'Empire' Cuts Smollett; TV's Stupid Money; New Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot; 100 Years of Musso & Frank

The Weekender: The 91st Academy Awards are just one day away — what will happen? Plus: An accident on the set of L.A.'s Finest hospitalizes the showrunners, what the recent spending frenzy on TV showrunner deals means and getting ready for tonight's Spirit Awards with Aubrey Plaza. — Will Robinson [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment]( February 23, 2019 The Weekender: The 91st Academy Awards are just one day away — what will happen? Plus: An accident on the set of L.A.'s Finest hospitalizes the showrunners, what the recent spending frenzy on TV showrunner deals means and getting ready for tonight's Spirit Awards with Aubrey Plaza. — Will Robinson ^Smollett missing season five finale: Empire producers have decided to cut Jussie Smollett out from the final two episodes of the season to avoid "disruption on set," Rick Porter reports: + Empire team statement: "The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us. Jussie has been an important member of our Empire family for the past five years and we care about him deeply," reads a statement from executive producers Lee Daniels, Danny Strong, Brett Mahoney, Brian Grazer, Sanaa Hamri, Francie Calfo and Dennis Hammer. "While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out. We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of Jamal from the final two episodes of the season." + Where the show is: Empire is currently filming the penultimate episode of its fifth season. The series returns to Fox on March 13 for the second half of its season. Sources told THR that Smollett hadn't previously expressed any dissatisfaction about his salary; he makes upwards of $125,000 per episode on the series, putting him in the second of three tiers of cast salaries. [Full story.]( "The Last Host on Earth" The Spirit Awards!: Comedian-actress Aubrey Plaza gets the final monologue of awards season amid the Oscar hosting debacle with Saturday's independent film fete in Santa Monica, Michael O'Connell reports: + Her plans: "We're going to do some things with high production value and some with very low production value," Plaza says. "I don't think people necessarily associate me with this, but independent film is really my favorite thing in the world. I watched this show when I was in high school. It's meaningful to me. It's not just a gig." + New Child's Play pic: "I haven't seen our film, just the trailer, but it's a real throwback horror movie. It's almost got a Spielbergian vibe to it," she says. "It doesn't feel like a hokey, shticky, campy movie. If you remember the original Child's Play, it was a drama! It wasn't that funny. As the franchise went on, it became something else. The remake really captures the original." [Full interview.]( R. Kelly faces pressure... The R&B singer turns himself in to Chicago Police following sexual abuse charges. Cook County State's Attorney's Kim Foxx announced 10 counts Friday against R. Kelly. She said the abuse [dated back]( as far as 1998 and spanned more than a decade. Elsewhere in film... ► Director Rob Cohen's daughter accuses him of sexual assault. Valkyrie Weather, a transgender 32-year-old woman who was born Kyle Cohen, is speaking out about the alleged incident. The director calls the claim "categorically untrue." [Full story.]( ► DOJ seizes money from Red Granite co-founder's bank accounts. According to a new forfeiture complaint, Joey McFarland used The Wolf of Wall Street as collateral [to obtain]( equity in a Kentucky-based company and then took distributions into bank accounts. ► Green Book gets biggest post-Oscar nom bump. The Amblin and Participant Media dramedy [has earned]( 36 percent of its domestic cume post-Oscar nominations, or $24 million, according to Comscore. Universal waited to expand the film, which hit theaters in mid-November, in a major way until it landed a spot in the coveted best picture race. ► Celine Dion biopic Céline Before Celine in the works. The English language feature by Quebec director Marc-Andre Lavoie [will follow]( the iconic singer's family upbringing before global stardom and life with future husband and manager Rene Angelil. ► Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos sets next project with crime drama. Lanthimos [will write and direct]( Pop. 1280, an adaptation of the 1964 Jim Thompson crime novel of the same name that follows a corrupt sheriff in a small town. Casting call... ► Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe in talks to return A Quiet Place 2. John Krasinski has [returned]( to direct the sequel to the 2018 horror sensation. ► Tessa Thompson, Nnamdi Asomugha to star in period drama Sylvie. Thompson will executive produce the period drama, while Asomugha [will produce]( through his iAm21 Entertainment banner. And the winners are... ► Custody wins best film at Cesar Awards. The wrenching divorce drama is first feature from the Oscar-nominated and Venice best director winner Xavier Legrand, and the film has been nominated in both the best film and best first film categories. [Full winners list.]