THR Director Roundtable; Has Peak TV Peaked?; What Hiring Ricky Strauss Means for Apple TV+; 'Yellowstone' Star on Shocking Midseason Finale; 'M3GAN' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( January 05, 2023 What's news: Prince Harry claims Prince William physically assaulted him during a 2019 argument. Missing rapper Theophilus London has been found. Amazon is laying off more than 18,000 workers. UTA has purchased Fletcher & Company. — [Abid Rahman]( THR Director Roundtable ►"You have to have a need." THR's Roundtable series swiftly moves on to the directors. The helmers of the year’s biggest and most brilliant movies — Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Joseph Kosinski, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Sarah Polley, Todd Field and JD Dillard — swap trade secrets with THR's [Rebecca Keegan]( from getting Tom Cruise to greenlight Top Gun: Maverick, to taking a chance on actors who are bad at auditions, to choosing their projects. [The roundtable.]( —Bombshell. Prince William physically attacked Prince Harry in an argument over Meghan Markle, the younger royal claims in an excerpt from his upcoming memoir Spare. According to The Guardian, which obtained a copy of the book ahead of its much-anticipated release next week, the altercation occurred in 2019 at Harry’s London home, where William had come to discuss their relationship and described Markle as “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive.” [The story.]( —"Truly appreciate everyone’s support in finding my cousin." Grammy-nominated rapper Theophilus London, who was reported missing by friends and family last week, has been found. London’s family told THR late Wednesday that he is safe and well. [The story.]( —Released. Taraneh Alidoosti, the Iranian actress and star of Asghar Faradi‘s Oscar-winning The Salesman, has been released from prison after posting bail. Alidoosti’s mother, Nadereh Hakim Elahi, posted images of her daughter outside Tehran’s Evin Prison shortly after her release. Alidoosti was detained Dec. 17 after she posted her support of nationwide anti-government protests. [The story.]( —Branching out. Roku unveiled its Roku Select and Roku Plus Series TVs on Wednesday, the first TVs to be designed and made by the company. The company will make 11 models, ranging from 24 to 75 inches, which will feature Roku’s operating system, as well as a new Roku TV Wireless Soundbar. The sets will be available in the U.S. starting in spring 2023. [The story.]( Does New Year's Silence Signal the End of Peak TV? ►All downhill. According to the last update from FX, the volume of U.S. scripted originals hit an all-time high in 2021 with 559 series. With the distinct lack of new series orders at the start of this year, THR's [Lesley Goldberg]( wonders whether 2023 will be when the number of scripted originals begins to trend downward after years of free spending. [The analysis.]( —🤝 First acquisition of the year 🤝 UTA is expanding its presence in the publishing space, acquiring the boutique literary agency Fletcher & Company. Founded and run by Christy Fletcher, Fletcher & Company will become part of UTA’s publishing division, based in New York. [The story.]( —Bad news, part 1. Amazon is set to lay off more than 18,000 workers, CEO Andy Jassy said in a note to employees on Wednesday. The majority of the cuts will impact staffers in the Amazon Stores and People Experience and Technology divisions, the latter of which includes teams involved in human resources. [The story.]( —Bad news, part 2. Vimeo is laying off 11 percent of its staff amid an “uncertain economic environment,” CEO Anjali Sud said in a message to employees shared publicly on Wednesday. The latest round of cuts comes roughly half a year after the company last cut about 6 percent of its staff in July. [The story.]( —The music sounds better with Ryu. Legendary Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto has signed on to write the music for Palme d’Or-winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s forthcoming feature film Monster. Sakamoto, who won an Oscar with his music for Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor, will provide newly written compositions as well as some of his pre-existing music for the film. [The story.]( What Hiring Ricky Strauss Means for Apple TV+ ►Big swings ahoy! News broke this week that Apple had hired Ricky Strauss as the new marketing head of Apple TV+. THR's [Alex Weprin]( writes that in enlisting the Disney veteran, the tech giant shows it's serious about growing its streaming division, and potentially its theatrical film efforts. [The analysis.]( —"It wasn’t all pleasant. It was hard playing that role." Dave Bautista says there’s a “relief” to winding down his run as Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy films. In a new interview, the actor acknowledges he’s in a transition period, one where he closes the door on the MCU franchise and its comedic character that helped launch his acting career and a future in more dramatic work. [The story.]( —"Everybody should be uncomfortable with it." Edward Norton says discovering one of his own ancestors owned enslaved Black people is an “uncomfortable” truth that “needs to be acknowledged” and contended with. The Glass Onion star discovered the ancestral connection during the season 9 premiere of PBS’ Finding Your Roots. In the episode, host Henry Louis Gates Jr. revealed that Norton’s third great-grandfather, John Winstead, had a record of owning enslaved people in the 1850 North Carolina census. [The story.]