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NBC's Arnold 'Apprentice' Issues; Michael Moore Unveils 'TrumpLand'; Warren Beatty's "Deplorable" Producers; Debate Preview

October 19, 2016

What's news: The final Trump vs. Clinton debate looms. But first, an in-depth look at how interracial romance Loving became the most relevant movie this election cycle. Plus: The baggage that NBC's new Apprentice star arrives with, Michael Moore's surprise TrumpLand film meets critics and why Warren Beatty's new movie has 16 (!) credited producers. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman.

In the latest issue, Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton open up about their film Loving, which tells the true-life story of Richard and Mildred Loving, who were arrested in 1958 for marrying each other. Stephen Galloway on the film's moment:

Focus Features snapped up the movie for $9M (roughly its budget) at this year's Berlin Film Festival. It will be the first test of the company since it was overhauled this year under chairman Peter Kujawski, president Robert Walak and COO Abhijay Prakash — the NBCUniversal division's third set of leaders in as many years.

Given the response Loving received in May at the Cannes Film Festival, it looks as if they've chosen well. The picture and its two stars are considered serious contenders for Oscar nominations.

While the filmmakers are white (they include actor Colin Firth in his first outing as a producer, along with Nancy Buirski, Sarah Green and Ged Doherty), their movie is in many ways colorblind, focusing on universal elements — like love.

► Cover story | Ruth Negga, Joel Edgerton Q&A video | Film review

Arnold's 'Apprentice' Issues

Out with the old, in with the new. NBC's reality show, formerly starring Donald Trump, returns in January with yet another figure whose treatment of women has come under scrutiny: Arnold Schwarzenegger. Kate Stanhope reports:

While NBC is touting Schwarzenegger as a departure from Trump, the two men share eyebrow-raising similarities. The former also was accused of sexual assault in 2003 and his personal behavior came under scrutiny again when it was revealed he secretly fathered a child while married to Maria Shriver.

Sources say NBC execs are concerned about the issues surrounding the new host, especially since the network fired the Today show's Billy Bush for encouraging Trump's talk of predatory behavior. Insiders believe Arnold is different (he has apologized for his behavior), and some believe the "swirl" around its new star might give the franchise a ratings boost.

The big question: Will another scandal-ridden host hurt NBC's brand or help ratings? (Or both?) The Apprentice has been a dependable performer for NBC (though it was not, as Trump has claimed, the highest-rated show on Mondays).

Elsewhere in TV...

↱ Exclusive: Fox News' Bret Baier breaks silence on Roger Ailes: "I was mourning the guy that I thought I knew," Baier tells THR, after appearing to defend his boss on late-night TV. "After all that came to light, I was very sad for the women involved. But that sadness quickly turned into anger. None of that should have ever happened." Also: Full debate preview for tonight. ↲

► FX renews American Crime Story. The cable network has handed out an early renewal for the Ryan Murphy anthology with the third season set to explore the July 1997 assassination of legendary designer Gianni Versace. The 10-episode third season will likely run in 2018.

► Jennifer Lopez teams with NBC. The network has handed out a script order to drama C.R.I.S.P.R. Produced by Lopez, star of NBC's Shades of Blue, the show is a procedural thriller set five minutes into the future that explores the next generation of terror: DNA hacking.

↱ On TV tonight: American Horror Story: Roanoke, ranking the big twist theories. Ryan Murphy promised a game-changing twist will arrive in Wednesday's episode, so here's a ranking of the speculative plot threads floating online. ↲

► ABC to adapt Wall Street drama Equity into series. Set in the world of cutthroat investment banking, the drama written by The Strain producer Regina Corrado centers on a Wall Street banker, played by Anna Gunn in the film.

► Behind Discovery $100M bid for millennials. Why the media conglomerate is betting big with an investment in five online publishers — Thrillist, The Dodo, NowThisMedia, Seeker and SourceFed Studios — to attract young audiences.

► Trump tapes triple his newscast airtime over Hillary. Thanks to the Access Hollywood tape, network news dedicated a combined 70 minutes of nightly news coverage to Trump during the six weeknights after the leak. Just 20 minutes focused on Clinton.

↱ Michael Wolff's new column: "Why the Media Finally Decided It Was Time to Topple Trump." Key quote: "Was no one in the media looking? Did nobody care about the details? Or was it just not possible to believe what was as clear as the noses on our faces? A journalist's job can't be so easy as that." ↲

In THR, Esq: Relativity's $1.5B lawsuit offers a rare peek at Netflix license agreement ... Harry Shearer files $125M Spinal Tap fraud suit ... Viacom moves to dismiss shareholder suit over Sumner Redstone ... DreamWorks settles animators' antipoaching suit for $50M ... Friday the 13th author disputes producer's ownership theories.

Warren Beatty's Many Producers...

