Today In Entertainment APRIL 17, 2021
What's news: Oscars producers preview the big show and dismiss ratings concerns, original song nominees to perform during pre-show, why Black Panther II will still film in Georgia, the eye-popping budget for Amazon's Lord of the Rings, Sam Levinson goes to Ohio. Plus: A musical comedy based on Cinderella's step-sisters at Disney, and remembering Helen McCrory. --Alex Weprin Oscars Producers Preview The Big Show ►Oscar producers promise a "joyous" pandemic-era awards show. Steven Soderbergh, Stacey Sher and Jesse Collins talk to Rebecca Keegan about building at Union Station for the host-less event, presenting serious movies during serious times and an emphasis on innovation: "If we have a really good idea and execute at 75 percent, that’s better than 100 percent of a mediocre, old idea." --On creating an Oscars "aesthetic": "We can control the surroundings and make sure, in the case of London, we can have elements within that space that tie you to Union Station," Soderbergh says. "We're working to make sure that each of those remotes have some direct sort of visual correlation to what we're doing or at least contribute to the movie-like feel of what we're doing in terms of where they will be. We've taken the position that the Oscars can be like a Biennale or a Met Ball and have a different aesthetic each year and have somebody come in and really do an artistic rebuild each year so that 10 years in the future you go, 'Oh that was the year so and so did it,' or 'Remember when they did the Versailles theme?'" --On ratings pessure from ABC: "They haven't talked to us about it and we're not thinking about it," Sher says. "We're worrying about things that we can control and that's not on that list," Soderbergh adds. "We're just making something that we would want to see, that we would think is a good show, because if you're doing anything other than that, you're second guessing and you're lost." --On lessons learned from COVID-era award shows. "The viewer, after going through a year of these COVID shows, is expecting something different," Collins says. "For many years, award shows were in a pattern and COVID has shook that up for better or for worse. The shows that have embraced that and said, 'Oh let's take this opportunity to do something different' have really worked and the three of us, our first meeting, Steven had this manifesto that just showed from the beginning there was no intent to do anything but break the mold." --And yes, the In Memoriam segment will still be a part of the show. The full interview. +Meanwhile: In a departure from tradition, performances of this year's best original song Oscar nominees will air during the Oscars pre-show, not during the main ceremony itself, the producers announced on Friday. The performances will be pre-recorded ahead of the April 25 telecast. "Fight for You" (Judas and the Black Messiah), "Hear My Voice" (The Trial of the Chicago 7), "Io si (Seen)" (The Life Ahead) and "Speak Now" (One Night in Miami) will be shot on the Dolby Family Terrace of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, while "Husavik" (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga) will originate from Husavik, Iceland. More. +Annie Awards: Pixar's Soul and Apple TV+/GKIDS' Wolfwalkers shared the wins in all of the animated feature categories during the 48th Annie Awards, which were presented Friday by ASIFA-Hollywood during a virtual ceremony. The winners. +Golden Reel Awards: Motion Picture Sound Editors spread the wealth in the feature competition of its 68th Golden Reel Awards, giving Greyhound, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Tenet, Soul and Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of the Fire Saga one category win apiece. The winners. 'Black Panther II' Will Film In Georgia ►Black Panther II will still film in Georgia despite the state's new, restrictive voting law. In an op-ed published by Shadow and Act, the film's director Ryan Coogler says that the Marvel film will move forward with its plans to shoot in the Peach State this summer. The law has drawn widespread criticism for the way it enacts strict new ID requirements for absentee ballots, curtails the use of drop boxes and makes it a crime to give water and food to those waiting in line to vote. President Joe Biden has called it "Jim Crow in the 21st century." The story. +In other film news: Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo are going from the Vista Del Mar to a magical kingdom. The duo will write a Disney live-action musical comedy centering on the evil stepsisters — Anastasia and Drizella — from the animated classic Cinderella. The musical comedy will be a re-imagining of the fairytale from their perspective. The story. Lord Of The Ring$$$ ►Amazon will spend roughly NZ$650 million – $465 million in U.S. dollars – for just the first season of its forthcoming Lord of the