| | What's news: Jim Carrey discusses his Hollywood comeback in his first extensive profile in years. Plus: How Carrey was lured back to star in Showtime's Kidding, the risks for studios who work with the accused after #MeToo claims and Tinder co-founders' $2 billion lawsuit. — Will Robinson | | On the cover: Jim Carrey opens up about his disappearance, his art, his pain and his outrage as he (reluctantly) returns to the spotlight with Showtime's Kidding, Lacey Rose reports: | + His time away: "I just didn't want to be in the business anymore," Carrey says. "I didn't like what was happening, the corporations taking over and all that. And maybe it's because I felt pulled toward a different type of creative outlet and I really liked the control of painting — of not having a committee in the way telling me what the idea must be to appeal to a four-quadrant whatever." | * A changed man: "I'm not back in the same way," he says. "I don't feel I'm little Jim trying to hang on to a place in the stratosphere anymore — I don't feel like I'm trying to hold on to anything." | + Breaking stand-up conventions: "Most stand-ups have been polishing the same act for years, and then along comes Jim, who goes onstage and just opens up his mind," says his pal Judd Apatow. "Sometimes he'd kill, then a moment later he'd bomb worse than you'd ever seen anyone bomb, and then somehow he'd find a way to win the audience back, and it was spontaneous and brave and dangerous." | + Making Eternal Sunshine: Carrey met Michel Gondry when the actor was nursing a broken heart. Gondry saw an opportunity to put that pain to creative use. "We weren't gonna shoot Eternal Sunshine for another year, and he said (in Gondry's thick French accent), 'Please stay in pain,'" Carrey recalls. Though Gondry has never copped to it, Carrey remains convinced that he cast people around the actor at the beginning of the movie who looked like his ex "just to mess with my head." Cover story | Artwork | + Behind Carrey's Hollywood comeback: Kidding creator Dave Holstein went to great lengths to get the actor to star in his intensely uncynical dramedy that hopes to capitalize on "peak Mister Rogers nostalgia," Lacey Rose reports. | | | The Post-#MeToo Gamble | | | Risky business: While many of Hollywood’s accused men aren't finding new work easily, some, like James Franco, are keeping the jobs they have — which brings unique risks for their business partners, Tatiana Siegel and Marisa Guthrie report: | + Franco's deal: When news broke that James Franco was in talks to direct Focus Features' ESPN: Those Guys Have All the Fun, the hire seemed especially significant considering Franco would mark the first case of a Hollywood figure accused of sexual harassment, sexual assault or domestic violence to land a high-profile job. | * Earlier deal in place: According to a knowledgeable source, Franco signed a development deal with Focus before the Oscar-nominated actor was accused by five women of sexually exploitative behavior in a January Los Angeles Times story. The news of Franco's attachment to the project merely leaked months later, and no deal is officially closed. | + HBO's The Deuce shift: When HBO released the first promo clip for season two of the drama, it starred Maggie Gyllenhaal while Franco was relegated to the background. Less than a month until the Sept. 9 season premiere, Franco has yet to do any media, though David Simon and Gyllenhaal have. | * Casey Bloys responds: "There is no effort to hide the fact that [Franco] is in the show. Remember, you have Maggie and an incredibly strong ensemble cast. I understand the focus on James, and he plays two characters — I'm not saying he's not important to the show — but the show is bigger than James as well." | + Casey Affleck's path: Coming off Manchester by the Sea, Casey Affleck was an in-demand actor. But in the new climate, studios appear to be in wait-and-see mode. Amazon quietly dropped the Joe Wright-helmed Stoner, which was to have starred Affleck. A project insider says the move wasn't entirely attributable to Affleck's #MeToo status, "but that didn't help." | + The Anthony Anderson question: The L.A. County District Attorney's office is reviewing a sexual assault allegation made against Anderson, who was charged in 2004 with an alleged rape on the set of Hustle & Flow.) It remains unseen if the Emmy nominee will appear at the Sept. 17 ceremony or promote the return of ABC's Black-ish. Full story. | Elsewhere in TV... | ► FCC claims judge who blessed AT&T-TW made reversible error. The FCC contends U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon should have considered past regulatory filings when making his ruling, Eriq Gardner reports. The FCC did not take a position on the merger. | ► Twitter suspends Alex Jones for seven days. The social media platform temporarily banned the InfoWars host after he shared a video asking fans to prepare their "battle rifles" against the media, Cecilia Kang reports. [New York Times] | ► Omarosa "not trolling" Trump administration with tapes. During an appearance on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, the former White House staffer said that her selective release strategy intends to show that everything in her book is verifiable. | ► Hulu renews Castle Rock for season two. According to Hulu, the J.J. Abrams/Stephen King anthology became the most successful first-season original launch in terms of consumption and reach on the day of its premiere. The series also has the highest view-through rates for a Hulu original in its first and second week since its launch. | ► Lethal Weapon creator renews WB TV deal. Matt Miller has inked what sources say is a three-year, eight-figure deal to remain with the