Innholdsfortegnelse for 6/8/2022 i Variety

June 1 ‘Hustle’ Premiere Regency Village Theatre, Westwood After starring in sports movies centered on football (“The Longest Yard,” “The Waterboy”), golf (“Happy Gilmore”) and basketball (“Hustle”), Adam Sandler hopes to tackle baseball next. “But I think I’m too old and I’ll have to be a coach,” he joked to Variety. “One I wouldn’t do: You wouldn’t want to see me swimming. The bathing suit is not a good thing!” Among the numerous NBA stars to appear in the Netflix film is Utah Jazz power forward Juancho Hernangómez, who makes his acting debut as a Spanish street ball player that Sandler’s scout character aims to turn into a top prospect. Asked if he’ll continue acting, Hernangómez said, “If Adam called me, I would love to do one more with him.”…

Under the Banner of Heaven (FX) Euphoria (HBO) Everyone loved the second season of “Euphoria” — even Spider-Man. (Well, at least one of the Spider-Men.) When Andrew Garfield sees Zendaya, he can’t stop raving about her tour de force as Rue in the critically acclaimed HBO series. Garfield is both a fan and a friend. The two actors crossed paths in the multiverse of last year’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” in which Zendaya plays MJ opposite a set of Peter Parkers including Garfield, Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland. And he’s come prepared with a list of deeply researched questions. Then it’s time for Garfield to accept heaps of praise from Zendaya. He’ll likely follow his latest Oscar nomination with an Emmy nod for “Under the Banner of Heaven,” the FX…

The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey (APPLE TV+) The First Lady (SHOWTIME) Samuel L. Jackson and Viola Davis are both veterans of the New York theater scene, and embrace the opportunity to dig into their shared experiences before addressing their latest work on TV. On Apple TV+, Jackson takes the lead role in “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey,” an adaptation of Walter Mosley’s novel about an elder struggling with dementia. And on Showtime, Davis plays Michelle Obama in the dramatic anthology “The First Lady.” SAMUEL L. JACKSON: How do you feel about rolling around town, seeing yourself on these big old billboards? How is that? VIOLA DAVIS: I don’t see that as myself. I see it as something else. Michelle Obama, the other Viola Davis. I don’t marry the…

Severance (APPLE TV+) Abbott Elementary (ABC) Quinta Brunson, the creator and star of ABC’s “Abbott Elementary,” and Adam Scott, of Apple TV+’s mind-bending drama “Severance,” have a connection we can’t quite put our finger on. After they speak about their shows — and the fact that both of their mothers were public school teachers — it turns out that their familiar dynamic comes from an established collegial relationship: As Scott accidentally spills, Brunson will be guest starring on the upcoming Starz revival of Scott’s brilliant-but-canceled “Party Down.” Thanks for letting us know! ADAM SCOTT: “Abbott Elementary” is your show. My family and I — we go through phases of watching a show together. And we can’t watch it unless all four of us are there. “Abbott” is our latest. And…

Shining Vale (STARZ) 1883 (PARAMOUNT+) Faith Hill and Courteney Cox are both from the South, and when they sit down to talk, they begin chatting with ease. They discuss Nashville, and whether Hill ever forgets the lyrics to her songs onstage. (“Sometimes, yes, I do,” Hill says.) They delve into their recent television work, with Cox asking Hill about her starring role on Taylor Sheridan’s “1883” — opposite her husband, Tim McGraw — and Hill responding with queries about Cox’s “Shining Vale,” a genuinely scary horror comedy. They also cover the “Friends” reunion, amusement park rides and armpit hair. COURTENEY COX: Did you have to train to ride a horse like that? Because you are really good at that. FAITH HILL: Oh, thank you. I do ride horses. Not as…

Outer Range (PRIME VIDEO) When his planned conversation partner, Jeremy Renner, is a last-minute no-show, Josh Brolin decides to flip the Actors on Actors script and plumb his résumé, his love for acting, his insecurities and his ego in a first for this franchise: Actor on Actor. Here, the star of the Amazon Studios-produced sci-fi Western “Outer Range” interrogates his greatest artistic rival: himself. JOSH BROLIN: OK. I’m nervous. I’ve always been a big fan, and you have this new show, “Outer Range.” I saw the first two, and it’s incredible. It makes you just want to aspire to better work. I’m curious why you decided to do a series after 20 years. JOSH BROLIN: Thanks, man. I appreciate that. I’ve been a big fan of yours, too, but I…

France is the world’s third-biggest animation producer, according to data from the CNC, with 7,790 employees last year. A rising number of international productions, especially TV animation series, are flocking to France, attracted by its 30% tax rebate for international projects (TRIP) program. A higher 40% tax rebate is available for VFX projects with over €2 million ($2.14 million) VFX spend in France, with seven projects supported in 2021, including Ridley Scott’s “The Last Duel.” In 2021, animation repped 46% of all foreign production spend under the TRIP scheme, marking a 62% increase between 2019 and 2021. Demand for animation and VFX staff is surging in France with 16% job growth in 2021 alone. The number of TRIP-supported animation projects doubled between 2019 and 2021, and the number of all…

