The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences plans to keep with an all-virtual roster of awards — including the Daytime Emmys — in 2021.

The New York-based org made the announcement on Tuesday morning, which impacts the Sports Emmy Awards, the News & Documentary Emmys and the Technology & Engineering Emmys in addition to the Daytime Emmys. The West Coast-based Television Academy, which oversees the Primetime Emmys, hasn’t revealed its plans yet for 2021.

“The current timetables articulated by manufacturers project mass availability of vaccinations for the entire U.S. population by mid-summer 2021, potentially permitting a return to more traditional in-person ceremonies later in the fall,” said NATAS president/CEO Adam Sharp. “However, we have determined that delaying our 2021 events to possibly allow for a compressed calendar of in-person Emmy ceremonies late in the year would result in unacceptable delays to our awards cycle for 2022.”

The Daytime Emmys are expected to take place in virtual ceremonies in June and July 2021. Sharp said the org is considering two- and three-night formats, “across any combination of currently-considered dates: Friday June 25, Saturday July 17, Sunday July 18.”

Sharp said he believed that by sticking with a virtual 2021 calendar, that should allow NATAS to be “best-positioned to return to a full, on-time, traditional schedule of in-person ceremonies in 2022.”

Here is NATAS’ calendar for its major 2021 awards:

42nd Annual Sports Emmy Awards

Call for Entries: Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Final Entry Deadline: Monday, February 15, 2021

Nominations Announced: End of April 2021

Virtual Ceremony: Tuesday, June 8, 2021

48th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards

Call for Entries: Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Final Entry Deadline: Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Nominations Announced: May/June 2021

Virtual Ceremonies: June/July 2021

(Considering two- and three-night formats, across any combination

of currently-considered dates: F 6/25/21, Sa 7/17/21, Su 7/18/21.)

42nd Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards

Call for Entries: Thursday, February 11, 2021

Final Entry Deadline: Thursday, April 8, 2021

Nominations Announced: End of July 2021

Virtual Ceremonies:

Tuesday, September 21, 2021 (News Categories)

Wednesday, September 22, 2021 (Documentary Categories)

72nd Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards

Recipients Announced: January 2021

Virtual Ceremony: Recognition throughout the year,

with a special program during the NAB Show, Sunday, October 10, 2021

Sharp hinted to Variety last month, in a joint summit with his Television Academy counterpart Maury McIntyre, that maintaining virtual events in 2021 was likely. In particular, the Daytime Emmys falls mid-year, when a vaccine isn’t expected to be widely available just yet.

“I think you’ll probably see a lot more carryover of some things from 2021, trying to get back to a little bit of normal at least on competition calendar stuff, and have at least some degree of virtual events that allows us to do some parts of our business in the early part of the year,” he said at the time.

Meanwhile, the Television Academy is expected to reveal its 2021 calendar in the coming weeks. “The two immediate questions for us really is what’s the eligibility period, will that change, and what’s going to go on for FYC campaigning,” McIntyre said at the time. “There’s no current plan to change eligibility but we’re going to keep watching what’s going on and how quickly shows come back. We’ll evaluate whether it makes sense to keep the eligibility period exactly as it is supposed to be. [As for] the FYC campaign, I just simply don’t see that anyone is going to be in a position to be able to pull large crowds together in Los Angeles, regardless of where we are with the vaccine. Within the next month or two, we will come out with a decision in terms of how we see the official FYC campaign season operating so that it’s fair for everyone.”

Here is the full letter from Sharp:

To Our Emmy® Community —

We at the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences stand in awe of and gratitude for your resilience in the face of what has been — and continues to be — one of the most challenging times in the history of the television industry. This awful pandemic has taken from us cherished friends and loved ones, left many more without meaningful income, and forever transformed how we think about our workplaces and public gatherings.

Like many of you, we hunger for a return to some semblance of normalcy. The latest news on multiple vaccines nearing approval is promising. For NATAS, it is an encouraging sign that the ultimate “normal” — a return to in-person ceremonies — may be on the horizon.

The current timetables articulated by manufacturers project mass availability of vaccinations for the entire U.S. population by mid-summer 2021, potentially permitting a return to more traditional in-person ceremonies later in the fall. However, we have determined that delaying our 2021 events to possibly allow for a compressed calendar of in-person Emmy® ceremonies late in the year would result in unacceptable delays to our awards cycle for 2022.

Instead, we have decided to remain “virtual” in the format of our ceremonies for 2021 while relying on a substantially pre-COVID awards calendar. In so doing, we believe we will be best-positioned to return to a full, on-time, traditional schedule of in-person ceremonies in 2022.

Stay tuned for additional emails with more details for your specific competition, including full rules and category descriptions, early deadlines, entry fees, and other information.

Despite being born of unintended necessity, our 2020 ceremonies proved to be among our best. We hope to build on this creative success in making the 2021 virtual gatherings even more inclusive and engaging celebrations of excellence. Looking ahead to 2022, we’ve already started booking venues and can’t wait to welcome you back in person!

Thank you for all your ongoing support of the Emmy® Awards and for the continuity and comfort you provide our shared television audience in this challenging time. Stay safe, take care, and keep up the excellent work.

Best wishes,

Adam Sharp

President & CEO

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Inc.

Articles by: Michael Schneider for Variety.

“Happiest Season,” from Sony’s Tri-Star Pictures and eOne, was always poised to make history, as the first holiday romantic comedy about a same-sex couple from a major Hollywood studio. Then the pandemic hit, leaving Sony with little choice other than to sell “Happiest Season” to Hulu. That seems to have turned out wonderfully: Variety has learned exclusively from Hulu that “Happiest Season” broke premiere records for the streamer. Over the long Thanksgiving weekend, the movie had the best viewership for any original film on the service in its opening weekend, and attracted more new subscribers than any other previous feature title.

Directed by Clea DuVall, and co-written by DuVall and Mary Holland (who also co-stars in the movie), “Happiest Season” is a coming out story, revolving around Abby (Kristen Stewart) and Harper (Mackenzie Davis). When Harper invites Abby home for Christmas, having somehow momentarily forgotten that she’s closeted to her family, she conscripts Abby into pretending they’re straight until after the holiday is over — after which she swears she’ll come out to her uptight parents, Ted and Tipper (Victor Garber and Mary Steenburgen). At the family’s high-pressured Christmas events, hijinks ensue, and Harper hurts Abby’s feelings a bunch, threatening the relationship.

Of course, being the first of its kind, and serving the underrepresented LGBTQ audience, means that “Happiest Season” inspired an absolute tonnage of deeply felt opinions, which were manifested both in written takes and on social media — most of them were loving, though some wanted Abby to take a different path, and a few were downright Grinchy. But unless you live under a rock (in which case, is there room for one more?), your Thanksgiving social media feeds were full of thoughts — nay, strongly argued points — about “Happiest Season.” Naturally, according to Hulu, it was the company’s most-talked about original film ever on Twitter, and was overall the most-tweeted about movie during the holiday weekend, trending three times.

“Obviously, we all wanted a theatrical release for this, and Sony was such a great partner,” DuVall told Variety on Monday night. “But Hulu just took the ball and did such an incredible job, and were so passionate. It’s really heartening to me that so many people wanted to get this story out there.”

DuVall — a prolific actor, turned writer-director — also addressed the internet’s ardent love for Aubrey Plaza’s Riley, having compassion for Harper’s coming out journey, and the possibility of a sequel. (SPOILER ALERT about the entirety of the movie, obviously!)

What was your experience of the movie going up on Wednesday, and of its reception?

It was kind of remarkable. In all the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never had anything come out and have so many people reaching out to me. It was really cool. And seeing on Twitter people talking about it was really exciting. To do something that so many people were noticing — I’m not really used to that. I’m really a fly-under-the-radar guy.

As I was watching the conversation unfold online over the weekend, one thing I was thinking is that “Happiest Season” doesn’t get to be just a movie, because it’s also a symbol — but I would think that makes it hard when it’s also a story that’s personal to you. Can you talk about of being the first in this kind of situation? Is that a burden?

I think it’s a privilege. And yes, I know being the first comes with a lot of expectations. But I also felt like it’s so long overdue for a movie like this to be made on this scale, you know? All I really was hoping for is that it would give studios or streamers the impression that movies like this have an audience, and that people want to see them. I just wanted to do a good enough job that I would get to make more on a larger scale. That LGBTQ stories would be — you know, that there would be more of them!

Getting into some of the things that people have been talking about — obviously, you wrote the movie so that Abby ends up with Harper, but there are so many people who want Abby to be with Riley! Do you —

Do they want Abby to be with Riley, or do they want to be with Riley? I mean, it also can be both.

I think it’s both? But they definitely want Abby to be with what Riley.

Yeah. I mean, listen: Aubrey is incredible. She’s incredible in general, and she was so fantastic in this film. I was so excited when she agreed to do it. And I was so excited when she was on set; I was so excited in the editing room. To be able to make a movie and put someone who I love and admire as much as I love and admire Aubrey into it — and then watch people fall in love with her — is so rewarding. I don’t blame them for loving her as much as they do.

And I think it’s also so cool to have a movie where people are having these conversations, and are having these debates. That people are engaged.

Can you talk about creating Riley in general? What did you want from her character?

I think there’s something so specific about when you are the only queer person in a situation, and another queer person shows up. It is such a relief. There’s a shorthand; there’s a comfort there — it’s just a very specific experience. So much of the time, I’m the only queer person on a set, you know? And then when there’s another queer person there, or queer woman specifically, I immediately am drawn to that person. And we are immediately drawn to each other, and a shorthand develops.

So the Riley character was that; I wanted to give Abby that. I wanted to give her a comfort there in a situation that was challenging. I am friends with so many queer women. And we have like a very special connection, a very special relationship. But that doesn’t mean that when I’m, like, hitting a rough patch in my romantic relationship that I’m gonna go run off with them. Even if it is Aubrey Plaza!

Maybe you haven’t seen, but there are entire posts about how clearly Abby should run off with Riley. Is that a surprise?