How many billionaires does it take to make a movie about a reclusive billionaire? In the case of Warren Beatty's Howard Hughes pic Rules Don't Apply, it took 16 credited producers — many of them the richest figures in Hollywood, Gregg Kilday reports:

Working without studio backing for the first time in his directing career, Beatty financed his passion project — about an aspiring actress (Lily Collins) and driver (Alden Ehrenreich) who fall under the sway of Hughes (Beatty) — by turning to a select circle of high-net-worth individuals.

Because blue-chip backers of the $27M film all have been given a "produced by" credit rather than the customary "executive producer" given to moneymen and women, the massive list has rankled the Producers Guild of America, which is reviewing contributions of those listed to decide who deserves its "p.g.a." mark after all.

PGA exec Vance Van Petten: "We know it's very difficult for filmmakers to raise funding — that's why there's an executive producer credit. It's sad to see the produced-by credit being given away. And to have 16 produced-by credits is really deplorable."

Elsewhere in film...

↱ Keeping Up With the Joneses, reviewed. Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher star in the comedy out Friday as a married couple who suspect their new neighbors (Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot) of being spies. The takeaway: "Stale as week-old bread and every bit as bland." ↲

► Birth of a Nation could lose $10M for Fox Searchlight. Box office plunged 60 percent in its second weekend for the Nate Parker-directed film, which the studio purchased for a record $17.5M at the Sundance Film Festival.

► Domhnall Gleeson joins live-action Peter Rabbit. The Brooklyn and Revenant actor will star as Mr. McGregor, the human foil of Peter. James Corden will voice the wily rabbit, with Daisy Ridley and Elizabeth Debicki also lending their voices to the Sony project.

↱ Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, reviewed. Tom Cruise returns in the Paramount sequel that is hitting theaters on Friday. The takeaway: "By-the-numbers plotting, seen-it-all-before action moves, banal locations and a largely anonymous cast alongside the star give this a low-rent feel." ↲

► Joseph Gordon-Levitt to headline Sovereign. The Snowden actor will play a man who travels up to a space station to find his estranged wife. Marc Munden will direct the Shawn Levy-produced film from a re-written script by playwright Jack Thorne.

► Michael Moore unveils his surprise Trump film. The filmmaker introduced Michael Moore in TrumpLand, a film he screened for the first time in New York last night: "The shitshow isn't over," he said of the election. "It appeals to the darker instinct of a country that has made some mistakes." The review I Moore's intro.

↱ Ouija: Origin of Evil, reviewed. A board serves as a portal to the spirit world in this prequel to the 2014 horror hit, hitting theaters on Friday. The takeaway: "Old-fashioned storytelling provides some satisfying scares." ↲

► Anna Camp is returning for Pitch Perfect 3. Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson are also returning to star, which will be directed by Trish Sie. The project has a script by Kay Cannon, with the most recent draft written by Mike White.

► Ryan Lochte joins Sharon Stone film. After a Rio disgrace, 12-time Olympic medalist is lining up his Hollywood debut with A Little Something for Your Birthday, joining Stone, Tony Goldwyn, Famke Janssen and Ellen Burstyn. The film is now in production.

► Ghostbusters reboot gets Honest Trailer... and it's so rough the YouTube comments are disabled. "Get ready for the film everyone rushed to judge before they've even judged, and proved to all the haters," the narrator says before trailing off. "…it's bad. I’m not going to lie to you guys." Watch here.

↱ Meryl Streep, Amy Schumer, Amber Tamblyn and Rose McGowan speak out: A group of celebrities showed their support for sexual assault survivors in a new PSA, declaring that Trump's "locker room talk" is "not OK." Watch here. ↲

Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson get rare National Enquirer retraction. The tabloid apologized for claiming that the couple are divorcing, and will print the retraction in a new issue. Hanks and Wilson hired power lawyer Marty Singer to stop what they called "lies we would not put up with any longer."

Today in '66: Matthau's Oscar Film

Fifty years ago today: On Oct. 19, 1966, Billy Wilder unveiled The Fortune Cookie, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. The film nabbed four Oscar noms, winning one for Matthau. An excerpt from THR's original review:

"The Fortune Cookie is Billy Wilder's best picture since The Apartment, his funniest since Some Like It Hot. Wilder has mixed such unlikely elements as Waiting for Godot and Dr. Kronkite, or their spiritual essences, and given them the verve of his own style with a subject that is a natural for his special brand of mordant humor...

Lemmon's particular ability in this role is that he saves it from dullness or ordinariness. He does not overplay to achieve interest or sympathy. He makes the character important and vulnerable, and without overstating it, universal.

Matthau, with the role of a lifetime at his hands, seizes it and makes it wonderful. As the incompetent shyster, Matthau snarls, cajoles, is breezy and sniveling by turns. He has no shame and no honor, but he is a completely engaging man, one you wouldn't trust to drive your car around the block, but one to observe with unrelieved delight."

Today's Birthdays: Rebecca Ferguson, 33, Gillian Jacobs, 34, Jason Reitman, 39, Trey Parker, 47, Jon Favreau, 50, Steve Doocy, 60, John Lithgow, 71.