Jackie Avant Shot and Killed in Beverly Hills Home; Hollywood's Sobering New Reality of Fentanyl Lacing; Virgil Abloh's Final LV Show; THR Documentary Roundtable

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( December 02, 2021 What's news: Hollywood is reeling from the shocking death of Jackie Avant. Susan Arnold is Disney's new Chairman of the Board. UTA is going public. Alfonso Cuarón has set his Apple TV series. Plus: Awkwafina is joining Univeral's monster movie Renfield and AMC has handed out a series order for Anne Rice's Lives of the Mayfair Witches — [Abid Rahman]( Hollywood's Sobering New Reality of Fentanyl Lacing ►"People often don’t know that they’re taking it." Fentanyl, the ultra-powerful synthetic painkiller, is increasingly mixed with other drugs, from cocaine to Xanax and Adderall, leading to a spate of high-profile overdoses and deaths across the entertainment community. Michael K. Williams, Mac Miller and comedians Fuquan Johnson, Natalie Williamson and Ricky Angeli have all died after taking fentanyl-laced drugs recently. THR's [Gary Baum]( and [Evan Nicole Brown]( investigate the worrying rise of fentanyl in the social scene in and around the entertainment industry and how in Hollywood, where cocaine use has long been a party aid of choice, to the point of caricature, fentanyl’s infiltration into the illicit market has put everyone on edge — what was once simply the risky business of indulgence can now be a far more lethal gamble. [The story.]( —"The perfect choice." The Walt Disney Company’s board of directors has named Susan Arnold, a 14-year member of the board, as its new chairman to succeed outgoing chair Bob Iger. Arnold will begin as chairman of the board Dec. 31, after Iger leaves Disney at the end of the year. [The story.]( —Going public. Through a SPAC, United Talent Agency has priced its initial public offering at $200 million, and plans to use that capital to pursue a company in the gaming, creator economy, and digital media sectors. UTA expects to begin trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker “UTAAU” Thursday. [The story.]( —Prestige TV. Alfonso Cuarón is going big for his first TV series for Apple, roping in fellow Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline for Disclaimer. The streamer has handed out a straight-to-series order for the thriller, with Cuarón set to write, direct and exec produce all episodes of the drama based on the novel of the same name by Renée Knight. [The story.]( —"This isn’t what was; it’s what’s next." Michael Patrick King, the creative force behind Sex and the City, opens up to THR's [Lacey Rose]( about Kim Cattrall's absence, Willie Garson's death and what he wanted to say with his Carrie Bradshaw update for HBO Max, And Just Like That. [The interview.]( Jackie Avant Shot and Killed in Beverly Hills Home ►Shock. Jackie Avant, the philanthropist and wife of legendary music executive Clarence Avant, was shot and killed Wednesday in their Beverly Hills home, police said. She was 81. Clarence Avant was not injured in the attack. “I don’t think it’s a random attack,” said Beverly Hills Police Chief Mark G. Stainbrook. “Crime of any type will not be tolerated and we will not rest until the suspect or suspects are brought to justice.” Following the news, Tyler Perry, Quincy Jones, Viola Davis, Magic Johnson, Bill Clinton and other Hollywood figures took to social media to pay tribute to Avant. [The story.]( —"Not matters of legitimate public interest." Meghan Markle won the latest stage in her long-running privacy lawsuit against a British newspaper publisher over its publication of parts of a letter she wrote to her estranged father. The Court of Appeal in London upheld a ruling in February that the publisher of The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline unlawfully breached Markle’s privacy. [The story.]( —Leading the way. Netflix has followed through on its commitment to address systemic racism by shifting 2 percent of its cash holdings, or $100 million, to financial institutions that support Black communities in the U.S. The streaming giant said the cash was fully allocated to six financial institutions and the goal was ensuring more home and small-business loans are distributed in Black communities, especially those impacted by the pandemic. [The story.]( —"He made a lot of people feel seen" THR's [Laurie Brookins]( was at Louis Vuitton's Spring Summer 2022 menswear presentation in Miami, a fashion show that became a celebration of the life and creativity of the late Virgil Abloh. Rihanna, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian West, Joe Jonas and others, including one highly controversial couple, were among guests for the event that ultimately proved to be profoundly moving for many in the audience, who hugged each other and wept as they watched. [The critic's notebook.]