| | | | | | What's news: Kenneth Weinstein is the new ombudsman of CBS News. Netflix has renewed Leanne. The MTV VMAs saw its audience increase 42 percent. 17.3m people worldwide watched YouTube's first exclusive NFL game. And Taika Waititi and Rita Ora are developing a musical about the doomed Fyre Festival. — Abid Rahman
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Thousands of Film and TV Workers Back Boycott of Israeli Film Institutions ►"Standing for equality, justice and freedom for all is a profound moral duty that none of us can ignore." A host of Hollywood insiders are backing a new pledge to boycott working with Israeli film institutions and companies that are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.” Film Workers for Palestine announced the pledge on Monday, citing the signatures of more than 3,000 filmmakers, actors, creatives and other industry professionals including Olivia Colman, Ayo Edebiri, Mark Ruffalo, Riz Ahmed, Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem, Yorgos Lanthimos, Josh O’Connor, Emma Stone, Ava DuVernay, Asif Kapadia, Emma Seligman, Boots Riley, Hannah Einbinder, Cynthia Nixon, Adam McKay, Joshua Oppenheimer and thousands of others. Per Film Workers for Palestine, the pledge was inspired by Filmmakers United Against Apartheid, which was founded by high-profile directors like Jonathan Demme and Martin Scorsese to demand that the film industry refuse to distribute work in apartheid South Africa. The story.
—"This new role reinforces our commitment to truth, trust, and accountability." Kenneth Weinstein, the former president and CEO of the conservative-leaning Hudson Institute, has been hired by Paramount as the ombudsman for CBS News. Weinstein will report to Paramount president Jeff Shell, and “will serve as an independent, internal advocate for journalistic integrity and transparency, reviewing concerns raised by employees and viewers, addressing questions about news coverage, and upholding the organization’s longstanding commitment to accuracy and accountability,” the company says. Weinstein will investigate any concerns raised by CBS News employees or outsiders that have complaints, and if he determines it requires action, will bring it to Shell and CBS chief George Cheeks. The story.
—Presentable bunch. CBS has announced the lineup of presenters for the Emmys. The presenters include Stephen Colbert, Sydney Sweeney, Elizabeth Banks, Ike Barinholtz, Angela Bassett, Jason Bateman, Kathy Bates, Kristen Bell, Sterling K. Brown, Jennifer Coolidge, Alan Cumming, Eric Dane, Colman Domingo, Tina Fey, Walton Goggins, Tony Goldwyn, Kathryn Hahn, Mariska Hargitay, Justin Hartley, Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, James Marsden, Christopher Meloni, Leanne Morgan, Julianne Nicholson, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Parker Posey, Jeff Probst, Phylicia Rashad, Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai, Michael Schur, Sofía Vergara and Jesse Williams. Also tapped to present are two onscreen mother-daughter duos: Gilmore Girls stars Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel and Wednesday’s Jenna Ortega and Catherine Zeta-Jones. The story.
—Where is Ja?! Taika Waititi and Rita Ora are developing a musical stage adaptation about the Fyre Festival. The show, Fyre Fest The Musical, is a musical comedy based on the life story of Billy McFarland, the founder of the doomed festival. The event, which was billed as a luxury music festival in the Bahamas, ended up being canceled last minute, leaving influencers and celebrities stranded. McFarland pleaded guilty to fraud in 2018 and spent several years in federal prison. The stage show has not yet announced a production timeline, or whether it’s aiming for Broadway. The Fyre Festival and McFarland were also the subjects of competing documentaries on Hulu and Netflix in 2019. The story. |
Lachlan Wins! ►🤝 No.1 boy triumphs. 🤝 In a stunning development straight out of Succession , the Murdoch family has settled its long-simmering dispute over the family trust, a settlement that will see Lachlan Murdoch walk away with the keys to the kingdom. The family announced the settlement Monday afternoon, adding that Lachlan’s siblings, Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch and James Murdoch, will each become beneficiaries of new trusts funded in part by the sale of 14.2m shares of News Corp Class B common stock and approximately 16.9m shares of Fox Corporation Class B common stock, that were previously held by the Murdoch family trust. According to prospectuses filed by both News Corp. and Fox Corp., the sale will net each of the three siblings just shy of a half billion dollars each, though the New York Times pegs the total value of the settlement at about $1.1b each, including loans and other complexifiers. The story.
