AFI in Turmoil; Amy Adams' Venice 'Arrival'; 'Stranger Things 2' Details; L.A. Real Estate Cools

What's news: A "no confidence" vote against the dean of the AFI Conservatory has led to worsening tensions at one of the country's top film schools. Plus: Behind Philippe Dauman's early exit from Viacom (and why Paramount's Brad Grey may be upset), Game of Thrones begins casting season seven and the latest from the Venice fest. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman. [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment] September 01, 2016 What's news: A "no confidence" vote against the dean of the AFI Conservatory has led to worsening tensions at one of the country's top film schools. Plus: Behind Philippe Dauman's early exit from Viacom (and why Paramount's Brad Grey may be upset), Game of Thrones begins casting season seven and the latest from the Venice fest. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman. Heralding a "Grownup Sci-Fi Drama" Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone's La La Land wowed critics yesterday. Today the awards circuit is keeping its eye on Denis Villeneuve's Arrival. Writing from the Venice film festival, critic David Rooney [observes:] How refreshing to watch an alien contact movie in which no cities are destroyed or monuments toppled, and no adversarial squabbling distracts the human team from the challenges of their complex interspecies encounter. Anchored by an internalized performance from Amy Adams rich in emotional depth, this is a grownup sci-fi drama that sustains fear and tension while striking affecting chords on love and loss. ► [Full Arrival review] I [All Venice Fest news/reviews] I [A festgoer's guide to the city.] Elsewhere in film... ↱ [In-Depth: Unrest at the AFI Conservatory.] Film editor Gregg Kilday reports: The elite institution is facing tension that threatens to tarnish its standing as one of the nation's pre-eminent film schools. As Dean Jan Schuette begins his third year, he is dealing with a divided faculty and questions over new policies as players on both sides of campus reveal the [root of the stalemate.] ↲ ► Moulin Rouge! stage musical in the works The Baz Luhrmann movie-musical is being [developed] as a new stage musical. Alex Timbers will helm the production, featuring a book by screenwriter and playwright John Logan. No opening venue has been announced. ► Mel Gibson, Sean Penn plot Professor and the Madmen cast. Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer [will star] opposite Gibson and Penn in Icon Productions' project about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. Principal photography begins in late September. ► George Clooney's Suburbicon adds to cast. The Night Manager's Noah Jupe and The Night Of's Glenn Fleshler will [co-star] opposite Matt Damon and Julianne Moore in Suburbicon, the Clooney-directed dramedy written by Joel and Ethan Coen. ► Nate Parker's Birth of a Nation sets film fest event. Parker, at the center of a media firestorm due to resurfaced details from his college rape trial, will [host a junket] and press conference at the Toronto Film Festival. It is still unclear of how much other press he'll do while there. ↱ [Weekend box office preview:] Specialty drama Light Between Oceans, starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, could nab $6M to $9M over four days. Sci-fi project Morgan, starring Kate Mara, is aiming for $6M to $7M. Holdover Don't Breathe could earn in the mid-teens over the long holiday weekend. [Full forecast.] ↲ ► Sebastian Stan joins Logan Lucky. Captain America's Winter Soldier joined Steven Soderbergh's [all-star cast], which also includes Daniel Craig, Channing Tatum, Hilary Swank, Katherine Heigl, Adam Driver and Seth MacFarlane. The heist movie is currently shooting in Atlanta. ► Jim Gaffigan, Olivia Thirlby board Ted Kennedy drama. They join Jason Clarke, Ed Helms, Bruce Dern and Kate Mara in Chappaquiddick, the [period drama] being directed by John Curran. The project will begin principal photography this month in Boston. ► Hillary's America to be re-released in theaters. Dinesh D'Souza's film will hit [400 theaters] this weekend during a heated campaign season. Insiders say the rerelease is due to demand from fans who lobbied the theater owners. PR agency's email outage causes havoc. Hundreds of publicists were forced to endure a day without access to email Wednesday when a companywide server outage at Interpublic Group hit the conglomerate's companies, including the Hollywood-focused PMK*BNC PR agency. [More details.] Viacom Less Likely to Sell Paramount The latest at Viacom: Philippe Dauman has effectively left the conglomerate, while the board could be facing a potential legal standoff with the top executive at the film studio. From Paul Bond and Kim Masters' [scoop:] The former Viacom CEO has waived a deal to pitch