'Veep' Oral History; Trump's Nemesis; Denzel's 'Macbeth'; Kareem on Fox News; GLAAD Awards

What's news: The stars of Veep tell the story behind HBO's smash comedy. Plus: Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand pair for a starry Macbeth, Broad City ends and remembering Agnes Varda. — Will Robinson March 29, 2019 What's news: The stars of Veep tell the story behind HBO's smash comedy. Plus: Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand pair for a starry Macbeth, Broad City ends and remembering Agnes Varda. — Will Robinson ^Battling for free speech: From the jokes told by late-night comedians to #MeToo stories published over the past 18 months, Davis Wright Tremaine is on the front lines of the president's war on the press and the battle for free speech, Eriq Gardner reports: + Trump era means business: At various points over the past three years, Trump's team sent threatening letters to The Art of the Deal co-author Tony Schwartz, Fire and Fury author (and THR contributor) Michael Wolff, and Apprentice star and ex-White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman. Each time, DWT's Elizabeth McNamara responded in kind with retorts that essentially quashed potential arbitration. + The BuzzFeed/dossier challenge: DWT's Katherine Bolger describes litigating such a high-profile case as "trippy — that's a legal term," and, with a nod to the political dialogue around the Trump Dossier, adds that she couldn't avoid thoughts about the consequences. "Every day we were buffeted by what is in the news, and holy cow if we lose the case," she says. "It was really exhilarating." Soon, pending an appeal over what should remain sealed, the public could learn more about the firm's work in the case, as BuzzFeed's attorneys also investigated the "truth" of the Trump Dossier by taking depositions of Steele and others. [Full story.]( On the other side, meet the lawyer taking on media titans. Conservative crusader Larry Klayman [is suing]( various entities — from CNN to Sacha Baron Cohen — on behalf of clients like Joe Arpaio and Roy Moore who say they've been harmed by the irresponsibility of the press, Paul Bond reports. On the Campaign Trail Veep oral history: Long before a foul-mouthed Twitter-insult specialist actually became president, Julia Louis-Dreyfus began playing one on TV. As the Emmy magnet begins its lame-duck season, the key players open up about that shocking showrunner handoff and the devastating diagnosis that prompted a wholly new ending, Lacey Rose and Bryn Elise Sandberg report: + Power shift: "I was frightened, but I felt I had this huge responsibility to everyone, so I couldn't show my fear," Louis-Dreyfus remembers a poor first table read with new showrunner David Mandel. "But after [that], I had a very uncomfortable conversation [with Mandel] in which I was saying to him, 'This didn't work.' Those are not happy conversations, but that tension has fueled this fucking show for eight years." + New endings: With production delayed due to Louis-Dreyfus' cancer diagnosis, Mandel rethought the ending. "By then, we were living in this almost new version of Trump where he seemed more emboldened and freewheeling. And it really did make me think, 'What is Veep about now?'" he recalls. "Because in the old version she insulted somebody in a tweet and that was a giant crisis and then she had to blame the Chinese. That doesn't work, Trump does that six times a day. I really used that time to think about how we could reflect Trump without doing Trump." * The final scene: "I was trying very hard, frankly, not to lose my shit completely," says Louis-Dreyfus, filming her final scene as nearly 200 members of the cast and crew gathered in video village. "Had I gone out there and seen everybody — all these people whom I adored so deeply out there cheering me on — it would have been too much to bear." [Oral history.]( -> How's season seven?: The same old show, in a great way: "[Veep] is going out with its hair on fire, as brutally funny as ever," Tim Goodman praises. [Full review.]( Elsewhere in TV... ► City of Chicago intends to bill Jussie Smollett for alleged hoax investigation. Mayor Rahm Emanuel also said Donald Trump [should stay out]( of the matter after the president tweeted that he would tell federal authorities to investigate why the charges were dropped. * Smollett's attorney suggests brothers could have worn whiteface during attack. Tina Glandian told the Today show's Savannah Guthrie that she nor her client are [concerned]( about the FBI and Department of Justice reviewing the case after it was dismissed. ► Disney to show off new assets FX, Nat Geo at combined upfront. The newly [acquired]( networks, part of the 21st Century Fox sale, will take their places alongside ABC, ESPN and