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Brad Pitt Lawyers Up; Full Fall TV Showrunner Survey; Red-Carpet Menace Strikes Again

September 23, 2016

What's news: The FBI has confirmed it's looking into Brad Pitt, Rupert Murdoch's annual pay rises to $34M, Yahoo's big sale gets questioned as it deals with a massive hack and Margot Robbie is set to host SNL's season opener. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman.

Now Brad Pitt Lawyers Up...

Today in Brad-Angelina divorce drama: The biggest news is that the FBI late Thursday confirmed it is "evaluating" whether to launch an investigation into an incident that occurred on a private plane last week. That means the LAPD was correct when it told THR it is not investigating the actor, but the Feds are involved because the alleged incident took place on a plane.

Here's the full statement: "In response to your inquiry regarding allegations within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States; specifically, an aircraft carrying Mr. Brad Pitt and his children, the FBI is continuing to gather facts and will evaluate whether an investigation at the federal level will be pursued."

Meanwhile, THR revealed Pitt has enlisted Beverly Hills divorce lawyer Lance Spiegel to face off against Jolie's lead divorce lawyer Laura Wasser. Spiegel has extensive experience in family law and divorce cases, having represented Eva Longoria in her split from NBA star Tony Parker and The Bachelor producer Mike Fleiss in his 2012 divorce. More details here.

Takeaway (for now): Pitt has been losing the media war since Jolie dropped the divorce filing on him late Monday. Adding an experienced lawyer to his team could help turn that momentum (unless the FBI finds something actionable).

Meanwhile...

► A troubling new report on The Young Artist Awards. Hollywood’s oldest awards show for kids (Leonardo DiCaprio and Scarlett Johansson are past nominees) has a dark side: A handful of people actively involved with the show have troubling backgrounds with minors, including two men who were convicted of committing sex crimes against kids. [Los Angeles Times]

► Disney replaces director of Broadway-bound Frozen musical. Following the exit early last month of the project's original director, Alex Timbers, sources say lauded Brit director Michael Grandage has now signed on to stage the musical.

► Moana costume pulled after racism claims. A boy's costume was taken down from Disney's store after some Pacific Islanders compared it to blackface. The getup depicts Dwayne Johnson's character Maui in a long-sleeve brown shirt and long pants featuring full-body tattoos.

Elsewhere in film...

► Wanda confirms major Sony alliance. The largest theater owner in China will help promote Sony's movies in the world’s second biggest film market in the new marketing deal. Details.

► Power Rangers reboot casts Bill Hader. The SNL alum will play the role of Alpha 5, the good guy robot who works with the sage-like Zordon and was first introduced on the TV show.

► XOXO writer to work on Heist Society. Lionsgate's female-fronted art thief movie, which is being produced by Elizabeth Banks and husband Max Handelman’s Brownstone Productions, has tapped Dylan Meyer to take a second pass at the script.

► Misfits actor Robert Sheehan joins Bad Samaritan. Sheehan will be featured along with David Tennant in the Dean Devlin-directed thriller that follows two car valets who use their business as a front to steal from their patrons.

↱ Trailer watch: Ghost in the Shell, Scarlett Johansson gets sent into a mysterious underworld in the first look at the controversial Paramount sci-fi film. ↲

Weekend movies, in brief: Sony/MGM's The Magnificent Seven is "efficient but uninspired" and set to open between $30M and $40M. Warner Bros.' Storks is a "delightfully madcap animated romp" that may nab between $20M and $30M. In limited release with 50 theaters, Disney's Queen of Katwe "leaves little room for audience involvement."

Tom Holland: Monster stand-in? The Spider-Man star surprised some when he appeared in the "Thanks To" section of the credits for A Monster Calls, but it turns out Holland helped out his friend, director J.A. Bayona, as an offscreen stand-in.

Full Fall TV Showrunners Survey Arrives...

Ahead of the fall season's debut, THR surveyed a number of this year's top showrunners about their new series, making content in 2016 and the state of broadcast TV. An excerpt:

Q: Fill in the blank: Broadcast TV is _____.

