Innholdsfortegnelse for Wednesday January 31 2018 i The Hollywood Reporter

Following the Jan. 20 premiere of the Sundance sex abuse drama The Tale, Amazon motion picture head Ted Hope expressed serious interest, dubbing it his favorite film of the festival. The Jennifer Fox-helmed film, seen as an awards-season vehicle for star Laura Dern, also dovetailed with the zeitgeist #MeToo movement, with its narrative centered on how a rape survivor copes. But 24 hours after the film’s debut, Amazon backed off, leaving HBO with one less competitor as it made a $7 million offer and an Emmy campaign pitch for Dern. Likewise, Netflix was one of the finalists for the festival’s biggest catch, Sam Levinson’s Assassination Nation, making an eight-figure offer and hanging in until the final hours of dealmaking. Still, the streaming giant was beaten by upstart Neon and Joe…

Listened to a podcast in the past year? There’s a good chance it’ll be a TV show soon as ABC, Amazon, FX, HBO and more are readying audioinspired projects. On Jan. 28, Bravo joined the club with a two-season, straight-to-series order for the Los Angeles Times’ true-crime breakout, Dirty John. The interest has proved a boon to the fledgling companies that are fueling the explosion. Podcast network Gimlet Media, led by CEO Alex Blumberg and president Matt Lieber, is creating a film and television arm called Gimlet Pictures to capitalize on the momentum. “It’s a signal to the market that we’re here,” says Gimlet Pictures head Chris Giliberti, who will split his time between New York and Los Angeles. The company already has sold three projects: business podcast StartUp is…

TV PILOT SEASON’S NEW THROWBACKS: SITCOMS AND FEMALE-FRONTED REBOOTS Deal of the Week Less than a year after veteran multicamera comedies Last Man Standing, 2 Broke Girls and The Carmichael Show saw cancellations, the format is making a resurgence. With NBC’s Will & Grace revival connecting with viewers (and awards voters) and ABC’s Roseanne still to come, multicam comedy orders already are nearing a seven-year high halfway through the broadcast pilot season as the Big Four look for the next Big Bang Theory. Fourteen of the 19 comedies ordered to pilot or series at press time are multicam, compared with just seven of last year’s 33 comedy pilots. Among this year’s big multicam swings are two straight-to-series pickups: ABC’s Kenya Barris family comedy starring Alec Baldwin and CBS’ recently announced…

Will the M&A brushfire raging through Hollywood soon engulf Lionsgate? Deal chatter grew louder Jan. 24 when the mini-studio’s vice chairman Michael Burns said on CNBC that he’s “very interested” in consolidation. So is the company predator or prey in 2018? So far, Wall Street observers haven’t quite made up their minds. “His point is Lionsgate has preserved its agility — they can be a buyer and seller,” says Macquarie analyst Amy Yong. Still, a large pool of potential suitors circle, led by Verizon, Amazon and Comcast, plus a likely combined version of CBS and Viacom and even the Murdochs’ pared-down 21st Century Fox, looking to rebuild after selling most of itself to The Walt Disney Co. Certainly, Disney’s potential $52.4 billion deal for the Fox assets and AT&T’s $85.4…

The kinetic opening of Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver, with The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s “Bellbottoms” playing on its soundtrack, had to accomplish a lot: quickly introduce the characters; set up the geography of a bank heist and the car chase that follows; and tell the audience exactly what to expect — synchronicity of sound and picture, in service of a musical action film. That it did so successfully is reflected by its Oscar nominations for film editing, sound editing and sound mixing. The sound design starts right at the beginning, at the sight of the Sony logo. “Its ‘ping’ was repitched so it goes into a tinnitus tone [since getaway driver Baby (Ansel Elgort) suffers from tinnitus] that stays constant,” explains supervising sound editor, designer and rerecording mixer Julian Slater,…

It’s easy to see why former Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons fell in love with Il Palazzone estate in Montalcino, Italy, with its stone walls, cypress trees and the rolling hills below. “I went to France, South Africa, Australia, Napa, Italy, but Tuscany was the place that spoke to me,” he says of the vineyard, adding jokingly that it cost him “4 billion lira, or six dollars and forty-eight cents” (about $2 million in 2000, when he purchased it). “My kids used to say, ‘Dad, what do you do? It sounds like all you do all day is have meetings.’ Here, you make a product. It grows in the ground, you harvest and vinify the grapes, make the wine.” Parsons’ 20-acre vineyard — a few hours from Rome and Florence…

