'Real Time' to Return Without Writers; Fox Shareholders Sue Board; Rachel Bloom Talks New Off-Broadway Show; 'Dicks: The Musical' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( September 14, 2023 What's news: VFX workers at Marvel Studios have voted to unionize with IATSE. The VMAs saw a 29.5 percent jump in viewership on MTV. Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert are set to perform together in Vegas. Adam Sandler is going on tour. Fox renews Lego Masters. — [Abid Rahman]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. 'Real Time With Bill Maher' to Return Without Writers ►"The show I will be doing without my writers will not be as good as our normal show." HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher is returning to the air, but without its writers. Host Bill Maher made the announcement on Twitter on Wednesday. Maher said he sympathized with the writers' cause, but went on to say “much of the staff is struggling mightily” and that though he appreciates his scribes, “I’m not prepared to lose an entire year and see so many below-the-line people suffer so much.” The show will return on Sept. 22, without a pre-written monologue, desk piece, “New Rules” segment or editorial segments. [The story.]( —"That work being done is scabbing." Following a similar demonstration targeting The Drew Barrymore Show in New York on Monday, THR's [Katie Kilkenny]( reports that dozens of WGA members turned up to picket a rehearsal show for The Talk on Wednesday morning in Studio City. Around 50 strikers set up near Radford Studio Center’s Radford Avenue gate, talking to audience members who had shown up, handing them leaflets and WGA-emblazoned buttons. [The story.]( —✊ It’s official ✊ In a unanimous vote, the visual effects employees at Marvel Studios voted to unionize with IATSE in a closely watched election held by the National Labor Relations Board. THR's [Carolyn Giardina]( writes that the vote marks the first time a unit of solely VFX workers has unionized with IATSE. The next step for the union is to engage in collective bargaining negotiations with the studio to draft a union contract. A date for these negotiations has yet to be scheduled. [The story.]( —"We have the munchies for a fair deal." At a rally outside Paramount on Wednesday morning, Harold & Kumar duo Kal Penn and John Cho made a surprise appearance to pump up a massive group of SAG-AFTRA members. They were among the speakers who joined a newly re-elected union president Fran Drescher, who implored members to stay strong amid the ongoing work stoppage. [The story.]( —"If they run this show a million times, why am I not getting residuals on it, too?" Amid recent chatter in Hollywood about the need to unionize reality TV, a number of veteran reality stars weighed in on the idea at the premiere of their latest venture, Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, on Tuesday in Los Angeles. THR's [Kirsten Chuba]( spoke to Tom Sandoval, Jojo Siwa, Tara Reid and Jack Osbourne who all felt that reality stars should be fairly compensated in regard to residuals. [The story.]( Fox Shareholders Sue Board Over Election Falsehoods Scandal ►Third time's a charm. Fox Corp.’s board of directors has been sued in a lawsuit accusing the company’s directors of adopting an illegal business model centered on chasing profits by intentionally broadcasting falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election. THR's [Winston Cho]( reports that on Tuesday, New York City’s pension funds filed a lawsuit arguing that Fox’s board members and other execs “consciously disregarded” the risk of exposing itself to defamation claims. [The story.]( —"We are able to launch the shows that we have always planned on doing, so it hasn’t really shifted for us." Amid the strikes, Fox has pivoted to a lineup heavy on unscripted series — seven hours’ worth per week, compared to three at the start of last season. THR's [Rick Porter]( spoke to Michael Thorn and Allison Wallach, Fox's two programming chiefs, about adapting the schedule and their options should the strikes go deeper into the fall. [The interview.]( —Another brick in the schedule. Fox has ordered a fifth season of its competition series Lego Masters — two weeks ahead of the show’s fourth-season premiere on Sept. 2. Fox has also picked up a third edition of Lego Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular to air late next year. Will Arnett hosts and executive produces both shows. [The story.]