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Letterman Interviews Tina Fey; THR Power 100 Women Revealed; Showrunner Rips Amazon; AT&T-TW's Day in DC

The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment

December 07, 2016

What's news: THR's annual Women in Entertainment Power 100 issue is out today, and it's got a truly great interview of Tina Fey conducted by none other than David Letterman: Trump, parenting, TV and who's afraid of Lorne Michaels. Plus: A look at the merger obstacles AT&T and Time Warner will face as Senate hearings kick off, inside animosity over Amazon's Good Girls Revolt cancellation and Sundance's plans for anti-Trump protests. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman.

In the latest issue, THR's Sherry Lansing Leadership Award honoree Tina Fey confesses to fellow comedy pioneer David Letterman her fear of bombing onstage as they talk Trump's feud with Alec Baldwin and why TV is "better than movies." An excerpt:

FEY: "Did you see that my friend Mr. [Alec] Baldwin is in a Twitter feud with our president-elect?"

LETTERMAN: "Good for him."

FEY: "At one level, it just makes me feel sick for the state of the world because it's so beneath a president, but also my feeling is: 'You think you're good at being a jerk on Twitter? You will now face the grandmaster of being a jerk on Twitter.'"

LETTERMAN: "Then the president-elect says [to the Hamilton actor who read a statement about diversity to Vice President-elect Mike Pence after a performance], 'You owe him an apology.'"

FEY: "Immediately, my brain went to Lorne Michaels. I thought, our president-elect is a chump of a manager because don't put yourself in a position where you're asking for something and you're going to be told no. I learned that from Lorne. You're the president. You demanded an apology that you can't get. Bad management skills."

Cover story: Letterman interviews Fey | Women in Entertainment Power 100 list.

Other standouts from the issue:

► Lucasfilm's force: Kathleen Kennedy reveals an executive team more than 50 percent female. Kennedy credits Lucasfilm founder George Lucas with establishing an inclusive culture, which lieutenants say was amplified when she took the helm in 2012.

► T he Power 100: Beyonce's there. So is J.K. Rowling and Megyn Kelly. Who else made the list of the most influential women in Hollywood this year? Check it out.

► Also: Check out THR.com this morning for a live stream from the Women in Entertainment Power Breakfast in L.A., and videos of remarks by Megyn Kelly, Sherry Lansing Leadership honoree Tina Fey and other surprise guests.

Sundance: Anti-Trump Protesters Welcome

How will Sundance's famously liberal and outspoken crowd mark the occasion when Donald Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, the second day of the country's most influential independent film festival? Tatiana Siegel writes:

With an especially political festival lineup, longtime Sundance-goers are setting their plans. The festival lineup is chock-full of unmistakable Trump shoutouts, with the roster offering a counterpoint to several controversial positions voiced by Trump — from Mexican immigrants (Miguel Arteta's competition feature Beatriz at Dinner) to ISIS (City of Ghosts, a doc from Cartel Land helmer Matthew Heineman) to Syria (docs Last Men in Aleppo, Cries From Syria) to race relations (docs The Force and Whose Streets? and the series Shots Fired).

The Sundance Institute says the festival is not planning an official march but will help spearhead one if there is demand. Says a rep for executive director Keri Putnam, "We always look to create a safe space for artists and will facilitate requests from outside groups that want to host demonstrations at our 2017 festival by connecting them with the city of Park City to organize."

Elsewhere in film...

► Rogue One lands China release date. Disney confirmed that the much anticipated Star Wars spinoff has landed a Jan. 6, 2017 release date in the world's second-largest film market.

Context: Force Awakens earned a healthy $125.4M at the Chinese box office in January, but that's only the 12th biggest gross in China this year — well below other Disney titles like Zootopia ($236M) and Captain America: Civil War ($190M), and a far cry from Force Awakens' massive $936M dominance in North America.

► Warner Bros. tweaks 2017 release schedule. King Arthur is moving to summer, from a March 24 premiere to May 12. Dax Shepard's CHiPS will move up from Aug. 11 to March 24. Taking over the Aug. 11 release date is Annabelle 2, a sequel to the 2014 horror film. Details.