I think that has less to do with the movie and more to do with your philosophy on growth and forgiveness. Writing this movie from the perspective of a 43-year-old woman who has not always been my best self — it was a long, windy, messy road to get to the person I am now. I’m very proud of the person I am now, but I haven’t always been that person. It’s understanding that sometimes you have to go low so you can figure out your way back up. And I understand the impulse to just cut and run, and be like, to hell with this. But I also really believe that people can get better, people can grow, and people can change. They can recognize that maybe their behavior is not as good as they know it can be, and that they make a conscious effort to change it.

I also believe that being closeted is really painful. It’s not an easy place to be. And I think having compassion for someone in that situation is really important. The character of Harper is someone who I think feels a lot of shame about it — she feels bad. None of this is, like, easy for her, you know?

I’ve spent four years with Harper — I feel like I understand her, and I love her so much. And I think she’s worth it. I want what’s best for all the characters in the movie. And I think the message that you can mess up, and that you can do the work and get better is really important. And be kind to yourself, and have compassion. Because I think compassion is in short supply.

Yes.

And it is really like such an important human characteristic, and one that I didn’t have for a long time. And one that as I got older, I sort of developed. It’s something I had to work on. And now I’m so compassionate that I cry at commercials all the time. I cry at, like, the Dodo video of the people who left their dog at the house when they moved. I just can’t get over why anyone would make that choice! I just cry and cry. And my partner looks at me, like, “What are you doing?”

To that end, I saw a lot of hate toward Harper not only for getting Abby into this situation in the first place, but that her first reaction is to say, “I’m not gay!” after she’s outed by her sister Sloane (Alison Brie). Can you talk about how you and Mary wrote that scene?

It was really the moment of just the ultimate regression. As soon as they get to the house, she begins to regress little by little, and slip back into that old family dynamic. And by the time that happens, she is at peak fear. To be outed in that way is really intense. Sloane is also regressing. The moment that she does it, she realizes, “Oh my God, what did I just do? 

Harper has the reaction, and then is hit with the repercussions instantly. It’s her bottom, you know? She’s hitting bottom in that moment. All of the old behaviors, all of the family of origin stuff comes not just bubbling up to the surface, but like a geyser flying through. It’s a very painful moment that ultimately is the catalyst for her breaking free from that behavior, and making the choice that she never had the strength to make before. It’s extreme.

When you and I first talked, you said Harper’s struggle with going home and closeting herself made the character “the hardest part in the whole movie.”

It’s humanizing this experience that I think not a lot of people have seen unless they have been through it. You’re meeting her on the worst four days of her life when she is not herself. It was challenging in writing her, but also even when we were working with wardrobe — because she’s not going to go home in her regular clothes, because her mom will pick those apart. She is trying to emulate the person her parents want her to be. Being able to get all the nuances and make it feel authentic, and make it feel grounded — it’s challenging.

She’s wearing a huge coat in the opening scene, but her wardrobe is more vintage, less fitted. It’s more of the real Harper. And then imagining her getting ready, packing her suitcase, and thinking, “What is my mom not going to give me a hard time about?” Tipper even buys Harper a dress that looks identical to a dress that Tipper wears in the movie. Her parents are constantly trying to subtly and not so subtly turn her into the person that they want her to be, so she’s looking at everything through that lens. I think that is a very real thing. Whether you’re queer or not, parents who are sort of curating their children at all times is really suffocating.

There are a fair number of gay men I know who found themselves surprisingly attracted to Aubrey Plaza’s performance as Riley — one of the fed me this question, in fact! Did you have a feeling that people would be drawn to her character in that way? I mean, this is a whole new thing for her.

Because she’s so magnetic?

Yeah.

I don’t think that you ever really think, like, everyone’s gonna fall in love with something. I didn’t think about that. I knew that people would love her in the movie. I knew she was amazing. And yeah, she’s a babe!

When I interviewed Kristen Stewart, she talked about how the couple needs to be under threat, but duh, it’s a romcom, of course they stay together. But was there any moment during the process of writing this story when Abby ends up alone?

No. That’s very interesting, though. Like, hmm — I’m suddenly taking myself on a journey of that alternate ending. 

I mean, that would be a weird romcom, I guess.

I don’t think it’s that weird. It’s sort of like “My Best Friend’s Wedding.”

Would you want to do a sequel? All those Netflix holiday romcoms all get sequels — why not this one? 

I would love to do a sequel.

Do you have any ideas?

I mean, I have a couple of ideas. We all had such a great time making the movie that we were talking about it then. But it was also just like, who knew if anybody would care about the movie or not? So I definitely am more than open to it.

People are going to be happy about that, especially if there’s a Riley spinoff sequel! Clea, this is the first feature centered on lesbians that has gone viral like this. How does that feel?

I don’t really even understand what viral means. I actually make that joke a lot in our house. Like, I’ll get two text messages, and I’ll be like, “I’ve gone viral.” I’m really just so thrilled that people are watching the movie and are affected by it, and having conversations about it. There’s been so little visibility that for something like this to come out and be so visible and so seen and wanted to be seen by so many people — it’s very humbling. It’s really wild.

This interview has been edited and condensed. And Adam B. Vary — the gay man who is attracted to Riley — contributed to this report.

Article by: Kate Aurthur for Variety.

"The festival this year is an experiment," newly installed director Tabitha Jackson tells The Hollywood Reporter about the seven-day, 70-feature event to run in Park City and beyond.

The Sundance Film Festival physically staged its 2020 edition pre-pandemic. Now, newly installed festival director Tabitha Jackson has unveiled an online hub and U.S. industry partnerships to carry off a novel coronavirus-era indie film showcase in early 2021.

Shortened to seven days, compared to the usual 10 days, the Sundance Institute's upcoming Jan. 28 to Feb. 3 event will have film lovers mostly scrolling to view around 70 feature-length movies and additional short films on a bespoke digital platform, rather than moving on the ground among theaters in Park City to take in premieres, events and talks, as in the past.

As the venerable indie film festival goes virtual, expect in-person screenings in Utah and in another 24 U.S. states to take place only if allowed by local health authorities. "The festival this year is an experiment to see how we can most effectively create energy in the service of giving these films a spotlight and a moment," Jackson tells The Hollywood Reporter after months of scenario planning that preceded Wednesday's announcement.

She added that Sundance organizers designed a bespoke digital platform to guarantee the festival could showcase new films and new voices this winter amid a COVID-19 crisis not likely to be brought under control by opening day in late January.

"What we didn't know was to what extent people would be able to gather safely in person. And we still don't. The [infection] rates are rising," Jackson said.

With a hybrid format much like that of Toronto, London and New York — go online, and into physical theaters and drive-in venues where possible, with capacity restrictions — the big idea for Sundance is countrywide screening partnerships with indie cinemas and cultural organizations well beyond Utah to ensure, where allowed, the buzz and collective spirit of a traditional Sundance premiere.

"We wanted to work with independent art houses around the country, to see how they could help us create the festival this year around collaboration," Jackson argued. To build buzz and energy around film premieres, Sundance will debut titles online in dedicated time slots, followed by a live Q&A with artists.

Jackson said the staggered film premieres aim to channel the energy of an audience viewing titles at roughly the same time, and build a conversation on social media before, during and after a film's play.

"You can get a sense of how people are feeling about a film, and we have this partnership of independent art houses where, if it's safe, small audiences can gather and express themselves in a collective act of viewing," she explained.

Viewers can also begin viewing films within three hours of their premiere’s start time. And Sundance titles will have a second screening within two days of a premiere.  The festival will also encourage as part of its industry partnerships drive-in movie theater screenings, including in California at Mission Tiki Drive-In in Montclair, the Rose Bowl Drive-In in Pasadena and the Fort Mason Drive-In in San Francisco.

An international component for film screenings also is understood to be in the works, with details to be unveiled at a later date. The festival's complete film lineup will be available online in the U.S., and industry delegates are encouraged to purchase an all-access pass to view all movies on offer.

Whether films in Sundance's lineup screen internationally will depend on whether a secure digital platform is available beyond the U.S. festival's own dedicated web platform, and whether a film's owner allows global play.

And Sundance's lineup of talks and events, as well as the New Frontier section for XR and emerging media, will be available globally. Sundance is telling the media and industry delegates, including film buyers and sellers unable to travel, to prepare to interact with the festival online.

The film titles have yet to be announced, with Sundance expected to unveil its lineup later this month. The festival also hasn’t released information on non-industry ticket and pass pricing beyond both for Sundance's full run; a single day or a single screening will be available to the general public beginning Jan. 7.

Article by: Etan Vlessing for the Hollywood Reporter.

The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival has selected five Afro Latino directors for its inaugural Latinx Inclusion Fellowship Series, sponsored by Netflix.

The fellows are Lorena Durán, Justin Floyd, Kase Peña, Monica Suriyage and Tamara Shogaolu. Each will be awarded a $20,000 grant to produce a short, along with individualized mentorship, one-on-one meetings with industry leaders, and other networking opportunities. Their completed films will premiere at next year’s LALIFF. Netflix will also offer support to the filmmakers throughout the development of their films.

The mentors are executive producer Alicia Marie Agramonte, director of development of film at Revelations Entertainment; writer, director and producer Jhonny Hendrix Hinestroza (Candelaria); writer, director and producer Diana Peralta (De lo Mío); producer Cisely Saldana, co-founder of Cinestar Pictures; and writer-producer Oscar Torres (Innocent Voices).

“The time is now for diverse voices to have their stories told and we are proud to be able to offer our fellows the platform to have their voices heard,” said Edward James Olmos, co-founder of LALIFF and the Latino Film Institute. “We know that our first group of fellows will make a lasting impact on the industry and help to open doors for our future fellows.”

Durán, an award-winning filmmaker born in New York and raised in the Dominican Republic, had a short film, The Fisherwoman, that was featured at Palm Springs ShortFest and the Atlanta Film Festival.

Floyd, who hails from Los Angeles, landed onstage at the 2015 Academy Awards for his short The Center. He is a 2016 Sundance Ignite fellow, was named a Warner Bros. Emerging Film Director, and had his short Resurrect acquired by HBO.

