Innholdsfortegnelse for August 4, 2021 i The Hollywood Reporter

Big Tech is driving an advertising resurgence as the country emerges from a tumultuous pandemic year that saw companies hit the brakes on their usual marketing blitzes. For the second quarter of 2021, Facebook, Alphabet, Amazon, Twitter and Snap smashed Wall Street expectations and delivered record-breaking revenue largely driven by advertising. Even big players like Apple and Spotify, which previously have not focused much attention on ads, found the revenue growth “impossible to ignore,” as Spotify CEO Daniel Ek described it during the music streamer’s quarterly earnings call July 28. “Admittedly, this is an area where I previously didn’t spend much time,” Ek said, noting that ads used to account for less than 10 percent of Spotify’s total revenue. “It’s now safe to say it’s becoming a second big revenue driver…

The View Was Exhausting (GRAND CENTRAL, JULY 6) BY Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta AGENCY ICM The book is a Hollywood romance like HBO Max’s Starstruck. It follows an A-list actress and playboy jet-setter who keep up a fake on-again, off-again relationship to distract the media when they need it. But then they start to fall for each other. The Scapegoat (MACMILLAN, MARCH 2) BY Sara Davis AGENCY WME This Lynchian mystery centers on an employee at a California university who investigates the death of his estranged father. The case leads him to a fringe academic group and experiences of daytime hallucinations that blur the imagined with reality.…

When British filmmaker Lucy Walker moved to Los Angeles in 2008, she was struck by a seasonal phenomenon many residents of the Western U.S. had come to accept as normal: raging and increasingly deadly wildfires. “I was thinking, ‘Why is nobody making a film about this?’ ” says Walker, who lives in Venice. Armed with the curiosity of an outsider, Walker, who earned an Oscar nomination for her 2010 feature documentary Waste Land, about an artist who scavenges at a massive landfill in Rio, already had raised some financing from online education pioneer Lynda Weinman to make a documentary on the 2017 Thomas Fire. Suddenly, two horrifying new California case studies arrived almost simultaneously in November 2018, the Camp Fire in the Northern California town of Paradise and the Woolsey…

How Sunset Tower Has Responded to a Crush of Bad Behavior Sunset Tower, beloved stomping ground for A-listers, is dealing with a crisis that has become all too familiar as of late. “People have been terrible,” says hotel owner Jeff Klein. “It’s always first-timers, and they’ve been disgusting and awful to my employees. You would think that after all we have been through together, people would be kinder.” Tensions have escalated, so much so that some guests have been asked to leave or been escorted out by security. In response, Klein commissioned a painting from artist Donald Robertson that has been hung near the host stand and placed in menus and on Instagram. “Rude guests will be eaten whole,” it says. “This is Hollywood after all!” When customers lose their…

The Quick Pitch Manhattan Beach is now home to a new dining destination after Esperanza Cocina de la Playa’s July 29 opening, which saw chef Raymond Alvarez and head mixologists John Fox and Kevin Williams launch their modern interpretations of traditional Sonoran cuisine with an expertly crafted bar program. With a Mexico-inspired design by Icelandic architect Gulla Jónsdóttir and a menu ranging from street tacos to five different ceviches, aguachiles and tartares, the South Bay spot is open nightly. On Fridays and Saturdays, it transforms into late night cocktail lounge EZ After Dark.…

Every time there is a highly visible civil rights push in America, reporters ask me for my reaction. I know they’re looking for a feel-good quote that will assure white America that the country has turned the corner and racism is on the run. However, having been in the midst of many highly visible civil rights protests for the past 50 years, my reaction is always the same: cautious optimism. Despite moments of intense jubilation and uplifting triumph, I’ve watched the movement ebb and flow, sometimes like thunderous waves crashing a rocky precipice, other times like tired waves lapping a quiet beach. Exhilaration gives way to exhaustion, and hopes that things have finally changed give way to the sad realities of just how entrenched systemic racism is. It’s been a…

