Hollywood Remembers Matthew Perry; 'Sesame Street' Getting "Reimagined" for S56; 'Five Nights at Freddy's' Opens to $78M; 'Freud's Last Session' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( October 30, 2023 What's news: The L.A. coroner's office said that Matthew Perry's cause of death had been "deferred." There will be no talks on Monday between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP. Marvel's Daredevil series has a new creative team. Angelina Jolie has called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Indie theaters have been warned against inserting an intermission during showings of Killers of the Flower Moon. — [Abid Rahman]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. Matthew Perry 1969 - 2023 ►"The impact of his comedic genius was felt around the world, and his legacy will live on in the hearts of so many." Matthew Perry, the affable actor who became a television superstar playing Chandler Bing on the beloved NBC sitcom Friends, has died. He was 54. Perry died Saturday in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home. Authorities responded around 4 p.m. to his home, where he was discovered unresponsive, they said. The L.A. coroner’s office has not established the cause of death yet. [The obituary.]( —"Deferred." On Sunday, Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office said that Matthew Perry's cause of death had been “deferred.” That typically means that an autopsy has been completed, but the examiner needs more time and additional investigation into the death. [The story.]( —"He brought so much joy to hundreds of millions of people around the world." Selma Blair, Shannen Doherty, Alyssa Milano, Justin Trudeau, Morgan Fairchild, Maggie Wheeler, Paget Brewster and Warner Bros. Television Studios are among those in Hollywood who took to social media to remember Matthew Perry. [The reaction.]( —"He masterfully walked the line between mirth and melancholy." THR's chief TV critic [Dan Fienberg]( reflects on the career of Matthew Perry, and his depiction of Chandler in the generation-defining ensemble smash Friends. But Dan writes that Go On, which ran for 22 episodes on NBC between 2012 and 2013 and was canceled after that lone season, was the show that best understood Perry’s sensibility. [The critic's appreciation.]( —"The kind of message that I guess I give out with this book is don’t give up." Just a year before Matthew Perry was found dead, the actor was the subject of an hour-long sit-down interview with Diane Sawyer about his memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing. In the special and in other media appearances to promote his book, Perry spoke about his past struggles with addiction but indicated he was doing well and seemed optimistic about his future. [The story.]( [The reaction.]( —The One With Chandler in a Box. In tribute to Matthew Perry, THR revisits some of his most memorable Friends episodes — the keyword being “some,” as it is a tall order among the series’ 236 episodes. [The list.]( SAG-AFTRA Talks With Studios Continue ►"Both parties will be working independently Monday." THR's [Katie Kilkenny]( and [Pamela McClintock]( report that negotiations over SAG-AFTRA's next three-year contract concluded after a weekend of talks on Sunday with a renewed sense of optimism — though no deal has yet been reached. After a weekend of back and forth, the union and the AMPTP do not yet have a date to return to formal bargaining. Still, the talks were said to be productive: Several studio-side insiders described the weekend sessions as a positive step. [The story.]( —"I’m here to teach you how to do Halloween during a strike." Saturday Night Live decided to chime in on the discussion surrounding SAG-AFTRA’s Halloween costume rules for striking actors. During one of the comedy show’s sketches, Sarah Sherman appeared as union president Fran Drescher to stop children from trick-or-treating in costumes from struck movies and TV shows. [The recap.]( —Dress up time. Hollywood began the spooky celebrations on Friday at the annual Casamigos Halloween party. Austin Butler, Kaia Gerber, Jessica Alba, Justin Bieber, Margot Robbie, Jodie Turner-Smith, Tobey Maguire, Glen Powell, Lauren Conrad, Edward Norton, Chord Overstreet, Paris Hilton and Cindy Crawford, among many others, turned out to celebrate. Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly dressed up as Beatrix Kiddo and Gogo Yubari from Kill Bill. On Sunday, Fox posted a carousel of photos from the party and tagged SAG-AFTRA in the caption, seemingly calling out the union for its Halloween guidelines. [The story.]