( ^Brutally Honest Ballot No. 2: A female member of the Academy's 506-person sound branch, granted a cloak of anonymity, reveals to awards columnist Scott Feinberg why she filled out her final Oscar ballot the way that she did: + Cooper's consolation: "I liked [A Star Is Born's] Bradley [Cooper] the best — I totally bought him as a drunk rock-star, I believed every moment he was on screen and every moment of him was perfect. I mean, the fact that he sang and he played and he directed himself — I was just astounded by how good he was." [Full ballot]( | [Final predictions]( One day until the Oscars... ► NYT reporter disinvited to Vanity Fair Oscar Party following coverage. After a story published on Thursday, the paper's staffers say a reporter for the Times was disinvited to the magazine's Oscar party on Sunday. Per a top editor: "They said it 'feels like the Times has already run their coverage of the VF party this year,' they said. [I guess we did](!" -> What campaign consultants earn for Oscars. From a $25,000 flat monthly fee to the big bonuses each win can bring, a contract obtained by THR — and verified by several sources — reveals the money that strategists can earn during awards season, Pamela McClintock reports. [Details.]( -> Meet the behind-the-scenes Oscar fixers. Backstage and in the bleachers, Mia Galuppo and Benjamin Svetkey profile six unsung heroes of the Academy Awards: "Our job is to have butts in the seats when the carpet opens and make sure [nobody dies](." ► Roma throw pillows to Freddie Mercury's ghost: The best (and worst) of awards season. Seth Abramovitch [details]( the oddities of this campaigning cycle and the lengths some studios have gone to. And the losers are... ► Holmes & Watson named worst picture of the year at Razzies. Melissa McCarthy wins worst actress for her puppet flop The Happytime Murders, but also takes the redeemer award for her Oscar-nominated performance in Can You Ever Forgive Me? [Full losers list.]( From the stage... ► Nikolaj Coster-Waldau playing Macbeth at Geffen Playhouse. The Los Angeles run will begin Nov. 5. Game of Thrones director Matt Shakman will helm. [[The New York Times](] Console wars... ► Fortnite levels off after record month as overall digital game revenue slumps in January. Revenue on all platforms [combined]( for the Battle Royale shooter (which is available on PC, mobile and consoles) declined 48 percent from December to January. However, sales for the title are still up when compared year-over-year. The final parties. On the night before the night, if your Spirits invite got lost, Sony Pictures Classics hosts its annual pre-Oscar dinner. Co-presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard host nominees Glenn Close, Caleb Deschanel and the teams from Capernaum and Never Look Away, among others. [Calendar.]( Enjoy reading this? Six days a week, look for Today in Entertainment in your inbox to stay up-to-date on the industry. Sign up for this newsletter (and others) at [THR.com/Newsletters](. Downside of "Stupid Money" Seek balance: Sure, the gold rush of overall deals for content creators is great, unless it shuts out new voices, Tim Goodman writes: + Thinking behind overall deals: TV outlets want one person to create 10 shows instead of 10 people creating 10 shows because that one person they gave all the money to is "proven" and thus a better bet, according to their thinking. But that logic isn't entirely true and very, very relative. + Hope for aberration: Let's hope that what's happening now — and we're still very much in the early days of all this — is that stupid-money mega deals are for the true unicorns and that a whole lot of other people can get their money and their creative freedom and they are not, in the process, shutting less famous or less experienced people out of the party. [Full column.]( Elsewhere in TV... ► L.A.'s Finest production halted; showrunners hospitalized after on-set accident. Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier [were injured]( during filming on the procedural, a spinoff of the Bad Boys movie franchise starring Jessica Alba and Gabrielle Union. ► Netflix announces first Ryan Murphy series, Hollywood. The "love letter to the Golden Age of Tinseltown" was [co-created]( with Glee and Scream Queens partner Ian Brennan. ► Netflix orders Firefly Lane series based on novel. The streamer's [latest pickup]( is an adaptation of a best-seller from author Kristin Hannah. ► CBS renews Young Sheldon for two more seasons. The network solidifies its future with Chuck Lorre as the Big Bang Theory prequel [joins]( Mom with a multiple-year pickup. ► CBS comedy reteams Jane the Virgin creator, star Jaime Camil. Camil will star in and executive produce the project alongside Jane creator Jennie Snyder Urman. ► Wynonna Earp production delayed as IDW seeks funding for season four. Syfy, which airs the series as a co-production with the comic book publisher, [remains committed]( to the series. ^TV's Top 5 podcast: In this week's episode, Lesley Goldberg and Daniel Fienberg preview tomorrow's Academy Awards (from a broadcast and predictive points of view) and explore what Marvel cancelations at Netflix mean. [Listen]( | [Subscribe]( Casting call... ► Showtime's Penny Dreadful revival casts Game of Thrones favorite. Natalie Dormer [will play]( a supernatural demon in creator John Logan's City of Angels. ► HBO's Divorce adds The Purge actor to season three. Dominic Fumusa [will recur]( as an assistant to the basketball team Thomas Haden Church's character coaches. Latest reviews... ► Showtime's Desus & Mero. "One episode is enough to illustrate that even if they still have some tweaks to make, especially when it comes to only doing this weekly, the premium cable network apparently isn't asking them to be anything appreciably different," Daniel Fienberg writes. [Full review.]