Today In Entertainment

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

What's news: Chris Rock talks Fargo, therapy and what's next,  Jimmy Kimmel on the "beautiful disaster" that will be the virtual Emmys, making sense of the box office "meltdown," a toxic culture at Chateau Marmont, Bloomberg Media wants to disrupt itself with a reboot of QuickTake. Plus: Madonna will direct her own biopic, and Apple unveils its big bundle. --Alex Weprin

 The Rebirth of Chris Rock

➤On the cover: "This is the best part I’ve ever had": Chris Rock talks Fargo, aging and why he's spending 7 hours a week in therapy. Hollywood's self-described "Black shrink" opens up to Lacey Rose about wrestling with a recent learning disorder diagnosis, learning to swim in his 50s, and reassessing the childhood traumas he once joked about: "I had to let it go. I was just dying, dude."

--Why he is in therapy for 7 hours per week: "His decision to seek meaningful help for the first time in his life was precipitated by a friend’s suggestion that he may have Asperger’s. It prompted a nine-hour battery of cognitive tests earlier this year, from which doctors diagnosed Rock with a condition called nonverbal learning disorder, or NVLD. As he’s come to understand it, he has tremendous difficulty with non-verbal signals — which doesn’t sound too drastic until, as he explains, you consider that some 80 percent of communication is nonverbal. 'And all I understand are the words,' he says."

--What's next? "There's still plenty more that Rock plans to do, and even more he’d love to do. For one, he’s itching to get back to Broadway — something he would’ve done already had it not been for those 'ridiculous' alimony obligations; and he’s banked at least two film scripts. The first will pair him with his buddies [Adam] Sandler and [Dave] Chappelle; the second he describes as 'Bad Lieutenant, starring an insane actress.' He’s light with details, but borderline giddy about both.

--The project that wasn't: Years [after running into Donald Trump in the New York nightlife scene], Rock would find himself in Brian Grazer’s office in L.A., as [Eddie] Murphy pitched a heist flick — a kind of Black Ocean’s Eleven, starring him, Rock, Chappelle, Chris Tucker and a few others — about a gang that robs Trump Tower. Murphy envisioned Trump as the movie’s villain. 'Like Alan Rickman in Die Hard,' says Rock. What happened from there is another classic Hollywood story: The movie became Tower Heist, directed by Brett Ratner, starring Ben Stiller with Murphy and 'a bunch of white people.'" The cover story.

+Also: How Rock was challenged phyiscally and emotionally while working on the new season of FX's Fargo... Rock recalls testing out Oscars jokes at The Comedy Store with Steve Martin...

 Here Come The Virtual Emmys

➤Host Jimmy Kimmel braces for "beautiful disaster" at virtual Emmys. The late night star emerges from a career-first summer hiatus to emcee the 2020 ceremony — a high-wire act of Wi-Fi that couldn't possibly end up like the 2017 Oscars: "What could go wrong?"

--"I have a weird masochistic streak where I enjoy putting myself in difficult situations. So if the worst happens and it all breaks down, there will definitely be a part of me that is amused by it. I sometimes step outside my body and laugh at myself. So whatever happens, it’ll be OK. I mean, it’s just a television show. It’s not like I’m flying a jet." The interview.

+Reginald Hudlin talks producing virtual Emmys during pandemic: "There's going to be cameras across the country." The veteran producer-director shares the challenges and upsides of producing TV's biggest night remotely as well as worries that streaming may reduce the communal experience.

--"If a winner is in London, and it’s 4 in the morning and they’ve fallen asleep, we don’t know what’s going to happen. And that’s presuming all these connections are good. Our motto for the entire production is, 'What could go wrong?'” The interview.

+Creative Arts Emmys: Late night staple Saturday Night Live continues to add to its remarkable Emmy haul, winning its fourth consecutive awards in the categories of variety sketch series, directing and production design last night. More.

