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OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES CLAIRE FOY
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JULY
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STEPHEN CURRY COMES CLEAN
The NBA superstar opens up about his plans to produce family-friendly movies and TV shows. Did you really think he was going to let LeBron James have Hollywood all to himself? B Y A N D R E W W A L L E N S T E I N P. 58
P.58
P.68
P.77
P.107
A Whole New Ball Game
Comic-Con’s Parity Problem
Contenders: Nominees
Walk of Fame Honor
Basketball star Stephen Curry takes a shot at showbiz with production company Unanimous Media and a new deal with Sony.
The confab is popular with both fanboys and fangirls, but in Hall H, which showcases the biggest projects, the playing field is tilted.
By ANDREW WALLENSTEIN
By DANIEL HOLLOWAY
Variety breaks down the 2018 nominations. Politics and diversity are part of the conversation even as familiar shows and names reign.
Cedric the Entertainer has come a long way since his days as an insurance claims adjuster, getting a star on Hollywood Boulevard. By JENELLE RILEY
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CONTENTS
Stephen Curry P.58
JULY 18, 2018
COVER AND THIS PAGE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY MATTHIAS CLAMER; COVER: CLOTHING STYLING: JASON REMBERT/THE WALL GROUP; GROOMING: JOANNA SIMKIN/THE WALL GROUP; PROP STYLIST: DANNY O’NEILL/ARTIST UNTIED AGENCY; JACKET: TOM FORD; SHIRT: FRAME; THIS PAGE: JACKET AND WATCH: TOM FORD; SHIRT: FRAME; PANTS: PRADA; SHOES: CESARE PACIOTTI
I don’t mind being called corny. I’m comfortable with who I am.”
3
P.36 CONTENTS
Facetime with Vanessa Kirby
TOP BILLING 19 Earnings Preview Variety looks at key trends for media and tech in Q2 24 M&A Musings Mergers were the big topic at the Sun Valley mogul confab 26 French Connection Federation Entertainment hawks Franco fare in U.S.
ALSO INSIDE
32 Scoring Alternative Nashville aims to keep filmand TV-music biz stateside
10 Field Notes Editors weigh in on hot topics
EXPOSURE 41 Parties “Skyscraper,” “Eighth Grade” premieres; Comedy Central roast of Bruce Willis
12 Plugged In What’s trending at Variety.com
48 WWD Report Card Tan France of “Queer Eye” reviews celebrity style
14 Close-Up The big picture
50 Devour Doc “Generation Wealth” studies relationship between materialism and exploitation 54 Dirt Investor Ron Burkle puts Frank Lloyd Wright house on the block for $23 million
FOCUS 87 Just for Laughs Montreal festival aims to be the Coachella of comedy with big names, unique events
134 Final Cut Bruce Lee’s star rose after death
P.52
Kristin Cavallari and Jay Cutler selling Nashville digs
125 Risky Business Stunt performers raise concerns about set safety
JULY 18, 2018
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126 Out of Their Shells Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Comic-Con interviews go live via real-time VR experience
4
127 That Certain ‘GLOW’ Costumes for hit Netflix series recall flashy ’80s
REVIEWS 129 Film Mission: Impossible — Fallout 132 TV Castle Rock
P.129
“Mission: Impossible — Fallout” review
You get the call, and it’s like the Rolls-Royce pulls up in your neighborhood.” Jack Black at the premiere of Gus Van Sant’s “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot” P.44
KIRBY: PHOTOGRAPH BY NEIL KRUG; BLACK: CHELSEA LAUREN/VARIETY/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
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Bar None, Curry’s Star Is the Brightest
A
THE VOICES BEHIND THE ISSUE
s the co-editor-in-chief of Variety, I am not easily starstruck. But when I ventured north to meet with Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, I must admit I had trouble keeping my jaw off the floor. For one thing, he’s a future Hall of Famer at the peak of his powers on a team that might well go down as the greatest in NBA history. Then there’s the fact he happens to be strikingly handsome. As a fellow Variety staffer who joined me for the interview noted, his complexion is so flawless that he looks like a wax statue of himself. Yet here I was in his Walnut Creek, Calif., home to be the first to hear the details of how his new production company, Unanimous Media, and Sony Pictures Entertainment will join forces for everything from TV shows to virtual reality. But I was also nervous to be in Curry’s presence because of an idea I had for this issue’s cover image. How could I ask a three-time NBA champion to be photographed sucking on a bar of soap? I thought the soap idea was a cute shorthand way of satirizing Curry’s wholesome image and signaling his new entertainment venture’s interest in squeaky-clean content. Basketball fans will also remember Curry’s mother threatening to wash his mouth out during the NBA playoffs after he cussed on the court. But to my utter shock, Curry was game to go with the soap even though his representatives had suggested he wouldn’t be open to doing it. Curry also sat for a brief video interview, as did another person who knows plenty about the media business: Maverick Carter, LeBron James’ righthand man in Hollywood. To round out the multimedia spread accompanying this issue, we have a podcast interview with Jeron Smith, Curry’s own content consigliere. Be sure to check it all out at Variety.com/curry.
Feedback For last week’s cover story, Variety caught up with Sean Combs, who, among other topics, called out the music industry’s lack of investment in black enterprise and the paltry number of black CEOs. Marc Miller says: “Nothing but respect for this man. He walks the walk first, then he talks the talk, then he tells it straight and he doesn’t shame people into line. He inspires and makes you want to get on that train.” Alexandra says: “Truly and admirably love this guy. He’s an entrepreneur who has done many great things for multiple industries and his community.”
Dispatches Posts from our staff @carolineframke on Twitter: “’Orange Is the New Black’ Season 6 comes out soon, and since I hated Season 5, I’m relieved to report that it’s solid! But also, extremely frustrating!” @variety on Instagram: “’Mission: Impossible — Fallout’ star and Superman actor Henry Cavill took to the red carpet for the action film’s London premiere.”
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Uncovered Photographed June 26, 2018
“Steph Curry was a pleasure to shoot,” says photographer Matthias Clamer. “And he doesn’t take a bad picture. In fact, at times I thought I was shooting a model and had to remind myself I’m shooting one of the best athletes in the world.”
About the Photographer Matthias Clamer is a celebrity, entertainment and portrait photographer known for his creativity and sly wit. His talent lies in producing eye-catching imagery from even the most basic of premises. Clamer has photographed all manner of rock stars, Hollywood celebrities, business moguls and comedians, as well as key art for nearly all the major TV and film studios.
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Variety Poll Best Denzel Washington Movie? PLUGGED IN
With “The Equalizer 2,” Denzel Washington tackles the first sequel of his impressive and expansive career. In honor of the upcoming follow-up, we asked Variety.com readers to let us know what their favorite Denzel movie is.
9.2% Other
10.9% Glory
40.5%
Training Day
14.3%
The Equalizer
25.1% Malcolm X
A Career on Fire Our commenters voted for a few movies that weren’t in the poll, including “Man on Fire,” “Remember the Titans,” and “Crimson Tide.”
“My heart starts to feel a little heavy knowing [‘Orange Is the New Black’] might be coming to an end. … It’s sort of like damn, can I just rewind the tape real quick?” Danielle Brooks
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VMA Nominations Announced
JULY 18, 2018
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CARDI B AND “THE CARTERS” — aka Beyoncé and Jay-Z — led the nominees for the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, announced July 16. Cardi received 10 nominations — which are gender-neutral — including video, song and artist of the year, while the Carters received eight, including video of the year, collaboration and best hip-hop for their eye-popping clip for “Apeshit.” Both Cardi and the Carters have had a huge 2018 so far. Cardi released her debut album “Invasion of Privacy” in April, while Beyoncé and Jay-Z surprise-dropped “Everything Is Love” in June. Other top contenders for the VMA’s include Childish Gambino and Drake (with seven nominations each), Bruno Mars (six), Ariana Grande and Camila Cabello (five), and Ed Sheeran, Khalid and Young Thug (four). The “VMAs” will air live from Radio City Music Hall on Aug. 20.
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“I want to honor his legacy.” Zachary Quinto, who is producing a movie about Anthony Perkins and Tab Hunter’s romance, spoke with Variety about how Hunter’s recent death motivated him even more to tell the story about the now-famous secret affair. Variety.com/ZacharyQuinto
• For the full story, head to Variety.com.
“I wish [‘Vanderpump Rules’] was scripted. It would be so much easier. We always wish it was scripted, because you get to a place where there’s nowhere to go, and the cameras are rolling.” Lisa Vanderpump
Stars of Upcoming Releases
71 Denzel Washington The Equalizer 2 Is this the change agent to offset his 12-point drop since June 1?
66 Lily James Mamma Mia! 2 Her younger Donna character has the Streep smell of success.
59 Daveed Diggs Blindspotting This Hamilton alum’s score is likely to soon dig out of the 50s.
Vscore, powered by Variety Business Intelligence, identifies the social footprint, familiarity and availability of over 25,000 actors. For more info please visit Vscore.com
“I almost never would have thought we would have been able to be allowed into this fancy [Emmys] conversation. But then once you’re there, you’re going, how can Mandy [Moore] and Justin [Hartley] and Chrissy [Metz] not be nominated for what they did this season [in ‘This Is Us’]?” Dan Fogelman
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Chasing Pelé
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the World Cup in Luzhniki Stadium after helping to lead France to a 4-2 win over Croatia during the 2018 tournament. The 19-year-old became the first teenager since legendary Brazilian star Pelé to score in a tournament final. Mbappé, who tallied four goals this year during the tournament, has decided to donate his World Cup earnings (an estimated $500,000) to the Premiers de Cordée organization, a charity that gives free sports instruction to disabled children. The young forward earns $20.5 million annually from his club team, Paris Saint-Germain.
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‘‘A mesmerizing southern thriller... meticulously constructed... Amy Adams is transfixing ’’ ‘‘Undeniably enticing... told with literary invention in the hands of Marti Noxon and Gillian Flynn’’ ‘‘Dazzling... shrewdly constructed and coolly elegant... Adams is simply superb’’ ‘‘Beautiful writing... ‘‘Great performances... laser-sharp editing’’ fascinating... riveting’’ ‘‘Exquisite... a crazy good turn from Patricia Clarkson’’ ‘‘One amazing new series... alluring... Eliza Scanlen is the discovery of the summer ’’ ‘‘Fascinating... haunting and riveting... Adams is tremendous: Your attention never wavers from her’’ ‘‘Thrilling... Adams is riveting ’’
’’
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AMERICAN KOKO Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series DIARRA KILPATRICK BLACK-ISH Outstanding Comedy Series Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series ANTHONY ANDERSON Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series TRACEE ELLIS ROSS Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series WANDA SYKES Outstanding Contemporary Costumes DANCING WITH THE STARS Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Series Outstanding Costumes for Variety, Non-Fiction, or Reality Programming Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Reality, or Reality-Competition Series
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F France wasn’t the only World Cup winner; broadcasters scored huge ratings, proving the power of live TV p.30
Nashville makes a play for runaway screen music p.32
Traditional players aim to scale M&A heights in the second quarter, but the regulatory horizon is far from clear Story by TODD SPANGLER
streaked mogulfest in Sun Valley, Idaho, last week, Discovery chief David Zaslav summed up the quandary for traditional media conglomerates in the face of binge-spending internet disruptors. “Rupert Murdoch can’t just add $2 billion to $3 billion to what he’s going to spend on content,” Zaslav observed in a sideline chat with reporters. Of course, Zaslav can’t either. Discovery and the rest of Hollywood’s established players have been scrambling to adapt to the new media order — driven by the steady incursion onto their turf by the likes of Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, Apple and Facebook. Old media’s response: Get bigger with M&A, aiming to
build sustainable platforms of the future. As the media biz heads into the second-quarter 2018 earnings season, the biggest story has been consolidation, led by AT&T’s swallowing of Time Warner in June. The big questions concern who’s next. That’s created an overhang on media stocks, as investors wait for more shoes to drop. Even so, U.S. media company shares outperformed the S&P 500 during the second quarter, with the sector up 10.1% over the market index for the period, according to an analysis by Wall Street firm Evercore ISI. Here are some key Q2 trends to watch for in the media and technology landscape.
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CONTENDERS
FOCUS
Talking Points Discovery CEO David Zaslav addresses the media July 10 at the Allen & Co. Sun Valley Conference.
REVIEWS
THE BIG SCORE
ARTISANS
NET GAINS
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NETFLIX HITS A SPEED BUMP
OTT TV: CUTTING IN ON THE DANCE
Earnings numbers from media congloms could be a sidelight to bigger strategic questions of how the players will — or won’t — be recombining. “In entertainment, fundamentals across the space remain on the back burner,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Dan Salmon wrote in a preview of the quarter. Currently, AT&T is the proud owner of WarnerMedia, as it has rechristened Time Warner. The telco’s John Stankey has given marching orders to HBO’s team to aggressively step up their competitive attack in the next year, according to a town-hall talk leaked to media outlets. But the chapter on this deal isn’t completely written: The Justice Department has appealed the decision, and the sliver of a chance that AT&T-Time Warner could possibly be unwound pushed AT&T stock down 1.7%. Meanwhile, with Disney making the highest current offer for Fox’s entertainment assets, Comcast is expected to abandon the bidding war for Fox and focus on its pursuit of Sky. Once the dust settles there, the potential merger of CBS and Viacom — and a legal fight over control of the companies’ future — will take the stage. Other M&A plays are expected in the months ahead. The rationale for consolidation continues to center both on scale and on “aggregation of content creation and international expansion, as the media model continues to pivot to direct-to-consumer propositions,” Evercore ISI analyst Vijay Jayant wrote in a research note.
Amid the media-sector realignments, Netflix’s debt-fueled growth engine choked in the second quarter. The streaming giant, the first of the big tech and entertainment companies to release quarterly earnings, missed its subscriber forecast target by about 1 million — sending the historically volatile stock down 14% on July 16. The issue? CEO Reed Hastings’ explanation in the firm’s secondquarter earnings interview was basically that Netflix sometimes sees quarterly “lumpiness” in subscriber trends. Despite the miss, Netflix ended the quarter with 130.1 million global streaming customers, up 25% year over year, and for the first time generated more revenue abroad than in the U.S. And there’s evidence Netflix has captured a level of mind share that beats traditional TV: It was the No. 1 source cited by U.S. consumers for how they watch television, according to a Cowen & Co. survey conducted in the first half of 2018. The second-quarter results are a “near-term gut punch,” but Netflix remains well positioned for future growth, GBH Insights analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a note. “As we head into the rest of 2018, we believe Netflix has a number of growth levers that should fuel the company’s next phase of strategic penetration among both U.S. and especially international consumers despite some softness seen in 2Q.” he wrote.
Strong uptake of cheaper streaming-TV services will continue to steal subscribers from cable and satellite TV operators, and the over-the-top migration will have a ripple effect on programmers’ second-quarter results for affiliate fees. So-called virtual MVPDs (multichannel video programming distributors) continue to experience rapid growth, “largely at the expense of traditional pay-TV subscriber bases, creating winners and losers among content companies based on participation in these services’ channel lineups,” according to Evercore ISI’s Jayant. For example: Viacom, a loser here, is absent from both YouTube TV and Hulu’s live-TV packages. Look for AT&T to provide an update on DirecTV Now and for Dish Network to report Sling TV growth — with both companies’ satellite services in decline. In a sign of growing OTT traction, AT&T is hiking the prices of DirecTV Now’s bundles by $5 each as of July 26, while Sling TV in late June boosted the price of its plan with ESPN and Disney nets by 20%, to $25 monthly. AT&T also rolled out Watch TV, a 31-channel bundle, included with two new unlimited wireless plans (or $15 as a stand-alone option). Then there’s ESPN+, the $5-per-month direct-to-consumer sports package that debuted in April. Investors will look for Disney to provide guidance on the company’s foray into the OTT arena.
INTERNET GIANTS DEFLECT PUNCHES, ATTRACT ADS Google and Facebook are subject to regulatory actions, as governments look to check the power of the two online-ad behemoths as well as address brand-safety concerns among marketers. But for now, nothing is slowing them down. Evercore ISI’s Anthony DiClemente expressed excitement for Google stock in a preview note last week, citing revenue growth at “massive scale, with sustained ad growth of over 20%.” Facebook’s stock has rallied to record highs, up around 34% since a trough in March after the Cambridge Analytica scandal. In the second quarter, analysts expect Facebook to post 41%-45% topline growth, with revenue forecasts averaging $13.3 billion. Amazon, for its part, will continue to take a share of the ad market in Q2, with 37% of respondents to a recent Cowen survey of ad buyers saying they spent more on Amazon ads in the first half of 2018 than they expected. The company’s advertising, Prime subscription and Amazon Web Services businesses will generate $25 billion of operating profit this year, per estimates by Morgan Stanley’s Brian Nowak, enabling Amazon “to invest at record levels while also delivering upside to estimates.” But according to Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser, longer term, there will be limits to the growth of digital-media advertising, suggesting some forecasts may be overly optimistic.
UPFRONTS: STEADY AS SHE GOES Back in the traditional TV world, the ad market remained stable during the 2018 upfront selling season throughout the second quarter, according to Evercore ISI’s Jayant. The big broadcast and cable players were able to generate both price and volume increases in advertising sales. At the same time, however, networks have lowered their expectations for marketers in the face of ongoing deterioration of TV viewership — with Netflix, for one, obviously peeling away viewers. “TV ratings continued to slide at a mid-single-digit pace, but lower audience-delivery guarantees made in last year’s upfronts have meant fewer make-good deliveries in the current TV season,” Jayant wrote.
