Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2, 2022 i The Hollywood Reporter

Sam Levinson The Euphoria creator’s Zendaya starrer nabs audiences for HBO not seen since Game of Thrones, its season two finale delivering 6.6 million first-night viewers. Dave Grohl The Foo Fighters’ horror comedy Studio 666, written by and starring the frontman, gambled with a 2,306-location theatrical bow but grossed only $1.5 million in its debut. Channing Tatum The star’s MGM passion project Dog pays off as the film has grossed $30 million stateside since its Feb. 18 bow, twice its reported production budget. Margarita Simonyan As the European Union bans Russia’s state-backed broadcaster Russia Today, its editor-in-chief reportedly is facing the prospect of sanctions. Showbiz Stocks $386.24 (+0.9%) NETFLIX (NFLX) As the streamer defied Russian regulators by refusing to carry state-produced programming, the company’s stock price inched higher. $28.11 (-0.8%)…

In the late 1940s and early ’50s, studios began to reconsider their financial support of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ annual Oscar ceremony, fearing they had created a monster. Outsiders were increasingly questioning the legitimacy of the Oscar selection process, given that it was only logical that Academy members under contract to a specific studio would vote in blocs for that studio’s top priorities. Stars were demanding to appear in art films instead of pure commercial plays, because the former were likelier to yield Oscar recognition. And in 1949, in the midst of major economic hostilities between Hollywood and the British film industry (the U.S. and U.K. embroiled in a trade war), the Academy voted its top prize, best picture, to a foreign film, England’s Hamlet, for…

LinkedIn is joining the podcast fray with a network of 12 shows focused on the business world. Podcast hosts include Jessi Hempel (below) and Alex Kantrowitz, while sponsors are Verizon and IBM. Despite Spotify disclosing that it hit 180 million paid subs, the audio giant’s stock slumped in February. Ava DuVernay’s Array exited a first-look deal as more star creators could shop options. As its parent company braves the public market, BuzzFeed Studios is taking another crack at podcasts, inking a partnership with hosting and tech firm Acast for a slate of six weekly shows.…

Chris Licht has earned a reputation as something of a turnaround artist. Most recently of CBS’ Late Show With Stephen Colbert, the veteran producer was unveiled Feb. 28 as Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s pick to run CNN after the WarnerMedia merger is completed. At CBS and MSNBC before it, Licht was regarded as a hands-on manager and producer, someone adept at taking programs in need of rethinking and helping them find their vision, according to those who’ve worked with him. His history of active engagement will likely be welcome at CNN, where former chief Jeff Zucker was known to take an active role with anchors, suggest questions or guests and provide feedback. Zucker resigned Feb. 2, citing a romantic relationship with CMO Allison Gollust that wasn’t properly disclosed. Two CNN…

“Doors are opening.” ARIANA DEBOSE The West Side Story actress, to reporters in the SAG Awards virtual media room, on becoming the first Latina SAG film actress winner. “It’s hard to beat a six-story Kanye standing in front of you.”RICHARD GELFOND The Imax chief executive, to The New York Times, on how the large-format cinema company has turned to streaming live musical events as a viable theater experience. “We have now moved to a much happier place.”JESSICA CHASTAIN The Eyes of Tammy Faye star, to Variety, on the positive changes in the culture of Hollywood’s awards season without the influence of Harvey Weinstein. “I am a journalist at heart.”CHRIS LICHT The incoming CNN chief, in a memo to staffers, announcing his new role ahead of the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger. “I want…

Jay-Z and Beyoncé had a date night at Mother Wolf. … Olivia Rodrigo celebrated her 19th birthday at SHOREbar. … Kate Hudson grabbed a bite at The Sunrise Brew. … Ryan Phillippe and Richard Madden each stopped by Craig’s. … Rashida Jones grabbed a treat at Magpies. … In New York, John Mulaney and Olivia Munn hit the Saturday Night Live afterparty at Black Barn following his hosting stint. … Nicholas Braun was spotted brunching at Clinton St. Baking Company. … In Miami, Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas had a night out at Carbone. Lulu The Quick Pitch A sophisticated yet casual restaurant housed at Westwood’s Hammer Museum, Lulu is the first Southern California offering from pioneering chef and restaurateur Alice Waters. Conceptualized with food writer David Tanis, her former…

9/12 Amazon Music, Pineapple Street Studios and Wondery → Showrunner Dan Taberski (Missing Richard Simmons) examines unexpected and often absurd ways the world reckoned with 9/11. FAVORITE EPISODE “‘Too Soon,’ about how The Onion and other comedy people tried to square the horrible thing that just happened with the imperative to make jokes about it,” says Taberski. “I already laugh too much in interviews, but man, did I laugh a lot in those.” A Slight Change of Plans Pushkin Industries → Host Maya Shankar, a cognitive scientist who served in the Obama administration, interviews guests both famous and not to understand how we react to radical change. BEST INTERVIEW “Amanda Knox, who was wrongfully convicted of murder in her 20s,” says Shankar. “Amanda has one of the most reflective, introspective…