Freeform. ► Bob's Burgers co-showrunner inks overall deal with Disney's 20th TV. Animation producer Nora Smith, who [co-wrote]( the upcoming feature alongside creator Loren Bouchard, has signed a multiple-year deal with the studio behind the Fox hit. ► Isn't It Romantic writer signs overall deal with Paramount TV, Anonymous Content. Dana Fox is also the showrunner on the studio's [upcoming]( Apple series Home Before Dark. -> Freeform Summit touts network's diversity, inclusion efforts. Stars and creators of Grown-ish, The Bold Type, Good Trouble and more [discuss]( the cabler's latest push to elevate the voices of its young stars and viewers. [Quoted:]( “We have a lot of talent deals. Netflix and Amazon ... are like the big film studios of old. Not everyone wants to be part of that. We have done a deal with Marty Adelstein in the States. ... He didn’t want that. He wanted to be independent and he wanted to have creative autonomy. Jason Blum’s Blumhouse TV, same thing." — ITV CEO Carolyn McCall. ^Newest episode of TV's Top 5: THR digital editor Natalie Jarvey joins hosts Daniel Fienberg and Lesley Goldberg for a segment breaking down Apple's press conference this week. Plus, Daniel and Lesley consider the future of The CW and the return of Major League Baseball. [Listen]( | [Subscribe]( Digital digest... ► Facebook sued by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The social media platform has [taken fire]( for allowing ads to target groups of people identified as "Jew-haters" and Nazi sympathizers. ► Vice U.K. staffers, "inspired" by U.S. efforts, move to unionize to address pay, diversity. The news [comes]( just days after Vice agreed to a $1.9 million payout to female employees in the U.S. ► Sony sells Crackle majority stake to Chicken Soup for the Soul. The companies [will launch]( a joint venture, Crackle Plus, to operate the streaming video business. From the Live Feed... ► How Grey's Anatomy pushed the envelope with powerful consent episode. The hour, which features a scene in which a rape kit is administered, was inspired by Christine Blasey Ford's testimony against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, showrunner Krista Vernoff and writer Elisabeth Finch say. [Spoilers.]( ► Why Broad City's duo were "terrified" to face that meta series finale. "It really feels like it’s what needs to happen for the show and for our audience. To feel that thing of how life moves on, it doesn’t end," Ilana Glazer said. [Full interview.]( Ratings notes... ► Sean Hannity's Trump interview leads big night for Fox News. Hannity [delivered]( 4.3 million viewers with the interview, Trump's first since he claimed "total exoneration" following the delivery of special counsel Robert Mueller's report to Attorney General William Barr. In memoriam... ► RIP Russell Kagan. The veteran executive and producer in the world of international television distribution died Wednesday after a short battle with cancer, ICM Partners announced. He was 65. [Obit.]( Around town... ► Disney eliminates all smoking areas in theme parks. Designated areas will be [available]( outside the location entrances. ► Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin to host Homeboy Awards. The Grace & Frankie duo [will MC]( Homeboy Industries' annual Lo Máximo dinner and awards ceremony, the gang-rehabilitation organization's largest fundraiser of the year. A renewed call for Beverly Hills Hotel boycott amid Brunei anti-gay policies. Anti-women policies and barbaric punishment for gay sex are about to go into effect in the country, whose leader owns the Hollywood haunt, so an L.A. activist is [calling for]( an escalation of a lagging boycott. 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](. Netflix's Secrecy Opening up?: Netflix's resistance to altering its distribution strategy has been well documented, but according to Participant Media CEO David Linde, it was easier to get the streamer to agree to a theatrical release for Roma than one might expect, Natalie Jarvey reports: + Ratings data handy: Linde shared that tech giant was "pretty open" about how many people saw the Oscar contender. But when he was pressed for an exact number, Linde wouldn't budge. "In a room full of lawyers who are undoubtedly familiar with contracts made by large media companies, I will say they were very open," he said with a chuckle. + Being cooperative: "We went into it — and Netflix agreed — we said, 'Look, we're going to go for it. We have to go for it. To the extent there's demand, and we want you to create it, then we want to fill the demand with every theater you can get,'" Linde recalled. "Netflix addressed our issues," he said, explaining that he did not want the film marginalized because it was a foreign-language title. [Full story]( | [Power