Sufjan Stevens doesn’t really do awards shows. The 42-year-old singer-songwriter behind celebrated concept albums like Illinois and Carrie & Lowell has thrived on the periphery of the mainstream for the better part of the past two decades. So a conversation about his first Oscar nomination, for one of three songs he contributed to Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name, quickly devolves into a debate about whether the singer should attend the ceremony. He also offers his take on Tonya Harding’s apparent distaste for his new single about her. Do you know if you’ll be performing “Miracle of Love” at the show? They’ve only asked if I’m going to attend. If I can find something to wear, I will probably attend. Have you given any thought to what you might…

There is going to be an audience for HBO’s new series Here and Now: It’s from creator Alan Ball (True Blood, Six Feet Under), it often plays like This Is Us with more sex, and there’s a possibly paranormal secret in the story. Oh, and the show also takes on, in various ways and to varying degrees, Trump, post-election grief, race, gender, LGBTQ issues, Muslim identity and aging. It’s a pretty big stew of ideas that Ball (who wrote the first two episodes and directed the pilot) is stirring. A lack of ambition clearly is not the problem here. But there indeed are problems in the four hourlong episodes HBO sent for review as the series tries to figure out, without much success, just what show it wants to be.…

Judd Apatow, who has made a career writing and directing (The 40-Year- Old Virgin) and producing (The Big Sick), returned to his stand-up roots this year with the Netflix special The Return, so it’s fitting that he’s combining those loves by hosting this year’s Directors Guild of America Awards (taking the reins from Jane Lynch). Ahead of the Feb. 3 ceremony at The Beverly Hilton, Apatow talked about whether he’ll target Donald Trump in his monologue, his #MeToo advice for his daughters and the movie from this past year that stuck with him most. What made you decide to host the DGA Awards? I just kept bumping into [DGA president] Tommy Schlamme everywhere I went — it seemed destined. I couldn’t escape him. Will your monologue be topical, hitting on…

With the New England Patriots gunning for their sixth Super Bowl and the Philadelphia Eagles looking for their first (after two losses — one to the Pats in 2005, 24-21), it’s a banner year for such Birds fans as Bradley Cooper, Kevin Hart, Savannah Guthrie and Oscar nominee Kobe Bryant. “I might dye my hair green,” says SEAL Team’s David Boreanaz, who plans to share the Feb. 4 game via FaceTime with son Jaden, who’s away at school. Maria Bello, who’ll be watching in L.A. with her son, brother and cousins, is leaving nothing to chance. “The deal is we all have to wear the same gear as we did last week [when the Eagles won the NFC title] and sit in the same exact spots,” she says. “I am…

New York, Jan. 27 Jay Z might have received the Grammy Salute to Industry Icons Award at Clive Davis (6) and the Recording Academy’s annual Pre-Grammy Gala, but the night really belonged to the ladies. Katie Couric (4) kicked off the proceedings at the Sheraton Times Square, introducing the 85-year-old Davis as “the original American idol,” and Gladys Knight (7), Alicia Keysand Jennifer Hudson (5)gave epic performances before a room packed with such luminaries as Quincy Jones (10), Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Martha Stewart, Jerry Seinfeld, Ivana Trump, Katie Holmes, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sting. Knight joined Dear Evan Hansen’s Ben Platt (1)and Hamilton’s Leslie Odom Jr. (3) in a Broadway medley, then went solo with “Stand by Me,” bringing the crowd to its feet. Keys performed piano renditions of…

Births Zac Simmons, a TV literary agent at Paradigm, and Melissa Aouate, Fabrik Entertainment president, welcomed son Sawyer Benjamin Simmons on Jan. 15 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Congrats Mark Gordon was named president and COO of Entertainment One on Jan. 29. Sundance director of programming Trevor Groth joined 30WEST on Jan. 29. Ada Brown was elevated to senior vp U.S. business affairs at Sony Pictures Television on Jan. 22. Veteran Hollywood litigator Larry Stein and his team joined Russ August & Kabat on Jan. 29. Kary McHoul Gatens was named senior vp unscripted and current series programming at Freeform on Jan. 26. Sarah Harden was named CEO of Hello Sunshine on Jan. 26. David George was upped to CEO of ITV America on Jan. 25. Showtime Networks…

