Jeremy Strong on 'Succession' Funeral and Kendall "Doubling Down" 

►"It’s a wonderful moment for Kendall." THR's Jackie Strause recaps and breaks down the penultimate episode of HBO's Succession, "Church and State." After the episode dropped, both star Jeremy Strong and director Mark Mylod opened up about Logan Roy's funeral and Kenall's transformation. Warning: Spoilers! The recap. 

—"Stewy will always pick money." THR's Seija Rankin spoke to Succession star Arian Moayed about Sunday's episode. The actor, who has played financier Stewy Hosseini since season one, discusses the show's only "real" friendship between Kendall and Stewy, and also shares a deleted scene and what he took from set. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.

—What Stewy's doing next. Seija also spoke to Moayed about his life after Succession. The actor, who just nabbed a Tony nom for A Doll’s House and stars in Nicole Holofcener’s You Hurt My Feelings, admits he is in denial about the HBO show ending: "The reality is that we’re never all going to be in the same room together again." The story. 

Zaslav Gets Booed at Graduation Ceremony 

►"Pay your writers!" Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav was met with a chorus of boos and angry chants from students after taking the stage at Boston University on Sunday to accept his honorary degree and give the 2023 commencement speech. During the speech, the WBD CEO was met with chants of “We don’t want you here,” “Pay your writers” and “Shut up, Zaslav” and had to repeatedly stop until the boos died down. The story. 

—"We know that we’re going to be a different band going forward." The Foo Fighters have revealed that Josh Freese will be their new drummer. The announcement was made during the band’s Preparing Music for Concerts livestream event on Sunday. The news follows the sudden and unexpected death of longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins in March 2022. The story. 

—Blunt rotation. American Idol has crowned a new winner. Sunday’s season 21 finale saw Iam Tongi named the winner of the ABC singing competition. He beat out Megan Danielle and Colin Stough, who came in second and third place, respectively. Tongi, who is 18, performed his original song “I’ll Be Seeing You” on the live finale. He also performed a duet of “Monsters” with James Blunt during the show. The story. 

—🎭 "His support is invaluable to us and cannot be overstated" 🎭 Sean Penn has signed on to star in the Ukrainian war film War Through the Eyes of Animals. The feature is a nine-part anthology, directed by nine Ukrainian filmmakers, that tells the story of the war through the perspectives of various animals caught up in the conflict. Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi will direct the ninth and final segment, which will star Penn as an American sound engineer who inadvertently becomes a witness to the outbreak of war. The story.

'May December', 'Killers' Get Warm Reception in Cannes 

►👏 Ovation update 👏 Todd Haynes' May December made an impression on Cannes, earning a six-minute standing ovation during its Saturday evening premiere as castmembers Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton looked on. The May December premiere was delayed following the previous premiere of Martin Scorsese’s The Killers of the Flower Moon, which runs over three hours. Killers was welcomed with an enthusiastic standing ovation lasting approximately nine minutes. The story. 

—"Scorsese and his team have restored trust." Killers has won over the critics and the audience in Cannes but has also received high praise from the Osage Nation. Speaking at the press conference for the film on Sunday, Osage leader Chief Standing Bear was full of praise for the production. Scorsese also spoke of how deeply his meetings with Osage tribal leaders impacted his creative process. The story. 

—"This is a story that touches all of us." Idris Elba’s Green Door Pictures and wife Sabrina Elba’s Pink Towel have unveiled plans for Paid in Full: The Battle for Payback, a documentary about the music industry exploiting Black artists, for the BBC and CBC networks. The three-parter will also explore reparations for Black artists and has David Upshal on board as showrunner. The story.

—"Do I want to live my life for anyone else’s pleasure or fulfillment other than my own?" Fans hoping to see Miley Cyrus on tour following the release of her latest album Endless Summer Vacation shouldn’t get their hopes up. In a new interview, the Grammy-nominated singer said she’s not sure if she can see herself doing tours anymore, at least not in the foreseeable future, adding that singing for thousands of people "isn’t really the thing that I love." The story.  