In the middle of the pandemic, I was living in Los Angeles when my husband and I formed a pod with two of our other really close friends — Jamie-Lynn Sigler and her husband, Cutter Dykstra, and Haylie Duff and her husband, Matt Rosenberg. We had been chatting about how we’ve been able to do all our work remotely and were getting fatigued of L.A. I was really fed up with the traffic, and it’s hard to stumble upon people who don’t work in the entertainment industry, and just the thought of raising a family in L.A. seemed daunting — it’s so expensive. I also just shot a TV series in Vancouver, which was the fourth thing I’ve filmed outside L.A., so it wasn’t like things are shooting in L.A.…

Shawn Levy is sipping iced coffee with a hint of milk on a scorching hot summer day in Boston. The industrious director-producer is in town with Ryan Reynolds to host a private cast-and-crew screening of their upcoming film Free Guy for the locals at the AMC Boston Common. It has been a long journey for the Disney tentpole, which shot in the city more than two years ago and has seen its release plan scuttled three times because of COVID-19. Given the long wait, Levy was intent on celebrating Free Guy’s release with the people who worked on it behind the scenes, even if studios rarely throw such bashes. “Shawn takes time to see people, and that is everything,” says Reynolds. “I don’t care if you’re a PA, you work…

Among the seven Emmy-nominated comedy directors this year, two earned noms for directing multicamera sitcoms: James Burrows for B-Positive and James Widdoes for Mom. While neither CBS show earned a series mention, Burrows’ and Widdoes’ noms are meaningful. At a time when single-camera comedies earn prestige, the multicam format continues to be successful not only on broadcast lineups but also on streamers, which have used the nostalgic charms of classic multicam sitcoms to lure subscribers of all generations. Burrows is an 11-time Emmy winner with Will & Grace, Cheers and Taxi on his résumé, while actor-turned-director Widdoes has earned his first nom after directing 123 episodes across Mom’s eight seasons. They spoke to THR about viewers’ fickle (yet enduring) relationship with the multicam comedy. How did you get your start…

Let’s set aside for a moment the question of whether Scarlett Johansson has a legal leg to stand on in her fight with Disney over her compensation for Black Widow. Let’s even say she doesn’t, and that she is — as Disney has publicly contended — greedy and indifferent to the horrors of the pandemic. It doesn’t matter. Because even if all that were true, industry insiders agree, attacking Johansson so personally was a pretty spectacular unforced error. And many observers are laying that at the feet of CEO Bob Chapek (with an assist from reflexively vindictive top communications officer Zenia Mucha and with approval from the lawyers). The person who isn’t getting the blame? Outgoing chairman Bob Iger. “Somebody’s playing it like an amateur,” says one former Disney executive.…

The Writers Guild of America East triggered a surge of intra-union activism in Hollywood in June 2020 when it called for the major labor federation AFL-CIO to disassociate from a police union in its ranks. The effort was one tangible way, these workers felt at the time, that they could choose to fight for racial justice within the entertainment industry. Not long after, amid protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd, rank-and-file members of SAG-AFTRA and IATSE attempted to follow suit, starting petitions and organizing meetings with the goal of disaffiliating the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA) from the federation. Organized workers also formed the IATSE Members for Racial Justice group and SEIU Drop the Cops, which aims to persuade the union that represents some Disneyland workers to…

Relevant Group, developer of Hollywood’s Dream Hotel, is betting big on the neighborhood, which suffered from a loss of tourism during the pandemic. In recent weeks, though, the area has seen pedestrian activity reach 80 percent of pre-lockdown numbers. Now, Relevant is launching its second Hollywood hotel, the Thompson (1541 Wilcox Ave., thompsonhotels.com), after dealing with COVID-19 and general contractor delays. The 11-story hotel includes 190 guest rooms (from $399 a night); restaurant Mes Amis, helmed by chef Lincoln Carson (whose acclaimed Bon Temps closed in DTLA during the pandemic); and the rooftop Bar Lis and pool. “The Dream brought a velvet rope type of feel,” says Relevant’s Grant King. “[With] the Thompson Hollywood, you’ll see that we stepped up our game on sophistication, which will bring a level of…