With the June 17 debut of “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” Jenny Han’s career has taken another big leap forward. The bestselling YA author of “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” had a hands-on role in Amazon Prime Video’s upcoming adaptation of “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” her 2009 coming-of-age novel about a teenage girl, serving as creator and co-showrunner on the series. “It’s been a long time in the making,” says Han, who began writing YA novels in her early 20s. “There has been quite a lot of interest in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ over the years, but it never felt like the right fit because deep down I realized I wanted to do it myself.” But Han didn’t have any screenwriting experience at the time and…

June 8 Wednesday • The Tribeca Festival opens with Jennifer Lopez’s Netflix documentary “Halftime.” United Palace, New York • Ed Helms, Jana Schmieding, Michael Greyeyes, Dustin Milligan and Jesse Leigh walk the red carpet at the “Rutherford Falls” Season 2 premiere. Rolling Greens, Los Angeles • Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow, Amy Brenneman, Alia Shawkat, E.J. Bonilla and Gbenga Akinnagbe attend the premiere of FX’s “The Old Man.” Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Los Angeles • Zendaya, Andrew Garfield, Jeremy Strong, Simu Liu, Quinta Brunson, Dwyane Wade, Michelle Yeoh and Taika Waititi attend the Time 100 Gala. Mary J. Blige and Miranda Lambert perform. Frederick P. Rose Hall, New York • Chris Evans and Uzo Aduba attend the premiere of “Lightyear.” El Capitan Theatre, Hollywood June 11 Saturday • Amazon Freevee…

The Dropout (HULU) WeCrashed (APPLE TV+) It’s tempting to imagine what WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann would say to Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes, given their similar public falls from grace. But short of that, we at least had the chance to listen to a conversation between the two actors who played them in recent limited series. Upon sitting down, Jared Leto (Apple TV+’s “WeCrashed”) and Amanda Seyfried (Hulu’s “The Dropout”) reveal they both approached their characters as layered humans — not mustache-twirling villains. They also had to find their real-life inspirations’ distinct voices, which was no small feat. JARED LETO: Thank you for being here. I’m glad I didn’t show up and you weren’t sitting here. That would’ve been awkward. AMANDA SEYFRIED: I thought about that as a joke. And then…

Only Murders in the Building (HULU) Hacks (HBO MAX) Jean Smart and Martin Short don’t just have names that might make them a perfect comedy-cabaret double act — they’re also both excelling in cross-generational comedy stories. On HBO Max’s “Hacks,” Emmy defending champion Smart returned for a second season as stand-up queen Deborah Vance, who’s still in a rivalrous partnership with her writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder); on Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” Short and longtime creative collaborator Steve Martin teamed with Selena Gomez to solve sweetly melancholy mysteries in their Manhattan apartment complex. JEAN SMART: I just binge-watched your show, and I cannot tell you how much I love it. There’s something about the style of the show that is so unique and so mesmerizing and so fun. I…

Loki (DISNEY+); The Essex Serpent (APPLE TV+) Pam & Tommy (HULU) For “Downton Abbey” alum Lily James, 2022 has been a year of glamour and drama. She took on the role of Pamela Anderson in Hulu’s “Pam & Tommy,” which looked sympathetically at Anderson’s attempt to be taken seriously. Tom Hiddleston’s work is similarly multifaceted in “Loki,” where he plays Marvel’s trickster god, who’s gone from “Avengers” villain to lead of his own Disney+ series; Hiddleston also stars in Apple TV+ historical drama “The Essex Serpent.” TOM HIDDLESTON: I thought your work was extraordinary. Taking on a real person feels like an enormous responsibility. LILY JAMES: It’s terrifying, isn’t it? HIDDLESTON: You want to honor and respect and — JAMES: I felt like if I came at it with heart,…

And Just Like That … (HBO MAX); The Gilded Age (HBO) Saturday Night Live (NBC) Cynthia Nixon reprised her role as lawyer Miranda Hobbes on HBO Max’s “Sex and the City” follow-up “And Just Like That …,” this time adding in a new wrinkle to her character as a queer woman exploring romance with stand-up comic Che Diaz (played by Sara Ramírez). Her 2022 also included a turn in HBO’s “The Gilded Age.” Meanwhile, Bowen Yang brought his frank and fresh perspective to NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” where he completed his third season as a cast member. BOWEN YANG: I wonder how it must have felt to go back into playing Miranda as an actor who probably experienced closure many different times. CYNTHIA NIXON: After the second movie, I was…

• Myles Frost Frost’s road to Broadway was paved by a 2016 YouTube video of the young performer, now 22, dancing to “Billie Jean” in a high school talent show. But don’t go looking there for tips on how to dance like Michael Jackson. “I see those old videos and I’m like, ‘What was I doing? I’m a hot mess!’” laughs Frost. “I know so much more now, and I have a different work ethic than I did back then. My moves are so much sharper. There’s a silhouette to everything that I do.” Still, it was that video of the D.C.-area native that prompted a 2021 call from the casting team of the King of Pop musical “MJ.” The video got him the audition, the audition got him the…

