DuVernay's Way; Disney's Hulu; Tarantino, 'Aladdin' Reviews; Jake Bloom's Impact; 'Star Wars' Update; New THR Cover

What's news: Ava DuVernay is trying to change Hollywood — her way. Plus: The future of a Disney-controlled Hulu, the end of an era in entertainment law and Casey Bloys discusses the future of Game of Thrones spinoffs. — Will Robinson May 22, 2019 What's news: Ava DuVernay is trying to change Hollywood — her way. Plus: The future of a Disney-controlled Hulu, the end of an era in entertainment law and Casey Bloys discusses the future of Game of Thrones spinoffs. — Will Robinson [On the cover:]( With her Netflix miniseries When They See Us and a newly built downtown L.A. studio, director Ava DuVernay is creating a modern Hollywood empire while tackling such complex issues as race, justice and that "rich, bloated, flamboyant guy" in the Oval Office, Rebecca Keegan reports: + Aspirational figure: "Her talent is medicine for a lot of us," says Jharrel Jerome, 21, who broke out in Moonlight and plays Korey Wise in When They See Us. "We look up to Ava as someone who is telling a story that we can't tell. We don't have the means to yell and scream, and try to get out all of our anger, our resentment towards what we're going through." + Pushing for inclusion: On each season of OWN's Queen Sugar, she has employed only female directors. Asked if a male director has ever pushed back — legally or via a guild — at her hiring practice, DuVernay says no but that she would welcome the debate. "My answer to that is we can have that conversation, if anyone wants to, in court," she says. "I will pull out every TV show that never hired a woman. I don't think that's a conversation that anyone's ready to have, but if anyone wants to, I'm happy to have it." + Learning studio politics: "To be working with a studio — not just any studio, the biggest, baddest studio [in Disney]," DuVernay reflects. "They have structure and legacy, and to be working with the property that was so challenged because the movie was one that had been trying to be made for a long time. ... There were a lot of limits and rules that I hadn't been used to working with." [Full cover story.]( Inside When They See Us. DuVernay, Niecy Nash, Michael K. Williams and Jharrel Jerome discuss the significance of the Central Park Five series. [Watch]( | [Gallery]( | [Show review]( Disney's Hulu Ramped up: Now that Disney has full control of Hulu, insiders predict bigger content budgets, synergies with sister networks and a juggling act as one company now runs a half-dozen networks and three digital services, Natalie Jarvey reports: + General mandate: The number of originals is expected to grow, with programming oriented around, per one well-placed Disney insider, being an "older, broader, edgier" streaming counterpart to family-friendly Disney+. Executives also are telegraphing increased alignment between Hulu and the newly acquired FX brand. * Bigger reach: As a domestic-only platform, its $2.5 billion programming budget is a fraction of what Netflix spends annually on content, and Hulu has relied on its owners to support its losses, expected to peak at around $1.5 billion this year. As a division of Disney, Hulu will have access to programming resources, an international infrastructure and a marketing playbook that could accelerate its subscriber base, which hit 26.8 million at the beginning of May. + Key licensing deals: Disney's deal with Comcast, meanwhile, guarantees that Hulu will remain a destination for next-day current broadcast programming and library fare. Hulu has a multiyear licensing deal to keep Fox Corp. programming on its platform, too, even if these days are numbered. "Hulu will remain a cord-cutter's dream for at least another few years," says BTIG media analyst Rich Greenfield. "It feels like a win-win overall." [Full story.]( Elsewhere in TV... ► Simran Sethi to exit top Netflix India post. The Los Angeles-based executive has [opted to depart]( the company at a date to be determined rather than move to India. ► Ellen DeGeneres extends talk show deal through 2022. On a show taped Tuesday and airing Wednesday, the host announced that her Warner Bros. talk show [would continue]( its run for two more years. ► Sara Gilbert, Tom Werner launch joint production company. The banner, called sara + tom, [extends]( the duo's relationship that started on the original Roseanne and continues on The Conners. ► Lauren Dolgen lands at Paramount Network after departing BuzzFeed Studios. The veteran television executive [will serve]( as senior vp unscripted development and production. ► Defiant Ones director sets Tupac Shakur docuseries as follow-up. Allen Hughes [has reached]( a deal with the estate of the Tupac Shakur that will grant