( THR Documentary Roundtable ►"I didn’t want to leave any stone unturned." THR's [Rebecca Keegan]( sits down with documentarians Questlove, Todd Haynes, Liz Garbus, Jimmy Chin, Robert Greene, Jonas Poher Rasmussen and Betsy West to discuss the unique challenges in making their award-contending films, creating a safe set and crafting their films amid the pandemic and persisting when they keep hearing “no.” [The roundtable.]( —Casting news. Cara Delevingne has joined the cast of Hulu’s mystery comedy Only Murders in the Building. The Brit model-slash-actress will play a character named Alice, who’s described as a sophisticated art world insider who becomes enmeshed in the mystery. Delevingne joins regulars Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Aaron Dominguez and Amy Ryan. [The story.]( —Franchise play. AMC has handed out a series order for Anne Rice’s Lives of the Mayfair Witches. The formal green light comes three months after AMC announced it was developing Mayfair as the next show in its Rice universe which already includes an Interview With a Vampire series. The eight-episode series will be written and exec produced by Masters of Sex duo Esta Spalding and Michelle Ashford, with Spalding serving as showrunner. [The story.]( —Stellar ensemble. A raft of big names are joining Christian Bale in Scott Cooper's Gothic horror thriller The Pale Blue Eye. Gillian Anderson, Robert Duvall, Timothy Spall, Lucy Boynton, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Toby Jones and Harry Lawtey have joined the cast of the Netflix feature that focuses on an attempt to solve a series of murders that took place at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1830. [The story.]( —Added to the mix. Awkwafina is joining Nicholas Hoult and Nicolas Cage in Universal Pictures’ monster movie Renfield. The Tomorrow War director Chris McKay is helming the feature project, which is due to begin shooting early next year in New Orleans. [The story.]( Review: 'Nightmare Alley' ►"A luminous noir vision." THR film critic [Sheri Linden]( reviews Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Richard Jenkins and Toni Collette. In the second big-screen interpretation of the 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham, a mind-reading showman meets his match in a high-society psychoanalyst. [The review.]( —"Silly and salacious, if not sufficiently subversive." THR's chief TV critic [Dan Fienberg]( reviews Alexandra Rushfield's Santa Inc. Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman topline HBO Max's raunchy and satirical tribute to the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials. [The review.]( —"Emotionally powerful, if understandably unfocused." Dan reviews Andy Ostroy's Adrienne. Waitress writer-director, and Hal Hartley's muse, Adrienne Shelly's all too-brief life gets the HBO documentary treatment courtesy of her husband, Ostroy. [The review.]( —This Week in TV. THR's [Rick Porter]( runs down the TV premieres, returns and specials over the next seven days. Things to look out for over the coming week include the second part of the fifth and final season of Netflix's Money Heist, the second and final season of PEN15 and HBO's drama series Landscapers starring Olivia Colman and David Thewlis. [The full guide.]( In other news... —Juliette Lewis, Ed Begley Jr. board [Queer as Folk reboot at Peacock]( —Dev Patel’s Minor Realm [bolsters film, TV production team]( —Sophie Kinsella’s YA novel [Finding Audrey getting movie treatment]( —ViacomCBS releases 2021 [diversity, equity & inclusion report]( —Sandra Bullock lists stylishly renovated [Sierra Towers condo for $4.5m]( —Deadliest Catch creator [Thom Beers lists "zen retreat"-style home for $8.5m]( —[Carlos Santana has heart procedure]( cancels December shows —Stacey Abrams launches [second campaign for Georgia governor]( —[Harriet Halpern Beck]( longtime entertainment attorney, dies at 80 —NBCU reality show streamer [Hayu launches in India]( What else we're reading... —"I’ve Healed. I Don’t Want To Be The Badass" – Noomi Rapace On Beating Her Dragon Tattoo Trauma [[The Guardian]( —HIV/AIDS Orgs: DaBaby Ghosted Us and Didn’t Donate a Dime [[Daily Beast]( —The Great West Side Story Debate [[New York Times]( —French Dispatch Crew Explains How It Pulled Off The Movie’s Quietly Impossible Tracking Shot [[Vulture]( —James Patterson’s Dream Writing Partner? Putin or the Pope [[Wall Street Journal]( Today... Today's birthdays: Britney Spears (40), Alfred Enoch (33), Celeste O'Connor (23), Lucy Liu (53), Annalise Basso (23), Nelly Furtado (43), Penelope Spheeris (76), Kashmira Shah (50), Brendan Coyle (59), [Joe Lo Truglio]( (51), Steven Bauer (65), Jana Kramer (38), Rena Sofer (53) Jonshel Alexander, a one-time child actor who played a supporting role in the 2012 Oscar-nominated film Beasts of the Southern Wild, was killed in a weekend shooting in her native Louisiana. She was 22. [The obituary.]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} by Penske Media Corporation. 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