THR's Blockbuster Oscars Issue; Tom Cruise and Paramount at Odds Over 'Mission: Impossible' Costs; Cannes Selects New President; 'Voltron' Movie Sparks Bidding War; 'CODA' Musical In the Works

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( March 24, 2022 What's news: It's magazine day! And this week's issue is a bumper Oscars edition. Four-time Oscar nominated sound mixer Peter Kurland is quitting the Academy over the telecast controversy. Iris Knobloch will be the next president of the Cannes Film Festival. Netflix and Alan Dershowitz and dropped their claims against each other over an Epstein doc. Plus: Kim Masters has a must-read story about the production difficulties and cost overruns on the next two Mission: Impossible films — [Abid Rahman]( THR's Blockbuster Oscars Issue ►Who will win, who should win. THR's award expert [Scott Feinberg]( and chief film critic [David Rooney]( continue an annual tradition and hash out the likely winners and the most deserving, respectively, ahead of Sunday's Oscars. [The picks.]( —Brutally honest Oscar ballot #2. We're back with another blistering banger, this time a member of the Academy's short films and feature animation branch was granted anonymity to speak freely and shares which films earned his precious vote (and why). And they really, really, really don't like blatantly "racist" Licorice Pizza. [The story.]( —"I can’t imagine a purpose for staying in an organization that doesn't respect my craft anymore." Peter Kurland, a four-time Oscar-nominated sound mixer best known for his decades-long collaboration with the Coen brothers, plans to resign from the Academy over its controversial decision not to present eight categories live during the Oscars broadcast. [The story.]( —Red carpet talk. Actors Vanessa Hudgens and Terrence J and fashion designer Brandon Maxwell will host The Oscars Red Carpet Show, the official lead-in to the Oscars on Sunday. The Oscars Red Carpet Show will air at 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT, on ABC before the Oscars broadcast, set for 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m PT. [The story.]( —The final few. Jason Momoa, Serena Williams, Venus Williams and J.K. Simmons are among the final list of stars announced to present at the Oscars. Josh Brolin, Jacob Elordi, Jake Gyllenhaal and Jill Scott will also be lending a helping hand. [The story.]( —Presidential seal of approval. THR has the scoop on what happened when the CODA cast eschewed the Oscar campaign trail for a quick trip to the White House, including how stars Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur, Marlee Matlin and Daniel Durant ended up with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office. [The story.]( —Hollywood is no longer the hot ticket. For the second year in a row, the Oscars ceremony will not be aired in China. The decision from Chinese broadcasters to forgo Hollywood’s most glamorous awards show comes as another indication of the growing difficulties U.S. entertainment faces in the world’s largest theatrical movie market. [The story.]( —"It was a giant moment for everyone." A blast from the past, as Scott Feinberg looks back at Beauty and the Beast's magical run to the 1992 Oscars. Thirty years after the Disney musical became the first animated film to land a best picture nomination, dozens connected with it — including studio honchos Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, campaign strategist Terry Press and animators and voice actors — reflect on making Hollywood history. [The story.]( The Real Mission Impossible: Saying "No" to Tom Cruise ►Cost protocol. Back in 2018, Paramount's cupboard was bare, and the studio had no surefire franchises outside of Mission: Impossible. So when star Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie made the pitch for the next two installments, it was an easy yes for studio heads. THR's editor-at-large [Kim Masters]( writes that COVID delays and spiraling inflation in the interim has led to a lawyered-up Cruise out-gunning Paramount execs over costs. [The story.]( —New president just dropped. Iris Knobloch has been picked to be the first-ever female president of the Cannes Film Festival. Knobloch, a former president of Warner Bros. France, will take over from Pierre Lescure, who was re-elected for a third term in 2020 and is planning to step down after this year’s festival. Knobloch would officially step into the post in 2023. [The story.]( —So, when you see me on the real, forming like Voltron. THR's [Borys Kit]( has the scoop on a Hollywood bidding war over a live-action adaptation of Voltron, the mecha anime featuring a giant robot. Red Notice's Rawson Marshall Thurber is attached to co-write and direct the feature, a hot package that has engendered multiple offers. WB, Universal and Amazon are among the six or seven studios and streamers in the mix for the package. [The story.]( —"The producers failed to meet those conditions." Citing safety issues, the Directors Guild of America has ordered its members to stop work on Oak, a low-budget film backed by Thomasville Pictures, one of the companies behind Rust. The Guild informed members late in the evening on March 15 that it intended to stop work on the teen genre movie shooting in Thomasville, Georgia, requiring members to leave the set or face union discipline. [The story.]( —More to come. Win or lose, we'll be seeing more CODA after this week with the news that Siân Heder’s film is getting a musical adaptation. CODA producers Vendôme Pictures and Pathé are partnering with Tony Award-winning Deaf West Theatre to develop a stage musical adaptation of the film. [The story.]