SJP and Matthew Broderick on Life in New York and Sharing Top Billing

►On the cover. Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, the married (and famously private) co-stars of the Broadway hit Plaza Suite sit down for a rare joint interview with THR's Julian Sancton to talk about their respective work — including HBO’s And Just Like That and Netflix’s upcoming series Painkiller — their 30-year relationship and their lifelong commitment to Manhattan. The cover story. 

—Stan Lee: Homecoming. THR's Borys Kit has the huge scoop on the late Stan Lee returning to the MCU. In a unique deal, the beloved co-creator of Spider-Man, Avengers and Hulk is returning to Marvel Studios via a 20-year deal with Stan Lee Universe, a venture between Genius Brands International and POW! Entertainment. Marvel has licensed the name and likeness of Lee, who died in 2018, for use in future film and television productions, as well as Disney theme parks, various “experiences” and merchandising. The story.

—Watts next. Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts is set to create and helm a new Star Wars series for Disney+. Still mostly under wraps, Watts’ series is described as in the tone of a classic Amblin coming-of-age adventure film of the ’80s. The show will take place closely after the events of Return of the Jedi, as far as time period. Watts will executive produce the series along with writer Chris Ford. The story. 

—Brutal. Netflix is laying off approximately 150 employees across the company, according to an internal memo sent Tuesday and obtained by THR. The layoffs represent 2 percent of the streamer’s total workforce, with most of the cuts happening in the U.S. Netflix is also eliminating 70 roles in the animation unit, as well as reducing contractor roles in its social media and publishing channels. The story. 

—Still spending money, though. Despite the cutbacks and the newly spendthrift corporate culture, Netflix renewed its multiyear services deal with VFX and animation firm DNEG for $350 million. The pact will see DNEG do work on Netflix series and movies, in the U.S. and abroad, including a current 2022 slate that includes Knives Out 2, The School for Good and Evil and Slumberland. The story.

Inside THR's 2022 New York Power Media Party 

►"New York's back, baby!" Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Gayle King, Amber Ruffin and Questlove were among the stars celebrating the return of THR's New York Power Media party at The Pool in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday night. This year’s event, presented by A+E Networks, was held in conjunction with the publication of THR’s 10th list of the 35 Most Powerful People in New York Media and took place for the first time since 2019, a three-year gap during which the media landscape had markedly changed. The story. 

—Buying spree continues. Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs' Candle Media has acquired social media creative company ATTN:. Matthew Segal and Jarrett Moreno, the co-founders of ATTN:, as well as the company’s existing senior management team, will stay on after the acquisition. The deal is expected to close in the next 30 days. The story.

—First-look deal news. Universal Pictures has signed a first-look production deal with Nicholas Sparks that will see Anonymous Content and The Notebook author partner to produce three features for the studio. The films will be based on some of Sparks’ recent romantic novels, the first being The Wish, with Zack Hayden producing for Anonymous. The story. 

—Dream team. Sacha Baron Cohen is teaming with King of the Hill duo Greg Daniels and Mike Judge for an animated special called Chelm: The Smartest Place on Earth. Set to air on both Cartoon Network and HBO Max, the special is being written by Nathan For You co-creator Michael Korman and shares the absurdist humor and interpretive questioning that is a nod to Jewish intellectual traditions. The story.

—We have a good feeling about this. Paramount+ is going big for its Yellowstone prequel series, 1932, casting screen legends Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford for the origin story from creator Taylor Sheridan. The series will stream exclusively on the streamer and debut at a date to be determined in December. The story. 

Upfronts: Bob Chapek, Baby Yoda and "Bull****" at Disney

►"We shape global culture." THR's Mikey O'Connell sends his latest dispatch from New York, where embattled Disney CEO Bob Chapek gave his first unified brand upfront. Chapek was keen to celebrate his many content silos as he simultaneously Frankenstein’d them together. A host of stars and Marvel overlord Kevin Feige dropped by, Jimmy Kimmel did a bit, and the brand that sucked up most of the attention was ESPN. The recap. 

