Taylor Swift Wins Big at MTV VMAs; Britney Posts and Deletes Audio Detailing Horrors of Conservatorship; THR's Venice Fest Coverage Begins; 'The Invitation' Opens to $7M On Slow Weekend

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( August 29, 2022 What's news: Taylor Swift won video of the year as Johnny Depp made a bizarre appearance at the VMAs. Britney Spears posted and deleted 22 minutes of audio detailing her conservatorship. Sydney Sweeney has addressed the backlash against her Instagram posts. J.K. Rowling reveal she chose not to take part in the Harry Potter reunion special. Apple is ramping up its kids programming — [Abid Rahman]( MTV Video Music Awards 2022 ►Winning awards (Taylor's Version). Taylor Swift won video of the year for “All Too Well” at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night. Swift, revealed she is dropping her new album on Oct. 21, set two records with the win: becoming the only artist ever to win three VMAs for video of the year and the first artist to win for a video they directed. Nicki Minaj, Lizzo, Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dove Cameron and BLACKPINK also were among the winners. [The full winners list.]( —"I needed the work." Johnny Depp made a bizarre appearance at the MTV VMAs as the famous “Moon Person,” with his face digitally superimposed inside the helmet of the floating figure during the show’s opening moments. A similar clip, pre-taped before the live awards show, was posted to the actor’s Instagram page. [The story.]( —"Why don’t you clap back? Because bitch, I’m winning." Lizzo took home the Video for Good award at the VMAs, and used her time on stage to share a message with young voters in the audience and respond to comedian Aries Spears’ fat-shaming comments that recently went viral. [The story.]( —"I never ever in my life have written a speech and today I jotted something down on my phone." Nicki Minaj received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the VMAs. This marked the rapper’s first onstage performance since 2018, and her seventh performance on the VMA stage. The rapper began her performance in a Nicki-themed Barbie box, followed by a medley of her greatest hits over the years. [The story.]( —"I dedicate this to Taylor and his family." The Red Hot Chili Peppers were honored with the Global Icon Award at the VMAs on Sunday. The L.A. natives were presented the honor by comedy duo Cheech & Chong after having performed two songs. Drummer Chad Smith dedicated the award to his “brother” Taylor Hawkins, the late Foo Fighters drummer. [The story.]( More from the 2022 MTV VMAs... —Billy Eichner [calls out Supreme Court “homophobes” at VMAs]( —VMAs: The details behind [the most talked-about looks on Taylor Swift, Lil Nas X and more]( —Eminem and Snoop Dogg [bring metaverse to the VMAs with “From the D 2 The LBC” performance]( —VMAs: Bad Bunny [performs from Yankee Stadium, makes history with Artist of the Year win]( Britney Posts Audio Detailing Horrors of Conservatorship ►"They made me feel like nothing." A brutally honest 22-minute audio clip was uploaded to, and then deleted from, Britney Spears’ official YouTube channel Sunday night that appears to be the singer detailing the chronology and horrors of her conservatorship. In the audio, Spears offers harrowing background on the court-ordered conservatorship she was put under in 2008, and which lasted for 13 years. [The story.]( —"Please stop making assumptions." Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney has addressed the backlash to a series of photos she posted from her mother’s 60th birthday party. Among the photos is an image of an unidentified man wearing a thin blue line t-shirt, a symbol of the pro-police countermovement created in response to Black Lives Matter. [The story.]( —Betting big on kids TV. THR's [Rick Porter]( has the scoop on Apple TV+ ramping up its slate of kids and family programming for the fall. The streamer will debut four new series and offer up new seasons of five returning shows, including Ghostwriter — with an entirely new cast for its third installment — and Hello, Jack! The Kindness Show. Apple will also add eight Peanuts specials to its library as part of its partnership with rights holder WildBrain. [The story.]( —"No one said don’t come." J.K. Rowling says that it was her choice not to appear in the HBO Max Harry Potter reunion that aired on Jan. 1. In a new interview, Rowling clarified her absence beyond archival footage in Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, adding that she felt the special was more about the films than the books. [The story.]( —[Moses, ninja!]( John Boyega is helping shape the story for the anticipated follow-up to his 2011 indie alien invasion actioner Attack the Block. In a new interview, Boyega opened up about how his new producer duties were impacting his involvement with the film’s script. According to the actor, the story is being “presented” by both him and Attack the Block‘s writer and director Joe Cornish. [The story.]( Venice: THR Critic's 6 Most Anticipated Titles ►Best of the fest. With the 79th Venice Film Festival opening this week, THR's chief film critic [David Rooney]( selects a half-dozen potential standouts, including new works from Luca Guadagnino, Darren Aronofsky, Joanna Hogg and Martin McDonagh. [The selection.]( —"The red carpet will be open to the audience again." Ahead of the Venice Film Festival kicking off this week, THR's [Scott Roxborough]( spoke to festival director Alberto Barbera about his hopes for the 79th edition of the event. In an in depth discussion, Barbera spoke about coming back big post-COVID, whether the debate over Netflix killing cinema is over and the controversial picks in the 2022 lineup. [The interview.]