→ When Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas started their podcast How Did This Get Made? — in which they dissect a different bad movie each episode — in December 2010, “explaining what a podcast was was difficult,” says Scheer. “Now trying to find someone who doesn’t have a podcast is as difficult.” In 11 years, the three friends have broken down nearly 300 stinkers, from Burlesque and Grease 2 to Face/Off and The Room. Nominated in the Ambies’ best comedy podcast category, How Did This Get Made? began when Raphael and Scheer (who are married) saw Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps and brought the film up at a party with Mantzoukas and their other comedian friends. Marc Maron (WTF) and Scott Aukerman (Comedy Bang! Bang!) had…

In the first episode of What Happened in Skinner, journalist Marlowe Verne plays audio from a disturbing viral video: During a YouTube livestream, in which hosts discuss eerie found footage from 1929 on the island of Skinner, Oregon, we hear the sound of a violent home invasion. Over the course of 12 episodes, Verne traces this event to a murderous cult in Skinner. A quick Google search will tell you there is no Skinner, Oregon. On the face of it, What Happened in Skinner — nominated for best indie podcast, a new Ambies category — is similar to the many fictional podcast investigations that emerged in the wake of Serial. But its creators had grander ambitions: The show is a particularly resourceful and elaborate exercise in world-building. Showrunners Aaron Blanton…

Scarlett Johansson does not share her life with the world on social media. In this way, the actress hews to a pre-Instagram model of stardom, when celebrities were seen and heard in limited and intentional ways (read: when promoting a project). Johansson’s place in modern Hollywood, though, is evidenced by the launch of her new skin-care brand The Outset, as she joins a chorus of other celebrity beauty brands. The Outset is an eco-friendly, plant-based skin-care line. Johansson’s co-founder and the brand’s CEO, Kate Foster Lengyel, was founder and CEO of SwearBy, a digital site focused on word-of-mouth product recommendations. Together, with funding from the Najafi Cos. (also an investor in Tracee Ellis Ross’ Pattern hair care line), Johansson and Foster created a line of six fragrance-free products: a cleanser,…

HOLLAND’S ANNUAL STAR RANKING, BY GLOBAL BOX OFFICE GROSS 2017 Spider-Man: Homecoming grossed $878.3 million domestically, landing Holland on the top 100 list. Before he joined Marvel, Holland’s roles included In the Heart of the Sea ($93 million) and The Impossible ($198 million). 2018 Holland swung up the list thanks in part to the webslinger’s turn in Avengers: Infinity War ($2.04 billion). Fans note that while Spidey’s role in Avengers wasn’t big, it was key to building the character for future installments. 2019 The one-two punch of Spider Man: Far From Home ($1.13 billion) and Avengers: Endgame ($2.79 billion) cast a powerful net as he passed the likes of fellow Marvel universe stars like Chris Pratt and Robert Downey Jr. 2020 The actor had no leading live-action roles in 2020,…

Better Things, Pamela Adlon’s semiautobiographical meditation on motherhood and middling Hollywood careers, began its fifth and final season on FX (and Hulu) on Feb. 28. In the six years since its premiere, the 55-year-old writer, director and actress has seen her own perception in town shift dramatically — from character actor to auteur — in relatively short order. But, as Adlon insisted during a mid-February call from the home editing suite where she’s tying up her series’ final episodes, she does not have the bandwidth for other people’s expectations. Your character has such good advice for her children. Do you ever think you’d be a different parent if you’d had a writers room telling you what to say? Everybody needs a writers room, for a relationship, for being a parent,…

Disney Communications Chief Tweets (and Deletes) Secret Date of Guardians Roller Coaster Geoff Morrell, who succeeded Disney’s long-serving corporate communications chief Zenia Mucha by stepping into the new role of chief corporate affairs officer in December, handled his first PR crisis in February — one of his own making. Morrell flew to Florida, where he was treated to a “test ride” of Walt Disney World’s new Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster at Epcot Center. He capped the experience by tweeting, “Just another day at the office,” along with a selfie from the ride. “Imagineers designed this one like no other ride you’ve ever been on,” he posted of the coaster, dubbed Cosmic Rewind and inspired by the Disney/Marvel blockbuster franchise. “Have to ride it to believe it! Check it…