↱ Trailer watch: The Circle. Tom Hanks preaches complete technological transparency to Emma Watson in the trailer of the adaptation of Dave Eggers' best-selling book. ↲

► Will Ferrell to play eSports gamer in comedy. Michael Kvamme and Jordan Dunn will pen the script for the untitled feature set in the world of competitive gaming. The project is being produced by Mosaic and Ferrell's Gary Sanchez shingle. Universal will handle distribution.

► Emily the Strange animated movie in the works. Emily, a punky goth girl and her assorted cats created by Rob Reger, is in the process of being set up to be adapted as a feature film at Amazon Studios. A search for writers is underway.

► Laurence Fishburne, Grace Gummer join Beast of Burden. The Matrix actor and Newsroom actress are the latest to be added to Jesper Ganslandt's English-language debut, an action-thriller starring Daniel Radcliffe. The film is shooting in Savannah, Ga.

► Bad Santa 2 bomb spells trouble for Broad Green. Broad Green's decision to pivot from prestige offerings to wide-release films is in question as the Billy Bob Thornton starrer rakes in only $14M at the box office.

↱ Exec suite: The Combine's Jeremy Renner and Don Handfield. The Founder producers talk with THR in their Culver City office about more Avengers and Bourne films, and making a movie about McDonald's. ↲

► Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeremy Irons added to Red Sparrow. The actors are joining Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton in The Hunger Games helmer Francis Lawrence's adaptation of the spy novel for Chernin and Fox. Justin Haythe wrote the script.

► Natasha Lyonne joins Will Arnett in Show Dogs. The Orange Is the New Black star will play a dog trainer in the family feature alongside Arnett and Ludacris, who voices a Rottweiler police dog. Principal photography has already begun at Pinewood Studios in the U.K.

► Jurassic Park's Nick Robinson to star in Fox 2000 drama. The actor is set to topline the Greg Berlanti-directed film, coming-of-age coming-out project Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda. Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger wrote the screenplay.

► Grand Budapest's Tony Revolori to star in terrorism thriller. The actor, also in the upcoming Spider-Man:Homecoming, is in talks for indie thriller Exchanged. Geoff Haley, a camera operator on Furious 7, is directing feature from his own screenplay.

↱ Zooey Deschanel says manager brought strangers into her dressing room: The actress lobbed a big cross-complaint in her dispute with her former management firm over commissions, claiming that she barged in while Deschanel was changing "to help further [the manager's] career." ↲

Oscars: What the doc shortlist got right (and wrong). Scott Feinberg dissects the 15 documentary selections, points out noteworthy inclusions (no fewer than three docs about race in America) and omissions (not a single doc from HBO) and offers his initial projections for the next round. Full analysis.

Battle Begins for Trump's Blessing

The $85.4B AT&T-Time Warner merger confronts intense scrutiny from lawmakers and an unexpected president, who has previously pushed back against the proposal as "too much concentration of power in the hands of too few." Here are a few obstacles to the deal:

TRUMP'S TEMPER. AT&T was seemingly biased against Trump in its employee donations and the President-elect has accused Time Warner's CNN of unfair coverage. If Trump's initial Cabinet appointments are any indication, he doesn't forget his friends and foes.

DIVERSITY DILEMMAS. Similar to Comcast's purchase of NBCUniversal, lawmakers may demand the companies recommit to diversity in executive ranks, movies and TV shows. The committee might choose to punish AT&T and Time Warner for the relative inaction by Comcast on those promises.

CONSUMER CONCERNS. On Nov. 30, AT&T launched DirecTV Now, a streaming TV service that will be "zero rated" for AT&T customers, meaning they won't be charged for the extra data used to watch content on mobile devices, while customers of other services will. The deal has little to do with the service, but net neutrality advocates will object.

Elsewhere in TV...

↱ Good Girls Revolt creator criticizes Amazon over cancellation: "What we hadn't factored in is that [Amazon Studios head] Roy Price just doesn't care for the show," says Dana Calvo. "He's representative of the Amazon culture in that he's just impenetrable." Also: "He didn't know the characters' names." ↲

► Bravo enlists Whoopi Goldberg to produce Harlem drama. Goldberg is also eyeing the role of the Harlem crime boss, though she is not currently attached to star. The drama comes as Goldberg's contract for ABC's The View expires at the end of its current season.

