| | | | | | What's news: CBS is the most watched broadcaster in primetime once more. Allen Media Group is set for a round of layoffs. Kristen Stewart and Oscar Isaac will star in a vampire thriller from Panos Cosmatos. Julia Ducournau's next film is heading to this year's Cannes market. Paul Walter Hauser has joined The Fantastic Four film. Cobra Kai's final season will launch in three parts on Netflix. — Abid Rahman
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10 Men Accuse Kevin Spacey of Sexual Assault in New Doc ►"I felt like I was staring at a soulless monster." In the new Channel 4 docuseries Spacey Unmasked, that promises a “forensic look” at Kevin Spacey's rise to stardom and his alleged sexual misconduct, 10 men have come forward to tell their stories of alleged abuse at the hands of the actor. None of them were involved in the London trial that saw Spacey acquitted of nine charges in July 2023, and all but one have never spoken out before. The charges stemmed from alleged acts that occurred from 2001 to 2013; Spacey was artistic director of London’s Old Vic Theatre from 2004 until 2015. The story.
—"I will not sit back and be attacked." On Thursday, Kevin Spacey is pushing back against the Channel 4 doc Spacey Unmasked, billed as a “forensic look” at his career and the allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct against him, ahead of a U.K. premiere on May 6-7. Spacey took to X to slam "dying network" Channel 4's "desperate attempt for ratings." The doc comes in the wake of Spacey being acquitted in July 2023 of nine charges in a U.K. criminal case, and will air on Max and Investigation Discovery, though no U.S. premiere dates have been announced. The story.
—"We’re prepared to defend ourselves in court." Addressing the potential pending lawsuit from the Department of Justice against Live Nation Tuesday, the company's CFO and President Joe Berchtold said Live Nation is about to begin talks with senior division leadership at the DOJ, but that he does not believe separating Live Nation and Ticketmaster will be the end result. The company believes the government investigation is more focused on specific business practices, rather than the Live Nation merger with Ticketmaster, which took place in 2020. The story.
—Layoffs incoming. Byron Allen's Allen Media Group is set to undergo a notable round of layoffs, the company revealed on Thursday. A rep for AMG said the company would make "expense and workforce reductions across all divisions," but no details were provided on how many layoffs there will be. AMG properties include the linear TV network The Weather Channel as well as the network and website TheGrio, local TV stations in multiple cities, streaming service HBCU Go and branded properties like Cars.TV and Pets.TV. The story.
—Action, finally. The French Parliament has agreed to launch an inquiry into sexual and gender-based violence across the country’s film, audiovisual, performing arts, advertising and fashion sectors. On Thursday, the Assemblée Nationale unveiled the inquiry, which comes after a searing February speech by French actress and director Judith Godrèche demanding action. Godrèche has become a key figure in France’s #MeToo movement after she accused directors Benoit Jacquot and Jacques Doillon of sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager. Both men have denied the claims. The story.
—"I so look forward to coming to France to thank everyone in person this May!" Meryl Streep is set to receive an honorary Palme d’Or at the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival on May 14. The Hollywood star — who earned the best actress award at Cannes in 1989 for her performance in Fred Schepsi’s Evil Angels — will help kick off the 77th edition at the Grand Theatre Lumiere. The story. |
Anya Taylor-Joy Stuns at 'Furiosa' Premiere ►Look, but definitely do not touch. Anya Taylor-Joy rocked a dramatic transparent gold dress covered in giant spikes at the Furiosa premiere in Sydney, Australia, on Thursday. The Brit actress took to the red carpet in a gold and silver minidress and headpiece with arrow-like spikes — similar to the gold, metallic color scheme that’s been used to promote her upcoming Mad Max prequel. According to reports, the dress is from Ryan Hastings and Paco Rabanne’s spring/summer 1996 collection. The story.
—Wait, what? Tiffany Haddish opened a fake Instagram account to track down her online trolls and sometimes call them on the phone. The comedian made the revelation in a new profile, Haddish adding that she faces intense internet bullying, which worsened after the since-dropped 2022 legal complaint alleging that Haddish and comedian Aries Spears had “groomed” two anonymous people. Haddish said that many of the accounts attacking her were bots from Malaysia and Iran, but she took it upon herself to contact the non-robot trolls. The story.
