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Lochte's 'DWTS' Scare; Portman Joins Oscar Race; Katzenberg's Burning Man Shabbat

September 13, 2016

What's news: Olympian Ryan Lochte seems to be turning into one of those people whom controversy follows. His debut on Dancing With the Stars was marred last night by two protesters interrupting the show. Plus: Natalie Portman officially joins the race for her second Oscar, Bill stands in for Hillary in Hollywood and THR's full Emmy-week party list debuts. — Matthew Belloni and Erik Hayden.

Natalie Portman's Oscar Play

In a sleepy Toronto market, the sale of Natalie Portman's Jacqueline Kennedy biopic to Fox Searchlight marks the first significant sale of a finished film. And it may well garner the actress an Oscar nom, Tatiana Siegel and Scott Feinberg report:

As if this year's best actress Oscar race wasn't already impressive enough, along comes Natalie Portman's jaw-dropping portrayal of Jacqueline Kennedy in Pablo Larrain's Jackie.

Chile-born Larrain's first film in English, and his first centering on a female protagonist, had its world premiere last week at Venice and then screened on Sunday night and Monday afternoon in Toronto.

Fox Searchlight will release the historical drama on Dec. 9, giving it a prime awards-season berth. Portman is so good that she might well walk away with her second best actress win, following 2010's Black Swan.

► Jackie review I Fox Searchlight deal details I Awards outline.

Elsewhere in film...

► Shane Black's Predator reboot nabs Benicio Del Toro. The Fox film film is said to be an ensemble piece anchored by Del Toro's character. Mainstays John Davis, Joel Silver and Lawrence Gordon are producing. A February 2017 start is planned.

► Sony gives movie deal to astronaut Scott Kelly. The studio has picked up rights to his upcoming book, Endurance: My Year in Space. Amy Pascal will produce the adaptation along with Elizabeth Cantillon. David Beaubaire will oversee the project for the studio.

↱ Toronto reviews arriving today: Mark Wahlberg's BP oil spill drama Deepwater Horizon, Jonathan Demme's Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids, Katherine Dieckmann's U.S. deep South drama Strange Weather, first-time director Alex Lehmann's Blue Jay. ↲

► Julia Roberts' Fool Me Once gets financing. Entertainment One and Tooley Productions are partnering with Roberts to finance and distribute the mystery thriller adaptation of Harlan Coben’s novel.

► Sausage Party co-director to reboot beloved B-movie. Conrad Vernon will direct The Toxic Avenger, the story of a New Jersey teenager whose tumble into a vat of toxic waste turns him into a mutant superhero. The movie will be a re-imagining.

► Universal unveils Fifty Shades Darker teaser. The sequel to the Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan adaptation of the EL James series released a 19-second teaser. The film won't hit theaters until next February.

Academy reveals screenwriter fellowship shortlist. Eleven screenwriters and one writing team, selected from a total of 6,915 submitted scripts, have been shortlisted for fellowships that provide each winner with a $35,000 prize. The full list of writers.

Emmys Week: Full Party Guide

As the Emmys night countdown gets underway, it's time to start keeping track of what events matter. Here's THR's annual checklist of TV's high-profile awards bashes. To get started:

WEDNESDAY: BuzzFeed is presenting its first-ever Emmy week party, produced by Pen & Public, billed as a “night celebrating the most LOL OMG WTF Cute Win moments in entertainment this season.” Hyde Sunset, 8117 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 8 p.m.-12 a.m.

THURSDAY: Audi, the luxury automaker — the official auto partner of the 68th Emmy Awards — has held an awards-week party for six consecutive years, but this year it breaks from tradition and moves from its typical haunt, Cecconi's, down the street to the brand new West Coast outpost of the well-known New York eatery Catch. 8715 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, 8 p.m.

FRIDAY: Gersh, UTA, CAA, WME and CAA are all holding parties. In Gersh's case, senior managing partner Leslie Siebert and husband Steven Siebert are opening their home to toast the agency’s crop of nominees. Little Holmby, Los Angeles, 8 p.m. – 12 a.m.

► All 25+ A-list Emmy parties: Complete event guide.

Meanwhile...

↱ A very awkward Dancing with the Stars debut. Ryan Lochte's appearance on the reality competition series was interrupted when a person rushed the stage during Monday night's premiere. The Olympic swimmer appeared stunned as the live show then cut to a commercial break amid the chaos.

"Two individuals stormed the dance floor tonight and were immediately subdued and escorted out of the building," a spokesperson from BBC Worldwide Productions, producer of DWTS, said. "The matter is now being handled by the authorities." Video angles. ↲

↱ Bill Clinton steps in for Hillary's Hollywood fundraisers. "The former president will fill in for his wife at a Tuesday afternoon gathering at the Beverly Hills home of Seth MacFarlane, which will feature a performance by Lionel Richie, and at a dinner Tuesday night at the Beverly Hills home of Diane von Furstenberg and Barry Diller." [The Washington Post] ↲

Elsewhere in TV...

► Smosh owner Defy Media raises $70M. The digital media company behind brands like Smosh, Clevver and ScreenJunkies, has raised funding led by Wellington Management Co, providing capital to increase allow it to work on more ambitious, TV-quality projects.

► Viacom's first post-Dauman board meeting. Later this week, Shari Redstone and interim CEO Tom Dooley likely won’t address hot-button issues like selling off Paramount or a potential combination with CBS. Instead, sources say they’ll be figuring out how to get out from under a massive $12.4B worth of debt and rev up a flailing stock price.

► Saturday Night Live adds some new faces. Mikey Day, a writer on the show since 2013, will transition to on-camera talent this season. Also joining the cast are Alex Moffat and Melissa Villasenor. All three will be featured players.

^^It's getting only marginally better for women and minority directors in TV, per a new report released Monday by the Directors Guild of America. More details (and charts).

► NBC keeps betting on American Ninja Warrior. The reality competition series has been renewed for a sixth season at the network and ninth season overall. The renewal is no surprise given the show's impressive ratings.

► Kirstie Alley is returning to broadcast. The Emmy-winning Cheers alum has joined season two of Scream Queens as a series regular, playing a devious administrator at a hospital.

► TNT enlists Judy Reyes for Claws. Fresh off Lifetime's Devious Maids, the actress has booked a series regular role in the nail salon hourlong dramedy pilot, which hails from exec producers Rashida Jones and Will McCormack.

► History, Peter Berg team for military-inspired series. The cabler has greenlit an unscripted series from the director that centers on Special Operations training tactics, featuring 30 men and women with no military background.

Jimmy Kimmel gets custom Twitter emoji. The social platform has created a custom emoji for the Emmys host that will appear anytime users tweet under the show's official hashtags during the next week, including #Emmys and #Emmys2016.

Katzenberg Hits Burning Man...

....for some father-son bonding out in the desert, as rambling columnist Chris Gardner finds:

Shabbat dinner may not be the first thing to spring to mind when Burning Man is mentioned, but it was one of the highlights during the father-son bonding time experienced by Jeffrey Katzenberg, 65, and David, 35, at this year's fest.

The two made the trek to Black Rock City this year along with more than 70,000 other "Burners" as the annual counterculture festival celebrated a milestone 30th anniversary.

It was the second year in a row that the Katzenbergs attended Burning Man together, while David has been three times in total. Their Shabbat dinner took place on Sept. 2, and David describes it as "massive."

"Anyone and everyone is welcome," he tells THR of the hospitality of their camp, known as Merkabah. "We hosted nearly 700 people this year. Everyone in our camp equally contributes their time, energy and resources to making the Shabbat dinner work."