( —"It was a weird thing." Sharon Osbourne has admitted she is mystified by the cause of her December hospitalization after testing failed to identify a reason for why she fainted. The host of U.K. current events program TalkTV spoke on her show about what doctors didn’t find during her several days in the hospital. [The story.]( CES: Hollywood's Technologists Forecast 2023's Challenges ►Coming soon. The evolution of the metaverse, virtual reality and TV technology are just a few of the buzziest trends that will be on display at the 2023 CES Show, which opens today. THR's [Carolyn Giardina]( spoke to tech leaders at major studios about promising developments — like one day seeing Avatar: The Way of Water at home in a format as it’s shown in theaters or having easier access to Filmmaker Mode on your TV to preserve the director’s intent. [The story.]( —Cruising. At a pre-opening press conference at CES on Wednesday, Sony Pictures unspooled high-octane footage of race car driving in the upcoming movie adaptation of Gran Turismo. The film's director Neil Blomkamp was also there to describe how they filmed the thrilling footage. [The clip.]( —Worth seeking out. Also on Wednesday at CES, director M. Night Shyamalan took the stage at Canon’s press conference to introduce several unique experiences that he created in collaboration with the tech developer. The experiences aim to allow CES attendees to step into Shyamalan's upcoming Universal thriller, Knock at the Cabin. [The story.]( 'Yellowstone' Star on Shocking Midseason Finale ►"It’s been a really wild ride, because I never know where [the story is] going." THR's [Jackie Strause]( spoke to Yellowstone star Piper Perabo about Sunday night's cliffhanger. Perabo discusses how her real life activism shaped her character's arc, her Kelly Reilly fight and Kevin Costner kiss and what she makes of the "red-state show" conversation around the Taylor Sheridan series. Warning spoilers. [The interview.]( —"This is an epic piece of writing." Staying with the Sheridan-verse, Jackie spoke to James Badge Dale about the third 1923 episode, "The War Has Come Home." Dale discuses the tragic shoot-out in the episode and how it sets up the Yellowstone prequel. Warning spoilers. [The interview.]( Film Review: 'M3GAN' ►"Trouble in toyland." THR's chief film critic [David Rooney]( reviews Gerard Johnstone's M3GAN. Allison Williams plays a robotics scientist gives her orphaned niece a prototype synthetic companion in this killer doll thriller from producers Jason Blum and James Wan. [The review.]( —"No My Brilliant Friend, but still good." THR's chief TV critic [Dan Fienberg]( reviews Netflix’s The Lying Life of Adults. The six-episode coming-of-age story, based on the work by Elena Ferrante, is set in '90s Naples and features Valeria Golino. [The review.]( —"Undermined by its emphasis on lore over character." THR TV critic [Angie Han]( review AMC's Mayfair Witches. The supernatural drama, based on the works of Anne Rice, revolves around a doctor (Alexandra Daddario) who learns that she descends from a long lineage of magic-wielding women haunted by a malevolent entity (Jack Huston). [The review.]( In other news... —TikTok [to license IMDb data for feature targeting film and TV content]( —Holy Spider star [Zar Amir Ebrahimi heads competition jury at Goteborg Film Festival]( —Sundance: [Stephen Curry doc, John Carney movie added to schedule]( —Bryan Cranston [revives Walter White for PopCorners’ Super Bowl ad]( —[Todd Brian]( director of development and animation at WildBrain, dies at 59 What else we're reading... —Nicolas Rapold looks at how films like Till, Saint Omer and Resurrection use lengthy monologues to give female characters the chance to truly be heard [[NYT]( —Chris Godfrey profiles Hugh Jackman, with the Aussie actor opening up on his reputation for niceness, the loss of his father and returning to play Wolverine [[Guardian]( —Devon Ivie has a great interview with Robert Plant on the best songs from his Led Zeppelin days and solo career — there's also a lot of Lord of the Rings chat [[Vulture]( —Neil Armstrong looks into why genteel British metal detector dramedy Detectorists became a global hit — it's well worth a watch, by the way [[BBC]( —Lingling Wei and Jonathan Cheng look at why Xi Jinping reversed his zero-Covid policy in China [[WSJ]( Today... ...in 1933, the Diana Wynyard-starring drama Cavalcade made its world premiere in New York and was greeted with acclaim. The film went on to win three Oscars at the 6th Academy Awards ceremony, including best picture. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Hayao Miyazaki (82), Robert Duvall (92), Bradley Cooper (48), Diane Keaton (77), January Jones (45), Clancy Brown (64), Suki Waterhouse (31), Deepika Padukone (37), Vinnie Jones (58), [Shea Whigham]( (54), Maxim Baldry (27), Kristin Cavallari (36), Mandip Gill (35), America Olivo (45), Saffron Hocking (29), Jessica Chaffin (41), Ted Lange (75), Wen Jiang (60), Nicole Mitchell Murphy (55) Paul Mason, the screenwriter, producer and studio executive who penned episodes of Ben Casey, Ironside and CHiPs, created The Bold Ones: The New Doctors with Steven Bochco and served as president of Viacom Pictures, has died. He was 92. [The obituary.]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](mailto:tips@thr.com?subject=). This email was sent to {EMAIL} by Penske Media Corporation. 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