( In memoriam... ► RIP Brody Stevens. The well-known comic in the Los Angeles comedy community, who appeared on @midnight and Chelsea Lately, died on Friday at the age of 48. [Obit.]( Talking points... ► Patriots owner Robert Kraft solicited prostitute, say police. The New England Patriots owner [has been charged]( with misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution. Roseanne to sit down on with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach for discussion of Israel trip. Barr [will chat]( with her spiritual advisor and Jewish Journal editor-in-chief David Suissa for “Roseanne & Rabbi Shmuley in Israel: An Intimate Account of a Life-Changing Journey" at Morry’s Fireplace in Los Angeles on Sunday. A Hollywood Legend 100 years of drinks: Adam McKay, Danny Trejo, Dita Von Teese and others share memories of iconic eatery Musso & Frank where Charlie Chaplin, Frank Sinatra and "Quentin F—ing Tarantino" have held court, Lesley Balla reports: + Novel beginnings: When the Screen Writers Guild (now the WGA) resided across the street, Musso's Back Room was the epicenter for writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, who proofread his novels there, and William Faulkner, who would mix his own mint juleps. Later, Charles Bukowski and Gore Vidal were regulars. When the Back Room closed (after the space was taken over by the adjacent Vogue Theater), the owners moved its bar to the New Room. + The lore: "I was hoping that some air of success, luck or opportunity would somehow attach itself to me if I spent some time in there," Steven Soderbergh says. "It was a special occasion to go there in the '80s, and I didn't have that much money. I recognized some of the regulars, including the illustrious Norman Lloyd. I liked being around that atmosphere of people who made a living in the industry." [Full story.]( What to watch this weekend... THR critic Daniel Fienberg sends his recommendation: A lot of your weekend depends on whether you've done your homework in advance. The best thing to premiere on TV next week is the third season of FX's Better Things. Have you [watched]( the second season, which at least one THR critic called TV's best show of 2017? If not? Do so! Or maybe you need to do some preparation for the Oscars on Sunday night. Surely you've [watched]( Roma on Netflix, right? Or Black Panther, which is already [available to stream]( on Netflix? But have you watched Minding the Gap on Hulu? It's great, and it'll let you be smart and insufferable for a full 30 seconds while they're [announcing]( the documentary nominees, before something else wins. What else we're reading... — "John Legend Opens Up." David Marchese sits down with the musician to talk Kanye West, morality in art: "Even though I think artists are more geared to be empathetic, people ignore evil behavior when it comes with success and power and quality art — R. Kelly and Harvey Weinstein are responsible for some exceptional art. People were willing to look the other way until it really smacked them in the face." [[The New York Times Magazine](] — "The Man Who Built a Billion-Dollar Hollywood Fortune Off Pirates, Crimes." Tom Metcalf profiles Jerry Bruckheimer's business successes: “The serious money is made in television and he’s had a series of franchises that have gone for years.” [[Bloomberg](] — "On Surviving the Potential Damage Done by Jussie Smollett." Corey Townsend writes: "When you are part of two marginalized communities, you bear a double risk at safety. The idea of merely existing is seen as a threat, and many want to extinguish that threat by any means necessary. Jussie is a man of privilege; privilege that has afforded him the ability to have his story heard across multiple platforms and touch many facets." [[The Grapevine](] — "Where Does Fake Movie Money Come From?" Jacopo Prisco explores: "To comply with federal laws, reproduction money cannot be made by modifying the design of actual money, so RJR Props have created their own design." [[CNN](] — "How Did the Academy Award Become the ‘Oscar’?" Ben Zimmer digs: "Success, the saying goes, has many fathers, and when the Oscar nickname first became popular, there were many who were eager to take credit for coining it. " [[The Wall Street Journal](] From the archives... + Today in 1940: Walt Disney's Pinocchio opened wide, bringing to life the 19th-century Italian story. Disney's second animated film became the first to win competitive Oscars at the 13th Academy Awards, including best original song for "When You Wish Upon a Star": "It still is the best thing Mr. Disney has done and therefore the best cartoon ever made." [[The New York Times](] Today's birthdays: Dakota Fanning, 25, Samara Weaving, 27, Emily Blunt, 36, Aziz Ansari, 36, Josh Gad, 38, Kelly Macdonald, 43, Robert Lopez, 44, Niecy Nash, 49, Kristin Davis, 54, Peter Fonda, 79. Follow The News Is this email not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( ©2019 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. 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