➤Box office recovery imperiled: "Do you take the risk or do you punt?" Black Widow could soon join Wonder Woman 1984 in deciding to retreat as Hollywood studios once again delay their tentpoles amid the ongoing pandemic and consumer concerns, Pamela McClintock reports.

-- “Who thought it was a good idea to open theaters a month after China when we are months behind them in taking care of COVID?" says Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations. "This movie meltdown could have been avoided had they done their homework. Sorry, but it really was that simple. VOD or a combination of VOD-theatrical is the only answer for blockbuster films going forward until the U.S. gets a handle on this virus. That’s about as diplomatic as I can be right now.” The story.

+In other film news: Madonna will direct and co-write her own biopic. Madonna has teamed with screenwriter Diablo Cody, producer Amy Pascal and Universal for a biopic on herself.  In this case, call it an autobiopic as the music and pop culture icon is not only co-writing the script with Cody, who won an Oscar for writing Juno, but directing the project as well. The story.

 Toxic Culture At The Chateau

➤Rot at Hollywood's "playground": Chateau Marmont staff allege racial discrimination, sexual misconduct and neglectful management. After a battle over unionization and mass layoffs, former employees reveal how the debauchery at the iconic hotel goes hand in hand with toxic management, Gary Baum reports: "The leadership operates in a perpetual state of racism and unconscious bias." The story.

➤Bloomberg wants to disrupt cable news, and itself, with a new streaming service relauch. The financial media firm is readying a new version of its QuickTake service for launch in November — with plans for it to be a 24/7 outlet.

--“Great new media brands are often created in the wake of significant social or economic changes,” Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith says, noting the rise of new media brands on the internet. “For this target audience, the world in March of 2020 completely changed. “We are creating in some ways the first post-COVID business network, a brand that is designed to explain and chronicle this new business world that we are all living in." The story.

In other TV news...

+HBO Max is getting into the Taika Waititi business. The WarnerMedia-backed streamer has handed out a straight-to-series order to Our Flag Means Death, a period comedy loosely based on the adventures of Stede Bonnet, a pampered aristocrat who abandoned his life of privilege to become a pirate. Created by showrunner David Jenkins, Waititi will exec produce and direct the pilot. The story.

+Fox and Robert Smigel are teaming up for an election comedy special featuring puppet versions of Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The man behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog is writing and executive producing Let's Be Real, which is set to air Oct. 1. The half-hour special from Propagate will touch on politics, pop culture and the election with puppetry, celebrity cameos and remote pieces. More.

+Black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross has signed an overall deal at ABC Signature. Ross, who also co-created and narrates the spinoff Mixed-ish, will house her company, Joy Mill Entertainment, at the Disney Television Studios unit and develop and produce content for all platforms under the multi-year deal. More.

+United We Fall's fate has been determined. To little surprise, ABC has opted to cancel the multicamera family comedy after one season. The series, a co-production between Sony Pictures TV and ABC Studios, had a late summer burn-off and wrapped its eight-episode run in August with 3 million same-day total viewers. The story.

+For the first time in more than a decade, Saturday Night Live will begin its season with its entire cast returning. The long-running NBC sketch show will bring back its full ensemble and is not adding any new members to the cast. The show is slated to premiere Oct. 3, returning to its Rockefeller Center studio for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic shut down production in March. More.

+South Park has set a one-night, hourlong "Pandemic Special" that will tackle the numerous issues of 2020 as only the long-running cartoon can, Comedy Central announced Tuesday. The special will air Sept. 30 at 8 p.m. More.

➤The Apple bundle is here. Customers who want to buy subscriptions to Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade and iCloud storage, will soon be able to do so for a combined price that starts at $15 per month. The company has unveiled Apple One, a series of bundles of its various services. Plans range in monthly price from $15 to $30 depending on how many people are accessing the bundle and what is part of the offering. The details.

➤Disney, Paramount can't escape lawsuit over risks of filming football movies. In a perhaps surprising ruling, a Los Angeles judge has allowed the family of deceased football player Darryl Hammond to move forward in a wrongful death lawsuit targeting Disney and Paramount Pictures, Eriq Gardner writes. The suit accuses the studios of concealing information about the risks of head injuries from football. The story.

