Spiegel Stuff: Walt Disney, Rupert Murdoch, Jack Warner

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Walt Disney, Rupert Murdoch, Jack Warner—Byron Allen?

Vanity Fair

ESSENTIAL INDUSTRY and AWARD NEWS FROM HOLLYWOOD, compiled by REBECCA KEEGAN

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

It's Tuesday, and I'm gliding down Mulholland with Tom Petty in my ears.

Hello from Los Angeles, where we're soaking up knowledge at Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit, welcoming Byron Allen to Oscar season, and waiting for the verdict on a new Supreme Court movie.

OSCAR SEASON'S NEWEST PLAYER

In an awards season full of surprises, the latest is the emergence of an ambitious newcomer to the scene: stand-up comedian and burgeoning media mogul Byron Allen, who has picked up Scott Cooper's Christian Bale Western, Hostiles—one of the year's hottest prestige movie titles—according to Deadline's Mike Fleming Jr. The move comes after Allen, fresh off the success of his surprise hit summer shark movie 47 Meters Down, acquired two titles at the Toronto International Film Festival—potential awards contender Chappaquiddick, and the Keanu Reeves thriller Replicas. "I want to build a media company that rivals Warner Brothers, rivals Disney," Allen told me when we spoke at length last month at his company's Century City headquarters. "That's who I think about Rupert Murdoch . . . Walt Disney. I think about the biggest media companies in the world. That's what I'm chasing."

LIVE FROM L.A.

Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit gets underway today at the Wallis Annenberg Center in Beverly Hills, with a host of intriguing Hollywood speakers planned. I'm on site and looking forward to bringing you news from the likes of Ava DuVernay, Ted Sarandos, Jason Blum, Patty Jenkins, Donna Langley, Bob Iger, and Richard Plepler. If you're here, say hello! And if you're not, your boss probably is—so tune into our livestream here, and watch from the comfort of her desk.

THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON

V.F.'s Yohana Desta writes:

One of the most potent documentaries I've seen this year is The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson. It's a vivid, engrossing portrait of the late titular icon, a leader in the first gay-rights movement. In the film, queer trans activist Victoria Cruz, 71, takes a deep, Serial–esque look into the curious case of the titular activist's mysterious 1992 death. Johnson, a self-described drag queen and fixture of the West Village, was found dead in the Hudson River; though the police ruled it a suicide, her community remains certain that she was murdered. In the film, Cruz becomes a detective of sorts, contacting the police, digging through old files, and questioning a number of people who knew Johnson back in the day. I sat down for an interview with director David France and Cruz herself to learn more about her fascinating life, which is told in bits and pieces in the documentary, but never fully comes to the fore. Like Johnson, Cruz was a West Village entertainer in the 1960s, dancing and stripping her way through the city before eventually falling on rough times. Through activism, she was resurrected, finding a new direction that eventually led her to this special film, which is available on Netflix this Friday.

BANG THE GAVEL

V.F.'s Katey Rich writes:

With the Thurgood Marshall biopic Marshall on its way into theaters next week, what better time to mark your calendar for the next movie about an acclaimed, boundary-breaking Supreme Court justice? The Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex went into production in Montreal on Monday, and announced several new cast members in the process. With Felicity Jones in the lead role as Ginsburg and Armie Hammer as her husband, Martin, the cast now includes Justin Theroux, Kathy Bates, and Sam Waterston, who in theory isn't playing his Law & Order character, Jack McCoy, in the crossover event of the century. But we might cross our fingers for it just in case.

HELLO TO ALL THAT

V.F.'s Hillary Busis writes:

Three years ago this month, Griffin Dunne and Annabelle Dunne launched a Kickstarter campaign to make a documentary about their aunt (and great-aunt), Joan Didion. The resulting film, an intimate portrait of a literary lion, hits Netflix this month. How did the Dunnes go about the monumental task of distilling Didion's life—and the loving cult that's formed around her—into a single film? They explain their process to Vanity Fair contributing Sloane Crosley in this revealing interview, including Didion's delightful rationale for allowing them to make the doc in the first place: "I am letting you make the picture," she told Griffin, "because I saw no compelling reason not to."

KEEPING THIS IS US SPOILER-PROOF

V.F.'s Laura Bradley writes:

NBC airs the second episode of This Is Us Season 2 tonight. The premiere set a new ratings high for the tear-jerking series, and Tuesday's episode will likely have viewers reaching for the tissues, per usual. On Monday, I chatted with Justin Hartley about his character, Kevin Pearson, and his TV family for a spoiler-filled story that will post tonight after the episode airs. As for last week's big reveals—that Pearson patriarch Jack seems to have died in a house fire, and that Kevin was in a leg cast the night it happened—Hartley was pretty tight-lipped. But he did say this: "The broken leg is a turning point for Kevin in his life, and sort of something that sort of sticks with him as he gets older. It's paved the way for him to do the things that he's doing." How often does the actor get asked for spoilers? By his count, roughly 30 or 40 times a day—but he doesn't mind. "When people stop caring and people stop wondering, that's when you have to worry," he says. Besides, he gets it: "I would want to know as well. I'm glad that I know, but also I'm horrible at keeping secrets, so it's tough."

That's the news for this overcast Tuesday in L.A. What are you seeing out there? Send tips, comments, and Petty memories to Rebecca_Keegan@condenast.com. Follow me on Twitter @thatrebecca.