After its Cannes bow, Focus Features’ Stillwater had its NYC premiere July 26 at Lincoln Center with stars Matt Damon and Abigail Breslin, director Tom McCarthy and supporters Jason Blum and Chris Meloni. Ahead of his turn as an Oklahoma oil worker in the thriller (and an uproar over an interview describing his past casual use of a homophobic slur, which he later clarified), Damon spent time in the Midwest. “I [came] away feeling like what binds us is so much greater than what divides us.” Got tips? Email rambling@thr.com…

Weddings Melissa Shakun, art director at Saturday Night Live, married Lee Meltzer, director at Rogers & Cowan PMK, on July 15 at the Castle Hill Inn in Newport, Rhode Island. The couple wed in front of 35 friends and family members with more than 150 guests joining virtually via Zoom. Issa Rae married longtime boyfriend Louis Diame in the South of France, she announced via Instagram on July 26. Births Kate Nexon, executive vp domestic television and digital sales at Lionsgate, and Bradley Singer, a television agent at WME, welcomed Paige Nexon Singer on July 7. Wrestlers and All Elite Wrestling execs Brandi and Cody Rhodes welcomed daughter Liberty Iris Runnels on June 18 in Atlanta. Congrats Vicki Dummer was named head of current programming at Warner Bros. Television on…

It’s absolutely insane,” marvels Jared Padalecki. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. It’s growth and expansion on a turbocharger. You’re just going like … whoa.” That the Walker actor might struggle a bit to express the seismic changes to Austin over the past year is perfectly understandable. The Texas capital has undergone a pandemic influx unlike anywhere else in the country thanks to a flood of invading tech companies (Samsung, Oracle) along with quarantine-exhausted, remote-working transplants from major cities seeking a lifestyle upgrade — including some notable actors who, like Padalecki (an Austin resident since 2010), suddenly decided that the Texas Hill Country was more alluring than the Hollywood Hills. Elon Musk might have called it. The mogul — who is opening a Tesla gigafactory the size of 138 football…

At the beginning of Peak TV, the industry’s visionaries were pushing the envelopes, challenging their audiences to follow along with complex characters and antiheroes whose choices were shocking and maddening — and made for great TV. If one thinks of an auteur as someone who writes, creates and sometimes directs a vision so compelling as to be the “author” of it — with a minor mea culpa to the film industry — TV’s auteurs have transformed serial storytelling. And as impressive as those creators (and their creations) were, their antiheroes have often moved through their worlds as pale and male as the visionaries who brought them into being. The current crop of auteur-driven TV reflects an industrywide effort to bring more voices and stories to audiences. And in a year…

We need to find a name for the increasingly common phenomenon of format-breaking stand-alone episodes in which primary characters are set aside so audiences can see the world through the eyes of a supporting character or a new set of characters entirely. It should probably be named, in some way, after Netflix’s Master of None, which did this with Lena Waithe’s character in the “Thanksgiving” episode (season two) — and then, when Waithe’s Denise became the star in season three, did it again with Naomi Ackie’s character in a standout episode revolving around IVF. It’s a genre of episodes that includes “GaTa” from Dave, “Andre and Sarah” from Forever and “A Dark Quiet Death” from Mythic Quest. The best-case scenario is that in expanding its perspective, the show gains in…

Producing partners Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato met as freshmen on the first day at New York University film school in the early 1980s. First impressions are everything, and so were their outfits. Bailey, from the coastal English town of Gosport, was wearing diamond earrings and skin-tight fluorescent leopard pants and had his hair in a bun. Barbato, of Boonton, New Jersey, was wearing a hand-painted T-shirt featuring the face of Marcia Brady. “Randy said, ‘I like your pants,’ and I said, ‘I like your T-shirt,’ ” recalls Bailey. “We were both lying.” Still, the ensembles telegraphed a shared punk-rock-meets-pop-culture sensibility that cemented their relationship. “What became very clear in that moment was that we were outsiders in the film program and we became instant friends and collaborators,” he adds. “We’ve…

