Murdoch Contemplating Fox-News Corp. Merger; Mel Gibson to Testify at Weistein Trial; 'The Crown' S5 First Look Revealed; Netflix's 'The Watcher' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( October 15, 2022 What's news: Harry Potter and Cracker star Robbie Coltrane has died at 72. Joel McHale has been cast as the lead in the Fox comedy Animal Control. Iranian director Mani Haghighi was prevented from boarding a plane to attend the London Film Festival. — [Abid Rahman]( Robbie Coltrane 1950 - 2022 ►"He was forensically intelligent and brilliantly witty." Robbie Coltrane, the veteran comic and actor known for his star turns in the British crime series Cracker and the Harry Potter movie franchise, has died. He was 72. The boisterous and decidedly eccentric Scotsman, who began his career in comedy and theater, also commanded the screen in two James Bond films during an illustrious career on both sides of the Atlantic. [The obituary.]( —"You made us a family." The cast of the Harry Potter film franchise are mourning the death of Robbie Coltrane, who memorably played Rubeus Hagrid, the giant groundskeeper at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Castmembers took to social media to remember their late co-star, including Emma Watson, Tom Felton and more: "He was a big friendly giant on screen but even more so in real life." [The reaction.]( Murdoch Contemplating Fox-News Corp. Merger ►Backwards to go forwards. Rupert Murdoch is considering whether to recombine his media empire. The 91-year-old media mogul is contemplating a merger of Fox Corp. and News Corp., a deal that — if it happens — would bring the entertainment and media brands together a decade after they were split apart. Fox and News Corp. said Friday they have each formed a special committee to explore a combination. [The story.]( —Cleared to testify. Mel Gibson can testify about what he learned from one of Harvey Weinstein’s accusers, a judge ruled Friday in the rape and sexual assault trial of the disgraced movie mogul. Gibson was one of many witnesses, and by far the best known, whose identities were revealed in Los Angeles Superior Court. [The story.]( —Back to broadcast comedy. Joel McHale has been cast as the lead in the Fox comedy Animal Control. The straight-to-series single-camera workplace comedy, set to debut midseason on the network, follows a group of local Animal Control workers whose lives are complicated by the fact that animals are simple, but humans are not. [The story.]( —Great start. David Gordon Green’s Halloween Ends scared up a healthy $5.4m in Thursday previews at the domestic box office. The movie hopes to clear $50m-plus in its domestic debut, despite also being made available simultaneously on Universal’s streamer, Peacock. [The box office report.]( In Halting Twitter Suit, Musk May Have Cornered Himself ►Little wiggle room. Elon Musk, under federal investigation for conduct related to his acquisition of Twitter, said that the $44b deal will move forward. THR's [Winston Cho]( writes that if the purchase falls through and litigation proceeds, he could be blocked from re-raising arguments that he's allowed to terminate the transaction. [The analysis.]( —🤝 Overall deal 🤝 House of the Dragon exec producer and writer Sara Hess has signed a new, two-year overall deal with HBO. Under the pact, Hess will continue her role on HOTD’s upcoming second season as well as continue to develop new projects for the premium outlet. [The story.]( —🤝 Talent and development deal 🤝 Adrienne Bailon-Houghton, a former host of The Real, is making a home at NBCUniversal. The Daytime Emmy winner has signed a talent and development deal with the company. Under the deal, Bailon-Houghton will look to host and produce unscripted programming across NBCU’s various platforms. [The story.]( 'The Crown' S5 First Look Revealed ►Third and final cast change. Netflix has released the first photos for the fifth season of The Crown. The 10-episode season releases Nov. 9. In season 5, set in the ’90s, Netflix says the Royal family is presented with possibly its biggest challenge to date, as the public openly questions its role. [The images.]( —Troubling. The ongoing clampdown on filmmakers in Iran is continuing at a worrying pace. Mani Haghighi is the latest to be impacted, the actor and director having been prevented from leaving Iran to attend the BFI London Film Festival, where his film Subtraction was due to premiere on Oct. 15. THR's [Alex Ritman]( reports that Haghighi was stopped at the airport in Iran and had his passport confiscated. He has since returned to his home in Tehran. [The story.]