Knives Out For Netflix's Ad Plans: TV Rivals Pile On At Upfronts

►"It feels really good to see them stoop to selling advertising." At the TV industry’s first in-person upfront week since 2019, presenters did not hold back in barbing Netflix for its nascent plans to launch an advertising-supported tier later this year. The story. 

—Good for two. Amazon has handed out a formal two-season order for The Hospital, an animated sci-fi comedy from exec producers Maya Rudolph and Natasha Lyonne. The comedy has also set its star-studded cast with Keke Palmer, Greta Lee, Kieran Culkin, Sam Smith and Rudolph and Lyonne set to voice central roles in the series from creator Cirocco Dunlap. The story.  

—"I wanted him to know what he said was triggering." Isaiah Lee, the man who is allegded to have attacked Dave Chappelle at The Hollywood Bowl earlier this month, says in a new interview that he rushed the stage as he was offended by Chappelle’s jokes. Lee added that he did not regret his actions. The story.

—Shredded Portman. A new trailer for Marvel's Thor: Love and Thunder dropped on Monday night and it was full of the usual madcap Taika Waititi cosmic chaos, Chris Hemsworth's Thor sporting a long blond mane once more and we see the return of (a very buff) Natalie Portman as Jane. The trailer. 

—Where the devil is the best newsletter prize? THR has been nominated for 39 awards at the 64th SoCal Journalism Awards, including best website and three noms for journalists of the year. Seth Abramovitch, Scott Feinberg and Rebecca Keegan all have been nominated for journalist of the year in the print (over 50,000 circulation), online and entertainment categories, respectively. Yay for us! The noms. 

Inside the Final 'Ellen' Tapings: Oprah, Peter Roth and Plenty of Dancing

►The end is nigh. After 19 seasons, Ellen DeGeneres' day-time talk show Ellen is coming to an end, with the final shows airing this week. THR's Kirsten Chuba was in the audience for DeGeneres' third-to-last show, which saw special guests, high emotions and the host's signature dance moves. The story. 

—Heading to streaming. Warner Bros. Pictures' Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is set to debut on HBO Max on May 30. The film is the latest major release from Warners to hit the streamer, following The Batman’s debut in April. The story. 

—A tribute, she wrote. Angela Lansbury has been tapped to receive the 2022 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. The five-time Tony winner will receive the award at the June 12 ceremony, presented by the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing. The story.

—The road to Demascus. THR's Lesley Goldberg has the scoop on Hamilton's Okieriete Onaodowan being tapped to lead the cast of AMC’s six-episode, half-hour series Demascus. The series is from creator Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm and is a character-driven exploration of life as an ordinary Black man in America today. The story.   

—"The macroeconomic environment has deteriorated further and faster than anticipated." Snap shares tumbled more than 30 percent in after-hours trading after the company disclosed to the SEC on Monday that it expected to miss its revenue guidance for Q2. The results.

THR's (Updated) Cannes Film Festival Photo Diary 

►Candid Cannes. With the Cannes Film Festival well into its second week, a whole host of new stars, including Marion Cotillard, Adria Arjona, Alicia Vikander, Ethan Hawke and Léa Seydoux, have been added to THR's festival photo diary, a collaboration with award-winning visual storyteller Julian Ungano. The photo diary. 

—"I’m very touched by your response." David Cronenberg and the stars of his latest movie, Crimes of the Future, got to bask in the glory of an extended Cannes standing ovation. The director and stars Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux and Kristen Stewart, were showered with 6 minutes of applause after the film screened at the Palais late Monday evening. The story. 

—"Everybody in the U.S. is completely insane." The morning after Crimes of the Future premiered at Cannes, Cronenberg was in fine form at the film's press conference Tuesday. Although the Canadian auteur said the film was not overtly political, he admitted it resonated with the current times, given the debate in the U.S. over the potential overturning of Roe vs. Wade and the rolling back of abortion rights. The story.