'Fast X' Zooms to $319M Globally 

►Family first. Universal’s Fast X raced to a North American debut of $67.5m and a rousing $318.9m globally as the core franchise winds down. That’s a promising start for the 10th installment even if the movie is seeing lower returns in the U.S. Overseas is a different matter, where Fast X cleared a huge $251.4m in its international debut. Its global opening makes it the No. 2 debut of the year behind fellow Universal release The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($377m).

THR's Pamela McClintock writes that though Fast X received only a B+ CinemaScore in North America, the film is one of the few recent Hollywood films to resonate in China, where it opened to an impressive $78.3m. Internationally, it is the top opening of 2023 so far.

Elsewhere, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 earned another $32m domestically and $48.8m overseas for an impressive global total of $659.1m. Super Mario Bros. Movie placed No. 3 domestically with $9.8m and now ranks as the third-biggest animated film of all time with $1.248b in worldwide ticket sales, not adjusted for inflation. The box office report.

'NCIS: LA' Showrunner Talks Series Finale 

►"Writing a pilot is very difficult, and I think the next hardest thing is writing the finale of a series." THR's Rick Porter spoke to NCIS: Los Angeles showrunner R. Scott Gemmill about how he wanted to end the long-running spinoff after 14 seasons. Gemmill explains why he likes a happy ending, putting together the reunion scene — and how one character got a “stay of execution” when COVID shut down production three years ago. Warning: Spoilers! The interview. 

—🎭 Franco-Irish collab 🎭 Anamaria Marinca and Jean-Marc Barr are teaming to star in the feature White Friar. The film is the directorial debut of actor-turned-filmmaker Ivan Murphy. Described as a romantic thriller, White Friar is inspired by the life of Father Tom Murphy, an Irish Catholic priest who also served as a wing commander in the Royal Air Force during WWII and his relationship with Eva Hofer, a Hungarian Jew living in Vienna. The story. 

—🎭 Fest fright 🎭 Jade Pettyjohn and JoJo Siwa have grabbed lead roles in All My Friends Are Dead, a slasher pic from genre veteran and director Marcus Dunstan. With a screenplay by Josh Sims and Jessica Sarah Flaum, the story follows college friends at a big music festival where a weekend of partying quickly becomes a nightmare as the group is murdered one by one. The ensemble cast includes Jennifer Ens, Ali Fumiko Whitney, Justin Derickson, Julian Haig, Cardi Wong, Jack Doupe-Smith and Michaella Russell. The story. 

Film Review: 'Killers of the Flower Moon' 

►"A master filmmaker expands his legacy." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon. Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro lead the epic adaptation of David Grann’s book about the Osage Murders, with a supporting cast that includes Jesse Plemons, John Lithgow and Brendan Fraser. The review.

—"Always interesting but also a bit remote." David reviews Todd Haynes' Cannes competition entry May December. Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore star in this story about an actress preparing for a biographical movie role gains access to a couple whose sizable age gap made tabloid headlines 20 years earlier in this multilayered drama, also starring Charles Melton. The review. 

—"Rescues an inspiring woman from history's footnotes." David reviews Karim Aïnouz's Cannes competition entry Firebrand. Adapted from the novel The Queen’s Gambit, by Elizabeth Freemantle, the film starring Alicia Vikander and Jude Law portrays Henry VIII’s sixth and final wife Katherine Parr as she attempts to avoid the chopping block. The review.

—"A satisfying minor-key character study." David reviews Anthony Chen's Cannes Un Certain Regard selection The Breaking Ice. Set against the icy landscape of Yanji, near the North Korean border, the intimate film traces the path of an outsider trio from malaise to spiritual freedom. The review.

—"Not without its smart and quirky pleasures, but the whimsy wears thin." THR's Sheri Linden reviews Michel Gondry's Cannes Directors’ Fortnight selection The Book of Solutions. The French writer-director’s first feature in eight years, a comedy set in his native France, centers on a writer-director struggling to complete a feature. The review.

Film Review: 'Anatomy of a Fall' 

►"A director and actress in peak form." THR's Jon Frosch reviews Justine Triet's Cannes competition entry Anatomy of a Fall. Toni Erdmann star Sandra Hüller plays an author on trial for killing her husband in this drama from the French filmmaker behind Sibyl. The review.

