Today In Entertainment

AUGUST 19, 2020

What's news: Issa Rae on her role as a Hollywood trailblazer, Apple's Epic streaming battle, Guillermo del Toro inks a deal with Netflix, Jim Belushi's new life as a cannabis farmer, Ron Meyer resigns from Academy Museum board. Plus: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone sets a box office milestone, and LeBron James' Netflix series. --Alex Weprin

 Issa Rae's New Role

On the cover: Issa Rae embraces her role as a Hollywood trailblazer: "You can't be polite or modest." The Insecure creator-star could make history at this year's Emmys, but her main priority is making way for diversity at her production companies and beyond: "My longevity will be opening the door for others."

--"[Insecure] came on during a time when people were bored at home, and also there were racial uprisings, and our show served as a comfort. Thank God, because to release anything else during this time — even our show — I felt a huge guilt in coming out during the protests because there were just so many more important things happening, I didn’t want to take full focus away from that. But to hear people be like, "No, this is an escape. It brings us back to Black people being joyous and happy and ourselves" — our natural state really felt like we were meant to air during this time. I think that for sure helped people to see our show in a different light."

--"I’m open to all criticism. I feel like you have to be, to be in this industry. There are Black critics that I value what they think because I read what they read, or I read what they write about everything. I love it. I can see this point of view, and that’s so interesting. It may be reflected in something else that I do down the line, or it may spark inspiration for conversations that we may have. We feed each other in that really interesting way." The cover story.

➤Guillermo del Toro has inked a deal with Netflix. Del Toro, the filmmaker behind the multi-Oscar-winning romantic creature feature The Shape of Water, is deepening his ties with the digital streamer, signing a multi-year agreement with the company.

--Details of the deal were not revealed. It is, however, seen as a ticket for creative freedom to a filmmaker that Netflix views as a world builder and a creator who has proven to successfully work across genres, age brackets and mediums, from animation to live-action. The deal encompasses film and series, and will see del Toro engage in a combination of writing, directing and producing.

--In addition: Cate Blanchett, Tim Blake Nelson and Finn Wolfhard are among the stars that have signed up for del Toro’s stop-motion animated musical feature, Pinocchio. The story.

➤An Epic streaming battle. Today: Fortnite. Tomorrow: Mulan. Hollywood studios face uncomfortable questions about what non-subscription money will be owed to "closed" app platforms, Eriq Gardner writes. The story.

 Who Is Charlotte Kirk?

➤The woman at the center of Ron Meyer's NBCU exit is actress Charlotte Kirk. Sources tell Tatiana Siegel that Kirk, the actress whose affair with former Warner Bros. chief Kevin sujihara had been detailed in a March 2019 Hollywood Reporter story, also had been in a romantic relationship with Meyer. In the case of Tsujihara, text messages showed that he lobbied for Kirk to be considered for a number of Warners movies, an abuse of power that led to his ouster 11 days after THR first reported on the relationship. With Meyer, Kirk’s professional trail leading back to Universal was not apparent. The story.

+Flashback to March 2019: "Powerful friends: After Kevin Tsujihara, more executives pushed to cast actress Charlotte Kirk." The scandal that engulfed the Warner Bros. CEO "intersects with many powerful men and high-profile projects, including Millennium chief Avi Lerner and the upcoming Hellboy remake." More.

+The fallout continues: Late last night Meyer also stepped down as the chair of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures board of trustees, THR's Scott Feinberg reports. Meyer had chaired the board since its inception in 2017. The museum is slated to open to the public on April 30, 2021. Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos, heretofore the museum board's vice-chair, will serve as acting chair until the next board meeting on Sept. 15, at which point the trustees will vote to determine a full replacement. More.

➤Day one of the DNC underwhelmed in the ratings, at least on broadcast: Ratings for the Democratic National Convention were down considerably from four years ago on the broadcast networks — not a surprising result given that much of the convention isn't taking place live and the general decline of linear TV viewing in the past four years. That being said, it was a very big night for MSNBC. The numbers.

+Last night: Democrats formally nominated Joe Biden as their 2020 presidential nominee Tuesday, as party officials and activists from across the nation gave the former vice president their overwhelming support during his party’s all-virtual national convention. Here's what happened.

+Daniel Fienberg's critics notebook: "It was still a solid night of image-building, capped by Jill Biden's earnest and affectionate speech, which began with a minor technical goof but then proceeded to a reasonably ambitious walk-and-talk through a school hallway and managed to be both emotionally satisfying and on-message ('How do you make a broken family whole? The same way you make a nation whole.'). Selling Joe Biden as a person with friends, colleagues who respect him and a wife who would willingly hold his hand coming down an airplane staircase? I would say tonight succeeded entirely on that front." The notebook.

➤Box office milestone: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone crosses $1 billion globally. Over the Aug. 14-16 weekend, 2001's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone — the first title in the blockbuster franchise — magically flew by the $1 billion mark at the global box office after being rereleased in China and other international markets. The story.

 Jim Belushi's New Life

➤Jim Belushi on the pain of brother John's death and his new chapter as a cannabis farmer.  Before the debut of Growing Belushi, the former sitcom star reveals why he moved to Oregon to harvest the "plant that heals" and sheds new light on the "trauma of his life."

--"More than just a grower of cannabis, Belushi has evolved into a passionate apostle of the plant, in particular its ability to help users cope with psychological trauma. He tells me the story of a homeless woman he saw screaming on the streets of Portland. 'I thought to myself, 'If I could just give her an edible, it may at least stop the screaming for her,'' he says. 'We’re all screaming from something — whether it’s the loss of a big job, a divorce, some trauma, a severe illness in one’s family. Whether it’s my brother John, who died of a drug overdose.'" The story.

