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Transgender Casting Uproar; Tom Ford Takes Venice; Debate Moderators Named; A Cord-Cutter's Summer Diary

September 02, 2016

What's news: Matt Bomer's casting as a transgender woman has raised eyebrows in the community, as a GLAAD exec notes in a THR column. Plus: Pitch Perfect 3 finds its director, Venice and Telluride are kicking award season into high-gear, the Trump-Clinton debate moderators have been unveiled and Jackie Chan is getting an (honorary) Oscar. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman.

Tom Ford's "Graceful Leap Forward"

After a big week for award season contenders (La La Land, Arrival), it's Tom Ford's turn to impress with his new drama, Nocturnal Animals. Writing from the Venice film festival, critic David Rooney observes:

David Lynch meets Alfred Hitchcock meets Douglas Sirk in Nocturnal Animals, a sumptuously entertaining noir melodrama laced with vicious crime and psychological suspense, which more than delivers on the promise of A Single Man, writer-director Tom Ford's first foray behind the camera seven years ago.

Confidently dovetailing three strands that depict present and past reality, as well as a dark fictional detour that functions as a blunt real-life rebuke, the film once again demonstrates that Ford is both an intoxicating sensualist and an accomplished storyteller, with as fine an eye for character detail as he has for color and composition. Focus Features should be able to count on sophisticated adult audiences lapping up this release.

► Nocturnal Animals review I All Venice news I All fest red carpet photos.

Elsewhere in film...

► Pitch Perfect 3 finds new director. Step Up All In helmer Trish Sie will direct the latest entry in the Universal franchise, replacing Elizabeth Banks, who backed out of the gig in June. The studio recently moved its release from summer 2017 to December of next year.

► Reese Witherspoon splits from producing partner. The actress will retain control of Pacific Standard, the production company she founded with Bruna Papandrea. The duo have been running the label since 2012, producing Gone Girl, Wild and Hot Pursuit.

► Telluride Film Fest unveils lineup. The annual event, which kicks off today, includes world premieres of Clint Eastwood’s Sully, Ben Younger’s Bleed for This starring Miles Teller and French director Francois Ozon’s drama Frantz.

↱ Transgender casting controversy. Matt Bomer's casting as a transgender woman in the upcoming film Anything has caused a stir in the community, which has been critical of another cisgender actor playing a trans character. GLAAD exec Nick Adams: "That message is toxic and dangerous." ↲

► Gene Wilder films return to the big screen. AMC theaters and Warner Bros. will screen Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Blazing Saddles in theaters this week at 55 AMC locations nationwide. Details.

► Charlie Hunnam's Lost City of Z lands at Amazon. The streaming giant is in final talks to acquire The Lost City of Z, set in the Brazilian rain forest. The film, directed by James Gray, also stars Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson and Sienna Miller.

► Fast & Furious actor gets Stranded. Laz Alonso joins Paula Patton and Omar Epps in the indie thriller directed by Deon Taylor from his own screenplay. Stranded follows a journalist (Patton) who is kidnapped after she starts investigating the world of sex trafficking.

↱ Trailer watch: Mascots. Netflix unveiled the first trailer for Christopher Guest's latest title, and Isabelle Huppert stars in the provocative French-language film Elle as a powerful video-game exec dealing with rape. ↲

► Disney has record year in Russia. Led by Zootopia and The Jungle Book, the studio has already hit its best-ever box-office year in the country in local currency terms. And the third quarter isn't even over yet.

► Imax CEO Greg Foster extends contract. The exec has been with Imax for three years and his previous contract expired two months ago. Under the terms of the new contract, he will get a base salary of $1 million in the first year.

Jackie Chan to get honorary Oscar. After a vote this week, the Rush Hour actor, along with film editor Anne V. Coates, casting director Lynn Stalmaster and doc filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, will be toasted by the Academy at the Governors Awards this fall. Details.

