Innholdsfortegnelse for Wednesday, January 30, 2019 i The Hollywood Reporter

When word spread that Harvey Weinstein was parting ways with attorney Benjamin Brafman and shopping for a legal “dream team,” experts questioned whether it was wise to evoke the memory of O.J. Simpson, whose 1995 acquittal remains controversial more than two decades after the verdict. But one of Weinstein’s four new lawyers, Florida-based criminal defense attorney Jose Baez, likely welcomes the comparison. His website is emblazoned with a banner that reads, “The Hispanic version of the late legal legend Johnnie Cochran,” a quote attributed to CNN. When viewed in context of the original July 10, 2011, article, it’s not quite the compliment it appears to be. The story, titled “Jose Baez: No longer a courtroom ‘Bozo,’” was published days after his client Casey Anthony was found not guilty of murdering…

BEST PICTURE Black Panther Marvel’s critically acclaimed blockbuster became the first superhero movie ever to win the SAG Awards’ film ensemble prize, the night’s top honor, allowing Chadwick Boseman and his co-stars to take their place in the winner’s circle. The only caution: The award has predicted the best picture Oscar only 11 of 23 times. A Star Is Born The SAG Awards proved the latest big night to disappoint the team behind the popular remake, which some had expected to dominate the season when it debuted in Venice. Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Sam Elliott and the ensemble cast all lost awards for which they were thought to have been serious prospects. ACTOR Rami Malek Bohemian Rhapsody He lost to Vice’s Christian Bale at the Critics’ Choice Awards but beat…

FILM Angelina Jolie (UTA, Media Talent Group, Sloane Offer) will star in Taylor Sheridan’s thriller Those Who Wish Me Dead. 22 Jump Street’s Oren Uziel (WME, Writ Large, Myman Greenspan) will write Legendary’s Detective Pikachu sequel. Mackenzie Davis (UTA, the U.K.’s Dalzell and Beresford, Sloane Offer) is in talks to star opposite Kristen Stewart in TriStar’s same-sex romantic comedy Happiest Season. National Geographic Documentary Films has commissioned Rebuilding Paradise from director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer via their Imagine Documentaries. Matt Smith (UTA, the U.K.’s Troika) will join Jared Leto in Sony’s Marvel Comics movie Morbius. Belgian filmmaker Michael R. Roskam (UTA, Anonymous, Jackoway Austen) will direct Prince of War, a biopic about Blackwater founder Erik Prince, for Imperative Entertainment. Leigh Whannell (Paradigm, STI, Myman Greenspan) will direct an…

All You Can Ever Know (CATAPULT, OCT. 2, 2018) BY Nicole Chung AGENCY UTA Like Lulu Wang’s Sundance standout The Farewell, Chung’s memoir tackles the navigation of Asian-American identity through the author’s personal story of growing up as a Korean adoptee in a sheltered, largely white Oregon town. The Night Tiger (FLATIRON BOOKS, FEB. 12) BY Yangsze Choo AGENCY CAA The novelist’s follow-up to her 2013 New York Times best-selling debut, The Ghost Bride, returns to colonial Malaysia for a coming-of-age tale about a houseboy searching for his dying master’s severed finger and the young woman who finds it at a dance hall.…

“I’m glad there wasn’t an understudy.” BRENNIN HUNT The Rent Live actor, revealing to THR his relief that Fox pretaped his dress rehearsal for the Jan. 27 broadcast. The network couldn’t swap him for another player after he broke his foot, so it aired Hunt’s taped performance. “What a disgusting thing to say about dozens of American workers who just lost their jobs.” BEN SMITH The BuzzFeed News editor in chief, chiding Donald Trump on Twitter for the president’s gleeful post — “Ax falls quickly …” — after layoffs swept through the news outlet. “You can’t convince people to like you.” MICHAEL STRAHAN The ABC host, admitting to Time that there is a continuing rift between him and Kelly Ripa since he left Live! and moved to Good Morning America…