Lawyers breakfast]( Elsewhere in film... ► Avengers: Endgame to open in China two days before U.S. The Marvel franchise-ender is now set up for massive earnings at the world's second-biggest box office. Infinity War opened with a record of $199.3 million in China in April 2018, but it debuted there a full two weeks [after launching]( in the U.S. ► Hollywood production in Canada hits new high on currency, tax credits. Canadian indie producers report foreign location shooting [jumped]( 26 percent to a record $4.77 billion in 2018 as Star Trek: Discovery and Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan went north to shoot. ► Sienna Miller drama picked up by Roadside Attractions, Vertical Entertainment. American Woman, which [debuted]( at the Toronto Film Fest, is directed by Jake Scott. ► Miramax buys comedy pitch The Twenty Year from writer Peter Hoare. The writer's Standing Up, Falling Down is [set to premiere]( at the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival. ► AFI gets $350K NEH grant for gender parity film study. The project will use the AFI Catalog of Feature Films [to look]( at women's employment during the film industry's first century. Casting call... ► Denzel Washington in talks to join Frances McDormand in Joel Coen's Macbeth. Scott Rudin [will produce]( the latest big-screen treatment of Shakespeare's classic play. ► Tom Hanks in talks to play Col. Tom Parker in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis Presley movie. The search for the actor [to play]( Presley has not yet begun. The colonel was the artist's manager, who controlled every aspect of Presley's life. ► Taika Waititi, Utkarsh Ambudkar join Fox's action comedy Free Guy. Ryan Reynolds and director Shawn Levy earlier [teamed]( for the sci-fi action-comedy set up at 20th Century Fox. ► Kelsey Grammer, Julia Stiles starring in medical thriller. Austin Stark is writer/director on The God Committee, which [revolves]( around the organ transplant system. ► Avatar sequels cast Game of Thrones actor Brendan Cowell. The actor will be playing Mick Scoresby, who [captains]( a private-sector marine hunting vessel on the planet of Pandora. ^First gentleman?: Doug Emhoff could move into the White House next year if his wife, Sen. Kamala Harris, is elected president, but the entertainment litigator first made headlines for his connection to another famous face: the Taco Bell chihuahua, Ashley Cullins reports: + Breakthrough in entertainment: The quirky pup and its catchphrase sparked a lawsuit from a Michigan company named Wrench, which said it had created the "Psycho Chihuahua" character for Taco Bell. Wrench sued for breach of contract and was awarded $42 million. Taco Bell tried to pin the bill on its ad agency, but in 2009, after multiple trips to the 9th Circuit, Emhoff kept TBWA off the hook. [Full story.]( And the winners are... ► Love, Simon, Vida, Queer Eye among GLAAD Media Awards winners. Also at the ceremony, Beyoncé and Jay-Z accepted the organization's Vanguard Award, speaking out for LGBTQ acceptance, while Sean Hayes was presented with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award for making a difference in promoting LGBTQ acceptance, by Allison Janney. [Full winners list.]( -> Beyoncé moved to tears while dedicating GLAAD honor to late uncle. The music star calls him "the most fabulous gay man I've ever met" as she and Jay-Z accept GLAAD's Vanguard Award during a night featuring Shangela performing a medley of Bey's hits and Sean Hayes and Greg Berlanti also being honored. [Inside the event.]( On the festival circuit... ► Palm Springs names Lili Rodriguez as new artistic director. She [succeeds]( Michael Lerman, who served in that role for the past three editions of the festival. Honorees... ► Rita Moreno to receive Peabody Career Achievement Award. The West Side Story and One Day at a Time star will add the honor to her long list of accolades, which [include]( two Emmys, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. ► Jay-Z to receive President's Award NAACP Image Awards. Previous recipients of the honor [include]( Jesse Jackson, Lauryn Hill, Soledad O’Brien, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Muhammad Ali. Latest reviews... ► Gravitas Ventures' American Relapse. "Lacking in some respects but an eye-opener for those who've never dealt with this world, the doc is [more involving]( thanks to its narrow scope, even if that tight focus leaves us with unanswered questions," John DeFore writes. Musical notes... ► Ariana Grande's tour photo agreement prompts protest by news outlets. The National Press Photographers Association, along with the Associated Press, New York Times, Los Angeles Times and others, issued a letter requesting the pop star change her policies. [Details.]