him full access to all of the late rap icon's recordings and writings — part of his plan to direct and executive produce a five-part docuseries on Shakur. ► Rahm Emanuel joining ABC News as contributor. The outgoing Chicago mayor has [also joined]( The Atlantic as a contributing editor. ► CNN loses another conservative contributor to Trump admin. Former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli, a CNN pro-Trump commentator, is said to be joining the administration [to focus]( on immigration policy. Casting call... ► Holly Hunter joins season two of HBO's Succession. The Oscar-winning actress [will play]( a politically savvy CEO of a rival media conglomerate in the second season of the dramedy. ► Amazon's Lee Daniels-Whitney Cummings comedy adds Greg Kinnear. The Oscar and Emmy nominee will [star opposite]( Lisa Kudrow in a college-set pilot called Good People. [Quoted:]( "I said yes, they said no. And you know what? I need to pave the way for the next [actress] coming up." — Julianna Margulies, on negotiating with CBS for a Good Fight guest turn. ^Broadcast winners & losers: During the 2018-19 season, NBC manages a season-long demographic win without the Super Bowl or Olympics, and CBS is once again first in viewers, Rick Porter reports: + Winner: The Masked Singer: The season's biggest breakout hit, Fox's costumed singing competition is the No. 1 new series in adults 18-49 by a wide margin: Its 3.8 rating in the demo, including a week of delayed viewing, is a full point ahead of NBC's Manifest. It is tied with This Is Us and The Big Bang Theory for the top entertainment series overall. + Loser: Superheroes: The five DC Comics shows on The CW were down a collective 25 percent in adults 18-49 vs. last season. The final run for Gotham on Fox declined by 15 percent year to year. Agents of SHIELD's future is safe on ABC, as it received an early seventh-season pickup, but it's likely to come in below last season as it runs into the summer. [More winners & losers.]( * Stephen Colbert captures late-night crown: CBS' Late Show [ekes out]( a demographic win over NBC's Tonight Show for the first time in more than 20 years while increasing its total-viewer lead. Digital digest... ► Google changes abortion ad policy. "After outrage over recent reports of misleading abortion-related ads, Google said that it would require advertisers dealing with the topic to be certified as abortion providers or non-providers." [[The New York Times](] On the festival circuit... ► Paul Feig, Jed Mercurio, Bill Hader to receive Banff Fest tributes. Dear White People creator Justin Simien is to receive The Hollywood Reporter Impact Award. [Honoree details.]( Latest reviews... ► CBS' Blood & Treasure. "You never, for a single second, lose track of the influences inspiring creators Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia," Daniel Fienberg writes. "What you never get here is a single character or idea that comes across as fresh or distinctive or takes the genre any place even vaguely new." [Full review.]( ^Inside Catch-22: George Clooney — along with stars Christopher Abbott and Kyle Chandler, writer Luke Davies, producer-director Ellen Kuras and ep Grant Heslov — speak about adapting the notoriously difficult novel for Hulu, Bryn Elise Sandberg reports: + Why this adaptation: "We got a call about it and we said no," Clooney recalls. "And then we read Luke and David [Michôd's] scripts and they were absolutely fantastic, and we thought, 'Well, now we have to.'" "The process itself is tricky because you're always going to be held up against a novel that's beloved. So you're always going to be playing defense in a way," he adds. "We thought, 'Let's just take a big swing and let's see how bad we can screw it up.'" [Full interview.]( From the Live Feed... ► The Voice champion revealed. Season 16 came to a close after a packed night of performances, including one from BTS. [Spoilers.]( Coming attractions... -> Trailers: Unpacking Black Mirror season five. Jackie Strause takes a closer look at the three new stories in the Netflix anthology, which release June 5. [Watch + analysis]( Bruce Vilanch: This Pride season, be prouder, outer and gayer than ever. The Emmy-winning comedy writer and La La Land's unofficial gay mascot [kicks off]( a summer of free love with a live reading of Dear Harvey, a documentary-style play about Harvey Milk staged at WeHo's City Council Chambers, Seth Abramovitch reports. 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](. 