► FX's exec shakeup: Gina Balian and Jonathan Frank are expanding their purviews while Nicole Clemens, who has overseen development of the networks' celebrated drama and comedy slate, has opted to return to her roots as a manager and producer at Anonymous Content. Details.

► Showtime's Homeland casts alt-right figure. The season six part, played by Jake Weber, is described as an aggressive and charming anarchist, though not one with any gig in the fictional administration. (Think less Steve Bannon and more Alex Jones.)

► CBS teams with Cedric the Entertainer for new comedy. Spike Feresten and Cedric co-created Tony Take the Wheel, a multicamera comedy that explores the relationship between two very different brothers. Feresten will pen the script and exec produce.

↱ How Westworld saved HBO. Chief TV critic Tim Goodman writes: "It captured people's attention – sometimes for good, sometimes for bad — and it kept its title in the zeitgeist, which is the most difficult trick in the world of television today." ↲

► Marvel's Inhumans finds showrunner. Dexter grad Scott Buck, who is currently overseeing Netflix's Marvel show Iron Fist, will do the same with the forthcoming ABC drama, which was picked up straight-to-series earlier this month.

► ABC picks up Courtney B. Vance-Felicity Huffman comedy pilot. Libby & Malcolm, a blended family comedy from Black-ish creator Kenya Barris, marks the network's first official order of the season.

► Syfy orders Mario van Peebles drama.The cabler has handed out a straight-to-series pickup for Superstition. The 13-episode series is set to begin production early 2017 for a premiere later next year. Joel Anderson Thompson (Battlestar Galactica) is set as showrunner.

► MTV and VH1 set new unscripted team. A week after Nina L. Diaz added oversight of MTV's unscripted, the VH1 rising star has formalized her new leadership team. Eli Lehrer has been tapped to serve as head of development at MTV; Lily Neumeyer will have the same role at VH1.

► R.I.P., Peter Vaughan. The actor known to legions of Game of Thrones fans as Maester Aemon has died at the age of 93. Full obit.

↱ Hulu's Shut Eye, reviewed. The new fortuneteller/psychic/con man drama, premiering tonight, stars Jeffrey Donovan and KaDee Strickland. The takeaway from critic Daniel Fienberg: "10 episodes could feel like a long con." ↲

Longtime UTA publicity chief to exit. Chris Day will be leaving the agency in January. The exec has served in his post since 1999, making his tenure one of the longest such at any talent agency. His next move has yet to be announced.

Female Exec of the Year: Shari Redstone

THR's Women in Entertainment Executive of the Year: Shari Redstone, the vice chair of both Viacom's and CBS' boards, who spoke with Kim Masters in a new Q&A. A newsy excerpt:

Do you share the distress many in the industry feel about the outcome of the election?

"Regardless of who your candidate was, fundamentally I think there are some real problems in this country that need to be addressed. And you know me — [for me] it's always about people having equal access to the services they need, to the opportunities they're entitled to. I do believe the election was a statement about what's not working, and I'm hopeful the next president will make things work better."

Do you know the president-elect?

"Yes. And he's always been very good to me and a tremendous supporter of me personally."

It was reported at times that there was discord between you and your dad when you worked in his company. How did you handle that?

"I don't think you can always believe everything you read. My dad and I did have disagreements over business matters in the past, but if you were to look at our correspondence in the heat of the toughest battles we had, it was, "Love, Dad," "Love, Shari," "See you at the birthday." Certain people interpreted things differently and took advantage. We had our business issues, but until the past couple of years we really did always put family first. Unfortunately, the last few years kind of changed that dynamic, and rather than focusing on that, I can only say I couldn't be happier about where we are today."

Today's Birthdays: Nicholas Hoult, 27, Jack Huston, 34, Jeff Nichols, 38, Mark Duplass, 40, Jeffrey Wright, 51, Abdellatif Kechiche, 56.