Innholdsfortegnelse for Wednesday, January 17, 2018 i The Hollywood Reporter

In the late 2000s, I was sexually assaulted by Paul Haggis at work. “I need to be inside you,” he said as he came at me. I felt my life could have been over, as this man who was my father’s age forcibly grabbed me and tried to kiss me against my will. Fortunately, I escaped. I told friends and family about the attack. But I never planned to tell my story publicly. A few weeks ago, I changed my mind. I told the Associated Press my story of workplace assault at the hands of Haggis — and I did so anonymously. Since publication of that Jan. 5 piece, Haggis, an Oscar-winning screenwriter, has shamelessly used his powerful voice to attempt to discredit me and his other accusers, insinuating we…

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM In the Fade, Germany As the Academy’s complex process of winnowing down its shortlist of nine features to just five nominees was taking place, Germany’s entry, starring Diane Kruger and directed by Fatih Akin, finished strong, winning both the Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice awards. Felicite, Senegal This story of a single mom and nightclub singer, played by Vero Tshanda Beya, in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, won the top honor, the FIPRESCI Prize for best foreign-language film, at the just-concluded 29th Palm Springs International Film Festival. DIRECTOR Joe Wright, Darkest Hour His Churchillian drama was among the nominees for best film when the BAFTA Awards noms were announced Jan. 8, but Wright (right) wasn’t nominated in the directing category and also failed to…

John David Washington was 5 when he first saw his dad, Denzel, onstage in Richard III in New York’s Shakespeare in the Park. “I was like, ‘I want to do that,’” recalls the Studio City native, 33. Following that Central Park summer came Philadelphia, Malcolm X, Training Day — and a slew of awards speeches, all of which gave the young Washington pause “because of that nepotism factor.” A star running back at North Hollywood’s Campbell Hall, he instead set his sights on the NFL, and after graduating from Morehouse in Atlanta, he made it to the then-St. Louis Rams as an undrafted free agent before he was eventually cut. He bounced around the European and the now-shuttered United Football leagues until a torn Achilles tendon sidelined him for good…

“By all indications, [it] was completely consensual.”AZIZ ANSARI The Master of None star, responding to claims from a woman he took on a date in 2017 that he had “ignored clear non-verbal cues” to stop during a sexual encounter. “Everything did seem OK to me,” he added, “so when I heard that it was not the case for her, I was surprised and concerned.” “Some of us want to be shamed!”MEGYN KELLY The NBC host, telling guest Maria “Fit Mom” Kang that she used to ask her stepfather to fat-shame her. Kelly later clarified that body-shaming others is “something I absolutely do not support.” “I’m sorry you were inconvenienced. We will try to move out our dead quicker.”ROB LOWE The Montecito-based actor, slamming actress Bella Thorne on Instagram for having…

The night before the Globes, Milo Ventimiglia had dinner at Katsuya in Brentwood. Adam Sandler also was in. … Producer Paula Wagner, Bella Hadid and Tiffany Trump shared the room at The Polo Lounge. … David Benioff and D.B. Weiss lunched at Pizzeria Mozza. … Nicole Richie checked out Marvin. … David Duchovny stopped by A Votre Sante. … Greer Grammer and Lyndon Smith were at Ivory on Sunset. … Dionne Warwick was at Mr Chow. On a different day, Alan Gasmer rubbed elbows with Carolyn Newman. WME’s Sean Perry sat nearby. HOT NEW RESTAURANT Tuck The Quick Pitch Ebullient Argentinian chef-impresario Juan Pablo Torre is quietly operating this loosely Spanish, decidedly modernist downtown L.A. dining room that boasts a sharp craft cocktail list. Jamon iberico and other conservas (tuna…

When it comes to gaining insight on what movies play well in indie-owned movie theaters, Bleecker Street CEO Andrew Karpen need look no further than his wife of 25 years, Pam Karpen. “She actually owns a fourscreen movie theater in Bethel, Connecticut. And yes, she plays Bleecker Street films,” he says with a laugh. “And no, I am not involved in any of the negotiations on what the terms are.” Still, the intel on what drives increasingly distracted audiences out to a theater comes in handy when the former Focus Features co-CEO is looking to buy a film at a market like the upcoming Sundance Film Festival. This year marks Bleecker Street’s fourth year in Park City and the first that all three of his avid skier children — two…

Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell and writer-director Martin McDonagh have all collected Golden Globes for their work on Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, but if it were not for film editor John Gregory, himself recently nominated for an American Cinema Editors Eddie award, that might not have been the case. For as Gregory and McDonagh cut the film, they realized that McDormand’s Mildred, who uses billboards to urge police to solve the case of her daughter’s rape and murder, could come across as an off-putting, even alienating character. And so, in a key decision, they decided to move a flashback of Mildred’s final conversation with her daughter, which ends in an ugly argument, to an earlier point in the story. In so doing, they quickly realized that their decision changed the…

When Meryl Streep and Kristen Wiig buy similar homes within blocks of each other in the span of a week, the question inevitably arises: What hot new enclave is drawing Hollywood now? Here, the neighborhood in question — Pasadena — may be hot, but it’s the opposite of new. The grande dame of L.A. suburbs and the region’s de facto intellectual capital (home to Caltech, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a half-dozen major cultural institutions), Pasadena and its storied mid-century and post-and-beam homes have welcomed a steady stream of stars and execs. “I have certainly seen an uptick in entertainment industry people coming here from all levels — costume designers, actors and producers. There are people that I would never expect to be calling me,” says agent Matthew Berkley of…

+ On Jan. 7, Debra Messing stood before E! cameras and slammed the network’s executives for, as she put it, “[not] paying their female co-hosts the same as male co-hosts.” The swipe followed Catt Sadler’s December departure, which, the former host wrote in a now-viral blog post, came after E! wouldn’t pay her what Jason Kennedy was making. “So,” Messing continued, on-message in her black gown, “we stand with [Catt].” And just like that, Sadler’s situation got swept up in the #MeToo movement, with prominent actresses from Eva Longoria to Sarah Jessica Parker actively piling on. A deluge of news reports followed, with headlines blasting E! as the latest perpetrator of overt gender disparity — a position corporate sibling NBC found itself in days before when stories surfaced that Hoda…

+ The gender pay gap is expected to close by 2059 (according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research). In the meantime, here are three tactics to secure a better deal for your next job: DON’T PLAY CATCH-UP Your starting salary can create ripple effects throughout the rest of your tenure at a company. It may be tempting to wait for a few years of experience (and courage) before negotiating for a raise, but “the difference in starting pay has an enormous effect on pay disparity,” says employment lawyer Ann Fromholz, because bonuses or future increases are typically calculated as a percentage of current salary. “The gap becomes wider and wider as years go by. It’s important for women to negotiate what they’re worth at the outset.” BE WILLING TO…

Assassination Nation WME DIRECTOR Sam Levinson BUZZ “Polarizing.” “Fucked up.” Just a couple of the phrases buyers are using to describe Levinson’s script. The official logline calls it “a thousand percent true story about how the quiet, all-American town of Salem absolutely lost its mind.” Curiosity surrounding this film from the son of Barry Levinson is off the charts. The Catcher Was a Spy UTA DIRECTOR Ben Lewin BUZZ Considered perhaps the most commercial film available (it originally was poised to debut at Toronto), the Paul Rudd starrer chronicles the true story of Moe Berg, a major leaguer who lived a double life working for CIA precursor the OSS during World War II. Guy Pearce, Jeff Daniels and Paul Giamatti also star. Colette CAA/WME DIRECTOR Wash Westmoreland BUZZ This depiction…

after an estimated 7,000 people swept down Park City’s main drag during 2017’s Women’s March on Main, this year’s Jan. 20 event — on the first anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration — will be a stationary Respect Rally. “We wanted to be thoughtful of what was already happening in such a small town,” says organizer Cynthia Levine. “It was an incredible event last year that made Park City history, so we wanted to leave it as just that and do something different.” The rally will take place at City Park in North Park City, with an hourlong program of speakers including local activists and entertainment industry figures (Chelsea Handler and Jessica Williams issued memorable calls to action at the 2017 event). The rally will address issues from the environment to…

It wasn't until December that SAG-AFTRA announced that the 24th annual SAG Awards, taking place Jan. 21 at the Shrine Auditorium and airing live on TNT and TBS, will feature a lineup of all-women presenters — including Halle Berry, Dakota Fanning, Lupita Nyong’o, Emma Stone and Star Wars: The Last Jedi breakout Kelly Marie Tran. On the heels of weeks of sexual misconduct scandals that have rocked Hollywood, it seemed a timely choice, but in fact it’s a plan that had been in the works for more than a year, says SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris. “We work so hard on creating economic and creative equity,” she explains. “We’re celebrating all of our actors but are really looking to highlight and celebrate the women and the great work they’re doing.” Indeed,…

