An outsider in a town familiar with cautionary tales about Chinese riches, Kenneth Huang was performative about his wealth in a way that put Hollywood power players at ease. Deadline's Jake Kanter dug into the bizarre and provocative tale of how Huang weaved a web ensnaring many in the industry's top echelon, only to vanish.
Huang would allow everyone to think: If this man puts studio executives on private jets to Beijing and turns up to coffee meetings in a Lamborghini Aventador, he is capable of funding independent movies. And he was. Impatiently so.
After acting as Paramount’s conduit to the Middle Kingdom, Huang set up shop in the shape of The H Collective (THC) in June 2017. He collected a team of experienced and trusted Hollywood executives who got to work making movies. Within less than six months, the outfit was in production on Aaron Paul thriller The Parts You Lose alongside Breaking Bad producer Mark Johnson.
During a breathless three-year period, THC linked with James Gunn on superhero horror Brightburn, attempted to reboot Vin Diesel’s xXx franchise, and dried ink on a distribution deal with Sony Pictures. People in Huang’s orbit were unsure where the money was flowing from, but few were prepared to pollute the well with questions. >>>Then Came The Lawsuits |
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Deadline Contenders TV Coverage: Among the revelations at Deadline's Contenders Television Documentary + Unscripted event this past weekend was Jim Henson Idea Man director Ron Howard revealing just how surprisingly hard it was for Henson to get the Muppets on TV; likewise Steve Martin's struggle for over a decade to break through as depicted in Morgan Neville's Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in 2 Pieces; casting director Erika Dobrin described the gargantuan task of finding 456 diverse and international lead characters for Netflix’s reality competition series Squid Game: The Challenge. Oscarcast executive producers Raj Kapoor, Katy Mullan and Molly McNearney (who also was a writer) and director Hamish Hamilton spoke about putting together the show's massive "I'm Just Ken" segment featuring Ryan Gosling and 60-70 other Kens. The event also included a conversation with Gypsy Rose Blanchard for Prison Confessions; Alan Cumming on Season 3 of The Traitors; JoJo Siwa revealing how she was changed by Special Forces: World's Toughest Test; Daily Show executive producer/showrunner/writer Jen Flanz, co-executive producer/writer Zhubin Parang and former writer and newly-named correspondent Josh Johnson on the show's continued success, even without a permanent host; The Quiet on Set team on how the docuseries set out to uncover the toxic and dangerous culture on the sets of Dan Schneider’s Nickelodeon children’s shows; RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Queens talking Season 16; Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story directors Gelila Bekele and Armani Ortiz on telling the mogul’s extraordinary story; and much, much more. |
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| Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
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New Talks - The 86 members of Producers United – a grassroots collection of the most prolific “Career Producers” who make about 90% of Hollywood’s biggest independent and studio/streamer films – have banded together on behalf of all producers who don’t have it as good as most might have believed. >>>Meetings Set With Studios
Best And Final - On a momentous day for Paramount Global, with the company set to reveal quarterly earnings and a new "office of the CEO" replacing Bob Bakish, Deadline has confirmed that Skydance has made its "best and final" offer to take control of the company. David Ellison’s media company has presented Paramount Global board’s special committee with a revised offer to take control of the company, Deadline has learned. Terms weren’t immediately available. The new proposal is likely designed to make a deal more palatable to Paramount investors beyond controlling shareholder Shari Redstone. >>> Shareholders Growing Restless
Vice Revamp - Vice Media Group has announced a new creative structure for its global production business now dubbed Vice Studios Group, Deadline was first to announce. The management team will oversee five premium production entities: Pulse Films, UnTypical, Vice Studios LatAm, Vice Studios Canada and a news documentary unit. Vice Studios Group will be led by the newly elevated Jamie Hall in London and Danny Gabai in Los Angeles as Co-Presidents. >>> 1,000+ Hours In Catalog
Politics, Protests & Parties - The shouts of pro-Palestinian demonstrators disrupted the entry into this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, but once inside, attendees were greeted with what has become the usual scene: Celebrities on the red carpet, a crush for the security line and glitterati packed into a cavernous ballroom. >>>Notes From The Weekend
The 'Guardians 3' Profit Picture - While Marvel Studios went into freefall with The Marvels in November 2023, repping the lowest opening ever in the Disney MCU, what Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 proved was that Marvel fanboys, when they know something is excellent, come out. >>>Deadline Analysis
Media Moment - This is one of those moments when the flow of news seems like an assault on the senses. The Donald Trump trial, the student protests, Gaza, the election campaigning — will our trust in the media survive these traumas? Can our pop culture assimilate them? Peter Bart, based on the West Coast, and Ted Johnson, Deadline’s political and media editor in Washington DC, lend their perspectives to these questions. >>> Truth Amid The Noise?