Apple is the most dynamic and profitable consumer products company in the world, and Netflix is the most innovative entertainment company. If they got together, the combined entity would be an even bigger juggernaut. The idea of Apple acquiring Netflix has taken on new heat as the former prepares to repatriate up to roughly $245 billion in overseas cash thanks to the new U.S. tax policy. Wall Street has made good arguments for Apple’s rationale for the deal: Apple could get immediate scale in premium video, increase its high-multiple services revenue, become less dependent on the iPhone, reduce its exposure to the mercurial Chinese market and guarantee that Netflix does not fall into the hands of archrivals Google or Amazon. All of these arguments are persuasive. Allow me to offer…

Lenny Kravitz received a commission to design his first Los Angeles residence in the most Hollywood of ways: during a car chase. The multihyphenate (Grammy-winning rocker, hit producer of artists like Madonna, Hunger Games star and 2015 Super Bowl halftime performer with Katy Perry) was on Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills when a BMW M-5 started barrelling after him. The driver “made all kinds of maneuvers to get to me and had his head through the passenger window trying to speak to me while driving,” recalls Kravitz, 52, shaking his head in disbelief. In pursuit was top real estate agent Branden Williams, who — in the process of launching a real estate development firm — had been researching the musician’s design work the night before. “I was heading down…

From the opening clicks of Christopher Nolan’s watch, Dunkirk’s score tells its audience that time is of the essence. For his sixth collaboration with Nolan, German composer Hans Zimmer also felt the pressure of time, scrambling to create a score that matched the intensity of Nolan’s World War II epic. Zimmer, 60, who won an Oscar for The Lion King in 1995, spoke with THR about earning his 11th nomination, Blade Runner 2049’s score snub and why he can’t quite get Dunkirk out of his head. Have you seen Darkest Hour, and do you feel that the films complement each other? Not only do they complement each other, I think it’s an extraordinary bit of zeitgeist. To Europeans, Dunkirk [the World War II siege where Allied soldiers were surrounded on…

BENJ PASEK (“This Is Me,” The Greatest Showman) I’m not scared to be seen / I make no apologies, this is me I can still remember the gnawing anxiety I used to feel being a closeted gay teenager, terrified that the world would never like me if it knew who I really was. I became accustomed to hiding parts of myself, modifying my speech, movement and behavior to cover up what I thought of as ugly and unwanted. I am proud of learning that when we step out of the shadows and show ourselves to the world, we have the ability to be loved exactly as we are. JUSTIN PAUL (“This Is Me,” The Greatest Showman) Another round of bullets hits my skin / Well, fire away ’cause today, I…

Eleven years after Juno, Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman team up a third time for another smart, funny and strange look at pregnancy, motherhood and some less common challenges surrounding them. The movie was the “surprise screening” at the recent Sundance Film Festival. This time, we approach things from the perspective of a mother of three (Charlize Theron, excellent) whose latest child might well be the end of her — if not for the arrival of the eponymous miracle nanny, played by Mackenzie Davis. Packed with more than a couple of possible feminist readings regarding the parenting/career/life question, Tully entertains while unflinchingly affording its characters their share of no-laughing-matter concerns. In the story’s first act, Theron’s Marlo struggles through the last days of pregnancy and then dives into the routine…

Even if you don’t recognize British animator James Baxter by name, you have certainly seen his work. He was the character animator for Belle in the 1991 best picture nominee Beauty and the Beast, for the wise mandrill Rafiki in The Lion King and, more recently, for Hiccup’s mother, Valka, in How to Train Your Dragon 2. His characters have not only become screen classics, but also have found flesh-and-blood life, appearing in Disneyland parades and on the Broadway stage in the musicals that have been spun off from the hit films — something that he admits to finding a bit “surreal.” Says Baxter, “It’s fun to watch live performers doing things based on your animation: ‘Hey, I kind of drew someone doing that gesture and someone is doing it…

