Innholdsfortegnelse for Friday, January 4, 2019 i The Hollywood Reporter

The late Fred Rogers would be proud of the booming box office neighborhood populated by documentaries in 2018. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, chronicling the life and career of the gentle, open-minded kids TV host, quickly became the No. 6 doc of all time, excluding nature and concert pics. It wasn’t the only summer surprise: Ruth Bader Ginbsburg film RBG, opening a month earlier in May, also landed on the top 10 list of best-performing docs. They were followed by Three Identical Strangers and Free Solo. However, one doc voted off the marquee was Michael Moore’s Trumpera treatise, Fahrenheit 11/9. On the narrative feature side, it was a challenging year. The hope now is that indie films opening over the Christmas holiday will be buoyed by the final stretch of…

Deal of the Week Choose-your-own-adventure movies have been hotly anticipated since the rise of streaming video, and now, thanks in large part to Netflix, the future is finally here. On Dec. 28, the streamer launched Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, in which viewers make choices that affect the story. Bandersnatch, which Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker had been quietly working on for nearly two years, is a high-profile launch (there were 1.8 million tweets about it between Dec. 27 and Jan. 2) for Netflix’s interactive ambitions. While the streamer has released four such stories for children, including DreamWorks Animation-produced Puss in Book and Telltale Games’ Minecraft: Story Mode, Bandersnatch is its first adult-oriented project, and Netflix director of product innovation Carla Engelbrecht confirms that others are in development. “We’ve had conversations and…

HAWAII Hitting the Aloha State were Rachel Zoe and engaged pair David Foster and Katharine McPhee (all on Lanai), Katy Perry (Kauai), WME’s Shawn Levy and Jon Stewart (big island), manager David Fleming (Oahu) and the family Katzenberg — both David and Jeffrey — and Ava DuVernay (Maui). “New Year’s there has been my tradition for the past four years,” she says. MEXICO AND THE CARIBBEAN Gersh’s Leslie Siebert was off to Anguilla’s Cap Juluca, the Dominican Republic lured Norah O’Donnell (Punta Cana), and Mariska Hargitay, Mariah Carey and Greg Berlanti touched down in St. Barts. Mexico lured Jessica Alba and Busy Philipps. Manager Chris Huvane hit Cabo, while Untitled’s Jason Weinberg and Brain Grazer were in Sayulita, as was Brad Simpson: “Actually San Pancho, which is a little north…

Redstone court battle In early 2019, 95-year-old Sumner Redstone could become the first living individual in California to go to trial over the massive fortune he will be bequeathing when he dies. He’ll be facing off with his former companion Manuela Herzer. Disney-Fox deal closes Disney may close its Fox acquisition during the first half of 2019, with layoffs following as the combined company reduces redundancies. The deal close also will create the smaller new Fox driven by sports and cable channel Fox News. SAG-AFTRA showdown February is expected to bring the start of challenging negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the advertising industry in advance of the March 31 expiration of the commercials contract, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Netflix-Fox poaching Likely in May, the future of keeping creative executives…

It used to be that a well-dressed man would wear a fine timepiece discreetly, with a glimpse peeking out from under the shirt cuff. But times have changed. As more stars become paid ambassadors (like Chris Hemsworth for TAG Heuer, Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Reynolds for Piaget, and Brad Pitt and Adam Driver for Breitling) and brands pursue placements on red carpets with expensive, intricate loaners, stakes have risen. Stylist Ilaria Urbinati dresses Bradley Cooper, who became an IWC ambassador in 2018 and is expected to give a flash of what’s on his wrist. Her strategy? “Tailor one jacket sleeve a little shorter so the watch will show more,” she says. Another tactic “is to do about a quarterinch slightly wider cuff on the watch side, so that it…

Named after a biblical village that was cursed by Jesus and is now used to signify chaos, director Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum is set in a contemporary Lebanon struggling under the weight of a refugee crisis that has almost doubled its population. The timely drama centers on 12-year-old Zain, a brown-eyed, scrappy and malnourished street kid who, after a lifetime of abuse and neglect by his parents — barely able to take care of themselves, let alone their growing brood — decides to sue them for giving him life. While the lawsuit may be an invention, the circumstances are born out of reality. Labaki, 44, spent three years researching her subject, the mistreated children at the heart of her story. “Living in Beirut, it’s almost part of your everyday life. The…

