Innholdsfortegnelse for Wednesday, September 16, 2020 i The Hollywood Reporter

Until COVID-19 struck, Mayor Annette Blackwell felt like her city of Maple Heights, Ohio, had finally gotten on its feet again. The 2008 home mortgage crisis had delivered a financial wallop to this suburb that’s 15 miles outside of Cleveland. It witnessed thousands of bank foreclosures as well as numerous property tax delinquencies. Ohio’s state auditor declared a fiscal emergency. Maple Heights was finally set to escape the clutches of state officials by achieving the goals of a mandated recovery plan when the budget-busting pandemic came along. Blackwell knew she needed to do something bold. “I began looking for every opportunity to bring in revenue,” says Blackwell, whose epiphany resulted from a local business owner sharing a news story about TV streamers. “I read up. Then I called our law…

Intentional or not, Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman-CEO Tony Vinciquerra set off a maelstrom when addressing the state of the box office at a Sept. 9 Bank of America investors conference. “What we won’t want to do is make the mistake of putting a very, very expensive $200 million movie on the market unless we’re sure theaters are open and operating at a significant capacity,” he said. The comment was considered poor form by those working in the fragile Hollywood ecosystem who are once again trying to release big movies in actual theaters amid the pandemic. Yet Vinciquerra underscored what is fast becoming apparent: The U.S. box office recovery has been derailed as Christopher Nolan’s Tenet stalls domestically, key moviegoing markets such as Los Angeles and New York City remain dark…

When the Academy unveiled its inclusion standards for Oscar eligibility Sept. 8 — requiring films to meet diversity criteria to qualify for best picture starting in 2024 — the official line was that they had been “inspired by” the British Film Institute’s Diversity Standards, which BAFTA has applied to two of its awards categories, outstanding British film and outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer, since 2019. First piloted by the BFI in 2014, the Diversity Standards were introduced for any film applying to the BFI Film Fund, before being adopted by the U.K.’s other main funding bodies, BBC Films and Film4. “We felt we wanted to tackle the four key areas of the industry where we could really address underrepresentation,” says BFI head of inclusion Jen Smith,…

Big Deal In a turning point for an entrenched war, talks between CAA and the Writers Guild of America intensified Sept. 14 on terms of a new agreement to allow the major talent agency to represent scribes for the first time in nearly a year and a half. The Century City-based CAA, led by president Richard Lovett, said that it would sign a deal similar to what ICM Partners unveiled with the guild Aug. 5, when the firm agreed to sunset the longstanding practice of packaging fees in two years. Additionally, CAA said that it would look to comply and reduce its ownership stake in film and production company wiip to 20 percent. At issue appears to be the timeline for compliance on CAA downsizing its stake in wiip, which…

The directing team Bush + Renz — that would be Gerard Bush, 47, and Christopher Renz, 39, partners in life and work — were well into preproduction on their first feature, the psychological thriller Antebellum, when they learned they’d have to face a DGA tribunal. “We did not realize that 95 percent of the time they deny duos,” explains Renz. Reality quickly set in: They would have one shot to convince the guild they were duo-worthy. If they blew it, there went their Hollywood dreams. The former advertising creative execs had met a dozen years earlier at a party in Miami, where they both lived. Bush recalls spotting Renz — “Back then, he was 120 pounds wet” he says — getting into a scuffle with a burly security guard who…

1. CHLOË GRACE MORETZ Shadow in the Cloud This Midnight Madness program entry from director Roseanne Liang promises pulpy fun and a showcase for Moretz, who plays a World War II pilot contending with the chauvinism of her male crewmates and a mysterious entity that threatens the mission. THR’s John DeFore calls the film “an absolute blast for those with a high ridiculousness tolerance.” Moretz was photographed remotely Sept. 10 in Los Angeles. 2. LONNIE CHAVIS The Water Man “The leader of this set was wonderful, he was fantastic,” says the 12-year-old Chavis — photographed in person — of working with David Oyelowo, who made his first directing foray with this fantasy quest tale. “It was something out of this world for him to be an actor and also be…

AMMONITE (Toronto) Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan play emotionally isolated mid-19th century British women of different classes opening themselves up to passion in Francis Lee’s (God’s Own Country) exquisite, transfixingly quiet drama. This is the work of a filmmaker in full command of his voice, yielding remarkable performances — especially Winslet’s complex study of stoicism and desire, possibly the best turn of her career. — DAVID ROONEY APPLES (Venice, Toronto) Debuting Greek director Christos Nikou creates an arresting account of one man’s efforts to reprogram himself in a society afflicted by viral amnesia. Somber and surreal, this is a haunting, meticulously crafted movie with a wonderful central performance by Aris Servetalis, who seems affectless but uncovers layers of feeling. — D.R. CITY HALL (Venice, Toronto) At a time when America…

