Innholdsfortegnelse for September 4, 2024 i The Hollywood Reporter

Walking around ESPN’s sprawling campus in Bristol, Connecticut, visitors will find the sports giant’s mission statement at almost every turn. On walls, in windows, in the cafeteria: “Serving sports fans. Anytime. Anywhere.” It’s a humble slogan for the biggest brand in sports media, but ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro argues it is “more relevant today than it’s ever been.” Sports is undergoing a generational transformation, with viewership fragmenting and cable TV declining. “If you drill down a bit, what we’re really saying [with the mission statement] is that we need to be everywhere,” Pitaro says, citing streaming, of course, but also TikTok, YouTube and other platforms. And so ESPN is pivoting, with Disney CEO Bob Iger telling Wall Street that “building ESPN into the preeminent digital sports platform” is one of…

Last year, Sundance was the first in-person version of the festival since the pandemic forced the bastion of American independent filmmaking online for two years. It also acted as the unofficial debut for 2AM, the upstart production and management outfit headed by Christine D’Souza Gelb, producer David Hinojosa and manager Kevin Rowe. At the festival, 2AM premiered productions that included Celine Song’s Past Lives and competition title The Starling Girl, while clients screened feature debuts like A.V. Rockwell’s One Thousand and One, which went on to win the fest’s top prize. “It was our first real Sundance back, and our client of this tiny company, this little thing we’ve been building in the pandemic, wins the grand jury prize,” D’Souza Gelb remembers of the moment. 2AM was brainstormed in 2020,…

Angelina Jolie enters her mahogany-paneled dining room in Los Feliz in a gauzy white sundress and slides, carrying a pot of herbal tea, three large dogs trailing behind her. It’s mid-August, and Jolie is about to do something she hasn’t done in years—travel to a bunch of film festivals to promote her movies. Maria, the Pablo Larraín biopic in which she plays opera’s defining diva, Maria Callas, is set to premiere in Venice, Telluride and New York; Without Blood, the war drama she wrote and directed from Alessandro Baricco’s 2002 novel, will be at the Toronto Film Festival, where she’ll be honored with a tribute award Sept. 8. Netflix will release Maria in the U.S., Without Blood is seeking a distributor, and both films mark a return to the prestige…

After successfully reviving one legendary horror franchise and not quite managing to relaunch another, David Gordon Green needed a “bit of a palate cleanser.” Since Halloween, his 2018 reboot of the John Carpenter slasher pic, Green has become a bit of a go-to-guy for mid-budget horror masters Blumhouse, delivering a full trilogy of new Halloweens — with Halloween Kills in 2021 and Halloween Ends in 2022 — as well as last year’s The Exorcist: Believer, an unsuccessful attempt to bring back the spinning-head world of demonic possession created by William Friedkin in his 1973 classic. But after six years of screams and jump scares, “it felt like a time to reset,” Green says. “After doing a run of horror movies, I felt like switching gears.” What Green did next was…

It’s been nearly 30 years since Juliette Binoche peeled a plum and slipped it into Ralph Fiennes’ mouth. That’s the first scene between the actors in The English Patient (1996), with Binoche playing Hana, the nurse to Fiennes’ titular character, a severely burned and bedridden patient with a mysterious past. The rest, of course, is history. Anthony Minghella’s literary epic became a cinematic phenomenon, earning $232 million worldwide — still the highest-grossing film in the history of Miramax — and dominated the 1997 Academy Awards, taking nine Oscars, including those for best film and for Binoche, best supporting actress. Seinfeld even did an episode about the movie. Now, Binoche and Fiennes have finally reunited onscreen in The Return, which has its world premiere Sept. 8 at the Toronto Film Festival…

It is virtually unheard-of for top filmmakers and talent to get back to a journalist almost immediately without going through armies of publicists. Not so when it comes to talking about Neon founder and CEO Tom Quinn, the savvy and innovative indie executive whose company is enjoying its best year in history thanks to nurturing the under-35 cinephile crowd, as well as seeing yet another one of its films, Anora, win the prestigious 2024 Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or for the fifth consecutive year, an unprecedented feat for a U.S. indie or studio distributor. “Tom has something — a once highly valued human trait that, one might argue by looking around, apparently humans don’t need anymore — it’s called good taste, and Tom has it in surplus. I think he…