There are some things that you can’t do over Zoom. That became clear to us when our cherished Actors on Actors franchise returned to its in-person format for the first time in more than two years. To see these 25 actors — who delivered the best performances of 2022’s Emmy season — pair off and converse face-to-face felt badly overdue. After endless virtual contact, stories flowed freely; what a relief for these performers to be freed from their computer screens. ¶ Jared Leto (“WeCrashed”) and Amanda Seyfried (“The Dropout”) got into a spirited discussion about Seyfried’s real eye color. Jung Ho-yeon (“Squid Game”) sat in the lap of her new friend Sandra Oh (“Killing Eve”) as they were being photographed. Zendaya (“Euphoria”) and Andrew Garfield (“Under the Banner of Heaven”)…

The Morning Show (APPLE TV+) Pam & Tommy (HULU) Of course Jennifer Aniston and Sebastian Stan are bound to talk about the 1990s. Stan is receiving Emmy buzz for donning tattoos and losing weight to play Tommy Lee, the Mötley Crüe drummer, in Hulu’s limited series “Pam & Tommy” — which is set in the decade that made Aniston a star on “Friends.” Actually, as Aniston thinks about it, she could see Stan chilling on the famous coffeehouse couch on her former sitcom. But they don’t agree about one thing: Is he a Joey or a Chandler? The time travel then moves to the early days of COVID, to discuss Aniston’s transformative turn as anchor Alex Levy on Season 2 of “The Morning Show.” In the latest arc on the…

Succession (HBO) WeCrashed (APPLE TV+) In May, Jeremy Strong and Anne Hathaway dazzled the Croisette as they appeared on the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival to promote their roles in James Gray’s critically hailed new film “Armageddon Time.” Two weeks prior, though, they are together in New York discussing their small-screen work. Strong has reached new heights of acting as Kendall Roy, the abandoned and confused scion of a media dynasty, on the third season of HBO’s “Succession.” (He already has an Emmy on the shelf for his work on the series.) Elsewhere in the universe of broken-spirited corporate animals, Hathaway played Rebekah Neumann, first lady of a doomed co-working company, on Apple TV+’s “WeCrashed.” The pair, who first met on the set of the 2019 film “Serenity,”…

Squid Game (NETFLIX) Killing Eve (BBC AMERICA); The Chair (NETFLIX) Sandra Oh (“Killing Eve,” “The Chair”) and Jung Ho-yeon (“Squid Game”) bond quickly at our photo shoot. They’d gone viral on the internet in February, when Oh congratulated Ho-yeon for winning best performance by a female actor at the SAG Awards, posing for selfies with the cast of Netflix’s “Squid Game.” But this feels more intimate. Or, as Oh puts it to Ho-yeon, who got her start as a model: “Immediately we’re so close; immediately, you sat on my lap.” By the end of their conversation, the two are making dinner plans so they can continue talking off camera. In between, they discuss how the representation of Asian people has changed in popular culture since Oh portrayed Dr. Cristina Yang…

Yellowjackets (SHOWTIME) Euphoria; The White Lotus (HBO) Sydney Sweeney has had a breakout year, stealing the spotlight on two HBO shows: as the insecure, selfdestructive Cassie on “Euphoria,” and as the withering mean-girl Olivia on “The White Lotus.” Christina Ricci elicited a combination of laughter and terror as the macabre, damaged Misty on Showtime’s genredefying survival drama “Yellowjackets.” When the two actors meet, they discuss their characters’ varied traumas; how life on sets has changed for young women, particularly when it comes to sex scenes; and being memes. CHRISTINA RICCI: We’ve both played characters that have turned into memes. Olivia’s a meme. Cassie’s a meme. SYDNEY SWEENEY: Misty’s a meme. Do you like it? RICCI: I think it’s really fun. SWEENEY: Sometimes when I’m texting my mom, I send back…

At the Tony Awards ceremony June 12, Angela Lansbury will be awarded the 2022 Special Award for Lifetime Achievement — and really the only surprising thing about that is that it hasn’t happened sooner. The 96-year-old actor has won five Tonys since she made her Broadway debut in 1957. She headlined the original productions of both “Mame” and “Sweeney Todd” as well as the first Broadway revival of “Gypsy.” That alone would be enough to make her a legend even before you count the pop culture impact of her 12 seasons on “Murder, She Wrote” and her beloved turn as a teapot in “Beauty and the Beast.” In 2013 she was given an Honorary Oscar. Theater remains her first love, Lansbury said in an interview a few years back. “To…

On “Evil,” Katja Herbers plays forensic psychologist Kristen Bouchard, one of a trio of investigators who assess potential demonic possession and other possible supernatural activity for the Catholic Church. Kristen is also in a will-they-or-won’tthey dynamic with David (Mike Colter), a fellow assessor and newly ordained Catholic priest. The show, created by Robert and Michelle King, begins its third season on Paramount+ June 12, having moved to the streamer from CBS after Season 1. • When you first started playing Kristen, could you have foreseen how different the character would be in Season 3? I couldn’t, but I did have hopes, because I know the Kings are known to have their characters evolve and change. And after the first season, when I ended up killing someone, I knew that that…