THR Drama Actor Roundtable; 'Asteroid City' Review; Rebuilding Pay TV; James Cromwell on "Miraculous" 'Succession' Finale

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( May 24, 2023 What's news: It's magazine day! This week's cover stars are potential Emmy contenders Pedro Pascal, Kieran Culkin, Jeff Bridges, Michael Imperioli, Evan Peters and Damson Idris. Paramount+ has renewed The Family Stallone. Cory Shields has left Amazon Studios. Jeff Bridges has revealed his tumor has shrunk to the size of a marble. — [Abid Rahman]( THR's Emmy Drama Actor Roundtable ►On the cover. With Emmy campaigning gearing up, THR's award-winning Roundtable series is back! For the annual Drama Actor Emmy Roundtable, Pedro Pascal, Kieran Culkin, Jeff Bridges, Michael Imperioli, Evan Peters and Damson Idris join [Lacey Rose]( for a wide-ranging conversation that covers the myth of leaving your demons on set, the weirdest fan obsessions and who’s really in that Mandalorian suit. [The roundtable.]( —🎭 Hottest of hot projects 🎭 THR's man in Cannes [Alex Ritman]( has the scoop on Kristen Stewart, Josh O’Connor and Elle Fanning signing up to star in Rosebushpruning, the next feature from Karim Aïnouz. Backed by The Match Factory and MUBI, the film is a contemporary take on Marco Bellocchio’s landmark film Fists in the Pocket, and is written by Efthimis Filippou. Aïnouz's current film, the period drama Firebrand that stars Jude Law and Alicia Vikander, is in the main competition in Cannes. [The story.]( —We had a good run. Netflix is finally cracking down on password-sharing in the U.S. On Tuesday, the streamer began rolling out its paid sharing feature, which requires that all account users must be in the same household and live in the same location as the primary account holder. Users living outside a household will be able to join onto the main account for an additional $7.99 a month. [The story.]( —Double trouble. Shaquille O’Neal has been sued again over his cryptocurrency promotions, this time in connection to Astrals Project. A proposed class action filed in Florida federal court on Tuesday alleges that O’Neal violated securities laws by selling unregistered Astrals tokens. The former NBA star was also named in a separate suit against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and other celebrities who endorsed the platform. [The story.]( Who Will Figure Out How to Rebuild Pay TV First? ►The great rebundling. As the long decline of the cable and satellite ecosystem accelerates, THR's [Caitlin Huston]( and [Alex Weprin]( write that Hollywood executives are wondering aloud how to put together a new one for the streaming age. [The analysis.]( —Sly and the family Stallone. Paramount+ has renewed reality series The Family Stallone for a second season. The streamer’s pickup comes just a week after the series premiered. The unscripted show follows Sylvester Stallone, his wife Jennifer Flavin Stallone and their daughters Sophia, Sistine and Scarlet. The Family Stallone is one of two shows the actor has at Paramount+, with the other, the drama series Tulsa King, also recently renewed for a second season. [The story.]( —Ducking hell. Fox News' streaming service Fox Nation has picked up a second season of the series Duck Family Treasure, the reality show featuring members of the Robertson family (best known for the long-running series Duck Dynasty). In addition, one of the episodes from the new season will air on Fox News Channel that evening at 10 p.m. [The story.]( Industry Unions Show Solidarity With WGA ►"Your fight is our fight." John Leguizamo, Busy Philipps, Tony Kushner, Neil Gaiman, Al Franken and Wanda Sykes were among the big names who took to the stage during WGA East’s Rally at 30 Rockefeller Center on Tuesday, appearing alongside union leaders from SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, Actor’s Equity and more pledging that "all of labor stands behind the writers." Cynthia Nixon, Ilana Glazer, Warren Leight were also among those who spoke, with Mark Ruffalo and Susan Sarandon making crowd appearances. [The story.]( —"Word from the organizers was that productions were changing call times to avoid us. So, we changed ours." THR's series of frank accounts of the writers strike continues. The Disillusioned EP returns, and in her latest picket-line dispatch, the writer of a streaming hit says the realities of a long fight are setting in, but the will to win remains strong. [The diary.]( —"This is the right sacrifice to make." In a guest column for THR, Kevin Biegel, the co-writer of the Screen Gems action comedy The Machine, writes that he planned to bring his dad to the upcoming premiere of his father-son film. But with the stoppage ongoing, Biegel explains why he made the heartbreaking decision to skip the film's premiere. [The column.]( —"If everything shuts down, eventually we're going to run out of movies." THR's [Scott Roxborough]( writes that Cannes' film market, the Marche du Film, has chugged along at a decent rate, with big deals so far for Todd Haynes' May December and the hotly anticipated Paddington 3. But with the strike dampening dealmaking, insiders are clearly feeling anxious about an uncertain future. [The analysis.]( —"Absolute master class in how to fuck up a streaming service." According to Max, the streamer formerly known as HBO Max, Patty Jenkins and Allan Heinberg were the creators of 2017’s Wonder Woman. At least that’s how the new Max “details” section refers to Jenkins, who directed the film, and Heinberg, who wrote the screenplay. The lack of specific details — and the grouping of writers and directors under merely just “Creators” — has already irked many striking creatives on social media. [The story.]( James Cromwell on 'Succession' Eulogy and "Miraculous" Finale ►"I always thought Six Feet Under had the best last episode ever. This one is pretty damn close." For THR, Josh Wigler spoke to Succession star James Cromwell about his final farewell to Logan Roy in the episode "Church and State." The actor also discusses what he hopes Succession viewers will take away from the series once it’s all over and what's ahead in the finale. Warning: Spoilers! [The interview.]