—🏆 Extra special 🏆 Alex Edelman is among the honorees being presented a special Tony Award for his comedy show, Just for Us, which debuted on Broadway in June 2023. Special Tony Awards are given to productions, artists and organizations that do not fall into any of the competitive categories. Other recipients of the honorary Tony Awards include the Dramatists Guild Foundation and the Friedman Health Center for members of the performing arts community. The story.
—🏆 Congratulazioni! 🏆 On a big night for Japan, Mitsuhiro Mihara’s Takano Tofu took home the top prize, the Golden Mulberry Audience Award, at the 26th Far East Film Festival, which concluded on Thursday night in the northern Italian city of Udine. Takano Tofu also won the Purple Mulberry Award, which is selected by users of MYmovies, Italy’s leading film fan platform. FEFF’s Black Dragon critics prize category saw another win for Japan with Kazuya Shiraishi’s period samurai feature Bushido taking the award. The winners. |
Anthony Hopkins to Play Handel ►🎭 Cymru am byth 🎭 Welsh living legend Anthony Hopkins is set to play composer George Frideric Handel in the upcoming feature The King of Covent Garden. Minamata filmmaker Andrew Levitas is attached to direct the biopic focused on how the German-British Baroque composer created his 1741 masterpiece Messiah. Tim Slover wrote the screenplay. Dan Lupovitz and Kevan Van Thompson will produce. Welsh opera superstar Katherine Jenkins is attached as an executive producer and will be involved as a musical advisor on the project as well. The story.
—🎭 Shut up, and take my money 🎭 Kristen Stewart and Oscar Isaac are set to star in Flesh of the Gods, a vampire thriller to be directed by Panos Cosmatos, the filmmaker best known for his hallucinatory 2018 horror movie Mandy. Written by Se7en scribe Andrew Kevin Walker, the story follows a married couple, Raoul (Isaac) and Alex (Stewart), who descend each evening from their luxury skyscraper condo and head into an electric nighttime realm of ’80s L.A. Adam McKay is among the producers of the feature that will be selling at the Cannes Film Market. The story.
—🎭 We still want more PWH! 🎭 Paul Walter Hauser is having a legendary week, with the actor set to make his Marvel debut with a role in the upcoming The Fantastic Four. No character details were available, but he joins a cast that includes Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Julia Garner. Also this week, Hauser scored a key role in the Naked Gun remake and will play the lead in the Chris Farley biopic. The story.
—🎭 Durand, Durand 🎭 The ever busy Kevin Durand, who is currently on screens with horror movie Abigail and also features in the upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, has joined Liam Neeson in Paramount Pictures’ untitled remake of Naked Gun. Pamela Anderson and that man Paul Walter Hauser are also on the call sheet for the feature that will begin shooting later this month. Details are being kept under wraps, but sources say Durand will play one of the villains. The story.
—🎭 One for the kids 🎭 Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy will lead the film adaptation of Enid Blyton’s children’s classic The Magic Faraway Tree. The project has Wonka and Paddington 2 scribe Simon Farnaby onboard as its writer, with Ben Gregor directing. The story follows Polly and Tim and their children Beth, Joe and Fran – a modern family who find themselves forced to relocate to the remote English countryside. The story. |
A24 Strikes Again, Snaps Up Wingard's 'Onslaught' ►Big time player. A24, the one-time scrappy indie that is rapidly scaling up, came out on top of an auction to pick up Adam Wingard's Onslaught, an action thriller that reteams the Godzilla x Kong filmmaker with his frequent collaborator Simon Barrett. The two made the cult hits You’re Next and The Guest. As per its new aggressive mandate, A24 beat out several studios for the project, and sources add that the indie came in so hard that the deal pushed the company’s boundaries in that it will give Wingard a very aggressive backend. The story.
—Coming in hot. Alpha, the new, still-top-secret film from Titane director Julia Ducournau, will be one of the hot projects being shopped to buyers at this year’s Cannes film market. Golshifteh Farahani and Tahar Rahim are set to star in the feature, the plot details of which are still under wraps. Alpha will be Ducournau’s third feature after the one-two punch of her 2016 breakout debut Raw, which won the international film critics’ Fipresci Prize in its Cannes’ Critics’ Week debut; and Titane, the surprise Palme d’Or winner of 2021. The story.
—Safe pair of hands. Louis Leterrier the director of Fast X and several Transporter action movies has been tapped to direct and produce the sci-fi horror film 11817, based on a script by Matthew Robinson. In the film, inexplicable forces trap a family of four inside their house indefinitely. As both modern luxuries and life-or-death essentials begin to run out, the family must learn how to be resourceful to survive and outsmart who – or what – is keeping them trapped. The story.
