Innholdsfortegnelse for May 5, 2021 i The Hollywood Reporter

Kevin Merida After being courted by Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, the ESPN executive lands the top editor job at the paper, succeeding Norman Pearlstine. Daniel Ek While Spotify ended its latest quarter with 158 million paid subscribers, the CEO said its 356 million total active monthly users were “below our internal expectations.” The Weeknd/Ariana Grande A remix of “Save Your Tears” sends the original to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, with all versions drawing 30.4 million U.S. streams in the week ended April 29, per MRC Data. Jack Dorsey The Twitter CEO saw the platform miss analysts’ revenue expectations in the first quarter as daily active users rose slightly to 199 million. Showbiz Stocks $36.52 (+1.4%) DISCOVERY INC. (DISCA) A new carriage deal with Hulu will…

It took only 24 hours after Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round won the Oscar for best international feature April 25 before news of a remake broke. Appian Way, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson’s production company, together with Endeavor Content and Brad Weston’s Makeready, won the bidding war — beating out Jake Gyllenhaal and Riva Marker’s Nine Stories, as well as Elizabeth Banks, who was working with Universal Pictures — for the right to adapt Vinterberg’s Danish drinking dramedy into English. DiCaprio is eyed to star as a version of the character played by Mads Mikkelsen in the original: a high school history teacher who uses day-drinking as a means to escape his midlife crisis. Vinterberg gave his blessing and is on board to executive produce the remake, but the timing of…

FILM Ryan Reynolds and his Maximum Effort Productions (WME, Sloane Offer) have signed a three-year, first-look development deal with Paramount Pictures. Kumail Nanjiani (WME, Ziffren Brittenham) will star in and Andy Muschietti (UTA, Mosaic, Schreck Rose) will direct an adaptation of Edward Gorey’s The Doubtful Guest, with their wives, Emily V. Gordon and Barbara Muschietti, producing. Gal Gadot (WME, Sloane Offer) will star in the sci-fi romance Meet Me in Another Life from Wonder Woman producers Charles Roven and Richard Suckle. Dominique Fishback (WME, Management 360, Schreck Rose) has joined Anthony Ramos in Paramount’s latest Transformers film. Kaitlyn Dever (UTA, Felker Toczek) has joined Julia Roberts and George Clooney in Universal’s romcom Ticket to Paradise. Florence Pugh (CAA, the U.K.’s Curtis Brown, Brillstein, Ziffren Brittenham) will star in Sebastian Lelio’s…

Madhouse at the End of the Earth (CROWN, MAY 4) BY Julian Sancton AGENCY CAA The book tells the true survival story of an Antarctic expedition during the late 1800s that saw a crew battle 24 hours of darkness and isolation while trying to free themselves from the ice. Unlike 127Hours and The Revenant, this lends itself to an ensemble. Leda and the Swan (RIVERHEAD, MAY 4) BY Anna Caritj AGENCY WME After a wild college Halloween party, a girl dressed as a swan goes missing, and Leda — who talked to the girl before her disappearance but wakes up not remembering anything else about her night — becomes obsessed with finding out the truth.…

The view outside Susan Rovner’s 11th-floor corner office — a now-bustling Universal Studios and the surrounding San Fernando Valley — is not unlike her new job. There’s a lot to take in. The married mom of three, who spent the past 22 years at Warner Bros. supplying Hollywood with such massive hits as Watchmen, Gossip Girl and 2 Broke Girls, left her longtime home in October for the newly created role of chairman of entertainment content at NBCUniversal TV and Streaming. She now oversees a broadcast network (NBC), a streamer (Peacock) and a six-channel portfolio of cable networks. “There’s just so much programming coming at me,” says Rovner, settling into one of her new couches for what she thinks might be the first time. “It can be a bit like…

Bone Cuff Peretti’s best known design celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. This interpretation in 18-karat gold features hand-set green jade; $22,000 at Tiffany & Co., Beverly Hills Ear Clips A pair of Elsa Peretti for Tiffany & Co. circa 2000s ear clips, made in 18-karat yellow gold in a stylized heart shape; $1,830, at Sotheby’s, sothebys.com Mesh Collar Inspired by a trip to India, the designer’s fabric-like gold necklace features 66 brilliant-cut diamonds; $45,000, tiffany.com Vintage designs by Peretti (seen here in the early ’70s) are highly collectible: “Even the smallest curve makes the biggest impact,” says Christie’s jewelry specialist Caroline Ervin.…

