Today In Entertainment

DECEMBER 09, 2020

What's news: Inside Johnny Depp's self-made implosion, the Oscars tap some notable producers, end of the line for One Day At a Time, Alfred Molina's Doctor Octopus returning to the Spider-Man universe (multiverse?), filming in L.A. declines, Nicolas Cage's Netflix show, Topher Grace sets return to broadcast TV. Plus: A review of The Midnight Sky, and THR's New York power lawyers. --Alex Weprin

 What Happened To Johnny Depp?

►On the cover: Inside Johnny Depp's self-made implosion. It wasn't just erratic and violent behavior that wrecked one of the world's most bankable stars. It was his unquenchable thirst for revenge, Tatiana Siegel reports. "You simply can't work with him now," says one studio head. "He's radioactive."

--Siegel writes: "Over the course of four short years, Depp has spiraled from an A-list star responsible for more than $10 billion in worldwide box office to Hollywood persona non grata, beginning when [his ex-wife Amber] Heard's abuse allegations first surfaced in 2016 and continuing through a scorched-earth legal strategy that has seen him sue everyone in his path. The result is a tsunami of tabloid fodder as sensitive texts, emails and drug-fueled and violent anecdotes spilled out into the public view."

--The Houdini project: "Insiders say Depp's relationship with [producer Jerry] Bruckheimer has frayed in recent months. Sources say the actor was poised to play the iconic illusionist Harry Houdini in a Bruckheimer-produced high-end production, offering a career jump-start after multiple pricey bombs like 2016's Alice Through the Looking Glass... The Houdini series, which had not yet found a home, would mark Depp's first foray into TV since his 21 Jump Street days. But the defamation ruling may have made his casting untenable."

--"He has suffered immense reputational carnage from a reckless set of choices that has left him in septic muck," says Eric Schiffer, a crisis PR rep whose clients include a number of high-profile Hollywood and sports figures. "Can he come out of that? It really comes down to Johnny's choices. He still has a fan base that in many ways is like Donald Trump's with their emotional intensity and commitment to a star icon. It's not based around principles. It's about charisma and their identification of the range of characters that he's played." The cover story.

+Meanwhile: This morning Depp applied directly to Britain's court of appeal in an effort to overturn a recent high court ruling in a defamation trial related to the actor's troubled relationship with Heard. More.

 An Oscar Winner Will Be An Oscar Producer

►Some notable Oscars producers. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday that Steven Soderbergh, Stacey Sher and Jesse Collins have agreed to produce the 93rd Oscars telecast, which will air on ABC April 25.

--Quote: "The upcoming Oscars is the perfect occasion for innovation and for re-envisioning the possibilities for the awards show," Academy president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson said in a statement. "This is a dream team who will respond directly to these times. The Academy is excited to work with them to deliver an event that reflects the worldwide love of movies and how they connect us and entertain us when we need them the most." The story.

►Alfred Molina is putting back on the metal arms and will reprise his role as the villainous Doctor Octopus, sources tell THR's Borys Kit. Molina turned in a fan-favorite performance in Sam Raimi's 2004 sequel Spider-Man 2 as Otto Octavius, a brilliant scientist who becomes an eight-limbed villain who pushed Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man to the limits. Molina's involvement in the upcoming Spider-Man movie was first was rumored last week, when GWW reported the actor had been spotted on set. The story.

►Filming in Los Angeles has declined for the first time since the industry got the greenlight to film again amid the pandemic. According to FilmLA, month-over-month permit volume decreased in November, with application intake dropping nearly 8 percent to 813 permits from 880 permits in October. Analysts point to the 2020 election, the Thanksgiving holiday and the COVID-19 pandemic as reasons for the slowdown. FilmLA’s daily intake is now averaging around 39 new applications per business day. The story.

 RIP, ODAT

►Efforts to find a third home for the beloved One Day at a Time update have come to an end and there will be no fifth season of the former Netflix and Pop comedy, co-showrunners Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce announced Tuesday. Producers Sony Pictures Television also confirmed that efforts to find a third network for the series failed. Sources note Amazon's IMDb and Spectrum Originals at least kicked the tires on the show starring Rita Moreno. The story.

In other TV news...

+Topher Grace's return to network TV is officially underway. ABC has given a series order to Home Economics, a single-camera comedy that centers on three siblings — one a member of the 1 percent, one middle class and one struggling to make ends meet. Grace will play the middle (in both age and economic status) sibling and also serve as an executive producer. The story.

+Skydance Television has landed the rights to adapt P. Djéli Clark's fantasy historical novella Ring Shout. Published in October, the novel confronts the KKK's reign of terror with what is described as honesty and a supernatural twist. The indie studio has tapped The Old Guard and If Beale Street Could Talk breakout Kiki Layne to star in the drama series, which is being written and directed by Kasi Lemmons (Harriet, Eve's Bayou). A network is not yet attached. Skydance TV plans to shop the package to streaming services and premium cable networks. The story.

+Nicolas Cage is set to work blue for Netflix. The Oscar winner will host a six-episode comedic docuseries called History of Swear Words. Each installment will examine the origins, usage and cultural impact of a specific curse: "f*ck," "sh*t," "b*tch," "d*ck," "p*ssy" and "d*mn." More.

