| | | | What's news: Jimmy Kimmel will host the 2024 Oscars. Pedro Pascal is in running to play Reed Richards in Fantastic Four. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty has lost its director. Netflix canceled Shadow and Bone and four other shows. Paramount+'s SEAL Team will end after season seven. FX has renewed Welcome to Wrexham. — Abid Rahman
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THR's Songwriter Roundtable ►On the cover. THR’s annual Songwriter Roundtable is upon us. Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Julia Michaels, Jon Batiste Cynthia Erivo and Dua Lipa join music editor Mesfin Fekadu for a wide-ranging conversation taped at The Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica. The six performers traded stories about making music and more, as Lipa coined the subgenre “dance-crying” and Batiste spoke about the healing power of music, pointing specifically to Eilish and Rodrigo as artists his wife listened to while she underwent treatment for cancer. The roundtable.
—"Unparalleled access to the buzziest conversations." On Wednesday, THR revealed a partnership with AMC Networks for a new TV series, Off Script With The Hollywood Reporter. THR’s famed Roundtables series, which have become a hallmark of career achievement for A-list talent, will be reimagined for broadcast, offering a fresh perspective on a classic, showcasing the collective brilliance of the entertainment industry’s finest and funniest minds as never before. The show, moderated by THR’s journalists, will be hosted by Emmy-nominated actress and comedian, Yvonne Orji. The story. |
Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow Remember Matthew Perry ►"We were always the six of us." After Matt LeBlanc and Courteney Cox shared their tributes to Matthew Perry on Tuesday, the rest of the Friends cast posted their heartfelt public remembrances of their late co-star on Wednesday. "Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before," Jennifer Aniston wrote in a post on Instagram. The actress spoke of the close bond forged between the six Friends actors and added that Perry loved to make all his co-stars laugh, long after the show had ended. The story.
—"You could take a straight line of dialogue and bend it to your will, resulting in something so entirely original and unexpectedly funny it still astonishes." In his Instagram post on Wednesday, David Schwimmer thanked Perry for 10 “incredible years of laughter and creativity” on Friends. Schwimmer accompanied his caption with a photo of Ross and Chandler in their Miami Vice-inspired college attire, as shown in a Thanksgiving flashback episode. Schwimmer called the image “one of my favorite moments with you.” The story.
—"Thank you for showing up at work when you weren’t well and then, being completely brilliant." Also on Wednesday, Lisa Kudrow remembered Perry in a touching Instagram post, celebrating his humor, dedication to work and “open heart.” Kudrow's post included a blurry Polaroid of the duo, stamped with the NBC logo and she reminisced about their time filming the hit show’s pilot before going on to thank him for the 10 years they shared together on the series. The story. |
How TMZ Became Hollywood's Grim Reaper ►"Never a lot of care or kindness behind it." Since breaking the news of Michael Jackson’s death in 2009, TMZ’s singular style of obituary reporting — which has relied on paid informants, known in the trade as “checkbook journalism,” a practice outside the ethical bounds of most mainstream media outlets — keeps the site relevant in the pop-culture conversation. After being tipped on Matthew Perry’s death, THR's Gary Baum, Winston Cho and Ryan Gajewski write that the site's close ties to law enforcement and habit of paying sources is getting renewed scrutiny. The story.
—"They are right about almost everything." Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav now admits that striking writers were correct in their demands for sweeping changes in how creatives are compensated in Hollywood. Zaslav told the NYT in a lengthy new profile that he has no regrets about the deal struck between studios and the WGA for a new three-year contract on Sept. 24. "So what if we overpay? I’ve never regretted overpaying for great talent or a great asset," Zaslav said. The story.
—"I always dreamed of hosting the Oscars exactly four times." Jimmy Kimmel will return to the Oscar stage once again. The ABC late night host has signed on to host the 96th Academy Awards, marking his fourth time in the role. The appointment is hardly surprising, of course, as Kimmel has decades of live TV experience and a longstanding relationship with Disney. The story.
—Abrupt exit. News anchor Leon Krauze is leaving Univision‘s news division, just days after the network ran a controversial interview with former President Trump. It is not clear why Krauze exited the network, though a source said that he had time left on his contract. The journalist had been with Univision Noticias for years, working out of its Los Angeles station, and later its national newsroom. The story. |
Netflix Cancels 5 Shows Including 'Shadow and Bone' ►Brutal. Netflix has cut several original series as it assesses its slate after the end of two industry strikes. The streamer has canceled its dramas Shadow and Bone and Glamorous, along with a trio of adult animated series — Agent Elvis, Captain Fall and Farzar. Shadow and Bone ends after two seasons, while the other four are all one and done. The cancellations come as Netflix, along with other outlets, considers what it has in its pipeline and how potentially long layoffs between seasons for its series might impact performance. The story.