studio, Lesley Goldberg reports. Miller will continue to create new comedy and drama projects for the studio. | ► Amazon unveils first trailer for Matthew Weiner's The Romanoffs. The $50 million series — which shot on three continents — features eight separate stories about people who believe themselves to be descendants of the Russian royal family. Watch. | ► Facebook makes play for interactive video. The social media giant bought Vidpresso's team and tech to help creators and publishers produce high-quality video for Facebook, Josh Constine reports. [TechCrunch] | Quoted: "It's not shocking, but also people were like, 'Oh, The Americans was somehow prescient.' We love the idea that we're prescient, but unfortunately we based our stories on actual stories. ... We're just hoping that the Russian secret police doesn't try to arbitrate for some sort of credit." — The Americans co-creator Joe Weisberg, on U.S.-Russia headlines. | | ^Barry Diller's IAC sued by Tinder co-founders for $2 billion. Natalie Jarvey emails: | Sean Rad, a Tinder co-founder and its early CEO, claims that he and nine other co-founders and current and former employees are owed billions. The 55-page lawsuit offers a rare look at the early days of a fast-growing startup and the complications that can arise between founders and their investors. | * The claims: Rad and the other plaintiffs, including Tinder co-founders Justin Mateen and Jonathan Badeen, allege that IAC and Match intentionally undervalued Tinder at $3 billion in 2017 with “an illicit motive to undervalue and eliminate” employee stock options and “save themselves billions of dollars.” The lawsuit also claims that former Match Group CEO Greg Blatt “groped and sexually harassed” Tinder’s vp marketing and communications at the company’s 2016 holiday party. | * IAC’s response: A company spokeswoman called the allegations “meritless” in a pointed statement that reads in part, “Mr. Rad (who was dismissed from the company a year ago) and Mr. Mateen (who has not been with the company in years) may not like the fact that Tinder has experienced enormous success following their respective departures, but sour grapes alone do not a lawsuit make.” Details. | ► NBC's Emmys host rips awards shows. "I think most of the time they’re way too self-serious and focused on things that 99% of the country doesn’t care about," says Emmys co-host and Saturday Night Live co-head writer Colin Jost. More. | ► Designing Women TV revival in the works. Series creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason is behind Sony Pictures Television Studios' revival of the former CBS sitcom. The project has been in the works for months as the search for a network rages on. | ► Univision sued for $2 million over purchase of The Onion. GCA Advisors asserts it is owed advisory fees on the transaction from its time as a financial advisor to The Onion from 2013 to 2015. | ► Joel Kinnaman joins Apple space drama from Outlander's Ron Moore. Sarah Jones and Michael Dorman also climbed aboard the untitled project, which will explore what would have happened if the global space race had never ended. | Star Trek: Discovery finds its Spock. Ethan Peck has been tapped to take on the iconic role and will play the half-human, half-Vulcan science officer of the USS Enterprise in season two of CBS All Access. Peck is the grandson of Hollywood icon Gregory Peck and played Heath Ledger's part in ABC Family's TV take on 10 Things I Hate About. |
| | The Oscars' New Popularity Contest | | | Desperate times: ABC's ratings threat sparks a radical addition of an award for "popular films," but there's no guarantee viewers will return for future broadcasts, Gregg Kilday reports: | + ABC's sitdown: The first new Oscar category in 17 years came from a meeting with AMPAS and ABC execs. They said, according to one source, "Your house is on fire — what are you going to do about it?" ABC has domestic broadcast rights to the show through 2020 and pays more than $90 million annually. | + Room at the table: While a big action movie like 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road could rack up nominations (it collected 10) and win technical awards (it took home six), it was never a serious contender for best picture laurels, despite a nomination, because in the eyes of many Academy members it lacked the requisite seriousness. "It was stuck at the kiddie table, even though it was a great movie," the board member concludes. | + Former Academy president Sid Ganis: "Best picture will always remain best picture, but now there will be another interesting new category, representing another layer of filmdom. More than anything, the absolute integrity of this Academy and the brand is on our minds." Full story. | Elsewhere in film... | ► Disney takes stand against "overzealous copyright holders." The entertainment giant and its broadcast subsidiary ABC filed an answer to the copyright lawsuit over the two-hour documentary, The Last Days of Michael Jackson, which used excerpts from This Is It and other works including music videos for "Thriller" and "Black or White," Eriq Gardner reports. | ► Tessa Thompson leading Disney's Lady and the Tramp. The Thor: Ragnarok actress will voice the upscale Cocker Spaniel, Lady, opposite Justin Theroux's Tramp. The remake is expected to debut on Disney's upcoming digital streaming service, which launches in 2019. | ► Weinstein must face sex trafficking lawsuit. A federal judge in New York has given Kadian Noble the green light to pursue a sex trafficking claim against Harvey Weinstein. However, the judge has dismissed Bob Weinstein from the lawsuit because she failed to sufficiently allege his participation, Eriq Gardner reports. | ► Taraji P. Henson