Today In Entertainment OCTOBER 14, 2020
What's news: Donald Trump's "serial bad behavior" at NBC, NBC sets Trump town hall for Thursday, former America's Funniest Home Videos staffers speak out over "predatory" workplace, Coming 2 America is coming 2 Amazon, a Mad Max: Fury Road prequel, a Ronald Reagan biopic. Plus: How the iPhone 12 could change filmmaking, and CBS begins to roll out its fall shows. --Alex Weprin Trump and NBC ➤Donald Trump's "serial bad behavior" at NBC. Following revelations about the outsized role The Apprentice played in Trump’s reinvention, The Hollywood Reporter talked to former NBC insiders who provide new detail on his brazen demands (including large donations to his ill-fated foundation) and the way the network enabled him: "We had to build all kinds of systems to make sure the show stayed on the rails." --"In 2015, Trump once again pondered running for president. 'He said he was announcing a bid in June and [he’d] be out of the race by September and start shooting [Celebrity Apprentice] in January,' says a former network insider. 'He never expected to get any traction. He was doing it to boost his own brand.' --"At his June 15 launch event, he notoriously referred to Mexican immigrants as rapists, stirring great upset within the staff ranks. 'It was discussed at a Monday development meeting,' says a person who was there. 'Paul [Telegdy] said he just got off the phone with him and he would be out by September. And then it took off. It became, 'Oh, my God, is this real?' Through the whole process Paul kept saying, 'It'll never happen, don't worry, we'll have the show back.' ” The story. +Speaking of Donald Trump and NBC: NBC News announced Wednesday morning that it will host a town hall with President Donald Trump on Thursday. The one-hour event will take place outdoors at the Perez Art Museum in Miami, Florida. Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie will moderate. The town hall will air directly opposite a Joe Biden town hall set to air on ABC. More. ➤Former America's Funniest Home Videos staffers speak out over "predatory" workplace. A trio of employees go on the record for the first time to Tatiana Siegel to detail allegations of racial and sexual misconduct at Vin Di Bona Productions: "They think we’re not going to stand up for ourselves." --"To the casual viewer, ABC’s long-running America’s Funniest Home Videos offers the kind of squeaky clean programming that eschews edge and controversy in favor of wholesome fun. But to some insiders, including Crandell, the production company behind the series was a hotbed of toxic behavior that also included racism. Even more troubling, complaints were met with reprisals, and the alleged offenders were allowed to keep their jobs. --In March 2019, [Columbia] Crandell was one of three Jane Roes who filed a civil suit in Los Angeles County Court against Vin Di Bona Prods. and its digital-focused offshoot, FishBowl Worldwide Media. The trio claim that they were victims of workplace racial and sexual harassment and are seeking damages for wrongful termination, harassment, retaliation and emotional distress. --In response an attorney for Vin Di Bona Prods. told The Hollywood Reporter: "The physical, emotional and psychological safety of our employees is always our highest priority. When accusations are made, we, like any responsible organization, have an obligation to act swiftly, thoughtfully and respectfully to support the well-being and rights of all parties involved." The story. In Film News... ➤Coming 2 America may be coming to Amazon. The sequel to the classic Eddie Murphy comedy is in talks to jump from Paramount to the streaming-focused studio. While a deal for Coming 2 America has not yet closed, the two studios have previously brokered a deal for Michael B. Jordan starrer Without Remorse. --Coming 2 America would be the latest theater bound movie headed to streaming amid continued theatrical closures due to the coronavirus pandemic. Paramount sold Trial of the Chicago 7 and romantic comedy The Lovebirds to Netflix, while Tom Hanks WWII drama Greyhound jumped from Sony to Apple and Clouds moved from Warner Bros. to Disney +, among other deals. The story. +Warner Bros. and filmmaker George Miller are returning to the world of Mad Max: Fury Road. Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will star in Furiosa, a standalone action-adventure feature that acts as an origin story for the powerful character first embodied by Charlize Theron in Miller’s Oscar-winning 2015 movie, the studio announced Tuesday. --Miller will direct, co-write and produce the project, working with longtime producing partner Doug Mitchell and their Australian-based Kennedy Miller Mitchell banner. The story. +Penelope Ann Miller will play Nancy Reagan in Reagan, a biopic of former President Ronald Reagan that stars Dennis Quaid in the title role. The movie is currently, and quietly, in production in Oklahoma, with Jon Voight and Robert Davi also in the cast. Howard Klausner and Jonas McCord penned the script which is adapting or taking inspiration from The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism and God and Ronald Reagan: A Spiritual Life, both written by conservative author Paul Kengor. The story. +Cineplex CEO Ellis Jacob told shareholders his Canadian movie chain will not reclose theaters as Hollywood tentpoles continue to be delayed to 2021 or get streaming releases amid the pandemic. "We're in a positive position from the theaters being open," Jacob, who is also chairman of the National Association of Theatre Owners, which represents major cinema chains, told Cineplex's virtual annual shareholders meeting on Tuesday. The story. +Jussie Smollett is preparing his feature directorial debut with B-Boy Blues, an adaptation of James Earl Hardy's classic 1994 novel. The film will go into production on Oct. 17 in New York City. The musician and former Empire actor has previously directed two episodes of the Fox series and several music videos. More. +Selena Gomez is set to produce the upcoming horror thriller Dollhouse for STXfilms and is eyeing the project as a possible starring