—Moguls’ must-see TV. In divisive times, CNBC stalwart Squawk Box has been able to book big guests that almost exclusively appear on Fox News or MSNBC — and its cred among Wall Street titans is rising in its 30th year on air. THR's Alex Weprin goes inside the show that is driving the news cycle in Trump’s economy. The story.
—"The world’s most profitable venue." Every day, thousands of people are paying nearly $200 each to watch a film released more than 85 years ago. Of course, this isn’t just any film. It’s an all-time classic: The Wizard of Oz. And this isn’t just any movie theater: It’s the Sphere in Las Vegas. And it may be a sign of things to come. Wolfe Research analyst Peter Supino forecasts that Sphere may be “The world’s most profitable venue,” and that the stunning success of The Wizard of Oz (hundreds of thousands of tickets have already been sold) will likely kickstart a years-long process to adapt far more titles to the venue’s 160,000 square foot screen. “We expect Wizard of Oz ’s success will propel gross profit to over $500m in ’26," Supino writes. The story.
—"Amy is a world-class executive and producer whose track record speaks for itself." Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity has a new president of film and television, with veteran executive Amy Baer joining the banner. She will report to co-founder and CEO Affleck and chief operating officer Dillon West. During her career, Baer spent 17 years at Sony, which now has a three-year deal with Artists Equity to finance and distribute its films. Baer more recently founded Gidden Media, serving as its president since its inception in 2012 and producing features such as The Apprentice, while the company also executive produced the Netflix feature Purple Hearts. The story. |
'SNL' Sets Cast for Season 51 ►🎭 The gang's all here. 🎭 After all the exits, Lorne Michaels has completed his shake-up of Saturday Night Live, at least for the start of season 51, which will kick off Oct. 4. A number of veteran SNL stars will return for the new season, including the show’s longest tenured castmember Kenan Thompson, as well as Chloe Fineman, Bowen Yang, Ego Nwodim, Mikey Day and Michael Che, who will return to the Weekend Update desk alongside Colin Jost. They will join Andrew Dismukes, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Sarah Sherman, Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline in the cast, alongside five new faces (well, four new faces, and one familiar face): Ben Marshall, Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska. The story.
—🎭 "Contains blood and frowning." 🎭 Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker is making a four-part detective crime series for Netflix, that's currently in production. The untitled project is “a profoundly serious, stunningly original crime thriller in which a tormented detective from the Northern city of Bleakford ventures down to London on a mission to catch a ritualistic serial killer before they run out of people to kill,” the logline reads. The series stars Paddy Considine, Georgina Campbell and Lena Headey. Brooker wrote the series with Ben Caudell, Jason Hazeley, Emer Kenny, Daniel Maier and Joel Morris; additional material by Victoria Asare Archer. The story.
—Can't get enough. Netflix is extending its relationship with Leanne Morgan. The streamer has renewed Morgan’s sitcom Leanne, which she stars in and co-created, for a second season. The pickup comes a month and change after the well-reviewed multi-camera series, co-created by Morgan, Susan McMartin and Chuck Lorre, debuted its 16-episode first season. The renewal for Leanne continues Morgan’s working relationship with the streamer. Her second Netflix stand-up special, Unspeakable Things, is set to premiere in November, following 2023’s I’m Every Woman. She also has another Netflix special on tap for 2027. The story.
—No-brainer. Alicia Silverstone’s Acorn TV murder mystery series Irish Blood has been renewed for a second season. Season two will again be set and produced in Ireland, and will against consist of six hourlong episodes — it will enter production in early 2026, the streamer said. Irish Blood had the most watched series premiere (and season as a whole, thus far) in Acorn TV history, including three weeks of delayed viewing. The premiere episode drove the biggest day of subscriber signups on Acorn TV’s direct-to-consumer platforms in nearly two years. The story.