Data Compiled By Source: The week’s most active and talked-about entertainers on leading social networking sites Facebook, Google Plus, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube for the week ending Jan. 10. Rankings are based on a formula blending weekly additions of fans as well as cumulative weekly reactions and conversations, as tracked by MVP Index.…

AVA DUVERNAY The filmmaker behind Selma and the upcoming A Wrinkle in Time will be honored with the PGA’s Visionary Award. RYAN MURPHY The prolific TV force behind American Crime Story and Feud will receive the Norman Lear Achievement Award. CHARLES ROVEN The David O. Selznick Achievement honor will go to the veteran producer, whose work includes Wonder Woman. GET OUT The Stanley Kramer Award, focused on a project that raises social issues, will go to Jordan Peele’s racial satire.…

Over the years, casting director Victoria Thomas has helped a slew of auteur filmmakers, including Kathryn Bigelow (Detroit), Denzel Washington (Fences), Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands) and Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), find just the right actor to bring their stories to life. The Los Angeles native, who first found her love of casting while studying film at UCLA, will be honored with the Hoyt Bowers Award for outstanding contribution to the casting profession at the Casting Society of America’s 33rd annual Artios Awards, held Jan. 18 with simultaneous events in New York and L.A. Would you say your job has gotten easier or harder with the way the business has changed over the years? Easier on a process level because of email — not having to wait for actors to pick…

Film Rock Steady How Jumanji could save a flailing movie producer p. 14 Television Big Little Payday The Apple effect on HBO star salaries p. 16 Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell The Endeavor leaders are in talks for Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to buy a stake in WME’s parent company for a reported $500 million-plus. Luc Besson The EuropaCorp founder lays off 22 staffers in the wake of the megaflop Valerian as his TV division is sold to French conglomerate Mediawan. Tiffany Haddish The Girls Trip breakout books a Super Bowl commercial as the new face of Groupon, then her film nabs best picture at the NAACP Image Awards, where she snags two wins. Joel Kramer The famed stunt coordinator is accused of molesting a 12-year-old Eliza Dushku on…

Adigital imaging startup is in talks with several Hollywood studios to offer a visual effects solution: faster 3D facial scans of actors. The Newport Beach, Californiabased company, Ovio, originally designed the tech for plastic surgeons and has now partnered with 20th Century Fox president of postproduction Ted Gagliano, an adviser and investor in the company. “Hollywood has been scanning actors for a variety of reasons, primarily in visual effects, where a digital double or other such use is needed,” says Gagliano, adding that he views Ovio as a more flexible way to get an “accurate source file” for uses such as creating avatars for costume designers or virtual and augmented reality production. While 3D scanning an actor’s face is common in Hollywood, systems vary in terms of how they work…

Fashion Showdown “I think that [Donatella Versace] really loves Penelope [Cruz] and knows that Penelope would never do anything to represent her in a negative light,” series creator Ryan Murphy (8) said at the ArcLight Hollywood premiere of his latest American Crime Story installment for FX. Murphy revealed to THR that, though he understands the Versaces are wary of the project (the family issued a Jan. 8 statement calling the series “fiction”), “Donatella Versace sent Penelope Cruz (9) a very large arrangement of flowers.” Following the packed screening, guests boarded buses to the Hollywood Palladium, which was transformed into an opulent Miami Beach party with themed cocktails and dinner, decadent desserts and a runway with glitter-covered mermen and Versace swimsuit-clad models.…

↑ Armie Hammer, Nicholas Hoult, Garrett Hedlund and Jason Mitchell keeping warm at Sundance.…

+ To play Brad Pitt’s mother in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Taraji P. Henson was paid in the low-six figures and had to cover her own lodging. “The math really is pretty simple: There are way more talented black actresses than there are intelligent, meaningful roles for them,” she wrote in her 2016 memoir, Around the Way Girl. “This is exactly how a studio can get away with paying [the third lead] less than 2 percent what it’s paying the person … listed first [on the call sheet].” The institutional obstacles that contribute to the gender pay gap are compounded for women of color, who experience even fewer significant opportunities than white women. Less experience means lower pay, which means a lower quote — a vicious cycle. Perceptions…

