Rising Irish Star Paul Mescal on His Wild Year; 'NCIS,' 'Survivor' Among Renewals at CBS; Agency Landscape Reshaped by Battle to Be No. 4; 'Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( February 22, 2023 What's news: It's magazine day! This week's cover star is the incredibly charming Paul Mescal. Candle Media is expanding into docs and nonfiction production. Judge Greg Mathis has a new syndicated show. HBO Max has canceled South Side. And finally, I'm taking paternity leave, so for the next few weeks I'll have to leave you in the cool hands and warm embrace of my colleague and deadly rival Ryan "Knuckles" Gajewski. — [Abid Rahman]( Everybody ❤️ Paul Mescal ►On the cover. Hulu and the BBC's critically acclaimed adaptation of Sally Rooney's bestseller Normal People plucked Irish actor Paul Mescal from anonymity, and sparked a new global infatuation. Now, Nicole Kidman’s barging into his dressing room, Ridley Scott’s gift-wrapping Gladiator 2 for him and indie hit Aftersun has earned him a surprise Oscar nomination. Mescal talks to THR's [Seth Abramovitch]( about his "f***ing wild year." [The cover story.]( —When life gives you Lemon. CNN This Morning co-anchor Don Lemon returned to the morning show Wednesday for the first time since he landed in hot water over comments he made last week about 2024 presidential hopeful and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. Before going on air, Lemon tweeted, "To my network, my colleagues and our incredible audience — I’m sorry. I’ve heard you, I’m learning from you, and I’m committed to doing better." [The story.]( —"He is a world class storyteller." Candle Media is expanding its presence in the documentary and nonfiction space. The operating company run by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs is turning to another Disney veteran to run the studio: former ABC News president James Goldston. The new division will focus on “scripted and non-scripted features and series inspired by true stories,” according to Candle. Goldston will be the division’s president. [The story.]( —Believe! Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham has been named as one of the hosts of the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, set to take place in Liverpool between May 9-13. The Emmy winner will co-host the two semifinals on May 9 and May 11 alongside Alesha Dixon and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina, with Graham Norton joining the three for the grand final on May 13. The U.K. is hosting the 2023 Eurovision contest on behalf of last year’s winner Ukraine, which is unable to host due to the invasion of Russia. [The story.]( —Not ideal. Regal-parent Cineworld has received around 40 non-binding bids from potential buyers, but with none showing interest in the exhibition giant’s U.K. or U.S. assets and no bids coming anywhere near to covering the company's onerous $6b debt. On Tuesday, a lawyer for U.K.-based Cineworld said the initial bids received by a Feb. 16 deadline were all for rest of the world assets, mainly for theaters in Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Israel. [The story.]( Agency Landscape Reshaped by Battle to Be No. 4 ►The best of the rest. With only three major agencies left — CAA, UTA and Endeavor-owned WME — there’s now a race among midsize firms to become the de facto No. 4. For THR, Jonathan Handel reports that the leader of A3 Artists Agency has sent letters of purchase inquiry to its several peers — and says it's in talks with one — while multiple rivals tout themselves as full-service alternatives to the Big 3. [The story.]( —Taking it to trial? Less than one month after he was charged, Alec {NAME} has managed to slash five years off of his possible sentence and is awaiting a ruling on a motion to disqualify the special prosecutor appointed to the case over his role in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of Rust. With momentum on his side, {NAME} will likely take his case to a jury instead of accepting a plea deal if he’s offered one, according to several legal experts consulted by THR's [Winston Cho](. [The analysis.]( —🎭 Casting Caste 🎭 Blair Underwood, Finn Wittrock, Victoria Pedretti, Isha Blaaker, Leonardo Nam, Donna Mills and Emily Yancy have been added to the ensemble cast for Ava DuVernay’s latest film, the adaptation of Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. They join a cast that already includes Aunjanue Ellis in the lead role, plus Vera Farmiga, Niecy Nash, Nick Offerman, Jon Bernthal, Audra McDonald and Connie Nielson. [The story.]