Weddings Susan Szotyori, a publicist at Walt Disney Studios, married Jeff Silverstein, a script coordinator at Warner Bros., on Oct. 30 at The Harper in Costa Mesa. The couple met during senior year at UC Berkeley and dated for 10 years before becoming engaged in Thailand in 2019. Jacob Moss, a business manager at Grant Tani Barash & Altman, married Jillian Davine, a celebrity and public relations coordinator for Cartier, on Nov. 20 at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica. The couple honeymooned in Costa Rica. Births ICM TV literary agent Katie Cates and husband Dean Cates, senior vp business development at The Africa Channel, welcomed Jameson David Cates on Dec. 17 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Congrats Jax Media execs Sarah Madigan and John Skidmore joined…

→ “Sometimes the story is not what people think the story is when they are telling us the story,” explains Seth Rogen. And he would know, having debuted an original podcast aptly titled Storytime With Seth Rogen, in which he gets his guests to tell one great tale, backed by an unusually lavish soundscape. Listen for the original score backing an episode about a grizzly bear attack with enough string-section-induced suspense to fill a studio feature. Interviewees run the gamut from David Crosby to Ava DuVernay to people you’ve never heard of. The stories they tell are equally varied (e.g., writing a song intended for George Harrison and gastrointestinal issues at Disneyland). Released by SiriusXM’s Stitcher, Storytime is nominated for best society and culture podcast at this year’s Ambies, while…

→ Tiffany Haddish does not have a podcast of her own — and it’s hard to see how she’d find the time, what with all her stops on other people’s podcasts. The comedian and actress’ ability to fill airtime with unfiltered, off-the-cuff anecdotes as hosts sit back and cackle has made her one of the most in-demand guests in the business. In the past year, the Afterparty star has graced the mics of more than a dozen shows, including four Ambies nominees. “She’s just entertaining,” says Nicole Byer, host of Why Won’t You Date Me? “Her voice is entertaining. She’s got this infectious personality.” Haddish regularly guests on shows by her former comedy-circuit comrades, such as Chinedu Unaka and Candice Thompson of Nosy Neighbors. “You can never say you were…

In the Ambies-nominated podcast, Max Linsky of Pineapple Street Studios interviews 70 remarkable people over (or, in one case, just under) the age of 70 to learn what only experience can teach. A sampling of some of his favorite responses: “I believe there are two little words that we don’t pay enough attention to. They are ‘over’ and ‘next.’ When something is over, it’s over, and we’re on to next. If there was a hammock in the middle of those two words, that would be the best description I could find of living in the moment.”Producer Norman Lear, 99; Episode 3 “We have convinced ourselves — and I know you’ve heard this many times — that life is short. I don’t buy into that. Life is long. It appears short because…

There was, not that long ago, a name whose mere invocation could strike terror in the hearts of the most powerful figures in politics and entertainment. That name was Kitty Kelley. If it’s unfamiliar to you, ask your mother, who likely is in possession of one or more of Kelley’s best-selling biographies — exhaustive tomes that peer unflinchingly (and, many have claimed, nonfactually) into the personal lives of the most famous people on the planet. “I’m afraid I’ve earned it,” sighs Kelley, 79, of her reputation as the undisputed Queen of the Unauthorized Biography. “And I wave the banner. I do. ‘Unauthorized’ does not mean untrue. It just means I went ahead without your permission.” That she did. Jackie Onassis, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan — the more sacred the cow,…

Patti Harrison is perhaps the funniest girl on the planet. A breakout of the New York alt-comedy scene known for her nasty, self-deprecating humor and bizarre characters, she’s plunged headfirst into television in the past few years, writing on raunchy hits like Netflix’s Big Mouth and I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson (on which she also appears) and landing scene-stealing supporting roles on Hulu’s Shrill and Showtime’s Ziwe. And in 2021, she became the first transgender performer to voice a Disney animated character, as Tail Chief in the Oscarnominated Raya and the Last Dragon. In Nikole Beckwith’s indie dramedy Together, Together, Harrison takes on her first lead film role, playing an entirely different type of woman: grounded, subtle, restrained. For her performance as Anna, a 20-something who offers…

4.1B minutes watched 37 episodes Ozark reached a height only one other show has hit when it clocked more than 4 billion minutes of viewing time in Nielsen’s streaming rankings for Jan. 24-30, the week after the Netflix drama’s fourth season premiered. Only the first season of Tiger King (twice, 5.3 billion and 4.4 billion minutes) and Ozark itself (5.2 billion) have had bigger weeks since Nielsen started tracking viewers’ streaming consumption. Both shows’ highs came in March and April of 2020, during the early lockdown days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ozark beat the combined total (3.96 billion minutes) for the other nine shows in Nielsen’s top original series chart.…

