| | | | | | What's news: Rachel Maddow has secured Kamala Harris' first major interview since the election. Paramount+ has renewed Tulsa King. Apple has renewed The Morning Show. Amazon acquires some rights to The Masters. And Hamilton hit close to $4m as Leslie Odom Jr. returned to the Broadway production. — Abid Rahman
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Robert Redford's Real Hollywood Legacy Is in Utah ►"I just can't think of another person who had the impact on the filmmaking world in the way Redford did." THR's Mia Galuppo spoke to filmmakers Barry Levinson, Roger Ross Williams and Richard Linklater, as well as Sony Pictures Classics co-founder Tom Bernard about the huge entertainment industry legacy of Robert Redford, which went well beyond acting, directing and establishing the Sundance Film Festival. The story.
—"I’d argue there is no greater mentor in the world of filmmaking." THR's Steven Zeitchik writes that Robert Redford’s biggest Hollywood innovation was to make helping others seem cool. From guiding young filmmakers to embarking on campaigns for the NRDC, Redford cut an altruistic path through thickets rarely entered. The story.
—"An American icon who dazzled the screen with his beauty and captured a nation with his complexity." In his tribute piece, THR critic Jordan Mintzer writes that Robert Redford, star of classics like All the President's Men and Three Days of the Condor, rose to fame in an era marked by pessimism and political strife, which would fuel his best work both as an actor and a director. The critic's notebook. |
Reality Star Files Class Action Over Inhumane Working Conditions on Shows ►Possible game changer. A former contestant on Love Is Blind has sued the makers of the Netflix dating show for a series of alleged labor violations, marking another lawsuit challenging working conditions and pay in reality TV. In a proposed class action filed in California state court on Monday, Stephen Richardson says he and the show’s other contestants should’ve been classified as employees, which would’ve entitled them to certain protections relating to minimum wage, overtime and illegal contractual terms over confidentiality. The filing comes after the NLRB last year issued a complaint against the production in which it said that castmembers were misclassified as independent contractors, opening the door to possible unionization. The story.
—"Speaking of Emmys, Donald Trump doesn’t have one." The ongoing feud between Stephen Colbert and Donald Trump isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, especially after The Late Show won an Emmy. On Sunday, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert won the best talk series Emmy for the first time, beating Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Daily Show. During Colbert’s first show after the awards ceremony on Tuesday, he was more than thrilled to show off his golden statuette to his live audience, quipping, “We should have gotten canceled years ago.” The host was seemingly referring to CBS announcing in July that The Late Show would be ending its run in May 2026, news that Trump took the time to gloat about. The recap.
—Breaking cover. Kamala Harris will sit down with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow next week in one of her first major interviews since the 2024 election. The interview will take place Sept. 22, with Harris live on set for Maddow’s 9 p.m. ET show. This comes as the former vice president is launching a tour for her new book, 107 Days, which details what happened behind the scenes of her presidential election campaign last year. The following day, on Sept. 23, Harris will appear on The View for her first return to the ABC talk show since the election. The story.
—Moving on. Hasbro Entertainment president Olivier Dumont is exiting the company. Hasbro is the toy company that holds the rights to Peppa Pig, PJ Masks, Transformers, G.I. Joe, and My Little Pony, all of which have been adapted into various films and series. It also makes board games like Monopoly and Scrabble, the kind that could and are (somehow) also being transformed by Hollywood for the screen. In 2023, Hasbro sold its Entertainment One division to Lionsgate for $500m and Dumont took on his new title. The toymaker acquired eOne four years prior — the $4b deal brought Peppa Pig and PJ Masks to Hasbro. The story.
—Another one. Marc Weinstock is exiting Paramount Pictures as the president of worldwide marketing and distribution. Weinstock first joined Paramount in February 2019 from his previous post as president of Annapurna Pictures. During his time with the studio, he oversaw campaigns for releases that include Top Gun: Maverick, Sonic the Hedgehog and A Quiet Place. Weinstock previously held senior marketing leadership roles at 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures, working on campaigns for films including Logan, Hidden Figures and The Revenant. The story.
