Innholdsfortegnelse for August 7, 2024 i The Hollywood Reporter

Jeremy Allen White was spotted at Saffy’s. … Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly dined at Nobu Malibu. … Blackpink singer Rosé grabbed dinner at Sushi Park. … Ian Ziering lunched at Cecconi’s. … In New York, Channing Tatum and Zoë Kravitz had a date night at Altro Paradiso. … Olivia Wilde paid a visit to Balthazar. … Ice Spice celebrated the release of her debut album, Y2K!, at Somewhere Nowhere. … Shailene Woodley popped over to Hoboken for a meal at La Bohème. Hot New Restaurant Sirena The revamped art deco Georgian Hotel along Santa Monica’s oceanfront has brought in chef David Almany — who spent years working for Nancy Silverton at Osteria Mozza and then cooked at Shutters on the Beach — to conjure Cal-Ital: broiled blue prawns…

Christina Aguilera Playground The singer was named chief brand adviser and co-founder of Playground in March 2023; the sexual wellness company’s latest lube, Pillow Talk ($20 for 109 ml), is her brainchild. “With startups, you need to disrupt the current norms,” Aguilera says. “I always lean into products and art that take more creative risks and push boundaries.” Playground closed a seed fundraising round in October and has retail partners from Amazon to Target. Beyoncé Cécred Beauty insiders have great expectations for the megastar’s hair-care brand, which launched in February with eight products ($30-$52), following her Cé Noir fragrance debut. Beyoncé, whose partnership with Adidas on apparel line Ivy Park ended in March, has said she built Cécred “from the ground up and funded it myself.” Kaley Cuoco Oh Norman!…

Damon and (the Other) Affleck After being part of one of Hollywood’s most dynamic duos in his partnership with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon is now sharing the marquee with another Affleck family member, starring alongside Casey Affleck in Apple TV+ heist comedy The Instigators. The trio grew up together in Boston. Of working together at this point in their careers, Damon told THR, “I think 43 years into this friendship, it’s just the joy of doing what we love, but being able to do it together. It just doesn’t get any better than that.”…

PODCASTING HAS ENTERED its maturity, in which the eye-watering spending sprees of the early 2020s have given way to more rational dealmaking. But even amid last year’s relative slowdown, the sector saw several marquee acquisitions. Among those, SmartLess, hosted by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes, moved from Wondery over to SiriusXM in a deal said to be worth more than $100 million; Wondery, in turn, nabbed Armchair Expert, co-hosted by Dax Shepard, from Spotify in an $80 million deal, suggesting there’s still demand for and a premium placed on top talent. Not to be outdone, Call Her Daddy’s Alex Cooper and the brothers Kelce with their New Heights podcast are said to be seeking nine-digit paydays of their own. But, overall, the deal pace has abated. And instead…

It’s the movie that changed the course of his life — and American cinema — but Al Pacino had not seen The Godfather in its entirety in decades. So when he invited me to watch Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 gangster epic with him and some of his friends at a small screening room in Hollywood last year, I jumped at the chance. I was at work hosting a podcast, The Godfather: A Film We Can’t Refuse, which Paramount produced and which Audible will release Aug. 22. The 10-episode series, including conversations with castmembers, filmmakers and critics, grapples with The Godfather’s legacy on topics like masculinity, power, the American dream — even meatballs, in an episode that features chef Tom Colicchio. I was trying to understand how Pacino had created one…

Ryan Condal Even as the showrunner’s finale proves divisive, House of the Dragon ends on a high note with 8.9 million viewers, up 14 percent from its season premiere. Sundar Pichai A major court ruling finding that Google’s search business violates antitrust laws could upend the most lucrative product in the CEO’s portfolio and reshape the open web. Shaboozey The artist’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” leads Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for the fourth frame as it nabs 90.2 million radio airplay audience impressions, per Luminate’s tally. Jennifer Witz SiriusXM, led by the CEO, loses 173,000 subscribers in its latest quarter as total revenue drops 3 percent less than a year after relaunching its brand in hopes of growth. Showbiz Stocks $109.04 (+3.3%) TKO GROUP (TKO) The WWE owner held a…