'Hollywood' Takes Cannes Splash made: Twenty-five years to the day after Pulp Fiction bowed in the same venue, Quentin Tarantino unveiled Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, perhaps the most anticipated film to hit the Palais in Cannes in the ensuing years, Tatiana Siegel and Rhonda Richford report: + The film [drew]( a six-minute standing ovation after the Cannes Film Festival world premiere and leaving audience members buzzing that his latest pic was fantastic. Tarantino and the film's stars — Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie — soaked up the deafening cheers. * Full house: An American producer and his wife had tickets and made it as far as past the metal detector before being corralled into a pen they waited in. “It was really frustrating to get there so early and get so close and have real tickets and be told by some French official ‘Nous sommes complet.’ It was surreal,” the producer said. -> At presser, Tarantino dodges film's violence against women question, Manson fascination: A reporter later suggested that Margot Robbie, an Oscar-nominated actress who has far less screen time than her two male co-stars and few lines in the film, was underused. To that, Tarantino, looking visibly annoyed, [answered curtly](, "I reject your hypothesis." + How did the film play?: "The writer-director at the same time is having sly fun riffing on his own work, in particular his penchant for gleeful revisionist history," David Rooney writes. "A sizeable audience will doubtless share that enjoyment, even if the two ambling hours of detours, recaps and diversions that precede the standard climactic explosion of graphic violence are virtually plotless." [Full review]( | [Critical consensus]( | [New trailer]( On the Croisette... ► Neon, Hulu nab Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire. The French director's follow-up to Girlhood was [picked up]( after rival bids from Sony Pictures Classics and Netflix. Elsewhere in film... -> An inside look at Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Lev Grossman goes on set for a cover story: "Sources close to the movie say that Skywalker will at long last bring to a climax the millennia-long conflict between the Jedi Order and its dark shadow, the Sith." [[Vanity Fair](] ► Two Hollywood projects pull production from Georgia due to abortion ban. Kristen Wiig's Lionsgate comedy Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar and Reed Morano's Amazon series The Power have [opted to relocate]( production from the state in the wake of the controversial legislation. ► John Wick writer tackling Just Cause video game adaptation. Constantin Film’s Robert Kulzer and Prime Universe Film’s Adrian Askarieh [will produce]( along with scribe Derek Kolstad. ► Canadian studio giant expands with Toronto film facility. Whites Studios [will open]( four soundstages in the city to meet rising demand by Hollywood streaming giants for local production facilities. ^End of an era: Amid a $50 million legal fight with ex-client Johnny Depp, Jake Bloom, one of the most influential talent attorneys, steps down as the balance of power shifts from stars to creators and studios, The Hollywood Reporter's editorial director Matthew Belloni writes: + Impact on the biz: Bloom was a swashbuckling negotiator with a larger-than-life persona and jet-set relationships whose appearance belied his ability to fully exploit the leverage that stars enjoyed over studios in the '80s and '90s. Along with partner Tom Pollack and a slew of peers, Bloom basically invented the modern showbiz boutique law firm in the late '70s and early '80s, charging clients 5 percent of earnings for total and full-service devotion — and, in the process, building leverage based on the tonnage of talent represented by just a handful of attorneys. * Legendary deal: Talent attorneys still talk about Bloom's first Pirates of the Caribbean deal for Johnny Depp, which shrewdly held back merchandising and theme park rights. When the film became a surprise smash, Bloom was able to cash in for the actor (and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, another client), making Disney's business affairs executives look silly in the process. Those Depp deals feel a bit quaint and historic in today's Hollywood, where the balance of power in film has shifted back to the vertically integrated studios and where television and streaming provide far more opportunities for creators, not stars, to reap the biggest money. [Full story.]( Latest reviews... ► Disney's Aladdin. "The combination of diverse casting and female empowerment themes results in a perfectly politically correct Aladdin for these times," Frank Scheck writes. "The only thing that seems to have been left out is the magic, which is a bit of a problem considering that one of the main characters is a genie." [Full review.]