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Tom Ford's Triumphal Return; Greta's Nasty Fox Exit; Oliver Stone Uncensored; Barb Storms Hollywood

September 07, 2016

What's news: It's the first fall magazine day at THR this year, with Nocturnal Animals helmer and NY Fashion Week star Tom Ford featured. Plus: Oliver Stone gets candid about Snowden, TV Land plans its own Heathers and, yes, we're getting another sequel to Jackie Chan's Shanghai Noon. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman.

In THR's Toronto Film Festival preview issue: Tom Ford, whose latest title Nocturnal Animals is winning over fest audiences, opens up about his battle with depression and sobriety. Some notable quotes:

► On happy endings: "Nobody lives happily ever after. If you buy this and do that and build this house, you’re not going to be happy. Life is happy, sad tragic, joyful. But that’s not what we’re taught, that’s not what our culture pounds into our heads."

► On art + fashion: "There are fashion designers who are true artists," he says. "Alexander McQueen was one. I think in some ways Riccardo Tisci is one at Givenchy. Miuccia Prada I love, as well. [But] I think perhaps I'm too cynical to be a true artist."

► On mortality: "Death is all I think about. There is not a day or really an hour that goes by that I don’t think about death. I think you are born a certain way. I think you just come out that way."

► Full cover story | Tom Ford at NY Fashion Week

Toronto Film Buyers Beware?

For dealmakers: What should agents disclose in fest bidding wars? Fox Searchlight's $17.5M spend on Birth of a Nation, a movie now engulfed in Nate Parker's college rape trial controversy, may be a case study. Senior writer Tatiana Siegel and staff writer Ashley Cullins report:

In the close-knit indie film community, both buyers and sellers privately are saying WME may have had an ethical if not a legal obligation to disclose Parker's past if its sales team knew the upsetting details, including that the woman at the center of Parker's rape trial died by suicide in 2012.

Parker himself has said he did not know about his accuser's death until recently; WME declined comment on how much Taylor and his team knew before the sale, as did CAA. A source says MPRM'S Mark Pogachefsky, who was handling publicity for Birth, only learned of Parker's past while on the ground in Sundance.

"The finger that should be pointed should be at WME — period," says one top buyer involved in the Birth hunt. "These are people who will have repeat customers, and it's their reputation that is affected. If you're selling tainted goods, you're screwing over the buyer."

► Films that may be scrutinized I Toronto market preview I All Toronto news/reviews.

Oliver Stone Unleashes 'Snowden'

In-depth: Ahead of the Toronto debut of Snowden, Oliver Stone gives a detailed interview to executive features editor Stephen Galloway about the true-life spy thriller. An excerpt from the Q&A:

Were you worried the CIA was tapping your phone?

STONE: "I assumed they might, but we proceeded on the basis of we’re making a movie. We went there on that basis and, as I said, I think the biggest problem in the end turned out to be the self-censorship of scared American corporations. And that’s the truth about our society."

Maybe the studios didn’t think this was a commercial film?

STONE: "Do you really believe that? At the price we were offering, and the script the way it was, it's very hard to believe, considering the pact that they make, there wasn't a political factor."

**Also in the interview: "No studio would support this movie. Why? Because he was a hot potato in 2014. And although the script was admired and people wanted to make it, they said at the studio level, whatever, they said, 'Well, I have to run it upstairs,' because they no longer are in charge of their own studios."**

Elsewhere in film...

► Fox's Hugh Jackman musical adds Rebecca Ferguson. The Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation actress has joined the cast of The Greatest Showman, which focuses on P.T. Barnum, the founder of the Ringling Bros.

► MGM plans Shanghai Noon sequel. Jared Hess, director of Napoleon Dynamite, has signed on to direct the long-in-the-works Shanghai Dawn. Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson are in talks to reprise their roles.

↱ Jackie, reviewed. Natalie Portman plays the widowed Jacqueline Kennedy in the stunned aftermath of her husband's assassination. The Venice fest takeaway, from critic David Rooney: "A shattering reflection on loss and legacy." ↲

► Pam Levine named Fox marketing head. In Stacey Snider's first major hire at 20th Century Fox, Levine has been tapped as president of worldwide theatrical marketing. Levine, previously HBO's chief marketing officer, will report directly to Snider.

► Greg Berlanti to direct coming-out drama. The TV showrunner is in talks to direct Fox 2000’s adaptation of Becky Albertalli's YA best-seller Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.