➤Seth MacFarlane, Chadwick Boseman team for Little Rock Nine limited series. MacFarlane's Fuzzy Door Productions will team with Xception Content, headed by Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, on the project. Playwright and actress Eisa Davis is writing the project, which is based on Carlotta Walls LaNier's memoir A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High. Universal Studio Group's UCP will produce. More.

➤What will (and won’t) wind up on CBS All Access. Even as ViacomCBS touts plans to bulk up its streaming service, the company is aggressively selling shows to competitors in order to boost profits and exposure, Lesley Goldberg reports: "The IP does revert." The story.

In other TV news…

+LeBron James Producing Coaching Docuseries for Netflix. The streamer has picked up The Playbook: A Coach's Rules for Life, which will profile several championship-winning coaches through in-depth interviews as they share the rules they live by to achieve success in sports and in life. More.

+Netflix canceled Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj. The host announced the show's end on Twitter Tuesday morning. "What a run," he wrote. "Patriot Act has come to an end. I got to work with the best writers, producers, researchers, and animators in the game." The show's final episode debuted June 26. Netflix picked up the show in 2018 with a 32-episode order, then extended it by seven more installments earlier this year. The 39 episodes ran over six cycles. More.

+Rachel Weisz to star in Dead Ringers series at Amazon. The Oscar winner will star in and executive produce the series, an adaptation of the 1988 feature film from David Cronenberg at Amazon. More.

+Mandalorian bosses reveal George Lucas' reaction to the Disney+ series. The streamer's debut boasted the first live-action Star Wars TV series, which has earned 15 Emmy nominations. Executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni explain why the show is much more than just the meme-friendly Baby Yoda. The interview.

+Succession creator talks why the yacht scene is his favorite and James Murdoch’s resignation. On the heels of an Emmy nomination for the HBO series' second season, showrunner Jesse Armstrong reveals how he’s reworking the scripts to be more filmable and whether we'll see a pandemic storyline in the series. The interview.

+Also: Killing Eve's head writer on season 3 advice from Phoebe Waller-Bridge… Ozark's boss talks twists and turns and the emotional impact of killing off characters...

In legal news…

➤Judge won't order New Jersey to reopen movie theaters. The movie theaters alleged that continued closures in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic made no sense in light of the plan that they presented for safety and how New Jersey had allowed "similarly situated" churches to open up again. The industry asserted that putting religion up on a pedestal over secular speech was unconstitutional. The judge now concludes there's no prior restraint because New Jersey is merely focused on the "nonexpressive operations of the movie theater." As such, the order keeping movie theaters closed is not presumptively invalid. The story.

+Epic Games sued over Fortnite Coral Castle by owners of Florida landmark. The problem? The "real" Coral Castle is a tourist destination — often referred to as Florida's Stonehenge — and that name is trademarked. More.

+Nicki Minaj warns experimentation at stake in Tracy Chapman copyright suit. Chapman goes for the win against Minaj, who predicts the case "will have a significant impact on the music recording industry, one way or the other." More.

➤Deals: ViacomCBS is in talks to sell CNET after receiving informal takeover offers earlier this year. CBS bought CNET in 2008 for $1.8 billion. Other assets on the auction block include CBS' longtime Manhattan headquarters Black Rock and book publisher Simon & Schuster Video game developer and publisher Take-Two Interactive revealed Tuesday that it plans to acquire mobile games studio Playdots for $192 million…

➤TV review: Netflix’s High Score. Daniel Fienberg reviews the six-part docuseries, writing that “if High Score's goal is to be an enjoyable, colorful and whimsical overview, it at least delivers on that with some flair.” The review.

Obituary: Ben Cross, who portrayed the gold medal-winning Olympic sprinter Harold Abrahams in the 1981 Oscar best picture winner Chariots of Fire, has died. He was 72...

In other news…

--Boutique lit agency Verve is going bi-coastal, launching a New York office. The agency has hired New York-based Chris Till, formerly of CAA, to run the office.

--SAG-AFTRA, The Recording Academy and 10 additional entertainment industry organizations on Tuesday sent a letter to President Trump asking for his administration’s help to reform the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program in regards to mixed earner workers, saying that the situation is having "tragic" consequences.

--There’s a hush-hush Russiagate documentary on the horizon from a director who hails from Hollywood royalty. But this one makes the case for President Trump. Amanda Milius, daughter of legendary screenwriter-director John Milius and a State Department alum, has directed The Plot Against the President, based on Lee Smith’s 2019 best seller of the same name.

--CCA & B, LLC — the company behind the holiday staple The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition and its Elf Pets titles — has signed with CAA and announced a corporate rebrand to The Lumistella Company.

--The coronavirus-inspired filmmaking competition from Justin Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios, The Six Feet Apart Experiment, has announced its winners.

--Award-winning journalist Errin Haines has signed with CAA in all areas. Haines is editor-at-large for The 19th, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom reporting at the intersection of gender, politics, and policy.

--Oscar-winning VFX pioneer Richard Edlund, Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings and veteran television engineer John D. Ross will receive the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers' highest recognition, Honorary Membership.

What else we're reading…

--"'Journalists will not be center stage': As political conventions go virtual, the party's over for the press" [Vanity Fair]

--”TV news networks worried about airing two hours of Trump’s convention” [The Daily Beast]

--"Q&A: Barstool Sports’ Erika Nardini sounds off on Deion Sanders, ESPN" [Front Office Sports]

--"An oral history of 'Steamed Hams,' the funniest Simpsons scene ever recorded" [Mel Magazine]

Today's birthdays: Matthew Perry, 51, Bill Clinton, 74, John Stamos, 57, Kyra Sedgwick, 55, Rick Snyder, 62.

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AUGUST 19, 2020

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