Innholdsfortegnelse for Oct-23-15 i The Hollywood Reporter

STILL TALLYING ITS STAGGERING LOSS ON Pan, Warner Bros. is said to be facing an unusual challenge on its next mega-budgeted fantasy reboot: Tarzan. With the film still needing considerable work before its July 1 release date, director David Yates has started shooting his next Warners project, J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Warners sources say the move from Tarzan to Beasts always was planned. “While it’s somewhat unusual, we are extremely comfortable with the production timelines, which were set in advance, and have total confidence in the skill of David Yates — who is a four-time Harry Potter director — to deliver both of these pictures,” says a Warners studio executive. But one source involved with the project is concerned that Tarzan, with a budget of…

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL IS GOING SCRIPTED. The league is developing a miniseries about Babe Ruth with Allen Coulter attached as director and executive producer, sources tell THR. MLB regularly has advised on baseball-centric Hollywood films, including 42, Moneyball, Million Dollar Arm and Clint Eastwood’s Trouble With the Curve, but the Ruth mini is the first scripted project generated internally. Executives are looking to Coulter (The Sopranos, Terence Winter and Martin Scorsese’s upcoming HBO rock drama Vinyl) to round out the dramatic scope of Ruth’s biography — including his lavish personal life and little-known details — in a way that also will appeal to non-sports fans. Although he has been depicted multiple times, from 1948’s The Babe Ruth Story to 1992’s The Babe (with John Goodman as the famed Yankees slugger), the…

WHEN LONGTIME FOX distribution executive Mike Hopkins took over as Hulu CEO in 2013, the first question employees asked was: “When are you building yourself an office?” Hopkins was the suit hired at the startup-like Hulu to replace firebrand founding CEO Jason Kilar, who departed after clashing with corporate owners 21st Century Fox, Disney and NBCUniversal. But Hopkins, 46, has avoided the executive suite and adopted a standing desk amid his 940 employees (though he does have a small conference room for private meetings). A UCLA business school grad who spent two years on the Hulu board before joining full time, Hopkins is charting the next chapter for the streamer, which has trailed Netflix and Amazon Prime both in subscribers and prestige. Still, Hulu earned $1 billion in revenue in…

BY LAST WINTER, WHEN Emmy-nominated cinematographer Joia Speciale flew to San Antonio to meet the woman who would give birth to her daughter, she had been trying to become a parent for a decade. She’d done IVF. She’d attended a seminar about foster adoption. She’d turned to international adoption, but weeks before she was to meet a 16-month-old girl in an Uzbekistan orphanage, that country banned U.S. adoptions. “That child disappeared,” says Speciale. “It took me months to recover from that.” She hired David Ellis, a lawyer whose Brentwood firm, Adoptions First, has worked with The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, Jeffrey Tambor and Howie Mandel. Ellis found a 20-year-old Texas woman who already had two children and was seven months pregnant. “She seemed very certain,” says Speciale. “She was really…

Marti Noxon Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce (Bravo), UnREAL (Lifetime) Photographed by Amanda Friedman on Sept. 30 at Noxon’s home in Studio City (with her dog Marley) WHEN I’M IN WRITING MODE, I BASICALLY hole up in my bedroom. So this room was purposefully designed for how I write, with the bed facing the window so I can look at something pretty. I do prefer to be on the bed. I can be on there for eight to 10 hours, and I’ll only know because my back starts to hurt. For a long time, I would self-edit and make changes while I was writing. Now it flows kind of fast, and then, afterwards, I evaluate. I think that probably just comes with how many hours I’ve put in. At a certain…

“Playing an extra in a pilot called I Gave at the Office, in which [my character] was molested in an elevator.” Christopher Lloyd, Modern Family “As a production assistant: having to walk the producer’s dog; having to get coffee for the crew at 2 a.m. in a pre-Starbucks world; having to hose blood off the sidewalk in front of the Park Plaza Hotel before shooting.” Jenji Kohan, Orange Is the New Black “Directing. Not joking. It’s utterly exhausting.” Jay and Mark Duplass, Togetherness “Driving my 1979 Chevrolet Impala all over L.A. delivering scripts for a movie-of-the-week production company. But I met Jennie Garth.” Damon Lindelof, The Leftovers “This morning I picked up a dead cockroach from my office floor, and it turned out to be very much alive. Not too…

Robert Carlock and Tina Fey Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix) The 30 Rock duo, 43 and 45, skirted an abbreviated life on broadcast when Universal Television placed Kimmy Schmidt at Netflix, where it became a pop-culture phenom and boasted more Emmy noms — eight — than the streamer’s favored darling Orange Is the New Black. Current showrunner role model Carlock “Whoever has a hiatus week right now. I’d like to be like that person.” Silliest network fight Carlock “There’s a fake dirty word that Tina invented at SNL, which we were not allowed to use on 30 Rock because someone had made up a fake definition and put it on Urban Dictionary.” Lena Dunham, Jenni Konner and Judd Apatow Girls (HBO) Girls remains a cultural heavyweight for HBO — extending its…

