Today In Entertainment

AUGUST 20, 2020

What's news: The backstory on the affair that led to Ron Meyer's ouster from Universal, AMC Theaters reopens, Olivia Wilde to direct a Sony Marvel flick, last night at the DNC, Christine Peters on her relationship with Sumner Redstone, HBO's comedy chief on WarnerMedia's shakeup and what's next. Plus: Judge Judy slams "absurd" lawsuit, and Darkman turns 30. --Alex Weprin

 The Backstory Behind Ron Meyer's Departure

➤Behind the affair that led to Ron Meyer's NBCUniversal ouster. "It was a case of deja vu," Tatiana Siegel writes. "One of Hollywood’s most powerful executives exiting in shame, with actress Charlotte Kirk at the center of the drama. On Aug. 18, NBCUniversal vice chairman Ron Meyer followed in the footsteps of former Warner Bros. chief Kevin Tsujihara by stepping down from his top perch after an affair with Kirk, a move that comes some 17 months after Tsujihara’s exit."

--Kirk did not appear to directly benefit from her relationship with Meyer’s studio Universal in the same way she did from Tsujihara’s Warners, where she landed small roles in Ocean’s 8 and How to Be Single. But sources say Meyer did introduce the actress to managers and directors in town. Kirk also did consulting work for a charity benefiting people with autism that Meyer was backing, according to a knowledgeable source. The full story.

➤HBO's comedy chief on WarnerMedia shake-up and Hollywood's uncertain path back to humor. Amy Gravitt also opens up to Lacey Rose about pricey protocols for pandemic production and the future of the network's recent breakout, Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You.

--"As a showrunner, Michaela [Coel] knew the difference between an idea and a series, and she knew she needed to do the work both to heal and to turn it into a show that could sustain itself. The process of breaking the series and healing were one in the same for her. When she came back [a few years later], it was a half-hour — still true to her experience but expanded into a [piece] about how we treat one another. I think that’s why it’s resonating." The interview.

 The Return of Movie Theaters

➤AMC Theatres begins its "safe & clean" reopening. The country's largest movie theater chain will begin its phased reopening today, with slightly more than 100 locations opening up in states including Nevada, Georgia, Minnesota, Masaachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, and elsewhere. Notably not scheduled for reopening just yet are states with the biggest movie markets: California and New York. Tickets for today only are selling for $0.15, the same price they were in 1920.

--The company is implementing health and safety precautions, including required mask-wearing, social distnacing protocols and reduced theater capacity. If you want to see a new movie, your only option is Russel Crowe's Unhinged, with The New Mutants scheduled for next week. Some older (and not-so-old films) are also on the schedule, including Black Panther, Inception, Beauty and the Beast, and Sonic the Hegehog.

--That means the return of box office numbers, though with $0.15 tickets and a library of older films, their return may be more symbolic than anything else.

➤Olivia Wilde to direct female-led Marvel movie for Sony. The filmmaker behind Booksmart will direct a female-centered film as part of Sony's growing Universe of Marvel Characters, THR has confirmed.

--Wilde, who spent most of her career thus far on the acting side, broke out as a filmmaker with 2019's Booksmart, which earned strong reviews and made her a sought after director. She is penning the Marvel script with Booksmart scribe Katie Silberman. Amy Pascal is producing with Rachel O’Connor executive produce. The story.

➤Last night at the Democratic National Convention: Inkoo Kang writes in a critics notebook that former President Barack Obama's speech brought a "scathing urgency" to the event.

--"I'll happily admit I went into this third night feeling too jaded for something as institutional as the DNC, and was transported by Obama's speech, especially when he summed up those ancestors' investment in the American project as "we are going to make this work" — and invited us to follow in their paths: 'You can give our democracy new meaning.' Obama's extraordinary gift lies in making the audacity of hope feel ever audacious." The notebook.

+DNC ratings, nigh two: The audience for the Democratic National Convention was steady on Tuesday night, with the six largest networks drawing almost identical numbers to Monday's coverage.

--Cable channels MSNBC, CNN and Fox News and broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC averaged about 18.6 million viewers in the 10 p.m. ET hour, when all six were covering the convention. That's nearly identical to the 18.68 million who watched the convention Monday night. The numbers.

➤Judge Judy slams talent agent's "preposterous" fee in new lawsuit. Judith Sheindlin describes the underlying deal as "the most absurd, unconscionable and unlawful purported packaging fee arrangement in the history of television." The story.

+Just in: Former Trump campaign adviser Steve Bannon has been indicted by federal prosecutors for wire fraud. Bannon was involved in an online "build the wall" fundraising campaign, and allegedly used some of the donation money for his own personal expenses.

+Longtime Howard Stern Show personality “Stuttering John" Melendez is suing SiriusXM Radio for using his archived hot-button interviews with the likes of the Dalai Lama, Ringo Starr and Mike Tyson without compensation and in violation of his publicity rights. More.