Digital Euro-Netflix Peak TV’s push overseas spurs a local boom p. 28 ↑ Endorsements Bitcoin Bait Hefty fines may await stars who promote currency p. 30 Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos The Netflix CEO and content chief could see their pay rise to $31.5 million in 2019, according to a Dec. 28 regulatory filing. Tim Cook The Apple CEO suffers a stock sell-off after he cuts first-quarter sales guidance due to weak iPhone sales in China and other emerging markets. James Wan The Aquaman director rules the holiday box office, heading for a $900 million global haul and jumpstarting Warner Bros.’ DC Universe. Kevin Spacey The actor loses his appeal to avoid appearing in person in a Massachusetts courtroom Jan. 7 to face claims of sexual assault. Showbiz Stocks ↑…

After having dramatically reshaped the U.S. television market, Netflix is making a big bet on Europe by copying its own playbook: disrupt the landscape by spending billions on original content. In Europe, where the streamer is on track to spend close to $1 billion on original productions in 2019, Netflix has forced local networks to significantly increase the number of originals they produce. But on the continent, Netflix faces the unique challenges of serving a market of more than 700 million viewers split up over dozens of countries, languages and cultures. Not to mention competition in the form of Europe’s powerful public broadcasters, whose programming budget for originals, at close to $17 billion annually, dwarfs what Netflix is willing — or at this point able — to pay European producers.…

BEST PICTURE Green Book Peter Farrelly’s movie got a boost at the Jan. 3 Palm Springs International Film Festival gala, where he and the movie’s cast, headed by Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali, were given the Vanguard Award for “an exceptional film” — an auspicious sign since past winners include The Shape of Water and La La Land. Vice While the $60 million film has a long road to profitability, Adam McKay’s follow-up to his 2015 best picture Oscar nominated The Big Short has still become Annapurna’s highest-grossing domestic release ever after just six days in release with $17.7 million — edging ahead of Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You. ACTOR John C. Reilly Stan & Ollie The Chicago Oscar nominee has earned applause for his portrayal of Oliver Hardy,…

For decades, Eve Babitz was one of Hollywood’s best-kept literary secrets. A onetime “It” girl who had affairs with Harrison Ford, Paul and Ed Ruscha and Jim Morrison, partied with Mick Jagger, Jack Nicholson and Sharon Tate, designed album covers for The Byrds and posed naked for an iconic photo with artist Marcel Duchamp, she wrote “fiction” from the ’70s through the ’90s that mirrored her adventures — earning praise from none other than Joan Didion. “Look, had I not come along, somebody else would have,” says Lili Anolik, the author of Hollywood’s Eve (out Jan. 8 from Simon & Schuster, $26), a book on Babitz that is part biography, part cultural analysis and part memoir. “Her story is so great.” Still, Anolik, 40, couldn’t have anticipated young Hollywood women’s…

Barry Adelman may not have seen it all, but he’s sure seen a lot, dating to his first Hollywood gig in 1976 as the monologue writer on The Sonny and Cher Show — during the season after the affable couple had divorced in real life. Comedy writing, however interesting, did not drive the Chicago native. So, having befriended Dick Clark, Adelman segued into producing for the late TV icon in 1983 and now is responsible for the massive portfolio of Dick Clark Productions’ live events that includes the Golden Globes (he’s been working on the show since 1993), New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, The Billboard Music Awards, The American Music Awards and The Academy of Country Music Awards. (DCP and THR are both owned by Valence Media.) Ahead of the 76th…

SMILF is a very small show; most people have never heard of the Showtime series, which is set to premiere its second season Jan 20. But the handling — or mishandling — of allegations of misconduct on this half-hour dramedy based on the life of series creator and star Frankie Shaw raises some big questions about how several of Hollywood’s most important institutions are reacting to such situations. This comes more than a year into the Time’s Up movement, which has explored issues not only involving sexual harassment but other types of alleged abuse. On Dec. 17, Disney’s ABC Studios, which produces SMILF, pledged to investigate claims of abusive conduct on the set. The probe was prompted by THR’s report that numerous employees had contacted Disney’s anonymous tip line about…

Sunset Plaza has a new deli with a serious pedigree: Trisha Langer, scion of the heralded Langer’s in MacArthur Park, opened her own Daughter’s Deli in November with husband Adrian Khaghan. The handsliced, long-steamed pastrami — sourced from the same vendors who have long supplied the family business — is a near-facsimile of the meat overseen at her father Norm Langer’s place across town. (Nora Ephron famously opined that Langer’s makes “the finest hot pastrami sandwich in the world.”) The pastrami anchors a classicsheavy menu — fluffy matzoh ball soup, smoked whitefish salad plate, cheese blintzes — augmented by updated touches, like locally roasted coffee, requisite for the new neighborhood. Not available: chopped liver. “The old Jews want it,” Langer explains. “But that’s not going to be our customer.” She’s…

