| | | | What's news: Green Book actor Frank Vallelonga Jr. was found dead in NYC. Amazon has recast a key character for Rings of Power season two. Annapurna has launched an animation studio. Guy Ritchie has no qualms about casting Will Smith again. — Abid Rahman |
Julia Reichert 1946 - 2022 ►Godmother of indie film. Julia Reichert, whose 50-year career as a documentarian included a 2020 Oscar win for American Factory, has died after a battle with bladder cancer. She was 76. The director, producer and writer also received Oscar nominations for Union Maids (1976), Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists (1983) and The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant (2009). The obituary.
—"His account is being suspended for incitement to violence." After a chaotic day that saw Kanye Ye West appear on Alex Jones’ Infowars show and repeatedly say he liked Adolf Hitler, the rapper was suspended from Twitter for posting an image featuring a swastika on Thursday evening. Continuing his highly personal approach to content moderation, Twitter CEO Elon Musk tweeted that Ye was suspended for inciting violence and not for posts mocking the billionaire. The story.
—Pronounced dead at the scene. Green Book star Frank Vallelonga Jr. was found dead in the Bronx, the NYPD confirmed to THR. The actor, who was 60, portrayed a relative of Viggo Mortensen’s bouncer Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga. In real life, he was the son of the bouncer portrayed in the film. The police found Vallelonga Jr., unconscious and unresponsive but with no observable trauma, early Monday morning on the ground outside a sheet-metal factory. The investigation is ongoing. The story.
—Writedowns. AMC Networks says that it expects to have restructuring charges of between $350m-$475m, “in light of ‘cord cutting’ and the related impacts being felt across the media industry as well as the broader economic outlook.” Those charges include the company-wide layoffs announced earlier this week, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in writedowns related to TV programming. The story. |
CNN Chief Outlines Cuts ►Big changes. The CNN offshoot HLN has canceled all of its live programming, with its crime-focused docuseries merging with sister Warner Bros. Discovery channel ID under Kathleen Finch. The HLN shakeup is part of wider layoffs and restructuring that took place Thursday at CNN Worldwide. CNN International also saw a reorganization and the CNN contributor ranks have been slashed. The story.
—Moving up. Eric Kim has been promoted to exec vp current programming at CBS. Kim, an 11-year CBS veteran, fills the void created by the promotion of Amy Reisenbach. Reisenbach this month was upped to entertainment president at CBS, replacing Kelly Kahl after the exec, who spent nearly 30 years at CBS, was ousted in a cost-cutting move. The story.
—Also moving up. Warner Bros. Discovery has promoted David Decker to oversee content sales as the role’s existing executive, Jim Wuthrich, is set to step down at the end of the year. Decker will be responsible for the North American licensing and distribution of all WBD-produced film, TV and digital content to third-party platforms. The story.
—Branching out. Annapurna Pictures has launched its own animation studio with the upcoming feature Nimona set as its first release. The division will be co-led by former Disney animation execs Robert Baird and Andrew Millstein. They collaborated with Annapurna on the long-gestating Nimona, which will debut on Netflix next year. The story.
—Monster deal. The Martian scribe Drew Goddard is writing and executive producing an animated comedy for FX. The cable outlet has given a pilot order to the project, which is called The Trenches and follows a modern family of monster hunters. The project comes from 20th Television Animation, with Floyd County Productions (Archer) serving as the animation studio. Goddard has an overall deal with ABC Signature. The story. |
'Emancipation' Producer Slammed For Walking Carpet With Photo ►"Why did you bring it to a movie premiere if the intent is to preserve it respectfully?" Emancipation producer Joey McFarland turned heads at the film's premiere on Wednesday by walking the carpet with the original photograph that inspired the film, one showing the scarred back of a man known as Peter who escaped enslavement. On social media, critics were quick to question why this Civil War-era artifact was in McFarland's personal collection rather than a museum. The story.
—🎭 Casting news 🎭 Amazon Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings series announced seven new recurring cast members for season two. Gabriel Akuwudike, Yasen “Zates” Atour, Ben Daniels, Amelia Kenworthy, Nia Towle and Nicholas Woodeson have joined the show. There’s also a shake-up with the fan-favorite role of Orc leader Adar being recast — Sam Hazeldine replaces Joseph Mawle in the part. The story.
—"He’s resting and his doctors are keeping a close eye on him." Al Roker has been hospitalized again for blood clots following his recent release. On Thursday morning, Today show co-host Hoda Kotb addressed the long-time weatherman’s re-hospitalization on air. The story.
—Still getting numbers. The fourth season of Manifest returned the Netflix show to the top of the streaming charts. The drama did not, however, have as much viewing time as it did in previous times on the rankings. Manifest has now crossed the billion-minute mark nine times in Nielsen’s streaming rankings, with the first coming in June 2021 — just before NBC canceled the series after three seasons. The streaming rankings.
