| | | | | | What's news: The man who attacked Steve Buscemi has been arrested and charged. Disneyland’s character workers have voted to unionize. Noomi Rapace is set to play Mother Teresa in a biopic. A24 acquires U.S. rights to Ruben Östlund’s The Entertainment System Is Down. American Idol paid tribute to the departing Katy Perry. The series finale of CBS' Young Sheldon drew 9.32m viewers. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes raced to $238m at the global box office. — Abid Rahman
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Why We All Really Do Care About Standing Ovations ►Please clap. Standing ovations at premieres has become an almost manic obsession among film festivalgoers, or, more accurately, the trades, reporters, and online bloggers that cover them. If reporting ovation durations used to be limited to just a handful of extremely long tributes now every high-profile premiere gets its standing ovation stopwatch. THR's Scott Roxborough writes that love it or hate it, the clocking of applause at premieres has been around a long time — and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. The story.
—10-minutes! Kevin Costner rode into Cannes with cowboy swagger, making finger pistols on the red carpet to cheers from the crowd ahead of the premiere for Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1. Inside the Grand Lumiere Theatre, Costner was greeted with extended applause before the first public screening of the $90m-plus budgeted film that is planned as part one of a four-part saga. When the credits rolled, the crowd delivered a standing ovation that continued on for a total of around ten minutes. The story.
—9-minutes! French filmmaker Jacques Audiard returned to Cannes on Saturday night to introduce the world to Emilia Perez, which received a rapturous response from the audience, who gave it a nine-minute standing ovation. After Audiard took the mic to speak in French, the standing ovation resumed for another minute or so. The story.
—9-minutes! The Substance, Coralie Fargeat's gruesome body-horror flick starring Demi Moore, Dennis Quaid and Margaret Qualley, had its world premiere on Sunday night in competition in Cannes, and it and was greeted with a nine-minute standing ovation from the crowd at the Grand Lumiere Theatre. The story.
—4-minutes! Yorgos Lanthimos revealed his particular brand of niceness as Cannes presented the world premiere of his twisted Kinds of Kindness on Friday night. The film, which reunites The Favourite and Poor Things director Lanthimos and star Emma Stone, was greeted with a 4-minute ovation inside the packed Grand Lumiere Theatre. The story.
—3-minutes! Paul Schrader's Oh, Canada, the new drama that reunites the director with his American Gigalo star Richard Gere, had its world premiere in Cannes on Friday night, where it was welcomed with a three-minute-plus standing ovation for Schrader and his team at the Grand Lumiere Theatre. With typical Canadian politeness, the crowd even applauded the film’s producers. The story.
—"The history of our studio, its past, its present, its future, touches everyone in our great creative community." Sony brought together a multiverse’s worth of its filmmakers past and present together Friday at Cannes for a dinner celebrating the 100th anniversary of Columbia Pictures. The attendees at Mamo Michelangelo included Cannes jury president Greta Gerwig, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Bad Boys: Ride or Die directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, Chloé Zhao, Anyone But You director Will Gluck and Kraven the Hunter filmmaker J.C. Chandor. The story. |
Diddy Addresses 2016 Attack Video ►"I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now." Sean "Diddy" Combs apologized on Sunday for a recently surfaced 2016 video which sees him attacking his ex-girlfriend, singer Cassie Ventura. The video, released by CNN on Friday, shows the scandal-plagued mogul running out of a hotel room in a towel and chasing a woman who appears to be Ventura toward the elevator. He grabs her by the back of the neck and throws her on the floor, kicks her, shoves her and drags her by her sweatshirt. Later in the footage, he returns to kick her again, and then throws an object from a nearby table at her. The story.
—"We are aware of the video that has been circulating online." The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office shared a statement following the release of the video of Combs allegedly attacking Cassie Ventura. "We find the images extremely disturbing and difficult to watch. If the conduct depicted occurred in 2016, unfortunately, we would be unable to charge as the conduct would have occurred beyond the timeline where a crime of assault can be prosecuted," the statement said. The story.
—Charged. A suspect in the Steve Buscemi attacker case was arrested and charged in New York City on Friday, according to the New York Police Department. Clifton Williams, a 50-year-old houseless man, has been charged with assault in the second degree after he allegedly punched the actor in the face randomly in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of Kips Bay. The story.
—"Talks remain ongoing and we are focused on achieving the goals we came to the table with." Though IATSE had initially planned to conclude its general negotiations for West Coast Locals on Thursday, the day came and went without a deal, the union announced on Friday. Instead, talks over key issues like wages, AI and working conditions have been paused for now and additional bargaining dates are expected to be scheduled for early June. The story.
