BILLBOARD-2

THЄ ЄXISTЄNTIΛL CHRONICLЄS

►About | ►Explore | ►Links | ►Updates | ►Alerts

Oscar's Early Players; Toronto Hot List; 'Survivor' Producer Speaks From Mexican Prison; NY Fashion Week Preview

September 06, 2016

Welcome back! Summer's over, which means the fall film festivals are setting the awards-season table. Unlike last year's offering of modestly reviewed films, this year's slate of early Oscar wannabes is winning over critics and pundits. Good news for those of us who will be talking about these films for four months. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman.

**Just in: Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson’s sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes ends in a settlement. Full story.**

At Venice and Telluride...

Yes, that's Mel Gibson in Venice. And he's back with an acclaimed new film. Making sense of the flurry of news at Venice and Telluride is critic David Rooney in Italy and awards analyst Scott Feinberg in Colorado. Their festival views:

VENICE — The verdict so far on the 73rd Venice Film Festival is that this is a solid edition. The inter-fest jostling of recent years with the Telluride event has been largely avoided by securing the world premieres of key titles like La La Land and Arrival at least a day or two ahead of their North American bows, while also landing exclusives on entries like Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals and Mel Gibson’s return to directing with Hacksaw Ridge.

Elsewhere in the main selection, the other high point has been prolific French director Francois Ozon’s German-language drama Frantz, a beguiling black-and-white mystery inspired by Ernst Lubitsch’s Broken Lullaby, which also screened in Telluride.

On the national front, however, Italians are grumbling about the poor quality of the homegrown entries chosen for competition, and bemoaning the state of a national film industry that once spawned some of the world’s greatest arthouse names.

The dazzling presence on the red carpet here of Emma Stone (incandescent in La La Land) and Amy Adams (impressive both in Arrival and Nocturnal Animals) has led fashion pundits to dub this the year of "le rosse" — the redheads.

TELLURIDE — The talk of the 43rd Telluride Film Festival was La La Land, director Damien Chazelle's (pictured with Emma Stone) original musical, which opened the festivities in the Rockies in the coveted "Patron Preview" slot and now assumes the pole position in the best picture Oscar race.

Also widely cheered was Moonlight, a low-budget film about a young gay black child's growth into adulthood, as well as Sundance standout Manchester by the Sea and Cannes carryover Toni Erdmann.

And performances in Sully (Tom Hanks), Arrival (Amy Adams) and Bleed for This (Miles Teller) were accorded strong notices. Of the acquisition titles at the fest, Maudie (Sally Hawkins) and Wakefield (Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Garner) seem the likeliest bets to land a deal.

But buyers seem to be waiting until Toronto to get a fuller sense of the field.

► All Venice reviews I All Telluride reviews I Chief critic Todd McCarthy's full wrap.

Elsewhere in film...

↱ Weekend box office: Sony's horror entry Don't Breathe closed out the summer in high style, earning $19.6M. Light Between Oceans struggled with $4.9M for the four-day holiday frame. Morgan, a sci-fi horror thriller targeting younger consumers, earned a dismal $2.4M. Full results I Summer winners and losers. ↲

► New Godzilla is a big hit in Japan. With $60M, the revival of the iconic monster franchise by Toho is now the biggest live-action hit of the year in the country and has already surpassed the studio's initial forecasts.

► Bad Moms crosses $100M in U.S. The Mila Kunis-starrer is the first R-rated comedy of the year so far to hit the milestone. Does that mean the female-fueled film will get a sequel?

↱ The Toronto Hot List: Projects generating buzz include Anne Hathaway in Colossal, Natalie Portman in Jackie, Christian Bale in The Promise and Liev Schreiber in The Bleeder. Market titles likely to get buyers. ↲

► Paolo Sorrentino plans Silvio Berlusconi feature. The Oscar-winning director, whose The Young Pope received critical acclaim in Venice, said that his next project on the Italian mogul is already in the works.

► Otzi the Iceman to get biopic treatment. Yes, the world's oldest cold case is getting the movie treatment. The death, likely murder, of the iceman more than 5,000 years ago is being adapted for the screen. Details.

