THR's Actress Roundtable

►On the cover. THR's award-winning Roundtable Series continues, with the lead actresses up next. Margot Robbie (Barbie), Emma Stone (Poor Things), Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon), Annette Bening (Nyad), Carey Mulligan (Maestro) and Greta Lee (Past Lives) sat down with THR's Rebecca Keegan and communed over the pain of pitching and the desire to drop the “serious actress” facade: "I know I can scream and shout and cry…but can I make people laugh?" The cover story. 

Mary Kay Letourneau's Ex-Husband Reacts to 'May December'

►"I'm offended." THR's Seth Abramovitch spoke to Mary Kay Letourneau’s ex-husband Vili Fualaau about Todd Haynes' May December, the Netflix film that has striking similarities to his own story. Now 40, the inspiration for Charles Melton's Golden Globe-nominated character, wonders why he was never approached by the filmmakers: "I'm alive and well." The interview. 

—Reinstated. The Television Academy and Fox have reached an agreement with the WGA to return the Emmy for outstanding writing for a variety series to the Primetime Emmys telecast. There had been a loud outcry from writers and other artists after word got out that the category, which had long been presented on primetime TV, was going to be moved to an untelevised Creative Arts ceremony. The story. 

—Wait, what? In one of the odder twists of this awards season, THR's executive editor for awards Scott Feinberg reports that the script that Ava DuVernay wrote for her film Origin has been deemed an adapted screenplay by the executive committee of the Academy’s writers branch, despite being classified as an original screenplay by the WGA. The Academy's writers branch made the same decision for DuVernay's script that it made for Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig's Barbie script. The story. 

—New year, new read. We're fully ensconced in 2024, so Scott has updated his assessment of all 23 categories, with good news for Past Lives director Celine Song. The Feinberg forecast. 

—🏆 Dressed for success 🏆 The Costume Designers Guild has revealed the nominees for its 26th CDG Awards, and leading the features categories are Barbie, Killers of the Flower Moon, May December, Oppenheimer, Poor Things and Saltburn. Among the television nominees are period dramas The Golden Age, The Crown, and The Great and contemporary dramas including The Morning Show, The Bear, What We Do in the Shadows and Loki. The awards will be handed out Feb. 21 at Neuehouse Hollywood. The nominees. 

Iger Prepares for Ike's Pirate Ship to Fire at Disney

►"Jay has credibility. He’s not some Palm Beach crank." As ousted Marvel mogul Ike Perlmutter and activist investor Nelson Peltz enlist former Disney exec Jay Rasulo in their quest to reshape the studio, THR's editor-at-large Kim Masters writes that Disney CEO Bob Iger faces a somewhat more credible challenge to his reign. The story. 

—"Management was incentivized to hide Gonzales’s harassment because he generated valuable revenue." Disney is facing a lawsuit from an employee who accuses the company of concealing a former executive’s alleged pattern of sexual misconduct after she was assaulted. The complaint claims management at Disney repeatedly refused to escalate concerns about former vice president of distribution Nolan Gonzales despite several complaints, creating an environment in which he was “free to harass women with impunity.” The story. 

Who Will Walk Away With Paramount?

►The vultures are circling. As Shari Redstone decides how to part with her media empire, THR's Alex Weprin writes that a number of players have emerged as suitors for Paramount Global — all with varying, and conflicting, motivations to make a bid for the historic studio. The analysis. 

—"We apologize for being a part of it." Pat McAfee hopes that ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel and New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers talk things over. The ESPN host opened his program Wednesday by addressing the feud between Rodgers and Kimmel, which escalated Tuesday when Kimmel suggested that he could take Rodgers to court over a claim — made on McAfee’s show — that Kimmel had some connection to Jeffrey Epstein. The story. 

—Watson's time to shine. CBS has handed out a series order for Watson, a medical drama revolving around Dr. John Watson a year after the death of his friend and partner, Sherlock Holmes. Morris Chestnut will star as Watson and exec produce the series, which was first put in development a year ago at the network. Elementary alum Craig Sweeny serves as showrunner and wrote the pilot. Watson, like Elementary, was produced in house at CBS Studios. The story. 

—"We look forward to watching him make America laugh on Saturday nights." Fox News says that Jimmy Failla will take over as the permanent host of Fox News Saturday Night, beginning Jan. 13. Failla had been among the rotating guest hosts over the past six months or so. The program launched with the promise of being “a lighter take on the news of the week,” and with Failla’s new role the channel is leaning even more into the hour being a comedy show. The story. 

Global Box Office Revenue Clears $33.9B in 2023

►Comeback. Barbie, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Oppenheimer led the pack of films propelling global box office revenue to $33.9b, according to estimates by leading U.K.-based analytics firm Gower Street. That’s a gain of 31 percent over 2022, but was 15 percent behind the average of the three years before the pandemic (2015-2019). Translated, movie ticket sales have yet to match the levels enjoyed before the COVID-19 crisis struck, whether on a global scale, domestically or internationally. The story. 

—Big exit. New CNN CEO Mark Thompson is contemplating a new structure and vision for CNN, and that will include a rethink of the news organization’s digital strategy. To that end, Thompson told employees Wednesday morning that CNN executive vp and chief digital officer Athan Stephanopoulos will leave the company at the end of January. Stephanopoulos joined CNN in Oct. 2022, filling a role that had been a priority for then-CEO Chris Licht. He was previously the president of the digital news brand NowThis. The story. 

