Welcome back to May's one-two punch that is Cannes and Upfronts. The Weekender has your reads from the Croisette and few narratives not to miss. — Erik Hayden
Ticker: Michael returns to No. 1; ABC-NBC-CBS-Fox show signs of life; Drake's triple album release makes waves; The White Lotus' next hotel.
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From Michael to Disclosure Day to The Four Seasons, consummate character actor Colman Domingo is getting all the attention. And he’s pretty sure Chadwick Boseman is helping him “from the other side.” Domingo, 56, is a force who seemingly came out of nowhere, quickly endearing himself to audiences to the point where it’s hard to remember a time when he wasn’t on our screens. Mia Galuppo's cover story.
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It's hard to imagine anyone could have a better year than Sandra Hüller did in 2023. The actress starred in the Palme d’Or-winning Anatomy of a Fall and Zone of Interest — two best picture Oscar nominees that would catapult her to international fame.
But Hüller's 2026 might just be giving that year a run for its money. She sat down with Scott Feinberg for the Awards Chatter podcast at Cannes, discussing also discussing turns in Project Hail Mary and Tom Cruise's Digger. Full interview.
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“I was extremely nervous. I was terrified that she was going to think it’s preposterous and silly," says director James Gray. Then Scarlett Johansson read the script for Paper Tiger, which debuts this weekend in Cannes. “I was like, ‘Oh, I know I can do this. I don’t necessarily know how I’m going to do it, but I know that there’s something here that I can do and that I can be additive,’” she says. David Canfield's first look.
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The French are betting audiences want their epics back. Producers Richard Grandpierre and Olivier Delbosc on their $47 million Les Mis bet with Studiocanal that audiences are ready for a reimagining of Victor Hugo’s epic as a propulsive action thriller — with the original politics very much intact. Scott Roxborough's story.
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Eight years after Cate Blanchett, Agnes Varda and other female filmmakers demonstrated on the steps of the Palais, women directors have made some gains across the festival, except in the one section that matters most: “There is still the perception that auteurs are men.” At the 2026 festival’s opening press conference on May 12, Cannes boss Thierry Frémaux defensively offered: “Films are chosen for their quality, not the gender of their directors.” Lily Ford and Mia Galuppo's report.
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Ahead of walking the Palais red carpet, catching up with Diego Luna in a suite at Hotel Martinez to talk about how he adjusts his style strategy when debuting a film as a director rather than actor, what he loves about Zegna and his favorite Cannes memory. Chris Gardner's Q&A.
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" They may resist. If they resist, that may force me to buy the whole damn thing." — Byron Allen, revealing his plan to take over Starz.
"No focus group invents that. No algorithm produces it. No amount of capital can buy it." — Josh D'Amaro, during his first upfront as Disney CEO, on brand differentiation.
"We do want to address the Ellison, I mean the elephant, in the room." — Bobby Voltaggio, Warner Bros. Discovery's ad chief, during an somber upfront pitch.
"Being thoughtful does not mean being weak" — Sean Astin, SAG-AFTRA president, in reflecting on the union's talks with studios.
"I try to make movies the best I can, and it’s kinda like all I can do." — James Franco, back in Cannes, says making his new film Foster felt like “old-fashioned L.A."
Winners & Losers
A paralyzed Warners (with puppies!). A gloating Netflix. And some thoughts about the culture war backlash to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. James Hibberd's scorecard.
Logline of the Week
"Centers on a ruthless and crass barbarian who is cursed to only use his violence for good, which sends him, his talking axe and a young witch, on a road of self-discovery, redemption and revenge." — Netflix's Barbaric, in the works from Sheldon Turner and Robert Rovner, who shepherded CW series Supergirl.
By the Numbers
(Most-read stories on THR.com this week)
1) "Julia Louis-Dreyfus Talks Tangles, Seinfeld, SNL and Toll Alzheimer’s Disease Is Taking on Her Family"
2) "Pentagon Releases UFO Files: Moon Landing Sighting, “Orbs Launching Orbs” Among Claims"
3) "Stephen Colbert Sets Final Late Show Guests"
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Dead Before the First Commercial |
Since the Law & Order began shooting on the streets of New York in 1990, it has become more than a rite of passage for hungry young actors — it's become the East Coast's most reliable incubator of future stars. Michael B. Jordan, Kerry Washington, Claire Danes, Idris Elba, J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney, among scads of others, all got their start by getting interrogated by Jerry Orbach or Mariska Hargitay. The who's-who.
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Spencer Pratt is now a real political contender in Los Angeles, with a shot to unseat incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. But he's also a veteran player in the reality TV space — and knows how to parlay his penchant for getting attention into an entertainment deal. Gary Baum's latest.
+ Zach Sokoloff, who runs the Television City and Radford lots, is being bankrolled by his family to the tune of $4 million in a race to replace progressive incumbent Kenneth Mejia as L.A. Controller. The race.
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In the past few years, a new wave of private clubs in New York has taken hold. Clubs like Casa Cipriani, San Vicente Club, Maxime's, Chez Margaux and Crane Club have proliferated, varying in price, access and what exactly membership gets you. They've filled two gaps left by the pandemic: the disappearance of "third places," spaces separate from work and home, and the surplus of empty office space as remote work took hold. The proliferation of opulent and costly private clubs recalls Gilded Age excess. "We’re all competing for the same 4,500 people." Carson Griffith and George Gurley's report.
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Jonathan Anderson made his most consequential statement yet as Dior’s creative director this week, staging the house’s Cruise 2027 collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in a show that felt less like a runway presentation than a love letter to California mythology. Merle Ginsberg's dispatch.
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Mark Duplass, Katie Aselton and Daveed Diggs celebrated the NYC premiere of their film Magic Hour. Annette Bening, Cole Hauser and Kelly Reilly debuted their new Paramount+ series Dutton Ranch in NYC. Lamorne Morris, Brendan Gleeson, Nicolas Cage, Karen Rodriguez, Li Jun Li, Jack Huston and Abraham Popoola brought Spider-Noir to NYC. Nate Bargatze, Mandy Moore, Charlotte Ann Tucker, Birdie Borria and Stella Grace Fitzgerald celebrated The Breadwinner in Nashville. Sigourney Weaver, Pedro Pascal, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni brought The Mandalorian and Grogu to L.A. Janet Jackson was among the honorees the Grammy Hall of Fame Gala in Beverly Hills. Jason Blum joined writer/director Curry Barker and actor Cooper Tomlinson at a L.A. special screening of their film Obsession. All 65 photos from this week's premieres and events.
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Snapshots from THR's team of film critics
Steven Soderbergh’s doc John Lennon: The Last Interview is "tuned in and full of life." Vivica A. Fox and Sterling K. Brown revenge drama Is God Is sees "flat visuals detract from vivid acting and a rich script." Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson's Un Certain Regard title Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is an "arresting, abstract allegory." Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal "coast through generic Guy Ritchie flick" In the Grey. Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid is a "winsome and clever dramedy." Marion Cotillard's cult-themed melodrama Karma is "an engaging chronicle of a horrible homecoming." John Travolta’s directorial debut Propeller One-Way Night Coach is "a weird but endearing wallow in mid-century modern nostalgia."
And finally,
Hollywood Flashback...
"Then the butler says, ‘I can tell you who did it!'' So I said, ‘Who did?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know. That’s why I need a writer.'"
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