Innholdsfortegnelse for 7/20/2022 i Variety

1 Kevin Spacey Drops Out of Genghis Khan Movie After Sexual Assault Charges Kevin Spacey will no longer be leading the Genghis Khan movie shopped in Cannes after pleading not guilty to multiple sexual assault charges in the U.K. The actor was set to star in “1242: Gateway to the West,” a historical drama about a holy man (Spacey) in a Hungarian castle who tries to stop one of Genghis Khan’s armies from invading Europe. But the movie’s producer, Bill Chamberlain, tells Variety that the pic is now replacing Spacey. Negotiations are underway with a new lead, who will be revealed in due course. — Manori Ravindran 2 Aaron Paul, Zazie Beetz Join ‘Black Mirror’ A fresh cast of stars has signed on for Season 6 of “Black Mirror.” Netflix’s…

With new Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer in place, the next big question mark for the organization that hosts the Oscars revolves around who will replace outgoing president David Rubin, whose term ends this summer. On Aug. 2, the AMPAS Board of Governors will select its 38th president. Whoever takes the No. 2 slot will face intense pressure to navigate agendas dictated by bylaws, decades of tradition and an ever-changing media landscape. Two front-runners have emerged to lead the organization’s nearly 10,000 members, and both are producers: Janet Yang, an Ivy League graduate whose film credits include “The Joy Luck Club” (1993), and DeVon Franklin, a former Sony Pictures Entertainment executive who is president and CEO of multimedia company Franklin Entertainment. Yang, who is of…

When Jo Koy was starting out as a stand-up comic, he would spend hours making flyers at Kinko’s and putting them on car windshields in mall parking lots to hawk his latest gig. “I used to get in trouble with the security guards,” Koy remembers. “I was the annoying guy who would do anything to promote himself.” Three decades, three Netflix specials and hundreds of sold-out engagements later, Koy is continuing to hustle as he works to draw attention for “Easter Sunday,” the upcoming comedy that is based on his Filipino American family. But this time he’s moving far beyond photocopying: At his shows, Koy has been sharing a trailer from “Easter Sunday” and urging audience members to buy tickets using an interactive QR code displayed on large-format screens that…

AWARDS CIRCUIT When this year’s Emmy nominations were announced last week, the TV Academy decided not to tally up the contenders by network. Sort of. The group still sent out a document listing all nominees by network as submitted but left the hard work of counting those noms, and deciding how to present that data, to others. This caused a lot of scrambling on nomination morning — and resulted in some early bad math — before it finally became clear that HBO, with or without HBO Max, had won this year’s derby over Netflix. The decision to eliminate those network tallies has everything to do with the inter-network squabble over how they identify themselves. It’s all about ego and bragging rights, and after things got testy last year, the TV…

IN HOLLYWOOD, power can be measured by the size of your paycheck. And for some of the biggest stars, the rise of streaming services like Netflix and Apple TV+ has fueled massive paydays. For our annual survey of notable salaries in movies and television, we’re once again pulling back the curtain on some of the most head-spinning deals, perks and payouts that are enjoyed by veteran A-listers such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Dwayne Johnson. We’re also looking at the statement-making pacts being inked by a newer generation of stars. There’s reason to think that the good times may not last forever, but even if the media business suffers a downfall, many leading men and women have emerged from the streaming wars a whole lot richer. $100M+ “Top Gun: Maverick” $20M…

Some of the top names on America’s sports landscape are ready to share their insights at the Variety Sports and Entertainment Breakfast presented by City National Bank, set for July 21 at the Maybourne in Beverly Hills. From groundbreaking athletes to top industry heads, the morning looks to paint a vivid picture of today’s sports and entertainment scene. Opening remarks from Variety chief marketing officer Dea Lawrence and Richard A. Raffetto, president of City National Bank, will kick off the morning of conversations. Following the remarks, Variety co-editorin-chief Cynthia Littleton will lead the first keynote conversation in a discussion with Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of ESPN and sports content at Walt Disney Co. ESPN, a household name throughout the world, is at the forefront of the sports business. Through its extensive…