—Woof! YouTube's first exclusive NFL game drew a sizable audience, coming in ahead of last year’s streaming-exclusive contest in the opening week of the season. The streamer says 17.3m people worldwide watched the Los Angeles Chargers’ win over the Kansas City Chiefs Friday in São Paulo, Brazil. The great majority of those viewers came from the United States — 16.2m, based on Nielsen figures that include first-party data from YouTube. The remaining 1.1m viewers were outside the U.S., according to YouTube’s data. The U.S. total also includes over-the-air broadcasts in the teams’ home markets. The ratings.
—Woof, woof! The audience for the MTV Video Music Awards, unsurprisingly, spiked with a move to CBS. The broadcast network, airing the awards for the first time, fueled a 42 percent increase in viewers for the VMAs. Sunday’s show, which also aired on MTV and streamed on Paramount+, delivered 5.5m viewers, according to Nielsen’s earliest-available numbers (that include out-of-home viewing). That’s the most for the show in six years. The 2024 telecast, including the pre-show and encore airings, averaged 4.09m viewers on MTV and 11 other Paramount cable outlets. The ratings. |
Cate Blanchett Signs Up for Alice Birch's 'Sweetsick' ►🎭 Next up. 🎭 Cate Blanchett is set to star in and produce Sweetsick, Alice Birch’s directorial debut for Searchlight Pictures. The drama will center on a mercurial woman (Blanchett) with a strange and piercing gift — the ability to see what others most intimately need, often at great personal cost — who sets out on a journey home. Additional casting will be announced shortly for Sweetsick, which will shoot in the U.K. and Greece this fall, with Blanchett’s Dirty Films banner producing. Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, Theo Barrowclough and Lee Groombridge will also produce, with Film4 executive producing and co-financing. The story.
—🎭 Safdie's muse. 🎭 After a rapturous Venice bow for The Smashing Machine, Dwayne Johnson on Sunday talked about his next collaboration with director Benny Safdie for Lizard Music. “I’m your Chicken Man,” Johnson recalled telling Safdie after he was pitched for 45 minutes on reteaming for Lizard Music after they wrapped production on Smashing Machine. Their next joint project is based on the Daniel Pinkwater kids novel about a young boy who becomes involved with intelligent lizard musicians who tell him of a little-known invasion from outer space. The story.
—🎭 Filling out. 🎭 THR's Nicole Fell has the scoop that three new cast members have joined Paramount and Hybe America’s untitled K-pop movie. Yoo Ji-tae, Tony Revolori and Gia Kim have signed onto the Benson Lee-directed film, which features a script from Eileen Shim. They join previously announced stars Ji-young Yoo and Eric Nam. Lee’s untitled film, set in the world of K-pop music survival shows, is expected to be the first major American studio film shot entirely in South Korea. “The film centers around a young Korean-American woman, who defies her family’s wishes to compete in a televised competition to find the next K-pop girl group,” the logline reads. The story. |
Film Review: 'Couture' ►"Promising concept, ponderous execution." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Alice Winocour's Couture. Angelina Jolie, Louis Garrel and Vincent Lindon appear in a drama that considers the interior lives of three women behind the façade of glamorous ateliers and pulsing catwalk shows during Paris Fashion Week. Also starring Ella Rumpf, Anyier Anei, Garance Marillier, Grégoire Colin, Aurore Clément, Yuliia Ratner, Mona Tougaard and Hunter David. Written by Alice Winocour and Jean Stéphane Bron. The review.
—"A fragmented but compelling portrait of a woman defined by her art." David Rooney reviews Pietro Marcello's Venice competition entry, Duse. Marcello imagines the twilight years of legendary Italian stage actress Eleanora Duse in the period between World War I and the rise of fascism. Starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Noémie Merlant, Fanni Wrochna, Fausto Russo Alesi, Edoardo Sorgente and Noémie Lvovsky. Written by Letizia Russo, Guido Silei and Pietro Marcello. The review.
