Innholdsfortegnelse for September 16, 2022 i The Hollywood Reporter

Solea Pfeiffer was on the phone with Don Cheadle about a possible appearance on his Showtime series Black Monday when another call came in. She ignored it. The 27-year-old actress didn’t end up working with Cheadle, but she did land a lead role in A Jazzman’s Blues, a period drama directed by Tyler Perry, who happened to be the unidentified caller. A Jazzman’s Blues marks Pfeiffer’s first feature film after being lauded for her stage performances in the original national tour of Hamilton and Gustavo Dudamel’s West Side Story production at the Hollywood Bowl. In October, she stars as Penny Lane in the Broadway premiere of Almost Famous. Perry’s film, set in the 1940s American South, tells the tragic tale of a young woman who is forced by her mother to…

Weddings Freaky screenwriter Michael Kennedy married Brian Larson, co-founder of Strictly Personal Designs, on July 16 at the Carondelet House in Los Angeles. The couple plans to honeymoon in Greece next year. Births Jacob Schiff, an agent at CAA, and wife Anna Schiff welcomed daughter Lucy Brynn Schiff on July 22 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A. Brooke Robertson, vp global communications at Paramount, and Kevin Dinneen, senior director at Walker & Dunlop, welcomed son Parker James Dinneen on Aug. 9 at Cedars-Sinai. Congrats Richard Weitz and Christian Muirhead were named cochairmen of WME on Sept. 8. UTA promoted David Kramer to president and Jay Sures to vice chairman Sept. 13. Kim Kelleher was upped to chief commercial officer of AMC Networks on Sept. 8. Comcast executive Dennis Mathew was…

Inside HBO’s Triumphant Soiree “There’s Casey Bloys — he’s very happy tonight,” an eager reveler said inside San Vicente Bungalows while giving a discreet head nod in the direction of the HBO boss, who had segued from a conversation with The White Lotus winner Mike White to hugging Euphoria guru Sam Levinson. Bloys was beaming, and no one could blame him as his companies racked up the most Emmy wins with 34, including a field-leading 10 trophies for The White Lotus. White, with a fuchsia lei around his neck, stopped to enjoy a plate of tacos. “I’m so grateful,” he was overheard telling an exec. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.” Also having a good night was Zendaya, the youngest double-Emmy acting winner in history, who snuck in…

Few professions are as fickle or demanding as designing for a high-profile fashion house: One season a creative director is roundly declared to be an artistic genius, the next they’re derided for being too commercial or derivative. (Sounds a bit like Hollywood, doesn’t it?) With a minimum of four collections annually — not counting capsule collections, collaborations and surprise drops — designers balancing the mantle of commerce and creativity must simply possess nerves of steel. Now add the layers of a house boasting decades of history and a fan base that’s committed to its codes — or signatures of the brand — to an almost rabid degree, and it’s easy to wonder who would take on such a mammoth task. As it happens, that challenge is thoroughly seductive, even as…

Tilda Swinton The Eternal Daughter Swinton reunited with The Souvenir director Joanna Hogg for an update on a Gothic ghost story. The cast and crew stayed in the eerie mansion that played set for the film: “Everyone else heard bumps in the night. I was always longing to hear them,” she says. All portraits were photographed Sept. 9-12 at the 1 Hotel Toronto for The Hollywood Reporter Portrait Studio. Video cameras and lighting provided by Arri. From left: Roger Deakins, Sam Mendes, Micheal Ward, Olivia Colman and Tanya Moodie Empire of Light Mendes’ story about a romance at a rural 1980s cinema was born out of his COVID-lockdown fear that we would never return to the movies in person. “I was worried we were never going to be alone in…

Laura Poitras The filmmaker’s doc portrait All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, centering on an activist pursuing Purdue Pharma, took the top honor at the Venice Film Festival. Chris Licht In a move that raises more questions about CNN’s strategy, the network chief creates another primetime hole by moving Don Lemon to a morning co-host role. Andrew Kosove (left) and Broderick Johnson The Alcon co-chiefs land an Amazon green light for a Blade Runner series, insulating the franchise after an acclaimed 2017 sequel disappointed at the box office. Dan Loeb The activist investor backs off of an effort to get Disney to spin off ESPN, saying he now has a “better understanding” of the business after CEO Bob Chapek shot down the idea. Showbiz Stocks $32.03 (+3.1%) FOX (FOX) The…

