SAG-AFTRA, Studios to Continue Negotiations; Late Night Hosts Celebrate Return; Dan Harmon Gives Update on 'Community' Movie; 'Loki' S2 Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( October 03, 2023 What's news: SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP will resume talks on Wednesday. Bradley Cooper made a surprise appearance at the North American premiere of his film Maestro. Bill Block is leaving Miramax. Netflix has acquired Azazel Jacobs’ drama His Three Daughters. The Golden Globes have revealed its full list of voters. — [Abid Rahman]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. SAG-AFTRA and Studios to Continue Negotiations Wednesday ►Talks continue. SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP are plowing ahead with negotiations. The performers’ union and the body representing the studios and streamers released a joint statement on Monday noting that they had just “met for a full day bargaining session” and would resume talks on Oct. 4. Monday marked the first time that the parties had been back at the negotiations table since the actors’ strike began in mid-July. THR's [Katie Kilkenny]( reports that Netflix's Ted Sarandos, WBD's David Zaslav, Disney's Bob Iger, and NBCUniversal's Donna Langley were present at Monday's talks. [The story.]( —Swift impact. The intertwining of two of the biggest forces in American popular culture — the NFL and Taylor Swift — paid off handsomely for NBC on Sunday night. The network’s Sunday Night Football telecast scored its biggest audience of the season, averaging 27m viewers across all platforms, according to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics. A spike in women viewers, possibly driven by Swift’s presence at the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets, helped drive the increases. [The story.]( —Unhappy ending. A Tennessee judge has terminated the conservatorship of Michael Oher, a retired NFL player whose life story was chronicled in The Blind Side, under the Memphis couple at the center of the movie who allegedly took financial advantage of him. Under the conservatorship, Oher claimed, he has been deprived of the rights to his name, image and likeness on top of millions of dollars the Tuohy family got for signing away the rights to the book the film is based on. [The story.]( —Surprise! THR's [Hilary Lewis]( reports that Bradley Cooper made a surprise appearance at the New York Film Festival's North American premiere screening of Maestro on Monday night. The actor had been skipping press opportunities, including the movie’s world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, due to the ongoing actors strike, but he was in the audience at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall. A rep for SAG confirmed that Cooper was allowed to attend the screening because he was not promoting the film. [The story.]( Late Night Hosts Celebrate Return ►"It feels good to be back." Some of first shows to go dark at the start of the writers strike were among the first to make their returns Monday. Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers brought their network talk shows back days after the end of the WGA strike. All four hosts opened their shows with expressions of gratitude for the WGA’s new contract. [The recap.]( —More legal trouble. X Corp. has been sued for copyright infringement, wrongful termination and employment discrimination since Elon Musk acquired the company known as Twitter less than a year ago. Trademark infringement can now be added to its list of legal troubles, with the filing of a lawsuit from an advertising agency. That ad agency, X Social Media, on Monday sued X Corp. in Florida federal court, arguing that the rebrand has confused consumers. [The story.]( —Exiting. After a six-year run leading Miramax, CEO Bill Block is leaving the studio. Block’s contract at Miramax, co-owned by beIN Media Group and Paramount Global, expired this week and was not renewed. The executive started as CEO in April 2017. A search is underway for a new top executive. A source close to Miramax’s owners tells THR's [Caitlin Huston]( that the studio is looking to develop projects based on its own intellectual property rather than aiming to acquire projects. [The story.]( Dan Harmon Gives Update on "Terrifying" 'Community' Movie ►"I hate to say how terrified I am to do it wrong, because there’s a part of me that knows that that fear cannot possibly result in a good thing." With the long-awaited Community movie edging ever closer to reality, THR's [Lacey Rose]( spoke to Dan Harmon and his co-writer Andrew Guest about the Peacock film based on the cult NBC comedy. Harmon and Guest share everything there is to know (so far) about the "truly terrifying" feature that takes us back to Greendale. [The story.]( —Another TIFF pickup. Netflix has acquired Azazel Jacobs’ drama His Three Daughters, which stars Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen and Natasha Lyonne. The family drama, which bowed at the Toronto Film Festival, sees three estranged sisters converge as their father’s health steadily declines. THR's [Etan Vlessing]( reports that Netflix paid north of $6m for the film, and is the streamer's third deal out of Toronto after buying Anna Kendrick's Woman of the Hour and Lucy Walker’s documentary Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa. [The story.]( —"It was the kind of snappy sarcasm between Daisy and Billy, who in my mind was like me and Lindsey." Stevie Nicks is elaborating on why Amazon Prime Video hit Daisy Jones & The Six had her feeling “like a ghost watching my own story.” In a new interview, the Fleetwood Mac singer discussed how the show’s stars Riley Keough and Sam Claflin captured the essence of her creative relationship with bandmember Lindsey Buckingham. [The story.]