( * What critics are saying. Thus far, the film boasts 69 percent on [Rotten Tomatoes]( and 57 on [Metacritic](. Around town... ► Nipsey Hussle murder suspect indicted on additional charges by grand jury. Eric Holder [is facing]( one count of murder, two counts each of attempted murder and assault with a firearm and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon. Coming attractions... ► Trailer: Woody, Buzz and friends set out to save Forky in new Toy Story 4 clip. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Tony Hale, Annie Potts, Joan Cusack, Keanu Reeves, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Michael Keaton, Bonnie Hunt, Timothy Dalton, Jeff Garlin and Laurie Metcalf make up the voice cast. [Watch.]( Sylvester Stallone settles fraud suit vs. Warner Bros. The actor alleged that the studio had concealed profits from the 1993's Demolition Man, and making an unfair competition claim, Stallone demanded an end to bad accounting practices for all talent expected to be paid by Warner Bros. [Hollywood Docket.]( No 'Thrones' Sequel What's next for the Iron Throne?: HBO programming president Casey Bloys provides an update on the state of the Game of Thrones franchise for the premium cable network, Lesley Goldberg reports: + On the show's ending: "I think [David Benioff and D.B. Weiss] did a beautiful job," Bloys said. "A lot of people had invested in characters and hoped for certain things and wanted to see certain twists. There's probably a little bit of mourning going on that the show is over. I get it, I understand it: It's a big show and people really invested a lot in it — and that says a lot about what the show did. People really cared about it." + Spinoff timeline: "We're shooting the pilot in June, you can do the math and figure out when it would be on the air. What I'm not doing is working backwards by saying, 'This has to be on the air by this date.' We want to do the best show possible," Bloys said. "This is a pilot, so we're doing it the old-fashioned way, which is shooting a pilot. My expectation is it will be great and we'll move forward and it'll move along on a regular TV timetable. I don't want to speculate any dates." [Full interview.]( What else we're reading... — "Inside Once Upon a Time In... Hollywood." Michael Hainey talks to Quentin Tarantino, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt: "This film, Tarantino says, is also 'probably my most personal. I think of it like my memory piece. Alfonso [Cuarón] had Roma and Mexico City, 1970. I had L. A. and 1969. This is me. This is the year that formed me.'" [[Esquire](] — "An Oral History of Game of Thrones, As Told By Its Bit Players." Dan Reilly and Lila Shapiro gather stories: "Back in season one, when they were struggling to get extras, I heard a tale that they went into one of the metal bars in Belfast to try and recruit people for the right look." [[Vulture](] — "TV Streaming Shakeout Is Coming." Tara Lachapelle considers: "[W]hile these products aren’t financially viable businesses at these rates, this is the time when they need to be building dedicated fan bases because it’s far too easy to unsubscribe — just a few clicks, no dreaded 1-800 numbers — if subscription fees go up or content goes stale." [[Bloomberg](] — "Eurovision's Sanitized Vision of Israel." Naomi Fry writes: "The months leading up to the contest were politically fraught, even for Israel. ... But the competition seemed intent on presenting Israel as miraculously untouched by political tensions." [[The New Yorker](] — "New Coke Was a Debacle. It’s Coming Back. Blame Netflix." Josh Koblin details Stranger Things' plan: "The more aggressive promotional strategy gives the streaming service a way to market its wares and generate a new revenue stream that doesn’t involve interrupting its shows with commercials." [[The New York Times](] Last night, on late night... + "Howard Stern's triumphant return to The Late Show." [[Late Show](] + "Bryan Cranston played mind games on Aaron Paul." [[Late Night](] + "Kevin Hart took nasty fall doing heel-toe hop dance at a wedding." [[Tonight Show](] + "Will Smith's son Jaden wore a Batman suit to prom." [[Jimmy Kimmel](] From the archives... + Today in 1992: NBC aired the farewell episode for Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. The host was just 36 when he took the reins of Tonight from host Jack Paar in 1962, but Carson went on to hold that post for 30 years: "When it was over, tears came to his eyes and the scrolling credits froze briefly on a sunset photo over which his late son Rick's name was superimposed. For a moment, the Carson years seemed all too brief." [Flashback review.]( Today's birthdays: Camren Bicondova, 20, Molly Ephraim, 33, Maggie Q, 40, Ginnifer Goodwin, 41, J.D. Williams, 41, Sean Gunn, 45, Michael Kelly, 50, Ann Cusack, 58. 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]( May 22, 2019