Brian Roberts The Comcast CEO says streaming service Peacock has reached more than 15 million signups after hitting the 10 million mark at the end of July. Jimmy Pitaro In an unwelcome sign for the ESPN chief, ABC’s primetime Sept. 12 college football match drew about 3.5 million people, down 32 percent from the 2019 average. Jennifer Witz SiriusXM names the 18-year company veteran as CEO, succeeding Jim Meyer, who will transition to vice chairman Dec. 31. Jean-Guillaume Trottier The global president of Jo Malone London sees John Boyega walk as brand ambassador as the company apologizes for recutting and replacing the actor in an ad for China’s market. Showbiz Stocks $30.13 (+4.6%) VIACOMCBS (VIAC) Investors react well to the rebrand of CBS All Access to Paramount+, which, combined with…

In a time when organizations in every industry are attempting to publicly display their “wokeness,” the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced new inclusion standards for Oscar eligibility in the best picture category. On their face, these standards appear to move the needle with respect to issues of diversity in film. (For example: At least one of the lead actors or supporting actors must be from an underrepresented group. Alternatively, 30 percent of secondary roles must be from at least two underrepresented groups, or the film’s themes must be centered on underrepresented communities.) The standards purport to require filmmakers who want their films to be considered in this category to be intentional with respect to who works on the film, both in front of and behind the…

FILM Harry Styles (CAA, Full Stop) will star in Olivia Wilde’s New Line feature Don’t Worry Darling alongside Florence Pugh and Chris Pine. Lovecraft Country’s Jonathan Majors (CAA, Management 360, Jackoway Austen) will play Kang the Conqueror in Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man 3. Sandra Oh (UTA, Principal, Hansen Jacobson) and Michelle Yeoh (Artist International) have joined Henry Golding in the voice cast of The Tiger’s Apprentice, Paramount Animation’s adaptation of the children’s book. Julianne Moore (WME, Management 360, Edelstein Laird) will play Ben Platt’s mother in Universal’s adaptation of the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen. Game Night’s Mark Perez (ICM, Hansen Jacobson) will write an adaptation of horror comic book Stray Dogs for Paramount Animation. Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones (UTA, the U.K.’s Hamilton Hodell) will star in Legendary thriller Fresh. Jamie…

Engagements Mrs. Fletcher actress and trans activist Jen Richards became engaged to Rebekah Cheyne, a senior media producer and faculty associate at Arizona State University, on Aug. 9. Cheyne proposed on the edge of Arizona’s Mogollon Rim during a camping trip. Births Haley Hileman, a publicist at Viewpoint PR, and husband Sky Hileman welcomed son Redford Reid Hileman on June 8 at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana hospital in Los Angeles. Rebecca Ford, senior awards editor at THR, and husband Harry Buerkle, a voice director, welcomed daughter Kyra Meichi Buerkle on Aug. 26 at Good Samaritan Hospital in L.A. Congrats Pearlena Igbokwe was named chairman of NBCUniversal’s Content Studios on Sept. 9, with Bonnie Hammer becoming vice chairman and former Warner Bros. TV president Susan Rovner taking over as NBCUniversal’s top entertainment…

Stylist Elizabeth Stewart hopes that an ultra-chic bride will place the winning bid for the Alexander McQueen “exploding ruffle” dress worn by Cate Blanchett at the 2020 Venice Film Festival, while Tilda Swinton’s Chanel coat also could spark a bidding frenzy. “My personal dream dress is the fringe Prada that Katherine Waterston wore,” she adds. Stewart is among the organizers of RAD at Venice, an online auction of looks worn by those stars and more at the fest. The event is the result of a partnership between Stewart and her charity, Chic Relief, with RAD (Red Carpet Advocacy), an initiative founded by costume designer Arianne Phillips and marketing veteran Carineh Martin. With bidding open from Sept. 23 to Oct. 2, sale proceeds benefit U.N. Women, which promotes female empowerment, and…

Chris Rock signed on to star in the fourth installment of FX’s Fargo before creator Noah Hawley had written a single word. Rock’s “yes,” which was immediate and emphatic, had everything to do with the quality of what had come before — specifically, the show’s nuanced treatment of another Black character, season two’s mob henchman Mike Milligan, played to perfection by Bokeem Woodbine. “No matter how good somebody is, you don’t know how they’re going to handle Black,” says Rock, noting that writers and directors too often “cut corners” when they’re not in their comfort zone. “I knew that wasn’t going to happen here because that character was so Black, but not one ounce of it was stereotypical.” Rock would come to feel the same way about his character, Loy…

In early March, Gillian Flynn was traveling back and forth every other week between an editing suite in Los Angeles and her home in Chicago. As the creator and showrunner of Amazon’s hotly anticipated drama Utopia, she had been overseeing every aspect of the series about a group of young adults who become the target of a shadowy deep state organization — from casting to the minutia (“looking at 24 different ashtrays to decide which one is used to smash a cellphone in a scene,” she says). But the detail-oriented writer, who penned all eight episodes, overlooked one big thing. “We were aware of this virus, but we were all such dumb Americans that we’re like, ‘Obviously, that’s not going to affect us.’ It seemed very far away. I’m like,…