The jazzy, experimental style of the Beat Generation writers has made their work notoriously tricky to adapt for the screen. Walter Salles’ On the Road and David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch took stabs at it with varying degrees of success. But in Queer, Luca Guadagnino meets William S. Burroughs on the iconoclast’s own slippery terms, and the result is mesmerizing. Working with Justin Kuritzkes, his screenwriter on Challengers, Guadagnino paints an evocative picture of expat ennui in post-World War II Mexico City, establishing a love story grounded in realism before shifting into fantasy as the narrative becomes a drug-addled mosaic. The film was acquired ahead of its Venice premiere by A24, which is planning a release this year. Written in the early ’50s while Burroughs was awaiting trial for the allegedly…

Tim Burton Warner Bros. rolls the dice on bowing his Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in Venice and scores with critics and festival audiences, buoying box office prospects for its Sept. 6 bow. Edgar Bronfman Jr. His $6 billion bid for control of Paramount seemed like a serious overture — briefly — but Skydance’s offer ultimately swayed the special committee. Tom Ortenberg As his Briarcliff Entertainment nabs hot-button Trump film The Apprentice for an Oct. 11 release, the exec has a shot to ride a polarized election to box office and awards buzz. Channing Tatum & Zoë Kravitz The star couple couldn’t reel in audiences to Amazon MGM’s Blink Twice, which bowed with $7.3 million and a B- CinemaScore rating. Showbiz Stocks $38.20 (+0.2%) FOX CORP. (FOX) With the presidential election in high…

Tech moguls want us to believe that they’re ushering in the rosy AI-smoothed world of Spike Jonze’s Her. Alarmists, on the other hand, warn that they’re bringing on a Terminator-like dystopia. Silicon Valley may build the software, but when it comes to envisioning the future, it’s to Hollywood we turn. The interplay between technology and art is the central theme of PST Art: Art & Science Collide, the third edition of the major arts event (formerly known as Pacific Standard Time) that launched in 2011. Kicking off Sept. 15 and supported by more than $20 million in grants from the Getty Foundation, PST Art is a loose constellation of more than 70 exhibitions at museums and other cultural institutions around Los Angeles and the broader Southern California region, each offering…

Megalopolis Finds a Fall Guy for AI Trailer Snafu We’ll find out whether Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis is a masterpiece or a stinker when it arrives in theaters on Sept. 27, but the behind-the-scenes dramas have already been riveting. The latest twist was the snafu over the sci-fi drama’s trailer, which was pulled by distributor Lionsgate on Aug. 21, after just one day, when it was revealed that the critics’ quotes being cited in the teaser were bogus. Lionsgate apologized for the mistake — “We screwed up,” a spokesman offered — but it’s what happened next that is still irking some folks in Hollywood; Lionsgate fired Eddie Egan, a longtime marketing consultant who’d been working on the film and who, like everybody else at the studio, had been duped by…

Coralie Fargeat tried to give everyone fair warning. When the French filmmaker was readying her latest film, The Substance, she wrote the script in its entirety, filled with as much detail as possible, before taking it to producing partners. When it came to casting, she had long conversations with her leads about why the extremity in that script, from nudity to gore, was necessary for the story. And when bringing in financial backers, she was up front about what the shoot would require, including hours upon hours of prosthetic work that would require weeks of extra shooting. The film follows Elisabeth Sparkle, a onetime award-winning actress turned celebrity fitness host who is forced into retirement at the age of 50. In distress, Elisabeth takes a mysterious drug that allows her…

Anderson .Paak was looking for the exit. The multiple Grammy-winning R&B artist, rapper and drummer was about to make his foray into the world of moviemaking by jumping into the deep end — the very deep end — and co-writing, starring in and providing original music for K-Pops, which also happened to be his feature directorial debut. To up the ante even further, his onscreen son is played by .Paak’s real-life son, Soul Rasheed, 13. “I remember there was a point where I didn’t think I would be able to pull it off,” says .Paak of the film. “And then the [writers] strike happened and I was like, ‘OK, this is my out.’ I asked my son, ‘Do you even still want to do this?’ And he’s like, ‘I better…