Peña is an award-winning New York City-born filmmaker. She’s a trans woman of color and is currently developing a project with trans icon Carmen Carrera and Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Stephanie Beatriz.

Suriyage's first short film, Black in Red Out, screened at more than 20 film festivals. She was featured in the documentary Horror Noire and is a founding member of the all-female filmmaking collective Body Checker Prods.

Shogaolu is the founder and creative director of Ado Ato Pictures. She was a 2018 Sundance Institute New Frontier Lab Programs Fellow, a 2019 Gouden Kalf Nominee, a 2020 Creative Capital Award Recipient, and a 2020 Sundance New Frontier John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Grantee.

Article by: Chris Gardener for the Hollywood Reporter.

"I can’t begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self," Page shared in a statement on Tuesday.

Elliot Page, the Oscar-nominated actor who has starred in Juno and The Umbrella Academy, has announced he is transgender.

Page, formerly known as Ellen Page, shared the news on social media, expressing "overwhelming gratitude" for those who have supported him.

"Hi friends, I want to share with you that I am trans, my pronouns are he/they and my name is Elliot. I feel lucky to be writing this. To be here. To have arrived at this place in my life. I feel overwhelming gratitude for the incredible people who have supported me along this journey. I can’t begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self. I’ve been endlessly inspired by so many in the trans community. Thank you for your courage, your generosity and ceaselessly working to make this world a more inclusive and compassionate place. I will offer whatever support I can and continue to strive for a more loving and equal society," he wrote.

Page asked "for patience" following his announcement, noting "my joy is real, but it is also fragile." The actor shared the fear of invasiveness over their news, as well as concern over discrimination and violence fueled by the fact 40 transgender people have been murdered in 2020 alone.

"To the political leaders who work to criminalize trans health care and deny our right to exist and to all of those with a massive platform who continue to spew hostility towards the trans community: you have blood on your hands. You unleash a fury of vile and demeaning rage that lands on the shoulders of the trans community, a community in which 40% of trans adults report attempting suicide. Enough is enough. You aren't being 'canceled,' you are hurting people. I am one of those people and we won't be silent in the face of your attacks," they wrote.

"I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer. And the more I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am, the more I dream, the more my heart grows and the more I thrive. To all the trans people who deal with harassment, self-loathing, abuse, and the threat of violence every day: I see you, I love you, and I will do everything I can to change this world for the better," Page wrote at the end of his statement.

Page's wife, dancer Emma Porter, shared support on her own Instagram account, writing "I am so proud of @elliotpage. Trans, queer and non-binary people are a gift to this world. I also ask for patience & privacy but that you join me in the fervent support of trans life every single day. Elliot’s existence is a gift in and of itself. Shine on sweet E. Love you so much."

Page uses both he/him and they/them pronouns and describes himself as transgender and non-binary, meaning that their gender identity is neither man nor woman.

Born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Page worked in Canadian television before making his first stateside splash in 2005 revenge-thriller Hard Candy. He then played Kitty Pryde, aka Shadowcat, in 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand. But it was their starring role in Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody’s indie Juno, that cemented their stardom and earned him an Academy Award nomination. Other notable roles for Page include Christopher Nolan's Inception and Netflix's The Umbrella Academy. Last year, Page made his directorial debut with the documentary There's Something in the Water, which focuses on environmental racism faced by indigenous and African Nova Scotian women.

Netflix announced in November that it was handing out a third-season renewal of The Umbrella Academy, where Page stars as Vanya Hargreeves (and ultimately, The White Violin). Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that Page will continue in the role and that Netflix is in the process of updating Page's name on all titles on the service in which he's involved. The streamer also congratulated Page following their announcement, writing on Twitter, "So proud of our superhero! WE LOVE YOU ELLIOT! Can't wait to see you return in season 3!" The Umbrella Academy's own account shared the same sentiment on Twitter. 

Many in Hollywood were quick to support Page on social media, including Natasha Lyonne, Miley Cyrus, Emmy Rossum, Olivia Munn, and Alyssa Milano.

Pop band Tegan and Sara Quin wrote on Twitter, "Your strength, bravery and activism - not to mention all the art you contribute to this earth - is truly special. Thank you for being so open about your journey and for fighting so hard to make the world a better place,"

Kevin Smith offered up some fan love for Page on Twitter, writing "I’m so happy for you! (Elliot’s one of the only actors I’ve ever fanned-out over in person. Cannes ‘06, I was using the WiFi in the hotel lobby the morning after the XMen3 premiere. I saw Elliot quietly reading and had to go over to bug him and gush.)"

Guardians of the Galaxy 3 director James Gunn tweeted, "Elliot, I love you, am proud of you, and admire you. Please keep being a beacon of courage, compassion, and strength for all of us." 

"Elliot Page has given us fantastic characters on-screen, and has been an outspoken advocate for all LGBTQ people," said Nick Adams, GLAAD’s Director of Transgender Media. "He will now be an inspiration to countless trans and non-binary people. All transgender people deserve the chance to be ourselves and to be accepted for who we are. We celebrate the remarkable Elliot Page today."

Page came out as gay in 2014, making the announcement in a deeply personal speech delivered before several hundred attendees at Time to Thrive, a conference to promote the welfare of LGBT youth held at Bally's Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev.

"I'm here today because I am gay," Page told the audience, "and because maybe I can make a difference, to help others have an easier and more hopeful time. Regardless, for me, I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility. I am tired of hiding and I am tired of lying by omission. I suffered for years because I was scared to be out. My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered and my relationships suffered. And I'm standing here today, with all of you, on the other side of all that pain."

Since their public coming out, Page has become one of Hollywood's most outspoken advocates for the LGBTQ community, serving as host of Vice's travel series Gaycation (in which Page visited cities around the world and explored different perceptions of LGBTQ culture) and taking on the role of an out gay woman in Freeheld, a romance drama centered on the fight for gay rights.

Article by: Sharareh Drury for the Hollywood Reporter.

A testing kiosk at the iconic Union Station was set to close Dec. 1 for filming on 'He's All That', before Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti stepped in to ensure it remained open.

After a COVID-19 testing site located at Los Angeles' busy Union Station rail hub was set to close Dec. 1 for filming on the She's All That remake, Mayor Eric Garcetti stepped in late Monday night to make sure it will remain open.

 On Monday evening, Ktown For All, a Koreatown homeless advocacy group, tweeted that it had received notice from Curative, the operators of the testing site, that the Union Station testing kiosk was canceling all appointments for Tuesday because of an event at the site.

 News of the prospective closure of the Union Station testing kiosk came just as coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County spike, hitting more than 5,000 on the same day new stay-at-home restrictions came into effect.

 The Hollywood Reporter has learned that the event in question is production on Miramax's He's All That, a gender-swapped reimagining of the 1999 teen rom-com that starred Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook. The movie was granted a filming permit for Union Station by FilmLA, the body that coordinates filming permits in Los Angeles, with the shoot set to involve some exterior and interior shots, with the total cast and crew numbering around 170.

FilmLA maintains that it and the film's location production teams were unaware of a virus testing site operating at Union Station and that they had nothing to do with the closure of the testing kiosk. The decision to cancel testing appointments at the site appears to have come from Curative. THR has reached out to Curative for comment.

Sources told THR that when made aware of the closure, reps from the film production offered to work with Union Station to accommodate testing on Dec. 1, as there was a feeling that both production and testing could continue based on the location at the station and production's desire to make it work 

Late Monday, amid confusion as well as a fierce social media backlash over the late-notice closure, Mayor Garcetti tweeted a clarification that the site will now remain open for those with appointments Tuesday. "Working with @LAFD, @Curative & @MetroLosAngeles, my team has worked to reopen testing at Union Station on Tuesday. The 504 Angelenos who were scheduled for a test there can visit the kiosk as originally planned or any of the other 14 City sites, where we offer 38K tests daily," Garcetti tweeted.

Directed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls, Mr. Popper's Penguins), He's All That stars TikTok sensation Addison Rae and Cobra Kai breakout Tanner Buchanan. Myra Molloy, Madison Pettis, Peyton Meyer, Isabella Crovetti and Annie Jacob also star. The script is by She's All That scribe R. Lee Fleming Jr.

Article by: Abid Rahman for the Hollywood Reporter.

The 'Call Me By Your Name' actor will play film producer Al Ruddy in 'The Offer.'

Armie Hammer is set to play a producer of The Godfather in a limited series about the making of the movie classic. 

The Call Me By Your Name and Social Network actor will play producer Al Ruddy in The Offer, a 10-episode drama set at Paramount+. The ViacomCBS streamer, which is set to launch in 2021, is a beefed-up and renamed CBS All Access, incorporating titles from across the conglomerate's platforms.

The Offer is based on Ruddy's experiences making the 1972 film alongside director Francis Ford Coppola, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo — whose novel served as source material for the movie.

The Godfather won three Oscars — best picture (which Ruddy accepted as producer), best adapted screenplay and best actor for Marlon Brando — and is widely considered one of the greatest films of the 20th century. 

The series will include previously unrevealed experiences Ruddy had in making the picture. Michael Tolkin (The Player, Showtime's Escape at Dannemora) is writing and executive producing; Ruddy, Nikki Toscano and Leslie Greif also exec produce. Paramount Television Studios is producing. 

Whenever The Offer debuts on Paramount+, The Godfather itself may not be available on the streamer. Earlier this year, ViacomCBS inked a wide-ranging licensing deal with NBCUniversal under which The Godfather trilogy and other Paramount films will stream exclusively on Peacock from 2021-23.

"Paramount is an iconic and storied brand beloved by consumers all over the world, and it is synonymous with quality, integrity and world-class storytelling," ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said in announcing Paramount+ in September. "With Paramount+, we’re excited to establish one global streaming brand in the broad-pay segment that will draw on the sheer breadth and depth of the ViacomCBS portfolio to offer an extraordinary collection of content for everyone to enjoy."

Hammer's credits also include On the Basis of Sex, Sorry to Bother You and the upcoming Death on the Nile. He's repped by WME.

Article by: Rick Porter for the Hollywood Reporter.

The director of the Netflix film starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close appeared on 'CBS This Morning' with J.D. Vance, the author of the memoir on which the movie is based.