( Johnny Kitagawa Sex Abuse Scandal: 478 Victims Come Forward ►"Johnny's entertainment activities should be discontinued altogether." Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates, engulfed in one of the country's largest sexual abuse scandals, said at a press conference in Tokyo Monday it would change its name and split into two companies. The existing company will be renamed Smile-Up and tasked exclusively with providing compensation to the hundreds of sexual abuse victims of late company founder Johnny Kitagawa, who died in July 2019 at age 87. An external investigative committee set up by the agency says it had received reports of abuse from 478 of Kitagawa’s victims as of Sept. 30. [The story.]( —"Our commitment to maintaining the diversity of our voting body continues." The Golden Globes have revealed the full list of voters who will be voting on its 2024 awards. The group of 300 journalists from around the world is 60 percent racially and ethnically diverse, the organization said Monday, proclaiming that the voting body is the “most ethnically diverse of all the major awards shows.” [The list.]( —The Korean wave comes full circle. For THR, Mathew Scott previews the 28th edition Busan International Film Festival. Matt writes that after a year of scandal and budget cuts, BIFF aims to get back on track with a buzzy lineup, star power and nods to Korean American filmmakers. [The story.]( 'Chicken Run 2' Director on Reuniting the Flock After 23 Years ►"It’s almost a reboot to be honest. It’s a new director and a new era." THR's man in London [Alex Ritman]( spoke to director Sam Fell about his new film Chicken Run Dawn of the Nugget. Fell talks following up the most successful stop-motion animated release of all time almost a quarter-century on, why even puppets had to quarantine during COVID and why Mel Gibson didn't come back. [The interview.]( —"A lot of artists, if they’re really being true to themselves, can do their art in different mediums if they just try." THR's [Brian Davids]( spoke to Tom DeLonge about his upcoming directorial debut Monsters of California. The Blink-182 singer-guitarist says he wanted to make an R-rated Amblin movie for his first feature, which combines many of his passions, from San Diego County and skateboarding to punk rock and the paranormal. [The interview.]( —"It was so damn funny, which I knew anything that I did after Mormon had to be as funny as humanly possible." Caitlin Huston spoke to Josh Gad on his Broadway return with Gutenberg! The Musical. Gad discusses working with Book of Mormon co-star Andrew Rannells once more on Gutenberg!, figuring out the hat choreography each night, and he offers his thoughts on the end of writers' strike and a resolution for the actors' stoppage. [The interview.]( TV Review: 'Loki' S2 ►"More notable for production design than narrative." THR's chief TV critic [Dan Fienberg]( reviews season two of Disney+'s Loki. Something is wrong with the timeline and only Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Mobius (Owen Wilson) and a new character played by the Everything Everywhere All at Once Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan can save the universe in new episodes of the MCU dramedy. [The review.]( In other news... —All the Light We Cannot See [trailer gives deeper look at Shawn Levy's Netflix WW2 drama]( —Leave the World Behind trailer: [Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali confront the Apocalypse]( —Jodie Turner-Smith [files to divorce Joshua Jackson after 4 years of marriage]( —Kevin Smith [selling L.A. home, bought from Ben Affleck, for $5.995m]( —Miami Film Festival [appoints James Woolley as executive director]( —Paramount+ [names Anna Priest U.K. head]( —WBD’s France, Benelux and Africa boss [Pierre Branco to exit]( What else we're reading... —Jonah E. Bromwich has the key takeaways from the first day of Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial [[NYT]( —Ben Collins tries to decipher Elon Musk's calamitous strategy for Twitter, and believes a game plan published by a fired Trump White House staffer provides a clue [[NBC News]( —Charlie Warzel writes that streaming has hit a paradox, "giving us more choices than ever before, while also making it harder than ever to actually enjoy that abundance" [[Atlantic]( —Darshita Goyal reflects on the rise of the politically correct bully as epitomized by the character Abbi in Netflix's Sex Education [[Teen Vogue]( —Jen Wieczner explains how IYKYK Italian luxury fashion brand Loro Piana became Silicon Valley’s favorite flex [[Intelligencer]( Today... ...in 1961, CBS debuted The Dick Van Dyke Show to audiences during the 9 p.m. hour. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Alicia Vikander (35), Tessa Thompson (40), Denis Villeneuve (56), Noah Schnapp (19), Clive Owen (59), Neve Campbell (50), Lena Headey (50), [Ayo Edebiri]( (28), Seann William Scott (47), Greig Fraser (48), Tommy Wiseau (68), Gwen Stefani (54), Alanna Ubach (48), Jessica Parker Kennedy (39), Shannyn Sossamon (45), Meghan Heffern (40), Keiko Agena (50), Erik von Detten (41), Seth Gabel (42), Amanda Walsh (42), Michele Morrone (33), Giselle Itié (41), Janel Moloney (54), Lyna Khoudri (31), Christian Coulson (45), Christopher Marquette (39), Hart Bochner (67), Jack Wagner (64), Pamela Hensley (73), Kirsten Nelson (53), Aramis Knight (24), Tommy Lee (61), Alan Rachins (81), Greg Proops (64), Katherine Rose Morley (34), Marcus Giamatti (62), Ashlee Simpson (39) 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. 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