Innholdsfortegnelse for Wednesday October 3 2018 i The Hollywood Reporter

On Sept. 18, Katie McGrath, co-CEO of the production company Bad Robot and wife of J.J. Abrams, placed an urgent call to CAA president Richard Lovett. McGrath, a vocal member of Time’s Up, the Hollywood-backed women’s legal defense fund launched in the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct scandal, had troubling news: At the Governors Ball after the Emmy Awards the night before, top CAA television agent Adam Berkowitz allegedly had groped Bad Robot TV head Ben Stephenson. As some of CAA’s top earners, Bad Robot and its principals hold considerable sway. An investigation immediately was launched and six days later, Lovett joined CAA’s Bryan Lourd, Joe Cohen and Steven Lafferty in terminating Berkowitz, who repped such high-earning clients as Beau Willimon, Doug Ellin and Kenya Barris. (A rep…

A new California law requiring women on corporate boards could have a scattershot effect on entertainment companies: A few already are in compliance with the new mandates, others are not — and many of the largest are based elsewhere, beyond the reach of the new law. The #MeToo-era legislation sponsored by State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson requires any public company headquartered in California to have at least one woman on its board of directors by the end of 2019. Two years later, the requirement gets tougher: three female directors if the board size is six or more; two for boards of five; and one for smaller boards. Violations result in fines of as much as $300,000 per year. Norway, France and Germany have similar laws. Already compliant are such California-based companies…

FILM Ansel Elgort (CAA, Brookside, Morris Yorn) will star as Tony in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake. Black Panther breakout Winston Duke (CAA, Hansen Jacobson) will star in action thriller Heroine for Paramount Players. Malcolm D. Lee (Paradigm, Del Shaw) is attached to direct hip-hop comedy Real Talk at Universal. Mary Elizabeth Winstead (WME, Jackoway Tyerman) and Jurnee Smollett-Bell (ICM, Management 360, Del Shaw) will join Margot Robbie in Warner Bros.’ Birds of Prey. James Wan (Paradigm, Stacey Testro, Myman Greenspan) will produce New Line’s remake of Korean zombie movie Train to Busan from writer Gary Dauberman. Ryan Reynolds (WME, Sloane Offer) and Shawn Levy (WME, Ziffren Brittenham) are teaming for sci-fi action comedy Free Guy at Fox. TELEVISION Former House of Cards co-showrunner Frank Pugliese (WME, Management) will…

The Sisters of the Winter Wood (REDHOOK, SEPT. 25) BY Rena Rossner AGENCY UTA The male-centric fantasy genre is often wanting for strong female protagonists. This debut from publisher-turned-writer Rena Rossner follows two sisters on a journey of survival and self-discovery after they discover their magical lineage. Washington Black (PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE, SEPT. 18) BY Esi Edugyan AGENCY ICM Partners On a Barbados sugar plantation, enslaved boy Wash finds freedom in his master’s eccentric brother’s hydrogen balloon. Wash’s globe-trotting flight is a mix of fantasy and historical cruelty — Around the World in 80 Days meets Underground Railroad.…

“There was a lot of rage in the room.” ALYSSA MILANO The actress and activist, describing to THR the emotion in the Senate chamber during Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s Sept. 27 testimony. Milano attended the hearing as a guest of Sen. Dianne Feinstein. “It’s harder than it looks.” ELISABETH MURDOCH The Vertical Networks founder and daughter of Rupert Murdoch, in an email to The New York Times, discussing the challenges of starting her app-based video series company. “Ozzy and I have got something nice for you [to] bite on: our assholes.” SHARON OSBOURNE The Talk co-host, in a letter to AEG founder Philip Anschutz, rejecting his contention that he had won a lawsuit against her husband over a disputed concert booking deal. “They bullied me backstage. They bullied me!”…

Weddings Adam Ginivisian, a partner and head of comedy touring for ICM Partners, married Karlie Everhart on Sept. 1 at Kestrel Park in Santa Ynez, California. The couple became engaged in March 2017 and honeymooned in Kauai, Hawaii. Gwyneth Paltrow married Glee co-creator Brad Falchuk on Sept. 29 at her home in East Hampton, New York. Guests included Jerry Seinfeld, Steven Spielberg and Robert Downey Jr. Births Photographer and director Jeff Vespa and his wife, publicist Emily Yomtobian, welcomed daughter Josephine Vespa on Sept. 15 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Congrats Fox elevated Eric Shanks to CEO of Fox Sports; Mike Biard to president, operations and distribution; Paul Cheesbrough to chief technology officer and head of direct-to-consumer platforms; Marianne Gambelli to president of ad sales; and Steve Tomsic…