Despite its all-star pedigree, Ron Howard's Hillbilly Elegy, starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close, has been criticized online since it debuted on Netflix last week.

The movie, which had a limited theatrical release before hitting the streaming service, has a 27 percent freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with The Chicago Sun-Times' Richard Roeper one of the few top critics who gave it a good review, writing in part that it is "a beautifully constructed, unforgiving, heart-tugging family epic."

Vox’s Alissa Wilkinson, meanwhile, writes that the film is “distractingly Hollywoodified, a rich person’s idea of what it is like to be a poor person, a tone-deaf attempt to assuage a very particular kind of liberal guilt."

And The Washington Post's Michael O'Sullivan criticizes it for taking an apolitical approach.

 "[The film] eschews theories — more prominent in the book — that might help explain the opioid epidemic and the seemingly unbreakable cycle of poverty that defies simplistic solutions (yet might cause people to seek deliverance from a political outsider)," he writes. "The problem is that in doing so, the movie leaves us, like [the main character's] family, with only a mounting pile of baloney excuses for bad behavior."

And Rolling Stone's David Fear writes, "The politically conservative, anti-welfare streak in the author's writing feels surgically removed; only the turbulence remains, smothered in the syrup … of seasonal treacle. No one would accuse this adaptation of owning the libs or pandering to a base. It's merely poverty-class cosplay, a pantomime of what people derisively call "white trash" triumph and tragedy being sold as prestige drama. It's an attempt to serve Spam on a sterling silver platter."

Appearing on CBS This Morning on Tuesday, Howard suggested that those who were critical of his film might be taking aim at political issues, "I do feel like they're looking at political thematics that they may or may not disagree with that, honestly, are not really reflected or are not front and center in this story."

He added, "What I saw was a family drama that could be very relatable. Yes, culturally specific, and if you're fascinated by that, I hope you find it interesting. If you're from the region, I hope you find it authentic because certainly that was our aim and that was our effort. But I felt that it was a bridge to understanding that we're more alike than we are different."

Vance, who appeared with Howard via video on the CBS morning show and has an executive producer credit on the film, said that the story "still resonates" today, just as it did four years ago.

"I think certainly the response to the movie and so many emails and messages that I've gotten since the movie's come out suggests it still resonates," he said. "I think a lot of people attach specific political significance, but these problems of family struggle, of addiction and resilience, I really do think are timeless because we still have an addiction problem in this country just like we did in 2016, so I think for a lot of the audience, it does still resonate."

Article by Hilary Lewis for the Hollywood Reporter.

One of the things we learn from the films of Chloé Zhao is this: bad luck is the stuff that happens before a story begins. As “The Rider” (2018) gets under way, the hero—a young fellow named Brady—already has an angry gash in his head, having tumbled from his horse at a rodeo and taken a hoof to the skull. And now, at the start of “Nomadland,” which Zhao wrote and directed, we meet Fern (Frances McDormand), who no longer has a husband, a regular job, or a home. Well, she does have a home, but it’s a white van that she has adapted, with lots of storage space, to be her only dwelling. She calls it Vanguard.

Another takeaway from Zhao’s work: no land is more fertile than the border zone between documentary and fiction. Brady, for instance, is played by a real-life rider, also named Brady, from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, in South Dakota, and his wound is no invention. His sister, Lilly, who has Asperger’s, plays a version of herself. In the same vein, most of the folks in “Nomadland” are, as it were, true to themselves—genuine wanderers, recounting their experience as birds of passage, and radiating a singular blend of stringency and warmth. Thus, Linda, a smiling and capable figure with silver hair, is played by Linda May; Swankie, who has seven or eight months to live, and who hangs a skull and crossbones on the side of her van, is played by Swankie; and so on.

“Nomadland,” which won the main prize at this year’s Venice Film Festival, is based on the 2017 book of the same name, by Jessica Bruder. That is nonfiction, through and through: a deep delve, patiently researched, into the rising number of Americans for whom a stable existence is unaffordable. They may have been scathed by personal hardship, or spit out by the financial collapse of 2008. Most of them are of riper years, weathered by a steady-humored stoicism, and they’ve shrugged off the burden of property ownership in favor of what’s known as wheel estate. According to the jargon, you can be a vandweller or, more specifically, a workamper, which means that you travel around in your R.V. in search of temporary jobs, some of which come with a place to park, plus access to power and water. It was Bruder who came across Linda, Swankie, and other nomads, and reported in detail on the pattern of their endurance; now they have migrated into Zhao’s movie and brought their weatherings with them. But what’s so dramatic about it? Why is it not a documentary?

In a word, because of Fern. She is a fictional creation, and she’s played by a bona-fide film star, albeit one with a hilariously low dose of airs and graces. (If McDormand receives an Oscar nomination for her pains, as she should, expect her to show up in Crocs.) One of the first actions that she is required to perform onscreen is to pee outside, in the middle of nowhere, on a freezing day. Later, an upset stomach forces her to excrete noisily into a bucket. At the other extreme, she gets to float naked in a creek, gazing up at the sky, with arms flung wide: a tranquil sight, though it doesn’t look especially healing or transcendent. It looks cold.

I tried to imagine another actress in the role, but soon gave up. Only someone as rooted and as resilient as McDormand, perhaps, can play so rootless a character. Fern used to live and to labor in Empire, Nevada, an old-school company town, owned by United States Gypsum. As we’re told at the outset of the film, 2011 marked the end of Empire; the plant was shut, and the town effectively died. Fern was married to a guy named Bo, but he, too, passed away. They had no children, and now it’s just her and Vanguard. At a sporting-goods store, she runs into a family she knows. “Are you still doing the van thing?” the mother asks, as if nobody could keep up such a life for long. “My mom says that you’re homeless, is that true?” her daughter says. Fern, unfazed, replies, “I’m just houseless. Not the same thing, right?”

Motion pictures, from their earliest days, have leaned toward people on the move. The medium is not made for staying still. It seems natural that Chaplin, left alone in the final shot of “The Circus” (1928), on a patch of waste ground marked by a circle where the big top stood, should not linger long, in reflective mood, but turn and amble away. As the iris closes around him, we don’t inquire where he might go next; what counts is the manner of his going. The same applies to Jack Nicholson, as Bobby Dupea, at the bitter end of “Five Easy Pieces” (1970), abandoning his girlfriend at the gas pumps, beside the Red Rooster Café, and hitching a ride on a logging truck—no wallet, no plans, not even a jacket, although, as the trucker says, where they’re headed will be colder than hell. 

Fans of that film will recall that Bobby, whom we first see on a California oil rig, is a former classical pianist. It’s an odd conceit, yet we buy it, because of Nicholson. Something similar occurs in “Nomadland,” when Fern, in conversation with a shy young drifter, suddenly declaims a Shakespeare sonnet. The scene is both unlikely and sublime, and it compels us to reassess Fern’s motives. She was once a substitute teacher; is that not a portable skill? Couldn’t she search for a school that needs a new teacher, drive there, and begin again? Or—here’s the rub—has she gradually grown allergic to social norms and addicted to the open road? “All I wanted was to go somewheres; all I wanted was a change, I warn’t particular.” So says Huckleberry Finn, in the opening chapter of his adventures, and it’s as if his craving has filtered down to Fern.

No wonder the film is so tense. Fern is never attacked or robbed, thank heaven, yet the smell of possible danger hangs around. Notice how she stares ahead as she eats, like a guard on watch. In everyday dealings, her courtesy is a kind of armor, and, when she’s offered the chance to settle, in a safe haven, she rebuffs it. One day, after her van has broken down, she visits her sister, Dolly (Melissa Smith), who lives on a pleasant suburban street—an alien planet, compared with the badlands and the wilderness where Fern prefers to roam. “You left home as soon as you could,” Dolly says to her, remembering their childhood, and Fern, having borrowed cash, is soon gone again.

Then, there is Dave, a workamper, with too many miles on the clock. He’s played by David Strathairn, whom I initially failed to spot, not just because of his stiff white beard but also because of the diffidence with which he ducks in and out of the frame. Zhao is the foe of the meet-cute. Early on, Fern walks away from a whimpering dog and, contrary to the laws of cinematic gratification, does not go back to claim it; with Dave, who is in equal need of companionship, she proves no easier to sway. Now and then, their orbits intersect—in the kitchen at Wall Drug, say, in South Dakota, where he flips burgers and she scrapes grease off the grill. Like many nomads, Dave has fouled up his life. (How, exactly, we can’t be sure; but so expressive is Strathairn that we’re sure enough.) Not without trepidation, he is returning to his family for the birth of his grandson. Fern is invited to stop by, and so, at Thanksgiving, she rolls up, to the friendliest of welcomes. “You can stay,” Dave says. “Thanks, I need to do laundry,” she replies, though that isn’t what he had in mind. The bed in the guest room is so soft that Fern has no option but to go and sleep in her van. She leaves before anyone else is awake.

Somewhere, inside this lovely and desperate movie, there’s the ghost of a Western. Though people still gather around a campfire, their talk is of cancer and P.T.S.D. Instead of cowboys driving cattle to high pastures, Fern and her kindred spirits converge, in certain months, on an Amazon warehouse—still obeying the rhythm of the seasons, I guess, as they bubble-wrap junk and box it in time for Christmas. Bruder’s book called attention to the economic ruthlessness of the Amazon setup, and the effect of the toil on older employees; Zhao is more focussed on Fern, as she greets her fellow-drones at lunch, and slices banana onto her peanut-butter sandwich.

“Nomadland” is not primarily a protest. Rather, it maintains a fierce sadness, like the look in its heroine’s eyes, alive to all that’s dying in the West. That is why Zhao so often films at daylight’s decease, catching enormous skies of violet and rose, and why her fable speaks to us, in 2020, as John Ford’s “The Grapes of Wrath” did to audiences eighty years ago. Fern’s needs and rights are as basic as those of the Joad family, yet there was a breadth and an uplift to their yearning that has since dwindled to a speck. “Fellow ain’t got a soul of his own, just a little piece of a big soul,” Tom Joad said. “The one big soul that belongs to everybody.” Some hope. Fern has her own soul, and it’s hers alone, packed away tight in the van, together with her toothbrush and her chicken-noodle soup. On she goes.

