| | | | | | What's news: CBS News anchor Jeff Glor is among those laid off at Paramount. SAG-AFTRA called a strike against the makers of League of Legends. MGM+ has ordered a new Robin Hood drama. James Cameron is joining the board of Stability AI. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have agreed to do town halls hosted by TelevisaUnivision. — Abid Rahman
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Suit Claims Diddy Drugged and Raped Woman With Bodyguard ►New allegations. Sean Combs, the embattled music mogul who remains in jail while he awaits trial on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges, has been sued for allegedly drugging and raping a woman in 2001. Thalia Graves, in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in New York federal court, says she was sexually assaulted by Combs and his bodyguard at Bad Boy Records’ New York studio after she was given a drink that caused her to briefly lose consciousness. She awoke “bound and restrained” as they “proceeded to brutally sexually abuse and violate” her, the complaint alleges. The story.
—"Simply untrue." Kim Porter's four children are speaking out, denying their late mother wrote a memoir and calling out the speculation and conspiracies surrounding her death. Christian (King) Combs and twins, D’Lila and Jessie Combs — whom Porter shares with Sean Combs — as well as Quincy Brown — whom she shares with Albert Joseph Brown (the R&B singer known as Al B. Sure!) — released a statement on social media Tuesday night, more than a week after Combs' arrest. “We have seen so many hurtful and false rumors circulating about our parents, Kim Porter and Sean Combs’ relationship, as well as about our mom’s tragic passing, that we feel the need to speak out,” they wrote. The story. |
'We Will Dance Again' Producer Says Oct. 7 Doc Too Intense for Broadcast TV ►"There’s no winners here." THR's Gary Baum spoke to Susan Zirinsky, the former president of CBS News and longtime executive producer of its news magazine 48 Hours, who is behind Paramount+’s Oct. 7 doc We Will Dance Again. Zirinsky says the material in the doc is more graphic "than anything that I’ve seen put on television in my entire career." The story.
—Big name casualty. Paramount's latest round of layoffs has impacted CBS News, with anchor Jeff Glor among those leaving the network. Glor, who co-hosts CBS Saturday Morning and is a special correspondent, was one of a number of people laid off as CBS’ parent company made a second round of cuts Tuesday. Paramount is looking to save some $500m and plans to lay off 15 percent of its U.S.-based employees. Tuesday’s layoffs were the second round, following a first wave of job cuts in mid-August. The company is headed toward a merger with Skydance, which is likely to be finalized sometime next year. The story.
—"To commit illegal unfair labor practices is beyond the pale." Hollywood’s performers union has called a strike against one of the video game industry’s most recognizable marquee titles. On Tuesday SAG-AFTRA announced that it was telling members to cease work for the multiplayer online game League of Legends after its producer, Formosa Interactive, “tried to subvert” the union’s ongoing video game strike on an unnamed separate title. The union is responding by calling a work stoppage against League of Legends, a game that was not previously struck and is one of Formosa Interactive’s most well-known projects. The story.
—It's on, kinda. There may or may not be another debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, but both candidates have agreed to appear in another high-profile TV setting: Town halls to be hosted by the Spanish-language media giant TelevisaUnivision. The media company says that both the Trump and Harris campaigns have agreed to the town halls, which will be held next month. The Trump town hall (titled Los Latinos Preguntan … Donald Trump Responde) is set for Tuesday Oct. 8 at 10 p.m., and will be held in Miami, Florida. The Harris town hall (Los Latinos Preguntan … Kamala Harris Responde) will be held Thursday Oct. 10 at 10 p.m. in Las Vegas, Nevada. The story.
—Olbermann enters the chat. Veteran media personality Keith Olbermann took to his Countdown podcast to detail a past “wholesome” relationship with New York Magazine D.C. correspondent Olivia Nuzzi amid the reporter’s current scandal with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Olbermann’s comments come as Nuzzi is on leave from the magazine after her editors learned of a personal relationship she had with the former White House hopeful, who is married to actress Cheryl Hines. Olbermann revealed that he and Nuzzi dated for about three years before a mutual parting of the ways. She was in her early 20s at the time while he was in his mid-50s. The story.
—Move over Willy Wonka Experience! A “Bridgerton Ball” experience held in Michigan turned out to be a royal mess. Pictures on social media are going viral for an event on Sunday which organizers billed as a chance for fans to “step into the enchanting world of the Regency-era … for an evening of sophistication, grace and historical charm.” The reality, say some attendees, was a disorganized and bare-bones event that left costumed attendees sitting on the floor amid vendors selling Kit Kats and watching a stripper who was hired as the evening’s entertainment. The event is drawing comparisons to the infamous (and unofficial) Willy Wonka Experience that earned global headlines back in March. The story. |
James Cameron Joins Board of Stability AI ►Major coup. Artificial intelligence company Stability AI says that Avatar director James Cameron will join its board of directors. Stability AI is the firm that developed the Stable Diffusion text-to-image generative AI model, an image- and video-focused model that is among those being closely watched by many in Hollywood, particularly in the VFX industry. Stability AI’s CEO Prem Akkaraju is no stranger to the business, having previously served as the CEO of VFX firm WETA Digital. Sean Parker, the former president of Facebook and founder of Napster, also recently joined the AI firm as executive chairman. The story.