( —🏆 Jennifer Hudson did the thing, Viola Davis my Woman King 🏆 Jennifer Hudson, Trevor Noah and Viola Davis are among the winners from the second night of the NAACP Image Awards‘ non-televised ceremonies. Hudson won for hosting her eponymous daytime talk show, while the Noah-hosted Daily Show won best variety or game show series or special and Davis, just a little over two weeks after achieving EGOT status with her Grammy win, took home the award for best literary work, non-fiction for Finding Me. [The winners.]( —🏆 The kids are alright 🏆 The Producers Guild of America announced the winners of the sports program and children’s program categories at the guild’s annual East Coast celebration on Feb. 21, which was held at the Bottino in New York City. The winner of the outstanding sports program was Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off, HBO’s wide-ranging documentary from director Sam Jones. Meanwhile, Sesame Street took home the prize for outstanding children’s program. [The winners.]( 'NCIS,' 'Survivor' Among Nine Renewals at CBS ►Status quo. CBS is taking nearly all of its current primetime lineup into the 2023-24 season. The network on Tuesday announced renewals for nine series: dramas CSI: Vegas, NCIS and NCIS: Hawai’i; unscripted shows The Amazing Race, Lingo, Survivor and Tough as Nails; and long-running newsmagazines 48 Hours and 60 Minutes. The renewals join those of first-year shows So Help Me Todd and Fire Country and comedies Ghosts, The Neighborhood and Bob Hearts Abishola. [The story.]( —Back on the bench. A few days after Warner Bros. TV said it will end Judge Mathis after 24 seasons in syndication, Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group will produce a new syndicated strip featuring Judge Greg Mathis. Titled Mathis Court With Judge Mathis, the show will be available for syndication in the fall and also run on Allen Media’s Justice Central cable channel. [The story.]( —More cuts. HBO Max has canceled comedy series South Side after three seasons. From co-creators Bashir Salahuddin, Diallo Riddle and Sultan Salahuddin, the series premiered on Comedy Central in July 2019 before heading to HBO Max for a second season that launched in November 2021. HBO Max released an eight-episode third season in December. [The story.]( —More Agatha. The BBC has unveiled a two-part adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder Is Easy, produced by ITV Studios’ Mammoth Screen (The Serpent) and Agatha Christie Ltd. The thriller, which will get two hour-long episodes, will film this summer and be adapted by screenwriter Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre and directed by Meenu Gaur. The story is set in 1954, with a killer loose in a sleepy English village. [The story.]( 'Ant-Man 3': A Cautionary Win for Marvel ►Canary in the coalmine. Despite a four-day opening of $120m, THR's [Pamela McClintock]( writes that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is still a cautionary win for Marvel Studios and Disney, which are at a critical juncture as the MCU kicks off Phase 5. With a 47 percent rating, the film is tied with Eternals for Marvel’s lowest Rotten Tomatoes score, and perhaps more telling, it earned a B CinemaScore from audiences, one of the few Marvel titles to do so. [The analysis.]( —"Now we’re almost nine years from filming the first season, and I think it is time for it to end." David Harbour dropped hints that he is ready to move on from playing Jim Hopper in Netflix's Stranger Things. In a new interview, Harbour revealed that at one point, he assumed he would never want the series to wind down. However, he has since come to terms with the show from co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer having had a successful run ahead of its fifth and final season. [The story.]( —"I hadn’t felt judged like that in a very long time." Jeremy Strong says his buzzy 2021 New Yorker profile was a moment of shame but that he’s not planning on changing how he approaches his craft despite the online backlash or his co-stars’ responses. In a new GQ cover story, Strong addresses the viral profile written by Michael Schulman that garnered a wave of questions (and jokes) about the impact of the actor’s chosen performance style, as well as a slew of Hollywood responses in support of the Emmy nominee. [The story.]