Deal of the Week For all the high praise over the numerous prestige, Oscar-worthy films premiering in Venice and Toronto — Tár, The Fabelmans, The Banshees of Inisherin, The Whale and Blonde, to name a few — there seemed to be one notable absence across these two major fall festivals: dealmaking. “There’s just nothing going on here on the sales side,” notes one publicity exec at TIFF. “It’s so quiet.” That silence was broken when Focus Features swooped in on one of the hottest projects up for grabs at TIFF, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, which reunites the director with his Sideways star Paul Giamatti in a Christmas-themed film set at a prep school in 1970. Focus paid between $25 million and $30 million for worldwide rights, with a source close…

The pre-Emmy celebrations saw starry crowds descend on some of Los Angeles’ top restaurants, including Ariana DeBose, Jon Hamm, Jerry Bruckheimer, Henry Winkler and Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk at The Rose in Venice for CAA’s party; Amanda Seyfried, Michael Keaton, Lily James, Sebastian Stan, Craig Erwich and Dana Walden celebrating postshow at Otium for Disney’s afterparty; and Better Call Saul stars Bob Odenkirk, Rhea Seehorn, Michael Mando, Patrick Fabian, Tony Dalton and cocreator Peter Gould at Ysabel for AMC’s Emmy brunch. Catch Steak The Quick Pitch Situated in Melrose Place near sister restaurant Catch LA, the modern-day steakhouse boasts an official Kobe license from Japan and a unique tableside beef sommelier experience. Executive chef Erik Piedrahita also features some of the Catch Group’s iconic dishes, including crispy potato croquettes…

AT FIRST, DIRECTOR ALEX GIBNEY WHOLEHEARTEDLY EMBRACED the influx of energy — and money — the streamers have increasingly pumped into the documentary space over the past decade. Selling to the growing platforms eager to bulk up their content libraries struck the Oscar-winning director of Taxi to the Dark Side and Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief as a creative windfall — a larger market for the kind of filmmaker-driven films that had previously found some success at the box office and HBO. His company, Jigsaw, could produce unique, entertaining titles in a traditionally underfunded field, told in stylistically distinct ways, and receive “greater monetary reward” to boot. But then, a red flag: Gibney started to get notes from the streamers “that tried to scientifically rationalize the process,” he…

JEANNE YANG “Shifting into office gear is going to be hard, but drawstring trousers have made the transition from sweats at home to a more work-appropriate look much easier. They afford such a cool, modern look and are available at all price points.”  CLIENTS Simu Liu, Jason Momoa, Keanu Reeves, Taika Waititi ILARIA URBINATI “I’m never not excited about sweater season and am currently obsessed with all the preppy and grunge options coming out this fall. Love all the bright, colorful Marni mohair sweaters and the Fair Isle options from brands like Sacai and Howlin’.” CLIENTS Chris Evans, Dwayne Johnson, Adam Scott LINDA MEDVENE “We haven’t brought suits out in a while, so to put a little color on now is fun. It makes people smile and gives us a bit of…

Amazon was launching its own $500 million Lord of the Rings TV series, and it was in the market for a way to hook potential viewers of its fantasy epic. So, naturally, it called Warner Bros. Discovery, the owner of Amazon Prime Video’s competitor, HBO Max. The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films are controlled by Warner Bros. and had been locked up exclusively for streaming on HBO Max by the company’s previous owner. The trilogy, which generated nearly $3 billion in box office revenue and comprised some of the best-known IP in the HBO Max film library, was now up for grabs, at least on a nonexclusive basis. Whereas before, WarnerMedia zealously guarded its films for HBO Max, now Warner Bros. Discovery is open about the fact that,…