In the late 1960s, Vicki Lawrence sent a letter to Carol Burnett, enclosing a newspaper article in which a reporter noted their resemblance. At the time, Burnett was searching for an actress to play her sister on what would become the pioneering CBS hit The Carol Burnett Show. After receiving the letter, Burnett, then pregnant with her first child, drove to Inglewood (the location of the Hollywood Park Racetrack) to see Lawrence perform. “She used to tell a funny story about coming down the freeway and her husband saying, ‘What the hell is she, a jockey?’ And Carol said, ‘You know what? I have a hunch, I’m pregnant, just indulge me,’” says Lawrence, 69. The star of Fox’s The Cool Kids shared stories from her decades of collaboration with Burnett…

A Wrinkle in Time Ava DuVernay’s adaptation of the children’s book topped out at less than $130 million globally. Disney spent north of $125 million to make the film before a hefty marketing spend. Analysts say the movie lost $100 million or more. Mortal Engines The Peter Jackson-produced event pic may be the biggest bomb of the year, grossing just $63 million worldwide to date and likely to lose $125 million-plus for Universal and MRC, say multiple sources. (MRC is owned by Valence Media, THR’s parent). Robin Hood The reboot, starring Taron Egerton and Jamie Foxx, is expected to lose about $100 million after earning less than $75 million globally. The pic capped a tough year for Lionsgate, which saw its domestic share slide from 8 percent in 2017 to…

FILM Ben Affleck (WME, Ziffren Brittenham) is attached to star in and produce the film adaptation of Kate Alice Marshall’s I Am Still Alive for Universal. John Boyega (WME, the U.K.’s Identity, Hansen Jacobson) is in talks to star in a feature adaptation of Sergio de la Pava’s debut novel, A Naked Singularity, for Ridley Scott’s Scott Free and 3311 Productions. The Girl in the Spider’s Web writer Jay Basu (UTA, 42) will rewrite Universal’s long-gestating Battlestar Galactica movie. Vanessa Hudgens (CAA, Untitled, Ziffren Brittenham), Riverdale star Charles Melton (CAA, Untitled, Gang Tyre) and Alexander Ludwig (UTA, Untitled) will join Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in Sony’s Bad Boys 4 Life. Killing Eve star Jodie Comer (WME, the U.K.’s Independent), Lil Rel Howery (UTA, 3 Arts, Fourth Wall, Cohen & Gardner) and…

For 10 years, L.A.-area children grieving the death of a family member have found refuge at Camp Erin in Malibu. About 80 kids, ages 6 to 17, gather for two weekends each summer to memorialize loved ones (most have lost a parent) in a program that was chronicled by the Emmy-winning 2014 HBO documentary One Last Hug: Three Days at Grief Camp. While there are Camp Erins across North America, the L.A. program is run by Our House Grief Support Center, whose Hollywood backers include Patton Oswalt and This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman. Oswalt’s daughter, Alice, now 9, participated in Our House counseling following the 2016 death of her mother, author Michelle McNamara. “Not that it made her feel any better that other kids lost their parents,” recalls Oswalt,…

“My New Year’s resolution is to make sure that the Republican Party dies.”JANE CURTIN The Can You Ever Forgive Me? actress, on CNN’s New Year’s Eve telecast, sparking controversy among conservatives with her 2019 plans. “This was supposed to be a very small test but we went broader than we anticipated.”ADAM MOSSERI The Instagram chief, responding on Twitter to backlash after the photo-sharing platform’s short-lived Dec. 27 feed change. “I don’t know if I have a skeleton left in my closet.”ANGELINA JOLIE The actress, speaking with BBC News about her public transparency, and not ruling out a run in politics. “Clearly, the best way to stop people from watching something is to ban it, make it trend online, and then leave it up on YouTube.”HASAN MINHAJ The Patriot Act host,…

Weddings Screenwriter and showrunner Jeremy Slater (The Exorcist, The Umbrella Academy) married actress Melissa Russell on Dec. 10 in front of 70 guests at the Universal Studios Backlot’s Courthouse Square, used for their favorite movie, Back to the Future. The couple, who met at Comic-Con and became engaged in 2017, will honeymoon in the spring. Miley Cyrus married Liam Hemsworth on Dec. 23 at her home in Franklin, Tennessee, in an intimate ceremony. Births Kelly Herting, head of human resources at Verve, and husband Rob Herting, principal of audio studio QCODE, welcomed son William Joseph Herting on Dec. 3 at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica. Bec Smith, a motion picture literary agent at UTA, welcomed son Augustus John Thomas Smith on Dec. 6 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in…