+ Under a Jan. 1 California law intended as a step toward closing the gender pay gap, an employer can no longer ask for salary history from a potential hire. Female execs seeking to make a move seem the most likely to benefit. If a lower starting salary and fewer raises than male counterparts have deflated a woman’s earnings, the law offers a clean slate on which she can negotiate. “It might mean that somebody wanting to hire an executive is going to be willing to pay what they think she is worth,” not simply what she’s been paid, says attorney Linda Lichter, who reps both talent and execs. But the effect on female talent isn’t so easy to predict. “The first step to cutting a deal was to call…

having five films at Sundance over the course of a career would be impressive. Try five in one year. That’s what Ann Dowd can boast after the 2018 fest wraps, with the Handmaid’s Tale Emmy winner appearing in a quintet of world premieres, all shot in the past 11 months — from horror (Ari Aster’s Hereditary) to crime thriller (Bart Layton’s American Animals) to drama (Silas Howard’s A Kid Like Jake, Christina Choe’s Nancy, Sebastian Silva’s Tyrel). “I have a wonderful manager and agent, Marsha McManus and Gary Gersh, who were so generous in trying to work the schedules because if that were up to me, I would just — I couldn’t. I couldn’t manage it, shooting in Utah and upstate New York and North Carolina. I don’t even know…

I I knew of Morgan Freeman before I met him. I was a big fan of The Electric Company and I knew him from Street Smart and a couple of other movies, so I was a big fan of his. When we met in person, I was immediately struck by his warmth, his serenity, his calm. I came to really love him not only as a partner in doing Shawshank Redemption but also as a friend. There are different types of actors. There are actors who demand attention and focus, who can be really exhausting to work with. With Morgan, his generosity and the giving that he approaches the work with not only make you a better actor but also make it so much easier to be on a set.…

No one may be smiling more broadly at the smashing commercial success of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle than Frederick “Ted” Field, whose notable personal financial troubles might be reversed by a movie that already has grossed more than $670 million worldwide. Field became an executive producer on Sony’s holiday reboot after acquiring film rights to the 1981 fantasy book by Chris Van Allsburg (he also exec produced the 1995 Robin Williams film version). Field is the great-great-grandson and heir of Marshall Field, who began a department store empire that once was one of the biggest in the country. In 1990, along with Jimmy Iovine, Ted Field co-founded Interscope Records, whose artists included Dr. Dre, Nine Inch Nails and U2. After selling the record company, he went into film producing…

One to Watch 92% Jedi ‘s China decrease in Week 2 Star Wars: The Last Jedi suffered one of the worst second-weekend declines the Chinese box office has ever seen. The film’s debut of $28.7 million already was viewed as disappointing, but its 92 percent plummet to $2.4 million in weekend two was alarming. “Last Jedi has already been pulled from cinemas here,” says Jimmy Wu, chairman of Chinese cinema chain Lumiere Pavilions. “It’s performed much worse than we … expected.” Despite a promo push, the Disney/ Lucasfilm tentpole may finish in China with less than $50 million, below recent imports like Valerian ($62 million) and Geostorm ($65.6 million). While it was North America’s top movie of 2017 with $595 million and counting, its global total is now $1.27 billion, well…

Orphan Monster Spy (VIKING FOR YOUNG READERS, MARCH 20) BY Matt Killeen AGENCY Paradigm Think Inglourious Basterds meets Mean Girls: A half-Jewish Aryanlooking orphan infiltrates a school for the children of Nazi elites to stop the development of the atomic bomb in this YA debut with strong word-of-mouth buzz. Most Dangerous Man in America (TWELVE, JAN. 9) BY Bill Minutaglio/Steven L. Davis AGENCY Anonymous Oscar bait for an actor: Ex-Harvard professor Timothy Leary, famous for his LSD experiments, was six months into a 10-year sentence for having two joints when the Weather Underground helped him escape and Nixon obsessed over the manhunt.…