Serving Up A Win - Amazon MGM Studios’ Challengers is being called at a $15M domestic opening, which is officially the biggest opening ever for Oscar-nominated filmmaker Luca Guadagnino. It’s also the best we’ve seen from Zendaya for a live-action, original, non-IP movie. >>>Date Movie
Creative Quest - Keanu Reeves and Gard Hollinger are embarking on a quest to find the origins of human creativity, which will be chronicled in a docuseries for Roku. As Deadline exclusively reported this morning, the friends, longtime collaborators and Arch Motorcycle co-founders are headlining and executive producing the series, tentatively titled The Arch Project. >>>Meeting The Mavericks
Going Wilde - Doctor Who’s Ncuti Gatwa and W1A’s Hugh Skinner will star in a National Theatre revival of Oscar Wilde’s play about courtships, betrothals and confused identities. The Importance of Being Earnest also stars three-time Olivier Award winner Sharon D. Clarke playing the imperious Lady Bracknell. >>>"Dream Come True" Casting |
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After taking the temperature on how labor talks were going with Teamsters’ Lindsay Dougherty, Deadline Strike Talk podcast co-hosts Billy Ray and Todd Garner get into things this week with Mike Miller, the VP and Director of Motion Pictures for IATSE. >>>Listen To The Interview |
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Exclusive
Keke Palmer and four-time Grammy winner SZA are set to star in an untitled buddy comedy movie from TriStar Pictures, with Isaa Rae producing.
Exclusive
Lola Kirke (Gone Girl) is the newest addition to the cast of Ryan Coogler‘s untitled supernatural thriller for Warner Bros Pictures. As previously announced, Michael B. Jordan leads the ensemble.
Exclusive
TV anchor Sage Steele has replaced Candace Owens in the voice cast of The Daily Wire‘s upcoming animated sitcom Mr Birchum, following the latter’s recent exit from the right wing news platform.
Exclusive
The new indie film Chalino will tell the story of Rosalino Sánchez Félix, better known as Chalino and “El Rey del Corrido,” an antihero who achieved superstardom and attained legendary status for his contributions to the popularity of the Regional music subgenre Narcocorridos. For the lead role, David Castañeda (The Umbrella Academy, Ballerina) was the standout among thousands of Latinos who auditioned for the role, sources tell Deadline. |
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More News 🌴 The Cannes Film Festival has named the eight members of its main Competition jury who will join previously announced president Greta Gerwig in deciding the Palme d’Or and other key prizes at 77th edition running from May 14 to 25. They include Lily Gladstone, Eva Green, Nadine Labaki, J.A. Bayona, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Omar Sy.
👮 French actor Gérard Depardieu was taken into police custody in Paris this morning for questioning over two separate sexual assault accusations, according to French media reports. Local media reports said that the actor had been detained for questioning on accusations by two women related to events on the sets of Jean-Pierre Mocky’s Le Magicien et les Siamois in 2014, and Jean Becker’s The Green Shutters (Volets Verts) in 2021.
✒️ Academy Award winner Aaron Sorkin has reiterated his plans to write a sequel to his acclaimed drama, The Social Network, examining the origins of Facebook, one that will home in on the social media platform’s impact on U.S. democracy.
🏥 Former producer Harvey Weinstein has been hospitalized for a battery of tests regarding an undisclosed ailment, his lawyer said Saturday. Weinstein is at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. He arrived there Friday after returning to New York City following an appeals court ruling nullifying his 2020 rape conviction. |
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Obituaries
🕯️ Ray Chan, a longtime production designer on some of Marvel‘s biggest films -- including Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame as well as the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine -- died last week, according to a statement Friday from Marvel Studios. 🕯️ Marla Adams, best known for her 37 years in the role of Dina Abbott Mergeron on the CBS daytime drama The Young and the Restless , died Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 85. 🕯️ Sonja Christopher, who was the first person in Survivor Season 1 to be voted off the show, has died at 87, according to a current contestant. No cause was revealed. 🕯️ Media & Hollywood Deaths Gallery |
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On the Radar
Mon - Paramount earnings; NewFronts begin
Tue - Tony nominations announced
Wed - Harvey Weinstein due in NY court
Fri - The Fall Guy opens |
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"A Living Oscar" - It was Nicole Kidman's night on Saturday as she received the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award. She made quite an entrance in a stunning gold Balenciaga gown as she walked through all the tables to the dais. One attendee was in awe as she watched Kidman enter and exclaimed, her mouth agape, “She looks like a living Oscar.” |
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