Tarantino's Big Deal; Clooney's TV Return; Heist at Christie's?; Favorite Winter Films; Classic 'Simpsons' Episode

The Weekender: How George Clooney was lured back to television. Plus: Peering behind the curtain of Sony's Quentin Tarantino conquest, peeking ahead at the rest of the year's movie slate, looking back at classic Thanksgiving TV and pulling the thread on the record-breaking sale rocking the art world. — Ray Rahman [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment]( November 18, 2017 The Weekender: How George Clooney was lured back to television. Plus: Peering behind the curtain of Sony's Quentin Tarantino conquest, peeking ahead at the rest of the year's movie slate, looking back at classic Thanksgiving TV and pulling the thread on the record-breaking sale rocking the art world. — Ray Rahman Sony's Quest for Quentin Behind the deal: How did Sony lock up Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming Charles Manson movie? Borys Kit writes: It’s a significant win for Sony given its currently anemic slate, but to acquire the project, the studio had to agree to Tarantino’s lofty demands, including, sources say, a $95  million production budget, final cut and “extraordinary creative controls,” plus a whopping 25  percent of first-dollar gross. The film, which has a working title of #9 (it will be Tarantino’s ninth movie), will have to make $375  million worldwide to break even, according to one source. In July, THR revealed that Tarantino, 54, was working on the new movie, described as a 1969-set ensemble piece that in some way involves Charles Manson and the murder of Sharon Tate. Sony’s pickup came with no actors attached, but overtures have been made to such A-listers as Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie. Warners also made a splashy presentation — it decked out part of its lot and executive conference room in late 1960s regalia — and was thought by many to have the inside track due to the involvement of David Heyman, who came on board as a producer after it became clear that Tarantino would not be working with Weinstein. [Full story.]( Todd's favorite film: It's that time of year again, when the movie release schedule is suddenly saturated with a dozen or more great (or at least great-seeming) movies. Which ones actually deserve your attention? Chief film critic Todd McCarthy emails: Quite a few films will be released between now and year's end, but only a couple of them remain mysteries: Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread, allegedly Daniel Day-Lewis’ final turn before the cameras, which is intriguing simply because you never know what a new film by Anderson is going to be like; and Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World, first and foremost because it's still being shot — or re-shot, due to the Kevin Spacey emergency. Will Spacey's scenes just involve face/body replacement superimposed upon already filmed backdrops, or will full scenes be re-enacted? Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Steven Spielberg’s The Post may well both be excellent, but I seriously doubt they will be terribly surprising. Call Me by Your Name, The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri are all first-class films. But [my favorite film]( of the season is Alexander Payne’s Downsizing, a sci-fi-inflected feature starring Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz and Kristen Wiig. It's an intensely original, arresting and thought-provoking work that, for reasons I can't comprehend, elicited mixed reactions at its initial film festival showings. Film news... ► Sony is also inquiring about 21st Century Fox assets. The studio joined the ranks of Disney and Comcast when it [reached out]( to its Murdoch-controlled competitor to see which assets it might be willing to part with. ► Viola Davis, Malcom D. Lee team for Universal's I Almost Forgot About You. Author Terry McMillan [will write]( the script with Ron Bass, after previously collaborating on How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Waiting to Exhale. ► New All the Money in the World posters released after Kevin Spacey's removal. One of them [features]( a bloody ear. ► Box office update: Justice League heading for $95 million-plus weekend bow. That would give Justice League the lowest domestic opening of the five DC Extended Universe films to date; the film previously had been tracking to clear $110 million. [Full report.]( Clooney's Catch Inside story: After a very long absence, George Clooney — former ER star, among other things — is returning to the small screen to star in and direct a Catch-22 adaptation. And you better believe the Oscar winner is going all out for it, Lesely Goldberg writes: When Amy Powell relaunched Paramount Television four years ago, the executive selected a handful of books that she hoped to mine for the studio. Among them: The Joseph Heller novel Catch-22, which as Powell would find out later, happened to be George Clooney's favorite book. Flash-forward four years and Paramount TV is shopping a six-episode limited series based on the World War II novel with the Oscar winner attached to star and direct. The package is being taken out in December to ad-free outlets like Apple and HBO, with Powell already fielding calls from all of the SVOD platforms, among others. In order for Catch-22 to finally become a reality, Powell brought in Richard Brown and Steve Golin of Anonymous Content — with