Michael Ovitz is giving a tour of his Beverly Hills home, a 28,000-square-foot, Michael Maltzan-designed museum that consists of three interconnected boxes wrapped in a perforated-steel skin. It’s an art-lover’s paradise: Lichtensteins in the stairwell, Picassos and Rothkos on the left, an Ellsworth Kelly over there. The CAA co-founder and former Most Feared Man in Hollywood shares the Benedict Canyon estate with his fiancee, Jimmy Choo co-founder and shoe mogul Tamara Mellon, and her teenage daughter. “Luckily, our aesthetics are very similar,” says Mellon, who has been dating Ovitz since 2011 (they became engaged in 2014). “I’ve introduced Michael to fashion photographers like Helmut Newton, Daido Moriyama and Hiro. He’s introduced me to countless artists.” Ovitz, 71, and Mellon, 51, are both in the throes of successful second acts. Since…

With diverse films Sorry to Bother You and Crazy Rich Asians resonating with audiences this summer, Hollywood’s higher-than-expected box-office returns proved that not only does representation matter, it can be good business. Today’s stars are asserting their identities through their red carpet choices, from Tiffany Haddish at the Emmys wearing a Prabal Gurung multicolored striped gown designed to resemble the Eritrean flag (in honor of her late father’s heritage) to Issa Rae at the CFDA Awards in a Pyer Moss royal blue jumpsuit with a belt reading “Every N*gga Is a Star.” British-born Chinese actress Gemma Chan, who stars as fashionista Astrid in Jon M. Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians, chose clothing and accessories by designers of Asian heritage for every stop of the film’s press tour, including French-Chinese-American Joseph Altuzarra;…

When Jeff Klein installed Dimitri Dimitrov as the maitre d’ of his new Tower Bar more than a decade ago, neither Dimitrov’s success (nor the restaurant’s) was assured. A fixture at L.A. spots like L’Ermitage and Diaghilev, the Macedonian-born host was out of work when he went to see Klein at the Sunset Tower Hotel for a meeting engineered by their mutual friends Mitch Glazer and Tom Ford. “We made a very strange pair,” recalls Klein. “He was this polite, formal, old-world guy from Macedonia, and I was this manic gay kid from New York. But we immediately hit it off.” Though the restaurant struggled its first two years, Klein never wavered. “I bet on Dimitri,” he said. “And my gamble paid off.” Twelve years later, Tower Bar is Hollywood’s…

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 Sept. 25. Rankings are based on a formula blending weekly additions of fans as well as cumulative weekly reactions and conversations, as tracked by MVP Index.…

On Friday, Sept .14, The Hollywood Reporter and SAG-AFTRA invited the television industry’s elite to raise a glass in celebration of this year’s contenders at the Emmy Nominees Night event. Presented by Douglas Elliman and Heineken, the gathering served as the first red carpet event held at the new Avra Beverly Hills. Throughout the evening, guests enjoyed custom cocktails and sampled signature dishes while enjoying music provided by DJ Myles Hendrik.…

Legal Women on Board California’s new law targets gender gap. p. 25 ↑ Television Premiere Week What’s working (and isn’t) among fall debuts p. 26 Brian Robbins Viacom promotes the Awesomeness founder to the top job at Nickelodeon, where he’ll be tasked with evolving the kids TV network for a digital future. Dan Fogelman The A-list TV showrunner’s Amazon film Life Itself flops, grossing just $3.6 million after two weekends, as his This Is Us drops 23 percent in its third season premiere on NBC. Lisa Borders The WNBA chief will become the first president and CEO of Time’s Up, the women’s defense fund formed in the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein abuse scandal. Brad Kern The NCIS: New Orleans writer-producer is terminated by CBS and his overall deal canceled…

Deal of the Week When one door closes, another opens — ushering in a flood of questions. Comcast’s July decision to drop out of a showdown with Walt Disney for 21st Century Fox in favor of focusing on Sky paid off Sept. 22, when it outbid Disney-backed Fox to acquire the European pay TV giant. As the dust settles, the victors — Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger and Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts — face a few key issues regarding their respective spoils. WHO WILL LEAD? 21st Century Fox president Peter Rice and Fox TV Group chair Dana Walden are expected to get senior roles and expanded purviews in Disney-Fox’s TV operations. On the film side, 20th Century Fox Film co-chairman and CEO Stacey Snider won’t be part…