To use her own words, 20th Century Fox film chairman-CEO Stacey Snider felt “gut punched” when The Greatest Showman, starring Hugh Jackman as circus impresario P.T. Barnum, limped to an opening $8.8 million during the Dec. 22 to 24 weekend after getting ravaged by many top critics. Despite that, the movie and its soundtrack have become so successful, there are now talks to adapt The Greatest Showmanfor Broadway, says Snider. No other details were forthcoming about a possible stage version, including whether Jackman would be involved. (He’s no stranger to Broadway, having won a Tony in 2004 for The Boy From Oz.) Showman is headed for a $150 million domestic total, on par with La La Land and a multiple of 17. (Titanic’s multiple was 21; a typical multiple for…

Spielberg’s Gracious Gift to the Director Nominees Steven Spielberg’s The Post scored two Oscar nominations Jan. 23, including noms for best picture and best actress for Meryl Streep. Spielberg, however, was not among those named for best director, even though he’d been pegged as a favorite to receive what would have been his seventh nom in the category. (He has won twice: in 1999 for Saving Private Ryan and in 1994 for Schindler’s List.) Still, the veteran filmmaker did not spend any time sulking, instead ensuring that the five who did make the cut — Guillermo del Toro, Jordan Peele, Greta Gerwig, Christopher Nolan and Paul Thomas Anderson — had the accoutrements for a proper celebration: Multiple sources confirm that Spielberg sent champagne and caviar to each nominee. Reps for…

In late 2001, AOL Time Warner was in free fall. Less than two years after Time Warner had taken one of the boldest steps in corporate history, merging with internet giant AOL, the result was a disaster and an implosion. The company’s stock had plummeted from a peak of $104 to a low of $10, wiping out billions of dollars and raising the question of whether it could even survive. Faced with massive losses, the Time Warner executive who’d initiated the merger, Gerald Levin, resigned as CEO in 2002, leaving the remaining board members with the daunting task of finding a new leader who could right their ship, inspire some sort of confidence and chart a course for the future. The man they chose was Richard Parsons. It’s been 16…

Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy about a mother (Frances McDormand) seeking justice for her murdered daughter features a slew of colorful characters, from a closed-minded cop (Sam Rockwell) to a troubled police chief (Woody Harrelson). But Burwell had to focus his score on the themes of the film rather than the characters. “A lot of times, you might attach a musical theme to particular characters or particular story elements, but because of the odd way the characters come and go, and the way their alliances keep shifting, it didn’t really work to play the characters,” says Burwell, who earned his second Oscar nom (he previously was nominated for 2015’s Carol). “The themes are conceptual ones, like death or vengeance or loss, and once I had those in mind, then the score was…

Things are looking up for Mary J. Blige. The queen of hip-hop soul has seen her share of tough times, including the recent dissolution of her marriage to manager Kendu Isaacs, but she’s starting 2018 on a very high note by making history as the first person to receive an acting nomination and a song nomination — for her work on Netflix’s Mudbound — in the same year. Blige, 47, didn’t know she would be contributing the film’s uplifting end-title track “Mighty River” (which she co-wrote with Raphael Saadiq and Taura Stinson) until after the film was completed, but long before that she knew she wanted the job: “I couldn’t wait for them to come ask me to sing the end-title song. It was like I was just laying in…

The 33rd Santa Barbara International Film Festival comes on the heels of the devastating mudslides that hit neighboring Montecito on Jan. 9. While Highway 101 didn’t reopen until Jan. 21, the festival’s executive director, Roger Durling, chose to push ahead with the annual event — “It is needed now more than ever,” he wrote in an open letter — with each day highlighting a different charity involved in recovery. The fest, which features 23 world premieres, opens Jan. 31 with the public, directed by Emilio Estevez, who also stars along with Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater and Jeffrey Wright. The oldest of Martin and Janet Sheen’s four children, Estevez got his big break in 1983’s The Outsiders, then followed it up with a string of modern classics, from cult-favorite Repo Man…

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was Walt Disney’s masterpiece. It’s as simple as that. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, the theme parks, the TV behemoth and, now, Star Wars and Marvel movies — all of it pales in comparison to the artistic achievement of his 1937 animated film. Sergei Eisenstein, the Soviet director of Battleship Potemkin (and a friend of Disney’s), called it “the greatest film ever made.” Dutch abstract painter Piet Mondrian marveled at its production technique. THR said Disney, then 36, “has carved for himself a permanent niche in the motion picture hall of fame.” Besides being an artistic success, the $1.5 million production ($25 million today) raked in a ton of money. It followed its December 1937 premiere with a Feb. 4, 1938, nationwide release, and then…