The brief and undistinguished career of the eponymous girl group Girls5eva in Peacock’s latest series ran aground when the quintet’s new album was released with the single “Quit Flying Planes in My Heart” on Sept. 10, 2001. It was just as well: Girls5eva proclaimed they’d be young, famous and friends “five-ever,” but it was clear to all but its members that the group had a faster expiration date than the bandana top one of them wears on MTV’s TRL. But when their one hit is sampled by a present-day rapper, the surviving quartet — now in their 40s — reunite for another chance at pop stardom. At least in its first five episodes, Girls5eva doesn’t make clear how delusional we’re supposed to find these women, who scattered to the winds…

Deal of the Week As part of its IPO pitch, Endeavor leaned into the red-hot digital businesses of sports betting and direct-to-consumer streaming, but president Mark Shapiro says the company has no plans to stop there. If it is digital and it can generate revenue, Endeavor wants a piece of the action. “Whether it is NFTs or TikTok, we are going to be there, we are going to be in those spaces for our clients,” Shapiro tells THR. That focus on digital could help explain why Endeavor’s debut on the public markets April 29 was without drama. After a small IPO “pop,” shares have settled at $30.81 as of market close May 3, well above the $24 IPO price. In fact, other than a short-lived dip at noon on its…

Rep Sheet Titus Kaphar, the artist behind Time’s June 15 cover on George Floyd, signed with UTA. Emma Laird, who will star in Paramount+’s Mayor of Kingstown, signed with APA. Mark Tuan, a member of K-pop group GOT7, signed with CAA. Chris Tucker, star of the Rush Hour franchise, signed with ICM. Reggie Bush, Super Bowl champion and NFL analyst, signed with A3. THR, Esq. CASE Epic Games vs. Apple WHY IT MATTERS A high-stakes trial began May 3 in an antitrust dispute over fees charged in Apple’s App Store. Tim Sweeney-led Epic’s Fortnite was booted from the App Store after the game maker tried to dodge a 30 percent “tax” on in-app buys. The battle’s outcome could impact Hollywood as studios like Disney begin selling their films through their…

The Motion Picture & Television Fund is marking its 100th anniversary with a major fundraising push to raise $300 million to ensure that its social services are there for future generations. On April 29, longtime champion Jeffrey Katzenberg joined George Clooney, Jim Gianopulos, Yvette Nicole Brown and MPTF president and CEO Bob Beitcher on a virtual event to outline specifics. Katzenberg said $200 million will go toward the MPTF endowment, while the other $100 million will be invested in campus updates, including continued work on a children’s recreation center, the Kirk Douglas Care Pavilion and an expansion of living units. An upcoming “Auction of the Century” fundraiser (date TBD) will feature iconic Hollywood items. Clooney joked that he was going to request his Batman suit from Warner Bros. “because, you…

On the same January day that Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick locked the final episode of HBO’s recent docuseries Allen v. Farrow, a key witness surfaced. Since 2018, lead investigative producer Amy Herdy had been chasing Alison Strickland, a former nanny who had been in Mia Farrow’s Connecticut home on the 1992 day that 7-year-old Dylan Farrow was allegedly molested by her father, Woody Allen. After a series of dead ends in locating Strickland, Herdy had sent a snail-mail letter to the U.K. in 2020, and Strickland finally responded. It was too late to include her in the docuseries — but it wasn’t too late to interview her for the companion podcast that became an audio hit for HBO, reaching No. 2 on Apple’s film/TV charts. “We were so lucky…

Jeff Blume, a licensed psychologist based in Beverly Hills who has worked with creative talent in Hollywood for 30 years, spoke with THR about bullying in the entertainment world, how to address it, the culture that has encouraged it and coping mechanisms for people caught in abusive situations. How often do you see clients who have been bullied in Hollywood? Relatively frequently. And it happens to all, from assistants to people who are super famous. When they have a good reputation, a good name, it can be hard to say something because they don’t want to be seen as a victim or seen as someone who is causing trouble. There can be physical bullying, emotional bullying, sexual bullying and verbal bullying. What are the effects on people? It can be…