Article by: Anthony Lane for the New Yorker.

“Hillbilly Elegy” (which drops Tuesday on Netflix) provides yet more evidence that, when it comes to genres that confine rather than unleash cinematic creativity, superhero movies and other franchises have nothing on adaptations of memoirs by living public figures. The director’s imagination is restricted by the blueprint set forth by the author-slash-protagonist—who is also available to complain, even publicly, about departures from the printed record. The result, often, is movies that are devoid of moral complexity, psychological depth, and social purview. In “Hillbilly Elegy,” which is directed by Ron Howard and based on the best-selling memoir by J. D. Vance, the gap between artistic imagination and informational dosing is even more apparent than in other recent examples of the genre (such as “Just Mercy,” which is nonetheless a far better film)—and, peculiarly, the thinness of the adaptation arises not only from where the movie doesn’t go beyond the book but also from what, of its source material, it chooses to leave out.

The movie is framed in flashbacks, starting in the past but apostrophized by the voice-over reminiscences of the character J.D. (played, as an adult, by Gabriel Basso), who explains that he has lived most of his life in Ohio but has his roots, and his pleasures, deep in his ancestral hill country of Jackson, Kentucky, where he spent his joyful childhood summers. There, he’s seen as a soft and chubby child of about ten (played at that age by Owen Asztalos), pedalling to his cherished swimming hole, where his reverie—floating on his back in the lambent sunlight—is interrupted by a trio of older, more muscular boys who dunk him and hold him terrifyingly underwater. On shore, one of them makes a sexual remark about J.D.’s mother; he charges them and gets punched out—but, at that moment, three men from his family intervene (confirming J.D.’s warm voice-over reminiscence about his family having his back), rescuing him and beating up one of his tormentors. The men then bring him back to the house, which is being packed up: the family is returning home to Ohio, and young J.D. bewilderedly asks his grandmother, called Mamaw (and played by Glenn Close), why she ever moved away from that wonderful place. Her daughter, J.D.’s mother, Bev (Amy Adams), gives the answer: “Because when you’re knocked up at thirteen, you get the hell out of Dodge, that’s why.”

Article by: Richard Brody for the New Yorker.

While the central couple bickers, Aubrey Plaza and Dan Levy's characters shine.

SPOILER ALERT: This piece contains spoilers for the entirety of Hulu’s “Happiest Season.” Proceed with caution, etc. 

Even if you only watched the opening credits of “Happiest Season,” you’d understand how hard the movie works to establish itself as a Christmas movie that both defies tradition and snuggles right up to it. To the tune of the holliest, jolliest song available, illustrations of Abby (Kristen Stewart) and Harper (Mackenzie Davis) meeting, dating and falling in love unfold across the screen like pages of a picture book. They laugh over wine; they buy each other presents; they move in together; they settle down and into a cozy domesticity right in time for the holidays to mess it all up. It’s the kind of love story that rom-coms have shown countless times before, except this time, director Clea Duvall centers a lesbian couple that will get tested in a very different way than their straight predecessors ever would.

But there’s something else about the opening credits that hints at another deviation from the norm — one that ends up making parts of the the movie work in a way its central love story never entirely does. As we watch Abby and Harper become more enmeshed in each other’s lives, we also see more of Abby’s best friend John (Daniel Levy) making room for Harper in their lives. In just a couple flashes of dinner parties and parlor games in which John is a prominent fixture, we see how Abby and Harper’s relationship doesn’t exist on an island, but within a queer community of friends.

Abby leaning on John becomes a crucial dynamic for “Happiest Season” as she gets more and more overwhelmed with playing pretend at Harper’s nightmare Stepford family home. John’s not always the most helpful — especially while shopping for fish to replace the ones he accidentally lets die in his care (long story) — but he’s always there, ready and willing to hear Abby out. And in Levy’s capable hands, John is also one of the only characters who gets to be both very funny and a grounding emotional anchor; his comic timing is as sharp as his pivotal speech, about what it means and takes to come out of the closet, is profound. 

For as good as Levy and Stewart are together, it’s honestly kind of sad how refreshing it feels to watch Abby call John, another gay person who can understand her specifically gay problem, in these moments of crisis. Queer friendships only tend to get significant screen-time in movies or shows that almost entirely focus on queer people (see: “The L Word,” “Queer as Folk,” “Tales of the City”). Otherwise, queer characters have been typically stranded in otherwise straight friend groups, dishing out snarky advice for heterosexual relationship issues. But “Happiest Season” has to bridge two distinct worlds: Abby and Harper’s happy gay life together in Pittsburgh and Harper’s oblivious conservative homestead in the suburbs. It makes perfect sense that Abby would lean on her best friend for support, and that her best friend would be someone who intimately understands what she’s going through — rather than, for instance, a straight ally who couldn’t do much more than sympathetically nod along. (It makes less sense that Harper wouldn’t also have someone like that to turn to at her own personal crossroads; in fact, it might have made her character feel a whole lot more fleshed out if she did.)

John, though, isn’t the only queer friend who ends up buoying “Happiest Season” when it threatens to get too stuck in the quicksand of Harper’s unhappiness. One of the movie’s best and most interesting choices is not only to bring in Harper’s ex Riley (Aubrey Plaza), but to make her another support system for Abby. Having been Harper’s secret high school girlfriend, she understands all too well what it feels like to be brushed off by Harper when she gets too scared to handle her own feelings. So it’s Riley, not Harper, who notices how uncomfortable Abby is at a fancy Christmas party and takes a moment to ask if she’s okay. It’s Riley who clocks Abby’s rising panic in the face of having to buy a present for the family’s White Elephant game (a sociopathic tradition that honestly should’ve tipped Abby off about these people from the start), offers to help, and brings her to a gay bar for an extremely necessary beer or three. That scene, in which Abby and Riley breathe a sigh of relief at not having to perform straightness for a whole hour, ends up being one of the movie’s best. Neither articulates why they’re so at ease in this neon-tinged haven of cheap beer and drag queens, but they don’t have to. As Riley could tell from looking at Abby from across the room, it’s just obvious this is the kind of casually queer comfort that she needs.  

Whether you’ve seen the movie or not, this is maybe also the moment when you start to wonder, “should Abby have just ended up with Riley instead of the girlfriend that abandoned all pretense of being a supportive partner the minute it became too scary?” Given the comparatively little work “Happiest Season” does to make us understand Harper as a person outside her fear, and how good Plaza and Stewart are as a pair, that’s an extremely valid question. No matter where you land on it, though, that thought comes from recognizing their easy familiarity for what it is. Riley and Abby clearly understand each other on an intrinsic level that most any queer person who’s found refuge in another queer person, especially when floating adrift in a sea of heterosexuality, knows all too well.

“Happiest Season” eventually gives Abby and Harper a picture perfect ending, but it’s Abby’s relationships with Riley and John that nonetheless end up stealing the show. By the time Harper realizes how cruel she’s been to herself and her girlfriend both, Abby’s already gotten the kind of support she needs from Riley and John, two queer people who have spent years honing their radar for gay stress and don’t need Abby to beg for support before they give it. Even if “Happiest Season” doesn’t quite stick the landing with its main couple, it at least knows exactly what to do with its queer friendships, in all their complex nuance.

“Happiest Season” is now available to stream on Hulu.

Article by: Caroline Framke for Variety.

Robert De Niro, Viola Davis, Al Pacino, Jennifer Lawrence and more Hollywood stars have expressed gratitude to Sen. Chuck Schumer for advocating on behalf of movie theaters and “working to ensure the survival of New York’s critical arts and culture institutions.”

 Schumer has been a vocal supporter of the bipartisan Save Our Stages act, which would provide $15 billion in grants for arts and entertainment venues. He recently extended the relief package to include independent movie theaters. 

In a letter Monday to Schumer, the A-list actors and directors wrote, “We write to thank you for championing movie theaters and including them as eligible grant recipients in the Save Our Stages Act along with live music venues and live theater.”

Like all live entertainment establishments, movie theaters have been devastated by the pandemic. Without federal relief, the National Association of Theater Owners, the exhibition industry’s main lobbying group, estimates that 70% of cinemas will close permanently or be forced into bankruptcy before the spring of 2021. Hundreds of thousands of workers across the country have been furloughed or let go. Even as theater operators scale back costs, they are scraping by with almost zero revenue. According to NATO, 96% of independently owned and mid-sized theaters have lost 70% of income this year.

“We urge you to press for Save Our Stages passage as part of a COVID relief bill before the end of the year,” the letter says.

The letter stresses that movie theaters are particularly essential to New York’s economy. Theaters provide more than 8,000 jobs to New Yorkers, and millions more work on film production and distribution, as well as other cinema-related businesses. Nearby stores and restaurants also benefit because patrons often stop in for a bite to eat after seeing a show or watching a movie.

 “With you as a champion, there is a solution that could help theaters bridge the pandemic until new content is available theatrically and crowds are ready to come back,” the letter says. “The Save Our Stages Act, as amended thanks to your efforts, is a lifeline that theaters need to see them through this crisis. 

Article by: Rebecca Rubin for Variety.

BC and its new drama “Big Sky” are being called out by multiple tribal nations and Indigenous leaders for an “incomplete depiction of violence against women and girls.”

Following a letter last week addressed to ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke and series creator David E. Kelley, among others, the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association and the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) have now added their voices to the chorus of criticisms.

The series, based on the 2013 novel “The Highway” by C.J. Box, is set in Montana and centers around abductions that occur at truck stops. The Indigenous groups are accusing the show of “at best, cultural insensitivity, and at worst, appropriation” due to being set in area with a disproportionately high rate of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women & Girls (MMIWG), yet not having any tribal representation in the show.

Variety has asked ABC for comment.

The Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, which represents Montana’s eight federally recognized Indian Tribes, is also among the Indigenous organizations raising concerns about “Big Sky,” pointing to the fact it is shot not in Montana, but in unceded Indigenous territory in British Columbia.