( 'Sesame Street' Getting "Reimagined" for S56 ►"We felt like this was a moment to step back and think bigger about how we evolve it." THR's [Alex Weprin]( has the scoop on Sesame Street getting a creative overhaul for its 56th season, which will debut in 2025. The most significant change will see the program drop the “magazine”-style format it has long used in favor of two longer, more narrative-driven segments, which will be paired with a new animated series, Tales from 123. The new format will feature two 11-minute story segments, with the new animated series sandwiched in between them. [The story.]( —ICYMI. Marvel Studios’ Daredevil series has a new creative team. Dario Scardapane, whose recent credits include the Netflix Marvel show The Punisher, has been tapped to act as the new showrunner for the series, which is in the midst of a creative overhaul. Additionally, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, the co-directing team behind indie genre thrillers who are coming off of directing episodes of Loki season two, have been hired to helm the remaining episodes that will constitute the first season on Disney+. [The story.]( —"The idea of an unlikable woman wasn’t their thing." Sofia Coppola has revealed why Apple TV+ passed on her adaptation of Edith Wharton’s 1913 novel, The Custom of the Country. In a new interview, the filmmaker said execs at the streamer weren’t fans of the lead character — social climber Undine Spragg — so they started cutting back on how much money they were willing to put into the five-hour limited series. [The story.]( Angelina Jolie Calls for Israel-Hamas Ceasefire ►"Humanity demands an immediate ceasefire." Angelina Jolie has shared a statement amid the ongoing Israel–Hamas war, calling for a ceasefire as civilian deaths mount. The actress, who has worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for 20 years, wrote on Instagram that "what happened in Israel is an act of terror. But that cannot justify the innocent lives lost in bombing a civilian population in Gaza that has nowhere to go, no access to food or water, no possibility of evacuation, and not even the basic human right to cross a border to seek refuge." [The story.]( —Going to trial. In August 2019, Robert De Niro sued his former assistant, Graham Chase Robinson, for stealing millions of frequent-flyer miles in what was suspected to be a prelude to a larger, bitter legal battle — a preemptive strike in anticipation of unsavory accusations to come. That came true two months later when Robinson filed her own lawsuit, accusing De Niro of gender discrimination and retaliation. THR's [Winston Cho]( reports that the dueling claims are now set to go to trial on Monday in New York federal court, with De Niro set to take the stand after opening statements. [The story.]( —Explosive allegations. On Friday, CBC newsmagazine The Fifth Estate aired its Buffy Sainte-Marie exposé. The hourlong documentary episode, presented by senior investigative reporter Geoff Leo, alleges that the singer-songwriter – considered the first Indigenous winner of an Academy Award – has been fraudulently posing as Native throughout her 60-year career. Among the explosive claims, Fifth Estate alleges that Sainte-Marie's white adoptive parents were in fact her biological parents. [The story.]( Hollywood Has Reached Peak Two-Part Movies ►The Divergent problem. Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon, Jon M. Chu's Wicked and Kevin Costner’s Horizon are all recent high profile examples of studios splitting a film in two. The two-parter can serve both commerce and art, say those involved with such projects, as execs can fill out their calendars and extend the lives of franchises and filmmakers have more real estate in which to tell their stories. THR's dynamic duo [Aaron Couch]( and [Ryan Gajewski]( report that in recent weeks, some of the creative risks of such two-part movies have come to the forefront. [The analysis.]( —In the race. Ketchup Entertainment has acquired the North American distribution rights of Michel Franco's Memory, and plans to release it shortly before the end of the year. The deal could boost the awards chances of the film's stars Peter Sarsgaard and Jessica Chastain. The film debuted in Venice to an eight-minute standing ovation and the jury awarded Sarsgaard the Volpi Cup for best actor. [The story.]( —Verboten. After a few independent theaters added their own intermissions to screenings of Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, the film’s team has stepped in to intervene. THR has learned that there have been isolated incidents of theaters pausing the critically praised film — which has a running time of 3 hours and 26 minutes — to let audience members take a short break. After word got out about the practice, studio reps have informed the venues’ teams that this violates their licensing agreement. [The story.]