Innholdsfortegnelse for 11/11/2016 i The Hollywood Reporter

Jeffrey Katzenberg has yet to decide where he will spend Nov. 8. But the longtime Democratic rallier tells THR one thing is for certain: “I will be cheering on Hillary until I’m hoarse or dragging people out of their houses and driving them to the polls — whatever I need to do.” Other insiders will either party or panic as the entertainment industry braces for a new president in either Clinton or Donald Trump. Ben Silverman and wife Jennifer Cuoco have booked a banjo band and food trucks for about 100 guests at their Santa Monica home. “It’s the party that my wife and I love to throw more than any other, partially because there’s a real purpose to it,” the Jane the Virgin producer says. The couple supports Clinton,…

Growing up in Beijing, Cheng Wu had a nickname: Little Tiger. “It was my mother’s name for me,” says Cheng. “I was born in 1974, the Year of the Tiger. Think of it what you will.” Believers in Chinese astrology say tigers are “brave, competitive, stubborn and unpredictable,” he adds. That’s a fair description of the man picked in September 2015 by Chinese technology giant Tencent — an online gaming platform that had become China’s leading internet portal, social media site and instant messaging service before expanding into online publishing, TV and film production — to run its nascent film and TV division, Tencent Pictures. Since taking over, Cheng’s predatory instincts have led the 29,000-employee Tencent Holdings to invest in Legendary Pictures’ fantasy epic Warcraft (and its upcoming King Kong…

What’s an awards season without a heated Oscar rivalry? Slugfests like the 1999 struggle between Harvey Weinstein’s Shakespeare in Love forces and Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan team (Harvey was triumphant) often make for more drama offscreen than on. This year there’s a new high-stakes contest as Jeff Bezos’ Amazon and Reed Hastings’ Netflix, already Emmy players, square off in the Oscar ring. Netflix recently has staked out a prominent position in the documentary feature category, securing noms for The Square in 2014, Virunga in 2015 and What Happened, Miss Simone? and Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom this year. It made its biggest play in the best picture race with Cary Fukunaga’s Beasts of No Nation but came up short with the Academy. Amazon also dipped its toe…

The Breeders’ Cup, thoroughbred racing’s elite year-end championships, returns to the revamped Santa Anita Park from Nov. 4 to 5. The 33rd annual event, which moves venues, is being held for a record ninth time at the Arcadia, Calif.-based track, with horses in 13 races gunning for prize money totaling $28 million. “The quality and quantity of the horses at the Breeders’ Cup is unparalleled on any other day of racing,” says Elizabeth Banks, a devotee of the sport since her father took her to New York’s Saratoga at age 10. The top race, the Classic (broadcast live on NBC at 5:35 p.m. PT Nov. 5), proffers a $6 million purse divvied among the eight highest finishers. Among the favorites is California Chrome, a 5-yearold who has risen from a…

Walking through Wanda Studios Qingdao on China’s eastern coast, it can feel as though one has stepped onto the set of the world’s largest science fiction film ever — which still is under construction. Huge cream-colored soundstages loom in perfect lines across a vast expanse of blacktop, like nodes in a massive microchip. Off the coast, an artificial island emerges from the surface of the sea, as dozens of cranes swivel around the framework of hotels, condos and half-formed entertainment venues. Earthmovers toil on the opposite horizon, their wheels taller than people. Backdropping it all, huge Chinese characters sit atop a single, rocky mountain, Hollywood sign-like. They read (in translation): “Movie Metropolis of the East.” On the day I toured the 408-acre Wanda Studios — a week before it was…

What to Pack To avoid hassles and delays in notoriously chaotic Chinese airports, use only a carry-on: “Never, ever, ever check anything,” says DreamWorks Animation founder Jeffrey Katzenberg. First Street Films’ Bill Borden, producer of Chinese blockbuster The Mermaid, brings a Zithromax Z-Pak — Chinese hospitals and pharmacies don’t commonly stock Western medicine — and 3M 9001V surgical masks to combat air pollution. John Penotti, vice chairman at Ivanhoe Pictures (Crazy Rich Asians), tucks in cold medicine and Tylenol (remedies from Chinese pharmacies come in less palatable teas or liquid shots) as well as suits and ties for meetings with alwaysformally-attired government officials. If country-hopping, carry a primary and duplicate passport; the latter comes in handy when tied up procuring a last-minute visa. “Many Asian countries require visas, and I…