“Making the abduction and trafficking of women for primetime entertainment is bad enough. Erasing the reallife tragedy of the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) crisis is unconscionable. We live with the consequences of this loss and trauma on a daily basis, but ABC won’t even acknowledge it, even after they’ve been given an opportunity to do so,” said A. Gay Kingman, executive director of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association, in a statement.

In the aforementioned letter, Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council executive director William F. Snell and Chairman David Sickey of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana wrote that “tribal members constitute 7% of the population, but the state identifies some 26% of missing persons as Native American,” making the lack of Indigenous representation in “Big Sky” all the more stark.

“The systemic failures of law enforcement in Canada and the US to address the MMIWG tragedy are well known and documented,” added Melissa Moses, UBCIC women’s representative. “Violence against Indigenous women is particularly endemic in British Columbia, where one of the most infamous highways in Canada, ‘the Highway of Tears,’ is located. This highway is a painful and haunting symbol of the violence destroying Indigenous lives and bears resemblance to the one depicted in ‘The Highway,’ the novel ‘Big Sky’ is adapted from…ABC now has the invaluable opportunity to be our ally, to show respect and compassion to victims and impacted family members and loved ones, and to help inform the public in both Canada and the United States of this international and national crisis and dark truth.”

Article by: Will Thorne for Variety.

From Marvel to “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” 2019 has ushered in a new wave of gifts perfect for film and television lovers.

APPAREL

“Breaking Bad” x K-Swiss Collection

In celebration of “Breaking Bad’s” Netflix original movie follow-up “El Camino,” K-Swiss released a limited edition pair of sneakers designed in the vein of Walter White’s (Bryan Cranston) RV. Only 300 of these K-Swiss Classic 2000 “Breaking Bad” recreational vehicle style sneakers were released, making them not only a stylish wardrobe choice but also a collector’s item for diehard fans.

Idris Elba’s 2HR Set Line

Idris Elba has gradually expanded his resume to include acting, directing, producing, DJing and now designing fashion. Elba’s casual  2HR Set collection comes in men’s/unisex, women’s and children styles, including tees, sweatsuits, leggings and jackets. He also has a line of accessories that range from hats to bags. While his first line is heavily branded with the 2HR Set logo, he is also expanding into collaborations with other artists from whom he finds inspiration. Currently the first line is available on the brand’s website at 2hrset.com.

Adidas AM4 Marvel 80 Vol. 2

Marvel and Adidas, working with designer Joe Quesada, have created limited edition Speedfactory AM4 sneakers available only at Foot Locker (and that company’s website). The design of the shoe is optimized for athletics — both in its lightweight and sustainable materials as well as by taking constant consumer feedback to help shape the design. In this case, they are also stylized for the colorful world of comics.

Marvel Bomber Jackets

Working with Hero Within, Marvel’s “Captain Marvel” flight jacket and “Avengers” bomber jacket have been painstakingly recreated for adults everywhere. The nylon navy flight jacket is a unisex cut, featuring the star logo embroided on the back and “C. Danvers” on a patch over the left breast. The unisex “Avengers” jacket has an embroided logo patch on the right arm and title patch on over the left breast. Both feature eight pockets (four inside and four outside) and a sublimated lining.

TOYS AND GAMES

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” Game of Life

If you were lamenting that The Game of Life is a bit outdated for today’s technology-driven woes, Hasbro figured out a solution. The toy and game conglomerate teamed up with Amazon to create a version of the classic board game branded with “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” allowing players to travel back to the 1950s and try to find fame, fortune and a vacation home in the Catskills. The special edition of the game comes out Dec. 1.

Mighty Roar Simba by FurReal

To celebrate the latest version of Disney’s “The Lion King,” Hasbro created an interactive plush Simba that’s one part stuffed animal, one part technological advance and all-around fun. Measuring 8.5 x 20 x 17.5 the toy will respond to sound and touch from anything in its range, but it also comes with a bug and leaf accessory to inspire specific play. Some of its movements are as simple as eye blinks, tail wags and stretching, but it also comes programmed with key phrases from the movie. Overall there are more than 100 sound and motion combinations to unleash. The Mighty Roar Simba is recommended for children four years of age and up.

“Friends” Central Perk Lego

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the beloved modern classic sitcom, Warner Bros. Consumer Products Group worked with Lego to bring a fan-created Central Perk set to life. Originally sold exclusively through Lego’s website, the 1000+ set (which includes seven minifigs: all six titular friends, plus Gunther) sold out before its official launch day. But it’s back with a new release just in time for the holidays, available more widely at retailers such as Target. The set is packed with show-specific details, including a “service” sign, Chandler’s laptop, Monica’s muffin and Phoebe’s guitar. It is designed to look like the real-life soundstage, with lights on the sides of the set, allowing builders to be a part of the TV-making action, recreating classic episodes with stop-motion animation, or simply building and displaying as a piece of memorabilia.

JoJo Siwa Singing Doll – D.R.E.A.M.

Actor and singer JoJo Siwa has come along way since her early days on the reality phenom “Dance Moms.” Signing a deal with Nickelodeon not only expanded her reach exponentially, but it also allowed her to break into merchandising. While she has released items ranging from apparel and accessories, one of this year’s hot new items from the young multi-talent is a 10-inch singing doll in her likeness that features poseable arms and legs and is dressed in an outfit inspired by her one of her own. The doll sings Siwa’s “D.R.E.A.M.” and is available at such retailers as Walmart, Target, Amazon and Kohls.

Hallmark Channel Monopoly

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Hallmark’s “Countdown to Christmas” programming slate, the company has teamed up with USAopoly and Hasbro to create a special holiday version of classic board game Monopoly. This game allows players to dive into the world of the Hallmark Channel by buying, selling and trading such properties as Christmas tree farms, bed and breakfasts, cottages and inns. Players can also experience unique card options, such as getting out of jail for starting a prison knitting club. The tokens also receive the Hallmark treatment, featuring an ice cream cone, ice skates and Happy the Dog, among others. The game is available at Hallmark Gold Crown stores as well as online.

“Stranger Things” x My Little Pony

Erica (Priah Ferguson) broke out in the second season of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” and only became more influential in the third. Over the summer a couple of crucial items to be just like Erica were released and are still popular items six months out. The first is a replica of the backpack Erica uses in the show. Licensed by Accessory Innovations and featuring a pair of My Little Ponies, the backpack has a secret hidden map inside its main compartment and closes with double zippers. The back panel and straps are padded and adjustable for comfort during wear. It is polyester for durability, as well. The second My Little Pony item is Applejack, the Pony Erica references in the third season. Licensed by BasicFun, Applejack is 4.5-inches tall and is packaged upside down in its special packaging for an extra reference to the show.

COLLECTIBLES

“Child’s Play 2” Good Guy Doll Replica

Just ahead of its 30th anniversary, “Child’s Play 2” comes alive with a replica Good Guy doll that stands more than 30-inches tall. Using screen-used molds and fabric swatches, the doll was created to be a collector’s item or your child’s new buddy (no knife included). The doll is even more timely since UCP is working on a television series about the iconic doll. It is available at online retailers such as Amazon and TrickorTreatStudios.com.

All “Star Wars,” All the Time

With Disney Plus releasing “The Mandalorian” in November and a new “Star Wars” film being released in December, the consumer products division must have worked overtime to provide new toy and collectible items for the holidays. Some of the highlights include Hasbro’s Black Series Hyperreal 8-Inch Darth Vader figure, Supreme Leader Kyle Ren Force FX Elite Lightsaber, Carbonized Collection of action figures, Luke Skywalker Battle Simulation Electronic Helmet and D-O Droids. There is also a lot of anticipation around upcoming merchandise based on The Child, although Disney and LucasFilms are being very secretive with regards to what that look like. The Elite Lightsaber features 80 LED lights and movie-inspired sound effects for a battle clash effect, a molten glow effect and an unstable plasma effect. It comes with a collectible coin and stand for those who prefer to display rather than play, as well. Meanwhile, the figures come with multiple interchangeable parts (such as hands) and points of articulation and are finished in a sleek metallic paint job.

HOME DECOR

“Game of Thrones” Decorative Wares

HBO’s sci-fi fantasy epic “Game of Thrones” may have come to an end this year, but that has not stopped new lines of merchandise. A couple of noteworthy items for the family-drama-with-dragons fan in your life include an Iron Throne candle holder and throw pillows. The candle holder is a 100% resin collectible that stands just over 8-inches tall and can hold votive candles, or other candles up to 1 3/4-inches in diameter. It does come with a candle. When it comes to the pillows, you can declare your “House” allegiance if you so choose, or celebrate them all with a houses of the Known World sigil tapestry pillow. The latter is a 13×13-inch Jacquard-woven plush pillow that features sigils from House Stark, House Targaryen, House Lannister, House Greyjoy, House Arryn, House Baratheon, House Baratheon of Dragonstone, and House Tyrell. These items, among others, are available on HBO’s website.

“Charmed” Book of Shadows Jewelry Box

Inspired by the CW’s “Charmed” reboot, Geekify has created a jewelry box disguised as a book — specifically the infamous Book of Shadows from the show. In the show, this book is handed down between generations of witches to teach the lore, but in reality, the book is hollow, with unique compartments designed to hold necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings — or really whatever your heart desires. The box comes in both 5×7 or 8×10 size for portability and is available on Geekify’s website.

Illuminations candles

Mitch Davis has revived his beloved candle brand, Illuminations, just in time for the holidays. Collections include scented and unscented candles, including citrus and fruity (Cranberry Orange, Pomegrante Cassis), floral (Giverny, Rose, Lavender Fields), seasonal (Pumpkin Spice) and woody (Indonesian Patchouli Cedarwood and Wild Woodlands). Each candle is 10-ounces of all-natural coconut and apricot wax with 100% cotton wicks, housed in frosted glass vessels and delivered gift boxed.

PETS

“Rick & Morty” x SilverPaw Collection

Cartoon Network and SilverPaw have brought the beloved animated comedy “Rick & Morty” to life not only for human viewers but also their canine and feline ones. The new pet collection includes beds for both dogs and cats, collars, leashes, sweaters, stuffed chew toys, dangler toys, bandanas and treats available. Many of the items already show as sold out on SilverPaw’s website, but they are also available in select retail stores across the U.S.

