ESSENTIAL INDUSTRY and AWARD NEWS FROM HOLLYWOOD, compiled by REBECCA KEEGAN
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
It's Wednesday, and today's Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit lineup is looking pretty, pretty, pretty good.
Hello from Los Angeles, where we're making Bob Iger campaign buttons, declaring Call Me by Your Name a festival-hype survivor, and celebrating Viola Davis's next production.
WHAT ABOUT BOB?
Bob Iger isn't saying whether he plans to run for political office after he steps down as Disney's C.E.O. in 2019, but the longtime Democrat sure sounded like a man with governing on his mind when he spoke to V.F.'s Nick Bilton at the magazine's New Establishment Summit on Tuesday. Bilton opened the conversation by announcing that a Disney employee had died in the mass shooting in Las Vegas Sunday night, prompting Iger to take up the topic of gun violence. "This is a human tragedy of huge proportions, and we should be outraged by it," Iger said speaking before an audience at the Wallis Annenberg Center in Beverly Hills. "We have the worst record in the modern world when it comes to gun violence and gun deaths. And something's gotta be done about it." When and whether Iger's employees should get political is a subject that came up recently at Disney-owned ESPN, when SportsCenter anchor Jemele Hill called Donald Trump a "white supremacist" on Twitter. Iger revealed Tuesday that even though Hill's comments violated ESPN's social-media policies, he felt compelled to intervene on her behalf during the ensuing controversy. "I felt that we had to take context into account," Iger said. "Context in that case included what was going on in America." You can watch video of Iger's remarks, as well as others who spoke at the summit on Tuesday, including Ava DuVernay,Ted Sarandos,Donna Langley,Jason Blum,Patty Jenkins, and Richard Plepler,here. Today, we'll hear from the likes of Larry David,Shonda Rhimes,Judd Apatow, and Dee Dee Myers; you can livestream those conversations here.
V.F.'s Nick Bilton interviews Disney's Bob Iger during Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit on October 3rd.
By Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images.
THE HORROR, THE HORROR!
V.F.'s Laura Bradley writes:
That Ryan Murphy is a tricky one; just when you think you've got him all figured out, he goes and pulls off a twist you never saw coming. That was the case Tuesday night, when American Horror Story closed with a reveal that involves Cheyenne Jackson's psychiatrist character Dr. Rudy Vincent. "Normally, I can always tell" when a giant twist is coming, Jackson told V.F. in an interview. "And I didn't know. So genius!" So, what should we think of his character now that we know a little more about Rudy's dark past? "He is ambitious," Jackson said. "He really, really cares about how things come across. Image and reputation is paramount. . . . I think it's more about problem-solving than being pure evil. Or maybe not!"
BLACK DON'T CRACK
V.F.'s Yohana Desta writes:
Here I was, wondering how I'd ever choose my favorite Peak-TV comedy, when Viola Davis and Larry Wilmore decided to make it easy me. Nay—for all of us. According to Deadline, the power duo is teaming up for a multi-cam series on ABC called Black Don't Crack, a title I still can't believe hasn't been used before. The sitcom will be written and produced by Insecure producer Regina Hicks, and will revolve around three former sorority sisters who reunite years after college. Davis will co-produce with husband Julius Tennon under their banner, JuVee Productions; Wilmore will do the same under his banner, Wilmore Films. "Viola and I are inspired by Regina Hicks and to have Larry Wilmore EP is a dream," Tennon told Deadline. "Seeing these three African-American women who appear not to age but, to have challenges that we can all relate to and in a way, we have not seen before, will be a revelation."
EAT A PEACH
V.F.'s Katey Rich writes:
It's one thing to have one rapturous film-festival premiere; it's quite another to have three, spread nine months and thousands of miles apart, each of which kicks off yet another round of Oscar buzz. Call Me by Your Name premiered at the New York Film Festival on Tuesday night, marking the third time—after Sundance and Toronto— that it's captivated a festival audience with its story of young love in an achingly beautiful Italian setting. As V.F.'s Richard Lawsontweeted, the warm reception may be proof that the Luca Guadagnino film has survived the "dreaded overhype cycle" that so often troubles Sundance hits. The premiere was followed up by a cover story in Out magazine featuring star Armie Hammer in enviable knitwear that proclaims the film "the hottest movie of the season." As of today, there are precisely five months left to go until Oscars night—but Call Me by Your Name is showing every sign of being able to handle the long road ahead.
THE HEART OF THE MATTER
V.F.'s Hillary Busis writes:
Call Me by Your Name may be getting the lion's share of awards-season buzz right now, but there's also another vital L.G.B.T. film playing big on the festival circuit: B.P.M. (Beats Per Minute), which dramatizes AIDS activism in early 1990s Paris and received an enthusiastic reception at Cannes this spring. (It also won the festival's Grand Prix.) Now that B.P.M. has arrived stateside for the New York Film Festival, V.F. is debuting its first U.S. trailer. Learn more about the film our own Richard Lawson lauds as "one of the most refreshingly frank queer films we've seen in many years, both about politics and about sex," which France has also officially selected as its Academy Awards submission, here; it will be available in theaters starting October 20.
That's the news for this sunny Wednesday in L.A. What are you seeing out there? Send tips, comments, and peaches to Rebecca_Keegan@condenast.com. Follow me on Twitter @thatrebecca.
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