whom Paramount TV has an overall deal — to find the perfect writers. Golin and Brown brought writers Luke Davies (Lion) and David Michod (War Machine) to Powell and a year later, the duo pitched what the Paramount TV president described as a "thoughtful take" on the material. Not long after, Clooney's CAA agent Bryan Lourd and co-head of TV Joe Cohen called Powell with the news that Clooney loved the book and wanted to meet. Powell sent all six scripts to Clooney and his producing partner Grant Heslov. They read them overnight. That led to a lunch in which Clooney asked if he could play Col. Cathcart. "He had incredible instincts on the material," Powell recalls. "He talked about how he wanted to direct, what locations could be used and how he wanted to cast fresh faces to play the show's young soldiers. It was a love fest." [Full story.]( Power Dining: Where to eat in L.A. right now. November’s updated restaurant list by Gary Baum says hello to 189 by Dominique Ansel, Dialogue, Journeymen and Alta Nordic. Meanwhile, the likes of Uovo, Salazar, The Mighty and Gesso fall off the chart. [This month's rankings.]( TV Dinners Seasonal programming: The fourth Thursday of November is nigh, which Americans everywhere are getting ready to feast on Thanksgiving-themed episodes of their favorite shows while trying to ignore relatives. It's a time-honored tradition, Daniel Fienberg emails: Pity poor Thanksgiving, wedged between the two holidays TV has celebrated most effectively. Halloween has The Great Pumpkin and two-plus decades of "Treehouse of Horrors." Christmas has Charlie Brown's sad Christmas tree and a history of British episodic specials and a slew of Chrismukkah episodes on The OC. But the Thanksgiving cupboard is far from bare and if you're looking for a marathon of great Thanksgiving-themed episodes, you can go back a few decades for some classics, find some all-time great episodes of recent sitcoms and even a couple good dramas. Start, always, with the "Turkeys Away" episode of WKRP in Cincinnati, because it doesn't get much better than "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." Definitely check in on "Thanksgiving Orphans" from the fifth season of "Cheers," featuring a beloved food fight. Moving up a couple decades, Friends tried aggressively to brand itself as a Thanksgiving favorite and I didn't love all of the show's flashback episodes, but "The One with All the Thanksgivings" has [Monica with a turkey on her head]( and that's sublime. I also didn't love all of the How I Met Your Mother Slapsgiving episodes, but the first one is a side-splitting series peak. On the drama side, West Wing offers the choice between Bartlet calling the Butterball hotline in "The Indians in the Lobby" and the turkey-pardoning in "Shibboleth." The former is funnier. The latter is more dramatic. You can't go wrong. You also can't go wrong with "A Deep Fried Korean Thanksgiving" from The Gilmore Girls. All that matters is stuffing your face and spending a few hours with your TV family. A cartoon classic: In November 1992, a Simpsons episode premiered that fans and critics would go on to call one of the best in the animated sitcom's running 28-year history: "Mr. Plow." The idea was born out of a single desire — writer Jon Vitti wanted to meet Adam West. From Ryan Parker’s oral history of the episode: Al Jean, executive producer: Going into season four, we had lost some of our top writers because they'd taken development deals. And we were — or at least I was — nervous about being on this enormous hit with a small staff and not knowing what was going to be coming next. There were shows like Mork & Mindy, which were huge at first and then fell off quickly, and people thought The Simpsons might do the same. It was a real make-or-break season in my mind, so when Jon [Vitti] pitched "Mr. Plow," I was ecstatic. Jon Vitti, writer: I wanted to do a winter episode, and then it occurred to me that if Homer bought a snow plow, we could have him go to the car show, and Adam West could be at the car show, and I could meet Adam West. The story of Homer's briefly realized dream and the bitter duel between friends was mostly a means to those two ends. Conan O'Brien, producer: I remember all of us thinking immediately, "This is a terrific episode." There is a process on The Simpsons where someone brings in an episode, and we all jump in on it and add things to it. "Mr. Plow" was an episode that really needed no help. We added very little touches here and there, but that is pure Vitti. [Read more.]( In other TV news... ► "How to be part of Hollywood's harassment solution." Showrunner Alexi Hawley (Castle, The Rookie) [opens up]( about a lesson from his mother and how her words can help shape the next generation. + Ryan Seacrest denies 'reckless' allegations from former stylist. The [claim]( comes from a former E! wardrobe stylist, who has come forward to allege that Seacrest behaved inappropriately toward her during his tenure at E! News nearly a decade ago. Seacrest is cooperating with an E! investigation into the allegations. + Matthew Weiner tells Jenji Kohan sexual harassment claim against him "is not true." The Mad Men creator [dismissed]( Kater Gordon’s claim but admitted he was a “demanding boss” on the drama: “I guess if I could do it over again, I would do it differently.” + Girls writer Murray Miller accused of sexually assaulting actress Aurora Perrineau. Girls