Will Apple Finally Buy a Hollywood Studio?; 'Mare of Easttown' Ratings; Sun Valley Confab Is Back; THR Drama Actress Roundtable

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( June 02, 2021 What's news: It's magazine day! This week's cover story is the annual TV Drama Actress Roundtable. Plus: Hollywood hit by inflation and awards strategists go all-in on drive-ins — Abid Rahman Drama Actress Roundtable ►[On the cover.]( Top TV actresses Anya Taylor-Joy, Cynthia Erivo, Gillian Anderson, Elizabeth Olsen, Mj Rodriguez and Sarah Paulson join THR's Lacey Rose for a candid (virtual) chat on speaking up and breaking down. —Cynthia Erivo: "After playing [Harriet Tubman in the 2019 film], I went straight to see my mother in London and I don’t know what happened, but I just broke. You know the visual representation of shattering glass? That was what was happening to me." —Mj Rodriguez: "When the first two seasons of Pose came out, I didn’t watch them at first because I was just so nervous about how the world would receive it. It was a story that a lot of people haven’t gotten to see, and it was a whole bunch of trans women of color finally getting their shot. It’s a lot of responsibility." —Gillian Anderson: "We were going back to do another season [of X-Files] and Fox came to me to offer, I don’t know, a tenth of what my co-star [David Duchovny] was being offered. That was the point where I was like, 'Fuck this. I’m actually going to talk about this [publicly].'" —Anya Taylor-Joy: "I’ve always followed character and only recently did I start following directors as well, but it’s always been about, 'Do I feel like I’m the right person to tell this story? Do I think I can tell this story correctly?'" —Sarah Paulson: "I spend a lot of time in these worlds where I’m either running or crying or screaming or playing a real person and trying to get their physicality, and I’d really like to do a nice road picture with me and a couple of chicks." —Elizabeth Olsen: "I knew that I didn’t want to be an actor who was thought of as “youthful and beautiful” and whatever that attachment people like to put onto young women, and so I did everything in my power not [to be seen as] that." Quote of the Day "The stuff that dreams are made of" The newly created media colossus Warner Bros. Discovery has a new slogan plucked from the iconic Warners film The Maltese Falcon. [The story.]( Whither Apple? ►Time to think different. Amid a wave of deal making, will Apple go shopping for a Hollywood studio? With the tech giant sitting on a mountain of cash and lacking a content library, THR's business editor Georg Szalai looks at the company's options. [The story.]( —Reimagining MGM. Now that Amazon has swallowed MGM, will the storied movie studio will remain a stand-alone unit? [The story.]( —“Summer camp for moguls.” Sun Valley is back, pandemic be damned. A slew of tech and media moguls once again are poised to board their private jets for Allen & Co.’s annual conference, marking the return of horseback riding, rafting, guided hikes, golf and perhaps more billion-dollar deals.[The story.]( Crunching the Numbers 4 Million HBO says 4 million people watched the finale of Mare of Easttown over the Memorial Day weekend. [The full breakdown.]( Summer’s Second-Season Successes ►No sophomore slumps here. THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg waxes lyrical about the second seasons of Adult Swim’s Tuca & Bertie, Netflix’s Feel Good and HBO’s Betty, a trio of comedies to celebrate and nurture. [The critic's notebook.]( —"It’s a confusing time to be Asian." In a guest column, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Stephanie Hsu reflects on a passing racist encounter and the healing potential of art. [The column.]( —A relationship of command. Breaking free of Zoom, awards strategists are pushing Emmy hopefuls at the drive-in screenings held at the Rose Bowl this FYC season. [The story.]( —The price is not right. With inflation hitting the U.S. economy at large, Hollywood is feeling the impact of it on its film and television production. [The story.]( The Subtle Hope of A Quiet Place Part II ►Hope smiles from the threshold. Instead of turning star Emily Blunt into a superhuman alien killer, filmmaker John Krasinski kept his characters frighteningly vulnerable, writes Richard Newby. [The deep dive.]( —Bonne nouvelle. Two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster will receive a lifetime achievement Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. [The story.]( —Swifties rejoice! Taylor Swift has joined the ever growing cast of David O. Russell’s untitled next film. The movie also stars Margot Robbie, Christian Bale, John David Washington... no wait, there's more.... Rami Malek, Zoe Saldana, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Mike Myers, Robert De Niro, Michael Shannon, Timothy Olyphant and probably even more to come. [The story.]( In other news... —Universal Studios Hollywood will be [hiring]( more than 2,000 people over the summer. —Sophie Turner has been [cast]( in the HBO Max true crime limited series The Staircase. —In the Heights star Melissa Barrera to [topline]( Netflix’s survival drama Breathe. —Alamo Drafthouse is [set to open]( five new theaters after emerging from bankruptcy. —[Arlene Golonka]( actress on Broadway and Mayberry R.F.D., dies at 85. —[Romy Walthall]( actress in Face/Off and Camp Nowhere, dies at 57. —Sean Combs [teams]( with Salesforce to launch a digital marketplace for Black-owned businesses. —Coachella [officially announced dates]( for the 2022 festival. What else we're reading... —"Netflix Canceling Tuca & Bertie "Blindsided" Its Creator. Inside the Fight to Save It" [[Los Angeles Times]( —"Disney’s Defanged Villains Try to Pass Off Brand Management as Feminist Nuance" [[Slate]( —"Swizz Beatz: 'DMX Was a Hero. He Would Give Clothes Off His Hack to the Homeless'' [[The Guardian]( —"Bo Burnham’s Inside: A Comedy Special and an Inspired Experiment" [[New York Times]( —"Nicholas Braun on Zola, Succession Rumours and, Yep, Those Crocs" [[GQ]( Today... ... in 2002, HBO premiered David Simon’s The Wire. The Baltimore-set crime drama ended up spanning five seasons, and to this day is considered by many to be one of the best television shows ever created. [THR’s original review.]( Today's birthdays: Zachary Quinto (44), [Justin Long]( (43), Wayne Brady (49), Dominic Cooper (43), Andy Cohen (53) Robert Hogan, the prolific New York character actor who appeared on more than 100 TV series including Hogan’s Heroes, The Wire and Peyton Place, has died. He was 87. [The obituary.]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} by Penske Media Corporation. Please add email@email.hollywoodreporter.com to your address book to ensure delivery to your inbox. Visit the [Preferences Center]( to update your profile and customize what email alerts and newsletters you receive. Copyright © 2021 The Hollywood Reporter, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. All rights reserved. 11175 Santa Monica Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90025 [View in Browser]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Your Privacy Rights]( | [Ad Choices]( | [Terms of Use]( | [Unsubscribe](