TECHNOLOGY

MTV Stereo-Cam

For those who long for the technology of a simpler time, MTV and Polaroid Originals have released a new throwback camera: the Polaroid 600. This is a film camera that features an analog flash, flash override, lighten/darken slider and film shield. It is painted bright yellow for a new twist on an old classic, but the design is straight out of the 1990s, inspired by MTV’s influence on pop culture. The limited edition camera can be purchased on Polaroid Originals’ website.

SWEETS

Sons Chocolatiers Nate Berkus Associates “Peace + Palm Trees” box

Beverly Hills chocolatier andSons teamed up with Nate Berkus and Lauren Buxbaum Gordon of Nate Berkus Associates to give their boxes of chocolate a special designer holiday twist. The boxes, which are printed in limited quantities, include some of andSons’ most popular Signature flavors (including Speculoos Cookie, Hazelnut Pop Rock and Raspberry Caramel Praline) as well as a selection of seasonal flavors (such as Charred Cinnamon Caramel and Eggnog), as well. Gift boxes come in 12 piece, 24 piece, 36 piece, 54 piece and 84 piece and are available for nationwide shipping beginning Dec. 9.

Tommy & Tara Truffles teuscher gift boxes

Actor Tom Gallop (“Will & Grace,” “All Rise,” the “Bourne” franchise) and Tara Margolin, known collectively and colloquially as Tommy & Tara Truffles), are celebrating their first anniversary in the artisan chocolate business. Their truffles come in a variety of gift baskets and boxes, including holiday-themed ones. The specialty boxes come in 9-oz, 18-oz and 36-oz. They also sell solid gourmet and specialty chocolate bars and vegan options. Their Beverly Hills teuscher, one of only 18 locations in the world, was rated No. 1 chocolatier by National Geographic and recently voted “Retailer of the Year” in the annual Best of Beverly Hills Golden Palm Awards, but those who are not local to Southern California can also purchase off their website.

Article by: Variety Stafffor Variety.

This is the winter of discontent for Hollywood workers, as no level of seniority has been spared from the wave of mass layoffs.

Warner Bros. has been shaken by two rounds of layoffs and a wholesale restructuring that have ushered out veterans with decades of service to the Hollywood studio.

NBCUniversal has rewired the structure of its TV content production and distribution operations, leading to hundreds of job cuts. ViacomCBS has periodically shed bodies by the dozens in the year since its two halves formally tied the knot again in December 2019. AMC Networks last week disclosed it will let go of 10% of its U.S. workforce, or about 100 staffers.

Discovery Inc., Sony Pictures and Lionsgate have also let sizable numbers of staffers go in 2020.

Layoffs are hard on any company. But the current round of downsizing among traditional entertainment giants is even more alarming for seasoned industry workers because the cuts reflect a momentous transition in the business needs at the major studio and network groups.

Market analysts see it as a painful but necessary byproduct of change.

“We’ve been saying that at some point the studios were going to have to rethink their business models, and now they’re actually doing it,” says Michael Nathanson, media analyst with MoffettNathanson. “I think these companies should have been planning this pivot earlier.”

Media conglomerates that are shifting focus to direct-to-consumer and subscription-based platforms need a different kind of programming, marketing, distribution and sales expertise than has been prized in the modern era. Warner Bros. has shocked the industry with the volume of high-ranking executive departures in a short period. When the head of film marketing and head of TV marketing and some of their key lieutenants depart, it’s an unmistakable signal from WarnerMedia and its parent company AT&T that the studio is planning to sell its wares to consumers in very different ways.

Jay Tucker, executive director of UCLA’s Center for Management of Enterprise in Media, Entertainment and Sports, sees the mass staff cuts as a byproduct of all the M&A in media in recent years. Companies have to make these mergers work by taking big swings to generate growth and keep pace with consumers as traditional cable and broadcast assets mature.

“We’re shifting to the era of personalization, where the consumer is at the center of the business model,” Tucker says. “This disruption is hitting every level of employee, and it is compounded by the perception that once you hit a certain number of years of experience, it’s harder to find the next opportunity.”

The upheaval comes as all of the major conglomerates are re-engineering operations to support pay and free streaming platforms designed to eventually serve global audiences. It’s expected that many media giants will see staffing levels in the U.S. drop while growing in international territories.

Executives with expertise in marketing and distribution have been hard hit at most studios because those disciplines are radically changing in the streaming epoch. Especially in pandemic conditions, WarnerMedia and its counterparts need data scientists more than they need film distribution experts.

The art of driving consumers to sign up for a monthly content service is different from opening a popcorn movie on a busy summer weekend. The departure of Warner Bros.’ film marketing chief Blair Rich and TV marketing chief Lisa Gregorian within weeks of each other is the starkest example.

Warner Bros. is now laser-focused on supplying content to drive the HBO Max streaming service. NBCUniversal in October unveiled a radical new structure that divided management into two primary groups, for content creation and distribution, much as Disney has aligned itself following its acquisition of 21st Century Fox. NBCUniversal wants to move content more freely around the ecosystem and through its ad-supported Peacock streamer. Disney continues to fine-tune its massive content operations to feed Disney Plus, Hulu and other platforms.

ViacomCBS has shaken up its post-merger lineup with a bid to build on the foundation of CBS All Access with an expanded Paramount Plus service. Marc DeBevoise, longtime CBS digital executive, was ousted 11 months after being anointed as a leader.

The drop in the volume of employment in a given sector always has a ripple effect in the national economy. The loss of so many high-paying jobs in a short time will be a dent in the coffers of Los Angeles County and for New York state in the short term. Michele Evermore, senior policy analyst for the Washington, D.C.-based National Employment Law Project, says it hits at a time when other industries are undergoing similar sweeping realignments with huge human toll.

“We’re seeing it now because of the pandemic in the restaurant world, in the industrial janitorial world, in parking garages and all these areas that have been completely disrupted by COVID-19,” says Evermore. Economic policy has not kept pace with the understanding of the transition of skill sets needed in the modern workplace, she says. It’s an issue that will become more acute in the coming years for the incoming Biden administration.

“Nobody’s got a plan for how to transition these massive sectors of the workforce into a different thing,” Evermore says.

Tucker believes the challenge of executing Hollywood’s direct-to-consumer pivot will be matched by the challenge of steering a workforce through a period of watching beloved colleagues walk out the door. Those who remain are understandably nervous about what may be next to change. He also points to the sizable business failure of Quibi as another unsettling sign of the uncertain marketplace.

“It’s tough for CEOs to come out and say, ‘Now we need to do our best work.’ That’s a leadership challenge,” Tucker says. “It’s painful right now looking at the landscape with a lot of skilled, sharp people having to go.”

Hollywood has seen seesaw periods of employment in the past around recessionary periods. But this time around, analysts see the business downshifting for good in many respects. “The changes they need to make and the investments that they need to make in content — they just require much thinner cost structures to be successful,” Nathanson says.

Tucker sees clear and honest communication as a key asset in leading through trying times.

“As a leader, it’s about explaining that it’s not just senseless cutting for the sake of cutting,” he says. “As demoralizing as it is that some jobs are going away, they need to explain that the company will be healthier for it and talented people will be better off for it in the long run.”

Article by: Cynthia Littleton for Variety.

The limits, which follow California's limited Stay at Home Order, mandate that it's "taillights at ten."

Los Angeles is tightening the reins on filming as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise.

Officials from the City and County of Los Angeles have told FilmLA, one of the main organizations that doles out film permits in the region, that there will be new restrictions on when exactly filming can take place.

The limits prohibit after-hours on-location filming in accordance with California’s current limited Stay at Home Order. Last week, Governor Newsom announced that nonessential businesses and personal gatherings are prohibited between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. for the next few weeks.

So beginning today, permissible on-location filming hours will be from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. in residential areas and 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. in commercial areas. Isolated areas of unincorporated Los Angeles County with no population may be exempted.

The local officials noted in their conversation with FilmLA that no production setup activity may begin earlier than the permissible time and that at the end of the day, activity must wrap to ensure it is “taillights at ten.”

Any permission to film after-hours for permits that have already been handed out is rescinded. The limits will apply for at least the duration of the California’s limited Stay at Home Order, which currently expires on December 21.

Article by: Bryn Sandberg for the Hollywood Reporter.

If there exists a poster child for racism in Hollywood, it might very well be the marketing for Couples Retreat. The 2009 comedy had an ensemble cast of top comedy actors, but when it came time to putting together the names and faces of the talent for the movie poster, the Black actors were excised from the international edition. Just what did this decision say about Hollywood's view of moviegoers around the world, and what did that say about Universal Pictures, which distributed the motion picture? Although many may ascribe this notorious act of racism to the entertainment industry's pre-woke days, things haven't gotten better, says Couples Retreat star Faizon Love, who on Wednesday filed a fresh lawsuit against Universal over what occurred.

In targeting Universal, Love takes on a studio which has prided itself on advances on the diversity front while being committed to identifying opportunities and training for minorities. In 2017, the Comcast subsidiary established a mentoring-and-networking initiative called Global Talent Development & Inclusion, and the studio has one of the better rosters of inclusive franchises such as Fast and Furious and Ride Along as well as one-offs such as Get Out and Straight Outta Compton. Nevertheless, Universal still faces a reckoning over the 2009 Couples Retreat saga, which certainly isn't the only time that Hollywood faced uncomfortable questions about why Black actors were omitted from the marketing plan. See, for example, the fuss over the absence of John Boyega for the Chinese movie poster for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

According to Love's new lawsuit, he was "aghast" when he first discovered the differences between the domestic movie poster and the international one (below on the left) for Couples Retreat.

"Universal Studios had no problem featuring Black actors in the comedic film," states the complaint. "But when it came to publicizing the film to international audiences, Universal Studios chose to segregate the motion picture’s White and Black actors... Rather than enjoy maximum visibility with the film’s release, Mr. Love was demoted to the proverbial 'Invisible Man,' as penned by Ralph Ellison. Although Couples Retreat achieved a first-place box office opening weekend ranking, and went on a spectacular run that grossed more than $171 million worldwide, Universal Studios placed Mr. Love in the back seat of the ride enjoyed by his six White costars."