↱ Summer box office wrap: The final numbers are in, and domestic revenue this summer hit $4.48B, on par with last year. The two biggest revenue-drivers were from Disney: Captain America: Civil War (the only summer film to cross $1B) and Finding Dory. Elsewhere, horror made a comeback, moviegoers feasted on sequels but often snubbed remakes. R-rated comedies flopped, family films ruled, but kid-friendly The BFG bombed. What's next? ↲

► Heartthrob rounds out its cast. Nashville actress Aubrey Peeples and Twilight's Peter Facinelli will star in the teen romance that spirals into a teen thriller. Chris Sivertson wrote and is helming Heartthrob, which has begun principal photography.

► Murder on the Orient Express adds another passenger. Tom Bateman is in talks to join Fox's adaptation of the Agatha Christie title, which Kenneth Branagh is directing and has Hamilton star Leslie Odom Jr. attached.

↱ Slow progress for diversity in film: Among the year's top 100 films, while 32 leading roles went to females, an 11 percent increase over the previous year, 68.6 percent of all the characters were still male and 73.7 percent of the characters were white. New study results. ↲

Oscar voter to fight "inactive" status. The Academy may be headed to court over its new policy to strip "inactive" members of Oscar voting privileges. Robert Bassing, 91, a member of the writers branch since 1958, says he plans to take legal action against the organization for age discrimination.

After Greta's Fox News Exit

Fox News' next move: Greta Van Susteren’s abrupt exit, the same day a $20M settlement with Gretchen Carlson was announced, may be the first of many on-air changes triggered by the ouster of Roger Ailes, Marisa Guthrie reports:

One source close to the situation attributed Van Susteren’s exit to a “financial disagreement.” And other sources told THR she attempted to renegotiate her contract and invoked the clause when the talks went south.

But Van Susteren’s husband, lawyer John Coale, said in an interview with The New York Times: "There’s so much chaos, it’s very hard to work there." And Van Susteren echoed that point when she posted an explanation on Facebook: "The place just didn’t feel like home anymore."

Will there be more big departures from Fox? Van Susteren was among several Fox News anchors that had the clause in their deals. Others include Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Geraldo Rivera and Bret Baier. There was a window during which Van Susteren could exercise the clause. And presumably others had similar windows. However, insiders do not expect other anchors to defect.

Elsewhere in TV...

► USA is keeping Queen of the South. The cabler has renewed the drama for a second season and set Natalie Chaidez to take over showrunning duties for Scott Rosebaum.

► Dick Wolf's next collaborator: Zayn Malik. The One Direction grad and the prolific TV producer have joined forces on an hourlong boy band drama set up at NBC titled Boys.

► TV Land plans new Heathers. The cabler has handed out a pilot order to its comedic anthology based on the 1988 film and tapped Leslye Headland to direct. The new take is described as a black comedy that takes place in the present day.

↱ TV's latest rush to true crime: Following the success of HBO's The Jinx, Netflix's Making a Murderer and FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson, it was only a matter of time before other networks began mining the JonBenet Ramsey, Patty Hearst and Menendez cases for real-life crime shows. What is in the works now. ↲

► ABC will return to Paradise. Reality franchise Bachelor in Paradise was renewed for a fourth season, the network announced during the season finale's aftershow Tuesday.

► Netflix's Narcos will live beyond Pablo Escobar. After two seasons that started the Colombian kingpin's story, the streaming service is moving ahead with a third and fourth season of the drug cartel drama.

► Sarah Paulson invites a famous date to the Emmys. Playing prosecutor Marcia Clark in FX's People v. O.J. Simpson earned Paulson an Emmy nom, and to thank the real woman behind the role, Clark will accompany the actress to the awards show.

► Fox's baseball drama Pitch adds supporting players. The Kylie Bunbury starrer has enlisted Grandfathered grad Josh Peck and Once Upon a Time's Parker Croft for guest spots. The show debuts later this month.

Gretchen Carlson enlists PMK*BNC. The former Fox News host has signed with power publicist Cindi Berger. The co-chairman and CEO of PMK*BNC will handle all aspects of Carlson’s personal PR as she enters the next phase of her career.

Barb Storms Hollywood...

Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer have promised "justice for Barb" in season two of Netflix's sci-fi hit, but Shannon Purser, who plays the bespectacled high schooler, already is finding justice in her career, Chris Gardner reports:

The 19-year-old fan favorite (star of memes, trending Twitter hashtags and a Tonight Show spoof) recently flew to L.A. for a week of meetings with top casting directors and executives at ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Sony, Warner Bros., TNT/TBS and Marvel, among others.

Says Purser's manager, Matt Shelton of LINK Entertainment: "It's been a whirlwind of an experience to have such a high level of excitement surrounding Shannon."

What's next? THR has learned that so far, she's set for a small role in Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone's upcoming feature Life of the Party.

Today's Birthdays: Evan Rachel Wood, 29, Alex Kurtzman, 43, Leslie Jones, 49, Toby Jones, 50, James Schamus, 57, Diane Warren, 60.