—Boarding. Paramount Skydance has named Scale AI CFO Dennis K. Cinelli to its board of directors. Cinelli will act as an independent director on the board, effective immediately. His appointment expands the board to 11 directors, following the post-merger appointments of new CEO David Ellison as chair, Sherry Lansing, former head of Paramount Pictures, Oracle CEO Safra Catz and RedBird Capital Partners’ Gerry Cardinale. Barbara Byrne, former vice chairman of British investment bank Barclays, is the lone holdover from the old board and will sit as an independent director, as will Lansing and Cinelli. The story.
—Back in the fold. Julie McNamara is back developing series for CBS Studios — with one slight difference. McNamara, the former head of CBS Studios drama development, has joined Jennie Snyder Urman’s Sutton St. Productions as partner to create and develop series for broadcast and streaming. Urman has had an overall deal with CBS Studios since 2012 — she and McNamara have worked together plenty. McNamara exited Paramount Global officially as the head of Paramount+ originals in 2021. The story. |
'Tulsa King' Renewed for S4 at Paramount+ ►Return of the King. Tulsa King will return for a fourth season. Paramount+ has renewed the show ahead of Sunday’s third season premiere. The order is hardly a surprise. The dramedy starring Sylvester Stallone was Paramount’s most watched original series last year, earning the streamer a record 21.1m global streaming viewers for its season two premiere. Tulsa King also has a spinoff in the works — NOLA King starring Samuel L. Jackson, whose character Russell Lee Washington Jr. will be introduced during the new season. The story.
—No-brainer. Just before season four of The Morning Show goes live, Apple TV+ extended the show’s run. The streamer has ordered a fifth season of the drama starring and executive produced by Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon as anchors at a fictional TV network. Showrunner Charlotte Stoudt and director/executive producer Mimi Leder are set to continue in those roles in season five. Along with Aniston and Witherspoon, season four’s returning cast inlcudes Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Nestor Carbonell, Karen Pittman, Greta Lee, Nicole Beharie and Jon Hamm, alongside new additions Aaron Pierre, William Jackson Harper, Boyd Holbrook, Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Irons. The story.
—All set. The second set of Christmas Day NFL games on Netflix will bring back several of the people who called the action the first time around. As was the case last year, CBS Sports is producing the games for Netflix, and all three members of the booth for the early game on Christmas (Dallas Cowboys at Washington Commanders) will come from CBS. Ian Eagle will do play-by-play for the game, joined by analysts Nate Burleson and Matt Ryan. Eagle is CBS’ No. 2 NFL play-by-play announcer, and Burleson and Ryan (both former NFL players) work on CBS’ Sunday pregame show The NFL Today. Eagle and Burleson called one of Netflix’s Christmas games last season, along with fellow CBS analyst JJ Watt. The story. |
Four 'Real Housewives' Get 'Wife Swap' Treatment ►Mixing things up. Four Real Housewives are getting the wife swap treatment for a new Bravo series. For the previously announced Wife Swap: The Real Housewives Edition, the network has revealed the chosen stars from the hit Housewives franchise who will swap with real housewives, in a reality TV social experiment and mash-up with the Wife Swap reality series (and Celebrity Wife Swap series). Angie Katsanevas from Salt Lake City, Emily Simpson from Orange County, Melissa Gorga from New Jersey and Dr. Wendy Osefo from Potomac will star in the four-episode event series that launches Oct. 14 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 James Gunn's Superman will fly onto HBO Max on Sept. 19. The streaming debut for the DC Studios tentpole will be followed by a debut on HBO linear on Sept. 20. Superman, which had a production budget of around $225m before marketing, is Safran and Gunn’s inaugural release as they breathe new life into the DC brand for Warner Bros. Discovery. The critically-acclaimed Superman has earned around $615m in global box office this summer. The tentpole is the first DC release to achieve the $600m milestone since The Batman in 2022. The story.
—🤝 More sports rights. 🤝 Amazon is joining the Masters Tournament lineup. Prime Video will be the domestic broadcaster of the golf tournament starting next April. The streaming service joins the live coverage on CBS Sports and ESPN. The move comes as Amazon has been scooping up sports rights for Prime Video, which has included NFL Thursday Night Football and will soon include NBA games on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays. Amazon also has streaming deals with the WNBA and NWSL. The Masters is unusual in that its media rights agreement is renegotiated annually, and controlled by Augusta National, including all ad sales. The story. |
Feinberg Forecast: Scott's Latest Oscar Predictions Post-Fall Festivals ►Hamnet's looking good. With the 82nd Venice, 52nd Telluride and 50th Toronto film festivals and the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards now in the rearview mirror, the focus of the awards-industrial complex — journalists, publicists and talent — has shifted fully to the race to the 98th Oscars. THR's executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg updates his picks as movie awards season creeps ever closer. The forecast.