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Cynthia Littleton contributed to this report.
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M&A: BIG MOVES, BIG UNCERTAINTY
JULY 18, 2018
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L I Z GA R BUS , PRODUCED BY J E N N Y CA RCH M A N, PRODUCED BY J US T I N W I L K E S , PRODUCED BY V I N N IE M A L HOT R A , EXECUTIVE PRODUCER DAV I D S I RU L N I C K , E X E C U T I V E P R O D U C E R DA N C O GA N, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER L ISA DIA MON D, SUPERVISING PRODUCER
TWIN PEAKS
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SHAMELESS
HOMELAND
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Outstanding Limited Series
Outstanding Cinematography f o r a L i m i t e d S e r i e s , Par t 8
Outstanding Sound Editing fo r a L imi te d S e r i e s , Par t 8
P E T E R D E M I N G , ASC, Director of Photography
R O N E N G , Sound Supervisor D E A N H U R L E Y, Sound Supervisor D A V I D LY N C H , Sound Designer D A V I D A . C O H E N , Dialogue Editor K E R R Y D E A N W I L L I A M S , Dialogue Editor L U K E G I B L E O N , Sound Editor W I L L A R D O V E R S T R E E T, Sound Effects Editor
R A C H A E L H O R O V I T Z , Executive Producer M I C H A E L J A C K S O N , Executive Producer BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, Executive Producer A D A M A C K L A N D , Executive Producer H E L E N F L I N T, Executive Producer S T E P H E N S M A L L W O O D , Produced by Outstanding Casting for a Limited Series N I N A G O L D , CSA, Casting by M A R T I N W A R E , Casting by
HOMELAND O u t s t a n din g G u e s t Ac to r in a D r a m a S e r i e s , Episode 11, All In F. M U R R AY A B R A H A M Outstanding Sound Editing for a Drama Series (One Hour), Episode 11, All In C R A I G D E L L I N G E R , Supervising Sound Editor E R I C R A B E R , Sound Designer I A N S H E D D , Dialogue Editor R Y N E G I E R K E , Dialogue Editor S H A W N K E N N E L LY, Foley Editor J E F F C H A R B O N N E A U , Music Editor M E L I S S A K E N N E L L Y , Foley A r tist V I N C E N T N I C A S T R O , Foley A r tist
Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporar y Program (One Hour or More) R U T H D E J O N G , Production Designer C A R A B R O W E R , Art Director F L O R E N C I A M A R T I N , Set Decorator Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing f o r a L i m i t e d S e r i e s , Par t 8 D U W AY N E D U N H A M , Editor J O N AT H A N P. S H A W , ACE B R I A N B E R D A N , ACE JUSTIN KROHN J A S O N W A T U C K E R , ACE D A V I D LY N C H Outstanding Hairstyling for a Limited Series C L A R E M . C O R S I C K , Department Head Hairstylist B R Y N L E E TC H , Assistant Department Head Hairstylist Outstanding Makeup for a Limited Series or Movie (Non-Prosthetic) D E B B I E Z O L L E R , Department Head Makeup Artist R I C H A R D R E D L E F S E N , Key Makeup Artist
Outstanding Sound Mixing f o r a L i m i t e d S e r i e s , Par t 8 R O N E N G , Re-Recording Mixer D E A N H U R L E Y, Re-Recording Mixer D O U G L A S A X T E L L , Production Mixer
SHAMELESS Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series E D D I E P E R E Z , Stunt Coordinator
T H E P U T I N I N T E RV I E WS Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music J E F F B E A L , Theme by
©2018 Showtime Networks Inc. All rights reser ved. SHOW TIME is a registered trademark of Showtime Networks Inc., a CBS Company. “Twin Peaks”: ©Twin Peaks Productions, Inc. All rights reser ved. “Shameless”: ©Warner Bros. Enter tainment Inc. All rights reser ved. “Homeland”: ©Twentieth Centur y Fox Film Corporation. All rights reser ved. “Patrick Melrose”: ©Sk y UK Limited. All rights reser ved. “The Four th Estate”: ©Aletheia Films LLC. All rights reser ved. Emmy ® is a registered trademark of ATAS/NATAS.
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Changing Course Brian Roberts’ Comcast is likely focusing its M&A strategy on Sky.
JULY 18, 2018
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Movers & Shakers
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Asad Ayaz President, Marketing The Walt Disney Studios EVP, Head of Theatrical Marketing The Walt Disney Studios
Ricky Strauss President, Content & Marketing Disney streaming service President, Marketing The Walt Disney Studios
Cathleen Taff President, Theatrical Distribution The Walt Disney Studios EVP, Theatrical Distribution The Walt Disney Studios
Ben Davis EVP, Programming AMC Studios SVP, Programming AMC and SundanceTV
David Schwarz SVP, Marketing & Communications Bellator SVP, Communications Paramount Network
Jacqueline Parkes Chief Marketing Officer, EVP, Digital Studios MTV, VH1 & Logo (New York) Chief Marketing Officer MTV, VH1 & Logo (New York)
Laurel Fitzgerald SVP, Consumer Research Fox Broadcasting VP, Program & Market Research Fox Broadcasting
Kurt Patat SVP, Communications Paramount Network and CMT SVP, Communications CMT
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Merger Mania Dominates Sun Valley Sky’s the limit for Disney and Comcast as attendees dine on combination patter By CYNTHIA LITTLETON @variety_cynthia THE YELLOW TR AFFIC signs that dot Idaho’s Highway 75 leading up to this mountain resort area say it all: Game Crossing. The warnings are meant to alert drivers to watch for deer and other four-legged creatures. But as media and tech titans gathered July 10-14 for the annual Allen & Co. conference, the big game hunting was happening in the tony confines of the Sun Valley Lodge. “Everyone is going to be looking,” said Discovery chairman-CEO David Zaslav, referring to the M&A mania. “There’s real opportunity now, particularly with the [high] multiples being paid.” The rapidly heating environment for M&As was the talk of the conference, and for good reason. The combatants in the biggest Hollywood takeover battle in 25 years — Disney’s Bob Iger, 21st Century Fox’s Rupert Murdoch and Comcast’s Brian Roberts — were brought together as part of the salon of executives, entrepreneurs, political leaders and noted thinkers assembled every July. But it was the tussle between Disney and Comcast over 21st Century Fox and Sky — and what these fights say about how traditional media giants see the future — that riveted attendees. The drama heightened on July 11, when another round of bidding played out. Fox raised its bid to buy out Sky, the European satellite company that’s one of the most attractive assets for Disney in its planned acquisition of Fox assets. A few hours later, Comcast responded with its second counteroffer for Sky. Like Murdoch and his lieutenants, Roberts and Comcast chief financial officer Michael Cavanagh monitored the situation (in casual wear) from the bucolic surroundings, all the while being peppered with questions. Speculation gained steam that Comcast is shifting its focus to its $34 billion effort to nab Sky and backing down from the bidding war over the rest of the Fox assets.
High Stakes Disney, Comcast and 21st Century Fox are betting billions to transform their businesses.
$33b
Value of Fox’s sweetened offer for Sky, unveiled July 11
$34b
Value of Comcast’s counteroffer for Sky, unveiled July 11
$71.3b
Value of Disney’s increased cash-and-stock offer for 21st Century Fox assets, unveiled June 20
$65b
Value of Comcast’s counteroffer for Fox assets, unveiled June 13
$54.2b Value of Disney’s initial deal to buy Fox assets, unveiled Dec. 14
The impetus for all of this wheeling and dealing is the world-shaking impact of Netflix and its streaming brethren. Traditional media is struggling to adjust its strategies to remain competitive. The biggest players need unfettered rights to a whole lot of content, and they need to build or buy digital direct-to-consumer infrastructure such as offered by Sky in attractive U.K. and European markets. The push to bulk up to compete with the global platforms and enormous balance sheets of Netflix, Amazon and, presumably soon, Apple has fueled an “everyone’s talking to everyone” moment of consolidation for an industry that has already seen a fair amount of M&A since the mid-1990s. The local TV station market is expected to see another burst of buying and selling that promises to reduce the number of broadcast groups to a mere handful. The cap gun went off last year when Sinclair Broadcast Group, already the biggest local TV station owner by volume, set out a $3.9 billion deal to buy Tribune Media. As the final federal approvals for that transaction draw near, there was chatter in Sun Valley about private equity giant Apollo’s decision to approach Nexstar, the Irving, Texas-based owner that has been on an acquisition tear in recent years, amassing more than 160 TV stations across the country. Adding to all the uncertainty is the topsy-turvy regulatory environment. The Justice Department is gamely moving ahead with an appeal after suffering a bruising legal defeat in its attempt to block AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner. Disney’s effort to buy out Fox assets had been approved by a federal judge on the condition that Disney sell off Fox’s 22 regional sports networks. On July 16, FCC chairman Ajit Pai surprised the industry by voicing opposition to aspects of the Sinclair-Tribune deal, proposing that a controversial divestiture plan be reviewed by an administrative law judge. One of the other questions among the M&A movers and shakers in Sun Valley was whether any of the digital behemoths (count Facebook and Google as well) will ever decide to drop billions on a traditional studio or network group. Industry veteran Barry Diller, the chairman of IAC Group, said Hollywood should not hold its breath for the companies collectively known as FAANG to come courting. Hollywood is particularly unnerved by the current wave of the digital revolution because in the past, studios have had the upper hand in financing. The old guard has finally come up against rivals that can’t be bought out. “It’s the first time that’s ever happened in media where the majors can’t purchase their competitors,” Diller told Variety. “You have an almost hemispheric imbalance, and there’s no way to correct it.” With a few big exceptions (like Disney and 21st Century Fox), the digital giants don’t need to buy a major studio or prominent network to pursue their strategic agendas, Diller said. “They simply have more purchasing power than the studios. It doesn’t mean that you can’t compete anymore. It just means that the majors are now minors.”
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French Firm Puts Accent on U.S. Entrée
Spy Games Jonathan Zaccaï stars in “The Bureau,” being remade as “The Department” for the U.S.
Federation teams with Paramount TV, among others, to develop a growing slate of English-language originals
JULY 18, 2018
VARIETY.COM
By ELSA KESLASSY @elsakeslassy
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STREAMING SERVICES HAVE opened the door for multilingual series like worldwide Netflix hit “Narcos,” but dramas in English still dominate TV’s Golden Age, travel the most widely and draw the biggest distribution deals. International companies are scrambling for a piece of the action — including, perhaps surprisingly, producers in France, despite the country’s perceived snobbery about other languages. Federation Entertainment, the 5-yearold firm behind Netflix’s first French show, “Marseille,” and Canal Plus spy show “The Bureau,” is the latest French player to step into the competitive U.S. market, with nearly a dozen English-language projects in the pipeline. Unlike outfits such as Gaumont or EuropaCorp, Federation is one of the few sizable, fully independent TV outfits left in France, and not only has opened an office in L.A. but is also developing projects with Paramount TV and other American companies. Even so, breaking into the U.S. drama market is a challenge. Gaumont, which scored big with “Narcos,” has yet to come up with another hit; EuropaCorp has delivered only a single moderately successful English-language series, “Taken,” based on the popular film franchise. “Hollywood is a tough place,” says Lionel Uzan, Federation’s managing director. “Any foreigner who arrives is seen as a potential checkbook, and it’s very competitive, less open, so you have to know what you can get from this market and what you can bring to it. You’re not a member of the club, but the idea is to be invited from time to time.” Federation’s strategy is to be “lean and mean,” he adds. “We have a light overhead and a flexible approach, allowing us to … work with either independent European producers or U.S. studios. We’ll never have 40 people in the U.S. It’s not the game that we want to play.” One thing Federation is able to bring to the mix is its growing library of European IPs. The co-production and sales company, which was launched by industry veteran Pascal Breton, has more than 160 projects in development, most with broadcasters attached. The majority of its titles are niche, local shows with the potential to lure in international audiences — notably Dutch series “Undercover,” Israeli thriller “Hostages” and German financial thriller “Bad Banks.”
Coming to America Federation’s pipeline includes a trio of projects with Paramount TV. Read My Lips Writers: Nic Sheff, David Manson Based on Jacques Audiard’s 2001 crime drama about the relationship between a neardeaf woman and an ex-con The Brand New Testament Writer: Ellen Fairey Based on Jaco Van Dormael’s 2015 dark comedy about God as a misanthrope living in Brussels Premonitions Writer: David Arata Based on a Canadian show about a family with superpowers that must fight for survival
“Our strategy has been to focus first on Europe, build relationships with the best talent outside of the U.S. and develop strong IPs. Now we are building a strong bridge with the U.S. that allows us to create content worldwide,” says Ashley Stern, who heads Federation’s L.A. outpost. The company is also eyeing the Italian and British markets. Anton Corp., which recently signed a landmark deal with BBC Studios to cofinance high-end British drama, came on board Federation in May to boost the banner’s production and distribution of international and French series. “Unlike companies like FremantleMedia or Studiocanal, which have acquired companies in key international markets and relied on them to bring in talent and produce series, Federation has a more project-dependent approach and has ties with a wide range of top producers and talent around the world,” says Anton founder and CEO Sébastien Raybaud. “They’re also able to produce high-quality series with contained budgets, which complements what the BBC is doing.” Federation’s budget target for its shows is between $1.5 million and $5 million per
episode. With Paramount TV, it is developing “Read My Lips,” based on Jacques Audiard’s film and adapted by Nic Sheff (“13 Reasons Why”) and David Manson (“Bloodline”); “The Brand New Testament,” based on Jaco Van Dormael’s fantasy dark comedy and adapted by Ellen Fairey (“Nurse Jackie”); and “Premonitions,” a Canadian TV series adapted for the U.S. by David Arata (“Children of Men”). Federation will be co-selling these series with Paramount TV. Federation is also working with other U.S. and international companies on English-language series including “Ibiza,” a thriller created by Ryan Engle (“Rampage”) and Jaume Collet Serra; “The Orphanage,” a series based on the popular Spanish horror film; and, for a stateside cable channel, a U.S. remake of “The Bureau” titled “The Department” and written and directed by Peter Landesman (“Mark Felt”). “We’d like to develop a big event show with talent in the U.S. and bring in a highprofile U.S. writer and use our connections with European broadcasters, financiers and producers to get it made,” Uzan says. “The U.S. is like a very big cake, and if we can get just a few crumbs, we’ll be happy.”
FX NETWORKS PROUDLY CONGRATULATES OUR
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A Big Score for Global Broadcasters Live ratings for the World Cup final prove that linear TV still delivers quite a kick By ELSA KESLASSY @elsakeslassy
JULY 18, 2018
VARIETY.COM
THE DAYS OF REGULAR T V R ATINGS
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bonanzas may be over because of an increasingly fragmented viewing environment, but the World Cup, which wrapped July 15, underscored the enduring power of linear TV when it comes to broadcasting live events. While the Olympics are the biggest TV event globally, the World Cup final remains the single most-watched sporting event. Although the global viewing figure for this year’s deciding match, which saw France beat Croatia, has yet to be determined, it’s expected to be on par with the estimated 900 million people worldwide who tuned in to watch Germany defeat Argentina in 2014, according to Kantar Media. “The takeaway from this World Cup is that the power of linear TV to reach millions of people with live events can’t be matched by Netflix and other streaming services,” said François Godard at Enders Analysis. The final drew an estimated 107 million viewers in 19 European countries, according to Eurodata TV Worldwide, which noted the strong ratings in the region were fueled by the presence of teams from France, England, Belgium and Croatia in the final four. “The 2018 FIFA World Cup ended on a climax in an epic European confrontation,”
said Yassine Berhoun, sports director at Eurodata TV. In an age of mobile devices and nonlinear viewing, “major sports events are the only shows capable of gathering such large audiences in front of a TV set.” French commercial network TF1 emerged as a big winner. Although the France-Croatia faceoff didn’t break ratings records — the Euro 2016 final between France and Portugal attracted 20.8 million viewers for network M6 during primetime — it drew 19.3 million viewers, an 82.2% market share, with a peak of 22.3 million by the end of the match. TF1 had reportedly lost at least 20 million euros ($23 million) during the 2014 World Cup after spending more than $150 million for the rights. This time, it paid about slightly more than $80 million for exclusive free-to-air rights to 28 games “and will likely break even for the first time in 20 years, when France won the World Cup in 1998,” said analyst Jean-Baptiste Sergeant. He added that the network was able to sell 30-second TV spots for $350,000 during the final. But sinking so much investment into the event is still a gamble for TV networks. “With the World Cup being played in the northern summer, there’s the threat of good weather hitting audiences and the unknown quantity of how a team will perform,” said Tim Westcott of IHS Technology.“This is the third finals in a row where the [defending] world champions were knocked out in the group stage.” In the U.K., a spectacular audience average of 24.2 million watched England’s semifinal against Croatia on ITV (the final dropped to 11.3 million viewers, spread between the BBC and ITV). The team from defending champion Germany went out in a surprise upset during the group stage, but that didn’t stop 21.3 million people (76.1% market share) from tuning in to the final on German state broadcaster ZDF. In Spain, 8.2 million viewers (57.3% share) watched the match on Mediaset España’s Telecinco channel.