( —Big exit. Amazon Studios is making a change in its publicity department. Cory Shields, the vp public relations for studios and digital video at Amazon, is out at the streamer after a three-year run overseeing the entire department for the streamer. Amazon confirmed Shields’ departure and noted it was his decision to leave. The streamer declined to provide a formal statement. [The story.]( —Shake-up. The game of musical chairs continues at Paramount. On Tuesday, the company’s fast-rising TV boss Chris McCarthy and its chief research officer Colleen Fahey Rush announced via internal memo that Kim Lemon, Showtime’s evp of data strategy, research, scheduling and programming, would be exiting. In what it likely no surprise to those within, Lemon is being replaced by a longtime Viacom-turned-Paramount executive, Laurel Weir. [The story.]( 'Ted Lasso' Confronts Parental Issues in "Mom City" ►Is Ted heading home? The penultimate episode of Ted Lasso's third season (possibly final season?) brings another member of the Lasso family into the picture. THR's [Rick Porter]( recaps all the goings-on, including a visit home for Jamie to face his demons and Pep Guardiola's Man City. Warning: Spoilers! [The recap.]( —"The size of a marble." Jeff Bridges says that his tumor has shrunk considerably, but that his COVID recovery has been a longer, more complicated process. In a new interview, Bridges offered a status update on his cancer treatment and spoke about how he reasoned through returning to work after his bout with COVID-19. [The story.]( —Flo blow. Florence Pugh has revealed that some people in the independent film community were "really pissed off" when she signed up to star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In a new interview, Pugh said that indie industry folk felt like she was "gone forever" when she starred in Black Widow, but she added that she had "always done back-to-back movies. It’s just people are watching them now." [The story.]( Film Review: 'Asteroid City' ►"Unequal parts exuberant and exasperating." THR's chief film critic [David Rooney]( reviews Wes Anderson's Cannes competition entry Asteroid City. New additions to the director’s informal repertory company in this cosmic comedy about love, family and precocious geniuses include Tom Hanks, Steve Carell, Hong Chau and Margot Robbie. [The review.]( —"Absorbing, but rarely more than that." David reviews Amat Escalante's Lost in the Night. The unsolved disappearance of an anti-mining activist in small-town Central Mexico prompts her son to gain insider access to a famous local family he suspects may be involved. [The review.]( —"A fine distillation of blistering deadpan humor and righteous anger." THR's [Sheri Linden]( reviews Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami's Cannes Un Certain Regard selection Terrestrial Verses. Using formally composed vignettes, the filmmakers zero in on face-to-face encounters with the oppressive machinery of authoritarianism. [The review.]( Film Review: 'Kidnapping' ►"The history plays better than the story." THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews Marco Bellocchio's Cannes competition entry Kidnapping. The Italian auteur's latest feature delves into an incident that occurred in 1858, when a secretly baptized 6-year-old Jew from Bologna was handed over to the Vatican. [The review.]( —"A poignant cinematic swan song." Jordan reviews Victor Erice's Close Your Eyes. The celebrated director of The Spirit of the Beehive and Dream of Light returns to Cannes with his first feature after more than three decades. [The review.]( In other news... —Netflix’s [Skull Island animated series voice cast revealed]( —MrBallen’s next podcast: [A medical mystery series with Wondery]( —Paramount+ [secures “neighborhood” in Roku City]( —Leslie Jones, Eddie Izzard, Mae Martin [to host galas at Just For Laughs Festival]( —Venom 3 [enlists Justice League cinematographer Fabian Wagner]( —Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s [TMRW Sports adds Justin Bieber and DJ Khaled as investors]( What else we're reading... —Michael Paulson has a piece on how leading dramatists such as Tony Kushner, David Henry Hwang and Jeremy O. Harris helped save this year's Tony Awards [[NYT]( —Zack Beauchamp writes that the next target of the right’s campaign against woke companies is Fox News [[Vox]( —With the number of cable subscribers collapsing, Paul Farhi looks at the looming existential crisis for cable news [[WaPo]( —Kevin O'Connor considers the reasons why LeBron James is threatening retirement [[Ringer]( —Critic Maya Phillips looks at the way TV has portrayed female rage in recent years, in stark contrast to a culture that prefers women to remain calm [[NYT]( Today... ...in 2000, Paramount unveiled John Woo’s Mission: Impossible II in theaters. The Tom Cruise spy franchise starrer went on to gross $546m during its global run. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Roger Deakins (74), Greg Berlanti (51), [John C. Reilly]( (58), Daisy Edgar-Jones (25), Bob Dylan (82), Alfred Molina (70), Jim Broadbent (74), Priscilla Presley (78), Tommy Chong (85), Callie Hernandez (35), Charlie Plummer (24), Kristin Scott Thomas (63), Eric Cantona (57), Brianne Howey (34), Will Sasso (48), Doug Jones (63), Gary Burghoff (80), Sarah Hagan (39), Bryan Greenberg (45), Dash Mihok (49), Eric Close (56), Lily Newmark (29), Déborah François (36), Parker Sawyers (40) Ambra Danon, the Italian costume designer who worked on the three La Cage aux Folles films, earning an Oscar nomination for the first one, has died. She was 75. [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. Please add email@email.hollywoodreporter.com to your address book to ensure delivery to your inbox. 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