vehicle. The 13 Reasons Why star is developing the film through her production company, July Moon Productions, along with 21 Laps’ Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen, who will also produce. More. +Oscars: The season of the documentary. THR's awards columnist Scott Feinberg argues that, "a strong argument can be made that the quantity of outstanding doc features actually exceeds the quantity outstanding narrative features, particularly as the release dates of narrative features continue to be pushed back and out of the current race." The analysis. The iPhone and Hollywood ➤Apple iPhone 12 with 5G could help filmmaking "change dramatically." The newly announced iPhone 12 Pro includes tools "that used to cost us tens of thousands of dollars," Carolyn Giardina reports. --"The new iPhone with Lidar, HDR, and the other camera improvements is a visual effects artist’s dream," says Academy Award winning VFX pro Ben Grossmann, who is CEO of Magnopus, an LA tech developer that worked with John Favreau to create the virtual production pipeline used to make The Lion King. "We used to go on movie sets to do all those things with separate pieces of hardware that could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars and would take weeks to process into something useable." The story. ➤CBS will begin rolling out its scripted series in November, joining its fellow broadcasters in ramping up its traditional fall schedule in the weeks before Thanksgiving. --The network will debut 10 shows between Nov. 5 and Nov. 17 — nine returning shows and first-year comedy B Positive, starring Thomas Middleditch and Annaleigh Ashford. All 10, including CBS' top-rated drama, NCIS, and comedy, Young Sheldon, will have several episodes shot by their premiere dates so they can run uninterrupted for a few weeks. The schedule. +Ratings: NBC's Sunday Night Football broadcast and ABC's coverage of the NBA Finals went head to head Sunday, and neither one came out looking great — at least relative to their own past numbers. The two sports telecasts, however, were at the top of the rankings for the night. The numbers. ➤More layoffs hitting the theme park biz: Since July 1, Universal Studios Hollywood has temporarily laid off at least 849 employees and permanently cut 1374 staffers in Los Angeles County, according to filings with California's Employment Development Department. And Six Flags, which runs Magic Mountain in Valencia, said on Tuesday that it would be laying off 240 employees at the company, Ryan Parker writes. The story. +Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Disney CEO Bob Chapek and executive chairman Bob Iger, asking questons about the company's decision to lay off 28,000 workers, mostly in its theme parks division. She also criticized the company's practices around share buybacks and executive pay. ➤The U.S. Supreme Court has passed on an opportunity to corral Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. And that's dismaying to Justice Clarence Thomas, who on Tuesday issued a lengthy statement describing why he would have seized a chance to make it easier to sue online platforms. More. ➤TV reviews: Inkoo Kang reviews Netflix's Social Distance, writing that the drama anthology "is the latest series to mine stories from the quarantine — and the latest to yield more pyrite than gold." The review. +Daniel Fienberg reviews Hulu's Helstrom, writing that "It's one thing, unfortunately, to be aware that the genre you're working in has all the freshness of a roadside motel continental breakfast danish. But to have said awareness and still put out a show that only rarely breaks from the mundane is all the more disheartening." The review. Revolving door: Sony's TriStar Pictures has officially named Nicole Brown president of the studio label... Jade Tailor, best known for playing Kady Orloff-Diaz for five seasons on Syfy’s The Magicians, has signed with APA... After nearly 60 years with Motown Records, Stevie Wonder is leaving to join his own label... Obituary: Conchata Ferrell, the three-time Emmy nominee who portrayed the sarcastic housekeeper and Grateful Dead fan Berta for all 12 seasons of the CBS comedy Two and a Half Men, has died. She was 77. In other news... --Disney analysts were mixed in their reactions to the company's streaming reorg. --Viggo Mortensen's feature directorial debut Falling will open the 28th edition of the EnergaCamerimage international film festival on cinematography. --Renowned Chinese director Zhang Yimou's love letter to cinema, the period drama One Second, is finally headed to cinemas. Beijing regulators have approved the film for release on Nov. 27, following a year-long censorship struggle. --Gravitas Ventures has picked up the North American rights to Jackie Chan's latest action film, Vanguard. --Mels Studios and Postproduction in Montreal is introducing a virtual stage with an LED wall to support the growing interest in virtual production. --The original cast of Hamilton is reuniting this week for a fundraiser for Democratic candidate Joe Biden's presidential campaign. --India Oxenberg is breaking her silence on life inside NXIVM, the sex cult led by convicted guru Keith Raniere, who is now facing life in prison. --Independent publisher Bronzeville Books has now joined the roster of SAG-AFTRA's signatory audiobook publishers. What else we're reading... --"Fewer fistfights, less sex — TV production gets a COVID makeover" [WSJ] --Apple introduced new iPhones, and the launch ad campaign stars Chris Rock [Ad Age] --"Google employees are free to speak up. Except on antitrust" [NY Times] --"Why wasn't Jeffrey Epstein pursued earlier?" [Vanity Fair] Today's birthdays: Usher, 42, Ben Whishaw, 40, Ralph Lauren, 81, Jay Pharoah, 33, Cliff Richard, 80. Finally this morning: You know The Lincoln Project? The PAC founded by anti-Trump Republicans that produces slick ads mocking Trump for TV and socia media? Its latest FEC report shows that David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg are among its top 10 donors, contributing $300,000 and $100,000, respectively.
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