FILM Steven Spielberg is developing a film based on the Steve McQueen character Frank Bullitt for Warner Bros., with Kristie Macosko Krieger producing and Josh Singer (WME) writing the script. Lily Tomlin (WME), Jane Fonda (CAA), Rita Moreno (Innovative Artists), Sally Field (UTA) and Tom Brady (WME) will star in Paramount’s Kyle Marvin-directed, football-themed road-trip movie titled 80 for Brady. Bill Murray (Nochimson Law) is teaming with Aziz Ansari (WME) to star in an untitled feature for Searchlight, on which Ansari will make his directorial debut. Sienna Guillory (Independent Talent) and Skyler Samuels (UTA) joined Jason Statham (Goodman, Genow) in Warner Bros.’ shark sequel Meg 2: The Trench. Christopher Ammanuel (APA) and Dylan Arnold (Gersh) will star opposite Tyrese Gibson (APA) and Ray Liotta (Gersh) in director Ariel Vromen’s indie…

THE ASTER A building near the intersection of Hollywood and Vine that once was home to SBE’s Redbury Hotel and later Paul Allen’s h Club will have a third act as The Aster. Due in June, The Aster will be a hybrid project that combines a 35-room hotel and a private members’ club, created by Salt Hotels (which operates properties in Florida, New York and Massachusetts). Each room will be a suite and generously sized at not less than 700 square feet (from $595 a night, theasterla.com), while private member dues will be $3,600 a year. The hotel and a rooftop restaurant will be open to the public, and the development also will include co-working spaces, a roof deck with an outdoor movie theater, a gym, hair and beauty salon,…

Hulu’s Elizabeth Holmes miniseries The Dropout debuted Feb. 24 at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles, with stars Amanda Seyfried, Naveen Andrews, Alan Ruck, Dylan Minnette, Utkarsh Ambudkar and Elizabeth Marvel joined by showrunner Liz Meriwether and EPs Michael Showalter and Rebecca Jarvis. Ruck, who plays a Walgreens exec who partners with the Theranos CEO, told THR he knew little about Holmes before the show. But after getting deep into the story, “you realize there’s a human being involved and she’s not a vicious, malicious, deceitful person,” he says. “She’s misguided, I think, and she so desperately wanted to believe it was going to happen that she just stopped being able to hear the truth. The amazing thing is she convinced a lot of other people she was right.” Got…

Michael Showalter, ears cushioned by a pair of giant headphones, has no idea that his security system has chirped several dozen times during the course of a February evening Zoom from his Hollywood home. He is not being robbed, we discover. His wife and twin daughters just keep going outside, tending to the burger dinner that they’ll share before the filmmaker heads back to set. A founding member of the alt-comedy trio Stella, which came out of the MTV sketch show The State and birthed the 2001 feature Wet Hot American Summer, the 51-year-old has gotten busier as his tastes have embraced the more dramatic. He’s become a go-to director in recent years, thanks in large part to his work on Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani’s The Big Sick.…

Business Podcast ∘ An Arm and a Leg Public Road Productions∘ Business Wars Wondery∘ Masters of Scale WaitWhat∘ Money Rehab With Nicole Lapin iHeartRadio∘ Planet Money NPR∘ The Indicator From Planet Money NPR∘ The McKinsey Podcast McKinsey Global Publishing Comedy Podcast ∘ Best Friends Earwolf∘ How Did This Get Made? Earwolf∘ Nosy Neighbors Spotify∘ The Daily Show With Trevor Noah: Ears Edition Comedy Central and iHeartRadio∘ The Sarah Silverman Podcast Kast Media∘ Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me NPR∘ Why Won’t You Date Me? With Nicole Byer Team Coco Documentary Podcast ∘ American Veteran: Unforgettable Stories GBH Educational Foundation∘ CBC Podcasts: Life Jolt Canadian Broadcasting Corp.∘ Embedded NPR∘ Fiasco: Benghazi Prologue Projects∘ On Our Watch NPR∘ Post Reports The Washington Post∘ Stay Away From Matthew MaGill Pineapple Street Studios Entertainment Podcast ∘ Back Issue Pineapple Street Studios∘ Even the Rich Wondery∘ New Rory & MAL More Sauce/Stitcher∘ Song Exploder Hrishikesh Hirway and Radiotopia from PRX∘ The…

There’s no question new versions of the Riddler will keep popping up to battle Bruce Wayne. Now Paul Dano is poised to puzzle March 4 in The Batman, following the likes of Jim Carrey in Batman Forever (1995) and Conan O’Brien in The Lego Batman Movie (2017). All owe a debt to Frank Gorshin, who originated the role opposite Adam West in Batman’s January 1966 premiere episodes as the show’s first supervillain, then wreaked havoc (with Burgess Meredith’s Penguin, Cesar Romero’s Joker and Lee Meriwether’s Catwoman) that summer in the first Batman feature. Known for his maniacal laugh, the limber Gorshin made an impression on viewers and co-stars alike. “Even on the set, you just didn’t know what was going to come out of him,” recalls Burt Ward, who played…