—🤝 4 year contract 🤝 The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society has reached an agreement with the Broadway League on a new four-year contract that covers associate directors and choreographers for the first time. The contract applies to directors and choreographers working on Broadway and on Broadway League tours in North America and the British Isles. SDC had been working to bring associate directors and choreographers, who had been one of the rare non-unionized groups on Broadway, under their umbrella for several years. The story.  

—Juries in place. The juries for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival has been revealed, with Debra Granik, Adrian Tomine and Lena Waithe being named jurors of the U.S. dramatic competition section. Shane Boris, Nicole Newnham and Rudy Valdez are the jurors for U.S. documentary competition; Jennifer Kent, Mira Nair and Rui Poças for world cinema dramatic competition. Mandy Chang, Monica Hellström, and Shaunak Sen for the world cinema documentary competition; Christina Oh, Danny Pudi and Charlotte Regan for the short film program competition; and Zal Batmanglij for the NEXT competition section. The story.

Brad Falchuk Finally Goes Solo

►"I’m not worried about failure. But I really want success." Brad Falchuk, one of this industry’s most successful TV producers (American Horror Story, 911, Pose) opens up to THR's Mikey O'Connell about the "freedom" of ending his overall deal, Glee regrets, showrunning The Brothers Sun and the pressures of cooking for Gwyneth Paltrow. The interview. 

—"He just spontaneously said, ‘I want to become a deacon,’ and he still feels that way." Shia LaBeouf has been received into the Catholic Church after taking the sacrament of confirmation, and is reportedly considering becoming a deacon. The Fury star was confirmed on Sunday by the Capuchin Franciscans. The actor has said in previous interviews that he was drawn to Catholicism amid difficulties in his personal life, including a lawsuit filed by former girlfriend FKA Twigs, who accused LaBeouf of "relentless abuse." The story. 

—"There was my version, a good version." John Ridley revealed that his scrapped Marvel project from nearly a decade ago was actually based on the Eternals. In a recent interview, the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave writer said that while the TV series he was developing at ABC in 2015 is “not in the works anymore,” it was a “television version of The Eternals, but good.” The story. 

—"This is not just a random joke, this is my best joke and it’s my last joke and it’s my closing joke." Katt Williams has gone after Cedric the Entertainer for allegedly stealing one of his jokes. Speaking on the Club Shay Shay podcast, Williams seemingly responded to Cedric, who denied that he stole the joke when he was on Shannon Sharpe's podcast in 2022. "He thought that I was just a no-name comedian and that he could take this joke and nobody would know," Williams said. The story.  

TV Review: 'The Brothers Sun'

►"As bingeable as a tray of freshly baked cookies." THR's Angie Han reviews Netflix's The Brothers Sun. A Taiwanese gangster reunites in Los Angeles with his mother and younger brother in the new series from Byron Wu and Brad Falchuk, starring Michelle Yeoh, Justin Chien and Sam Song Li. The review. 

—"The witch hunt is more interesting than the witchcraft." Angie reviews Sundance Now/AMC+'s Sanctuary: A Witch's Tale. A witch and her daughter fall under suspicion after the death of a teenage boy in a show based on the book by V.V. James. The review. 

In other news...

—Angourie Rice joins the Plastics clique in final trailer for Mean Girls musical

—Feud: Capote vs. the Swans trailer unites Ryan Murphy favorites for long-awaited second season

—German box office rebounds in 2023, nearing pre-pandemic levels

—T-Mobile adds free Hulu to its premium plan

—Former CNN, MSNBC contributors ink iHeartMedia deal to host political podcast series

—Ewan McGregor to receive lifetime Dragon Award at the Goteborg Film Festival

—Kovert Creative taps publicist Rosy Baker to join firm’s talent team

—Peter Berkos, Oscar-winning sound effects editor on The Hindenburg, dies at 101

​​​What else we're reading...

—Chas Danner, Benjamin Hart and Matt Stieb list all the people revealed to be associates of Jeffrey Epstein [Intelligencer]

—Robert Daniels reflects on The Color Purple and the film's many references to class Black musicals like Stormy Weather and early jazz shorts [NYT]

—With Roku launching its first high-end TVs in search of new revenue, Chris Welch digs into the specs of the models and is impressed [Verge]  

—Claire McNear has an indepth look at how Mayim Bialik lost her role as the main host of Jeopardy! [Ringer]

—Despite terrible reviews for Rebel Moon, Ben Child writes that Zack Snyder currently seems unstoppable [Guardian]

Today...  

...in 2013, Focus Features gave a wide release to Gus Van Sant's fracking drama Promised Land. Written, starring and produced by Matt Damon and John Krasinski, the film received mixed reviews but was selected as a top film of the year by the National Board of Review. The original review.

Today's birthdays: Julia Ormond (59), Emma Mackey (28), Charles Melton (33), Harmony Korine (51), Harlan Coben (62), August Diehl (48), Deana Carter (58), D'Arcy Carden (44), Michelle Mylett (35), Dyan Cannon (87), June Diane Raphael (44), Dafne Keen (19), David Foley (61), Graham McTavish (63), Samantha Sloyan (45), Erin Cahill (44), Dot-Marie Jones (60), Matt Frewer (66), Jaeden Martell (21), Charlyne Yi (38), Maddie Hasson (29), Peyton Kennedy (20), Richard Rankin (41), Flora Montgomery (50), Ann Magnuson (68), Josh Stamberg (54), Olivia Tennet (33), Gage Munroe (25), Kang Hye-jeong (42), Coco Jones (26)