Oprah Winfrey stopped by True Food Kitchen in Pasadena. … Gwyneth Paltrow was with Brad Falchuk at Locanda Portofino. … Jeffrey Katzenberg lunched at Republique. … Drake was at Beauty & Essex. … Toni Howard, producer David Yarnell, Candice Bergen and Stephen Fry shared a table at Il Piccolino. … Post Malone and Jamie Foxx were at Cheesecake Factory at The Grove, separately. … Peter Roth was at The Grill on the Alley. On a different day, John Mulaney rubbed elbows with David Miner. … Tom Holland and Zendaya were together at the chef’s counter at Simone. Margot The Quick Pitch Rohan Talwar (Norah, La Fete) has bowed his latest spot in the coveted rooftop space at The Platform in Culver City. The airy, indoor-outdoor expanse is stamped with bohemian…

FROM FEB. 18 TO 24, Dallas-based aesthetician Joanna Czech, in partnership with Cle de Peau, will host a pop-up at the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills. “The Oscars are one of the moments when my L.A. clients need me most,” says Czech, the go-to for Kate Winslet, Uma Thurman and Liam Neeson. Czech is known for her customized, high-tech treatments that use LED therapy, ultrasound, cryotherapy and microcurrents. Her cult Red Carpet facials — a 75- to 90-minute treatment that can be done the day of an event — start at $850 and create “a smooth, glowing canvas for makeup,” she says. — AMANDA EBERSTEIN DAVID COLBERT WILL BRING HIS 20-minute, no-downtime Triad Facial (microdermabrasion, laser, fruit acid peel; $800) to the 9400 Brighton Way penthouse on Feb. 22 and 23.…

1 Adam Driver THE REPORT Flown in straight from the Star Wars set, the Oscar nominee stars as real-life Senate staffer Daniel Jones, who fought to have the ineffectiveness of the government’s “enhanced interrogation techniques” exposed. Amazon bought the political thriller for $14 million. 2 Demi Moore CORPORATE ANIMALS Moore stars as a difficult CEO who becomes trapped in a cave with her employees in Patrick Brice’s horror-comedy. 3 Lulu Wang (left) and Awkwafina THE FAREWELL “There are universal characteristics that all Asian-Americans share. I really understood where Lulu was coming from,” says Awkwafina of her director. The comedy actress takes on her first serious lead role in the family drama, which was scooped up by A24 in a $7 million deal. 4 clockwise from left Amy Ryan, Reid Scott,…

It’s been a long, strange ride for Dieter Kosslick. In his 18 years as head of the Berlin International Film Festival, the quirky Kosslick has danced with Bollywood legend Shah Rukh Khan, jammed with the Rolling Stones and, by inviting Fidel Castro to attend one year, nearly caused an international incident. (Fidel, sadly, didn’t make it.) In that time, Kosslick has transformed Berlin into the world’s largest public film festival with the world’s second-largest film market — the EFM. Meryl Streep, Wes Anderson, George Clooney and the Coen brothers are professed “Dieter” fans. “He runs a film festival as if he is having a party in his living room,” says director Paul Thomas Anderson of Kosslick’s management style. But Kosslick’s critics say that by expanding the quantity of films in…

It was one year ago, at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, that Elsie Fisher broke out with her lead turn in coming-of-age dramedy Eighth Grade as Kayla, an anxious teen navigating social media and her last year of middle school. By that point she had been working in the industry for nearly a decade, voicing Agnes in the Despicable Me franchise and starring in a handful of indies. Since its premiere, the Bo Burnham-directed movie has been earning major awards recognition, including two Spirit Award nominations and a Golden Globe nom for Fisher. Next, the 15-year-old will be recognized at the Santa Barbara Film Festival with the Virtuosos Award, an honor she’ll receive alongside industry vets like Sam Elliott and Richard E. Grant. The Thousand Oaks, California, native has plenty…