—"They say that Disneyland is 'the place where dreams come true.'" On Saturday, a majority of Disneyland’s character workers voted to unionize with Actors’ Equity Association in a National Labor Relations Board vote, ushering more employees at Disneyland into the union fold. Nine hundred and fifty-three workers voted “yes” to join Equity, while 258 voted “no.” The parties now have several days to file any objections, and if none are submitted, the results will be certified. The story. |
Stone, Plemons to Star in New Lanthimos Movie ►🎭 Not waiting around 🎭 Kinds of Kindness filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos has announced his next feature project. The Greek director will helm Bugonia, starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons. The script from Will Tracy follows two conspiracy-obsessed men who kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth. Bugonia has been picked up by Focus Features for the U.S., with Universal Pictures distributing internationally. The story.
—Bagged! A24 has acquired the U.S. rights to Ruben Östlund’s The Entertainment System Is Down. The eight-figure deal gives A24 U.S. distribution rights to what will be the Swedish film director’s second English-language movie, after 2022’s Triangle of Sadness. Like his other features, Entertainment is also a social satire, this time set on a long-haul flight in which the entertainment system fails and passengers must figure out how else to fill their time. The film stars Keanu Reeves, Kirsten Dunst, Daniel Brühl, Nicholas Braun and Samantha Morton. The story.
—Snagged. Indie outfit Neon has landed North American rights to Arthur Harari's The Unknown. Another title out of the Cannes market, the film stars Léa Seydoux although little else is known about the project. Harari earned acclaim as the screenwriter of Anatomy of a Fall, which Neon landed out of Cannes before it went on to win the Palme d’Or and later the original screenplay Oscar. The story.
—Nabbed. Byron Allen's Freestyle Digital Media has acquired the North American rights to thriller The Ghost Trap out of Cannes' market. Zak Steiner and Greer Grammer star in the thriller about a young lobsterman who finds himself in a deadly trap war. James Khanlarian directs from K. Stephens’ script, based on the book she authored by the same name. The story.
—🎭 "A perfect fit" 🎭 Noomi Rapace is set to play Mother Teresa in a new film from Teona Strugar Mitevska, director of 2019’s God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya. The Swedish actress will play the legendary Catholic saint in the biopic Mother, which will follow seven consecutive days at a pivotal moment in Mother Teresa’s life, the period where she decides to leave the Loreto Entally convent in Calcutta and launch her own order. Mother will be Mitevska’s English-language debut. The story.
—🎭 Bauer-like 🎭 Kiefer Sutherland is set to star in action thriller Sierra Madre. The story centers on Sutherland’s Captain Jordan Wright and his squadron, who are granted leave from their mission to attend a crewmate’s wedding in Mexico. While there, festivities are interrupted by a murderous cartel. The project, which is being sold out of the Cannes film market by Highland Film Group, is set to be directed by Justin Chadwick from a script by and Delbert Hancock and The Grey writer Ian Mackenzie Jeffers. The story. |
'Idol' Pays Tribute to Katy Perry on Her Final Episode ►End of an era. Katy Perry said goodbye to American Idol after seven seasons on Sunday night’s live finale. As a tribute to the singer, the ladies of the top 12 performed a medley of Perry’s hits, including “Teenage Dream,” “Dark Horse” and “California Gurls.” Perry also performed “What Makes a Woman” alongside competitor Jack Blocker during the three-hour finale. The story.
—"I don’t see what the big crime is, I really don’t." Bill Maher admitted he was confused on the latest episode of Real Time about the controversy surrounding Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker's commencement speech at Benedictine College. This week, the NFL player was criticized across social media over his graduation speech at the private Catholic school, which included comments condemning abortion, euthanasia, IVF, surrogacy and the LGBTQ community. The recap.
—Going out on a high. The final episodes of Young Sheldon drew a big crowd for CBS. The comedy ended its seven-season run Thursday night with 9.32m viewers for its series finale, according to final same-day ratings from Nielsen (which don’t include streaming). Young Sheldon ended with a pair of episodes, and the first drew almost as many viewers (9.15m) at 8 p.m. ET/PT as the 8:30 p.m. finale. The two episodes rank second and third in same-day viewers among all scripted series this season, behind only the post-Super Bowl premiere of Tracker. The ratings. |
Box Office: John Krasinski's 'IF' Opens to $35M ►Decent start. Paramount and writer-director John Krasinski are breathing a sigh of relief after IF's domestic opening improved to an estimated $35m thanks to a strong family turnout on Saturday. Still, the live-action/CGI hybrid film — starring Ryan Reynolds and featuring an A-list voice cast — came in behind tracking’s projected $40m domestic opening amid an overall tough early summer at the box office. But it could have been worse. Based on Friday’s traffic, the forecast was a bleak $30m to $31m.