Former Paramount Pictures duo John Goldwyn and Karen Rosenfelt are setting up shop at Warner Bros. TV. The feature executives turned independent producers have formed Goldwyn/Rosenfelt Productions and have entered into a first-look television deal with the studio overseen by Channing Dungey. Under the multiyear deal, Goldwyn and Rosenfelt will develop original scripted programming for the studio’s internal portfolio, including HBO Max, as well as outside streaming services, cable and broadcast networks. Goldwyn and former CBS Films president and DreamWorks marketing boss Terry Press were recruited as advisers to help Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav navigate Hollywood while he oversees the newly merged conglomerate. Goldwyn’s relationship with Zaslav dates to the Discovery days, when the former exec produced two seasons of the scripted anthology series Manhunt. Goldwyn (who previously…

Rep Sheet CNN anchor Abby Phillip found new reps at UTA. Diane Lane is now at CAA. Chandler Levack, director of I Like Movies, inked at WME. TV journalist Nina Parker signed with CAA. Actress Bria Henderson is now at Gersh. TikTok influencer Meredith Duxbury landed at UTA. John Allen, known as podcaster MrBallen, inked with UTA. Singer-songwriter Nathy Peluso inked at WME. THR, Esq. SETTLED Miramax v. Quentin Tarantino WHY IT MATTERS The parties buried the hatchet over a novel lawsuit about who has the rights to sell NFTs derived from Pulp Fiction. Miramax sued in November after Tarantino said he would release NFTs based on the movie. Early art featured images of Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta but was replaced with images of the director after the…

“Deep breaths and beta blockers!”NATASHA ROTHWELL The White Lotus actress, to Vanity Fair, on how she combats anxiety and prepares for red carpets. “We don’t want it to overstay its welcome, like Billions. That’s past its sell-by date. That will not happen with our show.”BRIAN COX The actor, to Britain’s The Times, on how long he thinks Succession, now preparing its fourth season, should continue. “I think they secretly like it.”MEGAN THEE STALLION The rapper, in Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s docuseries Gutsy Women, responding to conservative backlash to her Cardi B collaboration “WAP.” “Perhaps no other director inspired as many people to just pick up a camera and start shooting.”EDGAR WRIGHT The Baby Driver director, on Twitter, remembering Jean-Luc Godard, who died Sept. 13. “We are not a coastal company,…

Netflix’s plan to get into advertising was unorthodox. It was seeking unusually high CPMs (the cost to reach 1,000 consumers), and targeting and tracking were nearly nonexistent. It was 2005. And Netflix decided the time was right to get into the ad business via slips placed in its iconic red DVD envelopes. “My entertainment clients loved it because of the halo effect of being associated with Netflix,” recalls Michael Miraflor, a former media buyer and now chief brand officer of venture capital firm Hannah Grey. “And it offered a creative canvas that was large enough to fit proper key art.” Netflix eventually folded its DVD ad sales team as it went all in on streaming, but 17 years later, it is trying to enter the space once again — with…

1979 Sheila Nevins joins HBO, kicking off an influential multi-decade tenure — she joined MTV in 2019 — launching projects both serious (4 Little Girls, Private Violence) and titillating (Taxicab Confessions, Real Sex). 1994 The Sundance Film Festival premieres Hoop Dreams, which goes on to become a surprise commercial success, with $11.8 million in box office worldwide. Sundance has emerged as a key platform for docs, long showcasing them on equal footing with scripted films. 2004 Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 becomes the highest-grossing feature-length documentary ever at that time, grossing $222.4 million worldwide. (Rights were acquired by Bob and Harvey Weinstein after then-Miramax parent Disney refused to distribute.) 2013 The Square is Netflix’s first significant acquisition for its original doc initiative. It goes on to win the Oscar. 2015 Netflix…

Rey Ortiz was laid off toward the beginning of the COVID pandemic. At the time, he was working at a furniture and appliance store in L.A. selling toilets — yes, toilets — during the day while sewing designs at night. Many of those designs weren’t for any person in particular, just the results of his sometimes overactive mind. But a selection were for contestants on RuPaul’s Drag Race. In May 2020, on his birthday, he was let go from the shop. “And I can honestly say my phone hasn’t stopped ringing since,” Ortiz says. The designer now counts Lizzo, Latto, Mary J. Blige and more as stars who have worn his pieces. “I would have never, ever, ever quit my job because I would have been terrified to not have…