When Tina Fey and Jeff Richmond assembled the cast for Broadway’s Mean Girls musical, they set out to make “fetch” happen all over again. But to recapture the magic of Fey’s 2004 film for the stage, the married couple and creative partners knew that diversity would be paramount to success. In fact, during the audition process — aided by famed casting house Telsey + Company — Fey says that instead of searching for look-alikes, they focused on finding performers who carried the “essence” of the beloved characters she created nearly 15 years ago for her first screenplay. “We strived for more inclusivity, not just in the ensemble, but with the principals,” says Fey, whose show opened on Broadway in April and has netted $65 million in ticket sales. “We were…

Eddy Cue Apple’s services division — which includes Apple Music, overseen by Cue — grows 19 percent to $10.9 billion in revenue in the most recent quarter. Jonah Peretti The BuzzFeed CEO lays off more than 200 employees in a reorganization as the digital outlet struggles for scale in an ad market dominated by Google and Facebook. Kamala Harris Two million viewers watch the Iowa town hall with the senator and 2020 presidential candidate, giving CNN a rare primetime win in the demo over MSNBC and Fox News. Len Blavatnik The Warner Music Group owner is targeted by House Democrats, who may investigate his purchase of a stake in Rat-Pac Entertainment, which has connections to Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin. Showbiz Stocks $43.86 (+7%) ROKU (ROKU) The Motley Fool calls the…

Massachusetts raised eyebrows in Hollywood on Jan. 16 when lawmakers there called for SMILF’s tax credits to be suspended pending the outcome of an ABC Studios probe into creator and star Frankie Shaw’s alleged misconduct on the set of the Showtime series. The surprising move signaled that certain states and their film commissions may be taking concrete steps — either by withholding tax credits for scandal-plagued projects or enacting new laws — to hold productions accountable for claims of on-set harassment and discrimination. Since THR reported in December that Shaw, who serves as showrunner on the series, allegedly mishandled nude scenes and separated writers by race — with additional claims that she failed to give proper credit to at least one writer of color — a grassroots movement has been…

Does scandal hurt or help when it comes to the Oscars? Fox’s Bohemian Rhapsody will prove a test case following a widely publicized Jan. 23 article in The Atlantic alleging various instances of sexual assault by Rhapsody director Bryan Singer on underage boys. Hollywood has long been aware that Singer has a dubious reputation, but, coming a day after the Oscar nominations, the 10,000-word Atlantic piece injects his alleged predatory behavior into the discussion in a way that’s hard to ignore. Producer Avi Lerner’s subsequent defense of the director, whom he’s hired for Red Sonja (“I know the difference between agenda driven fake news and reality, and I am very comfortable with this decision”), added fuel to the fire. So, graver matters aside, how will this affect the awards race?…

Deal of the Week Good things come in threes. As Sundance hit the halfway mark, a trio of films had already nabbed a stunning $13 million to $15 million. Each. First, Amazon closed a $13 million deal early on Jan. 26 for the Emma Thompson-Mindy Kaling comedy Late Night, a Sundance record-setting sum for U.S. rights. With Amazon’s Jennifer Salke and Julie Rapaport spearheading negotiations, by 6:30 a.m. the studio had beat out a Neon-Hulu bid. (CAA’s Roeg Sutherland and Maren Olson and 30West’s Micah Green represented the filmmakers, including director Nisha Ganatra.) Late Night’s $13 million haul was eclipsed two days later by Amazon — again — when it took world-wide rights to the Scott Z. Burns political thriller The Report for $14 million (Adam Driver stars in the…