—📅 Pushed back. 📅 The release of Rob Savage’s Other Mommy is being delayed from May 8, 2026, to Oct. 9, 2026. James Wan of Atomic Monster is producing the Universal horror pic — in association with Spin a Black Yarn for Universal Pictures — whose high-profile cast includes Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, Arabella Olivia Clark and Dichen Lachman. The screenplay is from WGA award winner Nathan Elston, writer for the Emmy-winning sensation Succession. The story.
—🎭 Permission to board. 🎭 THR toiler Ryan Gajewski has the scoop that Teresa Palmer has joined the cast of Amazon MGM Studios‘ submarine thriller Subversion. The actress, who recently starred alongside Ryan Gosling in Universal’s The Fall Guy, joins previously announced Subversion castmembers Chris Hemsworth, Lily James, Michael Peña, David Wenham, Robert John Burke, Simone Kessell and Joe Cole. Patrick Vollrath helms the film from a script by Andrew Ferguson. Lorenzo di Bonaventura produces the project, while Stephen Shafer and Greg Cohen serve as executive producers for di Bonaventura Pictures. The story. |
Oscars: Spain, Colombia and Israel Make Selections ►🏆 Buena suerte! 🏆 Spain has selected Oliver Laxe‘s Sirat, a near-future drama about the end of the world set to a thumping techno soundtrack, as its contender for the 2026 Oscars in the best international feature category. Laxe’s fourth film premiered in Cannes, where it was a critical breakout, and won the jury prize. The drama follows a father and son who hook up with a group of itinerant ravers in the deserts of Morocco. What starts as a search for the family’s lost daughter becomes something else when the world outside — as reported in static-heavy radio broadcasts — appears to collapse, leaving the group with only themselves to confront the threatening world around them. The story.
—🏆 Buena suerte! 🏆 Colombia has chosen Simón Mesa Soto’s A Poet to represent the country for the 2026 Oscar race in the best international feature category. First-time actor Ubeimar Rios stars in the dramedy as Oscar Restrepo, a failed and down-and-out writer who is given the opportunity for redemption by mentoring a young and talented student, Yurlady (Rebeca Andrade). He just has to stop making bad decisions to succeed. The film bowed at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard program, where it won the jury prize. A Poet also stars Rebeca Andrade, Guillermo Cardona, Humberto Restrepo, Alisson Correa and Margarita Soto, and will receive a North American release via 1-2 Special after a recent theatrical release in Colombia. The story.
—🏆 Mazel tov! 🏆 The Israeli Academy of Film and Television has picked Shai Carmeli-Pollak’s anti-war drama The Sea as its contender for the 2026 Oscars in the best international feature category. The drama follows a 12-year-old Palestinian boy who risks his life to go to the beach for the first time in Tel Aviv. Khaled gets the chance to see the sea for the first time in his life on a school trip. Turned back at a military checkpoint, he sets off on his own, despite not knowing the way or speaking any Hebrew. The Sea premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival and received 13 nominations, including best film at the Ophir Awards, Israel's film awards. The story.
—"There is no greater slap in the face of Israeli citizens." Israel's Culture Minister Miki Zohar has said he will pull state funding for the country’s national film honors after The Sea took top prize. In a statement from the culture ministry on Wednesday, Zohar said the win for The Sea was "disgraceful," given the film’s negative portrayal of Israeli soldiers. "There is no greater slap in the face of Israeli citizens than the embarrassing and detached annual Ophir Awards ceremony," the statement read, as reported by Israeli media. Starting next year, Zohar said, the "pathetic ceremony" will "no longer be funded by taxpayers’ money. Under my watch, Israeli citizens will not pay from their pockets for a ceremony that spits in the faces of our heroic soldiers." The story. |
Broadway: 'Hamilton' Hits $3.8M As Leslie Odom Jr. Returns ►Boffo! Hamilton hit close to $4m last week as original cast member Leslie Odom Jr. returned to the Broadway production. The musical, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary on Broadway, brought in the eye-popping $3.8m last week, which is a total the musical has only previously seen around its lucrative holiday weeks, and played to more than 100 percent capacity. Odom is set to play the role of Aaron Burr through Nov. 26. Waiting for Godot , starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, played its first preview performance at the Hudson Theatre last week and brought in $367,206 in one show. If the trend continues across future performances, this could spell close to $3m at the weekly box office. The revival, which played to 100 percent capacity at its first performance, is set to open Sept. 28. Wicked was the second-highest-grossing show of the week with $2m, followed by The Lion King with $1.7m, Mamma Mia! with $1.6m and Death Becomes Her with $1.4m. The box office report.