Rings series. That's far above previous reported estimates that pegged the fantasy drama as costing an already record-breaking $500 million for multiple seasons of the show. --The figures were released as part of as part of the New Zealand government’s Official Information Act. The documents also confirmed the studio's plan is to film potentially five seasons in New Zealand – as well as possible, as-yet-unannounced spinoff series. The story. +Sam Levinson has found his next project for HBO. The Euphoria showrunner will adapt Stephen Markley's debut novel Ohio as a television series for the network. Like the book, which is equal parts murder mystery and social critique, the show will explore a generation that's come of age knowing only war, recession, racial hostility and partisanship. The story. +Starz has handed out a series order to Shining Vale, a horror comedy starring Courteney Cox. The half-hour series, from Jeff Astrof (Trial & Error) and Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe), centers on a woman who, in a last-ditch attempt to save her marriage, moves her family from the city to an old house in the suburbs with a storied past — and discovers that her personal demons may actually be real. Starz has picked up eight episodes of the show, which has been in the works for more than a year. The story. +Jimmy Kimmel is mounting what's being dubbed a livestream-a-thon for autism. The three-hour event, which the late-night comic will co-host with former NASA engineer and current YouTuber Mark Rober, will raise money for NEXT for Autism. The virtual benefit is set for April 30th, and will unspool exclusively on Rober’s popular YouTube channel. Kimmel, being Kimmel, has already lured a list of heavy-hitters to appear, including other past and present late night hosts Jon Stewart, Conan O’Brien and Stephen Colbert. More. +To binge or not to binge: Inside streamers' scheduling decisions. With content proliferating, streaming platforms — even Netflix — are experimenting with different release models for their programming, Rick Porter writes. More. ►The next Marvel? Indie publishers race to mine comics for film, TV. New competitors including Artists, Writers & Artisans; AfterShock; and Valiant Comics focus on a leaner publishing output and an eye toward adaptations. More. Obituaries... --Helen McCrory, the English stage and screen star who appeared in three Harry Potter films, alongside The Queen, Peaky Blinders and Skyfall, has died. She was 52. Her husband Damian Lewis broke the news on Friday. --Felix Silla, who worked inside a body-length hairpiece, behind a pair of sunglasses and underneath a bowler hat in his guise as the mumbling Cousin Itt on the 1960s ABC comedy The Addams Family, has died. He was 84. --David Miller, a veteran Canadian film publicist, producer and distributor who led an Oscar-winning animated short film campaign for the National Film Board of Canada in 2004, has died. He was 47. In other news... --Andrea Iervolino — a veteran film producer with dozens of credits including Michael Radford's The Merchant of Venice, is jumping in the galaxy game with the launch of SPACE 11. The entity, a subsidiary of his global film and TV company Iervolino Entertainment, is solely dedicated to projects in outer space. --In a quintessentially 2021 bit of news, a character first introduced in a NFT has been optioned for film and TV projects. --Peacock's Girls5eva continues to build out its cast. Andrew Rannells has booked a recurring role on the straight-to-series comedy from exec producers Tina Fey, Robert Carlock and Meredith Scardino. --Participant, which was most recently behind Oscar nominee Judas and the Black Messiah, has formed an audience department to expand its online footprint, promoting Jim Hu to executive vp to lead the department. --Imax CEO Richard Gelfond's compensation for the latest fiscal year came to $6.9 million, just down from $7.1 million in fiscal 2019, according to a regulatory filing unveiled on Friday. --Hollywood is making plans to get back into physical offices. UTA has become the first agency to set a return-to-work date for employees. --Universal Studios Hollywood reopened on Friday to a sold-out crowd. The popular Southern California theme park had been closed for more than a year due to the pandemic. What else we're reading... --"Ladies and gentlemen... the weekend, brought to you by Daniel Craig and a teen in OC" [LA Times] --"How Nobody turned Bob Odenkirk into the next John Wick" [The Ringer] --"On The Nanny, Lauren Lane’s C.C. Babcock was the WASPy foil to Fran’s flashy girl from Flushing. When the show finished, she left Hollywood entirely" [Chicago Tribune] --"'A profound privilege': An emotional Brooke Baldwin bids audiences farewell on last day at CNN" [USA Today] Today's birthdays: Sean Bean, 62, Victoria Beckham, 47, Rooney Mara, 36, Redman, 51.
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