—Third time's a charm. The third iteration of the XFL has found a TV home. The league and Disney have struck a global rights deal that will see all XFL regular season and playoff games running on ESPN, ABC and — in its first sports rights deal since becoming part of Disney — FX. The spring football league is set to begin play in 2023. The story.  

—"You know, every year I say, ‘F*** Netflix.’ And this year it came true." Jimmy Kimmel roasted the broadcast and streaming television landscape at Disney’s annual upfront presentation Tuesday, powering through his monologue despite fighting off a case of COVID-19. Here are some of the best jokes from Kimmel’s monologue. The jokes.

More from Upfronts...

—ABC Fall 2022 schedule: Abbott Elementary anchors comedy block, Celebrity Jeopardy! joins Sunday

—CBS Fall 2022 schedule: Comedy pared back, Real Love Boat sets sail

—ABC’s Craig Erwich on Grey’s Anatomy future, Abbott Elementary move

—YouTube Brandcast 2022: Live shopping, shorts take center stage as platform moves away from originals

—TelevisaUnivision bets on streaming … and linear TV, in Upfront push

Cannes Lineup Offers Host of Oscar Hopefuls

►Launching pad. With the awards success of films such as Parasite and Drive My Car in recent years, the Cannes Film Festival has become more of a nomination predictor thanks to the increasingly international makeup of the Academy’s members. THR's awards analyst Scott Feinberg looks ahead to the possible 2022 contenders. The list. 

—"We will win this war." On a live video call from Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a stirring address to the audience at the Palais on the opening night of the Cannes Film Festival. During his impassioned speech, Zelensky made several references to movies, including Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator, and called on filmmakers not to stand by idly during the war: "It’s necessary for cinema not to be silent." The story.

—4-minute standing ovation. On a night when Cannes opened its 75th milestone festival by focusing on serious global tragedies, the audience got a reprieve with Michel Hazanavicius’ zombie comedy Final Cut. The movie, a French remake of the Japanese film One Cut of the Dead, screened to steady laughter in the 2,000-seat Lumieré Theatre and earned a solid standing ovation. The story. 

—Prestige project. Brit director Lynne Ramsay is set to adapt the Margaret Atwood story Stone Mattress, and has lined up Julianne Moore and Sandra Oh to star. Amazon are already attached to produce and Film 4 and StudioCanal are now in final negotiations, with StudioCanal set to launch sales in Cannes. The film will shoot in Greenland and Iceland in September. The story.

—"My film was not based on the documentary." Asghar Farhadi used the platform of Cannes to forcefully deny allegations that he plagiarized his 2021 film A Hero. A former student of the two-time Oscar winner has accused Farhadi of stealing the premise for A Hero from her original documentary All Winners, All Losers, without giving her credit. The claims are the subject of an ongoing court case in Iran. The story. 

More from Cannes...

—Read THR's Cannes Film Festival day 2 daily

—Forest Whitaker: Cannes was where I was “acknowledged as an artist for the first time internationally”

—Julian Dennison, Minnie Driver teaming for Kiwi coming-of-age drama One Winter

—Saban takes Charlotte Gainsbourg, Hugh Bonneville WWII spy thriller Lives in Secret

—IFC Films takes Cristian Mungiu’s R.M.N. for North America

—Bleecker Street lands Emily Bronte movie Emily for U.S.

—Cohen Media Group takes My Neighbor Adolf for North America

—Cannes flashback: In 2004, Tom Hanks charmed and disarmed the press

—Cannes hidden gem: A visceral search for identity in All the People I’ll Never Be

'This Is Us': Mandy Moore on Saying  Goodbye In Penultimate Episode

►"What is more poetic than that?" THR's Jackie Strause wiped back the tears and steadied herself to speak to This Is Us star Mandy Moore. The actress, who has played Rebecca Pearson through eight decades (and more than 100 hours of makeup) on NBC's weepfest, reflects on the finality of the penultimate episode's tribute to her character, she describes as an "unsung, ordinary heroine." The interview.

—Give us Moore! Twentieth Century Studios is rebooting The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the acclaimed (and in my opinion, the greatest) comic book franchise created by author Alan Moore and artist Kevin O’Neill. Justin Haythe has been tapped to pen the screenplay for the project, which is intended to be made as a feature for Hulu. The story. 