Despite a slowdown in the Chinese economy and government intervention on gifting, aka bribery, the demand for luxury goods among Chinese shoppers remains remarkably stable, though foreign-facing. “More than 80 percent of luxury goods bought are from Chinese buying abroad,” says Thierry Nataf, CEO of The Luxury Consulting Co. “Of course, the price is 30 to 40 percent less expensive abroad” because of the domestic Goods and Services/Value Added Tax. With overseas travel in 2015 up 32 percent from 2014, according to Bain & Co.’s China Luxury Report, reliance on daigou, or personal shoppers contracted by Chinese consumers to purchase and send back luxury goods, has decreased. Tastes have changed, too: Flashy logos and signs of conspicuous consumption have waned, says Kim Bui Kollar of Asian luxury department store Lane…

Compared to the gold rush atmosphere surrounding the Chinese film business, the approach of most Western TV companies to China has been slow and steady. Dutch production group Talpa scored a huge hit with the Chinese version of its singing competition show The Voice, which grabbed more than 120 million viewers on TV (and 400 million-plus online) in the Middle Kingdom, but most have been satisfied with smaller licensing deals to Chinese digital and online platforms. This includes ESPN’s agreement with Chinese tech giant Tencent to provide live coverage of the NBA for Tencent’s online platform QQ Sports, or FremantleMedia’s recently extended deal with Youku, which will see Youku’s VOD channels stream such Fremantle shows as America’s Got Talent and Project Runway. Only a handful of American series, including The…

OPENS Booth Theatre, New York (through Jan. 22) CAST Janet McTeer, Liev Schreiber, Birgitte Hjort Sorensen, Elena Kampouris DIRECTOR Josie Rourke PLAYWRIGHT Christopher Hampton, based on the novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos “I always knew I was born to dominate your sex and avenge my own,” the deliciously amoral Marquise de Merteuil tells her male interlocutor in Les Liaisons Dangereuses. As personified in a blazing performance by Janet McTeer — her voice like velvet and her physical bearing a cloak of studied artifice encasing a fleshand-blood woman of ferocious cunning — there’s never cause to doubt her claim. Her former lover and accomplice turned opponent in their games of cruel conquest is a different matter. But even if Liev Schreiber is ill-suited for the part of the “conspicuously charming”…

That Mel Gibson’s latest film, Hacksaw Ridge, has an abundance of blood and gore is expected — the film is set during World War II’s Battle of Okinawa and stars Andrew Garfield as a real-life Seventh-day Adventist medic who refused to bear arms. The fact that Ridge could be less blood-soaked than 2004’s The Passion of the Christ, however, says something about how the director portrayed the agony of Jesus’ final 12 hours. THR said the film displayed “near pornographic violence” and described it as “a medieval Passion Play with much better effects.” But the vivid portrayal of crucifixion is still so popular among penitent Christians that in the Philippines and some Latin American countries, believers take a vow to watch Passion on each of Lent’s 40 days. “I’m glad…

Corporations are not people, the Supreme Court’s insistence otherwise notwithstanding. But they have some things in common. AT&T, for example, is displaying the very human tendency to cling to old habits — particularly bad habits. Decades after it was broken into pieces by a federal court, the former Ma Bell again is gobbling up competitors and working hard to re-establish itself as the nation’s communications behemoth. It spent the past decade snatching up cellular carriers and a year ago acquired satellite provider DirecTV, entrenching it as the nation’s largest pay TV and second-largest mobile company, respectively. Now AT&T has struck an $85 billion deal to add Time Warner to its holdings. The merger would make AT&T a communications producer as well as a carrier, giving it control of HBO, TBS…

Lachlan Murdoch Climbs Ever Higher As first reported by THR, 21st Century Fox executive chairman Lachlan Murdoch has moved into the office of former film chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos, who exited in August. Now sources say Murdoch “touched up” Gianopulos’ digs to expand the space, adding room for a second assistant and installing a rock-climbing wall in an empty studio area nearby. A Fox rep declined comment. … Speaking of offices, Sony’s Michael Lynton and fellow execs were on the move in late October to the company’s just-completed eight-story Culver City headquarters on the lot, which houses the CFO, general counsel, HR, IT and home entertainment. The building also will be home to Sony’s previously scattered music divisions. Having the entertainment units in the same place, Lynton has said,…

When the wild and nasty campaign of 2016 finally comes to a close Nov. 8, an unshackled Donald Trump (assuming he loses) will be unencumbered to pursue his next act. Notwithstanding the candidate’s recent denial of “any interest” in launching a TV network, observers expect Trump to capitalize on his fervent following either with a splinter political movement or a media destination. Or both. What might that look like? New clues dropped by the campaign and the financial realities of the news business offer a potential road map. The candidate took to Facebook Live with a lineup tagged “Trump TV” on Oct. 19 and on Oct. 24 debuted Trump Tower Live, which streams on Facebook nightly at 6:30. Both have been interpreted as trial balloons for a post-election media venture.…