Ego Nwodim, it seems, doesn’t need downtime. It’s a bit of a prerequisite for a Saturday Night Live player, but the comedian (who describes herself and her castmates as “junkies for chaos and unpredictability”) has a taste for creative stimulation. She booked her first lead role in a TV series — Peacock’s Mr. Throwback, also starring basketball great Stephen Curry, who plays a version of himself, and Adam Pally — and started filming two weeks before SNL even finished. Nwodim would wrap Saturday’s show, fly to the series’ Chicago set on Sunday, and then fly back to New York in time for the staff’s Tuesday late-night writing session. And no, she didn’t even skip SNL’s afterparties. “I’m not a person who suffers from FOMO, but I was not going to…

If you want to keep loving your body, you know who to vote for.Megan Thee Stallion The rapper, onstage in Atlanta, while performing at a rally for Kamala Harris. This son of a bitch didn’t say anything to me, and we’re good friends.Jeremy Renner The actor, to Us Weekly, on Robert Downey Jr.’s surprise Comic-Con reveal about playing Dr. Doom in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. You’ve had ‘Crooked Joe’ and ‘Sleepy Joe’ on speed dial. You’re going to need a new line of attack.Jon Stewart The Daily Show host, on his show, addressing Republicans and their need to “recalibrate” their insults for the upcoming election. I will no longer play in that mud slinging sandbox of competition.Jamie Lee Curtis The actress, on X, issuing a formal apology to Kevin Feige after…

“Ian [Somerhalder] came up with the name Brothers Supreme. I said, ‘Over my dead body’ and suggested Brother’s Bond. The rest is history.”Paul Wesley co-founder of Brother’s Bond Bourbon “BEIGE! I had an old bag that I used until it fell apart. It was beige. Turns out you can’t trademark that, so Beige became Béis, which is ‘beige’ in Portuguese.”Shay Mitchell founder of travel brand Béis “A name I rejected: Gabby’s Goodies.”Gabrielle Union co-founder of Proudly baby care “Bed of Roses rosé. Although ‘considered’ is a strong word. ‘Laughed off’ is a more appropriate way of describing it.”Jesse Bongiovi co-founder of Hampton Water Wine Company…

If you were to stick a pin in a timeline at the exact moment Silicon Valley declared war on Hollywood, it would likely land on Aug. 29, 1997. That’s the date Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph got together in Scotts Valley, about an hour south of San Francisco, and started a little DVD delivery company called Netflix. The rest is history: Within just a couple of decades, all the traditional pillars of the old entertainment order started to crumble. Linear television, cable TV, theatrical box office — nothing was left standing, at least not as tall as it once had. This we all know, all too well. But here’s what’s new. Very recently, just over the past several weeks, there have been signs that Southern California once again is rising…

Rachel Maddow I do a weird “la hum hum hum mee mee mee” vocal warmup so I don’t sound like I’m trying to be Barry White right out of the gate. DJ EFN, N.O.R.E. A solid snack and the occasional pre drink or two. Bill Simmons I don’t have one. AmI supposed to have one? What are we, professional athletes? Have you seen some of the people that pod? Regular conversation with whoever else is in the room, and once that convo gets good, we turn the mics on so we don’t start off cold. It’s like warming the car up.Charlamagne Tha God Ashley Flowers Eat a green apple because it helps to reduce mouth noises. Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang We talk all the shit we can’t say on…

AMAZON PRIME VIDEO Pitch Paychecks and eyeballs, at least for “Main Street America” comics. Chris Mansolillo says it has eight specials lined up for 2025, as it looks to be more selective than rival Netflix. Comedians Nate Bargatze, Kevin James, Jim Gaffigan, Tig Notaro, Jimmy O. Yang HULU Pitch A curated approach: just 12 a year. “The mantra is very much quality over quantity,” says Jordan Helman. Plus, real money, marketing muscle and opportunities across the Disney portfolio. Eyeballs, however? TBD. Comedians Gaffigan, Bill Burr, Sebastian Maniscalco, Roy Wood Jr. MAX/HBO Pitch Prestige plus awards potential. Less clutter: eight a year, tops. It doesn’t engage in bidding wars or guarantee reach, but it does offer high-end production and will throw in overall deals. Comedians Nikki Glaser, Ramy Youssef, Jerrod Carmichael,…

For Alan Cumming, hosting The Traitors is already the reward; his Emmy nomination for reality or reality/competition host is just a bonus — one almost as coveted as immunity from elimination. “I really love doing it,” says Cumming of the hit Peacock series (which also scored a nom for best reality competition program) that has become the streamer’s most watched unscripted title. “I love the fact it’s connected with everyone in this way. Everyone’s really obsessed by it.” The Traitors, an Americanized version of the Dutch series De Verraders (which takes inspiration from party games like Mafia), sees a cast of characters holed up in a grand Scottish castle, tasked with uncovering which of the guests are in fact traitors plotting to murder their fellow contestants (dubbed “faithfuls”) in order…