World Cup Final Live TV Ratings Notable territories for the July 15 match between France and Croatia
56m
China (CCTV-5, CCTV-1)
19.3m France (TF1)
11.8m U.S. (Fox, Fox Sports)
11.4m U.K. (BBC1, ITV)
6.9m
Poland (TVP1)
2.6m
Russia (Moscow; Rossiya 1)
1.6m
Croatia (HTV2) SOURCES: EURODATA TV WORLDWIDE, NIELSEN
Even Italy and China, whose teams failed to qualify for the tournament, scored 11.7 million and 56 million viewers on Canale 5 and CCTV, respectively. For China, despite the late broadcast at 11 p.m., it was the largest audience for a sports program since the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Eurodata TV said. And in the U.S., which also did not qualify, NBCUniversal’s Telemundo coverage reached 57% of the Latino population with its broadcasts. On Fox broadcast network, which aired more matches (38) this year than during the last four World Cups combined, the final peaked at 14.6 million viewers and marked the net’s most-watched non-NFL telecast this year, according to Nielsen Media Research. Overall, however, the lack of a U.S. team depressed ratings from the previous World Cup championship match. Per Nielsen, this year’s final drew 11.3 million viewers on Fox and another 500,000 on Fox Sports for a total of 11.8 million, down 32% from the 2014 final, which pulled in 17.3 million viewers on ABC. Despite the victory for linear TV, many broadcasters turned to digital technology to boost their numbers. The BBC said it registered a record-breaking 66.8 million match requests via its iPlayer service and its website. With the ability to capture so many eyeballs, sports remains indispensable for outlets like the BBC, TF1 and ZDF, even though the rights have become so expensive, said Enders Analysis’ Godard. “Advertising revenues don’t finance sports events in most cases,” he said. “But it’s an expense that broadcasters can’t spare, because the live experience is the only weapon they have against streaming services like Netflix and the only opportunity they have to bring in millennials who never watch TV.” Leo Barraclough and Stewart Clarke (London), John Hopewell (Madrid), Nick Vivarelli (Rome) and Joseph Otterson (Los Angeles) contributed to this report.
STUDIO: OLEG NIKISHIN SPECIAL FOR FOX SPORT; BALL: DABOOST
Leader Board Fox Sports studio was busy during the World Cup, with the broadcast network and cable’s Fox Sports 1 combining to air all 64 matches.
CONGRATULATIONS To our colleagues at Twentieth Century Fox Television, FX Networks, Fox 21 Television Studios, FX Productions, Fox Broadcasting Company and National Geographic on an incredible 98 Emmy Nominations!
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Mighty but Tiny Ocean Way recording studio has a state-ofthe-art mixing console but can accommodate only 50 musicians.
And while Nashville is inevitably more expensive than overseas — sources say one hires players in Nashville for $75 an hour as opposed to $25 or $30 an hour in Eastern Europe — Wintory says bang for the buck must be considered. “The challenge is reconciling the per-player rate with the speed at which one can move,” he explains. “If you pay a little more for Nashville but you can go twice as fast, it might be cheaper.” Tennessee is a right-to-work state; you don’t have to be a union member to perform in the studios. That’s attractive to producers who aren’t interested in signing union agreements that tie them to later residual payments (the primary reason so
My clients … realized that they could come to Nashville and get quality and a nonunion buyout at a reasonable price.”
Welcome to Nashville: The New Scoring Destination Music City aims to keep work that’s left Los Angeles from heading overseas; the AFM says the city is taking advantage of anti-union right-to-work provisions By JON BURLINGAME @jonburlingame
JULY 18, 2018
VARIETY.COM
NASHVILLE IS MAKING a major play for
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film and TV scoring work that, for economic and political reasons, has typically been going overseas. New legislation in Tennessee, which took effect July 1, is designed to attract that work, and some say it’s already having an impact. When it comes to music for major studio films, most composers’ first choice is to record in Los Angeles and London. But independent films with smaller budgets and video-game producers tasked with creating many hours of gameplay music, two sectors that have been unable to strike a deal with American musicians’ union officials, have been taking their business elsewhere and making a show of it. Tennessee state officials recently made a pilgrimage to L.A. to pitch the country-music capital as an American alternative. The state’s Visual Content Modernization Act, passed in May and signed by Gov. Bill Haslam, contains provisions for recording music in the state regardless of where the project originated. The idea, Tennessee Entertainment Commission executive director Bob Raines says, is a cash rebate for producers, likely to be 25% (details are still being worked out). So a project that spends $100,000 on recording can expect $25,000 back — a substantial savings. “It closes the gap in costs between East-
ern Europe and other places,” says Steve Schnur, worldwide executive and president of music for video-game company Electronic Arts, which frequently records in Nashville. “London and L.A. are comparatively expensive. In Eastern Europe, it’s less quality but comparatively cheaper. Nashville has some of the best musicians in the world, and because of the composers who are going there regularly, the quality bar has gone up.” While cities like Prague; Budapest; Bratislava, Slovakia; Skopje, Macedonia; and, more recently, Vienna have become attractive alternatives to higher-priced recording locations, Nashville is now out to replace them. The History miniseries “Texas Rising” was recorded there; so was music for TV’s “Fargo” and “Outlander” series. Several “Call of Duty” games and one “Star Wars” game recorded in Nashville, as did the movies “Show Dogs,”“Mother’s Day,” “The Star” and “Acrimony.” Says Jeff Russo, an Emmy winner for his “Fargo” music: “I loved working there. It’s a different feel from anywhere else in the world, and it certainly feels like making records.” Austin Wintory, who used a Nashville orchestra for the game “Abzu,” says: “We were all just blown away at the caliber of musicianship. One of the nagging problems of recording in Eastern Europe is, even when the orchestras are good, the quality of the physical instruments they’re playing on is not as good.”
Nashville Incentives Tennessee politicians are discussing plans to lure the film- and TV-music business. Here’s what’s on the table:
25%
Prospective cash rebate for money spent in the state on scoring
$50k
Per-project minimum being discussed
0
No discussion about any sunset date SOURCE: VARIETY
much recording work has left California). Says Alan Umstead, a top Nashville contractor for recording dates: “Most of my clients went to Eastern Europe but were not happy with the quality of work. Then they realized that they could come to Nashville and get quality and a nonunion buyout at a reasonable price.” The drawback is that Music City only has one recording studio that’s suitable for film, TV and game work: Ocean Way, located in a 100-year-old church, and it can comfortably accommodate only about 50 musicians. Composers needing a larger orchestra generally record strings, brass and woodwinds separately and then mix them together later. There is talk of building a larger studio to accommodate the growing demand. Says Raines, “We see ourselves as a state of content creators and storytellers. This is a way for us to help sell the state on our quality and efficiency and utilize our unique competitive advantage.” The pool of money available for the scoring rebate is expected to be $5 million, which, if it were all used, says Umstead, “would translate to $20 million worth of scoring work — a nice little incentive.” But American Federation of Musicians Local 47 president John Acosta tells Variety that companies going to Nashville are taking advantage of the right-to-work laws to exploit talent. “They know that they can get these musicians cheaper by not having them under a union agreement,” he says. “They don’t have healthcare, or retirement benefits, or Social Security contributions or unemployment insurance.” Prague contractor James Fitzpatrick has a different take. He notes that the competition for scoring has become worldwide. “With ever-tightening music budgets, more alternative venues and musical ensembles are on offer than ever before,” he says. “Surely that is a good thing for all musicians.”
ED RODE
Nashville contractor Alan Umstead
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Vanessa Kirby ‘I’m Determined to Play Women Who Are Like the Women I Know’ There’s nothing prim and proper about Vanessa Kirby’s Princess Margaret, who smoked, drank and fearlessly flirted her way through the first two seasons of “The Crown,” earning her an Emmy nom. Now she gets to show off her action chops as the latest femme fatale in “Mission: Impossible — Fallout,” bowing July 27.
Interview by DEBRA BIRNBAUM Photograph by NEIL KRUG
Things You Didn’t Know About Vanessa Kirby AGE: 30 BIRTHPLACE: London NICKNAME ON “THE CROWN”:
“Bambi, because I would knock things over.” FAVORITE ACTION MOVIE: “Point Blank” ON HER NIGHTSTAND: “Love’s Executioner,” by Irvin D. Yalom NOW LISTENING TO: Odie’s “Analogue”
How has playing Princess Margaret changed your career? She’s given me so much, really. It was such an amazing thing to play somebody who’s so colorful and so vivid. There are not that many parts like that, that are in full multicolor or have vibrancy. She set a benchmark for me.
What kinds of roles do you look for now? I’m determined to play women who are like the women I know. I thought it was really important with Margaret to make her a woman’s woman. I’ve had those breakup breakdowns in my bedroom where I’ve thrown stuff around or argued with my sister. I wanted to make her relatable. And now more than ever is the time for the women on the screen that we represent, that little girls are growing up watching, [to be] idiosyncratic and messy and clumsy and weird and brilliant and pushing for things with a really clear voice.
What about “Mission: Impossible” appealed to you? It was totally different than Margaret. I always want to push myself and do things that are completely different. I like this about “Mission: Impossible” girls: They’re never sexualized. They’re always individual, unique energies, whether it’s Vanessa Redgrave or Kristin Scott Thomas in the early ones. And I’d never done stunts before, so that was super exciting. And watching Tom [Cruise] do it, you’re watching a master at work.
JULY 18, 2018
VARIETY.COM
What stunts did you have to do?
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Tom’s are scarier than anybody’s in the entire world, and that’s a fact. Mine was mainly with a knife. [My character is] this elegant con artist, underground arms dealer. And so we had to find a weapon that suited her, and it was this butterfly knife. I think only teenage boys have them, and they’re actually illegal! I carried it around with me everywhere without realizing until the stunt team was like, “What are you doing? You can’t carry that!”
WE’VE MOVED A L L O F O U R L O S A N G E L E S O F F I C E S H AV E M O V E D T O O U R N E W B E V E R LY H I L L S H E A D Q U A RT E R S :
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D Dwayne Johnson and Neve Campbell rev up heat fo for ‘Skyscraper’ at the New York premiere p.43
‘Queer Eye’ expert Tan France rules on fashion faux pas p.48
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CAMPBELL: ERIK PENDZICH/SHUTTERSTOCK; GORDON-LEVITT, BRUCE WILLIS: FRANK MICELOTTA/PICTUREGROUP/SHUTTERSTOCK
TOP BILLING
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ARTISANS
“I actually think that there’s something cool about being able to laugh at yourself,” said Joseph Gordon-Levitt at Comedy Central’s roast of Bruce Willis.
REVIEWS
FIRST RESPONDERS FI
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EXPOSURE | PARTIES Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Comedy Central Roast of Bruce Willis HOLLYWOOD PALLADIUM, JULY 14
As the focus of Comedy Central’s latest roast, Bruce Willis was hit with repeated jabs about his age, marriage, appearance and career. But the biggest one may have come with the surprise appearance of ex-wife Demi Moore, who called Willis “easily one of my top three husbands.” ds. The star star-studded stud event was led Gordon-Levitt. by Roast Master Joseph GordonMartha Stewart Cybill Shepherd Bruce Willis
Jeff Ross and Dennis Rodman
JULY 18, 2018
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Scout LaRue Willis, Rumer Willis and Tallulah Belle Willis
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Edward Norton
FRANK MICELOTTA/PICTUREGROUP/SHUTTERSTOCK (5); SCOTT KIRKLAND/SHUTTERSTOCK (3)
Demi Moore
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Pablo Schreiber
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Ron Meyer McKenna Roberts and Noah Cottrell
Dwayne Johnson and Jeff Shell
‘Skyscraper’ Premiere
Hiram Garcia and Rawson Marshall Thurber
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Neve Campbell
JULY 18, 2018
ANDREW H. WALKER/VARIETY/SHUTTERSTOCK (1); EVAN AGOSTINI/INVISION/SHUTTERSTOCK (3); KRISTINA BUMPHREY/SHUTTERSTOCK (2); ERIK PENDZICH/SHUTTERSTOCK (1)
AMC LOEWS LINCOLN SQUARE, NEW YORK, JULY 10
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson told Variety, “I try to do as many of my own stunts as possible,” at the premiere of action-packed “Skyscraper,” about a security expert who must rescue his family from the tallest building in the world. The former wrestler said that when stunts are beyond even his considerable abilities, “my stunt double is my cousin. He’s broken many bones.” Also at the Universal premiere were director Rawson Marshall Thurber and stars Neve Campbell, Pablo Schreiber and Chin Han.
Dany Garcia
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EXPOSURE | PARTIES
Name line right here
Kim Gordon and Jack Black
Rooney Mara
Amazon Studios’ Ted Hope and Jason Ropell flank Gus Van Sant
‘Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot’ ARCLIGHT HOLLYWOOD, JULY 11
Beth Ditto
Danny Elfman
JULY 18, 2018
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‘Eighth Grade’ Premiere
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JOSEPH LE CONTE MIDDLE SCHOOL, HOLLYWOOD, JULY 12 “Being sweaty and a little uncomfortable is very on brand for our movie,” Bo Burnham said ahead of the screening of “Eighth Grade.” Sans AC, A24 took guests on a trip down memory lane; the screening was followed by a dance party in the junior high school gym. Celebrities like Nick Kroll, Dylan O’Brien and Gillian Jacobs indulged in carnival games and karaoke to celebrate Burnham’s debut feature. Gucci!
G Gus Van Sant said it took two decades for the film to wind up in Hollywood. The director began working oon the project with Robin Williams, who had optioned t book of the same name. Van Sant produced two the scripts and forgot about them before Williams died in 2014. In 2015, a Sony exec reached out to Van Sant about the project, and Joaquin Phoenix, Jack Black, a Jonah Hill and Rooney Mara came on board. Van Sant J ssaid he doesn’t make the scenes easy: “If they’re not really difficult, I take the time to make something exciting happen, so that makes it more difficult.”
Nick Kroll and Jake Ryan Daniel Zolghadri, Elsie Fisher, Bo Burnham, Emily Robinson and Jake Ryan
Dylan O’Brien and Sarah Ramos
TODD WILLIAMSON/JANUARYIMAGES/SHUTTERSTOCK (3); STEWART COOK/SHUTTERSTOCK (1); CHELSEA LAUREN/VARIETY/SHUTTERSTOCK (1); JEN LOWERY/SILVERHUB/SHUTTERSTOCK (1); ERIC CHARBONNEAU/SHUTTERSTOCK (3)
Joaquin Phoenix and Steve Golin
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Outfest Opening Night Gala
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Ryan Jamaal Swain
Silas Howard and Twiggy Pucci Garcon
ORPHEUM THEATER, LOS ANGELES, JULY 12 Angela Robinson accepted the fest’s achievement award rd and urged the audience for documentary “Studio 54” to ople vote in the midterm elections: “We need to convince people e.” that are apathetic, or plain out of the damn loop, to vote.” Name Na Nam N ame lline am iine in nee rri n right ig ght gh htt here h heerree h Angela Robinson
Jordana Brewster
Alexis Bledel and Bradley Whitford
Name line right here
Warren Littlefield, Bruce Miller, Lindsay Sloane, Craig Erwich and Steve Stark
Samira Wiley
‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Finale Screening EBELL OF LOS ANGELES, JULY 9 “The Handmaid’s Tale” may be set in a futuristic dystopia, but its themes of “systematic misogyny of the mind” have proved unfortunately to be timeless. At the second season finale screening, executive producer Bruce Miller said he hoped the audience would soon make the show “irrelevant” by donating to political campaigns, stumping for their candidates and voting in November.
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Amanda Brugel, Yvonne Strahovski and Kylie Jenner
JULY 18, 2018
MICHAEL BUCKNER/VARIETY/SHUTTERSTOCK (8); MATT BARON/SHUTTERSTOCK (1)
Bruce Miller and Elisabeth Moss
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with guest reviewer TAN FRANCE ANCE
‘Queer Eye’ Expert Helps Assess Celebrity Looks For the full take (and some serious John Mayer shade), watch the video at WWD.com/videos
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VARIETY.COM JULY 18, 2018
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“He’s so stylish when he wants to make an effort. I love that he’s still rocking name brands. I don’t love the bunny ears on the casual shoes; tuck them in and you’re good to go. Take the cap off and it would be an A.”
“Something has happened to Jeff Goldblum. You know I love a printed short-sleeved shirt. shirt Do you think he watches ‘Queer Eye’? I wear white skinny jeans, I’ve worn those boots, that’s basically my shirt … and my hair! B-ch you ripped me off! He’s missing a French tuck. But other than that, he looks pretty great.”
“I like it, and let me tell you why; if this were on the streets of London, which I actually think it is, or in Europe, that would be chic AF. It’s just because he’s got that dodgy hair. If I had this on I think I’d be like, ‘OK, this feels right.’ But because it’s on Michael Cera, I was like, ‘Michael Cera, what are you doing?’”
