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Viacom CEO Out; Leo and Brando's Missing Oscar; R.I.P. Curtis Hanson; Debate Moderator Anxiety

September 21, 2016

What's news: It's magazine day, and THR is rolling out the red carpet for our third annual designers issue. Plus: Viacom's interim CEO Tom Dooley just stepped down, Joss Whedon is launching a Hillary Clinton Super PAC, a look at Brangelina breakup fallout and an appreciation for the late L.A. Confidential director Curtis Hanson. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman.

THR's third annual Red Carpet Designers issue toasts the icons and upstarts rewriting fashion's rapidly changing lingua franca amid a mashup of Hollywood, millennials, Snapchat and the new modern glamour:

► The list: Hollywood's top 25 red carpet designers, profiled as the red carpet is undergoing something of a revolution.

► Inside look: A rare peek inside Paris couture, where one Beverly Hills housewife is annoyed that a dress that cost her $100,000 was worn by famous actresses: "I don't want the sloppy seconds."

► Guest column: Michelle Obama designer Christian Siriano writes: "How I beat Hollywood's body shamers on the red carpet."

► Gallery: From Nicole Kidman to Miss Piggy, a timeline of Christian Louboutin's Hollywood hits.

Leo and Brando's Missing Oscar

There's a strange saga behind Marlon Brando’s lost Best Actor Oscar statuette for On the Waterfront, Gary Baum finds:

In the fall of 2012, Leonardo DiCaprio received Brando's best actor statuette as a 38th birthday gift. The gifters were his friends and business associates at Red Granite Pictures, the primary backers behind The Wolf of Wall Street, which had begun shooting that August.

The company plays a central role in an ongoing U.S. Department of Justice asset-seizure complaint filed in July (DiCaprio makes a cameo in the document as “Hollywood Actor 1”).

DiCaprio's birthday gift — which he has proudly displayed on the mantel at his Hollywood Hills home — has baggage. THR has learned that Brando never sold his award; rather, it simply went missing.

Neither the Academy nor Brando estate executor Mike Medavoy (DiCaprio’s friend and business associate) appear eager to discuss any attempts to retrieve the award from the most recent Best Actor winner.

"It would be great to get it back," says Avra Douglas, the Brando estate's executor and archivist.

Meanwhile...

Big Question: How will the bombshell Brangelina split impact Pitt's Allied? Pamela McClintock writes: Paramount executives feel very little anxiety about the film's chances.

In fact, the studio dropped a new TV spot for Allied, Pitt's romantic thriller with Marion Cotillard, the same day Jolie's filing for divorce from Pitt was made public, with gossip websites blaming it on an alleged Pitt-Cotillard affair. Paramount insiders say the timing of the teaser trailer was a coincidence. It hits theaters on Nov. 23.

So, will Pitt talk to the press about the pending divorce ahead of Allied? Says a source: "Brad won't address questions about any stupid rumors."

► A timeline I Jolie's attorney on prenups I Couple's next films I Clooney: "Wow."

Elsewhere in film...

► Toronto film fest sales wrap. Fox Searchlight's unique Jackie deal sets high mark, while Anne Hathaway starrer Colossal sells to a mysterious China-backed U.S. studio, and Netflix nabs five buzzy titles, including the Barack Obama biopic Barry. Details.

► Jared Leto to play Andy Warhol in biopic. The Suicide Squad actor, along with Michael De Luca and Terence Winter, are tackling the life of the famed pop art artist. The team is not aiming for a low-budget indie with Warhol but rather a mainstream project with prestige credentials.

► Kate Beckinsale to star in Marc Webb's new film. The actress joined The Only Living Boy in New York, which Webb is directing for Amazon. The feature is casting ahead of its October start and sees Callum Turner, Kiersey Clemons and Jeff Bridges on the call sheet.

► After Rogue One exit, Alexandre Desplat jumps to Valerian. After news broke that the Oscar winner would no longer be composing the music for the Star Wars standalone, Desplat has lined up a job working on Luc Besson's upcoming sci-fi epic.

↱ Jumanji first look: Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart have shared the first photo of the team on set, joined by jungle-exploring costars Karen Gillan and Jack Black. Johnson says Gillan's revealing outfit "will make sense when you know the plot. Trust me."

Also: Smurfs: The Lost Village trailer just arrived from Sony Pictures, which is looking to revive the franchise for a April 2017 theatrical bow. ↲

► Charlie Sheen to lead Crackle original Mad Families. The comedy, which started production last week in L.A., stars Sheen as a loveable "man-child." Fred Wolf will direct from a script that he and David Spade co-wrote.

► Lionsgate promotes Starz merger dealmaker. James Gladstone also is rewarded with a new long-term contract for helping close the $4.4 billion tie-up with the cable premium channel.

Rob Reiner reflects in a new podcast interview on growing up in his legendary father's shadow and shifting his focus after All in the Family from acting to directing. And, yes, on the election ("I'm rooting for the gal that Meathead would've voted for," not a "con man"). Listen.