When Christian Navarro and Guess Jeans founders Paul and Maurice Marciano opened Wally’s Beverly Hills, a retail-restaurant hybrid anchoring a strip of Canon Drive, it was an instant hit among agents, producers and the likes of Jake Gyllenhaal, who converge to snack on charcuterie or shop for something to sip later. Four years later, a similar concept is bowing across from the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows in the heart of Santa Monica on Oct. 6 (following a few days of friends-and-family previews). At more than 9,000 square feet, this new Wally’s has even more space for imbibing and eating, courtesy of chef David Féau. But with one door opening, another must close: As of August, the original wine shop in Westwood — founded by Steve Wallace in 1968 —…

Legal Beat Bill Cosby is still fighting his conviction from behind bars, but, regardless of the final outcome, it will likely prove costly in his civil legal battles. Many have likened the three to 10 years he was given Sept. 25 for the 2004 sexual assault of Andrea Constand to a life sentence, but it’s his designation as a sexually violent predator that could doom his defense against other accusers. “His veracity can be questioned in civil court,” says former federal prosecutor Priya Sopori. “In a ‘he said, she said’ case, it makes a huge difference.” Cosby, 81, is currently sparring with nearly a dozen women who claim to have been assaulted by him, most of whom are suing for defamation after he denied their allegations. It’s impossible to estimate…

Ludo Lefebvre’s second out-post of Petit Trois, with its expanded menu and full-scale room, lured city dwellers into a still-rare, reverse over-the-hill dinner schlep when it bowed in April in Sherman Oaks. Three new spots are now building on a Valley wave that’d already been ascendant in recent years with the openings of tasting-menu Scratch|Bar & Kitchen, New American specialist The Bellwether and haute-BBQ redoubt Barrel & Ashes. There’s omakase-driven Sushi Note (13447 Ventura Blvd.) in Sherman Oaks, with its serious wine focus elevated by a list consultant brought in from The NoMad. Then, in Valley Village, not far from the CBS Radford lot, a Bazaar vet is behind AJ’s Tex-Mex & BBQ (12123 Riverside Drive). Meanwhile, in Studio City, Mario Alberto, a chef seen at Laurel Hardware, is in…

During the years in which I researched Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency, Michael Ovitz was incredibly gracious with his time, participating in more than 70 conversations in person or on the phone, along with many email exchanges. Given that access, four major elements come to mind when thinking about the veracity of Who Is Michael Ovitz? and whether Ovitz has become more self-aware since the days of yore. First, Ovitz begins his book by likening himself to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character in The Terminator: “relentless” and “inhuman” and later acknowledging how much disdain some others had for him. It’s good, candid stuff, but unfortunately, Ovitz’s goal with the book to emerge as respected and liked gets in the way of him being totally transparent about how he…

The Hollywood Reporter hosted its annual portrait and video studio presented by American Airlines and M.A.C. cosmetics during the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. The THR studio welcomed more than 400 of the festival’s most notable stars, including A-list and rising talent, directors and filmmakers, to Brassaii Restaurant and Lounge in downtown Toronto, where THR’s award-winning editorial team conducted original video interviews and photo shoots. THR and Hudson’s Bay hosted a cast dinner for Bleecker Street and Elevation Pictures’ films Colette and What They Had at Toronto hotspot, La Palma. THR’s Scott Feinberg hosted a Q&A with the directors of Science Fair, from National Geographic Documentary Films, following a screening at the Cineplex Cinemas Yonge-Dundas theater.…

The mother of all A Star Is Born movies, directed by William Wellman, came out 81 years ago. This was the Selznick International production starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March that begot the 1954 version with Judy Garland and James Mason; the 1976 production with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson; and Warner Bros.’ latest staging with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper that opens Oct. 5. All follow the same storyline: A girl with dreams of stardom (in the first two films, it’s in the movies; in the next two, it’s in pop music) makes it to the top with the help of a male star, whom she loves, but whose addiction problems cause his career to decline just as hers rises. “We as a culture are drawn to stardom,” notes…

Is there life in Hollywood after a #MeToo accusation? It depends. From Kevin Spacey to Brett Ratner to Louis C.K., most high-profile Hollywood players who have faced public takedowns are finding that work prospects are nonexistent. But a few recent moves demonstrate that some financiers are willing to work with those who carry their share of #MeToo baggage. Roman Polanski has secured “a substantial budget” to make passion project J’Accuse, according to a project insider, who adds: “This is not some art house film budget.” Alain Goldman (La Vie En Rose) is producing and financing Polanski’s period take on the Dreyfus affair, with production starting in October (Oscar winner Jean Dujardin is on board to play the investigator who proved that Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, a French-Jewish solider, was wrongly accused…