( SEC Fines NFT Project Starring Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis ►Tough week. The U.S. government’s crypto crackdown is hitting Hollywood again — this time targeting a starry animated Web3 series featuring the voices of Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Chris Rock, Jane Fonda, Seth MacFarlane and more. The SEC charged the creators of the NFT cartoon series Stoner Cats for an unregistered offering of NFTs. Kunis and Kutcher not only lent their voices to the cast but also went on a media tour to tout the project. Stoner Cats 2 LLC agreed to pay a $1m civil penalty to refund buyers. [The story.]( —Finding your happy place. HBO’s Game of Thrones and Succession, Warner Bros.’ Barbie, AMC’s The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon and Paramount’s Yellowstone all feature in a new marketing campaign from Amazon’s Prime Video. The streamer is using its Thursday Night Football game tonight to launch the campaign, the first one to highlight its role as an original content provider but also as an aggregator of streaming services and content from the likes of Max, Paramount+ and AMC+. [The story.]( —"It’s a win for everyone." Charter Communications CFO Jessica Fischer told an investor conference on Wednesday that “everybody wins” in the just-struck carriage deal with Disney, including consumers. Asked about the impact of the blackout on Charter's business, Fischer said, "Those losses have been much less than what we initially anticipated. The impact on broadband subscribers has been very, very small." [The story.]( —Swifties to the rescue. After a couple of relatively lean years for on-air viewing, the MTV Video Music Awards bounced back some on Tuesday. Final same-day Nielsen ratings have the show drawing 913,000 viewers on MTV, a 29.5 percent jump from 705,000 for the 2022 VMAs (and also slightly above the 900,000 who watched the 2021 awards on MTV. The VMAs also aired on a host of other Paramount Global cable channels and TelevisaUnivision’s UniMas. [The ratings.]( Rachel Bloom on Blending Grief With Humor in New Off-Broadway Show ►"Is there a place for silliness once a bad thing has happened?" THR's [Caitlin Huston]( spoke to Rachel Bloom about Death, Let Me Do My Show, a one-woman musical comedy she created that opens off-Broadway on Sept. 14. The Crazy Ex-Girlfriend co-creator and star discusses how her new stage production came together, the idea of balancing grief with comedy and morale on the picket lines. [The interview.]( —Hitting the road. Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert announced Wednesday that they’d be performing together in Vegas. Much like their Strike Force Five podcast, which also includes Seth Meyers and John Oliver, proceeds from the live show will go to support their late night staffs, who have been out of work care of the dual strike. Billing themselves as the Strike Force Three, the trio will host a one-night-only show Sept. 23 at the Dolby Live at Park MGM. [The story.]( —The year of the Sandman. Hot on the heels of the release of one of the best-reviewed films of his career, Adam Sandler is set to embark on a North American comedy tour. Live Nation revealed Wednesday that the You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah star will undertake the 25-city I Missed You tour, which launches Oct. 12 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Its final date is set for Dec. 12 at Denver’s Ball Arena. [The story.]( How 'Morning Show' Pivoted (Again) to Tackle Roe v. Wade ►"We want to be tackling the noisiest, most-controversial things in our culture." With the return of The Morning Show, THR's queen of chat [Jackie Strause]( spoke to the producers about the third season of the Apple TV+ media drama. The action takes up two years after the events of the season two finale, and new showrunner Charlotte Stoudt has steered the new batch of episodes that tackle media in crisis, female agency and bodily autonomy threatened in a post-COVID world. Warning: Spoilers! [The interview.]( —Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! Meryl Streep says she would love to return for a prospective threequel of Mamma Mia! In Vogue's oral history of Mamma Mia!, Streep shared her thoughts on a third movie in the franchise, with the Oscar-winner happy to surmount the knotty problem of her character being dead to make it happen. Mamma Mia! stars Amanda Seyfried, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Dominic Cooper and Stellan Skarsgård also said they were down to reprise their roles. [The story.]