The results of a late July poll on movie-going confidence levels were alarming. The National Research Group survey, closely watched by studios, showed that the overall comfort level had tumbled from a pandemic-era high of 81 percent to 72 percent in the span of just three weeks amid the delta variant. Moms appeared to be the most concerned about taking a trip to the multiplex, with their comfort index tumbling from 75 percent to 59 percent. Behind the scenes, Paramount wasted no time in responding to the mom factor. On July 30, the studio pulled family film Clifford the Big Red Dog from its planned Sept. 13 release in theaters following a gala premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. The move sparked speculation as to whether other event films planned…

It’s hard to pinpoint the scariest part about writing WandaVision. There was the fact that I had never run a room before, or even been staffed on a TV show. There was the tonal high-wire act of the premise itself: a superhero sitcom that is also a meditation on grief. There was the pressure of creating one of the first original TV shows for Marvel Studios and the soon-to-be-launched Disney+ platform. And perhaps the most daunting element of all: My kids were ages 2 and 4 at the time I was hired. I had no idea how I was going to do this job. But there was no way I was turning it down. Every showrunner I discreetly approached for a cheat sheet told me to run it how I…

Big Deal Few in Hollywood were surprised when Sony Pictures Entertainment said July 28 that it was once again reupping movie studio chief Tom Rothman’s contract. And, heaping on extra icing to the ceremonial occasion, CEO was added to his title. (From here on, he’s officially chairman-CEO of SPE’s Motion Picture Group). In a time of upheaval for major film studios, Rothman’s commitment to fiscal responsibility — and his ability to get talent to go along with him — has earned him enviable job security. His style is also known to be provocative. Since joining Sony in 2015, Rothman has relaunched Jumanji as a franchise, reinvigorated the Spider-Man series and built a Venom spinoff brand as well as lauded originals like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Insiders say SPE…

SOHO HOUSE The members-only social club known for drawing stars to its splashy locations in L.A., London and New York has chosen Austin for its first Texas outpost. Situated between downtown and South Austin, the club opened in June with amenities that include 46 hotel rooms, a rooftop pool (above), a screening room and restaurant. “It was an obvious city for us — so many of our members were moving there from the West or East Coast,” explains Soho House founder Nick Jones. “Not only is it a great city in its own right, it’s got so much culture [and] great people.” 1101 South Congress Ave., sohohouse.com LUTIE’S Interior designer Ken Fulk, whose clients include Pharrell Williams, conceptualized the glamorous space for Lutie’s, the new garden restaurant at Auberge Resorts’…

Like Peacock’s Rutherford Falls before it, FX on Hulu’s Reservation Dogs is a triumph of Indigenous representation on both sides of the camera. But whereas Rutherford Falls used actor/co-creator Ed Helms to draw in a mainstream audience, Reservation Dogs lacks star power, simply occupying its corner of the world with lived-in charm. And guess what? These two shows don’t need to be pitted against each other. You should watch both. Reservation Dogs isn’t entirely without big names. Jojo Rabbit Oscar winner Taika Waititi co-created the series with Sterlin Harjo, who directed the pilot and wrote three of the four half-hour episodes sent to critics. But what really stands out here is a location you’ve never seen before on TV and an astonishing cast of newcomers without a weak link among…

72.8 MILLION Spotify plays from RuPaul track “Sissy That Walk,” heavily featured in the series 11.1 MILLION Instagram followers for the five most-followed contestants, with season 6 winner Bianca Del Rio ranking No. 1 2 MILLION+ Prize money the franchise has handed out since 2009, bolstering the historically low-paying drag industry 532 Episodes to-date across original series, spinoffs and international versions 48 Emmy nominations since 2015, with 19 wins and counting…

The journey to The Suicide Squad, the latest blockbuster from director James Gunn, out Aug. 6, can be traced to a much more modestly budgeted, and surely disgusting, film from 2006. An irreverent homage to gross-out sci-fi horror flicks, Slither was supposed to be a spec script for Gunn, who’d found success in Hollywood as the screenwriter of a string of early 2000s hits like Scooby-Doo and Dawn of the Dead. “I wrote Slither pretty quickly and went to two different [production companies] on a Thursday night. By Friday, both made offers,” Gunn tells THR. The more aggressive of the two was Gold Circle Films — the indie film company that made it big in 2002 with My Big Fat Greek Wedding — whose president, Paul Brooks, insisted that Gunn…