MUSHA CAY In the Bahamas’ Exumas Chain, David Copperfield’s 11 islands feature a private airstrip as staff watch for arriving boats. Large craft can’t approach the 700-plus acres and 40 sugary beaches. Available only on a buyout basis. Five guesthouses for up to 12 people, $39,000/night, mushacay.com SWEET BOCAS Its owner personally approves the industry and tech folk who rent the staffed seven-bedroom overwater villa in Panama. Boat access is for renters only; accommodations exist for security teams, but they’ve been known to be sent home early as unnecessary. $80,500/week for up to 12, sweetbocaspanama.com VILLA MANZU Perched on Costa Rica’s Peninsula Papagayo, this 30,000-square-foot estate is surrounded by rainforests and the Pacific and inaccessible to all but guests. Kim Kardashian selected it for her first vacation after she was…

Dana Hollister, the Eastside restaurateur behind Cliff’s Edge, has sold off the Brite Spot in Echo Park and her Pilgrim Church hospitality development in Silver Lake to help cover $5 million a judge ordered her to pay Katy Perry (pictured) and the Catholic Church after losing a battle over the purchase of a Los Feliz convent.… Chef David Feau, who oversaw the transition of Wally’s from Westwood wine and cheese store to serious dining destinations in Beverly Hills and Santa Monica, has departed to launch haute vegan soup delivery service JeCook.… Lawry’s Prime Rib will be adding cauliflower “steaks” in 2019.…

I’ve always done my own thing, but I didn’t think it would be a big deal for me to wear a red dress to the Golden Globes last year. From what I had heard, only the nominees were going to wear black, and I thought it would be silly for me to show up in black. Atria Couture made my dress. I wanted to stand strong and I felt so honored to be there, but what happened after I walked the red carpet was crazy. Photos of me went viral, I became a trending topic on Twitter, and I got death threats and tons of hate mail. I support #MeToo — it had nothing to do with not supporting the cause. It was incredible to see all the courageous women…

For luxury brands awarding red carpet contracts, the Golden Globes kick off the 2019 awards season. Gown, tux and jewelry designers — even hair-product companies — have begun paying out big deals to lock up talent as early as October, before the nominations are even announced in December. A North American head of a global jewelry brand says that if a “brand partner” wins a Globe, there is an additional bump in the contract, and if an actor or actress doesn’t receive a nomination, “then we’re screwed.” The gamble is worth it, says a Hollywood dealmaker (who requested anonymity as such transactions are confidential and rarely revealed) for a number of luxury brands: “It’s the ultimate marketing tool. Here’s a global moment to get your product seen. Starting with the…

Nacional (2002-2008) Says Alan Nathan, who ran Tuesdays with Rick Calamaro that drew Matthew Perry, Paris Hilton, Diddy and Lindsay Lohan: “Nacional was intimate, there was no bottle service at the time. We put 150 people in there, max. It’s was quality over quantity. [Other than] Kevin Huvane, [who] ran CAA, and Jim Toth was his assistant, I wanted actors, not agents. It was the toughest door in town. There was no buying your way in. The movie Molly’s Game was based on our cocktail waitress, Molly Bloom, who ran high-stakes poker games.” Ivar (2002-2008) “It was a big club; we had to put close to 1,500 people a night in there,” says Nathan, who with Calamaro also ran Ivar on Thursdays through Saturdays, when they introduced house music via…

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s 13th feature, Shoplifters, has helped cement the filmmaker’s position as Japan’s foremost chronicler of what it means to be human. And as with many of the auteur’s deliberate, nuanced character studies — which he writes, directs and edits — his latest drama examines everyday life in Tokyo through the prism of familial connections, this time centering on an extended family of petty thieves who, despite barely surviving, take in a young girl they suspect is suffering from abuse and neglect at home. In addition to taking the Palme d’Or at Cannes in May, the Oscar-shortlisted Shoplifters was a blockbuster at home, earning just over $40 million at the Japan box office. It also sparked controversy: After his Cannes triumph, Kore-eda, 56, was not congratulated by Japanese Prime Minister…

COLOMBIA BIRDS OF PASSAGE After their Oscar-nominated Embrace of the Serpent, Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego explore a family’s dynamic as they delve into the international drug trade. DENMARK THE GUILTY Gustav Moller’s first feature, which nabbed the World Cinema Audience Award at Sundance, takes place over a single night, after a police officer receives a call from a kidnapped woman. GERMANY NEVER LOOK AWAY Spanning three generations, the drama from Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (who won the Oscar for 2006’s The Lives of Others) centers on an artist who falls for a fellow student. KAZAKHSTAN AYKA As a woman who leaves her newborn son in Sergey Dvortsevoy’s drama, Samal Yeslyamova won Cannes’ best actress award. MEXICO ROMA Alfonso Cuaron re-created his 1970s Mexico City childhood in a story told…