| | | | What's news: It's magazine day! This week's cover star is the irrepressible Steve Martin. The Golden Globes are heading back to NBC in 2023. 400 directors have signed a letter demanding abortion protections. Kenan Thompson will host the Emmys. Prey enjoyed the biggest ever debut on Hulu. Eva Longoria will star in Apple's Land of Women — Abid Rahman |
Steve Martin on His Late Career Surge ►On the cover. After more than 60 years in the business, comedy legend Steve Martin was ready to wind it down. Then came Only Murders in the Building and his three Emmy nominations. And a new stage show. And a new book. And a new doc. But after that, he tells THR's Mikey O'Connell, it's over. He's pretty sure. The cover story.
—Plays well with others. Mikey runs through Steve Martin's history of collaboration. The multihyphenate's list of serial collaborators — Martin Short, Tina Fey, the Steep Canyon Rangers — dates back to his first job in Hollywood. The story.
—The perfect subject. As well as an excellent profile, Mikey rather conveniently got a scoop from his chat with Steve Martin, namely that the comedian is going to be the subject of a two-part A24 documentary that will be released by Apple TV+. Morgan Neville, who helmed Oscar-winning doc 20 Feet From Stardom as well as Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, is directing and producing. There’s no title or anticipated release date as yet, but production has been ongoing. The story. |
NBC to Bring Back the Golden Globes ►All is forgiven? THR's Scott Feinberg has the huge scoop on the Golden Globe Awards heading back to NBC in 2023. The HFPA, the scandal-plagued body that organizes the Globes, seems to have found a lifeline with NBC zeroing in on an airdate of Tuesday, Jan. 10. The HFPA came under heavy fire just ahead of the 2021 ceremony when press reports revealed that the body at that time included zero Black people among its then 87 members and had engaged in unethical conduct and suspect financial practices. The story.
—✊ Solidarity ✊ Nearly 400 directors have signed a statement of solidarity with the showrunners’ letter demanding abortion protections from networks, studios and streamers a week and a half ago. The signatories, including Barry Jenkins, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Joey Soloway and Judd Apatow, join the 411 female and 594 male writers who are asking studios, networks and streamers to implement specific protocols in states where abortion is now illegal. The story.
—Another violent disruption. Production of FX’s Justified: City Primeval was interrupted again Monday by a violent incident from outside the show’s set. The series was filming in Chicago’s South Loop area Monday night when someone threw what police described as an “incendiary device” toward the set. The device didn’t explode, according to a report from WLS-TV, and no one was hurt. Monday's incident happened three weeks after a shoot out between two cars on the Justified set. The story.
—Is it true? Kenan Thompson is set to host the 2022 Emmy Awards. The Saturday Night Live star will emcee the ceremony airing on NBC and streaming live on Peacock on Monday, Sept. 12. The story.
—Bringing things forward. Jane Lynch will depart the Broadway production of Funny Girl earlier than previously announced. Lynch, who had been playing Mrs. Brice, mother to the show’s lead, Fanny, will now end her run on Aug. 14 due to a planned vacation. The production had previously said that Lynch would end her run after the Sept. 4 performance. The story. |
Zaslav's Hollywood Doctrine ►"Make sure we get paid." THR's Georg Szalai and Caitlin Huston write that Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav wants to be the anti-Netflix: all in on theatrical, a fan of linear TV, happy to sell content to other players and focused on the bottom line. The analysis.
—Tailor of music. Lamont Dozier, the middle name of the celebrated Holland-Dozier-Holland team that wrote and produced “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “Heat Wave” and dozens of other hits and helped make Motown an essential record company of the 1960s and beyond, has died at age 81. Dozier died “peacefully” Monday at his home near Scottsdale, Arizona, according to a statement issued by his family. The obituary.
—Who needs theatrical? Disney said Prey, the Predator prequel starring rising star Amber Midthunder, scored the No. 1 premiere on Hulu to date, including all film and TV series debuts. Additionally, the pic was the most watched film premiere on Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ under the Star banner in all other territories, based on hours watched in the first three days of its release. The story.
—Eva's play. Apple TV+ has given a series order to Land of Women, a six-episode dramedy starring and exec produced by Eva Longoria. Carmen Maura will also star in the series, which is based on a best-selling novel by Sandra Barneda. The story centers on Gala (Longoria), a New Yorker whose life is upended when her husband implicates the family in financial improprieties. The story.
