Tony Kushner Backs Jonathan Glazer's Oscars Speech; Peacock's Paris Olympics Plans; 'The Sims' Film in the Works; 'Diarra From Detroit' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( March 21, 2024 What's news: David Schwimmer will lead the second season of Disney+'s Goosebumps. Joshua Jackson will star in Ryan Murphy's ABC show Dr. Odyssey. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is tracking to open around $45m in North America. Ark: The Animated Series is heading to Paramount+. — [Abid Rahman]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. Kushner Backs Glazer's Oscars Speech ►"Who doesn’t agree with that?" Tony Kushner has come out in support of Jonathan Glazer's Oscars acceptance speech, describing the British director’s comments at the ceremony as an “unimpeachable, irrefutable statement.” Speaking on the Haaretz Podcast, the Angels in America writer said he agreed fully with Glazer's comments, adding that what the filmmaker was "saying is so simple." Kushner added: "He’s saying Jewishness, Jewish identity, Jewish history, the history of the Holocaust, the history of Jewish suffering must not be used as an excuse for a project of dehumanizing or slaughtering other people." [The story.]( —"He has reached out to talk with me and help me work through this and has been really, really great." Drake Bell has revealed that his Drake & Josh co-star Josh Peck has reached out to him, offering support in the wake of docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, that outlined the abuse Bell suffered as a child actor working on the Nickeodeon show. [The story.]( —Arrested. Marianne Smyth, an American woman who conned a reality producer and allegedly several other figures in and around Hollywood between 2013 and 2017, has been arrested in Maine as Northern Ireland seeks to extradite her to face charges. Smyth's colorful theft from American Ninja Warrior and Shark Tank producer Johnathan Walton as she claimed to be an Irish “heiress” was the subject of a 2020 story in THR. The story. [The story.]( —Popping. Shares in Paramount Global soared on Wednesday after details of an acquisition proposal by the private equity firm Apollo became public. The Wall Street Journal reported that Apollo made a $11b offer just for Paramount’s film and television studio. That is higher than the company’s $7.7b market cap when the story was published, and the deal reportedly does not include Paramount’s other business lines, like CBS, BET or the former Viacom cable channels. [The story.]( —Getting fractious. Condé Nast and the union that represents around 550 of its staffers at Vanity Fair, Vogue, GQ and other publications, clashed on Wednesday afternoon, after around 35 Condé Union members marched to executives’ offices to protest additional layoffs that they say were threatened during labor negotiations on Tuesday. During Tuesday’s bargaining session over a first contract, Condé Union said the company intended to add five more staffers to its preexisting list of employees set to be cut and warned that it could add more. [The story.]( —🤝 Settlement 🤝 A legal showdown between Ultimate Fighting Championship and more than 1,200 fighters suing for wage suppression has settled. TKO Group — born out of the marriage between UFC and WWE, with the aim of becoming a sports marketing powerhouse — will pay $335m to resolve the class action from fighters, according to a Wednesday securities filing. The settlement, reached on March 13, will be paid in installments. [The story.]( Peacock's Paris Push ►Going for GoldZone. THR's [Alex Weprin]( digs into Peacock's ambitious coverage plans for the fast approaching 2024 Paris Olympics. Among the offerings on tap for the summer games, the streamer will be pushing multi-view, that allows users to watch four different events at once on whatever device they want and GoldZone, a “whip-around” studio show that will take viewers from event-to-event to catch the most interesting moments. [The story.]( —Halo effect. Paramount+, the home of the big-budget Halo live-action TV series, is betting on another video game property. The streamer will be the home of Ark: The Animated Series, which is based on the popular adventure video game Ark: Survival Evolved. The first six episodes of the animated series, which features an all-star voice cast that includes Michelle Yeoh and Vin Diesel, launched March 21 on the platform. Part two of the season will launch its seven-episode run at a date to be determined on Paramount+. [The story.]( —🎭 Returning to network TV 🎭 Joshua Jackson is set to star in an ABC series from Ryan Murphy. Jackson will star in a drama titled Dr. Odyssey, which the network has ordered straight to series. Details on the project, written by Murphy, Jon Robin Baitz and Joe Baken, are being kept under wraps — ABC didn’t even provide a logline for the show. The series is slated to premiere in the fall and will be the first new broadcast show from Murphy’s eponymous production company since 911: Lone Star premiered on Fox in early 2020. [The story.]