Donald Glover
Jeff Goldblum
Michael Cera
GLOVER: KRISTIN CALLAHAN/ACE PICTURES/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; GOLDBLUM: ABC/RANDY HOLMES; CERA: BERETTA/SIMS/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
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We proudly congratulate our clients recognized for their excellence in comedy VARIETY’S 10 COMICS TO WATCH HONOREES
TAYLOR TOMLINSON JULIO TORRES 2018 JUST FOR LAUGHS HONOREE
LIL REL HOWERY BREAKOUT COMEDY STAR OF THE YEAR
2018 JUST FOR LAUGHS PARTICIPANTS
MICHAEL IAN BLACK • GINA BRILLON • DAVID CROSS* CHRIS DISTEFANO • JEFF DUNHAM • WILL FORTE NIKKI GLASER* • ELIOT GLAZER • KEVIN HART* HOMOPHILIA • LIL REL HOWERY • MAZ JOBRANI JOSH JOHNSON • LAS CULTURISTAS • YASSIR LESTER MARC MARON* • TIG NOTARO* • ILIZA SHLESINGER* ALI SIDDIQ • THE DAN BAND • NICK THUNE* TAYLOR TOMLINSON • JULIO TORRES SHENG WANG* • ROY WOOD JR.
*Shared representation
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Hear
‘Quiet Place’ on Red Vinyl Marco Beltrami’s score provided high tension for the nearly dialogue-free film. Death Waltz’s new vinyl version features black and red color-in-color vinyl.
Eat
Pizzaoki Steve Aoki may be a world-famous DJ, but he has the food biz in his blood, so he’s started a pizza delivery service that offers eight types of 12-inch pies to hungry Angelenos, with herb-inflected crusts, via Postmates or UberEats.
Buy
Documentary “Generation Wealth” looks at the fallout from conspicuous consumption.
Pharrell’s Nono Sauce
Go
A regretful porn star. A disgraced Harvard graduate and securities trader. Russian oligarchs and a working-class woman addicted to plastic surgery. Those are just some of the subjects of “Generation Wealth,” the new documentary from “The Queen of Versailles” director Lauren Greenfield. The photographer-filmmaker turns her camera on their glitzy trappings, showing the relationship between fame, materialism and the exploitation of women’s bodies. She also examines her career and long-standing fascination with the wealthy. “Part of why I wanted to do this work is a feeling that we’re living in a culture of illusion,” Greenfield says. “Documentaries can puncture that and help show us the truth.” The film opens July 20.
Must Attend 7.18 LOS ANGELES Race car driver Danica Patrick hosts the ESPYS, which gather celebrities from sports and entertainment at the Microsoft Theater to athletic achievements and salute leading performers. espn.com/espys
7.18 BEVERLY HILLS
7.19-22 SAN DIEGO
7.21 LAGUNA BEACH
Ronan Farrow moderates a discussion with Ryan Murphy at the HRTS Newsmaker Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton.
Comic-Con Int’l brings four days of nonstop exhibits, parties and panels for “Dr. Who,” “Deadpool 2” and much more.
Katharine McPhee performs at the SeaChange Summer Party benefit for Oceana, with special guest Ted Danson.
hrts.org
comic-con.org
seachangesummerparty.org
7.19 SANTA MONICA
7.19 SAN DIEGO
7.23 LOS ANGELES
Houston Rockets star Chris Paul hosts Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Sports Awards at the Barker Hangar, honoring Danica Patrick.
Variety and YouTube celebrate all things pop culture at a Comic-Con fete at the Omnia nightclub.
kcs2018.com
variety.com
Sony Pictures Classics’ “The Wife,” starring Glenn Close, makes its L.A. debut at the Pacific Design Center. sonyclassics.com/thewife
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Edited by PAT SAPERSTEIN | devour@variety.com
JULY 18, 2018
GENERATION WEALTH: LAUREN GREENFIELD; FARROW: LMJ/SILVERHUB MEDIA/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
‘Wealth’ of Troubling Questions
Musician Pharrell Williams looked to his father, Pharoah, for the recipe for this zippy concoction that can be used for glazing or grilling. Available from Dean & DeLuca.
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We Proudly Celebrate
SAM JAY & DARREN KNIGHT
Variety ’s 10 Comics to Watch
And Salute Our Just For Laughs Performers
ALONZO BODDEN ANTHONY ATAMANUIK CHRIS REDD DAVID ANGELO FORTUNE FEIMSTER HOWIE MANDEL JANELLE JAMES KEN JEONG LIZA TREYGER LONI LOVE
MATTEO LANE MIKE LUCIANO NIKKI GLASER ORNY ADAMS PHIL MATARESE RELL BATTLE SCOTT ROGOWSKY THE BEACH BOYS TIG NOTARO WILLIAM H. MACY
Dirt
$7.9m NASHVILLE 20,000 SQ. FT. 7 BEDROOMS 8 BATHS
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Reality-television veteran Kristin Cavallari and retired professional football player Jay Cutler have their humongous home in the affluent, semirural southern outskirts of Nashville up for grabs at $7.9 million. The former quarterback and Cavallari, a fashion and lifestyle entrepreneur who will star in the upcoming E! series “Very Cavallari,” which documents the opening of her retail shop in downtown Nashville, purchased the more than 8.5-acre spread in early 2012 for $5.3 million. The ochre stucco and rough-cut-stone-accented, red-tile-roofed residence, described in marketing materials as “Mediterranean influenced” and featuring an astonishing 25 rooms, Mark occupies a high and sunny knoll-top perch surrounded by thickly wooded rolling David hills; it has seven bedrooms and 8.5 bathrooms in nearly 20,000 square feet. The Amply proportioned living spaces feature wood floors and extraordinarily high Real Estalker ceilings crossed by rough-hewn beams; these mix with sleek modern finishes and contemporary furnishings. An L-shaped living room has a rustic stone fireplace;
CAVALLARI: GREGORY PACE/SHUTTERSTOCK
JULY 18, 2018
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Cavallari, Cutler Ready to Hand Off Nashville Mansion
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the elegantly spare formal dining room features a barrel-vaulted ceiling. Ringed by a second-floor gallery, the library is wrapped in floor-to-ceiling bookshelves; the colossal, double-island kitchen incorporates a built-in dining banquette plus a snack bar and every top-of-the-line culinary bell and whistle money can buy. A vast, stone-walled entertainment space on the lower level includes a full bar, screening room and elegantly paneled lounge with coffered ceiling and fireplace. A partly screened-in loggia off the main level transitions to stonepaved terracing, a flat and grassy yard and a dining patio next to a sheltered lounge with outdoor fireplace.
$5.0m
Patrick Schwarzenegger’s Santa Monica Teardown
11,500 SQ. FT. 6 BEDROOMS 10 BATHS
For Sale: Tom Petty’s Former Encino Mansion
$3.1m SANTA MONICA
4 BEDROOMS
6,700 SQ. FT.
5 BATHS
DI CAPRIO: FRANCOIS MORI/SHUTTERSTOCK
Digs Leo DiCaprio Bulks Up on the Sunset Strip Word on the street is that Leo DiCaprio is the mystery buyer of a $4.85 million fixer-upper property that borders one of his side-by-side properties at the top of the Bird Streets above L.A.’s Sunset Strip. MARK DAVID
An Encino, Calif., mansion originally custom-built by late and legendary rock star Tom Petty has come for sale at almost $5 million. The existing residence, a threestory timber-and-stone structure laced with intricate, geometric wrought-iron terrace railings, was custom built by Petty in the late 1980s after a heartbreaking 1987 arson
fire destroyed everything but the threetime Grammy winner’s basement-level recording studio. Petty’s ex-wife, Jane Benyo, retained the property in their 1996 divorce but lost the house to foreclosure in 2015. The current owners, who have extensively updated and renovated the entire property, obtained it from the bank just over a year ago for almost $2.6 million. There are a total of six bedrooms and 10 bathrooms in almost 11,500 square feet. A soaring atrium with dizzying circular staircase serves as a hub around which spoke a handful of living and entertaining spaces, including a cavernous living room under a vaulted and skylight-lined driftwood-beamed ceiling with an immense stone fireplace; a semicircular dining room; a vast kitchen with two marble-topped islands; and a family room anchored by a huge whitewashed-brick fireplace. There’s also a greenhouse-style breakfast room, a windowless media lounge with wet bar and sunken seating area and a lofted office space with pint-size wet bar. The property contains two master suites, one with an oversize sitting area, marble-tiled fireplace and marble-sheathed bathroom, the other with a morning bar, massage room and meandering, multilevel bathroom where a
Warner Bros. Proposes Tram to Hollywood Sign Warner Bros. has made the latest proposal to build an aerial tramway to the Hollywood Sign, one that includes plans for a cable car to depart from the parking lot of the Burbank studio. Warners would pony up the estimated $100 million for the project, which would include a visitor center near the sign. The route
would be more than a mile long and last about six minutes each way. “We understand there are a number of possible solutions
being considered, but we are confident the city’s feasibility study will show our proposal to be the best option — an option that can be built and operated at no cost to the taxpayer and that will provide public benefit to the city of Los Angeles and its residents,” Warners said in a statement. Media mogul Barry Diller had proposed a similar tram in December. DAVE MCNARY
VARIETY.COM
effortlessly spill out through vast, floorto-ceiling walls of accordion folding-glass panels to a wood-decked and tree-shaded courtyard with built-in barbecue station, a slightly elevated plunge pool and a trellised poolside cabana. All three bedrooms on the second floor have private bathrooms. Flexible living spaces in the finished basement include an exercise room and a bathroom with both dry sauna and steam room. It’s unclear if the 24-year-old son of Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to move into the Santa Monica contemporary once it’s built, since he already owns two recently purchased side-by-side homes across town in West Hollywood.
JULY 18, 2018
Hollywood scion, fashion model and budding young actor Patrick Schwarzenegger has splashed out $3.1 million for a teardown property in a prime Santa Monica, Calif., neighborhood, with what listing details call “ready-to-issue” plans to build an ultra-modern “masterpiece” of more than 6,700 square feet. If Schwarzenegger moves ahead with the ready-to-issue plans, the result will be a three-story villa — two aboveground plus a finished basement — with four or more bedrooms and five bathrooms plus an attached, two-story guest suite with one bedroom, one bath and kitchenette. Computer-generated 3D renderings show the planned residence bisected along a lengthy central axis by a slender, stonefaced and arrestingly glass-roofed volume. Interconnected, open-plan living spaces
ENCINO, CALIF.
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$5.9m MALIBU 1,965 SQ. FT. 3 BEDROOMS 2 BATHS
wall of floor-to-ceiling glass looks out on a waterfall that tumbles down a jagged rock wall. Located in what was Petty’s recording studio, the pool house includes a lounge, wine cellar, exercise room and full kitchen. The property is represented by Craig Knizek and Ninkey Dalton at The Agency.
Spike Jonze Picks Up Malibu Mid-Century
JULY 18, 2018
VARIETY.COM
Oscar-winning “Her” filmmaker, accomplished photographer, acclaimed musicvideo director and occasional actor Spike Jonze, creative director of Vice Media’s TV channel Viceland, has splashed out $5.85 million for a vintage mid-century residence in Malibu’s Point Dume area. The ranch-style home, a low-slung post-andbeam-built structure, was constructed in the mid-1950s and sits at the end of a long and gated gravel driveway on a tree-shaded acre. The 1,965-square-foot property has three bedrooms and two bathrooms and comes with a deeded key to the gates that keep nonresidents from accessing one of Point Dume’s never crowded beaches. Interior spaces, which are no doubt
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Digs Spotify Stakes Out Downtown L.A. Offices Music streamer Spotify will lease 110,000 square feet of space at downtown L.A.’s At Mateo development. Popular Chicago restaurant Girl & the Goat will also open in the Arts District building. The Spotify regional headquarters
headed for a makeover, include a slim entrance gallery and combination living and dining room with practical if ordinary beige ceramic floor tiles, a slightly pitched exposed-wood ceiling and an austere, minimalist-minded red brick fireplace. Separated from the dining area by a peninsula countertop, the open kitchen has utilitarian white cabinetry and up-to-date stainless steel appliances. Across the gravel motor court from the front of the house sits a detached three-car garage. Below the lawn area is a fire pit surrounded by built-in seating.
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posed granite blocks, the boldly idiosyncratic, temple-like residence was built by Wright’s architect son Lloyd Wright in 1924 for retailer Charles Ennis and his wife Mabel. Badly damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the exotic residence slipped into a state of disrepair until 2011, when it was sold for $4.5 million to architecture-phile billionaire Ron Burkle. According to marketing materials, the supermarket magnate spent nearly $17 million to scrupulously restore the “both powerful and remarkably livable” residence. Positioned high on a 0.83-acre hillside parcel with cinematic views over the city, the main residence and guest quarters — atop a detached garage originally designed as a chauffeur’s apartment — together measure somewhat more than 6,000 square feet with four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. The landmark residence has been featured in dozens of fashion shoots, music videos, films and television shows, including, most famously, 1982’s “Blade Runner.” An almost dizzyingly long interior loggia with a mausoleum-like marble floor links multilevel interior spaces that feature the same textured blocks as the exterior along with delicately geometric leaded-glass windows and hardwood floors. The airy living room has a shimmering, mosaic-tiled fireplace, and the cathedral-esque dining room offers a soaring, exposed-beam ceiling, another fireplace and a cleverly framed view of the downtown skyline through a frameless corner picture window. The north façade opens to a broad terrace with a small koi pond and a large swimming pool. Branden and Rayni Williams of Hilton & Hyland share the listing with Ron de Salvo at Coldwell Banker.
Ron Burkle Lists Frank Lloyd Wright House First floated with a flurry of fawning publicity as a not-so-secret, off-market whisper listing several weeks ago, the comprehensively restored Ennis House in Los Angeles’ Los Feliz neighborhood has officially hit the open market with a sky-high $23 million price tag. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and originally constructed with more than 27,000 patterned and perforated decom-
will be the building’s largest tenant, with USC’s Roski School of Art and Design and Soylent also moving to the complex at the corner of Palmetto and Mateo streets. The only brandnew office project in the area, At Mateo is constructed with repurposed brick on a former industrial site, and offers rooftop event areas, car-charging stations and bike parking. PAT SAPERSTEIN
$23.0m LOS ANGELES
4 BEDROOMS
6,000 SQ. FT.
3 BATHS
NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE! DECEMBER 14, 1978 DECEMBER 15, 1978 DECEMBER 16, 1978 JUNE 23, 1980 JUNE 24, 1980 JUNE 26, 1980 JUNE 27, 1980
JANUARY 23, 2006 JANUARY 26, 2006 FEBRUARY 2, 2006 FEBRUARY 9, 2006 FEBRUARY 11, 2006 FEBRUARY 16, 2006 FEBRUARY 25, 2006
NOVEMBER 19, 2015 DECEMBER 17, 2015 JANUARY 7, 2016 FEBRUARY 13, 2016 MARCH 15, 2016 APRIL 15, 2016 MAY 27, 2016
DECEMBER 15, 1998 DECEMBER 18, 1998 DECEMBER 20, 1998 DECEMBER 22, 1998 DECEMBER 31, 1999 MARCH 15, 2002 SEPTEMBER 23, 2002
APRIL 3, 2015 MAY 28, 2015 JUNE 20, 2015 JULY 1, 2015 AUGUST 20, 2015 SEPTEMBER 26, 2015 OCTOBER 21, 2015
JANUARY 11, 2018 FEBRUARY 21, 2018 MARCH 28, 2018 APRIL 13, 2018 MAY 23, 2018 JUNE 2, 2018 JULY 18, 2018
MOST SOLD OUT LIFETIME PERFORMANCES BY ANY ARTIST IN A SINGLE ARENA
HOLDING
COURT
S T E P H E N C U R R Y HAS WON JUST ABOUT EVERY HONOR IN P R O B A S K E T B A L L . N O W W I T H A N A S S I S T F R O M S O N Y, H E ’ S T R Y I N G H I S H A N D AT A N E W G A M E : P R O D U C I N G F O R H O L LY W O O D
STORY BY
PHOTOGRAPHS BY
ANDREW WA L L E N S T E I N
MATTHIAS CLAMER
CREDITS
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THERE ARE FLEETING MOMENTS WHEN EVEN THE SPORT
STEPHEN CURRY
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WEIGHT
BIRTHDAY 03.14.88
TEAM G O L D E N STAT E WA R R I O R S POSITION P O I N T GUA R D
that made Stephen Curry famous is far from the front of his mind. Take one late June morning in a Mediterranean mansion in Walnut Creek, Calif., he has on the market. With few sticks of furniture left inside, he thinks back to his decision weeks earlier to move his family out at perhaps the worst time on the calendar for him: smack in the middle of the NBA conference finals. “We thrive in chaos,” he recalls with a chuckle. Now that the season is behind him and his Golden State Warriors have collected their third championship in the past four years, he’s chosen to not play any basketball for a three-week period, something he’s never tried before. It’s a new adjustment to his typical off-season regimen after the normally stout Curry missed 31 regular season and six playoff games due to recurring ankle sprains. He’s essentially shutting his body down to give his muscles a break, then slowly ramping back up with biking and yoga. But Curry, 30, acknowledges he’s resting his psyche as much as his body. “Basketball you are consumed by for nine full months every single day,” he explains. “In the playoffs, every game feels like two regular season games in one. You need to just be able to turn it off.” His focus is no longer divided now that his wife, Ayesha, is weeks away from delivering their third child and first son, Canon W. Jack Curry. “I actually thought the baby was going to be here yesterday,” he says, nervously patting the mobile phone inside the pocket of his UnderArmour sweatpants. “It was kind of a false alarm. But I’m on alert right now.” Fatherhood isn’t the only matter far from the basketball court that’s getting more of Curry’s attention today. The afternoon will take him to offices he keeps in Oakland for another new feature of his postseason: development meetings. He announced in April that he was getting into the entertainment business by way of a wide-ranging deal between the production company he had formed, Unanimous Media, and Sony Pictures Entertainment. The All-Star guard sat down with Variety to talk at length about the details of his new venture, including several films already in development — just one part of an ambitious partnership that aims to extend as far as video games, virtual reality and consumer products. But films and TV are the focus of the deal, with concentrations in three core areas: faith, family and sports. Think of those subjects as the holy trinity that animates Brand Steph. It’s only natural that sports is in the mix. After all, it’s an understatement to call Curry one of the best basketball players in the world today. With the joyful brio he displays on the court powering one of the most dominant teams in NBA history, he’s shimmied
F U N F A C T > Curry has played nine seasons in the NBA, where he is a five-time All-Star, a two-time Most Valuable Player and a three-time NBA champion with the Warriors in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
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Curry celebrates the Warriors’ third championship in four years in June.