co-showrunners Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner [defended]( Miller in a statement: "We stand by Murray." ► True Detective season 3 casts Carmen Ejogo to star opposite Mahershala Ali. Ejogo will [play]( the female lead, Amelia Reardon, an Arkansas schoolteacher with a connection to two missing children in 1980. Heist at Christie's? A record sale: Someone bought a Leonardo da Vinci painting for just shy of a half-billion dollars — and it might not even be real. What happened? Maxwell Williams emails: A 26-inch Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” [sold]( at Christie’s this week for a mind-boggling $400 million, plus a $50.3 million buyer’s fee. That’s more than the GDP of 11 countries. It’s how much the government gives to NPR and PBS combined. It’s far more than what Giancarlo Stanton’s $325 million deal, the biggest sports contract in history, will pay him over the next 13 years. And it’s $150 million more than the next highest sold painting, Willem de Kooning title “Interchange.” The “Mundi,” which shows Christ in robes, his left hand cupping a crystal orb while his right hand’s fingers are crossed in blessing, was never supposed to go for more than perhaps $150 million. Why not? Because firstly, it’s provenance is hotly disputed. A Renaissance specialist at the Met has stated an assistant may have painted it, and until it was restored in 2005, “Salvator Mundi” was not actually recognized as a da Vinci by anyone. In 2005, it went for approximately $10,000 at an auction to a coalition who restored and identified it. Not only that, but it went for $127.5 million in just 2013 to the seller, Russian potash kingpin Dmitry Rybolovlev. So what does lure one to shell out nearly half a billion dollars? There are maybe 15 to 20 da Vinci paintings known in existence — it took the artist nearly 16 years to complete some of his works — and the last time a generally accepted da Vinci painting was sold (the “Salvatore Mundi” notwithstanding) was in 1967. Plus, it might be a great draw for an institution if the buyer donates it somewhere. Is it worth it? Probably not. But it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that makes a certain amount of sense on some level, if you’re so inclined. Cable news note: Is Sean Hannity really a political kingmaker? Jeremy Barr emails: This week, it seemed that Fox News 9 p.m. host Sean Hannity might be the final nail in Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore's coffin. On Tuesday night, Hannity publicly gave Moore 24 hours to explain why the allegations against him are false, and why he's worth Hannity's valuable support. Moore then wrote Hannity an "open letter" defending himself and proclaiming his innocence. Reporters tuned in to Hannity's Wednesday night show en masse, wondering how Hannity would respond. In the end, the consensus was that Hannity sort of punted when he said that it was not for him to decide Moore's fate. What's more interesting, though, is what this whole mini-drama seems to show: that Hannity might be the most influential figure in conservative media right now. Bill O'Reilly, the former king of cable news, opined about Moore on his daily online show, but his comments didn't seem to get any traction. A true changing of the guards. What else we're reading... — "Call Me By Your Name: A love story fueled by strangers' chemistry." Cara Buckley writes: "What also makes the story quietly remarkable, especially for a film that has traction in the awards race, is that it is simply about two young men who fall for each other, without menacing rednecks wanting to pulverize them or a ravaging disease lurking in wait." [[New York Times](] — "Why does Aquaman's trident have five prongs in Justice League?" Marissa Martinelli writes: "To determine when Aquaman started using the trident we associate with him today, I called on the wisdom of the D.C. Comics archivist, who explained that Aquaman probably first acquired it in 1998, in Aquaman #46. " [[Slate](] — "The TED talks empire has been grappling with sexual harassment." Elizabeth Dwoskin and Danielle Paquette write: "At least five people, including a past main stage speaker, told TED officials that they were harassed or groped during the organization’s flagship conference in Vancouver in April." [[Washington Post](] — "Bethenny for President?" Kathryn VanArendonk writes: "These days, a reality star who devotes her time to disaster relief inspires a surge of tweets calling for her to run for office." [[Vulture](] — "'It's gonna happen': Time Inc. braces for a deal with the devil." Joe Pompeo writes: "In normal times, the Koch brothers' $500-million bid along with Meredith would have caused panic. But these are not normal times." [[Vanity Fair](] What else we're hearing... — "America after Weinstein." [[The New Yorker Radio Hour](] — "Rebecca Traister on sexual misconduct stories - and the coming backlash to them." [[I Have to Ask / Slate](] — "The past, present, and future of superhero movies." [[Channel 33 / The Ringer](] Today's birthdays: Christian Siriano, 32, Damon Wayans Jr., 35, Nasim Pedrad, 36, Allison Tolman, 36, Chloë Sevigny, 43, Owen Wilson, 49, Steven Moffat, 56, Oscar Nuñez, 59, Kevin Nealon, 64, Margaret Atwood, 78. Follow The News Is this email not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( ©2017 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Preferences]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Use]( November 18, 2017