Conejo Negro 838 College St., 416-637-3868 Toronto’s Little Italy has a new Caribbean, Creole and Latin America-inspired restaurant in Conejo Negro. Chef Alycia Wahn, who lived in Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans in her 20s, returned home with Latin comfort food in mind: “Once I experienced Creole food, I noticed similarities running through the three cuisines and always imagined they’d blend beautifully together.” Popular dishes include firecracker shrimp ($18), tuna and shrimp ceviche ($22) and squash dumplings ($24) as a vegetarian option. DaNico 440 College St., 416-715-1200 “At this point in my career — with my Italian background and culinary traditions — I wanted to explore new cultures and incorporate new local and Japanese products without distorting my Italian roots,” says chef Daniele Corona of this new Italian-Japanese fusion restaurant…

Let’s say you have one of the most recognizable stars on Earth in one of your movies and you decide not to show him in key marketing materials. Absurd, right? Or maybe not. Neon chief marketing officer Christian Parkes wasn’t sure how Nicolas Cage would react when he approached the actor with their unorthodox plan for selling Longlegs, director Oz Perkins’ beyond-creepy story of an FBI agent (Maika Monroe) who has more in common than she realizes with a serial killer (Cage) who has been on the loose for decades. Parkes and his team wanted to keep Cage in the shadows, much as his character is. “[Cage] was really happy with where the campaign was heading,” says Parkes. “He asked me, ‘So am I to believe that you’re going to…

The past comes to life in The Brutalist, Brady Corbet’s fine-grained, novelistic third feature as director, about a genius who gets to taste the American dream but also the humiliation of a conditional welcome that turns ice cold. This expansive story of a brilliant Bauhaus-trained Hungarian Jewish architect who survives World War II and starts a new life in Pennsylvania is a provocative original. Written by Corbet with Mona Fastvold, The Brutalist represents a vast leap in scope from the filmmaker’s The Childhood of a Leader and Vox Lux, contemplating such meaty themes as creativity and compromise, Jewish identity, architectural integrity, the immigrant experience, the arrogant insularity of privilege and the long reach of the past. Running a densely packed three and a half hours, including a built-in intermission, the…

Studios have voted — and the decision is unanimous. For the first time anyone can remember, the box office marquee notably will be devoid of new all-audience releases the weekend following the 2024 presidential election. The first and second weekends of November have become fertile ground in terms of launching a movie before the year-end holiday glut begins. But the noise from this year’s Kamala Harris-Donald Trump race is expected to be so loud that distributors are staying on the sidelines when it comes to tentpoles. That noise could make it tough to promote a film opening during the Nov. 8-10 weekend, since the airwaves will be flooded with political ads in the preceding weeks. Sources also note that ad rates are expected to be inflated by 30 percent to…

Mike Flanagan built his reputation by freaking out audiences. With a string of horror hits on TV (Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher) and in film (most notably adaptations of Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game), the writer-director also forged a lucrative career. He understands his lane — that his track record was a major factor in Amazon signing him to a choice overall deal and in Jason Blum partnering with Flanagan to revive the ailing Exorcist franchise — but he recently found himself feeling the pull to make something unexpected: a sentimental film with an extended dance sequence. The Life of Chuck, his third King adaptation, services that impulse. But to deviate from his bankable genre and make an intimate…

SEPT. 7-8 Creative Arts Emmys The TV Academy will hand out 99 mostly below-the-line awards over two days at L.A.’s Peacock Theater ahead of the televised ceremony. SEPT. 7 Only Murders in the Building-Inspired Escape Room Hulu and The Escape Game are bringing back a limited run of last year’s Only Murders in the Building pop-up escape room at Westfield Century City. SEPT. 8 L.A. Chargers vs. Las Vegas Raiders The NFL season is back, and week one at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium will feature a showdown between division rivals and the debut of Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh. SEPT. 9 Kering’s Caring for Women Dinner The Kering Foundation will hold its third NYC event supporting organizations that break the cycle of gender-based violence, with co-hosts including Salma Hayek, Matthew McConaughey, Kim…