—🤝 AI deal 🤝 Warner Bros. Discovery has partnered with Google Cloud to use an AI-powered tool to create captions for its content platforms. Caption AI uses Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform and will be deployed first to unscripted programming to cut time and production costs around creating captions presumably sports and reality TV content. WBD added real people will still oversee the use of Caption AI for quality assurance on studio channels like Max, CNN and Discovery+. The story.
—Coming soon. WBD has set target launch dates for its Max streaming service in Australia and several key Asian markets. On the same day that Max launched in Japan via local partner U-Next, WBD revealed that it was looking to roll out Max's direct-to-consumer platform in Australia in the first half of 2025. Max will debut in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan by the end of 2024, with Max replacing the existing HBO Go services. The news was revealed at the APOS media conference in Bali, Indonesia. The story.
—Making moves. The New York Times is making a significant change to how its podcast business works on two of the largest third-party podcast platforms: Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The NYT will launch podcast subscriptions on the audio platforms, requiring users to pay if they want to access archived episodes of programs like The Daily and The Ezra Klein Show, or early access to upcoming shows from Serial Productions. Spotify and Apple users will still be able to access the most recent episode of the NYT podcasts without a subscription. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Reality TV producer Efran Films has rebranded as Bright North Studios after Jeff Zucker and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird IMI closed an acquisition of the Toronto-based production banner. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition follows RedBird paying $1.45b to acquire the British TV and film production powerhouse All3Media from Warner Bros. Discovery and Liberty Global. Adding to its global production business, RedBird has named co-founder Morgan Hertzan as CEO of Bright North Studios USA, while Shawn Efran continues as CEO of Bright North Studios Inc. The story.
—Streak continues. Oh Mary! broke the box office record at the Lyceum Theatre for the sixth time last week, with a gross of $1.16m. The show, written by and starring Cole Escola as a reimagined Mary Todd Lincoln, has played to 100 percent capacity almost every week of its run, which began at the end of June. The play also had the highest average paid admission in the industry last week, with an average ticket price of $162.25, edging out shows such as Hamilton, best musical winner The Outsiders and the new play McNeal, starring Robert Downey Jr. The story. |
Murphy Defends 'Monsters' After Menendez Criticism ►Pushing back. Ryan Murphy is defending his Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story after one of its main subjects, Erik Menendez, criticized the project. “I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show,” the co-creator of the Monsters anthology said in an interview on Monday. Murphy was speaking while on a New York red carpet for the premiere of another show he’s launching this month, Grotesquerie on FX. “It’s really, really hard, if it’s your life, to see your life up onscreen.” The story.
—Back to Sherwood. MGM+ has ordered a new Robin Hood drama to be showrun by John Glenn and directed, written and produced by Jonathan English. The reimagined series about the classic outlaw hero is also set to feature a love story between Robin Hood and Marian. The show comes from Lionsgate Television and will be executive produced by Todd Liebermann from Hidden Pictures. Robin Hood will start production in Serbia at PFI Studios in early 2025, before a debut on MGM+ later next year. The story.
—New host bump. Ryan Seacrest's first week as host of Wheel of Fortune pulled in a lot of curious viewers — who then seemed to stick around past his debut episode. Seacrest took over as host of the syndicated game show following Pat Sajak’s retirement at the end of the 2023-24 season after four decades fronting the show. (Sajak will continue hosting ABC’s primetime Celebrity Wheel of Fortune for the 2024-25 season.) The season premiere on Sept. 9 drew 9.63m viewers, according to Nielsen, the biggest audience for a Wheel season opener since 2015 and within shouting distance of the 11m people who watched Sajak’s last show. The story. |
How 'Anora' Got Sex Work Right ►"There have been quite a few sex workers who have reached out to say, 'You got this right.'" THR's Seija Rankin spoke to Anora producers Alex Coco and Samantha Quan. The duo discuss how Sean Baker's Palme d’Or-winner was able to create an intimate and realistic portrait of a community of exotic dancers. The interview.
—🎭 Familiar face 🎭 Veteran character actor John Ortiz, currently seen on Apple TV’s comedic crime drama Bad Monkey, has joined the cast of Nobody 2, the sequel to the 2021 surprise hit produced by 87North. Bob Odenkirk is reprising his role as a mild-mannered family man who is secretly a former government assassin. The call sheet also includes Connie Nielsen, Sharon Stone, Christopher Lloyd and Colin Hanks. Indonesian filmmaker Timo Tjahjanto, known for his horror and action fare such as May the Devil Take You, is directing the feature that is currently in production in Winnipeg. The story.