'Stranger Things' Season 2 So Far

After Netflix (finally) renewed Stranger Things this week, the drama's creative team has dropped some crucial details about the new season due out in 2017. Staff writer Bryn Elise Sandberg breaks down what to know:

New characters: According to a casting breakdown, the show is looking for at least three actors to play new characters: 13-year-old Max, cocky teenager Billy and vengeful Roman. And some new faces might be familiar: Exec producer Shawn Levy acknowledged that the creative team has had more than a few “famous” people reach out to them about a role: "Certain actors that you have definitely heard of have raised their hand with real interest." The show's well-known fans include Aaron Paul and Stephen King.

Episode titles: When Netflix took to Twitter to announce the renewal, the streamer also unveiled all of season two's episode titles. A sampling: "The Pollywog," "The Secret Cabin" and "The Lost Brother." Levy also confirmed the second season is largely mapped out already and that the writing process is well underway.

Stranger Things 2: The nine new episodes will pick up about a year after the events on season one and address some of the first season finale's loose ends. It will also be treated more as a sequel to a film than as a season two, according to Levy.

Elsewhere in TV...

► Just in: Trump-Clinton moderators unveiled. NBC's Lester Holt, ABC's Martha Raddatz, CNN's Anderson Cooper and Fox News' Chris Wallace are set to referee the must-see debates. Good Luck!

► Greg Berlanti plans black superhero project. The Arrow exec producer is working with The Game's Salim and Mara Brock Akil to develop Black Lightning, a drama about one of the first major African-American superheroes.

► Daytime exec Lisa Hackner out at ABC. Her development team was also let go after a rocky season for the network’s daytime programs with the cancelation of Tyra Banks’ talk show FABLife and the exit of Michael Strahan from Live! With Kelly and Michael.

► Syfy is keeping Killjoys, Dark Matter. The shows, which both wrap their sophomore runs this month, join recently renewed cult hit Wynona Earp (a fellow Canadian import) as earning renewals for 2017.

↱ HBO's Westworld unveils creepy robot art. The premium cabler has released the key art for its anticipated futuristic amusement park drama. The poster offers a raw first look at one of the park's humanlike androids, only it's missing … something. ↲

► Devious Maids canceled at Lifetime. The news comes weeks after the season-four — now series — finale aired on Aug. 8. The comedy-drama hailed from Desperate Housewives executive producer Marc Cherry.

► Narcos boss previews season 2. Showrunner Eric Newman says viewers will be "conflicted" about Pablo Escobar's death when Netflix releases the new season tonight. Also: Everything to know going into the second season.

► TLC renews Tyler's Perry's Too Close to Home. The show, which is the cabler's first scripted original series, nabbed a combined 4.2 million viewers for its premiere airings. The second season will bow sometime in 2017.

► Nashville casts Grammy winner. Rhiannon Giddens, co-founder of the string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, has landed a recurring role on the country music drama when it heads to CMT.

In THR, Esq: Melania Trump sues over a retracted Daily Mail story ... Beyonce slays Lemonade lawsuit by an indie filmmaker ... Lindsay Lohan loses Grand Theft Auto lawsuit of video game likeness.

My Summer as a Cord Cutter

For 56 days, senior TV writer Michael O'Connell turned his back on Big Cable. Here is his entertaining summer diary:

I finally cut the cord. Summer is the perfect opportunity to test drive this new lifestyle. Scripted television series are at a relative minimum. Professional sports, ignoring the Olympics for a moment, are almost nonexistent.

And there's the not-so-small matter that the weeks between July 4 and Labor Day are best spent outside. That's not to say that this was an easy decision. It's one I made after more than a year of thoughtful consideration.

Arguments against this move, a controversial one among my friends and colleagues, included my chemical dependency on House Hunters, an admittedly misguided affection for cable news and the ever-popular "Don't you write about television for a living?" (I like to think of this job as a bit more nuanced, but I appreciate the feedback.)

Unfortunately, you can't just ghost the Big Bundle. What happened next.