Oscar-winning production designer Dennis Gassner had one suggestion when working with brothers Anthony and Joe Russo on the set of their latest film, “The Gray Man,” out now in theaters: “Let’s do this like a James Bond film and ‘Blade Runner 2049,’ throw it in a blender and we’ll make it work.” The espionage thriller follows Six, aka the Gray Man, a super-secret government assassin played by Ryan Gosling who finds himself on the run from a sadistic mercenary (Chris Evans). Like the Gray Man, who lives in the shadows, so do Gassner’s set tricks. The global manhunt for Six meant the Russos had planned to shoot “around the world,” but with the pandemic closing borders, that wasn’t possible. A blend of sets and exterior shoots in locations including Prague,…

“Let It Burn,” the galvanic high point of the Broadway musical “Paradise Square,” erupts out of star Joaquina Kalukango in pain and frustration over the hurt her character has been forced to endure. That song and its themes have taken on added resonance with the cast and crew after the production closed abruptly on July 17. “Paradise Square,” which won a Tony for Kalukango and was nominated for nine others, has been overshadowed by lawsuits and allegations that producer Garth H. Drabinsky cut corners and failed to pay bills. But insiders say issues with the show began as far back as its pre-Broadway run at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2018. “The show was never correctly budgeted,” says Karyn Meek, the former production stage manager, who resigned in May over…

It took a Bad Bunny to show us the real leaps and bounds Latin music has been taking in the U.S. market, although that segment’s growth trend hasn’t exactly been buried in a rabbit hole. A midyear report from Luminate showed streaming for Latin music for the first half of 2022 is up a gigantic 33% from the same period the year before. Latin’s uptick as a genre was almost three times the overall 11.6% rise in on-demand song streaming. Latin’s current surge is hardly a one-album phenomenon, but Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” is noteworthy on a number of levels: During the week it came out (ending May 12), the blockbuster album accounted for 16% of all U.S. Latin streaming; it has snagged a 5% share of Latin…

When the announcement came that “Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” the third movie in Channing Tatum’s (1) male stripper franchise, had the greenlight, it was revealed the film would premiere directly on HBO Max. However, director Steven Soderbergh (2) says a theatrical run is still on the table. “We’re talking about it,” Soderbergh told me recently while promoting the “Magic Mike Live” tour, which makes its North American debut in Miami in October. “It’s certainly hard to argue that this isn’t a movie that’s best seen in a theater, because we have the data. People, primarily women, were going in packs, in large groups, to see the ‘Magic Mike’ movies.” Soderbergh returns as director after helming the first “M.M.” (the second was directed by Gregory Jacobs). “That’s the discussion with Warners…

Editor Bernie McGurk and animator Rory Lowe knew they had to fill in some important gaps in the telling of Magnolia Pictures documentary “My Old School,” in theaters July 22, which tells the story of how a 30-year-old man claiming to be a high schooler named Brandon Lee duped students, teachers and staff at Scotland’s Bearsden Academy in 1993. Director Jono McLeod, a former classmate of Lee’s, brings the tale to life with help from Alan Cumming. The actor serves as the face of Lee (whose real name is Brian MacKinnon), who didn’t want to appear on camera for the doc. McGurk says Cumming was able to seamlessly lip-sync to the recordings of Lee. “It was like watching a master at work,” says McGurk, who was with McLeod at the…

MUSIC REVIEW Artist: Jack White Label: Third Man After titling his last album “Fear of the Dawn,” Jack White now goes gentle into that good morning with “Entering Heaven Alive,” a follow-up being released all of 15 weeks later. You’d be hardpressed to come up with two records so wildly different: “Heaven” is as graceful as its predecessor is gonzo. The fact that he recorded both in the same fertile burst of energy, and originally even planned to release the music all as one (presumably double) album, seems incalculable. He did the right thing, anyway, overseeing a commercial divorce between these primarily electric and primarily acoustic offerings. Even if you’re a proud fan of sprawling, eclectic mega-albums, there’s something to be said for sustaining a mood too. “There are moments…