( —🎭 Series pivooooottttt! 🎭 The second season of Goosebumps at Disney+ has cast David Schwimmer in a lead role. The Friends star will head the cast of the show, based on R.L. Stine’s hugely popular series of books. Disney+ renewed Goosebumps for a second season in February, opting to pivot (ha!) the show into an anthology rather than continuing the story from season one. [The story.]( —(Irish) Gangs of New York. The next project from Narcos creator Chris Brancato may be a Peaky Blinders-esque period drama series about New York's Irish gangs in the 19th century. Brancanto, speaking at the TV festival Series Mania in France on Wednesday, said he was developing the period crime series for MGM+. Brancato declined to give many details about his new project, except to note the show’s working title, The Westies. [The story.]( 'The Sims' Film in the Works with LuckyChap ►WooHoo! Video game The Sims is heading to the big screen. Loki director Kate Herron is attached to tackle an adaptation of the game in a hot package that hit Hollywood this week. Herron will also co-write the screenplay with Briony Redman. LuckyChap, the production company run by Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerly, Josey McNamara and Sophia Kerr, will produce the feature along with Roy Lee and Miri Yoon of Vertigo Entertainment. Electronic Arts, which publishes the game, will also be involved in a creative and producing capacity. [The story.]( —Breaking the ice. Sony’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is opening everywhere Friday in North America following select Thursday previews. It also begins its international rollout this week. THR's [Pamela McClintock]( reports that the studio is betting on an opening in the $43m to $44m range, while tracking services are suggesting $45m or more. Frozen Empire is certain to win the weekend, but there’s no lack of other new product as indie studios try to get their titles out before the crush of summer. [The box office report.]( Dern and Lemons on Their Road to 'Palm Royale' ►"What Jayme and I always dreamt of is fulfilling dreams of other diverse storytellers and female storytellers who needed support to get their project seen." For THR, Brande Victorian spoke to Laura Dern and her producer partner Jayme Lemons about their new Apple TV+ show Palm Royale. Dern and Lemons discuss the birth of their company, Jaywalker Pictures, and the other shows they have in development. [The interview.]( —"Whatever Ridley said, Cameron said something different." THR's [Brian Davids]( spoke to Fede Álvarez about the teaser to his new film, Alien: Romulus. The Uruguayan filmmaker reveals his discussions with Ridley Scott and James Cameron and confirms the project is not a standalone, but rather connects to the other films in the franchise: "I love all of those movies. I didn't want to omit or ignore any of them." [The interview.]( —"I just appreciate that [co-writers Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan] are always writing a family dynamic that feels like it could be very, very real, even though we’re busting ghosts." Brian also spoke to Carrie Coon about her new film Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. The actress also discusses the franchise's future, as well as offering a few bits of info on the upcoming third series of HBO's The White Lotus. [The interview.]( —"I don’t identify with being an actor." THR's [Mikey O'Connell]( spoke to Tig Notaro about her latest comedy special, Hello Again, which drops on March 26. Notaro, who has become Hollywood's de facto standup, discusses the status of her film Am I OK? and how she remains on the fence about her status as an actor. [The interview.]( Sarandon Still Waiting for Hollywood's Weinstein Reckoning ►Retribution. Susan Sarandon is still waiting to see Hollywood improve its working conditions for women, and said that she feels the industry is yet to reckon with the #MeToo movement’s revelations surrounding Harvey Weinstein. "I don’t think we’ve done the cleanup afterwards that we should be doing," the actress said during a ’90s Con panel. "I don’t think people talk enough about the people who facilitated the Harvey Weinsteins of the world that are still functioning that are equally responsible," Sarandon added. [The story.]( —"I was blown away by that — the intensity in which he prepped." Mike Richards, the former Jeopardy! producer, who was famously fired after one day as the TV game show’s new host, is speaking out about his experience and revealing how some of the top potential guest hosts tested to replace Alex Trebek came from unexpected professional backgrounds and might have altered the show’s tone. In a new interview, Richards said Aaron Rodgers was high up his list of potential hosts for the show and that the Jets quarterback was incredibly well-prepared. [The story.]