Paramount insiders say IF's performance is a victory for original fare, noting it is one of the top openings ever for an original live-action PG title. THR's Pamela McClintock writes that despite critics dissing the film, audiences awarded it with an A CinemaScore and strong exits, which are key ingredients needed for word-of-mouth and a long run as kids begin their summer break.
Overseas, IF earned a somewhat subdued $20m from 52 markets, for an early foreign total of $24m and a global tally of $59m. Animated family film The Garfield Movie opens next weekend, and is expected to play younger.
Disney and 20th Century Studio’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the only summer event pic so far to exceed expectations, placed a strong No. 2 with $26m as it crossed the $100m mark domestically in its first 10 days. Overseas, it earned another $40.6m from 52 markets for a foreign total of $136.3m and $237.5m globally. The box office report. | Dabney Coleman 1932 - 2024 ►"A teacher, a hero and a king." Dabney Coleman, the popular comic actor from 9 to 5, Tootsie and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman whose many redeeming qualities including a knack for portraying characters who had none, has died. He was 92. The Emmy-winning actor also portrayed an irascible talk show host in upstate New York on NBC’s Buffalo Bill, headlined the sitcoms ABC’s The Slap Maxwell Story, Fox’s Drexell’s Class and NBC’s Madman of the People and recently starred in CBS drama The Guardian, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and played John Dutton Sr. on Yellowstone. The obituary.
—"He was a complicated, hilarious genius." Lily Tomlin, Kevin Costnerm, Ben Stiller, James Woods, John Ales and more Hollywood notables have taken to social media to pay tribute to Dabney Coleman. "The great Dabney Coleman literally created, or defined, really - in a uniquely singular way — an archetype as a character actor. He was so good at what he did it’s hard to imagine movies and television of the last 40 years without him," Stiller wrote on X. The reaction. |
Why More Comedies Like 'Babes' Would "End Capitalism" ►"What I really love is that all of the men portrayed in this film show a vulnerability. All of them." THR's Rebecca Sun spoke to Ilana Glazer, Michelle Buteau and Pamela Adlon, the moms behind the new friendship flick Babes. The trio sound off on what’s hilarious about pregnancy and parenting, and justice for men’s roles in these narratives. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"You didn’t see his body. You just saw a big splash." THR's Brian Davids spoke to Kevin Durand about his new film, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. The beloved character actor discusses the Proximus Caesar’s future and not viewing him as a bad ape, as well as giving his thoughts on the professional purple patch he is currently enjoying. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"Are you this generation’s Sean Bean? Because famously, he’s died in everything." For THR, Max Gao spoke to Mary & George stars Nicholas Galitzine and Tony Curran about the bloody ending to the Starz period drama. The actors who play George Villiers and King James I of England explain their tumultuous onscreen relationship — and why each of their characters got their comeuppance in the end. Warning: Spoilers! The interview. |
Film Review: 'Kinds of Kindness' ►"A cryptic triptych." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Yorgos Lanthimos' Cannes competition entry Kinds of Kindness. Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley and Hong Chau star in a return for the Greek director to the subversiveness and ambiguity of his early films. The review.
—"No, Canada." David reviews Paul Schrader's Cannes competition entry Oh, Canada. An acclaimed American documentarian who relocated North as a Vietnam draft refugee attempts to set the record straight in one final interview, starring Richard Gere, Jacob Elordi and Uma Thurman. The review.
—"Ebbs and flows like poetry." David reviews Jia Zhang-ke's Cannes competition entry Caught by the Tides. The Chinese auteur's longtime muse Zhao Tao plays a woman who takes an emotional journey from her home in a fading industrial city in search of a vanished former boyfriend. The review.
—"Remember her name." David reviews Jacques Audiard's Cannes competition entry Emilia Perez. Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Karla Sofia Gascón star in this film about a Mexican drug lord enlists the help of a lawyer to undergo gender-affirming surgery in the latest from the French director of A Prophet, Rust and Bone and Dheepan. The review.
—"A short and dense film autobiography suited for the auteur’s fans." THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews Leos Carax's It's Not Me. The director of Holy Motors and Annette unveiled his latest work, a medium-length assembly of archives and new footage, in the Cannes Première sidebar. The review. |
Film Review: 'The Substance' ►"Uneven genre offering boosted by formal ambition and Demi Moore." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Coralie Fargeat's Cannes competition entry The Substance. In her second feature, which stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid, the French filmmaker examines society's ghoulish obsession with youth and beauty. The review.
—"An inspiring and entertaining ode to ecological and cultural preservation." Lovia reviews Claude Barras' Savages. The latest animated film from the My Life as a Zucchini director is about a group of Indigenous people trying to protect their land from rampant deforestation. The review.
