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survivors of Jimmy Savile's abuse speak about bbc drama 'The Reckoning'
Victims Describe Steve Coogan's "Disgusting" performance as Powerful presenter who mingled with prime ministers & royalty while preying on children |
Survivors of the real-life trauma behind The Reckoning were welcomed onto the set of the four-part BBC series that dramatizes the life of the pedophile who deceived a nation. In an interview with Deadline, Sam Brown, abused aged 11, recalls her visceral reaction to Steve Coogan in costume as Jimmy Savile, telling him to "go away" as he approached.
The set visits were part of a careful strategy to win the trust of survivors and ensure that their stories of unimaginable horror could be brought to the screen responsibly. The duty of care burden weighs heavily on the BBC after revelations that the late Savile abused at least 72 people in connection with his work for the broadcaster. The prospect of wronging these survivors for a second time could be fatal for an organization that nearly imploded when the scale of Savile’s atrocities spilled out into the public domain in 2012.
It is difficult to overstate the shadow Savile casts over British history. He accumulated power and wealth over an illustrious 50-year presenting career, cultivating a benevolent, philanthropic image that gave him access to prime ministers and royalty. In fact, he was knighted in 1990. It was only after his death that Savile was exposed as a mendacious predator and there was a reckoning for the institutions that enabled him to prey on vulnerable children. >>>Survivors Part Of Project |
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Cannes Plans - The titles currently being bandied about for the 76th Cannes Film Festival give encouragement that the festival will once again be a launch pad both for commercial films with global aspirations and films that might be the buzz titles for the next awards season on both sides of the Atlantic. >>>32 Contenders
Fiery Romance - Searchlight Pictures is making a deal to turn Fire of Love into a narrative feature. The film, which tells the story of the scientific research and romance of preeminent French volcanologist filmmakers Katia and Maurice Krafft, is a frontrunner in the Oscar race for Best Documentary. >>>Fates Tied To Volcanic Eruption
Tolkien Goes Home - A musical stage adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, originally co-created in 2006 by the director of Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical, Matthew Warchus, is headed to the English countryside. The show will be "semi-immersive," with outdoor sections at the beginning and end of the piece and the rest of the story experienced in the theater. >>> Near Where The Books Were Written
Oscar's Tarnished Shine - While winning an Oscar was once the pinnacle of showbiz success, the lexicon of Oscar success has changed radically. A win today, in Bob Iger’s argot, would "reinforce monetization capability for our legacy platforms." To Warner Bros Discovery’s David Zaslav, a Best Picture will translate into "preserving optionality through the strategic mix of distribution and windowing." >>> Peter Bart's Column
Art Imitates Life Imitating Art - Daisy Jones & The Six is finally arriving on Prime Video. But the two-plus-year Covid delay for the project about a fictional 1970s rock band has enabled cast members Sam Claflin, Riley Keough, Suki Waterhouse, Sebastian Chacon, Josh Whitehouse and Will Harrison to perfect their chops. Chacon told Deadline the pandemic lull let them become "proficient and capable" after practice. "We look like we’ve been playing together for a long time — because we have.” >>> A Real Album Is Produced |
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Cate Blanchett says Tár was special, an experience she says was like no other she has had in her stellar career. Here, she talks about the extraordinary preparation she went through in order to play this complex conductor and musical genius who finds her life and work torn apart in a cancel-culture moment. But, as Blanchett says, there is so much more to the meaning behind director Todd Field’s first film in 16 years. >>>The Interview |