LISTEN For more on Curry’s entertainment efforts, tune in to the latest episode of Variety’s Strictly Business podcast, featuring the NBA star’s producing partner, Jeron Smith. Variety.com/curry
THIS PAGE: CURRY’S JACKET & WATCH: TOM FORD; SHIRT: FRAME; PANTS: PRADA; SHOES: CESARE PACIOTTI
To launch Unanimous Media, Curry turned to Jeron Smith (left) and Erick Peyton
his way into the hearts of basketball fans around the world. But anyone with even a casual understanding of who Curry is would not be surprised that faith and family are the other legs of his strategy. He’s been public about his devout Christianity throughout his career, and a self-professed family man. Ayesha’s own profile has been on the rise (she has a separate production deal with Endemol Shine North America). And their daughters Riley, 6, and Ryan Carson, 3, might possibly be among the best-known children of pro athletes, given their memorable appearances at postgame press conferences.
But don’t think of Curry as a modern-day Mister Rogers; he’s not going to rule out an expletive or two in programming that emerges from the Unanimous-Sony union. “I have seen movies with cuss words before, and I’ve said a couple of cuss words myself,” he notes, poking fun at how he managed to soil his own squeakyclean image during Game 3 of the Western Conference finals on May 21. After struggling to find his shot in the series’ first two match-ups, Curry finally began to regain momentum. Coming off an artful layup, he exclaimed mid-game to the adoring Oracle Arena crowd, “This is my fucking house!” (At the postgame press conference, a repentant Curry confessed his mother had contacted him “telling me how I need to wash my mouth out … with soap.”) Sony and Curry may seem an odd pairing, but not so strange considering the NBA and Hollywood are spawning plenty of strange bedfellows these days,
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including Curry’s teammate Kevin Durant and rival LeBron James, whose move in late June to the Los Angeles Lakers was widely interpreted as an intensification of his already well-developed entertainment interests (see sidebar). When Curry saw a few years ago what James and other athletes were starting to do in the entertainment space, he was intrigued. He turned to Jeron Smith, a former Nike brand manager and White House deputy director of digital strategy during the Obama administration, for guidance. “As we talked about what he wanted to do with his brand and where he wanted to go, he landed on this North Star: Stephen wants to inspire as many people as possible,” says Smith. “There’s no more effective way to touch broad audiences and inspire as many people than with the sharing and dissemination of content globally.” Curry and Smith formed Unanimous Media along with another producer Smith worked with while at Nike, Erick Peyton, who would take the role of lead creative. The name of the company is a double entendre, not only referring to Curry being the unanimous choice as the NBA’s MVP in 2016 — a first in league history — but also denoting Curry’s management philosophy, which calls for no greenlight to be made at the company without all involved agreeing on the decision. One of the things on which Smith, Peyton and Curry were in agreement was that they would need a distribution partner. The star and his entertainment team began to make the rounds in early 2018 of a who’s who of media and technology companies, demonstrating their intent to break into the content business. In Curry, SPE saw the opportunity to make good on something the Japanese-owned company has talked a lot about under its new management at both the corporate level in Japan and at the studio, but hadn’t executed on: getting all the many different components of the Sony machine to work together in support of one entity. It’s an important mandate in an age in which mere art often takes a backseat to brand management, which conglomerates like Disney and Comcast orchestrate by maximizing synergies across their vast holdings in hopes the result is more than the sum of its parts. “What’s so unique about his relationship to us is it crosses on so many different levels,” says Sanford Panitch, president of Columbia Pictures.“I can’t think of another person we’re continuing to do this with who touches so many different parts of the company.” WME came in to seal the deal with Sony for Unanimous (Curry is repped separately by Octagon Sports). “It was very important for us as a company to sign Steph,” says Jeffrey Godsick, executive VP of brand partnerships and global strategy at SPE. “He chose us over many other opportunities he had because of the diversity for the company in so many different areas of entertainment, gaming, music and TV. We cover every area of pop culture and entertainment. That was important to him.” The Unanimous team has huddled with execs from divisions all over Sony to advance ideas. On the TV side, every department — drama, comedy, unscripted, TV movies and miniseries — is working with Curry.
W H E N L E B R O N JA M E S L E F T T H E C AV S T O S I G N W I T H T H E
Lakers earlier this month, he left a chunk of change on the table. Under NBA rules, Cleveland could have rained down more than $200 million over five years on the man many consider the best player in the league. Los Angeles was allowed to pony up a mere $154 million over four years. ¶ But there’s a great equalizer on the West Coast: Hollywood, where top current NBA stars aren’t just the face of films; they’re producers and financiers too. It didn’t start with Curry, who just formed his own production company after signing a multiyear development pact with Sony Pictures Entertainment. ¶ This is a different kind of game, but one that’s just as appealing to those who are ultracompetitive. Let’s call them the NBA’s Media All-Stars. — B I L L E D E L S T E I N
SPRINGHILL ENTERTAINMENT LINEUP
WATCH
CURRENT PROJECTS
The Wall (NBC) Rise Up (History) Do or Dare (Facebook Watch) IN DEVELOPMENT
Variety sat down with Maverick Carter, one of LeBron James’ closest advisers and point man for his efforts in Hollywood. Carter opened up about what being in Los Angeles will mean as James writes the next chapter of his basketball and entertainment careers. Variety.com/curry
Madame C.J. Walker (Netflix limited series) White Dave Top Boy (Netflix) Best Shot (YouTube Red) Untitled Sneaker Store Comedy (HBO) IN PRODUCTION
Warriors of Liberty City (Starz) Untitled Muhammad Ali doc Untitled NBA doc PAST P R O J E CT S
LEBRON JAMES LOS ANGELES LAKERS
He’s King James in the world of media content too. His SpringHill Entertainment, founded in 2013 with Maverick Carter, provides shows for broadcast TV (game show “The Wall”), cable (civil rights doc “Rise Up”), streaming and film. “Best Shot,” for YouTube Red, debuts July 18 and features former NBA star Jay Williams mentoring promising high school players. Collaborators on other projects include Antoine Fuqua, Mike O’Malley and rap star Drake. Meanwhile, Uninterrupted, the digital media company James launched in 2014 on his own dime, has parlayed a capital infusion of $15.8 million from Time Warner into a lineup featuring more than 30 shows, mostly by and about sports stars. The Uninterrupted YouTube channel has more than 175,000 subscribers.
Survivor’s Remorse (Starz) Becoming LeBron James (ESPN, Disney XD) Cleveland Hustles (CNBC) FILMS
I Am Giant: Victor Cruz (Showtime) More Than a Game (Lionsgate)
CARTER: DANNY MOLOSHOK/SHUTTERSTOCK ; ILLUSTRATIONS BY KYLE HILTON
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ALL-STARS
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Curry with his wife, Ayesha, at the 2017 ESPY Awards
KEVIN DURANT G O L D E N S TAT E WA R R I O R S
Durant’s Thirty Five Media, founded in 2016 with his manager, Rich Kleiman, is developing basketball-themed projects for Apple (with Imagine) and Fox Sports. Thirty Five also hands out assists, partnering with YouTube to help other high-profile athletes launch channels. One notable taker: NFL cornerback Richard Sherman. Durant’s own YouTube channel is approaching 700,000 subscribers.
C H R I S PA U L HOUSTON RO CKETS
He recently formed Oh Dipp Prods. and scored a critical hit with the film “Crossroads,” about a lacrosse team composed of at-risk teens, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
CURRYING FAVOR Curry is paid well by the Golden State Warriors for his services, but his popularity as a pitchman has been even more lucrative.
D W AY N E W A D E M I A M I H E AT
His ZZ Prods. developed the critically lauded 2017 film “Shot in the Dark,” about the trials and tribulations of Chicago’s Orr Academy basketball team.
ANDRE IGUODALA G O L D E N S TAT E WA R R I O R S
“Dre Days,” for Turner Sports, is a behind-thescenes glimpse into his doings during his free time on the road. And he’ll again join Turner Sports as special on-course correspondent at the 2018 PGA Championship.
$
34.9M BASKETBALL SALARY
KYRIE IRVING B O S T O N C E LT I C S
$
T O N Y PA R K E R
$
CHARLOT TE HORNETS
TONY DIMAIO/SILVERHUB/SHUTTERSTOCK
42.0M
With his “Uncle Drew” opening to more than $15 million late last month for Lionsgate and already surpassing $38 million worldwide, the Celtics star is reportedly looking to launch his own production company.
The Hornets point guard is a partner with Saints quarterback Drew Brees in Argent Pictures, founded by Benjamin Renzo, Ryan Ahrens and Jill Ahrens. Projects have included “Hacksaw Ridge,” “The Birth of a Nation” and “American Made.”
A L S O T E S T I N G T H E W A T E R S > Carmelo Anthony, Jimmy Butler, Paul George, Draymond Green, Blake Griffin
ENDORSEMENTS
76.9M
TOTA L I N C O M E
SOURCE: FORBES
On the film side, execs believe a broadly appealing figure like the NBA star provides a four-quadrant fit for a studio that has found success recently with family-oriented fare including the “Jumanji,” “Peter Rabbit” and “Hotel Transylvania” franchises. As for the faith component, Sony’s Affirm Films label has a strong track record distributing or marketing Columbia Pictures films for Christian audiences, including “Heaven Is for Real” and “Miracles From Heaven.” It should come as no surprise that Curry’s camp is developing film concepts themed to key Christian holidays like Easter and Christmas. Other concepts are more loosely tied to faith-based themes, according to Smith: an animated biblical story now under the watchful eye of Sony Pictures Animation and “Church Hoppers,” a “Wedding Crashers”-esque comedy about a jilted groom who takes his pals along with him as he navigates the church scene in search of a new bride. Neither of these projects has been steered to Affirm, a reflection of the fact that while there will be productions from Unanimous-Sony with overtly religious themes, there will also be material that will tap a lightly spiritual vein. And projects that are intended to have sports or family themes may have no connection to faith at all. It’s also possible Unanimous could land a movie in theaters via another studio thanks to projects put in motion before Sony entered the picture. For Curry, success on the court brings a responsibility to be a role model, but he doesn’t always have to operate in an evangelical mode. “It’s not about me hitting people over the head with a Bible and telling them they have to believe a certain thing, or think a certain way,” he explains. In a league known for star athletes who loom large in popular culture as cool, Curry is all too aware that his wholesome image and family values might elicit a different kind of adjective that starts with a “c.” “I don’t mind being called corny,” he says. “I’m comfortable with who I am.”
THE MOST POPULAR CURRENT NBA P L AY E R S
STEPHEN CURRY
31
KYRIE IRVING
25
KEVIN DURANT
22
CHRIS PAUL
22
LEBRON JAMES
21
RUSSELL WESTBROOK
20
SOURCE: THE Q SCORES CO. WINTER 2018 DATA OF POSITIVE Q SCORES FOR U.S. RESPONDENTS AT LEAST 6 YEARS OLD
IT WAS VERY IMPORTANT FOR US AS A COMPANY TO SIGN STEPH.” SONY’S JEFFREY GODSICK
C U R R Y ’ S H O L LY W O O D M O M E N T C O M E S A S T H E
spotlight on the intersection of basketball and entertainment has never seemed so intense: The arrival of James in Los Angeles has seemingly signaled the vibrancy of this nexus. Plenty of NBA insiders opined James’ move from Cleveland was partly motivated by his interest in strengthening his Hollywood connection. Of course, those close to James claim nothing could be further from the truth — that his choice to sign with the Lakers had no consideration beyond where he was best situated to win his next championship. But his new home puts him on a faster collision course with the juggernaut Warriors. There was a time when entertainment pursuits were the kind of thing best left after the finish of an
athletic career; witness the continued prominence of Kobe Bryant, who since leaving the game has nabbed himself an Oscar in the animated short category for “Dear Basketball,” a project inspired by his own life. He’s also the host of “Detail,” a new series for ESPN+. But James changed the rules of the game when he launched SpringHill Entertainment in 2013 and began stockpiling projects. Durant launched his own production company, Thirty Five Media, last year and began racking up his résumé. Now with Curry in the same game, the floodgates are about to burst open. “I think between the LeBron deal and the Sony deal, a lot of people are now saying, ‘Hmm, should we be thinking of something like this?’” says Lori York, a TV agent at CAA, where she works with such sports clients as Chris Paul and Aaron Rodgers. Maverick Carter knows that all too well. As James’ partner in SpringHill, he counsels the new Lakers star and juggles the entertainment endeavors of a number of other top NBA talents. The trend as he sees it is a manifestation of pent-up
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frustration among athletes too easily pigeonholed for not having interest beyond the sport in which they make a living. “I think the biggest misconception is that they only want to tell sports stories,” he says. But athletes are just as likely motivated by monetary opportunity, which has grown vastly in the peak-TV era, particularly among streaming services with an appetite unlike anything this town has ever experienced for acquiring content. “You see all of the companies from up north in Silicon Valley now coming down here and getting into it, whether it be Facebook, Amazon or Google, and that’s not going to stop,” Carter says. Estimates from various agents active in the space peg the amount an athlete pockets from a project he or she fronts at anywhere from $100,000 to $1 million per episode. The trend of athletes becoming content producers isn’t limited to the NBA, of course; it’s becoming more of a fixture for top stars in every major pro sport. Just last month, WME signed Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch and his BeastMode Prods. But the producing activity coming out of pro basketball is outpacing that of its counterpart U.S. leagues, a reflection of the plethora of breakout stars the NBA boasts at a time when its TV ratings seem to defy the gravity dragging down other sports. Perhaps only James rivals the star power of Curry in the NBA. The $34.9 million Curry pocketed from the Warriors for the 2017-18 season makes him the best-paid player in the league. Factoring in endorsement deals including UnderArmour, Brita and JPMorgan Chase more than doubles that sum, making Curry the eighth-highest-paid athlete in all of sports. Notably, James made slightly less than Curry in salary and winnings but added $10 million more in endorsements, leaving him the sixth-highest-paid athlete and first among NBA talent. A cynic might surmise Curry isn’t really involved in Unanimous, just lending his name and massive social-media following to projects Sony steers his way. But he insists he’ll be heavily involved, particularly during the off-season in the early going, to make sure the effort gets off on the right foot. Some of the content to come from Curry will feature him in front of the camera; he’s game for a “Church Hoppers” cameo. But at this point the specific form of that face time is undefined and not a priority of Unanimous over the next few years. The player himself is a humble assessor of his own on-air skill. “I have a corniness to me, a decent sense of humor and charm when I’m in front of the camera,” he notes. “I just can’t do voices — that’s it. I’ve got to stay away from that.” Curry is mindful of the balance he must continually strike between his life on and off the court. He’s a man of faith and family, first and foremost. But don’t question his priorities; the media business may not command his full attention until the end of his career — something that’s highly unlikely to come anytime soon. “Obviously I have a day job,” he says. “I have to make sure I’m the best basketball player I can be for the next however long I’m playing.”