Before June, 2024’s domestic box office revenue was down a panic-inducing 28 percent behind 2023. Now, that gap has narrowed to 16 percent thanks to a steady flow of big- and medium-size event pics. Here are notable weekends that fueled the rebound, including July 17-19, down a better-than-expected 51.7 percent from Barbenheimer’s opening weekend thanks to Twisters Source: Comscore…

The stock market may be sliding, but you can still bet on star power. Celebrity-backed brands continue to boom in 2024 as big stars are driving disruptive businesses across a slew of categories and making bank at retail — Dwayne Johnson’s Teremana tequila sold a million cases in the U.S. last year, and Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty is valued at more than $2 billion — during an entertainment industry contraction. But as more A-listers venture into entrepreneurship, the landscape for their brands is more competitive than ever. “The financing environment now for consumer startups has only gotten more discerning, and consumer attention spans online are even more limited,” says Mahmoud Youssef, head of corporate development and ventures at Range Media Partners. “It’s really changed the playbook for how to properly…

Stars for Simone Hollywood showed up in force to support Olympians in Paris like Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky and Stephen Nedoroscik as they put on medal-winning shows in their respective sports. Tom Cruise, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Nicole Kidman, Jessica Chastain, Sarah Jessica Parker, Nick Jonas and Lady Gaga (who stayed to view the competition after her opening ceremony performance) were among the many A-listers taking in the action, which runs through Aug. 11.…

It was 2019 — five years after Serial electrified true-crime fans and sparked a podcasting true-crime wave — and NBC’s longest-running primetime series and TV’s top-rated true-crime franchise still didn’t have a presence in the new medium. For decades, Dateline had been that compelling and expertly produced always-there Friday night mainstay, reliable law-and-order comfort food, but it had seemingly missed a massive opportunity — much to correspondent Josh Mankiewicz’s frustration. “True crime was the biggest part of podcasting, and we had the biggest name in true crime and we weren’t doing anything about it,” Mankiewicz recalls. “I remember telling [NBC] that we needed to start doing podcasts, but they [initially] didn’t pay attention to me.” Fellow correspondent Keith Morrison was a bit wary. “I was a little skeptical because, after…

Theo Von Love it. Dax Shepard, Monica Padman You do you. Sarah van Mosel (SiriusXM) Utterly unhinged! Ben Shapiro 1.5x is too slow. 2x might be too slow. Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Tommy Vietor (Crooked Media) 1.2 is delightful. 1.5 is brisk but doable. When you start pushing 1.75x to 2x, maybe chill out. You’re not cramming for your “murdered ingenue” final at Dateline University. You’re just filling a little time before it’s your turn to say “bowl” or “burrito.” If you’re in that much of a hurry and you really don’t care that much about who made it, and how they made it, maybe podcasting isn’t your thing — just get a transcript and skim it.Rachel Maddow Bill Simmons It’s for sociopaths. Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang Very pro,…

When Nikki Glaser was making her standup special Someday You’ll Die, she foresaw critical acclaim in her future. “I kind of just knew it was going to be nominated for an Emmy — I hate to sound crazy,” she tells THR just hours after earning her first Emmy nomination. The 40-year-old comedian is in the midst of a banner year. Her second HBO special has garnered over 3 million viewers since its May 11 release and was nominated for an Emmy in the prerecorded variety special category. But even before it was released, The Roast of Tom Brady shifted everything for Glaser and her career. The livestreamed Netflix special that managed to snag its own Emmy nomination in the live variety show category premiered just six days before Glaser’s special.…

As a former Top Chef contestant and champion, Kristen Kish had a right to be a bit anxious heading into the 2024 Emmy awards season. After all, she made her host debut in the most recent season of the show Top Chef: Wisconsin. And raising the stakes even more, there were key format and rule changes to boot after the exit of longtime host Padma Lakshmi. “You just never know, and I think being a visible portion of the change of Top Chef and where it went from 20 seasons before me, I was nervous,” Kish tells THR. Ahead of the September awards, Kish talks about the show’s Emmy nomination haul and being a first-time TV host. Tell us your emotions upon receiving your first Emmy nomination. For me, what…