How Fallon and Kimmel Pulled Off Their April Fools' Switch; 'Elvis' to Premiere at Cannes; Asghar Farhadi Guilty of Plagiarizing 'A Hero'; 'Fantastic Beasts 3' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( April 05, 2022 What's news: The Grammys narrowly avoided an all-time low in TV ratings. The fallout continues from Louis C.K.'s Grammys win. Kanye pulls out of Coachella headline spot. Harrison Ford signs up for Apple TV+ series Shrinking. FKA Twigs is the female lead in The Crow reboot. Britney Spears is writing a book. Plus: Two-time Oscar-winner Asghar Farhadi has lost a plagiarism case related to his film A Hero — [Abid Rahman]( How Fallon and Kimmel Pulled Off Their April Fools' Switch ►"Our producers were talking to each other every day for the past month." THR's [Lacey Rose]( has the inside story on how Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon pulled off swapping late-night shows, cities, staffs and networks on April Fools' Day, and moreover, kept such an epic stunt a secret for so long. [The story.]( —Barely avoiding disaster. The Grammy Awards narrowly avoided setting a second straight all-time ratings low. The show drew 8.93 million viewers in time zone-adjusted fast national ratings from Nielsen. That’s an increase of about 130,000 viewers from the comparable figures last year, which were an all-time low for the awards. [The ratings.]( —It happened at the French film festival. Cannes has confirmed that Baz Luhrmann's hotly-anticipated Elvis Presley biopic Elvis will have its world premiere at the 75th edition of the film festival. The Aussie filmmaker will be in attendance as will the film's stars Austin Butler, Tom Hanks and Olivia DeJonge. [The story.]( —Ye's out. Kanye West has pulled out of his headlining set at Coachella this year. West’s festival appearance was already shrouded in controversy over his ongoing public feud with ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her boyfriend Pete Davidson. A Change.org petition called for West's removal from the festival lineup and has since garnered more than 49,000 signatures and counting. [The story.]( —"It eats at me watching it over and over again because you’ve seen a loved one being attacked." Kenny Rock is weighing in on the incident between his brother Chris Rock and Will Smith at the Oscars. In a recent interview, Kenny said the incident has continued to affect him in the days since. He added that his brother was “no threat” to Smith, who “had no respect” for the comedian and “belittled” him in front of the millions of viewers. [The story.]( Iranian Court Finds Asghar Farhadi Guilty of Plagiarizing 'A Hero' ►"The ruling is binding and cannot be appealed." A court in Iran has found two-time Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi guilty of stealing the premise for his film, A Hero, from an earlier documentary, All Winners All Losers, made by Azadeh Masihzadeh, a former film student of Farhadi’s. A second judge will now determine Farhadi’s punishment. In the worst case, the director could be forced to hand over “all income earned" earned from the film to Masihzadeh, and could even face time in prison. A Hero premiered at Cannes last year, winning the Grand Jury prize. [The story.]( —Biggest role yet. Brit singer FKA Twigs is set to co-star in the reboot and re-imagining of The Crow, the supernatural revenge thriller being directed by Rupert Sanders. Twigs is playing the girlfriend/fiancée. The role was not significant in the original movie but sources say that in this re-imagining, the part has been re-conceived into a co-lead. [The story.]( —Ain't no stopping the Kid. Fresh off an appearance in A24's X, Kid Cudi is set to star in John Woo's action thriller Silent Night. The Grammy-winning rapper, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, is joining a cast that includes Joel Kinnaman, Harold Torres and Catalina Sandino Moreno. [The story.]( —"I’ve never been able to express openly." Britney Spears has confirmed she is writing a book. In an Instagram post shared Monday, the pop star shared the news and detailed how “healing” yet difficult the writing process has been. Spears did not offer any more details of the book, such as a release date, or confirm reports that it has been picked up by a publisher. [The story.]( Blame Louis C.K.'s Grammy Comeback on Comedy's Gatekeepers ►"In comedy, it’s still a good time to be a sexual abuser." In a guest column for THR, L.A.-based comedian Mona Shaikh considers the ramifications of Louis C.K.'s Grammy win, writing that the comedy industry hasn't changed at all since C.K.'s supposed public downfall in 2017 after he admitted to sexual misconduct: "The message this award sends to C.K.'s victims and other female comics and comedy writers is that their cries will fall on deaf ears – and might well backfire." [The story.]( —No mechanism to stop this from happening. Louis C.K.'s win at the Grammys on Sunday has set off a storm of recriminations and raised awkward questions for the Recording Academy. But the matter is, under current rules, the Grammys don't take personal history into account when determining eligibility for its awards and C.K. simply got more votes. [The analysis](. —"He uses that to assault women as if it’s nothing." Japanese director Sion Sono has been accused by two women of sexual assault and offering parts in his films in return for sex. The allegations against Sono, who directed Nicolas Cage in last year's Prisoners of the Ghostland, follow similar accusations against another Japanese director and an actor last month. [The story.]