ESSENTIAL INDUSTRY and AWARD NEWS FROM HOLLYWOOD, compiled by REBECCA KEEGAN
Friday, October 20, 2017
It's Friday, there were fireworks set off in L.A. last night, and I'm not sure if it's because the Dodgers are in the World Series or because Harvey Weinstein is in rehab.
Hello from Los Angeles, where we're getting charmed by Renzo Piano, bracing for the return of The Walking Dead, and meeting the surprising young star of Wonderstruck.
CIAO, RENZO
Thanks to new gifts from Netflix, Bloomberg, and others, the Academy Museum has surpassed $300 million in fundraising, on its way to a goal of $388 million. Some of us just got our first look at the man spending all those millions to build the spherical, 1000-seat David Geffen Theater and adjacent exhibition spaces taking shape on L.A.'s Miracle Mile: architect Renzo Piano, who is visiting town from his Genoa, Italy workshop this week. The 80-year-old Pritzker winner, who built the Shard in London and the Whitney Museum in New York, toured the Academy Museum construction site with museum director Kerry Brougher Thursday, ahead of a conversation that evening for Academy members and donors moderated by Academy governor Laura Dern. Piano made his pitch for the building plans, which have been a source of controversy over costs and construction delays, as the museum heads toward its 2019 completion date. Among the unforeseen problems: a sloth fossil found under the building's foundation, a fitting metaphor for a project first kicked around by Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.
"This museum is right where it should be," Piano said, gesturing toward a sweeping view of the Hollywood sign from atop the former May Company Building, the 1939 Art Deco department store being repurposed to house the Academy's collections, including spaces named for donors like Steven Spielberg, Netflix, and others. Though the May Company Building—since renamed the Saban Building after Haim and Cheryl Saban, who donated $50 million—is a historic landmark, Piano made a tongue-in-cheek case for his own authority. "I have an advantage," Piano said. "Everybody told me that building, the May Company, was built in 1939, but I am a 1937. I am more historic."
By Renzo Piano Building Workshop/AMPAS HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock, by Franco Origlia/Getty Images (inset).
THE FLOODGATES ARE OPEN
V.F.'s Yohana Desta writes:
All across the media landscape, major companies are examining their ranks and weeding out the possible Harvey Weinsteins lurking among them. In the weeks since the first explosive allegations were lobbed at the producer—leading him to lose his job, his Academy membership, and various honorifics from here to France—numerous women have come forward to accuse bigwigs at other companies of sexual misconduct. The results have been swift: in the last 24 hours, Nickelodeon announced that it had suspended, and then fired The Loud House show-runner Chris Savino, who was accused of sexual misconduct by up to a dozen women. In addition, Vox Media announced that it was firing editorial director Lockhart Steele, because he "admitted engaging in conduct that is inconsistent with our core values." Across the pond, David Blaine is being investigated by Scotland Yard for allegedly raping former model Natasha Prince in 2004. (His lawyer Marty Singer says Blaine "vehemently denies" the allegations, but will cooperate with the police.)
Meanwhile, Weinstein himself—who has scuttled away to a rehabilitation center in Arizona, where rumor has it he's as belligerent as ever—is still facing fresh allegations. In a searing essay for The New York Times, Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'odetailed several run-ins with Weinstein, who allegedly repeatedly tried to sexually proposition her. Her numerous claims are disturbing—not only does she say he repeatedly harassed her, but he also invited her to his home, while his kids were there, and tried to give her a massage in his bedroom. Shortly before Nyong'o went public Thursday, the Times also ran a mea culpa interview with Quentin Tarantino, who admitted that he's known about Weinstein's alleged conduct for years: "I knew enough to do more than I did . . . There was more to it than just the normal rumors, the normal gossip. It wasn't secondhand," he said.
WONDER GIRL
V.F.'s Katey Rich writes:
There's no lack of star power to be found in Todd Haynes's new film Wonderstruck, from his longtime collaborator Julianne Moore in a dual role to 12-year-old Pete's Dragon standout Oakes Fegley. But it may be hard to take your eyes off the face you've never seen before: 14-year-old Millicent Simmonds, the deaf actress selected through a painstaking, global casting process to play the film's heroine, Rose. V.F. contributor Lisa Liebmangot the story, from the four girls who lied about their hearing loss to score an audition to the custom A.S.L. "sign name" Simmonds created for Moore: a J with a circle around the face, which means "beautiful." "It was very moving, and very kind of her," Moore said.
DEAD MEN WALKING
V.F.'s Laura Bradley writes:
Get your crossbows and baseball bats ready: The Walking Dead is back this Sunday—and from what we've seen and heard so far, this season could be a welcome return to form. First of all, Rick Grimes is done bowing to bad guy Negan. And as the show has promised, this season, its fans will finally get a war. The cast and crew have also sworn that unlike last season, which featured some sluggish pacing, things will move a little faster this time around. At Comic-Con, Andrew Lincoln even said that the latest batch of episodes "feels like it's reminiscent of seasons one through four." Here's hoping Rick and crew haven't underestimated their leather-clad enemy; as their fallen comrades Glenn and Abraham can attest, he does not mess around.
CAN WE TALK?
V.F.'s Hillary Busis writes:
Combing through the voluminous archives of the late Joan Rivers—a meticulous recordkeeper who saved every clipping, magazine cover, photo, Bergdorf Goodman receipt, and union card—made her daughter, Melissa Rivers, feel like an intrepid archaeologist: "I wish I could remember the name of the man who discovered King Tut's tomb," she told me. "We like to refer to her as a collector, which is rich people hoarding." You can see the fruits of that hoarding in Joan Rivers Confidential, a gorgeous coffee table book by Rivers and Scott Currie that will be released Tuesday—stuffed with Joan ephemera, including scores of cards from her famous-joke catalog, a few of which we've excerpted here. Joan had a particular fondness for making fun of Elizabeth Taylor, who gets her own brief section of the book. Thankfully, Melissa pointed out, Taylor was not particularly upset by the various jokes Joan made about her weight: "Elizabeth was so secure; she wasn't unaware that she had gained weight. So the core of who she was felt so solid that it didn't affect her."
That's the news for this sunny Friday in L.A. What are you seeing out there? Send tips, comments, and Joan Rivers's joke-card catalog to Rebecca_Keegan@condenast.com. Follow me on Twitter @thatrebecca.
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