infiltrates boys club in What Men Want trailer. Henson stars as sports agent Ali Davis in the Nancy Meyers remake who finds herself with the alarming ability to read men's minds after lamenting not landing a promotion. Watch. | Quoted: "I try to burn as few calories thinking about that as possible because I don’t want to lose sight of the fun. If I do, then I think the work suffers." — John Cho, on worrying about Asian-American representation. | | ^ MoviePass parent posts big loss as shareholders sue. Helios and Matheson posted an operating loss of $126.6 million in the most recent quarter compared to a loss of $2.7 million a year ago, just before MoviePass launched its money-losing product that gave subscribers a movie ticket per day for just $10 a month. | * More MoviePass bugs plague users. The latest set of issues for the subscription-based movie service saw some users being opted back in to subscribe after an account had been canceled, Ryan Faughnder reports. [Los Angeles Times] | ► MGM's revenue on the rise, but net income struggles. The studio's theatrical revenue grew 26 percent, thanks to films like Death Wish and Tomb Raider. But net income fell 60 percent in Q2 due to costs associated with recent acquisitions including Evolution Film & Tape, Epix and Big Fish Entertainment. | ► Ron Perlman, Michael Pitt tapped for indie drama. John Swab will write and direct Run With the Hunted, which also stars William Forsythe and Mark Boone Jr. | Leslie Moonves accuser shopping tell-all memoir. Sources say the How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days producer Christine Peters is pitching a memoir titled Hollywood Granola: My Life With Nuts and Flakes, which will chronicle a "cautionary tale about the hard work behind the scenes." |
| Malibu Murder Mystery | | | Trouble in paradise: Residents of the once-idyllic community of Monte Nido, adjacent to Will Smith's $43 million compound, are in a panic and begging law enforcement for some answers amid a string of gruesome deaths and seemingly random shootings, Scott Johnson and Peter Kiefer report: | + Nightmare turn: In recent months, the area has taken a turn toward the macabre as the tight-knit Malibu community deals with a spate of unexplained violence — an unsolved homicide, bodies dumped along roadsides, multiple untraced gunshots striking cars and people and, worst of all, the specter of a rogue gunman still at large. | + Unsolved murder: Signs of trouble burst into public view June 22 when Tristan Beaudette, a 35-year old scientist from Irvine, was killed in a campground at Malibu Creek State Park, which has since been closed. Beaudette was shot in the head while his two daughters, 2 and 4, slept in a tent they were sharing (they were unharmed). | + Bodies appear: Within the past six weeks, two other dead bodies have turned up within three miles of the site of Beaudette's killing, in the canyons along both sides of the rural Las Virgenes corridor that connects Malibu's star-studded beachfront properties. | + Community on edge: "All I know is that this town is freaking out and people are scared to death," says journalist Cece Woods, who runs the website the Local Malibu. Full report. | What else we're reading... | — "These MoviePass Superfans Found Each Other. What’s Next?" Amanda Svachula examines: "The [three movie a month] limit may put a dent in the habits of many pass subscribers — and, almost certainly, the population of highly devoted users who have structured their social lives around MoviePass." [New York Times] | — "Kenan Thompson, the Reluctant Star of SNL." Dave Itzkoff profiles: "As far as being the guy, the star, the lead role of something, I didn’t necessarily need that. ... But to be a starter? To deal with the fact that, yeah, they need something from me every single week? I had to make that switch in my mind." [New York Times] | — "The Shark-Movie Renaissance Is Here." Miles Surrey rejoices: "The Meg was, in essence, presented as more of a high-end Sharknado than a Jawslike swing, and perhaps that’s exactly what moviegoers were craving. Or—and this is the second factor behind The Meg’s success—maybe audiences are just really craving shark movies." [The Ringer] | — "Netflix, Amazon Video, Xfinity are accidentally re-creating cable." Graeme McMillan opines: "With each separate streaming option requiring individual logins, passwords, and payment options, it feels like just a matter of time before some internet service provider starts offering bundled streaming." [The Verge] | — "Warner Music's Harrowing Purchase of Uproxx." Anna Gaca writes: "The digital era fundamentally changed the media business; it will never be the same, and it will never be as profitable. With that, at least, the major labels are painfully familiar." [Spin] | What else we're watching... | + "Tracee Ellis Ross had the vacation from hell." [Jimmy Kimmel] | + "Sen. Bernie Sanders says Democratic Socialist ideas are mainstream." [Late Show] | + "Spike Lee on connection between Charlottesville & BlacKkKlansman." [Late Night] | + "Jennifer Lopez personally requested Milo Ventimiglia for her love interest." [Tonight Show] | From the archives... | + On Aug. 15, 1939, MGM premiered The Wizard of Oz at Los Angeles' Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Judy Garland's star turn and the film's appeal were immediately evident : "Not since Disney's Snow White has anything quite so fantastic succeeded half so well." [New York Times] | Today's birthdays: Jennifer Lawrence, 28, Joe Jonas, 29, Ben Affleck, 46, Anthony Anderson, 48, Debra Messing, 50, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 55, David Zayas, 56, Zeljko Ivanek, 61, Lucille Soong, 80. |
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