( —Oz, the great and the fired. The Biden administration is seeking the resignations of Dr. Mehmet Oz and Herschel Walker from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition, warning that failure to quit the posts would lead to termination. Oz, who is running for the senate, declined to resign. [The story.]( The Interactive Theater of Ketanji Brown Jackson's Confirmation Hearing ►"A mediocre drama of vengeance and score-settling that continues to erode confidence in the state." THR's [Lovia Gyarkye]( writes that the opening two days of the first Black woman Supreme Court nominee's Senate confirmation hearing saw a circus of condescension and distortion from the right, cycles of praise and projection from the left, and a familiar exemplar of calm and endurance at the center of it all. [The critic's notebook.]( —Dismissed. Netflix and Alan Dershowitz have agreed to drop dueling claims over Filthy Rich, a docuseries exploring the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Dershowitz dismissed his defamation lawsuit, while Netflix and series producer Leroy & Morton Productions dismissed their counterclaims against the Harvard Law professor accusing him of trying to chill their free speech rights. [The story.]( —Double celebration. The winners of the 37th annual Artios Awards were handed out in a virtual ceremony on Wednesday, during which the Casting Society also celebrated its 40th anniversary. Film winners included Encanto, Don’t Look Up, CODA and Zola, while Call My Agent, Lovecraft Country, Pose, Ted Lasso and The Queens Gambit were among the winners in the television categories. [The winners list.]( —First look! Netflix has released 12 shots from the hotly-anticipated fourth season of Stranger Things. I'm not ruining anything by saying the pictures are mostly of people looking at things that look bad. Season four of the show is set to be released in two volumes, with the first set of episodes dropping on May 27. [The first look pictures.]( —New lead. Apple TV+’s drama Truth Be Told has lined up a new co-lead for its third season. Gabrielle Union has joined the series to star opposite Octavia Spencer. She boards the anthology after Aaron Paul and Lizzy Caplan (season one) and Kate Hudson (season two) shared top billing with Spencer. [The story.]( TV review: 'Julia' ►"Lancashire's towering turn elevates an all-too-conventional biopic." THR's chief TV critic [Dan Feinberg]( reviews HBO Max's Julia. Sarah Lancashire plays iconic TV cook Julia Child in this eight-episode dramedy about the earliest days of The French Chef. [The review.]( —"Consistently fizzy charm elevated by Matafeo's irrepressible energy." Dan reviews season two of HBO Max's Starstruck. Kiwi comedian Rose Matafeo's under-the-radar gem returns for another season of London-set screwball rom-com hijinks. [The review.]( —"A stirring survival story." THR's chief film critic [David Rooney]( reviews Lachlan McLeod’s Clean. Sandra Pankhurst, the founder of a trauma cleaning service whose own life experience would leave many people damaged beyond repair, is the inspirational subject of this documentary. [The review.]( In other news... —Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer [enlists Tony Goldwyn]( —Directors guild [names team to lead network negotiations]( —Bridgerton star [Nicola Coughlan misses premiere after testing positive for COVID-19]( —Taron Egerton [tests positive for COVID-19, will isolate before returning to West End show]( —Warren Beatty, Pam Grier, Drew Barrymore, Kevin Bacon [headed to TCM Classic Film Festival]( —Crooked Media [strikes multiyear ad sales deal with SiriusXM]( —Google to [reduce app commission fees for Spotify under expanded pact]( —Angelini Restaurant [opens second location in Palisades Village]( —Fox Nation [sets treasure hunt show from Duck Dynasty stars]( —Kevin and Frankie Jonas [to host celebrity relative reality show for ABC]( —Mammoth names [James Penny CEO, Samantha McMillon managing director]( —Dallas icon Linda Gray lists a Quincy Jones-designed [California compound]( What else we're reading... —How Western news is getting around Putin's digital Iron Curtain [[Atlantic]( —A trip down memory lane with a fun read on the good, bad and ugly attempts at hosting the Oscars [[Wapo]( —Paul MacInnes' convincing case for West Side Story to win best film [[Guardian]( —Expose on Hillsong, the megachurch made famous by stars like Justin Bieber, that's at the center of yet more scandal [[Daily Beast]( —Danny Glover on acting, activism and his honorary Oscar [[NYT]( Today... ...in 2005, America met Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute in NBC’s The Office. An adaptation of the U.K. series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, The Office grew into a network staple for nine seasons and later NBCU paid $100 million a year for exclusive streaming rights to the show. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: [Jessica Chastain]( (45), Lake Bell (43), Jim Parsons (49), Lara Flynn Boyle (52), Alyson Hannigan (48), Kelly LeBrock (62), Finn Jones (34), Tig Notaro (51), Keisha Castle-Hughes (32), Robert Carradine (68), Amir Arison (44), Amanda Brugel (44), Mark Calaway (57), Andrew Jarecki (59), Mary Berry (87), James Napier Robertson (40), Tim Federle (42), Eddie Peng (40) Madeleine Albright, the first female U.S. Secretary of State, has died of cancer, her family said Wednesday. She was 84. [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. 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