On Sept. 9, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos gathered employees for a virtual town hall to explain the rationale behind a shocking TV executive shake-up. He had decided to promote Bela Bajaria to vp global television and say goodbye to his longtime right hand Cindy Holland, he told staffers, because he wanted to streamline the reporting process within the TV group. The Netflix rank and file — as well as a group of senior leaders with whom Sarandos met before the town hall — were devastated by the sudden change in leadership. Holland, after all, had worked alongside Sarandos at Netflix for nearly 20 years, and many considered her the obvious choice to one day take over for her boss as chief content officer. But as Sarandos looks to Netflix’s future,…

As Hollywood reckons with systemic racism, two new annual studies take a closer look at racial and gender representation. The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s Sept. 10 report examined the top 100 grossing feature films in 2019, finding no meaningful increase in Black, Hispanic/Latino or Asian speaking characters in these titles year-over-year. Only 34.3 percent of the 57,629 characters in top films were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. The number of female feature directors did reach a high last year, with 12 helming movies among the top 100 grossers, compared with five female directors in 2018. Yet by and large, gains in film remained minimal or largely stagnant. “The overall ecosystem of cinematic storytelling is still one in which girls, women and people of color are marginalized and minimized,” noted Professor Stacy L.…

Deal of the Week On Sept. 13, TikTok user Eliana Ghen posted a video — which hit 1.5 million views — where she screamed into the camera, “TikTok sold, you guys! That means we’re not going anywhere!” Technically, TikTok owner ByteDance isn’t planning to sell the popular app. Instead, it has tapped Oracle as its tech partner in the U.S. But her sentiment was echoed by others who were thrilled that a ban may have been averted. “We’ve seen apps come and go before, but never have we seen one potentially go away in such a dramatic, enforced manner,” says Maxwell Mitcheson, who works with many TikTokers as head of talent at management firm TalentX. It’s not guaranteed that President Donald Trump won’t still ban TikTok on Sept. 20, the…

Rep Sheet Brian Austin Green, who starred in Fox’s reboot of Beverly Hills, 90210, has signed with APA. U.K. podcast production startup Noiser has signed with WME. Real Housewife of NYC Leah McSweeney, who starred on season 12, has signed with WME. Matt Graham, founder of management company BRND MGMT, joins newly launched firm Range Media to lead its music division. THR, Esq. SETTLED Universal’s Hobbs & Shaw profit fight. WHY IT MATTERS On Sept. 10, Universal and Fast & Furious producer Neal Moritz agreed to terms over profits from spinoff Hobbs & Shaw, which grossed $759 million globally. The undisclosed settlement occurred days after Moritz prevailed Sept. 2 at an appeals court over whether the case would be openly litigated. The court shot down the studio’s attempt to move…

“Bro, while Trump is in office there is nothing you could possibly do to embarrass yourself.”MARK RUFFALO The actor, on Twitter, reacting to frequent co-star Chris Evans accidentally posting an Instagram video that featured what appeared to be an NSFW full-frontal self-portrait. “I know she feels like she’s standing up for feminism, but I don’t get it.”CYNTHIA NIXON The actress, to The Independent, addressing author J.K. Rowling’s continued transphobic comments and how they’ve affected her transgender son. “We were told that we couldn’t be on the cover of the magazine because we were Black and we would not sell.”TIA MOWRY-HARDRICT The actress, to Entertainment Tonight, describing the discrimination she and twin Tamera faced while starring in the ’90s sitcom Sister, Sister. “I decided to make this film and sound an…

After remaining tight-lipped about viewership for years, Netflix unleashed a treasure trove of information when it debuted daily top 10 rankings in February. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in April that the lists are “very helpful for people who want to be part of the conversation.” They’ve also become crucial to understanding which of the hundreds of titles that come onto Netflix each year are resonating with its 193 million subscribers. So The Hollywood Reporter spent three months tracking the U.S. top 10 list (which combines film and TV titles), focusing on the June through August period when many Americans were at home and streaming because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Little surprise, Netflix originals — which get prime promotion inside the app — dominated, making up more than two-thirds of the…

Carl Reiner, the comedy giant who died June 29 at age 98, was in a pretty good place when he won his first Emmy in 1957. “I owned an affordable home on Bonnie Meadow Road in New Rochelle, had a good marriage, good kids and was gainfully employed,” Reiner wrote in his 2003 memoir, My Anecdotal Life. That gainful employment involved serving as wingman to Sid Caesar on Caesar’s Hour, the sketch comedy program that aired live on NBC from 1954 to 1957. It was a follow-up to Caesar’s groundbreaking Your Show of Shows, which also aired live on NBC and featured Reiner, Mel Brooks and Neil Simon as writers. “I was a trusted member of the creative team,” Reiner wrote, “which gave me access to Sid’s ear, into which…