May 29, 2024

What's news: It's magazine day! This week's cover stars are THR Drama Actress Roundtable participants Jodie Foster, Jennifer Aniston, Sofía Vergara, Nicole Kidman, Brie Larson, Anna Sawai and Naomi Watts. Robert De Niro joined the Biden campaign for a press conference outside Trump's trial. Channing Tatum's Free Association and Brad Pitt's Plan B are producing a film and doc on the Isle of Man TT Race. Andrew Scott has joined the cast of Knives Out 3. — Abid Rahman

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THR's Drama Actress Roundtable

►On the cover. THR's award-winning Roundtable Series continues, up next are the drama actresses. Jodie Foster (True Detective: Night Country), Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show), Sofía Vergara (Griselda), Nicole Kidman (Expats), Brie Larson (Lessons in Chemistry), Anna Sawai (Shōgun) and Naomi Watts (Feud: Capote vs. The Swans) sat down with THR's Lacey Rose and weighed in on everything from method acting to menopause to snorting coke (on screen): "F*** this, let’s just talk about it."  The cover story. 

—ICYMI. Here's the full uncensored video of THR's Comedy Actress Roundtable featuring Quinta Brunson, Michelle Buteau, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Ego Nwodim, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig. The roundtable. 

De Niro Slams Trump at Press Conference

►"If Trump returns to the White House, you can kiss these freedoms goodbye that we all take for granted." President Joe Biden’s campaign on Tuesday showed up outside former President Donald Trump's New York City criminal hush money trial with actor Robert De Niro and a pair of former police officers in an effort to refocus the presidential race on the former president’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection. A top Biden adviser said they weren’t there to talk about the trial, rather to exploit the large media focus on the legal proceedings. The story. 

—Election specials. THR's Alex Weprin has the scoop on BET planning to shine a light on the upcoming presidential election, with what it hopes will be a series of primetime election specials. The first of those specials, What’s At Stake: 2024 Election Special, will debut June 4 at 10 p.m., on BET, BET Her, and VH1. The special will be hosted by BET correspondent Ed Gordon, and will feature a roundtable discussion with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), and Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), all members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The story. 

—Harrowing. Amid a blizzard of legal trouble, a new in-depth investigation has raised troubling claims of historical abuse against Sean “Diddy” Combs, and allegations from former friends, Bad Boy Records employees and artists claiming the scandal-plagued music mogul was a violent figure behind the scenes. Rolling Stone published a bombshell report Tuesday night that details Combs' alleged history of using violence and intimidation, particularly towards women, and provides graphic descriptions about a series of harrowing incidents. The story. 

Why Reality TV Is On Life Support

►"All of a sudden, the faucet just turned off." Jobs are scarce, budgets are crunched, workers are considering jumping ship and executives seem terrified to take creative risks on untested concepts. THR's Katie Kilkenny and Lesley Goldberg write that things aren't great right now in the world of reality TV, with development and production still sluggish since the strikes, leaving desperate workers in the lurch. The story. 

—Versatile star. Elizabeth MacRae, who played girlfriends of Gomer Pyle and Festus Haggen on television and a woman who seduces Gene Hackman's surveillance expert in The Conversation, has died. She was 88. MacRae died Monday in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where she was raised, a local funeral home announced. MacRae showed up as Lou-Ann Poovie on 15 episodes of the CBS comedy Gomer Pyle: USMC during its final three seasons (1966-69). MacRae also worked on several daytime soap operas, among them General Hospital and Days of Our Lives. The obituary. 

—Medical emergency. Mamie Laverock, a 19-year-old actor with Hallmark's When Calls the Heart, is on life support after falling from a five-story walkway while under medical care at a Vancouver hospital. According to a GoFundMe page launched by her family, Laverock was rushed on May 11 to a Winnipeg hospital by her mother, Nicole Compton, after what was described as a "medical emergency." The story. 