—🎭 Baddie in place 🎭 Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts has nabbed the plum villain role in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which Craig Gillespie is directing for DC Studios. The feature is inspired by the Tom King and Bilquis Evely comic and will depart from the earnest take on the character audiences may know from the CW Supergirl series. House of the Dragon star Milly Alcock is toplining the superhero feature as Kara Zor-El, the cousin of Superman. The story. |
Oscars: More Countries Make Selection As Deadline Looms ►In it to win it, innit. The U.K. has selected Santosh, an Indian police procedural from director Sandhya Suri, to represent the country in the 2025 Oscars in the best international feature category. Shahana Goswami stars as the titular Santosh, a driven young Hindu widow who inherits her husband’s job as a police constable thanks to a government scheme, but finds herself caught up in institutional corruption. Santosh premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section this year, where it was quickly snatched up for North America by Metrograph Pictures. The story.
—Saddling up. Argentina is backing Luis Ortega’s equestrian-themed surreal comedy-thriller Kill the Jockey for the best international feature category. The film, which premiered in Venice, features BPM star Nahuel Pérez Biscayart as Remo Manfredini, a troubled jockey who begins to question his masculine identity shifts after a serious accident on the track. Argentina has been nominated eight times for the best international feature Academy Award — most recently for Santiago Mitre’s political drama Argentina, 1985 in 2022 — and has won the Oscar twice. The story.
—For your Peru-sal. Switzerland has picked Reinas, a Peruvian family drama from Swiss-Peruvian filmmaker Klaudia Reynicke, as its entry for the best international feature category. The film is set during a summer in Lima in 1992 as a father tries to reconnect to his two daughters against the tumultuous political backdrop of a country in crisis. Reinas premiered in Sundance and screened at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix for best film from the Generation Kplus international jury. The story.
—Vrejj's story. Jordan has picked My Sweet Land, a documentary by director Sareen Hairabedian, for the best international feature film category. The film follows Vrej, an 11-year-old boy who dreams of becoming a dentist. But Vrejj lives in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, the area at the center of a decades-long ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. When violence again erupts, Vrej and his family have to flee. They return to find their home, and Vrej’s dreams of a normal life, in ruins. To date, Jordan has only one single Oscar nomination to its credit, namely for Naji Abu Nowar’s Theeb in 2015. The story. |
Film Review: 'Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness' ►"More sketch than portrait." THR's Leslie Felperin reviews Johnny Depp's San Sebastián competition entry, Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness. The drama, starring Al Pacino, Riccardo Scamarcio, Antonia Desplat, Bruno Gouery, Ryan McParland and Stephen Graham, chronicles three chaotic days in the life of Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani. The review.
—"A sleepy start." THR's Angie Han reviews Fox's Murder in a Small Town. Based on the books by L.R. Wright, the series follows a police chief solving deadly cases and romancing the local librarian in a sleepy village in the Pacific Northwest. The review.
In other news...
—Wizards Beyond Waverly Place trailer: The Russo family mentors a new generation
—Cate Blanchett’s past comes to haunt her in gripping Disclaimer trailer
—Aldis Hodge hunts twisted serial killer in Cross trailer
—Tokyo Film Festival unveils lineup
—Shogun's Tadanobu Asano to receive THR Japan honor at Tokyo Film Festival
—WGA West re-elects strike-era incumbents to board of directors
—Cat Glover, singer and dancer who worked with Prince, dies at 60
What else we're reading...
—Danny Chau looks at what Adrian Wojnarowski's retirement from the scoops game means for the NBA going forward [Ringer]
—Paul Farhi tries to explain why news outlets are sitting on the hacked Trump documents [Vanity Fair]
—Ben Sisario reports that Sean Combs' arrest has the music world wondering if their #MeToo reckoning is finally here [NYT]
—Lucas Shaw and Benoit Berthelot report that TikTok is set to shut down its music streaming business in November [Bloomberg]
—Gene Park looks at 7 works to understand the mind-bending world of Hideo Kojima [WaPo]
Today...
...in 1961, 20th Century Fox premiered Paul Newman’s The Hustler in Washington, D.C. The film went on to be nominated for nine Oscars at the 34th Academy Awards, winning in the art direction and cinematography categories. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Catherine Zeta-Jones (🏴55), Michael Douglas (80), Will Smith (56), Mark Hamill (73), Donald Glover (41), Pedro Almodóvar (75), David Benioff (54), Clea DuVall (47), Heather Locklear (63), Tate Donovan (61), Bella Ramsey (21), Bridgette Wilson-Sampras (51), Rossif Sutherland (46), Zach Woods (40), Emmy Clarke (33), Maria Doyle Kennedy (60), Hyun Bin (42), Eréndira Ibarra (39), Joel David Moore (47), Mikael Persbrandt (61), Jason Flemyng (58), Aida Turturro (62), Beth Toussaint (62), Chris Owen (44), Charlotte Ayanna (48), Lee Norris (43), Keely Shaye Brosnan (61), Joy Sunday (28), Mimi Kennedy (76), Anson Williams (75), Antonia Gentry (27), Anita Barone (60), Charlene Amoia (42), Felicity Kendal (78), Melissa De Sousa (57), Jack Bender (75), Jayne Houdyshell (71), Matt Battaglia (59), Jordan Gavaris (35), Hal Sparks (55) |
| Adrian Bailey, the singer, actor and dancer whose long career in Broadway musicals ended when he fell through a trap door and suffered serious injuries before a production of The Little Mermaid, has died. He was 67. The obituary. |
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