—"The news hit me hard." Shadow and Bone author Leigh Bardugo shared her thoughts after news broke that the Netflix fantasy television series adapting her books has been canceled. Bardugo took to Instagram on Wednesday to confirm that Shadow and Bone will not return for a third season, while a hoped-for Six of Crows spinoff is also not moving forward. The story.
—"Each season gets more and more fun." THR's Degen Pener has the scoop on Netflix renewing Selling Sunset for an eighth season. Ahead of the show's season 7 reunion, L.A. real estate broker Jason Oppenheim revealed that production will begin soon on the latest installments of the series. The story.
—Podcast to live-action. Shawn Ryan, the prolific producer behind CBS’ SWAT and Netflix’s The Night Agent, is teaming with Jon Hamm to adapt the podcast American Hostage as a live-action TV series, with the Mad Men star attached to reprise his role from the narrative series. The show is described as a psychological thriller that tells the harrowing true story of Fred Heckman, an Indianapolis radio reporter who is thrust into a crisis when hostage-taker, Tony Kiritsis, demands to be interviewed on his radio news program. The story.
—The end is nigh. Paramount+ will end the military drama SEAL Team with its seventh season, which is slated to premiere sometime in 2024. Production on the final season of the CBS Studios show is set to begin in early December. SEAL Team, which stars David Boreanaz, began as a CBS series in 2017 and ran for four seasons on the network before moving to Paramount+ for its fifth season in fall 2021. The story.
—🏴 Newyddion da! 🏴 FX has renewed Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's Welcome to Wrexham for a third season that will premiere in 2024. The news comes ahead of the conclusion of season two of the soccer docuseries on Dec. 13. Welcome to Wrexham has been wildly popular for Disney on FX in the U.S. and Disney+ in the rest of the world. Season one is currently nominated for six Emmy Awards, including outstanding unstructured reality program. The story. |
'Fantastic Four': Pedro Pascal Circling Reed Richards Role ►Super Daddy. Marvel Studios is homing in on a Mr. Fantastic. The Last of Us and The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal is in talks to star as Reed Richards in Fantastic Four, marking perhaps the most significant casting move since the end of the actors strike earlier this month. Sources say scheduling is a factor in whether the deal will work out, and the current status of the talks is unclear. The story.
—Back to square one. Destin Daniel Cretton is no longer directing Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Cretton had been attached since last year, with the news announced on the heels of San Diego Comic-Con. The Shang-Chi filmmaker remains in the Marvel fold and will focus on developing a sequel for that film as well as the TV series Wonder Man. Jeff Loveness, who wrote the Kang-centric feature Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, penned a draft of the movie, though it is unclear if another scribe will take a stab now that the writers strike has ended. The story.
—🎭 Cast in place 🎭 The upcoming live-action adaptation of hit video game franchise Home Sweet Home Rebirth has found its key cast. Michele Morrone, William Moseley, Urassaya Sperbund, Alexander Lee have joined the feature, now in production in Bangkok, Thailand. Filmmaking duo Alexander Kiesl and Steffen Hacker are directing the project. The film is based on the survival thriller video game of the same name, which has sold over 1m units worldwide and has become a breakout on YouTube and Twitch with streamers. The story.
—"The heart is that Molly and Ernest are in love." Martin Scorsese has explained why Killers of the Flower Moon ended up being so focused on the villainous Ernest Burkhart, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. The director spoke about the topic following some criticism the film has received from the Indigenous community. During a virtual press event Wednesday, Scorsese was joined by stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Robert De Niro and Jesse Plemons. The story. |
Lawmakers Press Apple on Cancellation of Jon Stewart's Show ►The problem with China. The Problem with Jon Stewart effectively ended last month when Stewart and his team parted ways amid “creative differences.” Sources told THR at the time that “there had been tension between Apple and Stewart ahead of the show’s third season return over topics featured on The Problem.” Among the topics were issues related to China and AI. Now, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party has sent a letter to Apple and its CEO Tim Cook citing the THR story, and asking whether the tech giant’s long relationship with China was behind the move. The story.