( —Mensch. Watchmen and V for Vendetta author Alan Moore says he’s changed his approach to sharing royalties, now opting to have DC Comics send them to Black Lives Matter. In a new interview, the comics legend — who has long refused to have his name attached to screen adaptations of his work — revealed he’s stopped sharing royalties with the movies’ writers as Moore didn't feel they "have stood by what I assumed were their original principles." [The story.]( Film Review: 'Dicks: The Musical' ►"Not your grandma's musical." For THR, Michael Rechtshaffen reviews Larry Charles' Dicks: The Musical. Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp court cult status with this outrageously amusing Parent Trap riff that also stars Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally and Megan Thee Stallion. [The review.]( —"Ambitious, but too disjointed to deliver the intended punch." THR's [Sheri Linden]( reviews Niclas Larsson's Mother, Couch. Ewan McGregor, Ellen Burstyn, Rhys Ifans, Taylor Russell and Lara Flynn Boyle star in the story of three adult siblings converging on the furniture store from which their mother refuses to budge. [The review.]( —"An engaging and amusing history lesson." THR's Frank Scheck reviews Jim Capobianco and Pierre-Luc Granjon's The Inventor. Stephen Fry, Marion Cotillard and Daisy Ridley help bring Leonardo da Vinci to life in this charming animated feature. [The review.]( —"Fun! Amusing! Radical!" THR's Leslie Felperin reviews Austin Stark and Joseph Schuman's Coup! Peter Sarsgaard, Billy Magnussen and Sarah Gadon star in this comedy set during the flu epidemic of 1918. [The review.]( —"A solid entry from an ever-prolific filmmaker." Leslie reviews Michael Winterbottom's Shoshana. Irina Starshenbaum, Harry Melling and Douglas Booth star in the director's politics-inflected drama about a romance during British colonial rule of Palestine. [The review.]( —"Solid technique in search of a sturdier story." THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews F. Javier Gutiérrez's The Wait. The third feature from Spanish writer-director is a neo-Western set in Spain in the 1970s, and premiered at the Oldenburg Film Festival in Germany. [The review.]( In other news... —Killers of the Flower Moon [trailer sends Leonardo DiCaprio to 1920s Oklahoma]( —Brie Larson is [teaching women more than just recipes in Lessons in Chemistry trailer]( —Milli Vanilli [trailer tells untold story of music’s most infamous con]( —Cup of Salvation [trailer traces father-daughter journey to reclaim Armenian winemaking]( —Trolls Band Together trailer: [Anna Kendrick helps Justin Timberlake reunite his brother’s band]( —DTLA’s [Level 8 dining and nightlife complex features pool-deck drinks spot]( —[Jean Boht]( star of the BBC sitcom Bread, dies at 91 —[Eddie Marks]( longtime Western Costume Company president, dies at 76 What else we're reading... —Cecilia D'Anastasio reports that pro esports and entertainment company FaZe Clan, that was quite recently valued at $1b, is now almost worthless [[Bloomberg]( —Allegra Rosenberg wonders whether the Harry Potter fandom can carry on while ignoring J.K. Rowling [[Polygon]( —Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom filmmaker James Wan talks to Clark Collis about the upcoming film, Amber Heard's role, reshoots and the radical changes at DC [[EW]( —A rather monocle-popping excerpt from McKay Coppins' new book Romney: A Reckoning, where Mitt Romney dishes on what drove him to retire from the Senate [[Atlantic]( —Important Michael Hogan piece (to me, at least) asking why text messages on TV have to be so impossible to read [[Guardian]( Today... ...in 2012, Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master was released in theaters, after premiering to great acclaim at the Venice Film Festival earlier that month. The film starred Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams, with all three actors receiving Academy Award nominations for their performances. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Bong Joon Ho (54), Sam Neill (76), Melissa Leo (63), Andrew Lincoln (50), [Robert Wisdom]( (70), Walter Koenig (87), Howard Deutch (73), Jessica Brown Findlay (36), Emma Kenney (24), Kimberly Williams-Paisley (52), Jacqueline Byers (34), Callum Keith Rennie (63), Lolly Adefope (33), Kristen Renton (41), Haviland Morris (64), Faith Ford (59), Jin-Ah Im (32), Dan Cortese (56), Álvaro Mel (27), Robert Ben Garant (53), Pat Healy (52), Michelle Bonnard (43), Michelle Jenner (37), A.J. Trauth (37), Shannon Kane (37), Miyavi (42) This email was sent to {EMAIL} by The Hollywood Reporter. 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. The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2023 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. 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