Critics' Conversation: Finding Gems Beyond Spring TV's True-Crime Glut 

►"It’s notable how few of this spring’s shows were, in any traditional sense, 'original.'" With television flooded with fact-based dramas about murder and fraud recently, THR TV critics Dan Fienberg and Angie Han reflect on the standout shows from other genres that have made a mark in the past few months, including a luminous literary adaptation, comedies both silly and substantial and returning shows in fine, feisty form. The conversation.

—"More of the same fun." THR critic Frank Scheck reviews Loren Bouchard and Bernard Derriman's The Bob’s Burgers Movie. The long-running, award-winning animated Fox series makes its big-screen debut. The review.

—"Jauntily lies the crown." THR film critic Leslie Felperin reviews Marie Kreutzer's Cannes Un Certain Regard selection Corsage. Vicky Krieps stars as Sissi, also known as the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, the latest historic royal woman to get biographical treatment in the Austrian writer-director's latest feature. The review.

—"Darkly funny." THR critic Jordan Mintzer reviews Owen Kline's Cannes Directors’ Fortnight selection Funny Pages. The actor turned filmmaker premiered his debut feature, about an aspiring teenage cartoonist, in the festival sidebar. The review. 

Film Review: 'Crimes of the Future'    

►"A queasily erotic but unsatisfying carve-up." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews David Cronenberg’s Cannes Competition entry Crimes of the Future. Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart and Scott Speedman star in the Canadian auteur’s return to body horror and bizarre human evolution in a future where surgery is the new sex. The review.

—"A world-class artist at the top of his game." David reviews Park Chan-wook's Cannes Competition entry Decision to Leave (Heojil Kyolshim). The South Korean auteur investigates the magnetic pull between an insomniac detective and a beguiling murder suspect oddly unfazed by her husband’s death. The review. 

—"Prep and prejudice." David reviews Andrew Ahn's Fire Island. Saturday Night Live regular Bowen Yang stars alongside screenwriter Joel Kim Booster in this Jane Austen-inspired romantic comedy set in the cruise-y gay getaway spot, also featuring Margaret Cho. The review. 

—"Superficial saturation." David reviews Brett Morgen’s Moonage Daydream. After examining the evolution and destruction of Kurt Cobain in Montage of Heck and the history of The Rolling Stones in Crossfire Hurricane, the filmmaker turns a kaleidoscopic lens on David Bowie in this archival rockumentary. The review. 

In other news...

—Laurence Fishburne, Clifton Collins Jr. board Frank & Louis prison drama

—Cannes: Tom Hollander to star in Bille August’s Me, You for Brilliant Pictures

—Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band announce 2023 international tour

—Sony Pictures Classics nabs Lea Seydoux-starrer One Fine Morning

—Activision Blizzard worker group votes to unionize in NLRB election

—American Society of Cinematographers re-elects President Stephen Lighthill 

—The stars of Veronica Mars: Where are they now?

What else we're reading...

—Anthony Breznican goes inside the Star Wars Disney+ series Andor [VF]

—Keith Phipps on how Everything Everywhere All At Once became a juggernaut [GQ]

—Kirsten Grind on the bewildering lack of customer helplines/support at Facebook and other social media companies [WSJ]

—Allegra Frank writes that Aidy Bryant, not Pete Davidson, is SNL’s biggest loss [Daily Beast]

—Missed this when it first dropped, another great piece on Tom Cruise and what's riding on Top Gun 2 [NYT]

Today...  

...in 2000, Paramount unveiled John Woo’s Mission: Impossible II in theaters. The Tom Cruise spy franchise starrer went on to gross $546 million during its global run. The original review. 

Today's birthdays: Bob Dylan (81), Roger Deakins (73), Greg Berlanti (50), Alfred Molina (69), Priscilla Presley (77), Daisy Edgar-Jones (24), Adam Demos (37), Doug Jones (62), John C. Reilly (57), Kristin Scott Thomas (62), Charlie Plummer (23), Callie Hernandez (34), Jim Broadbent (73), Bryan Greenberg (44), Sybil Danning (75), Dash Mihok (48), Synnøve Macody Lund (46), Tommy Chong (84), Patti LaBelle (78), Johannes Roberts (46), Eric Cantona (56), Jerod Mixon (41)