—"Powerful but patchy." THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews Katell Quillévéré's Along Came Love. Anaïs Demoustier and Vincent Lacoste star as a couple clinging to each other in the wake of World War II. The review.

—"A revisionist Western revisiting historical crimes." Jordan reviews Felipe Gálvez's Cannes Un Certain Regard selection The Settlers. The film explores the massacre of Indigenous tribes at the hands of Spanish landowners in 19th century Chile. The review.

—"A retro mystery that turns in on itself." Jordan reviews Shujun Wei's Cannes Un Certain Regard selection Only the River Flows. This slow-burn thriller stars Yilong Zhu as a detective whose hunt for a serial killer uncovers the secrets of a small town. The review.

—"Turns out androids don't dream of electric sheep." THR's Leslie Felperin reviews Pablo Berger's Robot Dreams. The latest from the Spanish director (Blancanieves) is a semi-silent cartoon about a dog and his robot companion set in 1980s New York. The review.

Film Review: 'The Little Mermaid' 

►"A ho-hum adaptation buoyed by a lovely lead turn." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Rob Marshall's The Little Mermaid. The Chicago director's live-action take on the beloved Disney film stars Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, Javier Bardem, Daveed Diggs, Jonah Hauer King and Awkwafina. The review.

—"A clever and peculiar debut." Lovia reviews Joanna Arnow's Cannes Directors' Fortnight selection The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed. A 30-something New York woman navigates relationships, work and family in actor-director Arnow's debut behind the camera. The review.

—"Resonant and accessible." Lovia reviews Mohamed Kordofani's Cannes Un Certain Regard selection Goodbye Julia. The filmmaker's debut feature, the first Sudanese film to be showcased as a Cannes official selection, chronicles the unexpectedly intertwined fates of two Sudanese women. The review.

—"A stunningly conjured world in need of a sharper story." Lovia reviews Ramata-Toulaye Sy's Cannes competition entry Banel & Adama. The Senegal helmer's debut feature tells the story of a couple who must fight against the odds for the survival of their love. The review. 

In other news...

—SkyShowtime sets European originals

—Nickelodeon launches campaign to empower kids to take social action

—Elemental, Bottoms and Chasing Chasing Amy among Frameline’s 2023 festival lineup

—Loving Loewe: Why stars like Rihanna and Beyoncé wear the Jonathan Anderson-designed label

—Martin Amis, author of The Zone of Interest, London Fields and Money, dies at 73

—Andy Rourke, bassist for The Smiths, dies at 59

What else we're reading...

—Angelique Chrisafis writes that Johnny Depp's Cannes love-in has exposed deep divisions in France over #MeToo [Guardian]

—It turns out Josh Duhamel is a prepper, and he talks to Jake Kleinman about his doomsday cabin in North Dakota [Inverse]

—With Apple's VR headset set to be unveiled on June 5, Mark Gurman writes that the device has strayed from Tim Cook’s original vision [Bloomberg]

—Elizabeth Spiers writes that what Succession has been about from the very first episode is American attitudes toward class [NYT]

—Khadeeja Safdar and Emily Glazer have a whopper of an exclusive about Jeffrey Epstein once attempting to blackmail Bill Gates over an affair the billionaire had with a Russian bridge player [WSJ]

Today... 

...in 1988, Universal released Terry Gilliam’s big-screen adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The original review.

Today's birthdays: Sean Gunn (49), Maggie Q (44), Nazanin Boniadi (43), Michael Kelly (54), Camren Bicondova (24), Tao Okamoto (38), Naomi Campbell (53), Max Brooks (51), Thomas Schlamme (73), Bernie Taupin (73), Ginnifer Goodwin (45), Molly Ephraim (37), Brooke Smith (56), Ann Cusack (62), Peyton Elizabeth Lee (19), Alison Eastwood (51), A.J. Langer (49), Judah Lewis (22), Alexandra Dowling (33), John Nolan (85), Denise Welch (65), Karoline Herfurth (39), Michael Kostroff (62), Mattea Conforti (17), David Schneider (60), Nitesh Tiwari (51)