—"An affecting portrait of restlessness." For THR, Jourdain Searles reviews Pete Ohs' Erupcja. Charli xcx as a young woman whose romantic getaway is compromised by her reunion with an old friend in Ohs' TIFF-bowing drama. Also starring Lena Góra, Will Madden, Jeremy O. Harris, Jacek Zubiel, Agata Trzebuchowska, Maja Michnacka and Jan Lubaczewski. Written by Pete Ohs, Charli xcx, Lena Góra, Jeremy O. Harris and Will Madden. The review.
—"Warm and well-acted but disappointingly generic." Jourdain Searles reviews Maude Apatow's Poetic License. Leslie Mann plays a woman auditing a poetry class and Cooper Hoffman and Andrew Barth Feldman the students vying for her attention in the TIFF-bowing film. Also starring Nico Parker, Cliff “Method Man” Smith, Martha Kelly, Maisy Stella and Will Price. Written by Raffi Donatich. The review.
—"A counterintuitive delight." Jourdain Searles reviews John Early's Maddie's Secret. This TIFF premiering film is about a chef who hides her eating disorder from her husband and friends, in this homage to classic TV movies. Starring John Early, Kate Berlant, Eric Rahill, Vanessa Bayer, Claudia O’Doherty, Connor O’Malley, Kristen Johnston and Chris Bauer. Written by John Early. The review. |
Film Review: 'Eternity' ►"The rare high-concept commercial movie with wit, heart and no franchise potential." For THR, Richard Lawson reviews David Freyne's Eternity. Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller and Callum Turner star in this glossy, mass-appeal love triangle rom-com, which premiered in Toronto before its planned November release. Also starring Da'Vine Joy Randolph and John Early. Written by Pat Cunnane and David Freyne. The review.
—"Meat and potatoes, well-prepared." Richard Lawson reviews David Mackenzie's Fuze. A hunk-filled cast star in the Hell or High Water filmmaker's latest, a London-set action heist film. Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Theo James, Sam Worthington and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Written by Ben Hopkins. The review.
—"A cluttered, comic cri de coeur." Richard Lawson reviews Romain Gavras' Sacrifice. Premiering at TIFF, a starry cast appears in this film about a confrontation between celebrities and eco-terrorists at an environmental fundraiser. Starring Chris Evans, Anya Taylor-Joy, Salma Hayek Pinault and John Malkovich. Written by Romain Gavras and Will Arbery. The review.
—"More bark than bite." THR's Angie Han reviews Jan Komasa's Good Boy. Premiering at TIFF, the latest from the Corpus Christi filmmkaer follows a family man who kidnaps and imprisons a troublemaking stranger, with plans to rehabilitate him. Starring Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Anson Boon, Kit Rakusen, Monika Frajczyk and Savannah Steyn. Written by Bartek Bartosik and Naqqash Khalid. The review.
—"Top of its class." THR's Leslie Felperin reviews Jonatan Etzler's Bad Apples. Etzler's first English-language feature, adapted from a Swedish novel, is about a tired teacher battling a difficult student. Starring Saoirse Ronan, Eddie Waller, Nia Brown, Jacob Anderson, Rakie Ayola, Robert Emms, and Sean Gilder. Written by Jess O’Kane based on a story by Etzler and O'Kane and the novel De Oonsade by Rasmus Lindgren. The review.
—"Never the trial, always a pleasure." Leslie Felperin reviews Agnieszka Holland's Franz. Premiering at TIFF, the Green Border director's non-chronological feature views the Czech-German-Jewish writer Franz Kafka's life as if through a crystal prism. Starring Idan Weiss, Peter Kurth, Jenovefa Bokova, Ivan Trojan, Sandra Korzeniak, Katharina Stark, Sebastian Schwarz, Aaron Friesz, Carol Schuler, Gesa Schermuly, Josef Trojan, Jan Budar, Emma Smetana and Daniel Dongres. Written by Marek Epstein. The review. |
Film Review: 'Nuremberg' ►"Powerfully directed and performed." For THR, Michael Rechtshaffen reviews James Vanderbilt's Nuremberg. Debuting at TIFF, this historical drama chronicles the events leading up to Nuremberg, particularly Hermann Goring's trial. Starring Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, Michael Shannon, Leo Woodall and Richard E. Grant. Written by James Vanderbilt. The review.