Sharper Image The 49th NAACP Image Awards kicked off the night before the live show with a dinner at the Pasadena Conference Center, where Morgan Freeman, Kareem Abdul- Jabbar and Mary J. Blige were among the luminaries on hand for the presentation of nearly 50 awards, including top youth performance for Stranger Things’ Caleb McLaughlin (7). “It’s something to get accolades and acknowledgements in this industry,” supporting actress nominee Samira Wiley (2) told THR. “But to be able to receive that from my own community is just beyond.” Character voiceover nominee Yvette Nicole Brown saw the evening as an opportunity to celebrate black creators: “When Insecure, Atlanta and Queen Sugar don’t just have black showrunners [but] also have black directors, black directors of photography [and] black writers ... you get…

Dolores O’Riordan of The Cranberries had been in London to work with the L.A. hard rock band Bad Wolves. She had heard their rendition of “Zombie” and was going to add her vocals to their track. That never happened. O’Riordan died suddenly Jan. 15 (the cause of death was unknown). “My first time hearing her voice was unforgettable,” Hozier, like O’Riordan from Ireland, wrote on Twitter. “I’d never heard somebody use their instrument in that way.”…

Even as James Franco was accepting his best comedy actor Golden Globe on Jan. 7 for his performance as oddball film director Tommy Wiseau in The Disaster Artist, the fallout began. Several women tweeted, accusing him of sexually exploitative behavior, which then was detailed in a Jan. 11 Los Angeles Times story. While Franco disputed their claims, he told Stephen Colbert, “I completely support people coming out and being able to have a voice,” adding, “If there’s restitution to be made, I will make it.” While Ashley Judd, in an interview with the BBC, said, “I think what James said was terrific,” not everyone agreed. In a Jan. 14 L.A. Times follow-up about how the controversy could affect Franco’s chances of scoring an Oscar nom, one actress who had voted…

Ruth Carter has created costumes for Do the Right Thing, Amistad, Malcolm X, Selma and many more films, but nothing prepared her for the scope of Walt Disney’s Black Panther, directed by Ryan Coogler. For the super-stylish superhero film opening Feb. 12, she imagined a new African diaspora with 700 costumes fusing futurism, indigenous dress and high fashion, drawing on sources from the Rose Bowl Flea Market to textile dealers in Accra, Ghana. The film brings to life Marvel’s first black superhero — Black Panther, or T’Challa — created in 1966. Played by Chadwick Boseman, he rules over the fantastical African country of Wakanda, which is rich with vibranium — a mythic metal that comprises Captain America’s shield, is woven into the Black Panther’s suit and has positioned the nation…

Ari Aster HEREDITARY WHY HIM The snowbound horror film starring Toni Collette and Gabriel Byrne could cement the 31-year-old director as the next genre rising star in the same vein as The Witch’s Robert Eggers. The AFI grad previously helmed a visceral 30-minute short, The Strange Thing About the Johnsons, that became a viral sensation in 2017, five years after its creation. Dominique Fishback NIGHT COMES ON WHY HER Recently seen on HBO’s The Deuce, the Brooklyn native plays a young woman who gets out of juvenile detention and must face her past. The NEXT section feature is a leading-role stepping-stone for the 26-year-old actress who has proven her versatility with parts in FX’s The Americans, Showtime’s The Affair and upcoming YA film The Hate U Give. Augustine Frizzell NEVER…

What might surprise people about Morgan Freeman? I come from the tech industry, so I call him WYSIWG: What you see is what you get. It’s a computer term, but it’s exactly who Morgan is. Sometimes, when you meet an actor, you don’t know if they’re acting or that’s them. Morgan is just who he is. How did you decide on the mission for your company? We’re committed to stories that haven’t been told or haven’t been told from a particular point of view. And Morgan is extremely loyal, not only with his team but with projects. We’ve had projects on our slate for 20 years that we’ve gotten calls about in the last year, saying, “Do you have this project about Bass Reeves?” [Reeves was the first black U.S.…

Awards Season Universal Pictures chairman Donna Langley has steered the studio ship during a tumultuous time for the film industry, with hits including Jordan Peele’s Get Out (which grossed $254 million against a $4.5 million production budget) and Girls Trip, which was one of the few comedies that clicked in 2017, earning $139 million against a $19 million budget. And The Fate of the Furious — the eighth installment in the franchise — was the year’s No. 3 film at the global box office ($1.236 billion). Langley, 49, who is involved in the new Time’s Up initiative, is one of only two women currently running a Hollywood film studio, a gig she’s held since 2013. Ahead of being honored with the Producers Guild of America’s Milestone Award, she spoke about…