—🎭 Hey! Look at us 🎭 Nick Jonas and Paul Rudd are set to star in the latest movie from Jon Carney, the director behind Once and Sing Street. The project, which was written by Carney and Peter McDonald, will follow Rudd as a wedding singer and Jonas as a flagging pop star who come together to write a song to comedic consequences. Filming is underway in Dublin. The story.
—🎭 More star power 🎭 Janelle Monáe is the latest big name to sign up for Universal's forthcoming musical from Michel Gondry and Pharrell Williams. Monáe joins the cast of coming-of-age period feature that is currently untitled. The project is set in Virginia Beach during the summer of 1977 and inspired by Atlantis Apartments, the neighborhood where Williams grew up. Gondry directs the film from a script by Martin Hynes and Steven Levenson. The cast also includes Kelvin Harrison Jr., Halle Bailey, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Brian Tyree Henry and Missy Elliott. The story.
—🎭 Serving 🎭 Saltburn scene stealer Rosamund Pike is the latest to join the cast of Lionsgate’s Now You See Me 3, the upcoming installment of the magic heist franchise. The Brit actress is among a number of newcomers to the series, following Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa and Ariana Greenblatt. The actors join Now You See Me mainstays expected to return that include Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, and Morgan Freeman. Alas, details of Pike’s role are being kept under wraps. The story. |
Netflix Splits 'Cobra Kai' Final Season Into 3 Parts ►Unique roll out. The final season of Cobra Kai will be less bingeable than usual, and that's because Netflix is splitting the supersized season six across three release dates. On Thursday, the streamer released a teaser trailer, along with its release strategy for the popular family drama series. The 15-episode final season will drop Part 1 on July 18, then hold Part 2 until Nov. 28. A third part, dubbed “The Finale Event,” won’t be released until sometime in 2025. The story.
—Robin doesn't write. Robin Wright will wear multiple hats on her next series, the Amazon Prime Video drama The Girlfriend. Wright will star in, direct and serve as an EP of the series, which is based on a novel by Michelle Frances. Wright will play Laura, a woman with a great career, a loving husband and a close relationship with her son, but things take a turn when her son brings home his new girlfriend. Gabbie Asher and Naomi Sheldon adapted Frances’ novel. Olivia Cooke, Laurie Davidson and Waleed Zuaiter also star in the series. The story.
—"Unmasking the forces that erased the identity of the Black cowboy." Jordan Peele is making a documentary series that promises to overturn the public perception of the Old West. The Get Out writer-director will executive produce a project for Peacock “which dismantles the whitewashed mythology of the cowboy” and expand on themes explored in his 2022 thriller Nope. Keith McQuirter (By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem) is attached as showrunner, executive producer and director. The story.
—🎭 Another one to the mix 🎭 Sean Teale is the latest actor to join ABC's ensemble drama Dr. Odyssey. The Who Is Erin Carter? star will feature opposite Joshua Jackson, Don Johnson and Phillipa Soo in the series, which comes from mega-producer Ryan Murphy and co-creators Jon Robin Baitz and Joe Baken. As has been the case with other casting, details about Teale’s role are being kept quiet. Sources described Dr. Odyssey as a medical show set on a cruise ship, with elements of House and Murphy’s 2000s FX drama Nip/Tuck. Jackson will be playing the doctor in the title. The story. |
CBS Is Most Watched Broadcaster in Primetime (Again) ►The streak continues. With a few weeks left in the September-to-May season, CBS will end up as No. 1 in primetime for the 16th straight season. The network is averaging 5.59m viewers each night, according to Nielsen’s seven-day figures (through April 21). That’s about 580,000 more than second-place NBC (5.01m); ABC sits in third with 4.29m viewers, and Fox averages 3.35m. The CW is back of the pack among English-language broadcasters with 462,000 primetime viewers. The story.
—Forward thinking. While announcing its schedule for the 2024-25 TV season Thursday, CBS also got a head start on the season after that. The network has formally greenlit Sheriff Country, a spinoff of its second-year drama Fire Country. Morena Baccarin will star, reprising her role from a April Fire Country episode that set up the spinoff. Sheriff Country won’t premiere, however, until the 2025-26 season. CBS also has three new dramas on tap for 2024-25 in a reworking of Matlock starring Kathy Bates, NCIS prequel Origins and medical drama Watson that stars Morris Chestnut. The story.