( —"It’s distressing for the victims." South Korean film organizations are heaping criticism on the Venice Film Festival in response to a decision to screen Call of God, the final film of the late Korean auteur Kim Ki-duk despite the multiple sexual abuse allegations he was facing prior to his death. Venice director Alberto Barbera elaborated to THR on his rationale for including Kim’s final film, saying, "Sometimes people that make good things do bad things." [The story.]( —ICYMI. THR's executive awards editor [Scott Feinberg]( looks over the lineup of the 79th Venice Film Festival and finds that it is jam-packed with Oscar hopefuls as any yet. Bardo, Bones & All, The Son, Tár, The Whale and White Noise are but a few of the highly-touted titles headed to the world's oldest film fest. [The analysis.]( Saving Fredric March ►"He couldn't have done what he's accused of doing." As Turner Classic Movies gets ready to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Oscar-winning actor Fredric March's birth, host Ben Mankiewicz is among those calling it a "misconception" that the long-time civil rights champion once supported the Ku Klux Klan. [The story.]( —"It’s such a momentous event, you wanna be there in real time." As NASA prepares for Monday’s scheduled launch of its Artemis I rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, THR's [Carolyn Giardina]( spoke to the team at Felix & Paul Studios — the studio behind Emmy-winning VR program Space Explorers: The ISS Experience — who are behind the unique live stream in virtual reality. [The story.]( —Serious allegations. Arcade Fire's Win Butler has been accused of sexual misconduct by four people. In a report published by Pitchfork, four people claimed that they’d had sexual interactions with Butler when they were between the ages of 18 and 23 that they deemed inappropriate; one claimed that they’d been sexually assaulted by the musician. In a statement to Pitchfork, Butler said that the extramarital relationships were consensual. [The story.]( —Nothing but Trouble reunion. Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase have signed up to star in Zombie Town, a mystery teen romancer based on author R.L. Stine’s book of the same name. The indie, now shooting in Ontario, also stars Henry Czerny and co-teen leads Marlon Kazadi and Madi Monroe. The ensemble cast includes Scott Thompson and Bruce McCulloch of the Canadian comedy show Kids in the Hall. Animator Peter Lepeniotis will direct. [The story.]( Box Office: 'The Invitation' Opens to $7M On Slow Weekend ►Scarily quiet. Sony’s The Invitation limped to No. 1 domestically with $7m from 3,114 theaters in its opening. Overseas, it started off with $1.6m from its first 19 markets, many of them smaller, for a global start of $8.6m. THR's [Pamela McClintock]( writes that the horror film, which is doing best among younger females, has been largely dismissed by critics, while it earned a C CinemaScore from audiences (it isn’t unusual for horror fare to get a C grade). George Miller’s new film Three Thousand Years of Longing, starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton, which made a splashy world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, opened to an estimated $2.9m from 2,436 locations for a seventh-place finish. And Bleecker Street’s specialty movie Breaking opted to launch in 902 locations. Projections show the John Boyega thriller debuting to an estimated $1.1m for a potential 14th place finish. [The box office report.]( —Desperate times. Despite a thin selection of films to show, theaters are angling for Labor Day business with tickets priced at $3 or less on Sept. 3 in celebration of the first-ever National Cinema Day. More than 3,000 movie theaters will participate in the one-day event, which will apply to tickets for all formats, including Imax. [The story.]( In other news... —Colin Kaepernick and Nessa Diab [welcome baby]( —Mark Ruffalo [praises EPA labeling 2 “forever chemicals” as hazardous substances]( —Wiz Khalifa concert [stopped after disturbance, leaving three people injured]( —Netflix strikes [anime deal with Nippon TV For 13 titles]( —Succession, Stranger Things [win Location Managers Guild Awards]( —[Mable John]( first female solo artist signed by Motown, dies at 91 What else we're reading... —Interesting piece from Lucas Shaw on how critics and fans have never been further apart on their appraisals of films [[Bloomberg]( —Christian Brooks looks at why the next Mario Kart game could be the victim of the current title's success [[BBC]( —Nicolas Rapold looks at the ongoing difficulties distributors face with titles and subtitles for non-English films [[NYT]( —Stephanie Yang has a fascinating story on the trouble multinational companies are having in exiting China [[LAT]( —Sara Ziegler and Leo Dominguez have an excellent visual piece demonstrating how incredible and dominant Serena Williams was [[NYT]( Today... ...in 1933, MGM’s star-studded big-screen adaptation of Dinner at Eight, directed by George Cukor, made its world premiere in New York. The film starred a veritable who's who of Hollywood at the time, including Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, Lee Tracy, Edmund Lowe, and Billie Burke. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Rebecca De Mornay (63), Carla Gugino (51), [Nicole Byer]( (36), Charlotte Ritchie (33), William Friedkin (87), Jen Landon (39), Lea Michele (36), Emily Hampshire (41), Elliott Gould (84), Lenny Henry (64), Dante Basco (47), Jay Ryan (41), Beth Dover (44), Lauren Collins (36), Maite Schwartz (43), Candis Cayne (51), Tom Six (49), Courtney Stodden (28) Bob LuPone, who as an actor earned a Tony nomination in the original run of A Chorus Line and went on to help found and lead the influential off-Broadway theater company MCC Theater for almost 40 years, has died. He was 76. LuPone, brother of Broadway icon Patti LuPone, died Saturday following a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer. 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