( From the stage... ► Aaron Sorkin's To Kill a Mockingbird to launch national tour at Kennedy Center. The blockbuster Broadway hit will [make its way]( from the Great White Way to D.C. in August 2020. ► The Outsiders musical set for Chicago world premiere. The adaptation of the S.E. Hinton novel and subsequent Francis Ford Coppola cult movie [will bow]( June 20 on the main stage of the Goodman Theatre. In memoriam... ► RIP Agnes Varda. The influential matriarch of the French New Wave, who received an honorary Oscar and an Academy Award documentary nomination in the span of three months in 2017-18, has died at 90. Varda died at home surrounded by family and friends following a short battle with cancer. [Obit.]( Coming attractions... ► Trailer: Guillermo Del Toro unveils look at Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. The filmmaker showed off a clip at a lunch in Hollywood Thursday and explained why he wanted to keep the movie PG-13. [Watch + Details]( Joey Lauren Adams reprising Chasing Amy character in Jay and Silent Bob reboot. The 1997 Kevin Smith film, which [also starred]( Ben Affleck and Jason Lee, won two 1998 Independent Spirit Awards — best screenplay for Smith and best supporting actor for Lee. Hollow Free Speech Differentiation needed: From NFL players kneeling in protest to outrage over Fox News' Jeanine Pirro and Tucker Carlson, the "freedom of speech" argument has been deployed by many agendas in the Trump age, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar writes: + Fox News/DNC issue: A 2018 Knight Foundation and Gallup poll found the network tied with Breitbart as the most biased source of news. It is also fair to sideline the organization that supports malicious hate speech. Therefore, when the DNC bans Fox, it's not restricting free speech, it's refusing to legitimize a dysfunctional network that promotes disinformation and fear that verge on hate crime. + Need to differentiate: The problem starts by mistaking the fact that having the freedom to say anything means anything said has equal worth. An opinion that cannot be supported with facts and logic adds no value to the discussion. Some free speech is like some fast food, tasty but with little nutritional value, and a healthy country demands a healthy discourse. [Full column.]( What else we're reading... — "Lady Killer." Allison P. Davis profiles Killing Eve's Jodie Comer: "Comer pulled off perhaps the most captivating performance on TV last year: that of a vicious sociopath so cheeky we couldn’t help but root for her." [[Vulture](] — "How Blair Witch Became a Horror Sensation—and Invented Modern Movie Marketing." Alyssa Bereznak writes: "In today’s parlance, Haxan Films created an 'expanded universe' for Blair Witch, long before anyone really knew what that was. They filled out a story line with enough rich details to fuel endless discussions." [[The Ringer](] — "The Strange, Unsatisfying End to the Jussie Smollett Case." Conor Friedersdorf considers: "The criminal-justice system is full of cases in which no satisfying answer is ever available to the public, reflecting imperfect processes in a messy, often unsatisfying world." [[The Atlantic](] — "Game of Thrones' Isaac Hempstead-Wright Is Ready for Something New." Tom Philip talks to the star behind Bran Stark: "When I first started, I was very much a kid playing a kid. I mean, albeit a kid in a slightly more hardcore world than my own, but nevertheless, I was still being myself. But then, I got to turn into an entirely different character midway through the series, which not many actors get to do." [[GQ](] — "How A-Rod Explains Modern America." Jason Gay reflects on the baseball star and the new doc Screwball: "The public’s moral compass is constantly pivoting; if the present is appealing enough, the past doesn’t always matter. The return of Alex Rodriguez is indeed remarkable—and for some, more than a little maddening. But it’s also a story of where we live now." [[The Wall Street Journal](] Last night, on late night... + "How Taraji P. Henson keeps straight face around Tracy Morgan." [[Conan](] + "Colin Farrell gets free kebabs for life." [[Jimmy Kimmel](] From the archives... + Today in 1985: Orion unveiled the breezy Desperately Seeking Susan, featuring Madonna's first starring film role, in limited release: "An attractive, energetic young cast and some witty, off-center visual humor make the resultant laughs more than worth the wait." [Flashback review.]( Today's birthdays: Ed Skrein, 36, Todd Grinnell, 43, Lucy Lawless, 51, Amy Sedaris, 58, Brendan Gleeson, 64, Eric Idle, 76. 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. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Preferences]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Use]( March 29, 2019