GUILLERMO DEL TORO TRIES his elegant best to shake the cobwebs from a musty genre but still ends up telling a traditional and predictable haunted house yarn in his new film, Crimson Peak. The gifted fantasy/sci-fi/horror specialist has made a movie that’s bloody, and bloody stylish, one that’s certainly unequaled in its field for the beauty of its camerawork, sets, costumes and effects. But it’s also conventionally plotted and not surprising or scary, as it resurrects hoary horror tropes in routine, rather than fresh or subversive, ways. It’s a thousand times more elaborate than the most recent demented domicile tale of note, last year’s The Babadook, but not an ounce as disturbing. The screenplay by the director and the veteran scribe Matthew Robbins is informed by the tradition of gothic…

JOE PISCOPO RECALLS the first appearance of a teen named Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live because he was sitting next to him. It was Dec. 6, 1980, and the two were about to launch into a “Sports Guy” bit about whether too many white men were playing in the NBA. Soon, Piscopo and all of America would squirm at Murphy’s visceral comic presence. But in the moment, right before cameras went live, Piscopo tells THR that Murphy, then 19, was whispering to himself, “The kids at Roosevelt High are never going to believe this.” Now, 35 years later, the enduring comic genius of Murphy, 54, will be celebrated Oct. 18, when the Kennedy Center presents him with its Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. An A-list roster — including…

KA-CHING! WHO’S INKING ON THE DOTTED LINE THIS WEEK ANOTHER BIG personality is trying her hand at daytime television. Country superstar Faith Hill is executive producing a syndicated entry to be co-hosted by American Idol alum and fellow country singer Kellie Pickler (CAA). “Kellie possesses the ability to reach far beyond the camera and into the hearts of people, allowing you to feel immediately connected to her,” says Hill (CAA, MFO, Jackoway Tyerman). “There was no question in my mind that she should be a big part of this show.” Also executive produced by The Oprah Winfrey Show veteran Lisa Erspamer and Hill’s manager, Sandbox Entertainment’s Jason Owen, the untitled lifestyle show will cover such topics as cooking, home design, gardening and entertaining. Five to 10 experts from those fields…

“I was that girl.” RIHANNA The singer, reflecting on how she thought she could change former boyfriend Chris Brown, with whom she got back together after he assaulted her in 2009. “Look, man, I know what it’s like to be young and crazy on Twitter.” TREVOR NOAH The Daily Show host, joking about 84-year-old Rupert Murdoch’s tweet: “Ben and Candy Carson terrific. What about a real black President who can properly address the racial divide? And much else.” “It would be weird if I wasn’t talking to these guys.” CHRIS ALBRECHT The Starz CEO, conceding that reports about his pay channel merging with Lionsgate had some truth to them. “Love cannot be lost.” JIM CARREY The actor, tweeting about former girlfriend Cathriona White, who was pronounced dead from suicide on…

Beyonce and Jay Z ate at Pizzeria Mozza, asking the restaurant to turn up the music so adjacent diners couldn’t hear their conversation. … Julia Louis-Dreyfus rendezvoused with Larry David at Maison Giraud. … Skip Brittenham broke bread with David Ellison at The Palm. … Queen Latifah shared a table on the front patio of Magnolia with Meagan Good. … Russell Simmons, Anjelica Huston and Mitch Glazer and Kelly Lynch all were in at the Chateau Marmont at once. … John Travolta had the popcorn shrimp at Barton G. … Michael Cera hit Blair’s. … Adam Sandler took a seat at the Dodgers’ Dugout Club. … Elle Fanning ordered at PizzaRev in Studio City. … Stacey Snider visited Hinoki & the Bird. … Michael De Luca dined with WME’s Megan…

WRITERS ROOMS HAVE been a staple of TV series since the dawn of the medium. And lately, movies are borrowing the practice. As integrated “cinematic universes” become increasingly important to film studios, groups of screenwriters working on the same property have sprung up for everything from Paramount’s Transformers franchise to Disney and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars films and Universal’s monsters universe. However, some writers, representatives and guild members are concerned about the issues that could arise when these films are finished and writers expect to see their names credited. “The idea of a writers room on a theatrical motion picture creates a whole litany of issues with respect to compensation and credits,” warns Lesley Mackey, senior director of credits at the WGA West. Credits on any film with multiple writers already…

