| | | | What's news: Bob Iger dismissed speculation that Apple could bid for Disney. AMC Networks is looking for a new CEO. Scarlett Johansson scored her first major TV role. Balenciaga is suing the company behind the recent controversial ad campaign. Tyler Perry signed a movie deal with Amazon. Sony will be Legendary's new distribution partner. — Abid Rahman |
Mark Burnett Exits MGM TV ►Not a survivor. Mark Burnett, MGM’s worldwide television group chairman, is leaving the company. The veteran reality producer said he was stepping away from MGM TV’s “day to day management” and returning to “independently creating and innovating” and plans to continue to oversee his legacy programs. Burnett becomes the latest high-ranking MGM exec to exit following Amazon’s $8.5b deal to acquire the studio. Film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy left the company in April. The story.
—New home. Staying with the TV side of MGM, the company's streamer and premium cable network MGM+ has landed domestic rights to the Damian Lewis drama A Spy Among Friends after the series was to have aired as a Spectrum original. The six-episode series was among the programs left without a home after Charter shut down its Spectrum Originals banner following the departure of exec Katherine Pope. The story.
—"We have a great set of assets here." On Monday morning Disney CEO Bob Iger addressed employees at the company in a town hall for the first time since his sudden return a week earlier. Iger covered a number of topics including the company's relationship with Florida amid the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill. He also dismissed the idea that Apple could buy Disney as "pure speculation." The story.
—Shocker. AMC Networks said on Tuesday that CEO Christina Spade “has stepped down from her role” without giving details on the reason. The news is even more of a surprise as Spade had only taken over the role on Sept. 9. A successor wasn’t immediately named. The story. |
Will Smith Talks Slap on Media Tour ►"Hurt people hurt people." Will Smith made his return to late-night television Monday when he appeared on The Daily Show. The Oscar-winner talked at length about his journey since the "horrific night" he shocked the world and slapped Chris Rock at the Academy Awards earlier this year. Smith opened up to host Trevor Noah as to why he did what he did and how he's tried to learn from the incident. The story.
—Still finding work. Kevin Spacey, who is set to appear next summer in U.K. courts over multiple charges of sexual assault, is set to star in an upcoming British indie feature. The two-time Oscar winner has been cast in a voice-only role in the thriller Control from Cupsogue Pictures, starring as the main antagonist. The story.
—"I never thought of myself as a roast comic." Jay Leno has returned to stand-up comedy two weeks after suffering third-degree burns when a fire broke out in his garage. The former Tonight Show host performed for one hour at the Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, California, a venue he has appeared at almost weekly on Sunday nights since 1978. On Monday, NBC’s Today program featured clips of Leno walking into the club for his comedy set. The story.
—New banner just dropped. THR's Rebecca Sun has the scoop on Kelly Marie Tran and her Raya and the Last Dragon director Carlos López Estrada launching production company Antigravity Academy. The new banner will develop and produce movies, television, theater and short-form content from and about people from historically excluded communities. The story. |
'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Tops Gotham Awards ►🏆 Day of the Daniels 🏆 Everything Everywhere All at Once was the big winner at the 2022 Gotham Awards, taking the best feature prize Monday at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. Everything Everywhere actor Ke Huy Quan also won best supporting performance. Till's Danielle Deadwyler won the award for best lead performance. Since last year, the Gotham Awards has recognized performers in gender-neutral categories. The winners.
—Time is a flat circle. Scarlett Johansson will take on her first lead role in a TV series — and simultaneously revisit one of the first roles of her career. Johansson will star in and exec produce Just Cause, a limited series at Amazon’s Prime Video based on a 1992 novel by John Katzenbach. The streamer has given a straight-to-series order to the project from Warner Bros. TV and writer Christy Hall. The novel was previously adapted for a 1995 film starring Sean Connery and a young Johansson. The story.
—Passion project. Frank Miller is set to create, write and exec produce a limited series adaptation of Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese graphic novels. Pratt created the Corto Maltese character in 1967 as a heroic sailor finding adventure around the world. Miller, the writer-artist behind The Dark Knight, Sin City and 300, will develop the six-episode live action-adventure series in partnership with StudioCanal and Canal+. The story. |
THR's Top 35 Lawyers for Death, Divorce and Other Disasters ►Hollywood's troubleshooters. As the lives and businesses of entertainment’s elite become increasingly complex, gone are the days of one-note fixers. From fake sonograms in extortion cases to the tragedy on the Rust set to the chaos at Twitter headquarters, this group of Power Lawyers has seen and handled it all. The list.