CLIPPERS CENTER LOOKS TO MAKE BIG IMPRESSION IN HOLLYWOOD
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B O BA N M A RJA N OV I Ć O PP O SI T E STA R K E A N U R E EV E S
When Boban Marjanović was traded in February to the Los Angeles Clippers, he never expected to get involved with another local industry beyond basketball. The 29-year-old center from Serbia is used to standing out from the crowd: At 7’3”, he’s the tallest player in the NBA. But Marjanović could never have anticipated he’d be noticed in Hollywood, where he was recently cast as an assassin in Lionsgate’s upcoming “John Wick 3.” “My agency helped me; they needed someone, and luckily we got it figured out for me to get the role,” Marjanović tells Variety, in explaining how he became involved with the film. Producers and director Chad Stahelski saw the NBA star as the perfect addition to the “John Wick” universe; Marjanović makes quite an impression, considering his massive frame includes a 7’10” wingspan. But he didn’t reveal whether he’ll be playing a formidable foe or an important ally to Keanu Reeves’ rogue assassin. “John Wick 3” isn’t his only interest when it comes to entertainment opportunities off the court. He’s developing a handful of projects, including a digital series with Clippers teammate Tobias Harris. “We are very good friends and have fun hanging out,” Marjanović says. “We like doing funny things, so it developed into something we can now do on camera for fun.” While basketball is still his passion and something he wants to continue doing for some time, the Serbian big man isn’t against the idea of a career in the entertainment industry when his playing days are done. “I like to have fun,” he says. “I don’t look for it. If it happens, it happens. I am lucky to do what I do and enjoy life.” —Justin Kroll
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KEVIN DURANT TAKES HIS OWN SHOT IN MEDIA
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VA R I E T Y ’ S S P O R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T B R E A K FA S T
J U LY 1 9 B E V E R LY H I LTO N H OT E L 9:30 A.M. — NOON
S TA R ’ S T H I R T Y F I V E MEDIA RAMPS UP PROJECTS, HELPS O T H E R S TA R S C O N N E C T BY ANDREW WALLENSTEIN
WHEN KEVIN DURANT USED TO
visit California’s San Quentin State Prison, he grew fascinated by the basketball league in which those incarcerated there competed — so close in proximity to where he played at Oakland’s Oracle Arena for the Golden State Warriors. He was so moved by the players’ stories that he signed on as an executive producer on “Q Ball,” a documentary about the San Quentin league for Fox Sports series “Magnify.” The project is the latest addition to the growing roster of productions in the hopper at Thirty Five Media, the production company Durant launched with partner Rich Kleiman in 2016. In addition to “Q Ball,” Thirty Five has landed a scripted series at Apple, “Swagger,” inspired by an early stage in Durant’s basketball career. He’s also carved a niche for himself at YouTube, where he’s the main attraction at his own channel in addition to producing the channels on that platform featuring athletes including JaVale McGee, Richard Sherman, Karl-Anthony Towns and Nick Young. “Obviously my job during the season comes first, but as a professional athlete there’s also a lot of downtime that your body needs to rest, and I take advantage of that creatively when I can,” says Durant in an interview with Variety. “Rich and I are constantly calling or texting each other with ideas for things we’re already working on or that we may want to pitch, and I rely on my team to update me regularly on where my input is needed as projects progress.” For Durant, basketball is the theme that flows through the content he’s producing. Kleiman, who previously served as an adviser to Jay-Z, has formed a close enough friendship with Durant to understand his production tastes. “Kevin gets a feel for what’s happening,” he says. “And if I know this isn’t something that he’s going to connect with, I’m not even running it through to him. I trust his filter.” The bonds Durant has formed in his two seasons with the Warriors, to which he was traded after playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder, have helped his entrée into the media world. Selling “Swagger” to Apple became a slam dunk, since Apple’s VP of content services, Eddy Cue, is a rabid Warriors fan with whom Durant has grown closer. “Eddy’s an incredibly smart guy, and I’ve been lucky to get to know him personally before we started a professional relationship through the ‘Swagger’ series,” says the star. Durant and Kleiman will talk more about Thirty Five Media as the keynote speakers for Variety’s Sports & Entertainment Breakfast, taking place July 19 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Medal-winning skier Lindsey Vonn and Los Angeles Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff will also be featured at the event.
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He and his team are great at what they do, but most importantly, I can trust him. He's my guy. - Nick Young, NBA Champion & 2-time client
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VARIETY.COM
THE HALL H GENDER GAP
Comic-Con is inclusive in many areas — but not so much on its biggest stage
| JULY 18, 2018
hen the first “Twilight” movie premiered at Comic-Con in 2009, it spawned protests. Multiple fans wandered the San Diego Convention Center holding signs with captions such as “Twilight has ruined Comic-Con!” One attendee, when asked by L.A. Weekly if his characterization of “Twilight” fans as “screeching girls” was sexist, countered that “girls have been making fun of fanboys for years, calling them nerdy and smelly.” The inclusion of the “Twilight” films was a “watershed” for the convention, according to science-fiction writer Charlie Jane Anders. “All of a sudden there were all these female fans who showed up for ‘Twilight’ who would actually get in line for Hall H,” says Anders, co-founder of the website io9. “But the amazing thing was that even after there were no more ‘Twilight’ movies, it felt like the attendees never went back to the way they had been. It felt like a lot of women and girls and people of other genders experienced Comic-Con and really liked it and just kept coming.” Comic-Con’s organizers pride themselves on what they view as an inclusive show. Their most recent survey of attendees found something close to gender balance — with 54% identifying as male, 44% as female and 2% as other. Over the past decade, organizers have seen a 7% increase in female attendees. “It is inclusive,” says David Glanzer, Comic-Con’s chief communications and strategy officer. “I think we’re seeing a lot more women at the show than ever before, in terms of fans and attendees.” But in Hall H, the convention’s most high-profile stage, the gender gap remains wide. Variety analyzed the lineup for every presentation on Comic-Con’s 65,000-square-foot auditorium — which seats 6,500 audience members — from 2013 through 2017 and found that in that five-year period, just 29% of the 1,061 panelists were women. Only 14 nonactor women appeared on panels promoting television shows, and only 10 on panels promoting films. And it’s not uncommon for presentations to be nearly all-male. Last year, two multi-person panels featured no women at all, and three included one woman. By comparison, the only time that Hall H has seen an all-female lineup has been during Entertainment Weekly’s annual Women Who Kick Ass panel. Last year, every Hall H panel other than Women Who Kick Ass was majority male. Glanzer notes that the makeup of panels reflects the projects being promoted. “If in Hall H there’s a movie, and the movie is female-centric, and 75% of the cast is female and 25% of the cast is male, but the panel is only 25% female, that would be a concern for us,” Glanzer says. “What is the
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reflection of the movies represented? If the cast is 75% male, then one would expect you would have more males on that panel.” But Kirsten Schaffer, executive director of Women in Film, Los Angeles, counters that the Hall H programming at Comic-Con is “not representative.” Schaffer points to data from San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film, which found that 37% of all major characters in the top 100 grossing movies of 2017 were played by women. In 2017 television series, women accounted for 42% of all major roles. “I think the studios and networks need to be more thoughtful about that, and look at their panels and see if they are inclusive of gender, race, disability,” Schaffer says. “In this moment, when the top people might not be inclusive, I think they should be bringing other people onto the panels that are more representative.” Of course, the event itself isn’t solely to blame — the gender imbalance onstage is a reflection of a stubborn gender imbalance that persists on-screen, despite increased efforts toward diversity and inclusion. “I think the programming reflects the same sorry state of Hollywood and gaming
Center Stage Charlize Theron, with Entertainment Weekly’s Sara Vilkomerson (left), was featured at last year’s Women Who Kick Ass panel, the only allwomen forum in Comic-Con’s Hall H.
and most of the media,” says Angela Robinson, a writer on series such as “The L Word” and “True Blood,” and the writer and director of the feature film “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women,” about the real-life creator of the DC Comics character Wonder Woman. Robinson has been an attendee at past Comic-Cons, participating in several panels focused on female creators. Television, where 39% of credited producers last year were women, has shown greater progress toward gender
I N C LU S I O N I L LU S I O N
Hall H panels haven’t been as gender diverse as the projects they represent, particularly for television. Hall H panelists by gender 75.3%
73.9%
2013
2 0 14
24.7%
26.1%
72.4%
2 0 17 65.7%
68.3%
2015
2016
34.3%
31.7%
27.6%
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Female TV cast ( ) and crew ( )
70
Female film cast ( ) and crew ( )
50
50
40
40
30
30
20
20
10
10
0 2013
2014
2015
2016
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balance in many areas than film, where just 24% of producers were women, according to San Diego State data. That shift changed the complexity of the programming being presented. In recent years, TV has ascended as the premier driver of Comic-Con programming. In 2013, 10 panels in Hall H promoted television shows and 11 promoted movies. Last year, Hall H was home to 14 TV panels and five movie panels. “The number of women in front of and behind the camera in television are higher than they are in movies,” says Schaffer. “I do think the influx of TV has helped increase the number of women at Comic-Con.” Programming at Comic-Con is the result of a give-and-take between organizers and the studios, for whom bringing a series or a film to the event can — when talent travel, activations and promotions are all considered — cost $500,000 to $1 million per project. On the television side, studios start looking at their options shortly after pilot orders begin. Talks between the studios and Comic-Con Intl. began in earnest in March, shortly after CCI’s Anaheim event, WonderCon. Comic-Con execs say much of the event’s programming takes place in more intimate rooms, and the programming beyond blockbuster movies and series is curated with an eye to inclusion and representation. “We get a great many requests from people who want to do panels,” says Glanzer. “Typically those requests are turnkey. People say, ‘This is the subject matter; these are the panelists.’ In many cases, we may get more than one request for a similar panel, and that allows us the luxury to then go and pick the one that we find would be most beneficial to our attendees and the one that is most diverse.” But in Hall H and Ballroom 20, the show’s other big room (seating just under 5,000), lineups for most panels promoting specific shows or films are set by the studios after booking. Thus the panels reflect largely the priorities of the studios footing the bill. Says Glanzer, “A good panel presenter realizes that having diversity of content and talent is always something that the fans appreciate.” Kirsten Chuba contributed to this report.
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7. G R EG B E R L A N T I GEEK CRED:
1 . C H A DW I C K B O S E M A N
THERON: ROB LATOUR/SHUTTERSTOCK; BOSEMAN: MEDIAPUNCH/SHUTTERSTOCK; FEIGE, GADOT: MATT BARON/SHUTTERSTOCK; JENKINS: MICHAEL BUCKNER/DEADLINE/SHUTTERSTOCK; DEL TORO: CHRIS PIZZELLO/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; MARTIN: IBL/SHUTTERSTOCK; ROWLING: EVAN AGOSTINI/INVISION/AP; BERLANTI: WBEI; RUSSOS: JOANNE DAVIDSON/SILVERHUB/ SHUTTERSTOCK; COOGLER: WILLY SANJUAN/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; WHITTAKER: FEATUREFLASHSHM/SHUTTERSTOCK; KENNEDY: SILVERHUB/SHUTTERSTOCK
GEEK CRED:
The “Black Panther” star propelled himself to the top ranks of Marvel heroes with the success of his stand-alone adventure and this summer’s “Avengers: Infinity War.” POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: T’challa’s Vibranium-woven suit could prove constrictive. Boseman’s played everyone from Jackie Robinson to James Brown, and he’ll want time to pursue independent projects, but Marvel’s going to want to keep the Panther busy popping up in sequels and spin-offs. UPCOMING: Another “Avengers” sequel and the inevitable “Black Panther” follow-up. Robert Downey Jr., be warned: There’s a new king in town.
2. KEVIN FEIGE GEEK CRED:
The keeper of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is responsible for ushering in the comic-book movie boom. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: One set of Avengers is graying. Will the Phase Four gang, which includes Captain Marvel and the Eternals, be as popular as Captain America, Iron Man and Black Panther? UPCOMING: Seeing if Earth’s Mightiest Heroes can overcome the high body count of “Avengers: Infinity War” and finally defeat Thanos with next summer’s still untitled sequel. After that, there are dozens of upcoming releases involving everyone from Black Widow to the ruler of Wakanda.
3. PAT T Y J E N K I N S GEEK CRED:
The “Wonder Woman” director did the impossible and made a DC Comics film that wasn’t critically savaged. She became the highest-paid female filmmaker with her $9 million payday for the follow-up. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: Expectations. Few sequels live up to the original. UPCOMING: “Wonder Woman 1984” hits theaters in 2019.
4. G U I L L E R M O D E L TO R O GEEK CRED:
Horror maestro’s “The Shape of Water” swept the Oscars, picking up best picture and director while proving that mermen can be romantic leads. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: Hit or miss commercially. “Shape of Water” scored, but he’s lost piles of money on passion projects such as “Crimson Peak.”
UPCOMING: A darker version of “Pinocchio” and a remake of 1947’s “Nightmare Alley.”
5. G E O R G E R . R . M A R T I N GEEK CRED:
Created Westeros and its warring kingdoms with “A Song of Ice and Fire,” the book series that inspired HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: A raging case of writer’s block. Martin has yet to wrap up his fantasy-novel series even though the cable adaptation will end its run next year. UPCOMING: “The Winds of Winter” and “A Dream of Spring,” the final two “Ice and Fire” novels, should hit stores at some point this millennium.
6. J. K . ROW L I N G
The master of the Arrowverse is one of television’s most powerful producers — and he’s being paid like one. His new overall deal with Warner Bros. Television, inked last month, is worth more than $400 million. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: Next season Berlanti will boast a record-breaking 14 series on television. That kind of volume risks spreading him thin. UPCOMING: In addition to returning series such as “Arrow,” “The Flash” and “Riverdale,” next season will see Berlanti exec produce newcomers “All American” (CW), “The Red Line” and “God Friended Me” (both CBS) and “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” (Netflix).
8. G A L G A D OT GEEK CRED:
Most beloved Justice League member. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: Fans can’t wait for “Wonder Woman 1984,” but it’s no secret that the rest of the DC Cinematic Universe is, um, hit or miss. How will Gadot and her Lasso of Truth factor into the studio’s efforts to right the ship? UPCOMING: Facing off against Dwayne Johnson in 2020’s “Red Notice.”
9. R U S S O B R OT H E R S
GEEK CRED:
“Harry Potter” novelist, expert Trump roaster (on Twitter). POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” her upcoming
GEEK CRED: Successfully found a way to give dozens of costumed heroes screen time in “Avengers: Infinity War.” POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: The
1 0. RYA N C O O G L E R GEEK CRED: His Afrofuturist take on “Black Panther” was universally loved, delivering $1.3 billion at the global box office. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: Will “Creed II” be as potent as the original since Coogler, who executive produces, is handing over directing duties? UPCOMING: “Wrong Answer,” a drama about a public school cheating scandal.
1 1 . J O D I E W H I T TA K E R GEEK CRED:
The “Attack the Block” and “Broadchurch” actress will seize the sonic screwdriver as the 13th — and first female — Doctor when the new iteration of “Doctor Who” premieres this year. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: Whittaker’s casting drew widespread praise but was also the subject of virulent misogynist backlash on social media and in Britain’s tabloid press. UPCOMING: No premiere date has been set for the new “Doctor Who” season, but details could be forthcoming, with Whittaker expected to appear at a Comic-Con panel for the show.
1 2 . K AT H L E E N K E N N E DY GEEK CRED:
The Lucasfilm chief oversees all the “Star Wars” sequels and spin-offs, with varying degrees of success. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: Too much of a good thing. The failure of “Solo: A Star Wars Story” raises the spectre of Jedi fatigue. Does the world need a Boba Fett film? UPCOMING: Trying to course correct with J.J. Abrams’ upcoming “Star Wars: Episode IX.”
VARIETY.COM
e’re living through a full-fledged nerd culture renaissance. From “Game of Thrones” to “Avengers: Infinity War,” the highest-grossing movies, top-rated television shows and best-selling novels all hail from the fantasy, horror or comic-book canon. Once dismissed as dorky, anything involving warrior princesses, cape-wearing heroes or boy wizards is now the epitome of cool. Comic-Con unspools in San Diego from July 19-22, and in honor of the annual fanboy and fangirl gathering, Variety takes a look at the most influential names in geek culture. These are the men and women powering the most popular properties in entertainment.
siblings have grand ambitions for AGBO, their new studio venture, but they have yet to prove they can deliver big box office outside the world of Marvel. UPCOMING: Firing up the Quinjet for one final “Avengers” film; then moguldom awaits.
JULY 18, 2018
G E E K P O W E R L I ST
“Potter” spin-off, seemed poised to dominate the fall box office until it got saddled with a Johnny Depp problem. Will the actor’s personal issues and domestic abuse allegations overshadow its release? UPCOMING: More “Fantastic Beasts” films and more basking in the glory of the Broadway run of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”
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GEEK CRED:
The man behind the Merc with a Mouth. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE:
“Deadpool 2” is a smash, but after Fox gets absorbed by Disney it’s unclear if the F-bomb-dropping antihero will be welcome in the squeakyclean Magic Kingdom. UPCOMING: Breaking out Deadpool’s signature red spandex for “X-Force.”
14. B R I E L A R S O N GEEK CRED:
Bringing Carol Danvers, an iconic feminist superhero, to the big screen with next year’s “Captain Marvel.” POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: There are a whole bunch of fans hoping that “Captain Marvel” will be a barrier-breaking sensation. So don’t muck it up. UPCOMING: Suiting up for next summer’s “Avengers” sequel.
1 5. R O B E RTO AGUIRRE-SACASA GEEK CRED:
When the playwright, comics scribe and screenwriter became Archie Comics’ chief creative officer in 2014, the gig did not look plum. But with “Riverdale” a breakout hit on the CW and “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” coming to Netflix, Aguirre-Sacasa has transformed the legacy comics publisher into a screen-content machine.
an “After Earth” away from the C-list. In other words: Don’t get cocky. UPCOMING: “Glass,” a fanboy wet dream, which unites the casts of “Split” and “Unbreakable.”
17. R O B E RT D OW N E Y J R . GEEK CRED:
Iron Man’s alter ego. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: It’s been a long time
since Downey played outside the “Avengers” sandbox. His pricey “Doctor Dolittle” remake will test whether he’s bankable without the mask. UPCOMING: Another “Sherlock Holmes” adventure.