ON APRIL 14, KIRSTEN SCHAFFER, THE NEW EXECUTIVE director of Women in Film, and her wife, Linda Kennedy, began fostering — in hope of adopting — a 6-month-old baby girl whose biological mother, says Schaffer carefully, “just doesn’t have the stability to be able to take care of her.” They are part of a growing number of people in the entertainment industry becoming parents via what’s called fostadopt. The process works like this: Children in the foster system have been taken from their biological families, usually because of abuse, incarceration, homelessness or substance abuse. Once in custody of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), they can be placed with a foster family hoping to adopt. Biological parents can be given six months to two years…

Greg Berlanti Arrow, The Flash, Mysteries of Laura, Blindspot, Supergirl (The CW, NBC, CBS) No longer a showrunner in the strictest sense of the word, Berlanti, 43, has amassed a TV catalog unrivaled by even the biggest guns — a formidable six series on the air boast his executive producer credit this season alone. Those include The CW’s golden pairing of Arrow and The Flash, CBS’ big new swing Supergirl and, the latest feather in his cap, NBC’s breakout drama Blindspot. Current showrunner role model “All of the folks I work with. I admire them very much.” Last binge-watch “The Carmichael Show [on NBC]. It is a work of genius.” Carlton Cuse Bates Motel, The Strain (A&E, FX) Since Lost, the writerproducer has been incredibly prolific, executive producing A&E’s mainstay…

In Experimenter (in theaters Oct. 16), you play Stanley Milgram, who did research studies on obedience and authority. Of the directors you’ve worked with, who gave the most orders? Martin Campbell [2011’s Green Lantern]. I enjoyed it. In a big movie like that, you kind of need a general. And the fewest? It’s a tie between Kelly Reichardt [2013’s Night Moves] and Woody Allen [2013’s Blue Jasmine]. Woody Allen is binary; it’s either yes or no. There’s no great or bad — just yes or no. Describe your Experimenter costar Winona Ryder in three words. Obsessive, eccentric, kind. And your Black Mass co-star Johnny Depp? Impossible. Johnny is one of the most artistic people I’ve acted with. I feel like he created his own form of acting. I greatly admire…

Gold Fame Citrus (Riverhead) BY Claire Vaye Watkins AGENCY RWSG Watkins’ debut novel has been building heat with its scarily timely premise: Set in a drought-stricken wasteland that was Los Angeles, a young couple takes in a mysterious child and sets out to escape the scorched, dystopian Southwest. The Orion Plan (Thomas Dunne) BY Mark Alpert AGENCIES APA/Writers House Science meets science fiction in this hotly anticipated February novel from an editor at Scientific American: A lone NASA scientist discovers aliens are using nanotechnology to enslave humans and turn Earth into a colony.…

Kenya Barris and Jonathan Groff Black-ish (ABC) The show has proved to be a solid partner to ABC’s longtime sitcom flagship Modern Family after leading the broadcast diversity wave with creator Barris, 41, and veteran comedy writer Groff, 53, at the lead. Advertisers took notice. After wrapping last season with an average 3.3 rating in the key demo, Black-ish saw the biggest rate increase of any comedy for 2015-16 — jumping a reported 20 percent. Silliest network fight Groff “They’re all silly, really, but the making up is sooo hot.” Strangest writing ritual Barris “Buying a new laptop for every new show I’m on. It gives me a fresh start.” Ilene Chaiken, Lee Daniels and Danny Strong Empire (Fox) What more can be said about the biggest show on broadcast?…

SURE THING “I am embarrassed to admit that Twitter is where I get all my news, gossip and mood updates of my co-workers and friends.” Julie Plec, The Vampire Diaries and The Originals “It’s good to know what my audience immediately thinks, and Twitter is definitely immediate.” Tyler Perry, If Loving You Is Wrong, The Haves and the Have Nots and For Better or Worse “Fox gently nudged me into tweeting about the show. As a person with OCD tendencies, it’s not been the best thing for my sanity.” Will Forte, The Last Man on Earth NOT SO MUCH All social media is tricky for me because people think I’m Jonathan Groff the actor. I know this is disappointing to half of my Facebook friends.” Jonathan Groff, Black-ish I’d [rather]…

On a good day, after I pitched my heart out to a roomful of executives, they would not dismiss my creativity and ask if I had an “Empire-esque” idea to pitch. Why would I pitch Empire? I don’t rap, my father isn’t a rapper and even though my mother did spend time in jail, it wasn’t to serve a 17-year drug sentence. Yes, the Empire effect is real — but it’s not what you might think. The good news: If you’re an established writer of color, you can get a pitch meeting. The bad news: Everyone in Hollywood is looking for the next Empire from every black writer — because I cannot possibly have any other idea or perspective. My creative parameters are limited to the next Scandal, Black-ish or…