Kavanaugh Coverage Trails Thomas (for Now) Over the past three decades, Clarence Thomas remains the SCOTUS nominee to get the most evening news coverage from NBC, ABC and CBS during his confirmation process — but Kavanaugh is nipping at his heels and should ultimately take the title. How 20.3 Million Viewers Tuned In With six major networks covering the nine-hour hearing and testimonies of Kavanaugh and Ford on Sept. 27, Fox News grabbed the biggest linear audience Fox News Steals Maddow Thunder The MSNBC host started strong on Kavanaugh coverage but lost out to FNC for the week of Sept. 24…

Big Deal Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy’s three-year contract extension, revealed by THR Sept. 28, is a vote of confidence for one of Hollywood’s most scrutinized execs. Under her Disney tenure, which began in 2012, the four films in the relaunched Star Wars franchise have grossed almost $4.5 billion worldwide, with ancillary and merchandising bringing billions more into the studio’s coffers. But it hasn’t always been easy money. Kennedy, 65, fired directors on Solo and Episode IX, and on Rogue One she effectively replaced credited helmer Gareth Edwards with Tony Gilroy. Kennedy’s renewal is notable, given that Solo’s $392 million outing this summer is the franchise’s first box-office disappointment, with analysts estimating a loss of at least $50 million on the movie. And 2017’s The Last Jedi, while grossing $1 billion…

As of Sept. 14, Jemele Hill is officially free of ESPN — and, yes, ESPN is now free of Jemele Hill. Even though Hill, the often outspoken anchor and reporter, had more than two years left on her contract, and management dangled a couple of arguably unrealistic opportunities that would have allowed her to stay, both parties basically acknowledged that their past together prohibited a future. The more than $5 million buyout Hill is due will be paid in a series of tranches this year and next — suggesting savvy tax planning on her part or a “be careful what you say” warning from her former employer. Nonetheless, true to her DNA, Hill isn’t pulling any punches. “It just kind of became obvious to me that the relationship — as…

Welcome to the flesh parade! For the past century, women in the Western world have liberated themselves by shedding more and more clothing, from beaches and ballrooms to today’s boldly bare-all Instagrams. The pro-sex wing of feminism to which I belong celebrates this historical trend, which has been accelerated by Hollywood and the fashion industry as an expression of female power and autonomy. But is there a downside? With unapologetic exhibitionism now commonplace for both workplace wear and online dating, are confused messages complicating sexual relations and deepening the divide between men and women? Since it was launched eight years ago, Instagram has grown into a global obsession, used by more than twice as many women as men. Mating has morphed into a digital mirage, dizzyingly multiplied on Snapchat and…

Chef Evan Funke, son of Oscar-winning VFX specialist Alex Funke, is the subject of Funke, a Jiro Dreams of Sushi-like doc about his handmade pasta at Venice’s Felix (it debuted at the LA Film Festival).… Within the span of days, two NYC neo-institutions bowed in L.A. Pizza place Roberta’s (8850 Washington Blvd.) landed in Culver City, while sweet shop Milk Bar (7150 Melrose Ave.) opened a few miles north in Mid-City. … H Club, the Paul Allen-backed private-members haunt in the Vine Street building that formerly housed the Redbury Hotel in Hollywood, arrives in February and will feature a rooftop restaurant.…

In the past few months, which fashion brand has made 56 red carpet appearances, dressing Emmy nominees Sandra Oh and Jessica Biel, VMA Awards presenters Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick, leading ladies Lady Gaga and Constance Wu and 10 stars at Cannes in its hyper-feminine, feather and stone-encrusted gowns? Not decades-old Dior or French couturier Chanel — it’s 8-years-young Ralph & Russo. The London brand founded in 2010 by Australian designer Tamara Ralph and business partner/boyfriend Michael Russo is part of a new red carpet vanguard of houses built from the ground up, along with fresh names renovating old stalwarts. “Couture was so Parisian-concentrated, we saw a niche in the market,” says Ralph, who used word-of-mouth to build her customer base for hand-crafted gowns that can top $500,000. Her first…

Designing a film is like painting a landscape in a hurricane,” said the late, great production designer Richard Sylbert (Shampoo, Chinatown) — and whether one is seeking to weather that creative storm as a production designer, art director or set decorator, a B.A. or MFA with an emphasis on production design can give a leg up. Says Longmire production designer and Art Directors Guild production design co-chair Thomas A. Walsh, “While only two schools provide pure production design programs” — AFI and Chapman Dodge — many aspirants find their way via theater arts. Adds Stuart Wurtzel (HBO’s Divorce), a Carnegie Mellon alum: “Production designers come from architecture, decorating, costume designing, etc. A designer must be observant of culture and behaviors and visually interpret a story into a physical world.” THR…