( —"Pure imagination on behalf of this director." Russell Crowe is disputing a claim that he had a rough audition to star opposite Julia Roberts in the 1997 hit romantic comedy My Best Friend’s Wedding. Crowe took to Twitter to address the film’s director, P.J. Hogan, having told author Scott Meslow in the book From Hollywood With Love that Crowe sat down for a table read with Roberts during the casting process. Hogan referred to it as "one of the worst table reads I’ve ever experienced." [The story.]( —"He’s super nice to fans. He wasn’t very nice to us." Rob Schneider claims Bill Murray “absolutely hated” the cast of Saturday Night Live when the latter hosted the NBC sketch comedy series. Schneider, appearing on today’s episode of SiriusXM’s The Jim Norton & Sam Roberts Show, went so far as to say that Murray particularly disliked Adam Sandler and the late Chris Farley. [The story.]( Dustin Lance Black on New HBO Max Doc, Recovering From Head Injury ►"I’ll be back to 100 percent normal within months." THR's nicest man [Chris Gardner]( spoke to Dustin Lance Black, disarming the Oscar-winning screenwriter to open up about Laurent Bouzereau-directed Mama’s Boy, HBO Max’s adaptation of his 2019 memoir Mama’s Boy: A Story from our Americas. Black also talks about his recovery from a recently revealed "frightening" head injury. [The interview.]( —"We’re really proud of what we’ve done, and it’s hard to say goodbye." THR's [Brian Davids]( spoke to Halloween Ends filmmaker David Gordon Green about directing his third and final entry in the long-running Halloween franchise. The busy filmmaker talks Jamie Lee Curtis' emotional final day as Laurie Strode and how his next horror franchise, the Blumhouse-produced direct sequel to The Exorcist, will be a totally different beast. [The interview.]( —"I’m so glad I just put that stuff aside." Bill Maher spent an hour with “the icon of icons,” Chevy Chase, for the latest installment of his Club Random podcast. Among several revelations, Chase claimed that John Belushi once stole his cocaine off the SNL stage. The comedian also comes clean about his infamous comments about Cary Grant's sexuality: "It was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever said." [The story.]( —"When I think about careers, this person as an actor, his life as an actor only, it’s Johnny Depp." Janelle Monáe has revealed she would like to emulate Johnny Depp’s film career. At a special Q&A at the BFI London Film Festival, the musician, actress and author said she wanted to take on the sort of transformative roles that people would be "dressing up as on Halloween." [The story.]( TV Review: 'The Watcher' ►"Unforgettable true story, forgettable miniseries." THR TV critic [Angie Han]( reviews Netflix's The Watcher. Ryan Murphy’s drama centers on a couple (Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale) whose dream home becomes a nightmare when they start receiving threatening anonymous letters. [The review.]( In other news... —PBS to [premiere doc adaptation of In a Different Key in December]( —Stars come out for [Ralph Lauren’s first West Coast fashion show]( —Reality Distortion Field and The Embassy [strike genre content partnership]( —Documentary filmmaker [Douglas Keeve signs with Buchwald]( —Whitney Cummings [to receive award named after Rodney Dangerfield at LACC Foundation gala]( —American Film Market: [Howard Cohen, Jeff Annison join speakers lineup]( What else we're reading... —Carlos Aguilar has a great interview with Park Chan-wook about his brilliant new film Decision to Leave and how he channeled Hitchcock making it [[LAT]( —Devon Ivie talks to Jeopardy! co-host Ken Jennings about landing his dream job [[Vulture]( —Alexis Soloski profiles Michael Imperioli who has recently embraced comedy with Hulu's This Fool and HBO's The White Lotus [[NYT]( —Marina Hyde tries to explain the epic omnishambles that is the U.K. government right now [[Guardian]( —Lisa Robinson's very enjoyable cover feature of Lizzo covers a lot of ground including changing lyrics, her new relationship and James Madison's crystal flute [[VF]( Today... ...in 1951, I Love Lucy made its television debut on CBS. The show starred Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz and became a huge hit, running for six seasons and 180 episodes. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Ncuti Gatwa (30), [Paul Walter Hauser]( (36), Bailee Madison (23), Dominic West (53), Grace Van Dien (26), Jere Burns (68), Noel Gugliemi (52), Larry Miller (69), John Getz (76), Josefin Asplund (31), Alex McKenna (38), Todd Solondz (63), Ali Fazal (36), Renée Jones (64), Devon Gummersall (44), Götz Otto (55), Mira Nair (65), Stacy Peralta (65), Michael Caton-Jones (65), Matteo Garrone (54), Michael Lewis (62), Ginuwine (52), Sebastián Yatra (28) 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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