( 'Five Nights at Freddy's' Opens to $78M ►Massive. Universal and Blumhouse's Five Nights at Freddy’s is off to a historic start at the domestic box office, opening to a record-smashing $78m, despite debuting simultaneously on sister streaming service Peacock. It started off with a monstrous Friday haul of $39.5m, including $10.3m in Thursday previews. THR's [Pamela McClintock]( writes that the pic — which came in notably ahead of industry expectations — scared up the third-biggest horror opening of all time behind New Line’s two It movies, as well as the best showing ever for Halloween weekend. It’s also the biggest horror opening of 2023 to date, besting Scream VI ($44.4m), and the second-biggest opening of all time for a video-game adaptation behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($146.3m), not adjusted for inflation. The news is just as good overseas, where Five Nights at Freddy’s opened to an estimated $52.6m from 60 markets for a global start of $130.6m against a modest $25m production budget. It supplants New Line’s The Nun II ($88.1m) to boast the year’s biggest worldwide start for a horror film. [The box office report.]( Film Review: 'Freud's Last Session' ►"The conversations scintillate, the flashbacks irritate." THR's Stephen Farber reviews Matthew Brown's Freud's Last Session. Anthony Hopkins and Matthew Goode star in this period film, which is an adaptation of an off-Broadway play, centering on an imagined exchange between Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis. [The review.]( —"A thorough and fascinating, if never spontaneous, look at a mogul." THR's chief TV critic [Dan Fienberg]( reviews Gelila Bekele and Armani Ortiz's Maxine's Baby: The Tyler Perry Story. The documentary feature, set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video, explores the origins of the multihyphenate's artistic and corporate empire. [The review.]( —"Blandly sweet." THR's [Angie Han]( reviews Hulu's Black Cake. In an adaptation of the best-selling novel by Charmaine Wilkerson, two estranged siblings discover the truth about their mother's life story after her death. [The review.]( —"Tough and tender." THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews Sheron Dayoc's The Gospel of the Beast. The Filipino writer-director’s latest feature focuses on a young man who joins a band of thugs, robbers and killers, finding a new livelihood at a major cost. [The review.]( In other news... —Oscars: [China submits The Wandering Earth 2 as its international film entry]( —Jackie Chan [to star in action comedy Panda Plan]( —Pete Sampras [reveals actress Bridgette Wilson-Sampras has ovarian cancer]( —[Joan Evans]( actress in On the Loose, Skirts Ahoy! and Edge of Doom, dies at 89 —[Ivan Bart]( former president of IMG Models, dies at 60 ​​​What else we're reading... —Maya Salam writes that Martin and Francesca Scorsese have quickly become TikTok’s dynamic duo [[NYT]( —Lucas Shaw looks at why Ari Emanuel is keen to take the media empire he leads private [[Bloomberg]( —Barbara Ellen wonders whether we should applaud or worry about Gen Z’s desire to see less on-screen sex [[Guardian]( —Matt Patches talks to filmmaker Joe Berlinger on one of his darkest moments, the making of the sequel to The Blair Witch Project [[Polygon]( —Orson Welles' infamous radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds took place 85 years ago today. Myles Burke reflects on the mass hysteria the broadcast caused [[BBC]( ​​ Today... ...in 1963, Paramount held the premiere of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s A New Kind of Love in New York. The film went on to be nominated for two Oscars — costume design and music — at the 36th Academy Awards. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Henry Winkler (78), [Nia Long]( (53), Kevin Pollak (66), Matthew Morrison (45), Gavin Rossdale (58), Christopher Backus (42), Juliet Stevenson (67), Harry Hamlin (72), Michael Polish (53), Rachel Hilson (28), Michael Beach (60), Clémence Poésy (41), Sarah Carter (43), Fiona Dourif (42), Kennedy McMann (27), Adam Copeland (50), Janel Parrish (35), Maria Thayer (48), Charles Martin Smith (70), Claudia Jessie (34), Brett Kelly (30), Jessica Hynes (51), Leon Rippy (74), Steve Kazee (48), Paul Telfer (44), Shaun Sipos (42), Carla Tassara (48), Jack Plotnick (55), Franky G (58), Eva Marcille (39), Elisha Henig (19), Kristina Wagner (61) Richard Moll, the fun-loving actor who portrayed the towering and tenderhearted bailiff Aristotle Nostradamus “Bull” Shannon on all nine seasons of the popular NBC sitcom Night Court during its original run, has died. He was 80. [The obituary.]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} by The Hollywood Reporter. 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