Big Deal After six years of trying to compete with Google and Facebook for a share of internet advertising, Verizon is getting out of the media business. The telecom giant is selling Yahoo, AOL and the remainder of its Verizon Media brands to the private equity firm Apollo Global Management in a $5 billion deal unveiled May 3. The new company will be called Yahoo and will continue to be run by CEO Guru Gowrappan. Verizon will retain a 10 percent stake in the new firm, and banking firm LionTree, which served as the lead financial adviser on the transaction, also will be an investor alongside Apollo. Under the terms of the deal, Apollo will pay Verizon $4.25 billion in cash and preferred interests of $750 million. Yahoo and AOL,…

I’m breathing for the first time in a long time,” reads the pinned tweet on Thuso Mbedu’s account. The 29-year-old South African actress wrote the words in February 2019, three months before it was made public that she’d landed the coveted role of Cora Randall in Barry Jenkins’ series adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground Railroad that debuts May 14 on Amazon (review on page 52). Playing an orphaned slave who escapes a Georgia plantation — which Mbedu does with a quiet ferocity—makes her the first South African to lead an American TV series. Before she won the part, “I prayed about it — I’m someone who believes in God,” she tells THR. “But to your friends, you seem crazy for having the dreams you have, for…

“Unless everyone is safe, no one is safe.”PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONASThe actress, on Instagram, announcing her fundraising campaign with Give India, with $750,000 and counting, to support the overwhelming second wave of COVID-19 infections in the country. “You never think about friends, loved ones leaving.”CHERThe singer and actress, on Twitter, paying homage to her late Moonstruck co-star Olympia Dukakis. “We have to protect girls’ sports in our schools.”CAITLYN JENNERThe former athlete and California gubernatorial candidate, to TMZ, arguing that trans girls should not be allowed to compete in girls’ sports. Her comments were met with strong backlash. “When you are pregnant, it’s very hard to hold your breath.”JODIE TURNER-SMITHThe actress, to Variety, joking about training for her action film, Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse, while pregnant with her first child. “Change happens…

Weddings Author Steven Rowley married author-playwright Byron Lane on April 1 at a home in Palm Springs. Screenwriter Erin Rodman officiated, and the couple toasted with champagne glasses that once belonged to Walt Disney. Births Producer Jason Blum and screenwriter Lauren Schuker Blum welcomed daughter Bette Sue Blum on April 27. Niki Kazakos, communications director at RadicalMedia, and Michael Shotton of Cantor Fitzgerald welcomed Julian James Shotton on Jan. 7 at Cedars-Sinai. Congrats ESPN’s Kevin Merida was hired as Los Angeles Times executive editor May 3. Shouzi Chew was named CEO of TikTok on April 30. Keith Le Goy was appointed chairman of distribution and networks at Sony on April 28. Keri Moore was promoted to president of marketing at STXfilms on April 29. Emily Vespa joined Kovert Creative as…

His laugh was so distinct and captivating. And his smile. It was filled with such genuine warmth that it would make anyone he encountered feel welcomed. It was just over six years ago that I met Chadwick, styling him on a photo shoot. He was about to start press for Get On Up, in which he played James Brown. I had a vision — I was going for a ’60s British mod aesthetic — of how I wanted to style him that day. I felt very passionate about it, that he should love it or at least get it. Thankfully, Chadwick not only understood what I wanted to accomplish, but he was equally excited and collaborative throughout the shoot. That same day he asked me to be a part of…

There are several versions of the story behind a series of promotional photos taken in 1951 of Marilyn Monroe wearing a potato sack dress. The best one involves a party at the Beverly Hills Hotel in which Monroe, then 24, allegedly showed up in a revealing red dress that a columnist declared “cheap and vulgar,” adding she would have been better served wearing “a potato sack.” The Twentieth Century Fox PR department then capitalized on the moment by putting her in one. The less colorful version of the story is that the studio was simply hoping to drum up some publicity by suggesting their starlet was so beautiful, she could even make a potato sack look good — which she indubitably does. What is for certain is that she was…