Debate Advice: Don't Get Lauer'd

Less than a week away from the first presidential debate, the Clinton-Trump showdown has put news chiefs on unsure footing as the media — not just the candidates — become the story, Marisa Guthrie reports:

NBC's Lester Holt has the unenviable task of going first, and adding to the anxiety at NBC News, Holt is following closely on the heels of colleague Matt Lauer's widely criticized handling of a Sept. 7 forum, in which Lauer is perceived to have gone easy on Trump.

The added scrutiny means news divisions are on lockdown like never before and insiders note that, more than ever, how moderators craft their questions and their follow-ups, is paramount. If Holt doesn't follow up on incorrect statements, media watchdogs and social media users will pounce, much like they did on Lauer.

To watch: "Don't get Lauer'd" might be the rallying cry of this debate cycle.

And more fall TV reviews are here...

► ABC's Designated Survivor. Premiering Wednesday, Kiefer Sutherland stars as a low-level White House cabinet member forced to step in to become president after a major attack. Chief TV critic Tim Goodman's takeaway: "Boom! Now what?"

► Fox's Pitch. Fox's baseball drama debuting Thursday about a female Major League pitcher stars newcomer Kylie Bunbury. Critic Daniel Fienberg's takeaway: "Not a home run, but the pilot covers extra bases."

► ABC's Speechless. The new comedy premiering Wednesday about disability stars Minnie Driver as the family matriarch. Goodman's takeaway: "Sweet and funn y without being sentimental."

Last night...

► This Is Us' premiere twist. Creator Dan Fogelman opens up about "the good cry" and focusing on life's "really small moments." Star Milo Ventimiglia shares what's next for his character.

► A nude John Stamos scrubs in on Scream Queens. The sophomore season of the horror-comedy anthology moved off sorority row and into a hospital, where Stamos, Kirstie Alley and Taylor Lautner play doctors.

► Agents of SHIELD's supernatural season four. Exec producer Jed Whedon talks possible connections of the new season with Marvel's Doctor Strange.

Elsewhere in TV...

↱ The new faces of fall: 27 exclusive photos of new series stars from Laverne Cox and Kristen Bell to Kiefer Sutherland. Full gallery. ↲

► Leah Remini and A&E team for Scientology series. The actress' A&E series will tackle her Church of Scientology past head on. Sources tell THR that Remini has been filming the series over the course of the summer with a launch anticipated in early 2017.

► Megyn Kelly to produce political comedy. The Kelly File host will exec produce Embeds for Go90, Verizon's ad-supported streaming service. Verizon has ordered six half-hour episodes, which tell the story of young journalists embedded with a candidate.

► Atlanta, Better Things renewed at FX. After airing just a handful of episodes each, the critically praised comedies starring Donald Glover and Pamela Adlon will be back with 10-episode second seasons, up from eight for Better Things and nine for Atlanta.

Exec notes...

► Viacom interim CEO Tom Dooley to exit. Viacom has decided to cut its quarterly dividend by 50 percent from 40 cents per share to 20 cents, the company said on Thursday. And interim CEO Tom Dooley is leaving.

► Leslie Moonves says Netflix drives up the price of CBS shows. "We're a big fan of Netflix," the exec said at an investor conference in New York. "We don't think they're eating the world."

► Comcast CEO touts "closer" Netflix relationship. Brian Roberts said that he spent time with Netflix's Reed Hastings after the companies "occasionally didn't see eye-to-eye," with the cable giant making a conscious decision "to aggregate other people's content."

Joss Whedon launches Hillary Clinton Super PAC. The Avengers director's organization, Save the Day, will encourage left-leaning groups to vote for Hillary through a series of comedy videos featuring A-listers. Launch video.

R.I.P., Curtis Hanson

The director of 8 Mile, L.A. Confidential and Wonder Boys, who died at age 71 on Sunday, was an unpretentious all-rounder touched by occasional genius, critic Stephen Dalton writes in his appreciation:

A late bloomer by fate, Curtis Hanson began his filmmaking career as a high-school dropout and Venice Beach surf bum. The future director of L.A. Confidential never went to film school, finding his way into Hollywood by a more scenic route that included decades of false starts and dead ends.

But Hanson was persistent, and his dogged dedication finally paid him back. It makes a poetic kind of sense that he was drawn to stories about people "trying to find better versions of themselves," as he's been widely quoted as saying.

He first entered the outer fringes of the film industry by writing and editing his own movie magazine, Cinema. This brought him into personal contact with his directing heroes, single-minded American mavericks from an earlier age like John Ford, Howard Hawks and Don Siegel.

"They had an independence about them," he explained in a 1994 interview for The New York Times. "They weren't pretentious. They survived."

Today's Birthdays: Luke Wilson, 45, Cheryl Hines, 51, Ethan Coen, 59, Bill Murray, 66, Stephen King, 69, Jerry Bruckheimer, 73.