Yá’át’ééh, my name is Sierra Teller Ornelas. I am Navajo, born into the Edgewater clan and for the Mexican clan. My maternal grandfather is Water Flowing Together clan and my paternal grandfather is Mexican clan. Traditionally we introduce ourselves first by saying our clans. It’s like saying what agency you’re with — it allows the other person to figure out whether you’re related and to make unfair assumptions about you. In my 20s, I lived in Washington, D.C., and worked at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in the film department. It was my first time living in a big city at a job with a significant Native population. (This is an HBO show, by the way: Sex and the City-esque. Could air after Insecure. Sorry, keep read…

Sundance Film Festival Park City, Jan. 24-Feb. 3 SAG Awards Los Angeles, Jan. 27 Party Crawler ’Dance Parties While Robert Redford (13) made only a brief appearance at Sundance, A-list talent was out in full force for opening night’s An Artist at the Table dinner, among them Glenn Close and Ava DuVernay (8). Over at the UTA brunch on Jan. 27, Jessica Williams (14) and Baron Davis rubbed elbows. Jeff Zucker popped up all over Main Street, including at the premiere of Late Night and the CNN Films brunch on Jan. 27. (“Brunches are the new parties,” Verve’s Amy Beecroft told THR.) That evening, Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed (5) fielded applause for his Michael Jackson sexual abuse film at the HBO Docs party. Standing O’s were common (two of…

What Neiman Marcus star personal shopper Catherine Bloom is to fashion, Barneys Beverly Hills’ Patrick Foley is to beauty. Face guru to A Star Is Born producer Sue Kroll, Women in Film’s Amy Baer and Universal Music Publishing Group chair-CEO Jody Gerson, Foley works out of his private studio inside the store’s beauty department. That’s where a handful of clients are ushered in daily for a customized tutorial, sometimes purchasing upward of $1,000 of handpicked products. They wait weeks for an appointment, longer during awards season. “This is when I create the makeup palette to go with red carpet looks,” says Foley. Baer adds that even if you’re not talent, “you still have to feel good walking the red carpet. Patrick knows how to [help].” Foley is not beholden to…

MALTIN MODERN MASTER AWARD Glenn Close The Wife AMERICAN RIVIERA AWARD Viggo Mortensen Green Book MONTECITO AWARD Melissa McCarthy Can You Ever Forgive Me? CINEMA VANGUARD AWARD Michael B. Jordan Black Panther VIRTUOSOS AWARD Yalitza Aparicio Roma Sam Elliott A Star Is Born Elsie Fisher Eighth Grade Claire Foy First Man Richard E. Grant Can You Ever Forgive Me? Thomasin McKenzie Leave No Trace John David Washington BlacKkKlansman Steven Yeun Burning…

Game of Thrones creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, set to receive the Award for Creative Excellence at the 17th annual Visual Effects Society Awards on Feb. 5, look back together via email at the show’s greatest hits What was the earliest and most daunting visual effects challenge you faced? The earliest challenges involved learning how to do a lot with a little. The show did not have tremendous resources to burn for VFX back then. We still remember the four-plus-hour meetings where we’d go through the whole season, scene by scene, and count every set extension, every wire removal shot, look at every VFX blood hit to see if it could be done practically and save us a few hundred bucks. That was a valuable experience because it forced…

Rambo V The Sylvester Stallone sequel, directed by Adrian Grunberg, is expected to debut in fall 2019. Hellboy The franchise reboot starring David Harbour will be released by Summit/Lionsgate on April 12. The Outpost The Scott Eastwood thriller is based on an Afghanistan siege book by CNN’s Jake Tapper. Angel Has Fallen The Gerard Butler action franchise three-quel will be released by Lionsgate on Aug. 3. Poison Rose The detective crime pic is set to star John Travolta, Famke Janssen and Morgan Freeman. Blackbird The drama (a remake of Danish film Silent Heart) will star Susan Sarandon and Kate Winslet.…