—Narrower focus. A New York judge has trimmed Warner Bros. Discovery‘s lawsuit looking to enforce the company’s exclusive streaming rights to South Park on HBO Max. The judge pointed to evidence that consumers could distinguish that Paramount+ was the exclusive home of two South Park movies per year while Max housed the series' back catalog. WBD still has claims for breach of contract, tortuous interference and unjust enrichment. The story.
—"It was devastating." Travis Scott has addressed the Astroworld Festival tragedy, which saw the death of 10 people and hundreds injured in November 2021. In a rare statement as part of a GQ cover story, the rapper opened up about the incident, saying that there were "moments where it gets rough" on how he's handled the event. "I always think about it. Those fans were like my family," he said. The story.
—Taking the piste. Gwyneth Paltrow may have lost half a day of skiing, but she’s gained a musical based on her recent courtroom adventure. London's Pleasance Theatre has announced Gwyneth Goes Skiing, a satire musical based on the actress and wellness guru’s 2016 ski slope collision with a retired optometrist and subsequent 2023 courtroom battle, where she successfully defended herself against a lawsuit. The story.
—Mitski to Q1. Academy Award-winning singer and songwriter Mitski will pen the score to the stage adaptation of The Queen’s Gambit, which is currently in development. In addition to Mitski, the creative team will include Eboni Booth, playwright of Primary Trust, which recently ran Off-Broadway starring William Jackson Harper, as the book writer. Whitney White, director of JaJa’s African Hair Braiding, currently running on Broadway, will direct. The story. |
TV Review: 'The Crown' S6 ►"A frustrating beginning of the end." THR's Dan Fienberg reviews season six of Netflix's The Crown. Peter Morgan's Emmy-winning drama starts its last season with a four-episode arc, to be followed by the remaining six installments in December. The review.
—"Perhaps more beautiful than profound, but amply beautiful." Dan reviews Margreth Olin's Songs of Earth. The documentary film, Norway's Oscar submission, examines the connection between her aged father and the ageless wonder of the land that surrounds them. The review.
—"A fleet, fun entry from the Monsterverse." THR's Angie Han reviews Apple TV+'s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Kurt and Wyatt Russell play share a role in the decades-spanning drama about a top-secret monster-hunting organization. The review. In other news...
—Percy Jackson and the Olympians trailer teases the demigod’s quest
—Madame Web trailer teases first look at Spider-Man spinoff
—Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget trailer: Thandiwe Newton, Zachary Levi hatch plan for an "impossible mission"
—Jason Momoa forgets to wear pants in Saturday Night Live promo
—Kevin Hart set for 2024 Mark Twain Prize honor
—Isabel Coixet receives lifetime achievement honor from the European Film Academy
—Carmelo Anthony, The Kid Mero launch digital series and podcast
—Frankenstein director James Whale’s former home in Los Feliz listed for $7.24m
—Roger Kastel, Jaws movie poster artist, dies at 92
What else we're reading...
—Eleanor Hawkins digs into the numbers and finds that Americans are flocking to TikTok for news [Axios]
—With every sports and film star seemingly keen on a docuseries these days, Calum Marsh considers whether it's all just PR or something more meaningful [NYT]
—Mark Olsen talks to visionary filmmaker Michael Mann about his new film, and labor of love, Ferrari [LAT]
—Hannah Elliott, Kamaron Leach, and Lucas Shaw consider the falling ratings for Formula 1 and Drive to Survive in the U.S. and wonder if the sport has peaked [Bloomberg]
—Claire de Lune profiles Lakers star Austin Reaves, and his meteoric rise and cult status [Guardian]
Today...
...in 2001, Warner Bros. launched J.K. Rowling’s wizarding universe in wide release with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which grossed more than $970m worldwide. The original review.
Today's birthdays: David Leitch (48), Pete Davidson (30), Maggie Gyllenhaal (46), Martha Plimpton (53), Lisa Bonet (56), Marg Helgenberger (65), Harry Lennix (59), Michael Irby (51), Francesca Scorsese (24), Shigeru Miyamoto (71), Missi Pyle (51), Mackenyu (27), Jack Champion (19), Kimberly J. Brown (39), Gigi Edgley (46), Tammy Lauren (55), Ona Grauer (48), Miguel Sandoval (72), Milo Gibson (33), Brooke Elliott (49), Mark Benton (58), Dean McDermott (57), Emma Ishta (33), Maeve Quinlan (59), Brandon Larracuente (29), Brandi Glanville (51), Christine Harnos (55), Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (59), David Leisure (73) |
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