Shanghainese food is my favorite cuisine. It’s very nuanced, while Beijing food is a little heartier. Shanghai has rivers and oceans, so its food is coastal. Old Jesse (41 Tianping Road, Xuhui) is my favorite sit-down dinner restaurant in all of China and one of my top five in the world. Call a concierge to get you in. Downstairs is where you want to be; it’s really intimate — you feel like you’re in a Wong Kar-wai film. Start with soup: Yan du xian is a very famous Shanghainese soup; you get tofu knots, ham hock and pork-bone stock. Shanghai uses vinegar, wine and sugar very well. Those are the trademarks, and you want to hit those flavors early. Shanghainese also does really well with small cold plates like pickled…

The first time Dianna Barindelli carried a baby that wasn’t her own was in 2012. “We were done having kids, but I still wanted to be pregnant,” says the Modesto, Calif., stayat-home mom, whose own daughters are 6 and 9. Barindelli signed up with the Center for Surrogate Parenting in Encino, one of the most exclusive surrogacy agencies in the world. In 2014, she matched with a Chinese couple. Unlike many agencies, CSP first shows parent applications to the surrogates, rather than the other way around. “It’s little things that you’ll connect with people over,” says Barindelli, who was attracted to pictures of the couple’s extended travels and their traditional wedding photos. The embryo transfer took place in late 2014. Barindelli emailed the mom weekly, sending updates and ultrasound pictures…

This year, Hollywood actually may have a genuine race on its hands. Too often, by the time the fall trifecta of Venice-Telluride-Toronto has come and gone, the advance pundit brigade declares an awards season frontrunner. And then, there’s nothing left except for, five months later, the preordained winner to be finally confirmed. But this year, not only is there an unusually strong crop of movies emerging to critical acclaim, there has yet to be a consensus as to which likely will ultimately prevail. It’s almost as if there’s something for every mood. Certainly, Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, which debuted in Venice before waltzing on to Telluride and Toronto, charmed, with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone kicking up their heels. But for those of a more somber mind, there also…

When it comes to portraying the brutal pursuit of power, few shows are as riveting as HBO’s Game of Thrones. But for a vivid, if not nearly as sexy or bloody, look at the process and protocol of actually ruling, Netflix’s new series The Crown is the one to watch. Peter Morgan’s chronicle of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II is consistently gripping through the entire first season — all 10 hourlong episodes were available to critics in advance — finding emotional heft in Elizabeth’s ascension and suspense in matters of courtly etiquette. Led by a star-making performance from Claire Foy (Wolf Hall) and backed by an ensemble primed to fill Emmy categories, The Crown surely marks Netflix’s strongest push to date into the realm of prestige drama. Six seasons…

For the past five years, Hugh Grant has been on hiatus, taking a break from film to focus on his work with Hacked Off, an organization fighting for stricter press laws in the U.K., after the scandal surrounding the News of the World and its hacking of citizens and stars (including him). During that same period, he also became a father — four times over. But a role opposite Meryl Streep in Stephen Frears’ Florence Foster Jenkins was an offer too good to refuse. Now the Brit, 56, known for such films as Notting Hill and Bridget Jones’s Diary, is receiving kudos for his return to the screen, including best supporting actor honors at the Hollywood Film Awards on Nov. 6 (hosted by James Corden). “It’s a novel experience for…

Never mind A-list actors. The latest battleground in the talent agency wars might be mixed martial arts. In July, WME-IMG acquired UFC for nearly $4 billion. That came on the heels of CAA Sports signing top UFC stars Cain Velasquez, Rory MacDonald, T.J. Dillashaw and Tim Kennedy as well as MMA coach Firas Zahabi. That puts CAA in the awkward position of negotiating for clients with a league owned by its biggest rival. But observers wonder if CAA’s push is an effort to undercut WME’s purchase. After all, some 90 UFC fighters banded together to unionize in August — a move that presumably could put a dent in WME’s profits (UFC had been a cash cow thanks to fighters enjoying only a small cut of revenue, unlike other unionized sports).…

