ESSENTIAL INDUSTRY and AWARD NEWS FROM HOLLYWOOD, compiled by REBECCA KEEGAN
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
It's Tuesday, and I'd like to raise my hand for the job of wielding Cher's BeDazzler on the set of Mamma Mia 2.
Hello from Los Angeles, where agencies and actresses are opening up about a once-taboo topic, Netflix is gifting us Riz Ahmed soliloquies, and former Saturday Night Live writers are finding new life in prime time.
TEN PERCENT COMPLICIT?
One of the many awful topics the Harvey Weinstein scandal raises for Hollywood is the role agencies may have played in helping to keep Weinstein's behavior toward women an open secret. Rose McGowan, one of the first actresses to allude to Weinstein's alleged predations, called the agencies out on Monday, tweeting, "UTA/CAA/ICM/etc- To the agents who sent us to meet a Monster: I hope you enjoyed that 10%, you are guilty of human trafficking #ROSEARMY." In this piece I wrote with my colleague, Nicole Sperling, another woman, Tamara Holder, told Vanity Fair that her agents at ICM encouraged her not to speak up about an alleged sexual assault by a Fox News executive when she was a contributor there. "The agents deserve to have their cloaks ripped off them," Holder said.
When it comes to Weinstein, many agents told us they genuinely didn't know about the potential dangers he posed to their clients. "I wish I knew," one female agent at a top agency said. "I would have reported him. I would have confronted him. I wouldn't have let it continue. It makes me angry that I didn't know." Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy proposed one potential solution Monday night, in a speech at Elle's Women in Hollywood event. Kennedy wants to create a film industry commission to supply "a secure, reliable, unimpeachable system in which victims of abuse can report what's happened to them with a confident expectation that action will be taken without placing their employment, reputations, and careers at risk." The executive and longtime producer, who sits on the film Academy's board of governors, said she has asked the Academy to take the first steps toward creating this commission.
By Peter Foley/EPA/REX/Shutterstock.
THEM, TOO
V.F.'s Hillary Busis writes:
Harvey Weinstein fell from grace the way an Ernest Hemingway character famously went bankrupt in The Sun Also Rises—gradually, then suddenly. But his flameout didn't just affect the fortunes of the Weinstein Company—it's also inspired scores of actresses to come forward with their own horrifying stories of industry-sanctioned, sexually motivated abuse, tales that help explain the culture that allowed Weinstein to get away with his alleged actions for decades. On Monday, three more award-winning names added themselves to the list of performers who have been mistreated by Hollywood: Jennifer Lawrence, Reese Witherspoon, and America Ferrera. Lawrence says that as a teenager, she was forced to participate in a naked line-up of actresses, then shamed into losing weight; Witherspoon and Ferrera both say they were assaulted. All three stories are harrowing—and serve as further proof that Weinstein's accusers are far from alone.
READY FOR PRIMETIME
V.F.'s Laura Bradley writes:
It's official: former Saturday Night Live head writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider are headed to Comedy Central. (The two quietly left the venerated sketch show as it kicked off its 43rd season.) Their new family comedy, The Other Two, will center on two siblings who aren't exactly thrilled with how their show-business careers are shaping up—as their 12-year-old brother finds overnight fame on the Internet. This series will be a special treat for longtime S.N.L. fans; not only was it co-created and written by Kelly and Schneider, but Lorne Michaels will also serve alongside them as a co-executive producer. The cherry on top? Former S.N.L. cast member Molly Shannon, who will play the siblings' mother.
TO BE OR NOT TO BE
V.F.'s Yohana Desta writes:
At long last, Riz Ahmed gets to tackle the role of his dreams. Yes, even though he's already done Star Wars and won an Emmy for leading an HBO series, Ahmed is still a classically trained British thespian at heart—one who dreams of headlining Shakespeare's Hamlet. According to Deadline, Netflix is reportedly offering the actor a chance to do just that. The streaming platform plans to finance and distribute writer Mike Lesslie's modern adaptation of the classic tragedy, produced by Jim Wilson (Under the Skin). Ahmed and Lesslie (who also penned the beautifully gloomy 2015 adaptation of Macbeth) have apparently worked together for years on the new version, which is set in modern-day London. This Riz Report also arrives on the heels of an announcement that Netflix plans to spend up to $8 billion on original content this year—all the better to win Emmys with, as my colleague Laura Bradley points out. According to Ted Sarandos, the streaming platform will also release at least 80 (80!) new movies by the end of next year. One of which, thankfully, will involve Ahmed mournfully soliloquizing.
TOP OF THE BLAKE
V.F.'s Katey Rich writes:
Blake Lively is currently out promoting the drama All I See Is You, which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival over a year ago to quiet appreciation . . . but that won't stop her from dressing like she's fronting the biggest movie of the year. The star changed clothes seven times on Monday, hopscotching across New York City from Good Morning America to interviews to a film screening, looking increasingly incredible as the day went on. V.F.'s Erika Harwood has documented the stylish decathlon, in which Lively proves that hits may come and go, but fashion icon status is forever.
THERE WAS SOMETHING IN THE AIR THAT NIGHT
V.F.'s Hillary Busis writes:
In a casting announcement that seems to have been conjured out of thin air by Team HWD's most fervent hopes and dreams, word broke late Monday that the one and only Cher will return to the silver screen with a role in—get this—the upcoming Mamma Mia! sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. As Borys Kit writes at The Hollywood Reporter, the film has not yet disclosed details about the Oscar winner's character, though Cher herself has indicated via Twitter at least one song we can expect her to sing in the film: "Worked LATE LAST NIGHT," she tweeted in the wee hours of Tuesday. "Make up/Hair test'CRAZY👏🏻Then Mark's 2 Re-Sing FERNANDO.Wasn't Happy,Feel MUCH Better😉MY VERSION IS Me.'GREAT SONG'😥"
That's the news for this sunny Tuesday in L.A. What are you seeing out there? Send tips, comments, gypsies, tramps, and thieves to Rebecca_Keegan@condenast.com. Follow me on Twitter @thatrebecca.
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