reding (61) |
| Chip Dox, the two-time Daytime Emmy-winning production designer and art director who spent nearly three decades on soap operas including Days of Our Lives and General Hospital, has died. He was 80. The obituary. |
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