—"We’ll move on with our lives." Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker says his February arrest for a minor drug offense “shocked” him, and that he thinks the ordeal was the result of someone “trying to make an example” out of him. In a new interview, Rucker said, “I’m handling it with my lawyers, and paying the price." In early February, Rucker was arrested in Tennessee on two counts of simple possession/casual exchange of a controlled substance and one count of a violation of the state’s vehicle registration law. The story. 

Tatum, Pitt Team for Doc and Film on Isle of Man TT

►Off to the races. Channing Tatum's Free Association and Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment have teamed up to produce both a docuseries and a feature film centered on the famous and dangerous Isle of Man Tourist Trophy motorcycle races. The docuseries, titled The Greatest Race On Earth, began production this week. Also involved in the projects are Ford v Ferrari screenwriter Jason Keller, Entertainment 360’s Guymon Casady and Box to Box Films, although it is unclear if Keller will pen the script for the mooted Isle of Man TT feature film. The story. 

—"Oh Yoko!" THR's Etan Vlessing has the scoop on Kevin MacDonald's new documentary, One to One: John & Yoko, that looks at the post-Beatles life of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The Oscar-winning Scottish filmmaker focuses on Lennon in 1972 performing his final full-stage performance, the One to One benefit concert at Madison Square Garden, with Ono at his side. The film features new materials like remixed concert audio produced by Sean Ono Lennon. MacDonald's previous docs include Whitney, Touching the Void and High & Low: John Galliano. The story. 

—🎭 Hot priest on board 🎭 Rian Johnson's third Knives Out movie is continuing to expand its cast. Andrew Scott joins the growing list of performers for the latest film in the crime franchise. Last week, director Johnson announced the movie’s title as Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. Scott joins previously confirmed castmembers Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor and Cailee Spaeny in the project that counts Johnson and Ram Bergman as producers. The story. 

How 'The Chosen' Creator Turned the Bible Into Binge TV

►"This is such a dangerous show." Flailing Hollywood director Dallas Jenkins created a global TV sensation with The Chosen, which tells the story of Jesus and his disciples across a planned seven seasons. THR's James Hibberd goes inside his plan to stage the most devastating crucifixion in Hollywood history and create the first biblical cinematic universe. The story. 

—"Of course, I would do it." Sofía Vergara opened up about the possibility of a Modern Family reunion. On a recent episode of THR's Awards Chatter podcast hosted by its executive editor of awards, Scott Feinberg, the 51-year-old actress revealed her hopes for another run at Gloria Delgado-Pritchett. “I mean, I would do it in a second,” Vergara said when asked about a Modern Family revival. The story. 

—"What was coded as selfishness among millennials is now coded as self-care." Allison Williams says her Girls character Marnie — along with the whole show — is now “resonant in a new way” as younger audiences discover the series on social media. In a new interview, Williams said that "the whole show got a lot of flack when it was airing for everyone being too selfish and self-centered." Williams noted that Marnie, in particular, has been retroactively embraced by TikTok after being dismissed as overly cringeworthy and annoying. The story. 

'Vanderpump Rules' Boss Talks S12 Status After Divisive Reunion

►"A lot of unanswered questions are playing out in real time." THR's queen of chat Jackie Strause spoke to Vanderpump Rules showrunner Alex Baskin about the three-part reunion special. Baskin discusses how the special, that concluded Tuesday night, leaves the Bravo cast splintered as they await an official renewal. Warning: Spoilers! The interview. 

—"So many women are fiercely refusing to believe that anything about their idols could be less than perfect." THR's Christy Piña spoke to ID president Jason Sarlanis, showrunner Elissa Halperin and executive producer Michael Hirschorn about the second episode of docuseries Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter. The trio open up about their ethical conversations surrounding including the late Aaron Carter and the decision to feature interviews with Backstreet Boys superfans and more. The interview.

—"What we kept coming back to was that there was a trial by media." THR's Beatrice Verhoeven spoke to filmmakers Bernadette Higgins and Felicity Morris about their true crime docuseries American Nightmare. The directors open up about telling Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn’s story (dubbed the "real-life Gone Girl") in the Netflix series and how we believe — or don’t believe — victims. The interview.