—🎭 Crossing the Atlantic. 🎭 Giant, a play about Roald Dahl and antisemitism, will transfer to Broadway this spring. The play, starring John Lithgow, transfers to Broadway after an Olivier Award-winning run on the West End at the Royal Court Theatre. Lithgow, who won an Olivier for his performance as Dahl, will transfer with the production. The play follows the true story of Dahl writing a book review in a right-leaning magazine that has been criticized for being antisemitic. The review comes out in 1983 just as The Witches nears publication and a lunch is convened with his ex-mistress, new girlfriend and his British book publisher and sales director at his American publisher, who push him to make an apology. The story. |
'Alien: Earth' Boss on Show's Biggest Risk ►"One of the big question marks was if fans were going to go with this idea." THR's James Hibberd spoke to Noah Hawley about episode seven of FX's Alien: Earth. The showrunner discusses the series' monster gamble and what Timothy Olyphant's Kirsh is really thinking. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"I was in so much pain." For THR, Max Gao spoke to Jason Momoa about the latest episode of Apple TV+'s Chief of War. Momoa, the series' star and co-creator, reveals he had a visceral reaction to that brutal death, and goes inside the heartbreak of the tragic penultimate episode. Warning: Spoilers! The interview. |
Film Review: 'In Whose Name?' ►"Like watching a car crash in slow-mo for two hours." THR's Frank Scheck reviews Nico Ballesteros' In Whose Name? The filmmaker followed hip-hop superstar Kanye "Ye" West for six years, through marital troubles with Kim Kardashian, anti-Semitic outbursts and a budding relationship with Donald Trump. The review.
In other news...
—Jack Black, Paul Rudd take their snake-movie obsession too far in Anaconda trailer
—Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried share big secrets in The Housemaid trailer
—UMPG CEO Jody Gerson joins Gap’s board of directors
—Trax Colton, Jayne Mansfield’s co-star in It Happened in Athens, dies at 96
What else we're reading...
—Ta-Nehisi Coates offers his take on the eulogizing of Charlie Kirk since his death, suggesting that pundits are sanitizing his legacy and tellingly ignoring his actual words [Vanity Fair]
—Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Andrew Duehren, Kenneth P. Vogel and Katie Rogers report that Trump is looking to crack down on speech and his political opponents citing Charlie Kirk's murder [NYT]
—David Weigel and Burgess Everett report that Republicans are split over Trump's push to crackdown on speech and his opponents [Semafor]
—In the age of AI and LLMs, Nikita Ostrovsky writes that the "dead internet theory" is spreading [Time]
—Thomas Buckley and John Gittelsohn report that Hackman Capital, Hollywood's largest landlord, is showing signs of distress [Bloomberg]
Today...
...in 1964, ABC debuted a new half-hour comedy, Bewitched. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Baz Luhrmann (63), Paul Feig (63), Ella Purnell (29), Danielle Brooks (36), Kyle Chandler (60), Sam Esmail (48), Neill Blomkamp (46), Cassandra Peterson (74), Mena Massoud (34), Danny Ramirez (33), Bruce Spence (80), James Urbaniak (62), Charles Martinet (70), Bobby Lee (54), Felix Solis (54), Sunrise Coigney (53), Matthew Settle (56), Susan Ursitti (68), Annie Hamilton (33), Ritu Arya (37), Annabelle Apsion (65), Malik Yoba (58), Augustus Prew (38), Daniel Maslany (37), India Amarteifio (24), Dustin Nguyen (63), Ian Whyte (🏴54), Mia Talerico (17), Harriet Cains (32), Na In-woo (31), Austin St. John (51), Autumn Best (23) |
| Marilyn Knowlden, the busy child actress of the 1930s and ’40s who appeared in Little Women with Katharine Hepburn, Imitation of Life with Claudette Colbert, Les Misérables with Fredric March and in three other Oscar best picture nominees, has died. She was 99. The obituary. |
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