Sometimes the job of a film editor is to help a director decide not what should go onto the screen, and how it should be ordered, but instead what should be eliminated. That was particularly true in the case of Vice, Adam McKay’s unconventional, and unflattering, portrait of former Vice President Dick Cheney, for which veteran editor Hank Corwin received his second Oscar nomination. “I was blessed with a really great script,” Corwin says of the film, which nonetheless posed lots of challenges because it “takes place over five decades. I just felt that if it was linear, I’d run the audience into a ditch. I figured, and Adam figured, that we’d have to occasionally come up with nonlinear emotional highlights just to re-engage emotionally” with Christian Bale’s portrayal of…

Big Deal Is a “Netflix for games” coming this year? As the video game industry continues to post record profits ($43 billion in U.S. revenue in 2018), some of the world’s most valuable technology companies are said to be working on gaming-focused streaming services. In October, Microsoft unveiled plans for Project xCloud, billed as a “global game-streaming technology” that CEO Satya Nadella compared to Netflix. Google also is testing whether its cloud drive could stream major game titles, in December offering a free copy of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey to users who played a demo of the game on its Project Stream service. And a Jan. 28 report indicated that Apple had joined Amazon and Verizon in exploring services of their own. Subscription-based game services aren’t new; Sony and Microsoft offer…

With no hometown NFL team for two decades, Hollywood has often seemed to belong to New England, thanks to such A-list Patriot fans as Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Chris Evans and John Krasinski. But since the Rams’ return from St. Louis in 2016, Angelenos again have a team to call their own, and L.A.’s Super Bowl berth against the Pats in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Feb. 3 has emboldened fans. “It comes down to hometown pride,” says Single Parents’ Taran Killam, whose route to home games at the Coliseum takes him past his birthplace on Washington Boulevard in Culver City. “[The Rams’ return to L.A.] was all about me,” he jokes. Killam’s fellow ABC star Ty Burrell takes similar credit. “The Rams being in the Super Bowl is a direct…

JONAS DASSLER The Golden Glove His performance as a dissident East German schoolboy in Lars Kraume’s The Silent Revolution caught the attention of the local industry in 2018. Dassler’s turn as the decrepit Hamburg serial killer Fritz Honka in The Golden Glove — from In the Fade director Fatih Akin — is certain to raise the 23-year-old actor’s profile outside Germany. SANYA MALHOTRA Photograph The Indian actress, 26, has made a name for herself at home with starring roles in 2018’s Bollywood hits Badhaai Ho and Pataakha. But her turn as a shy stranger called on to pose as the fake fiancee of a struggling street photographer in Photograph, from The Lunchbox director Ritesh Batra, could be her chance to cross over internationally. ANGELIKI PAPOULIA The Miracle of the Sargasso…

Christa Dickenson took the helm as executive director of Telefilm Canada, the Canadian government’s film financier, in August. Her immediate tasks included facilitating the kind of international co-production models that led to this year’s Berlin Film Festival opener, The Kindness of Strangers, a Canada-Denmark co-production that was filmed in Toronto (doubling as New York). In the past year, Telefilm has helped ease the way for 19 co-productions, including The Hummingbird Project, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Salma Hayek. The Hollywood Reporter talked to the head of Montreal-based Telefilm about the advantages of Canada’s international co-production treaties, how it promotes local talent overseas and the significance of a Telefilm project opening the Berlinale. How can international productions benefit from Canadian co-productions? Any co-production that takes place with Canada, with Telefilm’s help, is…

If there was a live TV spectacular in the past couple of decades, Don Mischer likely had something to do with it. The 78-year-old director has been the master behind dozens of major shows, from Super Bowl halftime concerts to the Oscars, the Democratic National Convention and President Obama’s star-studded inaugural concert. Ahead of receiving the Directors Guild of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award at its Feb. 2. fete, Mischer reveals the events he’s most proud of pulling off — from an emotional post-9/11 Olympic opening ceremony to a rainy Super Bowl halftime show. 1. Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever (1983) The 25th anniversary celebration of Motown Records was shot at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. “We wanted to get Michael Jackson to reunite with his brothers for a medley of Jackson…