| | | | | | What's news: Oppenheimer finally opened in Japan. Justin Simien and Christopher Yost are set to make a Heist: Or, How to Steal a Planet film. Jon Batiste will score and star in Jason Reitman's SNL 1975. Billionaire Steve Cohen has acquired 5 percent of Fox Corp. Homeland star Claire Danes and showrunner Howard Gordon are reuniting for a Netflix series. — Abid Rahman
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Ronna McDaniel May Still Find a TV Home ►Lots of interest. After her dramatic exit from NBC News, will Ronna McDaniel land another TV gig? THR's Alex Weprin reports that there is already interest in the former Republican National Committee chair brewing from a couple of cable news outlets. Sources at both Newsmax and NewsNation say that they would be interested in pursuing a deal with McDaniel, should she ultimately finalize a separation agreement with NBC News. The story.
—"That’s the kind of president I want." Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and some big names from the entertainment world including Queen Latifah, Ben Platt, Lizzo, Mindy Kaling, Cynthia Erivo, Stephen Colbert and Lea Michele teamed up Thursday night to deliver a rousing New York embrace of President Joe Biden that hauled in a record-setting $26m-plus for his reelection campaign. The mood at Radio City Music Hall was electric as Obama praised Biden’s willingness to look for common ground. The recap.
—"False and baseless accusations." Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson has denied allegations that he raped and physically abused his ex-girlfriend, Daphne Joy. Earlier on Thursday, Joy took to Instagram, claiming Jackson had previously sexually assaulted and abused her. The pair dated in 2011 before welcoming their son, Sire, in 2012, but broke up shortly after. A rep for the rapper shared a statement with THR in which he denied the allegations. The story.
—Drug mule allegation. Sean “Diddy” Combs’s ex-girlfriend Yung Miami is now being roped into his legal troubles, after being accused of transporting narcotics for him in additions filed Monday to music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones’ lawsuit against the rapper-mogul, according to updated court documents. Yung Miami, real name Caresha Romeka Brownlee, is accused of transporting the drug referred to as “pink cocaine” for Combs in April, according to details added to the $30m lawsuit Jones Jr. filed against Combs in February. The story. |
How the Disney vs. DeSantis Battle Ended in a Stalemate ►Bore draw. On March 27, Disney and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reached a détente in their acrimonious and very public legal dispute. THR's Winston Cho writes that what started as a public statement condemning Florida's so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law devolved into a years-long, bitter feud in which neither side wanted to give the appearance of surrendering. The analysis.
—"UTA has done everything in its power to attempt to destroy Kassan." The feud between Michael Kassan and UTA over the MediaLink founder’s departure is intensifying, with Kassan suing the agency’s lawyer for defamation. Kassan, in a $125m lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, accuses attorney Bryan Freedman of trying to tarnish his reputation at the direction of UTA in a bid to prevent employees and clients from following him to his next venture. The lawsuit follows Kassan's ouster from UTA over allegedly misusing company funds. The story.
—Making moves. Steve Cohen, the hedge fund billionaire and owner of the New York Mets has revealed that his firm, Point72, now owns about 5 percent of Fox Corp.’s shares, with a market value of about $350m. Point72 owns just shy of 10m shares, with another 2.37m exercisable in options. While Cohen is one of the most high-profile investors in the country (the character of Bobby “Axe” Axelrod in the Showtime series Billions is loosely based on Cohen), he is not known for running activist campaigns. The story. |
Inside THR's Power Stylists Dinner ►"It has always been a dream of mine to be on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter." Hollywood's top image makers gathered at Sunset Tower on Wednesday to celebrate THR's annual list of power stylists and mingle with stars like Hunter Schafer, Awkwafina, Glen Powell and Aja Naomi King. THR's nicest man Chris Gardner was in the room and reports that honorees basked in the glory of being featured on the list. The recap.
—UCL's finest. Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas' year keeps getting better after it was revealed the husband and wife filmmaking duo have been awarded a knighthood and damehood, respectively, by their native U.K. Typically, the U.K. honors list is announced at the beginning of the year and on the king's birthday. However, honors are sometimes awarded after special achievements, with Nolan and Thomas receiving the honors a few weeks after their film Oppenheimer won seven Oscars. The story.
