Warner Bros. Says Ray Fisher Not Cooperating With ...
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A+ art supplies on a budget
Helen Mirren in 'The Duke': Venice Review
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Ron Burkle Makes Major Investment in APA Agency
Today In Entertainment SEPTEMBER 05, 2020
What's news: Warner Bros. says Ray Fisher isn't cooperating with its Justice League investigation, Ron Burkle invests in APA, layoffs hit UTA, Anna Faris exits Mom, Amazon finds its Jack Reacher, Alexander Payne responds to Rose McGowan, Kanye West details his election expenditures. Plus: A review of All In: The Fight For Democracy, and the Emmy statue catches COVID. --Alex Weprin  'Justice League' Investigation Update ➤Warner Bros. has accused Justice League actor Ray Fisher of not cooperating with a misconduct investigation and backed its DC Films president Walter Hamada in a statement late Friday night. Fisher, who played Cyborg in the 2017 movie, had previously alleged misconduct by filmmaker Joss Whedon and producers Jon Berg and Geoff Johns on set. While Fisher has not revealed specifics, the studio did launch an investigation earlier in the summer. --On Monday, Fisher tweeted that Hamada "attempted to throw Joss Whedon and Jon Berg under the bus in hopes that I would relent on Geoff Johns." Johns is a star DC Comics writer and is currently basking in the strong reviews and even stronger sales of the first issue of his latest work, Three Jokers. --A wrinkle: Complicating matters is that Fisher is also deep in negotiations to reprise his role as Cyborg for a cameo in Ezra Miller's The Flash, which is due to shoot next year and already counts Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton — both back as versions of Batman — among the cast. The story. ➤As talent firms undergo rounds of cost-cutting amid the pandemic, Ron Burkle is making a new foray into the representation business with a strategic investment in APA agency. --Financial details weren't disclosed but the APA deal is described as a major non-equity financial investment from Burkle's Yucaipa Companies firm. The mid-sized talent agency, founded in 1962, is led by president and CEO Jim Gosnell. The Beverly Hills-based APA currently has more than 300 staffers among six global offices. The story. +Layoffs hit ICM: Two months after laying off 40 employees amid pandemic-era cost-cutting, ICM Partners is letting go more than a dozen staffers in multiple departments. The Century City-based firm, led by CEO Chris Silbermann, made the new cuts in late August in multiple departments across the agency, which employs around 500 staffers. More. Editor's note: Today in Entertainment will be off for Labor Day. We will back with a fresh newsletter Tuesday morning. Have a lovely holiday weekend.  Anna Faris Exiting 'Mom' ➤CBS' comedy Mom will go into its eighth season without one of its two leads. In a surprise move, Anna Faris is exiting the series she has starred in for seven years. Sources tell THR her departure is not due to COVID-19 concerns; instead she wanted to pursue other opportunities. --Her role as Christy won't be recast, sources say, and her absence will be addressed in the show. It's not clear when Faris informed producers of her decision, but the writers weren't delayed as a result. Production on the Warner Bros. TV show, executive produced by Chuck Lorre, is slated to begin Sept. 14. CBS hasn't set a premiere date. The story. In other TV news... +Amazon has found its Jack Reacher. Titans actor Alan Ritchson has landed the lead role in a series based on Lee Child's best-selling series of novels. The show is produced by Amazon Studios, Skydance Television and Paramount Television Studios. More. +Nickelodeon is pulling its preschool animated show Made by Maddie off its schedule in response to a controversy about similarities between its characters and those in the Oscar-winning short Hair Love. The show had been set to premiere Sept. 13 on Nick Jr., the ViacomCBS network's preschool channel. --After Nickelodeon released a teaser for the show earlier in the week, the show drew criticism on social media for its characters' resemblance to those in Hair Love, the short written and co-directed by Matthew A. Cherry that won the Oscar for best animated short earlier this year. The story.  Another Weinstein Suit? ➤A New York federal judge has refused a woman's request that she be allowed to sue Harvey Weinstein without having to disclose her identity. A judge decides "Jane Doe" hasn't sufficiently justified the harm that would come from identification. The story. +Television Academy sues after Emmy statuette given coronavirus. The defendant used the image to market the Crony Awards, honoring countries that refused to lock down for the pandemic. The story. +In other legal news: Volvo can't evade a lawsuit from a photographer and model who say their test shoot photos were used as a social media advertisement without their permission — but the court hasn't yet analyzed its argument that Instagram's terms of service provided a license in this situation. The story. ➤Film review: Leslie Felperin reviews All In: The Fight for Democracy, writing that "by choosing to complete and release it now in September, having presumably locked the cut some weeks back, the filmmakers have willing sacrificed closure that might have made for a more complete story in journalistic terms." The review. ➤Venice reviews: Helen Mirren in The Duke... Disciple... The Furnace... In other news... --Sony Pictures revealed on Friday that The Last Shift and Yellow Rose now have release dates. --Alexander Payne responded to Rose McGowan’s claims of statutory rape on Friday, calling her recent social media posts “simply untrue.” --Cinemark (332 U.S. theaters), Cinepolis (30 theaters) and Emagine (21 theaters) are proceeding to convert their domestic theater circuits to the Microsoft Azure-based delivery network developed by cinema tech startup MetaMedia. --Kanye West has spent just shy of $6 million so far on his long shot presidential bid, with almost all the money coming from a personal loan he made to his campaign. That is according to West's campaign finance report, which was filed with the Federal Election Commission on Friday. --Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen talk activism, arrests and climate change. --Black Label Media's historical war epic Devotion, directed by JD Dillard and starring Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell as elite U.S. Navy fighter pilots, has signed worldwide distribution deals. --After a series of shifting release dates, Sony's The Broken Hearts Gallery finally made its way onto the big screen Thursday, premiering at the studio's drive-in on its Culver City lot. --How David Arquette fought for the role of a lifetime. What else we're reading... --"Reed Hastings had us all staying home before we had to" [NY Times] --"Who just started watching The Sopranos? Meadow Soprano" [WSJ] --"Has Rotten Tomatoes ever truly mattered?" [The Ringer] --"Class Action Park forces us to reckon with toxic nostalgia" [Vulture] --"Donald Trump Jr. joins TikTok rival Triller as ban on the Chinese-owned app looms" [LA Times] Today's birthdays: Gloria Gaynor, 70, Chrissie Hynde, 69, Diane Warren, 64, Sonny Rollins, 90, Leslie Jones, 53. 
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