—"A transfixing existential mystery." THR's Jon Frosch reviews Milagros Mumenthaler's The Currents. The Argentinian filmmaker's TIFF-bowing feature revolves around a successful young Buenos Aires fashion designer whose world is upended after a work trip gone awry. Starring Isabel Aimé Gonzalez-Sola, Esteben Bigliardi, Claudia Sanchez, Ernestina Gatti, Jazmin Carballo, Patricia Mouzo, Susana Saulquin and Emma Fayo Duarte. Written by Milagros Mumenthaler. The review.
—"A knockout filled with sex, violence and heart." THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews David Pablos' On the Road. Diego Luna is among the producers of writer-director Pablos' new feature, about the evolving relationship between a truck driver and a sex worker. Starring Victor Preito and Osvaldo Sanchez. Written by David Pablos. The review.
—"Impressively performed but over-the-top." Jordan Mintzer reviews Cai Shangjun's Venice competition entry, The Sun Rises On Us All. The People Mountain People Sea filmmaker returns to Venice with a story about two former lovers trying to move on from their dark past. Starring Xin Zhilei, Zhang Songwen and Feng Shaofeng. Written by Cai Shangjun and Han Nianjin. The review.
—"Artificial but not intelligent." Jordan Mintzer reviews Cédric Jimenez's Dog 51. Exarchopoulos' slick French dystopian thriller set in a Paris of the near future was the Venice Film Festival closing film. Starring Gilles Lellouche, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Louis Garrel, Romain Duris and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Artus. Written by Olivier Demangel and Cédric Jimenez, based on the novel by Laurent Gaudé. The review.
In other news...
—Zoey Deutch plays Jean Seberg in Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague trailer
—Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson start a Neil Diamond tribute band in Song Sung Blue trailer
—Wake Up Dead Man trailer: Daniel Craig returns to solve "impossible crime"
—Crooked Media reveals lineup for D.C. conference
—Rachel Zoe signs with CAA
—Paramount U.K. lead Sarah Rose to depart
—Edward Faulkner, actor in John Wayne and Elvis Presley films, dies at 93
—Rick Davies, Supertramp co-founder and vocalist, dies at 81
What else we're reading...
—Khadeeja Safdar, Joe Palazzolo and Kara Dapena breakdown the Trump's birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein [WSJ]
—Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo highlight the other letters found inside Epstein's 50th birthday book, including missives from Bill Clinton, Leon Black and Alan Dershowitz [WSJ]
—Daniel Chin writes that Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest is a movie monument to hating Boston sports [Ringer]
—Remona Aly recounts how the BBC's steamy Pride and Prejudice adaptation (the one with Colin Firth) changed her life [Guardian]
—River Akira Davis reports that the awesome Japanese-style 7-Elevens are heading to the U.S. [NYT]
Today...
...in 2001, HBO premiered Band of Brothers, exec produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. The World War II ensemble series went on to nab 20 Emmy Awards nominations and 7 wins, including outstanding miniseries. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Michelle Williams (45), Adam Sandler (59), Hugh Grant (65), Kelsey Asbille (34), Henry Thomas (54), Eric Stonestreet (54), Goran Visnjic (53), Bonnie Aarons (65), Jeffrey Combs (71), Julie Gonzalo (44), Zoe Kazan (42), Julia Sawalha (57), Akshay Kumar (58), Constance Marie (60), Shaun Johnston (67), Nikki Deloach (46), Adam James (53), Charles Esten (60), David Bennent (59), Charles Vandervaart (25), Tom Wopat (74), Elisha Applebaum (30), Nathan Lee Graham (57), Chloe Van Landschoot (28), Clayton Snyder (38), Edward Hibbert (70), Mekki Leeper (31), Amy Manson (40), Ava Phillippe (26), Yang Yang (34), Anthony Byrne (50), Jo Woodcock (37), Ronni Hawk (26), Gretchen Egolf (52), Timothy Granaderos (39) |
| Stuart Craig, an Oscar-winning production designer and art director known for his work on the blockbuster Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films as well as Gandhi, Dangerous Liaisons and Notting Hill, died on Sunday. He was 83. The obituary. |
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