—"I was waiting and waiting for the Hiroshima bombing scene to come on, but it never did." Staying with Oppenheimer, the film finally premiered Friday in Japan, and the reactions of filmgoers to the film have understandably been mixed and highly emotional. The film's release in Japan, more than eight months after it opened in the U.S., had been watched with trepidation because of the sensitivity of the subject matter. The story. |
Simien, Yost Team for 'Heist: Or, How to Steal a Planet' Film ►Raiding the Vault. THR's Borys Kit has the scoop on director Justin Simien and writer Christopher Yost teaming up with Confluential Films to adapt Heist: Or, How to Steal a Planet, a sci-fi crime thriller from Vault Comics. Simien, best known for Dear White People, is attached to direct, which has Yost, a comics author who co-scripted Thor: Ragnarok, writing the script. Created by writer Paul Tobin and artist Arjuna Susini, the comic is set on the planet Heist, home to billions of the worst criminals in the galaxy. The story.
—🎭 Double duty 🎭 THR rapscallion Ryan Gajewski has the scoop on Jon Batiste signing on to score and star in Jason Reitman's SNL 1975, the forthcoming feature that will focus on the opening night of Saturday Night Live. The Grammy winner will compose the score and will also appear in the movie as keyboardist and singer Billy Preston, who was the show’s first musical guest when it debuted Oct. 11, 1975. The story.
—🎭 On the death list 🎭 New Line’s latest Final Destination movie has added a host of up-and-coming actors to its cast. Brec Bassinger, who starred in The CW’s DC series Stargirl, Chucky actor Teo Briones and Dear Evan Hansen stage actress Kaitlyn Santa Juana are leading the cast of Final Destination: Bloodlines, the sixth installment of the horror franchise now in production in Vancouver. Also in the cast are The 100 star Richard Harmon, Gotham Knights actress Anna Lore and Owen Patrick Joyner, one of the stars of Netflix series Julie and the Phantoms. The story.
—Roaring start. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire made a suitably thunderous start at China’s theatrical box office on Friday. The film had earned about $7m by 3 p.m. local time in Beijing, according to ticketing service Maoyan. Maoyan currently forecasts the monster movie to earn as much as $105m in China. That would be a significant step-down from the massive $188.7m that Godzilla vs. Kong earned in the country in 2021, but easily the best performance by a Hollywood film there in months. The China box office report. |
'Curb' Conan Storyline Was Based on Hollywood Neighbor ►"We finally got Conan on the show, we’d always wanted to have him on." THR's queen of chat Jackie Strause spoke to Curb Your Enthusiasm executive producer Jeff Schaffer about the eighth episode of season 12 of the HBO comedy. Schaffer shares behind-the-scenes stories from the episode, including around a Richard Lewis-related cameo. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—We'll have to wait a bit longer. Season three of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's soccer docuseries Welcome to Wrexham will delay its premiere to early May, FX announced on Thursday. The Emmy-winning show was originally set to premiere its third season on April 18, but the release has now been pushed to May 2. FX did not give a reason for the shift. The story.
—Heartbreaker. Olivia Colman will not return for the third season of Netflix’s British coming-out comedy, Heartstopper. Scheduling challenges prevented the Emmy and Oscar winner from featuring in the upcoming season, it was revealed on Thursday. Series creator Alice Oseman said the role of Sarah Nelson will not be recast. The story.
—🎭 Dream team 🎭 Four years after Showtime's Homeland ended its eight-season run, star Claire Danes and creator Howard Gordon are reuniting at Netflix. The streamer has handed out a straight-to-series order for The Beast in Me, a limited series starring Danes and from showrunner Gordon. Created by Gabe Rotter, The Beast in Me is described as a mystery thriller and concerns an author unable to write following the death of her son but is suddenly inspired by a new neighbor. The story.
—As you were. The new cast of The Real Housewives of New York is sticking around, as Bravo has officially announced that all six stars — including Jenna Lyons — will return for season 15. Bravo shared the news in a promotional video, featuring the women on a simulated group FaceTime call. The story. |
Film Review: 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire' ►"Less than the sum of its monster parts." THR's Frank Scheck reviews Adam Wingard's Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. The big guys patch up their differences to battle a common foe in this latest Warner Bros./Legendary MonsterVerse installment, starring Dan Stevens, Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry. The review.