a sale of 49 percent stake in Paramount Pictures to Dalian Wanda Group, now just submitting a memo. This makes a Paramount sale look far less likely. Also, Viacom's regulatory filings suggest Brad Grey, who has run Paramount since 2005, could be asked to give up some of the autonomy he has enjoyed at the studio. Unless the board backs down from that stance, Grey could claim a breach of contract. "Brad Grey's contract has not been breached," interim CEO Tom Dooley tells THR in a brief interview. "He has the full authority he needs to run the studio." Elsewhere in TV... ► Fox plans King Arthur as police procedural. The network is teaming with The Jackal Group's Gail Berman and Joe Earley to develop Camelot. The drama landed at Fox in [a competitive situation] with a script plus penalty commitment. ► Marc Maron finds his next gig. A month after saying that his IFC comedy would end, Maron has nabbed the [male lead] in Netflix's '80s wrestling comedy GLOW, playing a washed-up Hollywood director with a complicated history with women. ► Netflix orders Bill Nye talk show. Bill Nye Saves the World marks his first television show in [nearly two decades]. The series is slated to debut in spring 2017. Mike Drucker has been tapped as head writer with astronomer Phil Plait set as head science writer. ► Stranger Things producer teases "compelling" season two. Upon the news of its renewal on Netflix, Shawn Levy also says "certain actors you've definitely heard of" have [expressed interest] in joining the cast. Also: [Watch Barb return] from the Upside Down in this new Tonight Show sketch. ► CBS All Access unveils ad-free option. To compete with streaming giants, the broadcaster will offer a [new subscription tier] priced at $9.99 a month, $4 more than the tier with commercials. ↱ [You're the Worst,][reviewed][.] Chief TV critic Tim Goodman gives a thumbs up to new episodes: Series creator Stephen Falk "proves right out of the gate in season three that [the show] looks as creatively dangerous as ever." ↲ ► Game of Thrones adds Jim Broadbent. Season seven is beginning to [take shape], with the Oscar winner joining with a "significant" part (though details of his role are being kept under wraps). The show will return in summer 2017. ► Glee, Masters of Sex grads join USA drama. Colin Woodell, Erinn Westbrook, Ginny Gardner and David Corenswet will [headline] period drama The Tap, set at Yale circa 1969. Rob Reiner is on board to exec produce. ► Tom Brady and Michael Strahan team up. The AT&T Audience Network has [picked up] six episodes of the duo's docuseries Religion of Sports. The series will bow in November. ↱ [JonBenet Ramsey doc teaser:] A&E's crime project The Truth Uncovered, set to premiere next week, debuted a first look. ↲ ► Jason Ritter boards Amazon's Goliath. The Parenthood actor [will play] an FBI agent in David E. Kelley's legal drama, which stars Billy Bob Thornton as a down-and-out lawyer. Goliath, the first Amazon original to earn a straight-to-series order, premieres in October. ► Joe Scarborough debuts music video mocking Trump. Amid a feud with the candidate, the Morning Joe host posted a satirical country-western music video aimed at Donald Trump's new stance on immigration. [Watch here]. In THR, Esq: Vin Diesel scores knockdown in xXx lawsuit. A Superior Court judge on Wednesday rejected the claims brought by George Zakk over the upcoming sequel xXx: Return of Xander Cage. Zakk claims an oral agreement grants him a $250,000 fee and producer credits for each of Diesel's films that Zakk helped develop. [Details.] L.A. Real Estate Cools After years of explosive growth, L.A.'s residential real estate market has been exhibiting signs that it may finally start to cool down, but by how much? Peter Kiefer [reports]: The sprawling and multi-tiered nature of L.A.’s residential market complicates things, getting tricky when trying to evaluate whether the same forces are at work at both the lower end of the market and the higher end, where high seven- and eight-digit sales have become almost commonplace. Luxury broker Ben Bacal posits that we are about three quarters of the way through the current six-year boom. “I think there will be a change. Has it hit its peak? Not today but it will in a year,” he said. "Venice, Santa Monica and the flats of Beverly Hills are not going anywhere," said Douglas Elliman broker Juliette Hohnen. “The places that will go down first are the valley, and the far east like Los Feliz." [A potential downturn is still very much up for debate.] Today's Birthdays: Zendaya, 20, Padma Lakshmi, 46, Gloria Estefan, 59, Phil McGraw, 66, Lily Tomlin, 77. Follow The News Is this e-mail not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.] ©2016 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. [Unsubscribe] | [Manage Preferences] | [Privacy Policy] | [Terms of Use] September 1, 2016