( —"It’s so 1992, you know, it’s from another era." Dana Carvey has apologized to Sharon Stone for an “offensive” Saturday Night Live sketch in 1992, which saw her taking her clothes off. The actress made a recent appearance on the Fly on the Wall With Dana Carvey and David Spade podcast, where she recalled her time hosting SNL in 1992, following the release of Basic Instinct. In the skit, male airport security officers made Stone remove one item of clothing at a time, claiming they needed to check to see if she was carrying anything dangerous. [The story.]( —"You always believed." A sold-out crowd of 1,200 Showgirls lovers gave the film’s star Elizabeth Berkley three standing ovations while introducing the much-maligned, then adored 1995 camp classic at a screening at the Academy Museum’s David Geffen Theater on Wednesday. Berkley revealed that she once asked her agent after getting cast in Showgirls if there was a chance she might be nominated for an Oscar for the part. "Every girl in Hollywood had fought for this role," she said. "So it was not a strange thing to ask." [The story.]( TV Review: 'Diarra From Detroit' ►"Fresh and funny." THR's [Angie Han]( reviews BET+'s Diarra From Detroit. Creator-star Diarra Kilpatrick's mystery-comedy series revolves around a schoolteacher who gets mixed up in a decades-old missing persons case after trying to track down a Tinder date who ghosted her. [The review.]( —"Better to let this one lie." THR's Frank Scheck reviews Adam Cooper's Sleeping Dogs. In this neo-noir thriller Russell Crowe plays an ex-cop with dementia with Karen Gillan, Harry Greenwood and Marton Csokas co-starring. [The review.]( In other news... —American Horror Story: Delicate Part 2 [trailer unmasks Kim Kardashian character]( —Harold and the Purple Crayon trailer: [Zachary Levi brings magical chaos to the human world]( —Director [Kenny Ortega returns to Paradigm]( —Sophia Loren [themed restaurant set to open in Hong Kong]( —Portland’s [New Tomorrow Theater attracts David Byrne, Ruth E. Carter with Carte Blanche series]( ​​​What else we're reading... —Nicholas Quah praises Shōgun star Cosmo Jarvis, who through his shouty, sweary portrayal of John Blackthorne has given us one of the great comedic performances of the year [[Vulture]( —Peter Bradshaw runs through the runners and riders, as speculation over the next actor to play James Bond hots up [[Guardian]( —In a glowing piece, Will Menaker writes that Apple TV+'s Masters of the Air is a worthy expansion of the Band of Brothers Cinematic Universe [[GQ]( —As Reddit prepares to go public, Nicole Narea wonders whether its unruly user base will revolt [[Vox]( —Mariah Timms reports that Trump's claims that the 2024 election will be rigged is putting Republican GOTV efforts and turnout at risk [[WSJ]( Today... ...in 1997, Warner Bros. brought Selena, the tragic story of singer Selena Quintanilla Perez, to the big screen with Jennifer Lopez in the title role. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Gary Oldman (66), Rosie O'Donnell (62), Matthew Broderick (62), Sonequa Martin-Green (39), [Rhys Darby]( (50), Scott Eastwood (38), Jasmin Savoy Brown (30), Karyn Kusama (56), Timothy Dalton (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿78), Cynthia Geary (59), Ellise Chappell (32), Joseph Mawle (50), Jaye Davidson (56), Jace Norman (24), Laura Allen (50), Forrest Wheeler (20), Sam Troughton (47), Rachael MacFarlane (48), Suraj Sharma (31), Jill Schoelen (61), Rini Bell (43), RJ Cyler (29), Melanie Stone (36), Lisa Ann Russell (52), Linda Lee Cadwell (79), Sandra Mae Frank (34), Lexi DiBenedetto (25), Vanessa Branch (51), Rani Mukerji (46), Kevin Guthrie (36), Piotr Adamczyk (52), Sabrina Le Beauf (66), Narges Rashidi (44) M. Emmet Walsh, the wily character actor who became an audience favorite for his deliciously despicable performances in such films as Blood Simple, Blade Runner, Brubaker and The Jerk, has died. He was 88. [The obituary.]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} by The Hollywood Reporter. Please add email@email.hollywoodreporter.com to your address book to ensure delivery to your inbox. Visit the [Preferences Center]( to update your profile and customize what email alerts and newsletters you receive. The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 11175 Santa Monica Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90025 [View in Browser]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Your Privacy Rights]( | [Ad Choices]( | [Terms of Use]( | [Unsubscribe](                              Â