—"Gisele Bündchen’s husband." Netflix is readying to roast Tom Brady. The roast will be the first in a series of new specials on the streamer titled Greatest Roasts of All Time: GROAT. Brady will executive produce in a multi-roast deal, with his own roast set to tape in 2023 following his next season in the NFL. The story.

—Aw jeez! Rick and Morty is getting a spinoff. Adult Swim has ordered an anime project from director Takashi Sano that’s based on the Emmy-winning series. The network has placed an order for 10 episodes of Rick and Morty: The Anime. Sano previously directed two acclaimed anime shorts in the Rick and Morty universe: “Rick and Morty vs. Genocider” and “Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil).” The story.

—This Week in TV. THR's Rick Porter runs down the TV premieres, returns and specials over the next seven days. Among the things to look out for over the coming week include the series finale of This Is Us, the debut of Angelyne on Peacock and a new version of Yo! MTV Raps premieres Monday on Paramount+. Also HBO Max’s Legendary begins its third season and HBO drops doc George Carlin’s American Dream. The full guide. 

Film Review: 'Final Cut' ('Coupez!')    

►"A trifling gory pleasure." THR film critic Jordan Mintzer reviews Michel Hazanavicius’ Final Cut (Coupez!). The Oscar-winning director of The Artist opens Cannes with a French-language remake of Japanese zombie flick One Cut of the Dead. The review. 

—"The medium is stronger than the message." Jordan also reviews Pietro Marcello's Scarlet (L’envol). The Italian director behind Martin Eden premiered his new feature, about a young girl growing up in post-WWI France, in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight sidebar. The review. 

—"Passionate and funny, even if occasionally by-the-numbers." THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg reviews HBO’s George Carlin’s American Dream. Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio's four-hour documentary traces the evolution of George Carlin's career, from clean-cut establishment success to counterculture sensation to prescient truth-teller. The review. 

—"So much better than it needed to be." THR's Frank Scheck reviews Akiva Schaffer's Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers. Andy Samberg and John Mulaney voice the beloved Disney characters in this very meta live-action/animated comedy. The review.

In other news...

—She-Hulk: Attorney at Law drops first Disney+ trailer

—Robert Downey Jr. to restore classic cars in climate-focused Discovery+ series

—Jimmy Kimmel taps Andy Samberg, John Mulaney as guest hosts amid second bout with COVID-19

—Jerry Lee Lewis, Keith Whitley set to join Country Music Hall of Fame

—Peabody Awards: Dan Rather recognized with career achievement honor

—Lionsgate to open $125m New Jersey film studio

—Vice Media’s Kate Osborn joins Kaleidoscope podcast startup

—AMC Networks hires Len Fogge as president of marketing, gives Miquel Penella international oversight

What else we're reading...

—Scaachi Koul interviews John Waters on his first work of literary fiction, Liarmouth [BuzzFeed]

—Steve Rose profiles the always great Rosie Perez who talks, among other things, Botox, boxing – and the casting couch [Guardian]

—Laura Collins-Hughes makes the case for an award for best ensemble at the Tonys [NYT]

—With the growth of “anti-Instagram” apps like BeReal, Terry Nguyen asks if we are ever authentically ourselves on the internet [Vox]

—With the collapse of Luna and the proliferation of scams, John Cassidy writes that the great crypto grift may be unwinding [New Yorker]

Today...  

...in 2001, Dreamworks unveiled Shrek in theaters. The animated satire would go on to gross $484 million globally, launch a slew of sequels and nab an Oscar for best animated feature at the 74th Academy Awards. The original review.

Today's birthdays: Tina Fey (52), Chow Yun-Fat (67), Terry Zwigoff (73), Allen Leech (41), Miriam Margolyes (81), Luke Kleintank (32), Matt Long (42), Violett Beane (26), Nathaniel Parker (60), Felicia Pearson (42), Patrick St. Esprit (68), Karel Roden (60), Toyah Willcox (64), Mark Mothersbaugh (72), Nancy Juvonen (55), Jona Xiao (33), Catherine Corsini (66)