↱ Bridget Jones's Baby, reviewed. Renee Zellweger reprises her signature role as a single woman, this time facing the challenges of motherhood. The takeaway, from critic Leslie Felperin: "Pregnant with possibility, but it fails to deliver." ↲

Which titles have Oscar buzz so far? For one, Moonlight. Executive editor Stephen Galloway writes: It’s my favorite film this year and the only one I saw in Telluride that moved me to tears. It also continues an amazing run for Brad Pitt's Plan B, which is likely to have a fourth consecutive best picture nominee. Full debate.

Imprisoned 'Survivor' Producer Speaks

After six years in prison, TV's Survivor producer Bruce Beresford-Redman (pictured) still proclaims innocence for the murder of his wife. But, even though a Mexican federal court found his conviction problematic, he could remain imprisoned for years, senior writer Scott Johnson finds:

Beresford-Redman recently experienced a swing of hope — as a Mexican Federal court concluded that his conviction was flawed — and then disappointment as a lower appeals court subsequently upheld his conviction. He tells Johnson, “It’s ludicrous but hardly unexpected.”

His lawyer’s take: “What’s happening to Bruce is like a bad movie.”

In this exclusive interview, Beresford-Redman talks about the future of his appeals, the care of his children (whom he hasn’t seen in more than four years) and the emotional devastation of his situation.

“It’s unbelievably frustrating to live such a small existence,” he says. “There is less of me and my soul every day.”

Elsewhere in TV...

► Ousted Fox News chief mulls lawsuit. Roger Ailes has hired Hulk Hogan lawyer Charles Harder as he decides whether to sue New York magazine for its bombshell feature detailing the exec's alleged sexual harassment incidents, The New York Times reports.

► Inside Comedy Central's Rob Lowe roast. The special gathered a slew of celebrities to rip on Lowe over his acting career, perfectly good looks and infamous past liaisons and sex tape — while his family sat in the audience. 75 best jokes I At the show.

↱ New TV reviews, in brief: Narcos season two, which hit Netflix on Friday, hangs on "Wagner Moura's riveting and nuanced portrayal." MTV's Mary + Jane "feels like a reverse-engineered Broad City" and Crackle's StartUp "goes from intriguing to laughable." ↲

► NBC plans Oliver Twist as a procedural. The modern take on Charles Dickens' novel will star a struggling 20-something woman. Writing duo Chad Damiani and J.P. Lavin will pen the script.

► Lil Wayne scores new Skip Bayless Fox Sports 1 show. "I’ve told him how honored I am to have such a legend create such a great song for our new show," says the sports host. Watch the intro.

► FYI - TV premieres this week: Queen Sugar (Tonight, OWN), Atlanta (Tonight, FX), Better Things (Thursday, FX), One Mississippi (Friday, Amazon), Quarry (Friday, Cinemax), Masters of Sex (Sunday, Showtime).

► FYI - On late-night: Sully director Clint Eastwood and star Tom Hanks make the rounds on Tuesday's Tonight Show and Thursday's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, respectively, with Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger himself appearing on Wednesday's Late Show.

Get Ready for New York Fashion Week

Starting soon: With retail sales in the doldrums and social media challenging shows' exclusivity, New York Fashion Week is already shaping up to be a season unlike any other, Pret-a-Reporter editors Stephanie Chan and Sam Reed write in their preview:

The industry is trying new things to reinvent itself, which is changing the look and feel of the spring 2017 schedule. Several labels are in transition, with new designers in place but not ready to show their collections yet (Calvin Klein, Oscar de la Renta).

Other designers are trading traditional runway shows for alternative formats, hosting consumer-facing, social media-friendly extravaganzas (Tommy Hilfiger), for example. And a few are going strictly digital (Misha Nonoo's Snapchat-only show).

Could the efforts to eventize fashion week mean an end to runway shows with star-studded front rows as designers shift attention to the people who are actually buying their clothes? Time will tell.

Today's Birthdays: Naomie Harris, 40, Idris Elba, 44, Rosie Perez, 52, Elizabeth Vargas, 54, Jeff Foxworthy, 58, Roger Waters, 73.