1 8. ST E P H E N K I N G GEEK CRED:
Spinner of nightmares. The biggestselling horror author in the world. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: “It” was a massive success, but not everything King touches turns to cinematic gold. The less said about “The Dark Tower,” the better. UPCOMING: A sequel to “It,” the Hulu series “Castle Rock” and “Elevation,” a new novel that mixes scares and a dissection of small-town prejudices.
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1 6. M . N I G H T S H YA M A L A N GEEK CRED:
Thanks to the success of “Split” and “The Visit,” the horror guru is back after a decade in the wilderness. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: Even the biggest directors are just
UPCOMING: The action-comedy “Spychosis” and thriller “The Pages.”
2 0. D A N A I G U R I R A GEEK CRED:
This awardwinning playwright also boasts sly supporting turns in “The Walking Dead” and “Black Panther.” POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE:
“Eclipsed,” a drama about war-torn Liberia, showed that Gurira is a vital voice in theater. It would be a shame if her big- and small-screen commitments forced her to delay more stage work. UPCOMING: Season 9 of “The Walking Dead.”
2 1 . TA - N E H I S I C O AT E S GEEK CRED:
POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE:
Archie’s library is not nearly as deep as Marvel’s or DC’s. “Riverdale” and “Sabrina” have already used most of the bestknown characters. UPCOMING: “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” premieres this year.
Back to the Vault Hulu’s fantasy horror series “Castle Rock” is based on stories by Stephen King set in the fictional Maine town.
in “Halloween.”
The original scream queen returns as Laurie Strode
POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: The “Halloween” reboot looks terrifying, but it’s a franchise that’s also inspired some unwatchable sequels over the years.
The preeminent chronicler of race in America moonlights as a comic-book writer on “Black Panther” and “Captain America.” POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: Writing best-sellers like “We Were Eight Years in Power” and churning out stories for The Atlantic doesn’t leave much time for costumed heroes. UPCOMING: Writing “America in the King Years” for HBO and collaborating with Ryan Coogler on “Wrong Answer.”
2 2 . M I L L I E B O B BY B R OW N GEEK CRED:
Season 2 of “Stranger Things” secured Brown’s Eleven as one of TV’s iconic characters. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: It’s
only a matter of time before the actress ages out of her breakout role. UPCOMING: Season 3 of “Stranger Things” and feature film “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” are slated for next year.
2 3. C H R I S P R AT T GEEK CRED:
Equally adept at wrangling raptors and snatching Infinity Stones, Pratt’s wisecracking persona has enlivened everything from “Jurassic World” to “Guardians of the Galaxy.” POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: “Cowboy Ninja Viking,” an upcoming adaptation of a graphic novel set to star Pratt, sounds more like a collection of archetypes than a blockbuster in the making. UPCOMING: Outrunning dinos in a third “Jurassic World,” another “Avengers” film and “The Kid,” a Western with Ethan Hawke.
24. S A M U E L L . J A C KS O N GEEK CRED:
Lord of the genre pic. Jackson has appeared in everything from the schlocky (“Snakes on a Plane”) to the sublime (“The Incredibles”). POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: Overexposure. The prolific actor has been averaging three to four films annually. UPCOMING: Reprising his Machiavellian “Unbreakable” role in “Glass,” busting out Nick Fury’s eye patch for “Captain Marvel” and returning as the coolest NYPD detective ever in 2019’s “Shaft” sequel.
2 5. WA LT E R H A M A D A GEEK CRED:
The new head of DC’s film operations. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: A lot of cleaning
up to do after “Justice League” bombed. First up: deciding if Ben Affleck remains as Batman. UPCOMING: “Aquaman” is DC’s fall hope, and the following autumn brings “Wonder Woman 1984.” There are several films in development, including a Flash stand-alone movie and a Joker spin-off with Joaquin Phoenix.
2 6. S O N EQ U A M A RT I N - G R E E N GEEK CRED:
The “Walking Dead” alum broke barriers in “Star Trek: Discovery” as the first woman of color to lead a series in the storied sci-fi franchise. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE:
Though “Discovery” streams abroad on Netflix, it reaches a more limited U.S. audience on still-growing CBS All Access. UPCOMING: Filming on Season 2 of “Discovery” is under way in Toronto.
27. K E L LY S U E D EC O N N I C K GEEK CRED:
Shattering glass ceilings for women in comic books after starting the #VisibleWomen movement on social media. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: Geekdom continues to suffer from a misogynistic strain. There are a lot of haters who don’t appreciate the social change DeConnick advocates.
REYNOLDS: AFLO/SHUTTERSTOCK; LARSON: BROADIMAGE/SHUTTERSTOCK; AGUIRRE-SACASA: JIM SMEAL/BEI/SHUTTERSTOCK; SHYAMALAN: BROADIMAGE/SHUTTERSTOCK; DOWNEY JR.: JOHN SALANGSANG/SHUTTERSTOCK; KING: EVAN AGOSTINI/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; CURTIS: CHRIS PIZZELLO/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; GURIRA: LITTLE FANG PHOTOS; COATES: ANDY KROPA/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; BROWN: DAVID BUCHAN/SHUTTERSTOCK; PRATT: MASATOSHI OKAUCHI/SHUTTERSTOCK; JACKSON: VICTORIA WILL/AP; HAMADA: ERIC CHARBONNEAU/SHUTTERSTOCK; MARTIN-GREEN: TIMOTHY KURATEK/CBS; DECONNICK: LAURENT BENHAMOU/SIPA/AP
1 3. RYA N R E Y N O L D S
UPCOMING: The “Bitch Planet”
and “Captain Marvel” writer will turn her attention to Wonder Woman for DC’s Black Label imprint.
Fresh Throwdown Fox’s upcoming “The Predator,” directed by Shane Black, aims to reignite the franchise.
JOY: DAVE ALLOCCA/STARPIX/SHUTTERSTOCK; NOLAN: VINCE BUCCI/AP; WAN: STEPHEN LOVEKIN/TVLINE/SHUTTERSTOCK; SUGAR: MARK HILL\CARTOON NETWORK
2 9. J A M E S WA N GEEK CRED: The “Conjuring” director will next take viewers to the murky depths of Atlantis with “Aquaman.” POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: Not all that long ago the idea of an “Aquaman” movie was treated as a punchline on “Entourage.” Can Wan shake the silliness factor? UPCOMING: Producing another “Annabelle” film and a “Mortal Kombat” reboot.
3 0. R E B EC C A S U G A R GEEK CRED:
The “Steven Universe” animator became the first woman to independently create a show for Cartoon Network. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: Irregular release scheduling has long vexed “Steven Universe” fans. The show’s new episodes tend to air in clusters instead of having traditional seasons. UPCOMING: Sugar will keep racking up milestones. “Steven Universe” just generated headlines with a recent episode featuring a same-sex marriage proposal. Compiled by Brent Lang and Daniel Holloway
BIGGER. BADDER. SMARTER.
Director-writer Shane Black says he took a ‘Butch-and-Sundance approach’ to the new installment in the ‘Predator’ franchise STORY BY BRENT LANG
he team behind “The Predator” wants to correct something about the latest installment in the threedecade-old science-fiction franchise. It’s not a reboot. “It’s an attempt to do something — same world, same universe, just 30 years later,” explains Shane Black, the film’s director and writer. The movie, which hits theaters on Sept. 14, follows a group of military veterans, some suffering from PTSD, who must form a “Dirty Dozen”-like team to battle alien invaders. The first film, 1987’s “Predator,” also focused on a team of soldiers battling a fearsome adversary, but that unit was led by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura. This one is dominated by Keegan-Michael Key, Boyd Holbrook and Sterling K. Brown, all of whom are better known for their acting chops than for their bench pressing. “It’s a leaner, meaner approach,” says Black. “Instead of the slick, ultracool super-soldier approach from the first film, these guy are a more broken, marginalized and forgotten contingent.” It turns out that the alien creatures that made mincemeat of Schwarzenegger’s crew have been routinely visiting Earth in the ensuing years, and a group of human beings have gotten wise to their incursions. They’ve set up a watchtower to monitor activity and try to determine
when the predators will next touch down. But these creatures definitely don’t come in peace, and they’re more terrifying than ever. The film will also feature a genetically modified predator that wreaks havoc on anyone it encounters, according to producer John Davis. “They’ve gone through an evolution that’s made them bigger, better and badder,” says Davis. Black is known for mixing laughs and violence in films such as “Lethal Weapon” and “The Nice Guys,” and he promises to inject humor into “The Predator.” “I tried to ground the light moments because nobody wants a jokey ‘Predator,’” says Black. “But when you’re under fire, one of the basic defense mechanisms is to grit your teeth and make a joke. I took sort of a Butch-and-Sundance approach. In that movie, they got shot to pieces at the end, but they never stopped wising off.” There have been a number of “Predator” sequels over the years — from the execrable 2004 “Alien vs. Predator” to 2010’s “Predators,” with a buffed Adrien Brody. But it’s been something of a case of diminishing returns. “‘The Predator’ has been around for 30 years, through various incarnations, but each time it comes back it seems like there’s a certain acknowledgment they’re going to make another ‘Predator’ movie,” says Black. “Generally they’re made for a certain budget, they have a certain look and they recoup a certain guaranteed amount, but they haven’t been enough to sort of reignite a new, more long-standing passion for it.” Davis, who has produced every film in the franchise, praises Black for finding a fresh take, and for grounding the scares by creating more believable characters. “This is an auteur-driven reimagining,” says Davis. “Shane Black has a voice and a signature, and it kind of re-enlivens the franchise.” The producer says that “The Predator” will set up two sequels that he hopes Black will return to direct. But Black doesn’t want to get ahead of himself. “I would love to say we’ve been planning a trilogy, but I take one day at a time,” he cautions. “In motion-picture terms that’s one movie at a time.”
JULY 18, 2018
GEEK CRED: The husbandand-wife showrunner team took HBO’s “Westworld” in mind-bending new directions this season. POTENTIAL KRYPTONITE: Ratings for Season 2 declined, a bad sign for a show that some had hoped would be HBO’s new “Game of Thrones.” UPCOMING: Season 3 of “Westworld” is slated for 2020.
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STORY BY JOE OTTERSON ox is betting big on its upcoming fall drama “The Passage,” based on author Justin Cronin’s best-selling book trilogy of the same name. In the series, a secret government medical facility experiments with a dangerous virus meant to cure all disease that instead causes humans infected with it to become vampire-like creatures known on the show as virals. Carey Jones, who headed the SFX makeup department on the show’s pilot, spoke with Variety about how he and his team achieved the look for the virals — which they designed to be unlike vampires seen in previous shows.
JULY 18, 2018
How did you design the look for the virals?
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Greg Nicotero got a call from Fox discussing this project and brought us on board. In the beginning, Greg and I just wanted to do something different. There’s been a lot of vampire shows out there, so we really wanted to come up with something that had a different look in terms of how they
changed and what they look like when they go through different stages of the change. This particular source material allowed that because it’s a virus, and it infects [people] in different ways — the way their teeth grow is not like your typical vampire. So we went through a lot of different designs and presented to production and the director and Liz Heldens, the writer, and collaborated on the look of these guys.
How long did the process take? We shot the pilot the first time at the beginning of last year. Then we went through a series of changes, which gave us time to hone the look. So we went through two rounds of viral looks. From beginning to end the second time, I would say we got a solid eight or nine weeks, which is unheard of.
Did you draw inspiration from any other famous vampire shows or films? We wanted to do something that was different, so we had a ton of references, but we tried to pull away from emulating anything closely. So many vampire projects have been done, and we wanted our virals to be different. When people see the show, they should know that it’s a “Passage” vampire. Like the eyes — in terms of designing the lenses, we went more cat-like with those, more of a yellow. We also went kind of heavy veiny, which not a lot of people do. And for Patient Zero, he was a bit more extreme than everybody else, so we accentuated a lot of his bone structure and his chin, things like that.
Is the approach to the design process different since it’s based on a book? Not at all. The design process is the same.
How long do you typically get?
Uniquely Undead The vampires on “The Passage” have unusual features, including a latticework of veins and yellow-tinted cat eyes.
[Laughs] A week. But again I think it worked in our favor that they went back to reshoot. The first time I think we got about four or five weeks. Then we found out they were going to revisit a few things. From that point to when they actually started shooting it, that gave us enough time to try some different things. TCFTV
How Fox drama ‘The Passage’ achieved the unique look of its distinctive vampires
Once we get the script and we read the source material, we get with our designers here, and Greg and I sit down and we just start spitballing ideas. It starts with the designers doing a series of thumbnail sketches. We then present those to the director, producers and writers. They circle the ones they like, and then we go further with it. That’s when it goes more into Photoshop art and three-dimensional art with coloring and mood lighting and things like that. Then once we got a sign-off on that, we did a series of makeup tests where we altered a few things. The process was relatively the same. For this in particular, it was actually great because we got a lot of extra time to go through that process; nowadays in television you don’t get that.
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to be counted on at the Emmys, it’s that no matter who goes home with the gold, everyone involved in the ever-growing industry that is television is making history. From taking on the current political climate, to being more inclusive in storytelling as well as with their storytellers, this year’s crop of nominees have dominated conversations for months and promise to deliver quite the show in September. ¶ Looking ahead, Variety has compiled seven key areas to watch during this awards season. F THERE’S ONE THING
Exploring Emmy’s Explosion of Riches Counting down to awards night by seven themes of this year’s nominees I LLU STR ATI O N BY G O N ÇALO VIANA
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Political Impact Talk isn’t cheap, as late-night shows mine Washington for sharp laughs and insight BY CYNTHIA LITTLETON
“Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” has nabbed its second consecutive variety talk series Emmy nomination.
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The c-word didn’t sink Samantha Bee, but the streak is over (for now) for Bill Maher. And this year’s batch of Emmy nominations leave no doubt that the T-word remains a geyser of material for nominees. TBS’ “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” became wrapped up in the cultural debate about whether the anti-Trump bent of late-night is sharpening the political divisions in the country. Bee apologized for calling Ivanka Trump a “feckless c—,” but there was still a big question about whether the vulgarity would nix her chances for back-to-back series noms. Bee weathered the crisis thanks to otherwise strong reviews and respect within the creative community. It also didn’t hurt that Bee’s vulgarity came over an issue that stirred widespread bipartisan outrage (Trump’s family-separation immigration policy). Moreover, amid the industry’s focus on gender parity and diversity, this was not the year for Emmy voters to field an all white-male lineup for variety talk series. Comedy Central’s “Daily Show With Trevor Noah” rode a wave of good reviews and buzzy moments to the show’s first variety talk series nom since the South African comedian’s tenure began in 2015. Bee, Noah and their competitors — ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” HBO’s “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver,” CBS’ “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and “Late Late Show With James Corden” — have one thing in common: a sharp focus on President Trump and related subjects. “Corden” is a slight exception, as it generates more buzz through the viral success of taped segments such as “Carpool Karaoke” and “Crosswalk the Musical.” “Last Week Tonight” has logged back-toback wins for series, but Kimmel could be the one to beat this year. Kimmel made headlines for weeks by going toe to toe with congressional leaders and helped raised awareness of what was at stake in the Republican plan to repeal Obamacare. There’s nothing Emmy voters like to reward more than cultural impact.
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Fresh But Still Familiar Only a few new series broke into the Emmy race this year BY DEBRA BIRNBAUM
When it comes to the Emmy Awards, familiarity breeds… familiarity. That’s why voters have honored the same shows year after year (read: “Modern Family,” which finally fell out of favor this time), often to the chagrin of critics who fawn over their latest darlings and cry foul when the lists are unveiled. It’s only become harder for new shows to break through, given the sheer glut of content voters need to wade through — witness the record 9,100 submissions received by the Academy this year, and the stacks of screeners piled up on desks across town. All of the drama series nominees are shows in at least their second season — with two of the contenders at or near the end of their run (FX’s “The Americans” and HBO’s “Game of Thrones”). Barring a major upset, the drama winner will be a show that’s been crowned before by the Emmys, be it last year’s champ “The Handmaid’s Tale” or HBO’s juggernaut “Game of Thrones,” which owned the category before sitting out last year. It’s tight, too, in the comedy field — the slate expanded to eight nominees to accommodate the wealth of content. But here, three new shows managed to break through: HBO’s “Barry,” Netflix’s “GLOW” and Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” That’s a race that’s harder to predict — “Maisel” is riding the momentum of the win at the Golden Globes, but the critical favorite
and reigning champion is FX’s “Atlanta,” which once again astounded with a risk-taking, boldly creative season. That’s not to say a new show can never make it to the winner’s circle. ABC’s “Modern Family” began its stranglehold on the category with a win for its freshman season in 2010. But it took “Veep” four seasons to begin its own reign, which was only interrupted by a break for its star’s health issues this season. Neither are in the running for the comedy trophy. And on the drama side, “Handmaid’s Tale” triumphed in its Emmy debut last year — alongside a slate of four other newbies, all of which avoided that famous sophomore slump to return to contention this year. 2017 was clearly a boon for creativity, a feat rarely seen at the Emmys. “Game of Thrones” didn’t score with voters until season 5, as did “Breaking Bad.” It was “Homeland” back in 2012 that scored that rare trifecta, with wins across all the top drama categories — taking home lead actress for Claire Danes and lead actor for Damian Lewis. Of course the limited series race offers more opportunity to recognize the fresh and new — though as more and more so-called limited series go back for yet another round (“Big Little Lies,” “The Sinner”), that category, too, may well become a list of returning favorites. Get ready to see more familiar faces at next year’s awards.