—Out in front. Nielsen figures for the first nine weeks of the 2022-23 season show that Netflix and CBS are well ahead of other broadcasters and streaming services in terms of time spent with original programming. Netflix amassed 221.47b minutes of viewing, with CBS (which, it’s worth noting, commissioned the comparison) right behind with 215.64b minutes. The story. |
Jim Parsons Embraces Being a "Late Bloomer" ►"I want our company to get to a place where we’re almost solely producing for me." THR's Mikey O'Connell spoke to Spoiler Alert star Jim Parsons about his exploits as a successful producer through his company That’s Wonderful Productions. Parsons also discussed his unanticipated spate of gay roles and why, at 49, the self-proclaimed late bloomer is "still blooming." The interview.
—"I wouldn’t have any issue casting Will Smith in anything." Guy Ritchie says he would gladly cast Will Smith as the genie again in the sequel to his billion dollar hit Aladdin. Speaking at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia, Ritchie didn’t comment directly on the infamous Oscars slap, but did insist that his experience with Smith was nothing but a delight. The story.
—Going to trial. Squid Game star Oh Young-soo will stand trial on charges of indecent assault after a woman accused him of inappropriately touching her in 2017, a South Korean court said. The district court in Seongnam city said Thursday that prosecutors indicted the 78-year-old Emmy nominee last week over the allegations and that his trial will begin in February. The story.
—Easing on down to Broadway. The Wiz, the beloved Black-led, music-infused spin on The Wizard of Oz, is slated to return as a reimagined revival in Spring 2024. Amber Ruffin is attached to provide additional material for the limited engagement. The “all-new” production of the Tony-winning musical adapted from L. Frank Baum’s children’s book will serve as the Broadway directorial debut for Schele Williams. The story.
—"The studio likes it, so we’ll see where it goes." Vince Vaughn has revealed that a sequel to the comedy classic Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is certainly a possibility. Speaking at the premiere for his new comedy Christmas with the Campbells, Vaughn gave an update on the project sharing that he and Ben Stiller are both open but cautious of the risks of revisiting the hit film. The story. |
Thank Pod It's Friday ► All the latest content from THR's podcast studio.
—TV's Top 5. THR's Lesley Goldberg and Dan Fienberg break down the latest TV news. The duo begin by running through the week's headlines, including Scarlett Johansson's first TV role and the latest on The White Lotus. There's a segment dedicated to all the massive executive changes taking place across the TV landscape. They preview December TV and Rolling Stone 's Alan Sepinwall drops by for "Season in Review." And Dan offers his reviews of Willow on Disney+, Amazon’s Riches and Three Pines, Apple’s Slow Horses and HBO Max's Sort Of. Listen here.
—It Happened in Hollywood. THR senior writer Seth Abramovitch goes behind the scenes of the pop culture moments that shaped Hollywood history. In this episode Seth spoke to Griffin Dunne. The star of After Hours talks about the making of Martin Scorsese's ninth film which follows a man trying to get home from SoHo in the 80s. Listen here.
—Awards Chatter. THR's executive awards editor Scott Feinberg talks to the great and the good of Hollywood. In this episode, Scott spoke to Jerry Bruckheimer. One of the most commercially successful producers in Hollywood's history reflects on his beginnings in advertising, his rollercoaster partnership with the late Don Simpson and the two Top Gun blockbusters that he made with Tom Cruise 36 years apart. Listen here.
In other news...
—Indiana Jones 5 gets first trailer, new title
—Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 trailer teases the end of an era for Marvel
—Transformers heads to the ‘90s with Rise of the Beasts trailer
—LeVar Burton to receive Lifetime Achievement Award at inaugural Children’s & Family Emmys
—Tasha Brown joins Avail Management
—What to read right now: Timely books with Hollywood appeal
What else we're reading...
—Wesley Morris writes that the present lack of movie stars is down to fewer films that allow an actor to grow a persona and a Tom Cruise level of stardom [NYT]
—Nadira Goffe writes that she knows why critics hated Netflix’s Wednesday despite its huge popularity with audiences [Slate]
—Amanda Holpuch has the real story of "cocaine bear" [NYT]
—Sarah E. Needleman and Sarah Donaldson report on how the soaring popularity of Roblox means kids increasingly want virtual currency rather than real money for their allowance [WSJ]
—Here's your Friday list: "Daniel Craig’s 20 best film performances – ranked!" [Guardian]
Today...
Today's birthdays: Britney Spears (41), Lucy Liu (54), Yvonne Orji (39), Jana Kramer (39), Lesley-Ann Brandt (41), Joe Lo Truglio (52), Alfred Enoch (34), Rena Sofer (54), Steven Bauer (66), Annalise Basso (24), Daniela Ruah (39), Celeste O'Connor (24), Brendan Coyle (60), Dennis Christopher (67), Dan Butler (68), André Dae Kim (26), Penelope Spheeris (77), Nelly Furtado (44), John Whitesell (61) |
| Brad William Henke, who was a defensive end in the NFL before launching an acting career that included such television series as Lost, Justified and Orange Is the New Black, has died. He was 56. The obituary. |
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