Network executives are starting to cheer about wrapping up another successful upfront ad sales market this summer, but Madison Avenue’s media buyers also have reason to claim victory. By many accounts, the volume of advertising commitments for the 2022-23 season is ahead of last year’s. Yet networks drove that ad cash to the bank by agreeing to accept smaller rate hikes than in 2021-22 — usually a flashing sign that sellers lack leverage in a crowded market. Moreover, the uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment weighed heavy on the discussions, industry insiders tell Variety. “The psychology of the marketplace this year was ‘Hey, I don’t know what the future holds, and I don’t like that,’” says one media buyer familiar with this year’s upfront talks. What clouds hover over the horizon?…

This week, San Diego Comic-Con returns for its first full in-person event in July since 2019, and in several ways, it will resemble many other Comic-Cons before it. On July 22, Amazon Prime Video will continue the yearlong marketing effort for its upcoming epic fantasy series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” with a 90-minute panel in Hall H. Not to be outdone, the next day, HBO will debut its first look at the “Game of Thrones” prequel series “House of the Dragon.” Paramount+ will have a panel for three of its “Star Trek” series: “Strange New Worlds,” “Lower Decks” and “Picard.” And to cap things off in the late afternoon on July 23, Marvel Studios is expected to make another blockbuster presentation of its upcoming slate,…

July 20 Wednesday • Journalist Nicole Pasulka and photographer Santiago Felipe discuss their new book about the rebirth of New York’s drag scene, “How You Get Famous: Ten Years of Drag Madness in Brooklyn.” The Center, New York • Vitali Klitschko, former boxing champion and now mayor of Kyiv, receives the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the 2022 ESPYs. Stephen Curry hosts. Microsoft Theatre, Los Angeles July 21 Thursday • “King Liz” opens with stars Ray Abruzzo, Oscar Best, Nancy Linari, Michelle Ortiz, Evan Morris Reiser and Sabrina Sloan. Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles • DJ Scratch provides the music for the DiscOasis “Grudio 54” roller-skating dance party for the “Minions: The Rise of Gru” soundtrack. Wollman Rink, New York • “Queer as Folk” star Ryan O’Connell discusses his novel…

UPCOMING contract negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and Hollywood’s biggest employers are expected to include an echo boom of another industrywide conflict from the recent past. The WGA declined to comment, but industry sources say there is growing momentum for the guild to press for big economic gains, piggybacking on the guild’s successful campaign to eliminate packaging fees. In 2019, the WGA took aim at the long-standing practice of producers paying packaging fees to talent agencies that help assemble TV series and some independent films. The WGA went to war with the largest talent agencies after the guild implemented new rules that barred talent agents who represent WGA members from receiving packaging fees. Those packaging fees were typically about 3% of a project’s license fee upfront, with the…

The new season of “Only Murders in the Building,” currently streaming on Hulu, sees the trio of amateur sleuths and residents of New York’s Arconia apartments — played by Selena Gomez, Martin Short and Steve Martin — becoming suspects in the killing of Bunny Folger (played by Jayne Houdyshell). Production designer Patrick Howe was told by show co-creator John Hoffman that Bunny’s apartment would need to be a new set for the season. “It hadn’t even registered that the character was dead. In all my years of designing, I don’t think I’d ever designed for a dead person,” Howe says. “In all my years of designing, I don’t think I’d ever designed for a dead person.”— Patrick Howe Bunny had been a longtime resident of the Arconia and the president…

TV REVIEW Docuseries: HBO Max (six episodes; all reviewed); July 21 With: George Clooney, Laura Linney, Sam Rockwell, Billy Crudup Deep into “The Last Movie Stars” — a six-episode HBO Max documentary series directed by Ethan Hawke — Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward appear on the cover of a 1980 issue of McCall’s magazine. In the headline, his name comes first, then hers, then a reference to “their very private marriage.” This may come as a surprise, even as the order of names, and Newman’s face forcing Woodward’s to the cover’s bottom half, make perfect sense. With movies like “Cool Hand Luke” and “The Hustler” in the canon, and Newman’s face smiling benevolently across every American salad-dressing aisle, the scope of his fame made the world see the accomplished Woodward…