+In other legal news: On the heels of an announcement that Oracle and TikTok have submitted partnership plans to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the Trump administration has assured an employee of the popular video-sharing app that the potential ban on transactions with Beijing-based parent company ByteDance won't interfere with his ability to be paid. More.

➤TV review: Challenger: The Final Flight. Daniel Fienberg reviews the Netflix documentary, writing that "Other than feeling like even four episodes, with running times of between 42 and 52 minutes, wasn't quite enough, my problems here were mostly quibbles." The review.

+Also: Fienberg reviews season 2 of Hulu's Pen15. The review.

Casting roundup: David Hyde Pierce is headed to HBO Max. The Frasier alum has joined the cast of the streamer's Julia Child drama pilot, Julia.... Lizzy Caplan, Antony Starr, Cleopatra Coleman and Woody Norman are set to star in Cobweb for Lionsgate... Succession star Sarah Snook will star in Persuasion, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s final novel that Mahalia Belo is directing for Fox Searchlight..

Revolving door: Marvel's Disney+series She-Hulk has tapped veteran television director Kat Corio, who is in negotiations to direct the show's pilot... Mel Gibson has found new representation. The actor, producer and director has signed with APA agency... Charles Dolan will step down as executive chairman of AMC Networks, with the 93-year old shifting to a chairman emeritus role. In his place, Dolan's son James Dolan will become chairman of the company... Longtime CAA agent David Kopple is becoming a manager. Kopple has joined firm Management 360...

➤Do you know a New York Power Lawyer? Now's the time to nominate them for THR's new feature spotlighting the most influential attorneys in the entertainment industry who are based on the East Coast. The details.

In other news...

--The U.S. advertising market will "nearly stabilize" in the second half of the year with a 2 percent decline "as the economy reopens, consumption resumes and political ad spend piles up" to hit a record, according to Magna, the research arm of advertising giant Interpublic Group.

--ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish says better-than-expected customer growth for CBS All Access and his studio's other streaming platforms has been helped by consumers cocooning in front of video screens during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

--AT&T CEO John Stankey says the telecom and media conglomerate is using HBO Max and its fast-growing streaming strategy to weather the novel coronavirus pandemic.

--Sam Pollard’s new documentary, MLK/FBI, about the U.S. government's surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr., has been picked up by IFC Films for North America ahead of a world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Tuesday night.

--IFC Films has picked up the North American rights to director Dana Nachman's documentary Dear Santa, about the U.S. Postal Service's 100-year-old ‘Operation Santa’ program to answer letters from kids to Santa Claus.

--The audience for the NFL's opening slate of Sunday games suffered small declines from a year ago, with Fox's two games improving and CBS and NBC taking hits.

--Queer Eye maestros Scout Productions are investing in documentary. The Emmy and Oscar-winning production company announced Tuesday that it's launched a new doc division, with the intention of extending its unscripted footprint.

--ReFrame — the coalition of industry professionals and companies founded by Women In Film Los Angeles and Sundance Institute announced with IMDbPro the 2019-2020 series that have earned an official ReFrame Stamp.

--Bunch, a party app for multiplayer games, has closed $20 million in Series A funding.

What else we're reading...

--"Movie theaters returned. Audiences didn't. Now what? [NY Times]

--"FTC preparing possible antitrust suit against Facebook" [WSJ]

--Kim Kardashian, Leonardo DiCaprio and other celebrities will "freeze" their Instagram and Facebook accounts for a day in protest of hate speech on the platforms [CBS News]

--"Alan Dershowitz files $300 million lawsuit against CNN for portraying him as an ‘intellectual who had lost his mind’" [Law & Crime]

Today's birthdays: Mickey Rourke, 68, Jennifer Tilly, 62, Amy Poehler, 49, John Bel Edwards, 54, Nick Jonas, 28.

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SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

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