—Betting on Marlon. Starz's is developing a comedy series called Book of Marlon, inspired by Marlon Wayans’ life and career. Wayans and his producing partner Rick Alvarez will write the pilot episode with Diallo Riddle and Bashir Salahuddin, co-creators of HBO Max’s South Side and IFC/AMC’s Sherman’s Showcase. The story. |
DC Films "Reset" Adds More Confusion ►Clear as mud. THR's second nicest man Aaron Couch writes that after WBD chief David Zaslav shelved Batgirl and declared a new ten-year plan is in the works for the now theatrical-first DC Films, the future of the comic book power house is less clear than it has been in years. The analysis.
—"Nobody wants an impromptu grope." Snowpiercer star Lena Hall and other Hollywood onscreen talent are responding to recent comments made by Game of Thrones star Sean Bean over the role of intimacy coordinators after the actor said they can “spoil the spontaneity” of intimate scenes on a live set. Hall, along with Rachel Zegler and Jameela Jamil, took to social media to clarify the importance of the on-set role after Bean, in a recent interview, said intimate scenes can be "ruined by someone bringing it right down to a technical exercise." The story.
—"A big pile of shit." Jason Momoa is opening up about 2011's Conan the Barbarian, one particular career misfire that still cuts deep. In a new interview, Momoa said that the project was "one of the best experiences" he ever had, but the final product was ruined in post-production. The story.
—More payoffs. WWE says it discovered two additional payments totaling $5m on top of the $14.6m that former CEO Vince McMahon paid in “unrecorded expenses” from 2006 through 2022. In addition, the company disclosed that the underlying unrecorded expenses “were or will be paid by Mr. McMahon personally.” The WWE is facing investigations related to the payments, which were allegedly to former female employees with whom McMahon had sexual relationships. The story.
—Missing expectations. Fox Corp. reported higher advertising and affiliate fee revenues for its fiscal Q4, while overall earnings and revenue missed analyst expectations. The media company posted total revenue of $3.03b for the three months to June 30, up 5 percent from a year-earlier $2.89b. The results. |
TV Review: 'A League of Their Own'►"A hit, if not a home run." THR TV critic Angie Han reviews Amazon Prime Video's A League of Their Own. Abbie Jacobson co-creates and stars alongside Chanté Adams and D'Arcy Carden in a reboot of the 1992 film about the Rockford Peaches, an all-female pro baseball team launched during the height of World War II. The review. — "Starts strong but peters out." THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg reviews Apple TV+’s Five Days at Memorial. John Ridley and Carlton Cuse are the creative forces behind the eight-episode limited series, starring Vera Farmiga, Robert Pine and Cornelius Smith Jr., focused on a New Orleans hospital and the tragedies of Hurricane Katrina. The review. In other news... —Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult fight for their lives in The Menu trailer —New trailer for Netflix’s Do Revenge promises wicked fun —Ben Kingsley’s Salvador Dali biopic Daliland to close Toronto —Tig Notaro and Dulce Sloan to host Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards —Reductress sold to Meena Harris’ Phenomenal Media — Biyi Bandele, groundbreaking Nigerian director of Half of a Yellow Sun, dies at 54 — Issey Miyake, legendary Japanese fashion designer, dies at 84 What else we're reading... —Chris Heath's cover story on Lewis Hamilton is a must-read, even you're not a fan of F1 — Lewis was robbed! [ VF] —Jeremy Egner has an excellent profile piece on the always excellent Paddy Considine, and yes he talks about House of the Dragon [ NYT] —Peter Kafka reports that a firehose of ad spend from the likes of Meta and other Big Tech companies has helped Axios sell for $500m [ Vox] —Iana Murray writes that Netflix's The Sandman heralds the timely return of the emo leading man [ GQ] —Sudha G Tilak on Laal Singh Chaddha, Bollywood's in-the-making and high profile Forrest Gump remake [ BBC] Today... ...in 1984, MGM/UA unveiled John Milius‘ war drama Red Dawn in theaters. The film, featuring up-and-coming stars Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson and Jennifer Grey, was a moderate box office success and spawned a critically panned 2012 remake. The original review. Today's birthdays: Antonio Banderas (62), Luca Guadagnino (51), Cate Shortland (54), Angie Harmon (50), Justin Theroux (51), Brenton Thwaites (33), Rosanna Arquette (63), Claudia Christian (57), Devon Aoki (40), Ryan Eggold (38), JoAnna Garcia Swisher (43), Roxanne McKee (42), Lucas Till (32), Jeremy Maguire (11), Leo Fitzpatrick (44), Kylie Jenner (25), Vincent Rodriguez III (40), Ko Asung (30) |
| Raymond Briggs, the British writer and illustrator who delighted generations of children and adults with his beloved festive book The Snowman and many others, has died. He was 88. The obituary. |
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