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Exclusive Skye P. Marshall has been tapped as a lead opposite Kathy Bates in CBS’ drama pilot Matlock, a new take on the classic legal TV drama starring Andy Griffith, which comes from Jane the Virgin creator Jennie Snyder Urman and NCIS: Los Angeles star Eric Christian Olsen. Exclusive A longtime passion project for Peter Dinklage, The Thicket also stars Juliette Lewis. Tubi has begun principal photography on the dark western thriller based on Joe R. Lansdale’s novel of the same name. Production is underway in Calgary. Paul Feig has found a stellar trio to lead his new action-comedy Grand Death Lotto for Amazon Studios in John Cena, Awkwafina and Simu Liu. The film penned by Rob Yescombe ( Outside the Wire) is set in a very near future, in which a Grand Lottery has been established in economically-challenged California where contestants need to kill the winner in order to legally claim their prize. Exclusive Eight-time Oscar nominated actress Glenn Close and Anders Danielsen Lie have signed on to star in a feature film take of Tove Jansson’s novel The Summer Book which Charlie McDowell will direct and produce with his Case Study Films, a production company he co-founded with Alex Orlovsky and wife Lily Collins. |
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Renewals, Pickups & Cancelations |
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Star Trek: Discovery will end with its fifth season in early 2024 on Paramount+...Nickelodeon has greenlit The Thundermans Return, a follow-up movie with the original series' cast... Three Women , the drama series starring Shailene Woodley, has officially been picked up by Starz following its Showtime release...Daytime talker Tamron Hall has been renewed for Season 5 by leading broadcast groups...Brie & Nikki Bella are set to host Amazon's dating competition series Twin Love. |
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More News
🏆 As final voting begins, the Academy has put out its first list of Oscar presenters for the big show including Ariana DeBose, Troy Kotsur, Riz Ahmed, Emily Blunt, Dwayne Johnson, Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors and Zoe Saldaña.
✍️ A Florida lawmaker has proposed a bill that would require bloggers who write about Governor Ron DeSantis or other elected officials to register with the state or face fines.
⛳ The first LIV Golf tournament carried by the CW averaged more than 3.2 million total viewers across all linear and digital platforms from February 24 to 26, according to data from iSpot as well as internal CW and LIV figures. The updated figures are several times larger than earlier reports based on Nielsen metered markets.
📺 Fire Country and 60 Minutes have joined CBS’ 10 million-plus viewers club. The broadcast network now has eight series that are delivering eight-figure viewership after 35 days of multi-platform viewing for the first half of the 2022-23 TV season. At the top of the list are NCIS (11.7M), Ghosts (11.6M) and FBI (11.4M) — all of which have previously hit this mark. |
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BY THE NUMBERS
1.2 billion minutes - Total time HBO Max subscribers spent watching The Last of Us in the most recent weekly report by Nielsen, up significantly from the show's January debut |
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Trending  Peacock's Poker Face jumped to No. 2 on Nielsen’s U.S. streaming originals list. It was tops in terms of average audience.
🔻 Cinedigm plans to buy back up to 10 million shares of its beleaguered stock over the next 12 months in an effort to avoid getting delisted from the Nasdaq. It is also changing its name to highlight a strategic shift from cinema technology to streaming. |
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Obituaries
🕯 Wayne Shorter, the saxophonist and composer who was a major figure in the development of modern jazz, died Thursday at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 89. Shorter first came to acclaim in the 1950s and ’60s as the tenor saxophonist for the groundbreaking Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and, later, the massively influential Miles Davis Quintet. Among other recordings, he played on Davis’ landmark album Bitches Brew in 1969. In addition to his own prolific solo career, Shorter played on the title track of Steely Dan’s double-platinum 1977 album Aja and, more than 10 years later, delivered the sax solo on Don Henley’s single “The End of the Innocence.” 🕯 Hollywood & Media Deaths in 2023 Photo Gallery |
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On the Radar
Sat - Independent Spirit Awards; Chris Rock’s Selective Outrage live special on Netflix
Sun - WGA Awards; ASC Awards; ACE Eddies
Mon - Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference begins
Wed - Toontown reopens at Disneyland |
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Prosthetic Predicament - After donning 300 pounds of prosthetics to pull off his Oscar-nominated turn in The Whale, Brendan Fraser had less success — but had a lot more laughs — with his fake teeth in a Tonight Show skit last night. The teeth kept falling out, and that kept the audience — and Fraser himself — laughing. |
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