( —"It wasn’t an easy road." Ernie Hudson has opened up about the psychological effect Ghostbusters had on him. In a new interview, Hudson explained that while he had so much love and appreciation for Ivan Reitman and his fellow Ghostbusters, the studio was a different story. The actor also called the classic film "the most difficult movie" he's ever worked on. [The story.]( TV Review: 'Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker' ►"A must-see for tennis fans; less so for casuals." THR's [Dan Fienberg]( reviews Alex Gibney's Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker. The documentarian tracks the tennis legend's rise and fall in a two-part Apple TV+ docuseries premiering at the Berlin Film Festival. [The review.]( —"A visceral handshake." THR's chief film critic [David Rooney]( reviews Danny and Michael Philippou's Talk to Me. The Aussie twin brother filmmakers springboard from their popular YouTube channel into features with this tale of possession for the viral-video generation. [The review.]( —"Shines like a candle in the dark." THR film critic [Leslie Felperin]( reviews Lila Aviles' Totem. The Mexican filmmaker's follow-up to The Chambermaid follows a chaotic family gathering through the eyes of a young girl. [The review.]( Film Review: 'Music' ►"Whistles its own tune." THR film critic Jordan Mintzer reviews Angela Schanelec's Music. The winner of the 2019 Silver Bear award returns to the Berlinale with a film inspired by the tragedy of Oedipus, starring French actors Aliocha Schneider and Agathe Bonitzer. [The review.]( —"Not your ordinary manhole." Jordan reviews Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's #Manhole. Japanese pop singer Yuto Nakajima is the sole star of Kumakiri’s latest gory thriller, which premiered in Berlin’s Panorama sidebar. [The review.]( —"Intimately familiar." Jordan reviews Philippe Garrel's The Plough. The 74-year-old auteur's latest stars his own three children — Louis Garrel, Esther Garrel and Lena Garrel — in a story about a patriarch handing over the reins of his long-running puppet theater. [The review.]( In other news... —Kiefer Sutherland [is brought in to save the world in Rabbit Hole trailer]( —SAG Awards: [Michelle Yeoh, Colin Farrell, Michelle Williams tapped as presenters]( —Queen Latifah [to host the 2023 NAACP Image Awards]( —Rapper [Da Brat is pregnant, expecting first child at age 48]( —Writers Guild of Canada [names Victoria Shen as executive director]( —[Jansen Panettiere]( Hayden Panettiere’s brother and The Walking Dead actor, dies at 28 —[Chris Chesser]( producer on Major League, dies at 74 What else we're reading... —In a guest column, Todd Field explains how he came up with the character of Lydia Tár and her journey to the screen [[LAT]( —Sam Thielman writes that Jonathan Majors' Kang gives the MCU license to get weird [[Slate]( —Marc Myers has a wonderful profile on comedian Jim Gaffigan who reveals how a job in copywriting led to stand-up and acting [[WSJ]( —With Cocaine Bear rather ubiquitous at the moment, Emily Anthes reports on other strange but true animal tales, including Cannabis Raccoon and McFlurry Skunk [[NYT]( —Victoria Wiet looks at why Cate Blanchett’s lesbian fandom matters to Tár [[Lithub]( Today... ...in 1934, Frank Capra’s classic road trip film It Happened One Night hit theaters. The pic went on to win five honors at the 7th Academy Awards, including best actor for Clark Gable and actress for Claudette Colbert. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: [James Hong]( (94), Drew Barrymore (48), Elodie Yung (42), Iliza Shlesinger (40), Rachel Dratch (57), Thomas Jane (54), Kyle MacLachlan (64), Julie Walters (73), Josh Helman (37), Jeri Ryan (55), Dichen Lachman (41), John Ashton (75), Paul Lieberstein (56), Nigel Planer (70), Zach Roerig (38), Celia Rose Gooding (23), Joseph Lee Anderson (30), Fele Martínez (48), Robin Ruzan (59), Scott Lowell (58) Bethlyn Hand, a former longtime senior executive at the Motion Picture Association of America, died on Feb. 14 of Alzheimer’s disease. She was 85. Hand joined the MPAA soon after Jack Valenti was made president of the Hollywood trade association and stayed for 37 years. [The obituary.]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](mailto:tips@thr.com?subject=). 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