Reminder: We’ve launched The Ladder from The Ankler, a members-only hub for early-career professionals. For more information or to apply, click here. Our first event is coming Nov. 3 in Brooklyn with The Cramer Comedy Newsletter.
Welcome to this edition of Todd on the Town. You can reach him at Todd@januaryimages.com. All credits are by Todd Williamson except where otherwise specified.
RUSSIAN TWIST Clockwise from top left: Lindsey Normington, Karren Karagulian, Yuriy Borisov, Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn and Vache Tovmasyan; Sean Baker, Madison and Eydelshteyn; Tovmasyan, Samantha Quan, Sean Baker, Karagulian, Madison, Borisov, Eydelshteyn and Alex Coco at The Vista Theater on Oct. 1. The Oscar contender from NEON is about a Brooklyn sex worker’s relationship with the son of a Russian oligarch.
BOTTOMS UP From left: Co-writer Jim Taylor, Sandra Oh and Michael London; Paul Giamatti; Oh, Virginia Madsen, Thomas Haden Church, director Alexander Payne and Giamatti hit Searchlight Pictures' Sideways 20th anniversary screening on Oct. 26.
LAW AND ORDER From left: Jason Bateman and Jude Law; Nicholas Hoult and Nicholas Alexander Chavez at a CAA Tastemaker Screening for the FBI vs. white supremacist gang film The Order, from Amazon MGM Studios, on Oct. 15 in L.A.
TED’S FRIENDS Clockwise from top left: Viola Davis and Kelly Rowland; Rodney Peete, Holly Robinson Peete and Magic Johnson; Alexander Devore Avant, Davis, Nicole Avant, Julius Tennon and Ted Sarandos at Rolling Greens on Sept. 28 in L.A. The organization focuses on providing compassionate care to families living with autism and Parkinson’s. (Todd Williamson/Shutterstock for HollyRod)
SWEET LIFE From left: Whitney Cummings and Michelle Monaghan; Lisa Ann Walter; Quinta Brunson, Warner Bros. Television Group chairman and CEO Channing Dungey, Arielle Kebbel; Kebbel, Monaghan, John Ortiz and Meredith Hagner on Oct. 10.
DEAD BECOMES THEM From left: Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan; Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride at a panel for the second season of AMC’s fifth Walking Dead series at New York Comic Con on Oct. 18.
SECRETS AND SMILES From left: Elliott Heffernan and Saoirse Ronan; Ronan and Ayo Edebiri; Ronan, Heffernan, and Steve McQueen at screenings of the historical war drama Blitz from Apple. (Todd Williamson/Apple Original Films)
RIGHT HOOKS From left: Gael Garcia Bernal, Rosie Perez and Diego Luna; Searchlight Television's head of development, Gina Kwon, and Bernal at the La Máquina afterparty on Oct 3. The mini-series, airing on Hulu, follows an aging boxer who gets one last shot at a title. (Todd Williamson/Searchlight Television)
The WakeupNetflix, IMAX Narnia talks: What’s at stake
How the L.A. Times Drove its Clown Car Off the Cliff Richard Rushfield worked there and can tell you about cultural rot and a toxic mix of arrogance and complacency. When an institution is determined to become irrelevant, owners like Patrick Soon-Shiong are what you get
David Zaslav: A Cautious Defense Criticism of his day-to-day actions are obscuring some, dare Entertainment Strategy Guy says, shrewd long-term moves
Kamala Harris’ 62 Biggest Hollywood DonorsMost Likely to be Sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom? Matthew Frank compiled a list of who’s poured the most cash into their hometown candidate’s record $1B coffers
The Clint Eastwood Snub. Ouch What to make of WBD’s cold shoulder? Plus: Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead tells Katey Rich about her abortion access doc barnstorming the country
🎧 Kirsten Dunst: ‘I Can’t Do Things for Money’ The Oscar-nominated star opens up about being ‘director driven’ and why ‘I’m not someone who can bring work home . . . [my kids] want their mom’
🎧 Hollywood’s WFH Wars Worsen Workers revolt over RTO mandates at Amazon and Lionsgate as industry vets warn about the eventual costs of a career on Zoom