OVERSTOCK.COM In 2015, the online retailer announced it’d be launching a streamer to rival Amazon’s. “We already have the traffic, we’re looking for a bigger share of their wallet,” boasted then-CEO Patrick M. Byrne. Alas, the service was never delivered, and Byrne resigned in 2019 (after an affair with a Russian agent … long story). HASBRO The toy-maker behind such screen-friendly playthings as My Little Pony and Transformers tried a cable channel, The Hub, in 2010, in partnership with Discovery. Four years later, Hasbro grew out of the venture, and The Hub disappeared. But Hasbro is at it again, recently announcing a Dungeons & Dragons streamer. BREWDOG In 2019, the Scottish beer company started The Brewdog Network, a $5-a-month service that produced content like Are You Smarter Than a Drunk…

Murders in L.A. With season four of the hit Hulu comedy heading briefly to Los Angeles, stars Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez and Meryl Streep followed suit for the premiere on the Paramount lot. The returning leads were joined by new additions Molly Shannon, Zach Galifianakis and Kumail Nanjiani, as Gomez told THR of the typically New York-set show, “It was fun to shoot here for a blink of a second.”…

“You have to be privy to how your art lives in a global, capitalist world,” explains Eddie Huang from his backyard in Los Angeles. Over the past year, the filmmaker has been thinking a lot about the interplay between artistic endeavors and corporate ambition as he made his documentary debut, Vice Is Broke, about the rise and fall of his onetime employer, Vice Media. Before his turn as a feature documentarian, Huang was known as a restaurateur and writer, opening Lower East Side favorite BaoHaus and then publishing his memoir Fresh Off the Boat, which would later, of course, become a hit series on ABC. He started working with Vice in 2012, hosting and producing food-focused content, including a YouTube series also titled Fresh Off the Boat, and later a…

Back to Reality (working title) Director Anders Thomas Jensen Stars Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas Buzz Danish director Anders Thomas Jensen reunites with the stars of his cult 2020 action comedy Riders of Justice for this new drama-crime-comedy mashup. Mikkelsen plays a bank robber who needs the help of his traumatized brother (Kaas) to recover his stolen loot. The only way to unlock his brother’s memories is to return to their childhood home and start digging, physically and psychologically. Sales TrustNordisk Eden Director Ron Howard Stars Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney Buzz While Howard’s directing efforts have fallen flat with critics the last few years (see: Hillbilly Elegy), the Oscar winner is still one of the most in-demand directors in Hollywood, especially when paired with an ensemble of multigenerational…

This past year, the new kids on the block have ruled the music scene. Chappell Roan emerged as the current princess of pop. Teddy Swims, Benson Boone and Tommy Richman marked breakthroughs, dominated streaming services and went viral on TikTok, as Shaboozey took over country music. Speaking of that genre, it’s continuing to explode on the pop charts, and this year feels historic with such acts as Beyoncé and Post Malone tackling the sound on their latest albums. Former country queen Taylor Swift, much like SZA, is still owning music in a year that people are finally putting real respect on Charli XCX, Victoria Monét and Sabrina Carpenter. Taking into account their staying power at the top of the charts, the virality of their music and their Grammy nominations and…

Twenty-five years before the release of DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot, The Iron Giant charged into theaters. Brad Bird, who worked on The Simpsons and later helmed Ratatouille and The Incredibles, made his feature directorial debut with the 1950s-set movie boasting a voice cast that included Vin Diesel, Jennifer Aniston and Harry Connick Jr.; it centered on a boy befriending an alien robot (Diesel) that the U.S.government sought to destroy. Bird and Tim McCanlies’ script was based on Ted Hughes’ 1968 novel, originally published as The Iron Man. Hughes, who was married to novelist and poet Sylvia Plath until her death by suicide in 1963, wrote it as a bedtime story for their kids to help them grieve. The Who’s Pete Townshend adapted Hughes’ book as his 1989 concept album…