So why is the Couples Retreat movie poster coming up only now in court? The answer is arguably as important.

Back in 2009, U.K. newspapers noted the airbrushing, and it ignited a small fury online. At the time, a Universal spokesperson said that the poster had been changed to "simplify" it, and that the studio regretted the offense caused and was abandoning plans to use the revised poster going forward.

That wasn't the entire story, alleges Love.

"Rather than react with adversity, Mr. Love opted for engagement and equanimity. He reached out to Universal Studios and endeavored to engage constructively," his lawsuit continues. "Universal Studios, ...attempting to assuage Mr. Love and prevent his filing suit, promised both (i) the immediate cessation of the racist international poster, and (ii) prompt recompense to Mr. Love in the form of lucrative, career-making film roles. Universal Studios lied."

Love says that no such roles followed even though some of the folks allegedly involved were high-powered executives. For example, Love says he got a personal apology over the phone from Adam Fogelson, who had just been promoted from head of marketing to studio chairman. Fogelson would later become chairman of STX and has executive produced dozens of movies. Also, Love says he got an apology at the time from Scott Stuber, a producer on Couples Retreat who was under a five-year production deal with Universal. Today, Stuber is head of original films at Netflix. Even Couples Retreat star Vince Vaughn allegedly helped calm any controversy with promises. The lawsuit states that Vaughn was on phone calls with Fogelson and committed to a TV show with him. "Vaughn apparently went so far as to tell Mr. Love that making a big deal about his removal from the poster would not be good for his career at that time, a statement to which Fogelson did not object," states the complaint.

The objectionable movie poster didn't go away. The suit says it is still in circulation on various movie websites around the globe.

Love, represented by a Browne George legal team led by Eric George, also aims to make the case about more than just this one incident. While he's alleging breach of contract and fraudulent inducement over what he didn't get in the decade since the release of Couples Retreat, Love is also asserting a violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act as well as the Unruh Civil Rights Act. To that end, the complaint cribs a lineup of Universal's top executives to show an underrepresentation of Black faces, cites studies of how few acting roles are going to minorities, mentions other instances of movie poster whitewashing (e.g. the Italian movie poster for 12 Years a Slave), and points out how NBCU faced a recent racial complaint from Gabrielle Union.

All while things could be better, as Love's complaint portrays.

"In recent years, box office hits like Black Panther, Ride Along, Ride Along 2, Get Out, and Us have proven that Black-led films can garner not only critical acclaim, but huge financial success for studios and production companies like Defendants, both domestically and abroad," states the complaint. "Black Panther grossed nearly $1.4 billion worldwide; Ride Along and Ride Along 2 grossed over $50 million in international markets collectively; and Get Out and Us grossed over $250 million each worldwide. Nevertheless, the entertainment industry has been slow to take heed."

Article by: Eriq Gardner for the Hollywood Reporter.

The original Saved by the Bell featured tanned California high schoolers learning life lessons every Saturday morning — cheating is bad, don't get addicted to caffeine pills, you can still win homecoming queen even with a zit on your face. Peacock's streaming Saved by the Bell reboot takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to the same subject matter, but still touches on plenty of important issues. But instead of "be nice to nerds," those issues include economic inequality, school closures and LGBTQ representation.

It also features 2020 takes on the age-old high school character archetypes, which means that in this version, the school's bitchy popular girl is Lexi, a sharp-tongued cheerleader who is trans. Creator Tracey Wigfield wrote the role for actress Josie Totah, who had worked with Wigfield's pals Mindy Kaling and Charlie Grandy on Champions, after she'd seen Totah at a table read for NBC's short-lived sitcom.

"You need six, hilarious, beautiful, really skilled teenagers. Oh, that seems easy to find," Wigfield remembered telling herself while discussing the show on The Hollywood Reporter's TV's Top 5 podcast. It was a daunting prospect, but she had one comforting thought: "At least I knew Josie."

Totah tells THR that she met with Wigfield and was immediately sold on her pitch: "She wanted to make it into this more topical, edgier, smarter world that she was planning on creating, and I was just fell in love with that idea." After some back-and-forth about the character that Totah would play, the duo decided that they wanted to reflect some of Totah's real-life experience by making the character trans.

"It was important to us that I serve as a producer on the show in order to tell the story as authentically as possible," says the 19-year-old.

She'd already shared some of her experience coming out as trans in an essay for Time, but in helping shape Lexi from the ground up, she'd be able to have a direct hand in trans representation on screen.

While acting is such an internal craft, there's an inherently public component built in when the finished product is going to be broadcast to millions of people around the world. Whether she liked it or not, Totah knew that she was going to have to talk about being trans and playing a trans character while some of her castmates got to chat about ancient cell phones or working with the original cast.

"I think that's something that all people who have a marginalized identity deal with," she says. "It's definitely a conversation that I have with Alycia Pascual-Pena, who is on the show with me and lives with me and is my best friend. We have that conversation every day about what this role not only means to us, but so many people and that no matter how it affects us we need to understand that it's going to affect a large amount of people in ways that we might not even be able to predict. But it's super humbling and I think we're both really, really honored to be in the position that we are. And we're happy that somebody's doing it, because it's definitely something that we both have never seen on screen for both of us, and for me in particular."

Another selling point: The show is an ensemble comedy — it's not about Lexi being trans; it's not even only about Lexi.

"This is not the story of a trans person's experience. This show is not my story, or my telling of my journey. It's a show that existed in the past, and that we're bringing back, and it's funny, it's amusing, but it happens to have a character that's trans in it," says Totah. "And I think when we come at it from that angle it's a lot less daunting, because the show isn't only about my character being transgender, or even just about only my character. It's about this group of diverse kids that are together and are going through life and learning things about each other, and it's super exciting to get to be a part of a show that's like that. I didn't have any fears or hesitations only because I knew going into it that this wasn't going to be the time where I tell my story. That would come later on in my career."

Lexi's story is much more in line with the high school queen bees of teen projects past — a bit of Mean Girls, a bit of Heathers, a bit of wish fulfillment. Lexi wears heels and cocktail dresses to school and isn't really bothered with authority figures. Basically, Totah channeled "every single human being's dream in school," she says with a laugh. "I just wanted people to feel like they could live through me in the way that I lived through all of these characters growing up — the Regina George, the sort of Heathers vibe, the Cher from Clueless. I wanted to create that character, but make her more nuanced and layered, and not playing that on-the-nose archetype that we know all too well."

Saved By the Bell was the first scripted series to resume filming on the Universal lot this summer, but before that Totah spent her quarantine time the same way everyone else did: by bingeing television. "I had been watching so much Spanish television for five months," Totah says. "I was in such a deep hole watching Elite and Money Heist on Netflix. Like so many hours of me just staring at a screen — I needed to do something that wasn't just watching people get in fights and make love. Which was which was a great quarantine experience. But I was excited to actually get to do stuff."

She also started a new semester at film school, and is working on essays between interviews — while trying to carve out time to watch The Queen's Gambit and the rest of the shows on her Netflix queue. And she's excited for people to be able to watch Saved By the Bell and the newest, more diverse group of all-American teens attending Bayside High.

"I'm just really, really excited for people to feel like they can finally see themselves and that they're not alone in this world," she says. "And I love that as a cast, even our white, cis, straight cast members recognize what we're doing with this show and they're so excited about it too. So as a family, as a whole, it's a team effort. We know what we're bringing to the table and we're all super, super excited about it."

Article by: Jean Bentley for the Hollywood Reporter.

In 1939, Herman J. Mankiewicz was a forty-two-year-old screenwriter, acclaimed in Hollywood not only for the lines of dialogue he wrote for movies but for the ones he delivered in life. In nearly a decade and a half in the business, he’d found success at Paramount working with Josef von Sternberg and with his friends the Marx Brothers, and at M-G-M writing on “Dinner at Eight” and, briefly, “The Wizard of Oz,” where he had the idea of filming Kansas in bleak black-and-white and Oz in Technicolor. But he was best known as one of the great personalities in the film business. He’d migrated to Hollywood from New York City, where he’d been The New Yorker’s first theatre critic and a member of the famed Algonquin Round Table, and he carried that group’s spirit of cynical candor and acerbic bravado to the movie community. In commissaries and at cocktail parties, he was known for his learned insights and his unpredictable politics (he wrote, at great risk, an anti-Hitler script in 1933, yet he was opposed to American involvement in the Second World War, and even called himself an “ultra-Lindbergh”) as well as for the style with which he delivered them. He was also habitually drunk and wildly impolitic, known for the scenes that he made and the insults that he flung. His work habits were notoriously dubious: a compulsive gambler, he spent ample studio time placing bets and listening to horse races; a social whirlwind, he talked the day away in person and by phone. He lampooned and defied his bosses, and got fired from every job he didn’t quit. By the summer of 1939, he was unemployed, which is how he found himself desperately available when a twenty-four-year-old newcomer to Hollywood by the name of Orson Welles offered him a job.

Welles, prolific and precocious, had become a stage star at sixteen, a major theatre director at twenty, and, in 1937, the co-founder (with John Houseman) of the Mercury Theatre company; he’d become a radio star at twenty-three, and become infamous, in 1938, for the radio broadcast “War of the Worlds,” the tale of an invasion from outer space, told in the form of faux news bulletins, which many listeners mistook as real. He’d also made two independent films on the side. The week of his twenty-third birthday, he had been featured on the cover of Time magazine. But whereas Mankiewicz was a Hollywood insider, Welles was despised by the movie industry in advance, resented and derided for his youth, his fame, his intellectualism—and his contractually guaranteed freedom. He had signed a contract with R.K.O. studio to produce, write, direct, and act in two movies, for which he, alone among Hollywood studio filmmakers, would be allowed final cut. He initially brought Mankiewicz on to ghostwrite radio programs, but their collaboration soon shifted, and Welles recruited him as a co-writer of the first film.

Article by: Richard Brody for the New Yorker.