—"Malevolent, or at the very least, extraordinarily reckless." Balenciaga is suing the production company that handled an ad campaign for the luxury fashion house featuring children posing with teddy bears dressed in what appears to be bondage gear. Balenciaga says North Six made “inexplicable acts and omissions” by displaying in an ad a court decision upholding a criminal prohibition against child pornography, according to a complaint seeking $25m filed in the New York State Supreme Court. The story.
—Queen of Christmas hits Broadway. Mariah Carey is set to join the producing team of the musical Some Like it Hot. This is the first Broadway credit for the Grammy winner, who joins the production as a co-producer. The musical, which features a book by Matthew López and Amber Ruffin and music by Marc Shaiman, is currently in previews and opens Dec. 11 at the Shubert Theatre. The story.
—Date set. Documentary filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi’s film about her politico mother Nancy Pelosi has a release date. HBO revealed on Monday that Pelosi in the House will examine Nancy Pelosi’s time in Congress and was shot over the course of three decades. The film premieres Dec. 13 on HBO and HBO Max. The story. |
Clarence Gilyard 1955 - 2022 ►"His students were deeply inspired by him, as were all who knew him." Clarence Gilyard, a veteran actor who had notable roles in Die Hard, Matlock and Walker, Texas Ranger, and would later become an author and screen and theater professor at UNLV, has died. He was 66. Gilyard died Monday after a long illness. No further details were released. The obituary.
—🤝 New partnership 🤝 Legendary Entertainment has found a new partner in Sony Pictures. Under the terms of the deal, Legendary’s movies will be distributed and marketed globally by Sony, excluding China, where Legendary East will handle those duties. Sony will also handle home entertainment and TV distribution for those films. The story.
—🤝 Movie deal 🤝 Tyler Perry has signed a four-movie deal with Amazon Studios. Under the pact, Perry will write, direct and produce four features that will be released on Prime Video. Most recently Perry has been working with Netflix, having released the period drama A Jazzman’s Blues with the streamer. The story.
—"The biggest heartbreak of my life." Jennifer Lopez says her break-up with Ben Affleck 20 years ago was so painful she not only “felt like I was going to die” but stopped performing certain songs. In a new interview, the singer opened up about the emotional difficulty of breaking up with Affleck back in 2004 and its impact on her professional choices. The story. |
TV Review: 'George & Tammy' ►"Chastain and Shannon are a match made in country heaven." THR TV critic Angie Han reviews Showtime and Paramount Network's George & Tammy. Directed by John Hillcoat, the miniseries centers on the tumultuous relationship between Tammy Wynette (Jessica Chastain) and George Jones (Michael Shannon). The review.
In other news...
—Babylon trailer sees Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt get tangled in Hollywood debauchery
—Michelle Yeoh to receive Palm Springs Film Fest’s International Star Award
—Jon Batiste to sing for French President Emmanuel Macron at Joe Biden’s first state dinner
—ATX TV Festival acquired by Penske Media
—CBS publicity exec Scott Grogin departing
—Freddie Ross Hancock, British publicist, dies at 92
—Freddie Roman, Catskills comedy scene icon, dies at 85
What else we're reading...
—Sam Adams looks at Netflix's reasons for pulling Knives Out 2 out of theaters after only a week [Slate]
—Nick Schager thinks The Kingdom Exodus is Lars von Trier’s bizarro masterpiece [Daily Beast]
—Jamelle Bouie writes that Republicans hate everything about Trump’s dinner with Ye and neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes except Trump [NYT]
—Bob Fernandez reports on the controversy following Pennsylvania's decision to give $5m of tax credits to a M. Night Shyamalan production instead of local indie filmmakers [Philly Inquirer]
—Hannah Murphy, Alex Barker and Arjun Neil Alim have a wild report on Elon Musk calling up CEOs to berate them for dropping ads on Twitter [FT]
Today...
Today's birthdays: Gemma Chan (40), Joel Coen (68), Anna Faris (46), Lauren German (44), Julian Ovenden (46), Andrew McCarthy (60), Janina Gavankar (42), Lucas Black (40), Don Cheadle (58), Kim Delaney (61), Laura Marano (27), Cathy Moriarty (62), Jeff Fahey (70), Liv Hewson (27), Jackie Hoffman (62), Brian Baumgartner (50), Jennifer Elise Cox (53), Howie Mandel (67), Samantha Ivers (40), David Rintoul (74), Dany Garcia (54), Gena Lee Nolin (51), Fawad Khan (41), Paola Turbay (52), Timo Vuorensola (43) |
| Nick Holly, the co-creator of the short-lived ABC improvisational comedy Sons & Daughters, died Nov. 21 at his home in Santa Monica after a “long journey” with lung cancer, his family announced. He was 51. The obituary. |
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