( Ken Burns on Benjamin Franklin, the State of Documentary ►"Franklin is great because he just busts out of that powered wig era and says, ‘Nope, I am like you.'" Ken Burns is out with his latest documentary, PBS' Benjamin Franklin. THR's [Katie Kilkenny]( spoke to Burns about why modern events don’t change his telling of history, what viewers in 2022 can learn from Benjamin Franklin’s story and his take on the recent boom in documentary filmmaking. [The interview.]( —An offer Lionsgate couldn't resist. Amazon has acquired the U.S. rights to Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel’s Shotgun Wedding romantic action comedy from Lionsgate. The streaming platform earlier picked up the international streaming rights to the Jason Moore-helmed pic. Lionsgate initially planned a wide U.S. theatrical release for the movie until the Amazon deal. [The story.]( —It's the pictures that got small. Harrison Ford will take on his first ongoing TV series role in a comedy for Apple TV+. Ford will star with Jason Segel in Shrinking, which comes from Ted Lasso producers Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein and Segel. The series, picked up in October 2021, centers a grieving therapist (Segel) who begins to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. [The story.]( —New production platform just dropped. Ebony Media has launched an all-inclusive, full-service production platform to develop and produce content exploring the diverse spectrum of Black culture. Known as Ebony Studios, the platform will amplify the voices of both established and emerging people of color with the goal to illuminate and reflect Black experiences and perspectives. [The story.]( Film review: 'Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore' ►"More focused but not any less disappointing." THR critic [Lovia Gyarkye]( reviews David Yates' Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Featuring an all-star cast, the third installment of the Wizarding World franchise, Newt Scamander and his friends try to stop Grindelwald from attaining power. [The review.]( —"Plenty of innings left in the material." THR critic [David Rooney]( reviews the Broadway revival of Take Me Out. Jesse Williams and Jesse Tyler Ferguson star in Richard Greenberg’s 2004 Tony-winning play about the fallout when a Major League baseballer goes public with his sexuality. [The review.]( —"A compelling story undone by poor focus and repetitive storytelling." THR's chief TV critic [Dan Fienberg]( reviews HBO’s The Invisible Pilot. Adam McKay executive produced this three-part documentary, which focuses on crop-dusting, drug-smuggling, Iran-Contra and decades of family trauma. [The review.]( In other news... —Webby Awards: [Stephen Colbert, Drew Barrymore and Jon Stewart among podcast nominees]( —Spotify podcast [Batman Unburied set to release next month]( —Weta FX opens [Vancouver office amid global expansion]( —Jon Batiste [secretly married Suleika Jaouad before her bone marrow transplant]( —Directors guild of Canada B.C. [calls strike authorization vote]( —Hollywood flashback: In 1957, the Confidential trial [scandalized Hollywood]( —Thai filmmaker [Banjong Pisanthanakun to direct serial killer series for Amazon]( —MIPTV: [HBO Max international boss calls global streaming a “three-horse race,” targets 40 non-U.S. originals by 2023]( —MIPTV: [MHz Choice takes North American rights on French series Paris Police, UFOs]( —MIPTV: [Ukraine TV industry asks for global support to continue operating]( —MIPTV: [Sony talks Bad Wolf acquisition, sets The Winter King as first series]( —[Mantas Kvedaravicius]( Lithuanian documentary filmmaker, dies in Ukraine at 45 —Sony hires former Westbrook producer [Serita Wesley to oversee U.S. entertainment podcasts]( What else we're reading... —Lachlan Cartwright writes that the leadership at CAA clashed over what to do with Will Smith after the slap [[Daily Beast]( —A lap dog historian exposes Bridgerton’s beloved corgi as a total fraud [[Slate]( —A new book claims that Biden called Rupert Murdoch the "most dangerous man in the world" [[CNN]( —Spencer Kornhaber on the reason for Zelensky’s surprise Grammy appearance [[Atlantic]( —With book banning efforts surging in 2021, here's a list of the titles were the most targeted [[NYT]( Today... Today's birthdays: Roger Corman (96), Lily James (33), Hayley Atwell (40), Agnetha Fältskog (72), Sterling K. Brown (46), Pharrell Williams (49), Freddie Fox (33), Tom Riley (41), Olly Sholotan (24), Mitch Pileggi (70), Jane Asher (76), Andrea Arnold (61), Peter Greenaway (80), [Christopher Reid]( (58), Josh Boone (43), Anthony Horowitz (67), Élodie Bouchez (48), Stewart Lee (54), Larry Franco (73) John Zaritsky, the veteran Canadian filmmaker who earned an Oscar in 1983 for best documentary feature for Just Another Missing Kid, has died. He was 79. [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 © 2022 The Hollywood Reporter, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. 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