—"Casts a (sometimes too) delicate spell." Lovia reviews Hiroshi Okuyama's My Sunshine. Premiering in Cannes' Un Certain Regard section, Okuyama's latest follows a boy who starts training with a rising figure skating star and her coach. The review.
—"Too sprawling for its own good." Lovia reviews Yolande Zauberman's La Belle de Gaza. In her latest work, the French filmmaker tries to track down a mysterious trans woman who allegedly walked from Gaza to Tel Aviv. The review.
—"A compelling portrait hindered by some narrative contrivances." Lovia reviews Nabil Ayouch's Everybody Loves Touda. The Moroccan filmmaker's latest revolves around a single mother who dreams of being a traditional folk singer in Casablanca. The review. |
Film Review: 'The Surfer' ►"Tubular fun." THR's Leslie Felperin reviews Lorcan Finnegan's The Surfer. Nicolas Cage goes entertainingly mad in Finnegan's fourth feature that revolves around a man whose surfing plans are thwarted by menacing Aussie thugs and even more menacing wild animals. The review.
—"Runs out of road fast." Leslie reviews Emanuel Parvu's Cannes competition entry Three Kilometers to the End of the World. Ciprian Chiujdea stars in Parvu's third feature as a young man forced to reveal a secret after he's brutally attacked. The review.
—"Spare but richly moving." Leslie reviews Sergei Loznitsa's The Invasion. The doc footage observes ordinary Ukrainian citizens and soldiers and folks who are a bit of both, trying to get on with things in the few years since Russia crossed the border. The review.
—"A conventional tribute to an unconventional man." THR's Dan Fienberg reviews Ron Howard's Jim Henson Idea Man. The Muppets creator and Sesame Street innovator gets a reverential and very authorized two-hour celebration, featuring family and collaborators. The review.
—"An entertaining if unsurprising time capsule." For THR, Caryn James reviews Nanette Burstein's Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes. Filled with archival images, the film — built around interviews with Elizabeth Taylor from the mid-60s — is an effective trip back to a changing Hollywood. The review.
In other news...
—Target drops exclusive Billie Eilish vinyl and merch capsule for singer’s new album
—The best face sunscreens recommended by star-loved skin-care experts
—Paramount Global chief communications, marketing officer Julia Phelps to exit
—L.A.'s real estate upfronts reveal $45m Penthouse A at Rosewood Residences Beverly Hills
—London real estate is about to get the Selling Sunset treatment
—Diane Ford, stand-up comic on HBO specials and An Evening at the Improv, dies at 68
—Barbra Fuller, star of Republic Pictures and One Man’s Family on the radio, dies at 102
What else we're reading...
—In an opinion piece, Ernest Owens writes that Sean Combs' recent apology is a social media stunt and is only happening because he got caught [Daily Beast]
—Eva Rothenberg explains how ESPN’s Jeff Darlington landed at the center of the bizarre Scottie Scheffler arrest story [CNN]
—Lucas Shaw profiles Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters and how he was able to fix issues over password sharing but still has to figure out live programming, games and advertising [Bloomberg]
—Luis Barrucho and Kai Lawrence report on the way South Korean journalists Park Hyo-sil and Kang Kyung-yoon's lives became a living hell when they revealed a sex scandal involving K-pop stars [BBC]
—Li Yuan looks at how Chinese firms like TikTok parent ByteDance face increasing hostility abroad as well as greater authoritarianism at home [NYT]
Today...
...in 2002, George Lucas unveiled Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones in theaters, where it would go on to gross $645m globally. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Cher (78), Josh O'Connor (34), Timothy Olyphant (56), Tony Goldwyn (64), Mike Flanagan (46), Paul Whitehouse (🏴66), Bronson Pinchot (65), Louis Theroux (54), Anton Corbijn (69), Jack Gleeson (32), Matt Czuchry (47), Alex Høgh Andersen (30), Mindy Cohn (58), Joel Fry (40), Michaela McManus (41), Ray Chase (37), Fra Fee (37), Matt McCoy (66), John Billingsley (64), Tahmoh Penikett (49), Constance Towers (91), Kim Shaw (40), Louisa Krause (38), Owen Teale (🏴63), David Proval (82), Naturi Naughton (40), Gina Ravera (58), Jane Wiedlin (66), Dean Butler (68), N.T. Rama Rao Jr. (41), Daya Vaidya (44), Angela Goethals (47), Robert Emms (38), Jana Pallaske (45), Marla Sucharetza (59), Allen Maldonado (41), Yon González (38), Thalia Tran (18) |
| Alice Stewart, a CNN political commentator who worked on several GOP presidential campaigns, has died. She was 58. The obituary. |
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