 'Darkman' Turns 30

➤Darkman turns 30: Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand and more remember the arduous making of Sam Raimi's influential superhero film. Cast and crew recall how the dark genre-transforming cult classic had filmmakers doing a sneaky end-run around the studio’s edit before the film won over critics and opened at No. 1.

--Liam Neeson: "The shooting of the film was exhausting, not least because of the long hours in the makeup chair, which started off at five hours, but we got that process time down to just over three hours. At the same time, I was also preparing to play a bare-knuckle boxer in a film [The Big Man] to be shot in Scotland immediately after completion of Darkman, so I was setting my alarm clock for about 3 a.m. in order to do a workout as preparation, so days were definitely long and for the most part tiring. But the exhaustion factor was in a weird way quite pleasing. I certainly led a very monastic existence for several months." The story.

➤Christine Peters: My 18-year relationship with Sumner Redstone. The producer recounts the late mogul’s marriage proposal and a strange dinner the couple had with Jeffrey Epstein and two apparently underage girls.

--"My first impression was that he was very stoic and very, very powerful. He looked me in the eye and said, 'You’re going to have a steak.' And I said, 'I’m not really that hungry.' And he goes, 'I’m ordering you a steak, and you’re going to eat it.' I was like, 'OK.' I couldn’t say no to that." The column.

In TV news...

+Comedy Central pulls the plug on Drunk History. Comedy Central has reversed course on plans for a seventh season of the Derek Waters series. The sixth season, which ended its run Aug. 6, will now be its last. Production had been underway on season seven of the series before the pandemic. The story.

+Apple wants more Ted Lasso. Apple TV+ has renewed its Jason Sudeikis soccer comedy from prolific showrunner Bill Lawrence for a second season. The tech giant says the 10-episode series from Warner Bros. TV and Universal TV will return in 2021. The news arrives days after the series launched its first three episodes on the subscription platform. Episode four launches Friday. The story.

+Netflix wants more Warrior Nun. The streamer has renewed the action series for a second season. The pickup, which Netflix announced Wednesday on social media, comes about six weeks after its July 2 debut. More.

+Peacock is moving deeper into sports programming, greenlighting its first daily show with journalists and longtime friends Michael Smith and Michael Holley and launching a dedicated sports channel on the service. Smith, a veteran of ESPN, has also signed a development deal with the NBCUniversal streaming platform, under which he’ll produce content for Peacock via his Inflection Point Entertainment. More.

➤TV reviews: Inkoo Kang reviews the Freeform series Love in the Time of Corona, writing "sure, people need escapism now more than ever. But the half-measure fantasy that the series provides — where everyone is stuck in their homes, but seems to have no other Covid-related worries — feels airless and contrived, even for the rom-com genre." The review.

+Daniel Fienberg reviews the Netflix animated comedy Hoops, writing that "[Ron] Funches is, again, an absolute gem in Netflix's new animated comedy Hoops, playing a big-hearted assistant basketball coach dating his best friend's soon-to-be ex-wife. But, like so many Funches projects, Hoops suffers from not putting its best asset front and center — well, that and struggling to find heart in a story filled with generally awful, foul-mouthed cartoon people. The review.

In other news...

--Los Angeles and much of the U.S. still remains in coronavirus lockdown but, globally, film projects big and small are finding safe spots to shoot.

--Directors in the U.K. are getting a set of guidelines for directing intimacy scenes while adhering to the complex set of  social distancing restrictions due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

--After a prolonged period of semi-reopening and tepid ticket sales amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, China's massive theatrical film market looks set to support a blockbuster, the big-budget Chinese war epic The Eight Hundred.

--According to a new report, monthly spend on online streaming services has increased by more than £100 million ($132 million) since lockdown began in March in the U.K.

--The first trailer for Death on the Nile dropped on Tuesday, featuring the all-star cast led by Kenneth Branagh who returns as Hercule Poirot.

--Had Sharon Stone not put her foot down years ago concerning an Australian actor she wanted in her film, Russell Crowe may never have become a household name in America.

What else we're reading...

--"Writers mutiny at All Rise, the rare CBS show with a Black female lead" [NY Times]

--"An influencer house wouldn't stop partying, so L.A. cut its power" [NY Times]

--"Movie theaters are starting to reopen. Will anyone go?" [CNN Business]

--"'Hannity has said to me more than once, 'he's crazy'': Fox News staffers feel trapped in the Trump cult" [Vanity Fair]

--"Apple is now worth $2 trillion, making it the nost valuable company in the world" [NBC News]

--"NBA CMO Kate Jhaveri doesn't want an asterisk on this season" [WSJ]

Today's birthdays: Al Roker, 66, Don King, 89, Amy Adams, 46, Demi Lovato, 28, Andrew Garfield, 37.

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AUGUST 20, 2020

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