+Apple has given an early third-season pickup to its space race drama For All Mankind. The renewal comes about two months before the premiere of the show's second season on Feb. 19. More.

+Netflix has canceled its animated comedy Hoops after a single season. The cancellation comes about three and a half months after the show's Aug. 21 premiere. The streamer, as it does with all its programming, weighs costs versus the size of a show's audience in considering whether to renew or cancel. More.

+Discovery+ is giving Gold Rush star Freddy Dodge his own show as it looks to ramp up its original programming ahead of its January launch. The spinoff series, titled Gold Rush: Freddy Dodge's Mine Rescue, will follow the 40-year mining veteran, who is known as the "Gold Guru" whom struggling mine owners seek for help. More.

+Netflix has lined up its next interactive program: An animated special from the creators of its kids' series Pinky Malinky. Rikke Asbjoern and Chris Garbutt are behind We Lost Our Human, which follows a cat named Pud and a dog named Ham who wake up one day to find their human — and all other humans — have disappeared from Earth. More.

►NBCUniversal streaming service Peacock has reached more than 26 million sign-ups, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell told an investors conference on Tuesday. "In a world where people are spending a lot of money on Netflix, Disney+ and HBO Max, there will be room for a more affordable, ad-supportive service," Shell argued. The story.

+In other streaming news: AMC is rebranding UMC, its streaming service devoted to Black television and film programming. Beginning in January, UMC will become ALLBLK as it ramps up production on a slate of new originals, including multi-cam comedy Millennials and legal drama Lace. More.

►Fox News is not concerned about competition from upstarts like Newsmax. "We don't have a hubris bone in our body, so we don't take lightly the potential for competition, whether its the existing sort of classic MSNBC or CNN, or the sort of emerging ones like Newsmax and OANN," Fox Corp. CFO Steven Tomsic told the UBS Global TMT Virtual Conference during a session that was webcast. The story.

+Will Fox give up Thursay Night Football? Tomsic told the conference the network's "heritage" Sunday afternoon package "is the pne that is core to our hearts... Thursday night becomes a judgement around value."

►YouTube's new election integrity play. In a blog post Wednesday, the Google-owned video giant provided an update on its election content moderation decisions, and added a new one: "We will start removing any piece of content uploaded today (or anytime after) that misleads people by alleging that widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, in line with our approach towards historical U.S. Presidential elections."

►Netflix is having some difficulty on the legal front with respect to the way it has aggressively recruited executives. The streamer is on the precipices of losing a second major lawsuit in the past year, and it comes just days after it was sued for a third time by a large corporation for poaching. The story.

+Rose McGowan has convinced a California federal judge she has a plausible fraud claim against Harvey Weinstein, some of his lawyers and an intelligence agency he hired in connection with alleged attempts to keep rape allegations from coming to light in her memoir — but the bulk of her claims have been dismissed unless she amends them. The story.

►Film review: David Rooney's reviews George Clooney's latest The Midnight Sky, writing that "it won't replace Good Night, and Good Luck as his best directorial effort, but this quiet, meditative new film is emotionally involving from tense start to poignant finish. The review.

►New York Power Lawyers: THR is spotlighting 20 attorneys with specialties in theater, fashion, media and music litigation who’ve been tasked with creating new deals in an unsteady landscape (cue the live-capture craze) and fighting cutting-edge courtroom battles via Zoom. The list.

Revolving door: Screen Arcade partners Eric Newman and Bryan Unkeless are parting ways to relaunch their old shingles, each with Netflix pacts... Upstart management firm Range Media Partners has added several notable filmmakers to its roster. Tim Van Patten, Niclas Larsson, Ricky Staub & Dan Walser, Corin Hardy and Cédric Jimenez have joined the company that was launched by a group of agents formerly of CAA, UTA and WME... Ubisoft has appointed Raashi Sikka as vp global diversity and inclusion...

In other news...

--Rupert Everett, Tom Felton and Derek Jacobi are set to star in Lead Heads, the upcoming feature from Giles Borg (1234, Flutter).

--Psychological horror Saint Maud is a nose ahead of a tight-knit pack of lead nominees for the 2020 British Independent Film Awards, unveiled Wednesday morning by Holliday Grainger and Micheal Ward.

--The Critics Choice Association on Tuesday said that actor Delroy Lindo will receive the career achievement award at its Celebration of Black Cinema, set for Feb. 2.

--Paul Phillips, a stage manager on such legendary Broadway productions as Sweet Charity, Mame, Pippin and Chicago, died Saturday of natural causes in Naples, Florida, a family spokesman said. He was 95.

What else we're reading...

--"The two minute geniuses of TikTok" [NY Times]

--"Christchurch shooter was radicalized on YouTube, New Zealand report says" [The Verge]

--"Those trees ae not what they seem" [Bloomberg]

--"Newsmax TV scores a ratings win over Fox News for the first time ever" [CNN Business]

Today's birthdays: Simon Helberg, 40, Judi Dench, 86, Felicity Huffman, 58, John Malkovich, 67, Jesse Metcalfe, 42.

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DECEMBER 09, 2020

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