Weddings Christine D’Souza, an agent at WME in its film finance & distribution group, married David Gelb, producer and director of Netflix’s documentary series Chef’s Table, on Oct. 1 at the Elms Mansion in New Orleans. The couple honeymooned at The Brando on Tetiaroa Island, French Polynesia. Birthdays NOV. 3 Kate Capshaw, 63 Davis Guggenheim, 53 NOV. 4 Anne Sweeney, 59 NOV. 5 Tilda Swinton, 56 NOV. 6 Sally Field, 70 Thandie Newton, 44 ← Emma Stone, 28 NOV. 8 Parker Posey, 48 1 D’Souza and Gelb 2 Ruby Courtney 3 Massee Births Miramax head of film David Thwaites and wife Meghan welcomed daughter Ruby Courtney Thwaites on Oct. 4 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A. Paul Reaney and Scott Weiner, co-presidents of Green Couch Entertainment, welcomed son Louie Graham…

No one would ever mistake Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick for a couple of trolls, but since they voice the lead characters in DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls, which Fox will release Nov. 4, the filmmakers had to consider their offscreen personalities. The film is based on the wellknown doll franchise introduced in 1959 by Danish woodcutter Thomas Dam — and that provided the film’s creative team with a relatively blank slate. “All we had was these little characters with colorful hair; there were no defined characters,” says director Mike Mitchell, who worked on DWA’s Shrek Forever After. Production designer Kendal Cronkhite-Shaindlin says a decision was made to maintain the handmade “ugly-cute” look of the dolls with the “stubby, rounded shape and asymmetrical teeth and mouth.” Poppy, the protagonist who is voiced…

Wang Jianlin, China’s richest man, normally doesn’t go to the movies. He does, however, make one exception — for his 90-year-old mother. Their trips to the cinema are the rare occasions each year when the notoriously driven chairman of Chinese real estate conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group fully checks out from work. “I won’t be disturbed at all,” he says emphatically. “Because the time is to be spent with my mom. Filial piety is an important Chinese virtue.” This may come as a surprise to Hollywood. After all, Wang has aggressively — some might say relentlessly — positioned himself at the forefront of China’s unprecedented push into the U.S. entertainment sector. After splashing out $2.6 billion for the acquisition of North American theater chain AMC Entertainment in 2013, Wanda methodically has…

Pick a ZIP code in Los Angeles, and you’ll likely find a real estate development project that involves a Chinese company. From downtown to the Valley to the Westside, multibillion-dollar projects in various phases of completion are being overseen and financed by Chinese developers and banks. “In the beginning they wanted the best locations possible, but that has expanded into other markets,” says CBRE’s Laurie Lustig-Bower, who has worked extensively with Chinese developers. “They move very quickly.” The volume of projects has been a boon for the local economy, but a recent slowdown in China’s economy and a real estate bubble back home have made some observers wary. Some fear a situation similar to that in 1990, when Japan’s five-year real estate binge in California crashed to a halt after…

Be prepared to drink — a lot There was a time when gaining access to any business sector in China entailed lengthy, multicourse banquets with government bureaucrats, where bonds were formed and wills were tested through competitive binge-drinking. Those days are approaching their twilight as the Chinese film industry professionalizes, but some of that culture lives on. “I have been told the Chinese feel that the true person comes out when drunk,” says producer Bill Borden (The Mermaid). “When I was doing my first movie in China, [2003’s] The Medallion, I was seduced into trying to keep up at dinner with round after round of toasts, where downing whole glasses of Lafite Rothschild was the sport. I remember the evening, which is amazing, but I think it took me a…

Watch out, these are hot mics!” Those were Darren Aronofsky’s tongue-incheek words of caution as he and the producers of some of the year’s most acclaimed and anticipated films gathered in a Los Angeles studio Oct. 21 to speak of the art and craft of their jobs, just days after news broke about the Billy Bush-Donald Trump tape. For Aronofsky, 47, better known as a director (Black Swan), producing Jackie marked a switch of roles, just as producing Manchester by the Sea was for movie star Matt Damon, 46. But one could say it was a change for many of these established professionals, several of whom had worked together before: Frank Marshall, 70 (Sully), produced the Bourne films with Damon, who also worked on The Departed with Emma Tillinger Koskoff,…

With Oscar nominations for his work on Martin Scorsese’s operatic Raging Bull and the Harrison Ford thriller The Fugitive, cinematographer Michael Chapman, 80, will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography, Camerimage, which runs Nov. 12 to 19 in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Chapman describes Camerimage as “summer camp” for cinematographers, an annual gathering where the elite and novice meet and share stories. The legend shared a few stories of his own with THR, recalling some of the most iconic films that he’s shot. How did your work as an actor and as a director on such films as All the Right Moves contribute to your work as a cinematographer? I did tiny parts here and there. There’s an enormous amount…