—"Mommy dreariest." THR's Leslie Felperin reviews Benoit Delhomme's Mothers’ Instinct. Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain star in this 1960s-set film that tells the story of besties torn asunder when one of their sons dies in an accident. The review.
—"A charismatic lead stuck in an underbaked story." THR's Angie Han reviews Disney+'s Renegade Nell. After being framed for murder, an 18th century Englishwoman with supernatural powers becomes an outlaw in this show from Sally Wainwright, the creator of Happy Valley. The review. |
Thank Pod It's Friday ►All the latest content from THR's podcast studio.
—TV's Top 5. THR's Lesley Goldberg and Dan Fienberg break down the latest TV news. This week's episode begins with the headlines with news on new shows for Noah Wyle, Elisabeth Moss, Kerry Washington and Claire Danes. There's a section dedicated to what's happening (or not) with HBO's Euphoria. THR 's Alex Weprin stops by to discuss the Ronna McDaniel debacle at NBC. There's also a segment on April's best TV and finally Dan reviews HBO’s Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show, Showtime’s A Gentleman in Moscow, AMC’s Paris, FX’s Spermworld, Apple’s Steve Martin documentary, Renegade Nell on Disney+ and Hulu’s We Were the Lucky Ones. Listen here.
—It Happened in Hollywood. THR senior writer Seth Abramovitch goes behind the scenes of the pop culture moments that shaped Hollywood history. In this episode, Seth spoke to Stockard Channing. The Oscar-nominated actress relives the making of the 1993 film Six Degrees of Separation about a brilliant young con man played by Will Smith. Listen here. In other news...
—The Sympathizer trailer: Robert Downey Jr., Hoa Xuande play men with many faces
—Jeremy Renner makes his comeback in Mayor of Kingstown S3 trailer
—Beyoncé releases Cowboy Carter album
—Las Vegas Sphere names Ned McNeilage chief creative officer
—Cookbook author and TikToker Barbara “Babs” Costello signs with CAA
—Dennis Quaid to receive Icon Award at CinemaCon
What else we're reading...
—With a middling current season of Vanderpump Rules, plus stale spin-offs The Valley and Vanderpump Villa, Savannah Walsh wonders if we've reached peak Vanderpump [VF]
—Zach Kram writes that Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem books are brilliant, but remarkably Netflix's 3 Body Problem is better and improves on the novels [Ringer]
—Simon Hattenstone talks to Aussie musician Nick Cave about the death of his two sons and his new creative outlet of ceramics [Guardian]
—Sarah Mervosh and Francesca Paris report on why school absences have "exploded" almost everywhere across the U.S. [NYT]
—Here's your Friday list: "15 kaiju you should know (that aren’t Godzilla or King Kong)" [Vulture]
Today...
...in 1985, Orion unveiled the breezy Desperately Seeking Susan, featuring Madonna’s first starring film role, in limited release. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Brendan Gleeson (69), Lucy Lawless (56), Ed Skrein (41), Eric Idle (81), Michael Winterbottom (63), Annabella Sciorra (64), Amy Sedaris (63), Christopher Lambert (67), Marina Sirtis (69), Perry Mattfeld (30), Terence Hill (85), Sam Hazeldine (52), Hayley McFarland (33), Vijay Varma (38), Elle Macpherson (60), Bud Cort (76), Sabrina Impacciatore (56), Joe Adler (31), Jill Goodacre (60), Megan Hilty (43), Thaddea Graham (27), Todd Grinnell (48), Kim Tae-hee (44), Jay Ali (42), Maggie Baird (65), Chris Massoglia (32), Alexander Fehling (43), Barry Pearl (74), Michael-Leon Wooley (53), Arón Piper (27), Brooklyn Shuck (19), Samantha Win (33), Alain Moussi (43), Jo Nesbø (64), Rolf Lassgård (69) |
| Louis Gossett Jr., the tough guy with a sensitive side who won an Oscar for his portrayal of a steely sergeant in An Officer and a Gentleman and an Emmy for his performance as a compassionate slave in the landmark miniseries Roots, has died. He was 87. The obituary. |
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