Dan Fogelman, Fox's Pitch/NBC's This is Us: "Going to have a good year. I've seen a lot of the pilots and I think people are starting to be willing to take chances a little bit more."

Scott Silveri, ABC’s Speechless: "Getting better because it has to."

Jeremy Slater, Fox's The Exorcist: "Unfairly maligned! I think there's a pervasive industry snobbery when it comes to cable versus network, this idea that cable equals quality while broadcast equals product, and it's nonsense."

Jason Katims, CBS' Pure Genius: "Still broadcast TV. I love the challenge of it, the pace of it. I love that there are still people out there who watch TV live and talk about it at work the next day."

Peter Lenkov, CBS' MacGyver: "Very much alive and kicking."

Chris Harris, CBS' The Great Indoors: "A terrible name for a ska band."

David Guggenheim, ABC’s Designated Survivor: "Underappreciated."

More ► How to enlist stars I How to choose a title I How to shoot a pilot.

Elsewhere in TV...

► Margot Robbie tapped to host SNL opener. The Suicide Squad star will host the season premiere Oct. 1 with The Weeknd as musical guest. Season 42 kicks off with three cast additions, Alex Moffat, Melissa Villasenor and Mikey Day.

► ABC readying Magnum P.I. sequel. The network is teaming with Leverage creator John Rogers and producer Eva Longoria for a sequel focusing on the daughter of the Tom Selleck character. The project has received a script commitment with a hefty penalty.

► LeBron James, Bill Lawrence prep family comedy at NBC. There Goes the Neighborhood centers on the first white family to move into a predominantly black, newly gentrified neighborhood in Cleveland.

↱ West Wing cast reunites to campaign for Hillary: Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Joshua Malina, Dulé Hill and more are hitting the trail for the candidate in Ohio this weekend. "To me, it is very, very scary, the possibilities for the near future," says Malina. ↲

► Bravo renews Odd Mom Out. The season three order comes after the summer's run of the second season of the comedy improved from its 2015 debut. The show averaged 1.1 million viewers.

► Showtime renews Andrew Dice Clay series. The cabler said that the semi-autobiographical Dice will return for a second season in 2017, which will include seven half-hour episodes. Its renewal makes it one of just a few comedies on the network.

↱ First look: ICM Partners' new offices: The Century City digs escalate the agency art wars with eye-popping views of L.A. and a modern-day revolving gallery in the agency's just-completed new space atop its longtime tower home. ↲

► Nashville casts Looking grad. HBO star Murray Bartlett has joined the drama in a recurring role for season five on CMT. Bartlett will play a charismatic and successful men’s fashion designer. He joins fellow new additions Jen Richards and Rhiannon Giddens.

► FX renews People v. O.J. producers deal. Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson, who both took home Emmys Sunday for best limited series, have signed a new overall deal. The duo and their production company Color Force will pursue literary properties for all TV platforms.

In THR, Esq: Rolling Stone is headed to trial over the UVA campus rape story ... LMNO defends keeping commissioned reality show from Discovery ... American Idol owner Core Media gets reorganization plan approved.

Gigi Hadid's Ambusher? A Red-Carpet Menace

Yes, Vitalii Sediuk was the bearded man who lifted Gigi Hadid off the ground following a fashion show in Milan on Thursday, getting a viral moment but also calling into question his "pranks," as Seth Abramovitch writes:

Moments before the violation, the Ukraine-born troublemaker — whose past victims include Vogue editor Anna Wintour and Brad Pitt at the 2014 Hollywood premiere of Maleficent — brazenly snapped a selfie with Carine Roitfeld, former editor of Vogue Paris and Hadid's mentor and close friend.

But it was the Hadid ambush that is grabbing headlines — a prank that, even for Sediuk, who once crawled beneath America Ferrera's dress at Cannes, was more aggressive and unsettling than usual.

Asked by THR how he responds to allegations that his latest "stunt" amounts to nothing more than an assault on a woman, Sediuk responds, "Don't be over-dramatic."

Today's Birthdays: Anthony Mackie, 38, Christopher Miller, 41, Joshua Oppenheimer, 42, Jason Alexander, 57, Bruce Springsteen, 67.