—Some good news. Paramount+ got a record-setting opening from its Sonic the Hedgehog-adjacent series Knuckles. The six-episode series, featuring Idris Elba voicing the title character and also starring Adam Pally, amassed 4m hours of viewing worldwide over its first three days of release — a record for a Paramount+ original series, the streamer says. The story.
—Doctors on top. Medical dramas The Resident and Grey’s Anatomy were the top two titles on the Nielsen streaming charts for the week of April 1-7, finishing with 1.18b and 1.15b minutes of viewing time (both stream on Hulu and Netflix). The Resident actually slipped a little from the previous week's 1.48b minutes, which was good for second overall, but the show that had been ahead of it — Netflix’s 3 Body Problem — fell further. The sci-fi series dropped by about 47 percent to a still solid 937m minutes of viewing. The streaming rankings. |
Film Review: 'Unfrosted' ►"Schmaltz-free nostalgia." THR's Sheri Linden reviews Jerry Seinfeld's Unfrosted. Directing a feature for the first time, the sitcom legend also stars in the Netflix movie as a cereal company executive involved in the race to create a toaster pastry, co-starring Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Max Greenfield, Hugh Grant and Amy Schumer. 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, including news on Elizabeth Banks, Robin Wright, Scooby-Doo, Chuck Lorre, Ty Burrell, Steve Carell, The Office, Law & Order: Organized Crime and NCIS: Hawai’i. There's a segment on the changes at Paramount Global now Bob Bakish is out. There's also section on CBS winning yet another broadcast season and another previewing May television. And finally, Dan reviews FX's The Veil and Welcome to Wrexham, Netflix's A Man in Full, and HBO's Hacks. Listen here.
—Awards Chatter. THR's executive awards editor Scott Feinberg talks to the great and the good of Hollywood. In this episode, Scott spoke to Jeanine Basinger. The trailblazing film professor, who built Wesleyan University into an unlikely film powerhouse over her 60 years at the institution, reflects on how the field of film studies changed over the course of her career, the 13 hugely influential film books that she has authored and the future of film. 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 Karyn Kusama. The visionary director behind Yellowjackets and Jennifer’s Body joins Seth to revisit the making of her debut, the 2000 Sundance sensation Girlfight. Listen here.
In other news...
—Maya Rudolph, Jake Gyllenhaal will close out SNL S49
—Benedict Cumberbatch is a desperate father in trailer for Netflix's Eric
—Jessica Casano-Antonellis to lead comms at Disney-Fox-Warner sports streaming platform
—IATSE’s United Scenic Artists names first national director
—Super Nintendo World’s third location will open in Orlando in 2025
—Wes Anderson and Montblanc brought snow to L.A. to celebrate 100 years of the Meisterstück pen
What else we're reading...
—Phil Hoad looks at how Ryan Gosling changed stardom, cinema and society and how his "auto-satirising alpha male" became white-hot box office in 2024 [Guardian]
—Ismail Muhammad wonders why Alex Garland's Civil War and Sam Esmail’s Leave the World Behind make the idea of civil conflict and societal breakdown look more thrilling than actually scary [NYT]
—Justin Miller's profile of Joanna Coles, the Daily Beast's new chief creative and content officer, starts incredibly and keeps getting better [Intelligencer]
—Koh Ewe reports that another Boeing-linked whistleblower has died [Time]
—Here's your Friday list: "Just a long list of stuff that Brian Cox hates" [GQ]
Today...
...in 2002, Sony launched Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man into theaters to kick off summer movie season. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Danielle Deadwyler (42), Amy Ryan (56), Christina Hendricks (49), Rebecca Hall (42), Rachel Zegler (23), Pom Klementieff (38), Bobby Cannavale (54), Harvey Guillén (34), Rob Brydon (🏴59), Jessica Sula (🏴30), Joseph Kosinski (50), Emma Seligman (29), Emily V. Gordon (45), Frankie Valli (90), Dulé Hill (49), Maxwell Jenkins (19), Mozhan Navabi (44), Kristin Lehman (52), Highdee Kuan (26), Kevin Kilner (66), Chris Mulkey (76), Poppy Delevingne (38), Debora Caprioglio (56), Ron Canada (75), Cheryl Burke (40), Zoé De Grand Maison (29), Amy Steel (64), Noah Munck (28), Meagan Tandy (39), Ben Elton (65) |
| Jan Haag, who a half-century ago founded the landmark Directing Workshop for Women at the American Film Institute, has died. She was 90. The obituary. |
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