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HBO’s “Barry” managed to break into the competitive comedy series race.
70TH ANNUAL PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS NOMINATION LIST DRAMA SERIES “The Americans” “The Crown” “Game of Thrones” “The Handmaid’s Tale” “Stranger Things” “This Is Us” “Westworld” C O M E DY S E R I E S “Atlanta” “Barry” Sandra Oh, nominated for “Killing Eve,” is the first AsianAmerican actress to score a lead drama nom.
Acting Category Shows Diversity, if Not Parity Sandra Oh broke biggest barrier with her ‘Killing Eve’ nom BY CAROLINE FRAMKE
Even in the middle of Hollywood’s big diversity push, it was still startling to see a significant amount of it across all acting categories this year. There are 36 non-white acting nominees this year — a solid 20% jump from last year, when there were 30. Drill down deeper and it becomes clear that this year’s more inclusive slate is thanks to the supporting and guest categories in particular. Just take a look at limited series, where FX’s “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” earned noms for Penelope Cruz, Edgar Ramirez and Ricky Martin. Or comedy, where “Atlanta” co-stars Brian Tyree Henry and Zazie Beetz landed their first supporting nods, as did “Saturday Night Live” Kenan Thompson — an astonishing 15 years after he first became a cast member. Donald Glover and Sterling K. Brown — nominated as leads for “Atlanta” and “This Is Us” respectively — became double nominees thanks to noms in the guest comedy actor category, where they’re joined by Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) and Katt Williams (“Atlanta”). Black women also dominate the guest actress category, with Samira Wiley (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), Viola Davis (“Scandal”), Cicely Tyson (“How to Get Away With Mur-
der”) and Kelly Jenrette (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) all earned nods in drama, and Tiffany Haddish (“Saturday Night Live”), Wanda Sykes (“Black-ish”) and Maya Rudolph (“The Good Place”) landed ones in comedy. Two leading nominations proved to be particularly pleasant surprises. “Insecure” creator Issa Rae landed a nomination in the competitive lead actress in a comedy category, finally getting recognition for her performance, which grounds the entire show. And then there’s “Killing Eve’s” Sandra Oh, who gained the most immediate notice for her lead actress in a drama series nod. It isn’t just richly deserved, but it also makes her the first actor of Asian descent to ever get a nomination in that category in the entire history of the Emmys — a breakthrough as incredible as it is depressing. It’s tempting to ask how that could be possible, but as Oh herself has acknowledged, the answer is simple: non-white actors, and particularly those of Asian descent, just haven’t been afforded many opportunities to get cast, let alone lead a show. To wit: even in a year featuring more non-white actors than ever, Oh is still the sole non-white actor in her category. Things are improving, as is long overdue, but there’s still a lot of ground to cover in order to achieve real balance.
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“Black-ish” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” “GLOW” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” “Silicon Valley” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”
Tracee Ellis Ross, “Black-ish”
“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver”
Lily Tomlin, “Grace and Frankie”
“The Late Late Show With James Corden”
L E A D ACTO R , LIMITED SERIES O R M OV I E Antonio Banderas, “Genius: Picasso” Darren Criss, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” Benedict Cumberbatch, “Patrick Melrose”
“Tracey Ullman’s Show”
Jesse Plemons, “USS Callister: Black Mirror”
SUPPORTING ACTO R , D R A M A
Sterling K. Brown, “This Is Us”
Laura Dern, “The Tale”
Ed Harris, “Westworld”
Michelle Dockery, “Godless”
Matthew Rhys, “The Americans”
Edie Falco, “Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders”
Tatiana Maslany, “Orphan Black” Elisabeth Moss, “The Handmaid’s Tale” Sandra Oh, “Killing Eve”
“I Love You, America With Sarah Silverman”
John Legend, “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert”
Jessica Biel, “The Sinner”
Claire Foy, “The Crown”
“Drunk History”
“Saturday Night Live”
Jason Bateman, “Ozark”
L E A D ACT R E S S, DRAMA
“At Home With Amy Sedaris”
Jeff Daniels, “The Looming Tower”
L E A D ACTO R , DRAMA
Jeffrey Wright, “Westworld”
VA R I E T Y SKETCH SERIES
“Portlandia”
L E A D ACT R E S S, LIMITED SERIES O R M OV I E
Milo Ventimiglia, “This Is Us”
“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”
Nikolaj CosterWaldau, “Game of Thrones” Peter Dinklage, “Game of Thrones” Joseph Fiennes, “The Handmaid’s Tale” David Harbour, “Stranger Things”
Regina King, “Seven Seconds”
Mandy Patinkin, “Homeland” Matt Smith, “The Crown” SUPPORTING ACT R E S S, DRAMA
Sarah Paulson, “American Horror Story: Cult”
Alexis Bledel, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
LIMITED SERIES “The Alienist”
Millie Bobby Brown, “Stranger Things” Ann Dowd, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
“The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
Lena Headey, “Game of Thrones”
“Genius: Picasso”
Vanessa Kirby, “The Crown”
“Godless”
Keri Russell, “The Americans”
“Patrick Melrose”
Thandie Newton, “Westworld”
Evan Rachel Wood, “Westworld”
T V M OV I E
Yvonne Strahovski, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
L E A D ACTO R , C O M E DY Anthony Anderson, “Black-ish” Ted Danson, “The Good Place”
“Fahrenheit 451” “Flint”
SUPPORTING A C T O R , C O M E DY
“Paterno”
Louie Anderson, “Baskets”
“The Tale” “USS Callister (Black Mirror)”
Alec Baldwin, “Saturday Night Live”
Larry David, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
REALITY COMPETITION
Donald Glover, “Atlanta”
“The Amazing Race”
Bill Hader, “Barry” William H. Macy, “Shameless”
“American Ninja Warrior” “Project Runway” “RuPaul’s Drag Race”
Pamela Adlon, “Better Things”
“The Voice”
“The Daily Show With Trevor Noah”
Allison Janney, “Mom”
“Full Frontal With Samantha Bee”
Issa Rae, “Insecure”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
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Tony Shalhoub, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Henry Winkler, “Barry”
VA R I E T Y TA L K S E R I E S
Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Brian Tyree Henry, “Atlanta”
Kenan Thompson, “Saturday Night Live”
“Top Chef” L E A D ACT R E S S, C O M E DY
Tituss Burgess, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”
SUPPORTING ACT R E S S, C O M E DY Zazie Beetz, “Atlanta” Alex Borstein, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
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Betty Gilpin, “GLOW”
Cicely Tyson, “How to Get Away with Murder”
Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, “Project Runway”
Leslie Jones, “Saturday Night Live”
Samira Wiley, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Jane Lynch, “Hollywood Game Night”
Aidy Bryant, “Saturday Night Live”
Kate McKinnon, “Saturday Night Live” Laurie Metcalf, “Roseanne” Megan Mullally, “Will & Grace” SUPPORTING ACTO R , L I M I T E D S E R I E S/ M OV I E
G U E ST ACTO R , C O M E DY Sterling K. Brown, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” Bryan Cranston, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
RuPaul, “RuPaul’s Drag Race”
“Antiques Roadshow” “Fixer Upper”
Jeff Daniels, “Godless”
Bill Hader, “Saturday Night Live”
“Queer Eye”
Brandon Victor Dixon, “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert”
Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
“Who Do You Think You Are?”
Ricky Martin, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” Edgar Ramirez, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” Michael Stuhlbarg, “The Looming Tower” Finn Wittrock, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” SUPPORTING ACT R E S S, LIMITED S E R I E S/ M OV I E
Katt Williams, “Atlanta” GUEST ACT R E S S, C O M E DY
“Lip Sync Battle” “Shark Tank”
UNSTRUCTURED REALITY PROGRAM “Born This Way” “Deadliest Catch”
Tina Fey, “Saturday Night Live”
“Intervention”
Tiffany Haddish, “Saturday Night Live”
“RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked”
Jane Lynch, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
“United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell”
Maya Rudolph, “The Good Place” Molly Shannon, “Will & Grace” Wanda Sykes, “Black-ish”
“Naked and Afraid”
D O C U M E N TA R Y OR NONFICTION SERIES “American Masters” “Blue Planet II”
VA R I E T Y SPECIAL (LIVE)
“The Defiant Ones”
Sara Bareilles, “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert”
“The 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards”
“Wild Wild Country”
Penelope Cruz, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
“60th Annual Grammy Awards”
Judith Light, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” Adina Porter, “American Horror Story: Cult” Merritt Wever, “Godless” Letitia Wright, “Black Museum: Black Mirror”
“Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert” “Night of Too Many Stars: America Unites for Autism Programs” “The Oscars” VA R I E T Y SPECIAL (PRE-RECORDED)
“The Fourth Estate”
D O C U M E N TA R Y OR NONFICTION SPECIAL “Icarus” “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond — Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton” “Mister Rogers: It’s You I Like” “Spielberg”
“Carol Burnett Show 50th Anniversary Special”
“The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling”
F. Murray Abraham, “Homeland”
“Carpool Karaoke Primetime Special 2018”
W R I T I N G, DRAMA
Cameron Britton, “Mindhunter”
“Dave Chappelle: Equanimity”
Matthew Goode, “The Crown”
“Full Frontal With Samantha Bee Presents: The Great American* Puerto Rico (*It’s Complicated)”
G U E ST ACTO R , DRAMA
Ron Cephas Jones, “This Is Us” Gerald McRaney, “This Is Us” Jimmi Simpson, “Westworld” GUEST ACT R E S S, DRAMA Viola Davis, “Scandal” Kelly Jenrette, “The Handmaid’s Tale” Cherry Jones, “The Handmaid’s Tale” Diana Rigg, “Game of Thrones”
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“Steve Martin & Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life” H O S T, R E A L I T Y OR REALITY COMPETITION W. Kamau Bell, “United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell” Ellen DeGeneres, “Ellen’s Game of Games”
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Familiar TV faces tend to grab voters’ attention BY DANIELLE TURCHIANO
STRUCTURED REALITY PROGRAM
Donald Glover, “Saturday Night Live”
John Leguizamo, “Waco”
The Name Game
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, “Game of Thrones,” The Dragon and the Wolf The Duffer Brothers, “Stranger Things,” Chapter Nine: The Gate Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg, “The Americans,” Start Bruce Miller, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” June Peter Morgan, “The Crown,” Mystery Man Phoebe WallerBridge, “Killing Eve,” Nice Face W R I T I N G, C O M E DY Alec Berg, “Silicon Valley,” Fifty-One
With first-round voting performer ballots topping out at more than a dozen pages each, name recognition is important in the increasingly crowded space that is the Emmys, but it alone isn’t enough. Instead what grabbed voters’ attention this year was a combination of star power and consistent body of work on the small screen. Going into Emmy nomination morning, it seemed pretty unfathomable that an A-lister like Al Pacino wouldn’t get recognized for his turn as the late college football coach Joe Paterno in HBO’s original movie “Paterno,” but that’s exactly what happened. The movie itself scored a nom in the television movie category, undoubtedly aided by the combined star power of Pacino, executive producer and director Barry Levinson and its ripped- from-the-headlines tale. But Pacino himself, who had not done a television project since 2013’s “Phil Spector,” couldn’t beat out more familiar TV names such as Darren Criss (“The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”), Benedict Cumberbatch (“Patrick Melrose”) and Jesse Plemons (“Black Mirror: USS Callister”) to earn a spot on the ballot. Similarly, big-name creatives David Fincher and David Lynch were shut out of the drama and limited races, respectively, for “Mindhunter” and “Twin Peaks.” Drama was dominated by returning series, some in their sophomore years (“This Is Us,”“The Handmaid’s Tale”) and some longer-running (“The Americans,” “Game of Thrones”). The limited series category, too, was populated by familiarity, be it new installments of anthologies (“American Crime Story,”“Genius”) or those with a larger pool of year-over-year
TV talent (“Godless,” for example). On the flip side, though, stars such as “The Good Place’s” Ted Danson and “Killing Eve’s” Sandra Oh managed to crack the lead actor in a comedy and lead actress in a drama categories, in great part because of their rich history with voters. Danson was previously nominated 10 times for “Cheers” in the same category (he won twice) and four other times for projects including the dramatic “Damages.” Oh was nominated five times prior, though in the supporting drama actress category, for her work on “Grey’s Anatomy.” Megan Mullally, too, had the benefit of seven previous noms (two wins) for her role on “Will & Grace” during its first run in the late-1990s/early-aughts, which helped push her into the supporting comedy actress race. That race is dominated by long-running players on “Saturday Night Live” such as Leslie Jones and last year’s winner in the category, Kate McKinnon. Oscar buzz around Laurie Metcalf for “Lady Bird” early this year certainly kept her in the awards conversation and allowed her to score a supporting comedy actress nom for “Roseanne,” despite the show’s cancellation and shunning from most of Hollywood after Roseanne Barr tweeted racist remarks. Metcalf was previously nominated four times in the 1990s for the role during its first run, winning three. She also scored four other noms in the years since “Roseanne” went off the air the first time. With such a wealth of talent, some categories ballooned up to eight nominees for awards-round voting. That will inevitably toughen the decision come time to select those who will receive trophies.
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Benedict Cumberbatch picked up his sixth limited series/ movie actor nom this year.
Percent Alec Berg and Bill Hader, “Barry,” Chapter One: Make Your Mark Donald Glover, “Atlanta,” Alligator Man Stefani Robinson, “Atlanta,” Barbershop Liz Sarnoff, “Barry,” Chapter Seven: Loud, Fast and Keep Going Amy Sherman-Palladino, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Pilot W R I T I N G, LIMITED S E R I E S, M OV I E O R D R A M AT I C SPECIAL
Sterling K. Brown, left, and Milo Ventimiglia are both nominated for “This Is Us.”
William Bridges and Charlie Brooker, “USS Callister (Black Mirror)” Scott Frank, “Godless” Mark Frost and David Lynch, “Twin Peaks”
Stronger Together Ensemble casts help boost noms for individual performers BY DANIEL D’ADDARIO
Teamwork can be a powerful thing. Just ask four of the nominees for the lead actor in a drama at this year’s Emmys. Sterling K. Brown and Milo Ventimiglia, of “This Is Us,” and Ed Harris and Jeffrey Wright, of “Westworld,” fill out the majority of the category. Elsewhere among dramas, “Game of Thrones” is represented by both Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Peter Dinklage in the supporting actor race, while three supporting actresses from “The Handmaid’s Tale” — Alexis Bledel, Ann Dowd and Yvonne Strahovski — are nominated, too. And limited series “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” and sketch-comedy standard “Saturday Night Live” both split five nominations apiece across their fields’ two supporting categories. Multiple nominees from the same series competing might seem at first blush to be likely to eat into one another’s support. But the phenomenon works to demonstrate the breadth of talent on display — they also make that show the story of the category, suggesting that, say, “SNL” or “Westworld” is where the acting heat is. What’s particularly impressive about this year’s ensembles is how far-flung many of them are. Ventimiglia and Brown exist in two different timelines of “This Is Us,” as do Harris and Wright on HBO’s “Westworld.” And though they
play brothers, Coster-Waldau and Dinklage rarely interact these days on “Game of Thrones.” These ensembles, featuring actors working in the same style but rarely in the same frame, function a bit like a shock-and-awe campaign — demonstrating broad and diverse talent with something for any voter. It’s impressive, too, that, say, Harris and Wright manage to pull off performances so tonally congruent without having one another to work opposite. But the kind of show that may end up impressing Emmy voters the most is one in which actors nominated together put their talents to work in direct collaboration with one another. On “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Dowd has shared scenes with both Strahovski and — memorably, in the season finale — Bledel. And on “Saturday Night Live,” actors bounce off one another in endless combinations. Little wonder that Dowd and “SNL’s” Kate McKinnon were among the several acting winners last year (along with Riz Ahmed, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern and Brown) to win in a field in which they were up alongside a co-star or two. If anything, the presence of their co-stars was a potent reminder to voters of how well these performers fit into gifted ensembles. Very few shows can thrive on a single performer’s star power — and the crowded categories at this year’s Emmys reflect, instead, the power of all.
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Kevin McManus and Matthew McManus, “American Vandal,” Clean Up David Nicholls, “Patrick Melrose” Tom Rob Smith, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” House by the Lake
CONTENDERS N O M I N AT I O N BREAKDOWN
“The Vietnam War,” Episode 8: The History of the World (April 1969-May 1970) D I R E C T I N G, DRAMA
Stephen Daldry, “The Crown,” Paterfamilias The Duffer Brothers, “Stranger Things,” Chapter Nine: The Gate Jeremy Podeswa, “Game of Thrones,” The Dragon and the Wolf
Bill Hader, “Barry,” Chapter One: Make Your Mark
“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” “Saturday Night Live” W R I T I N G, VA R I E T Y SPECIAL “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee Presents: The Great American* Puerto Rico (*It’s Complicated)” “John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City” “Michelle Wolf: Nice Lady” “Patton Oswalt: Annihilation” “Steve Martin & Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life” W R I T I N G, NONFICTION PROGRAM “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” “The Defiant Ones,” Episode 1 “Icarus”
Hamish Hamilton, “Super Bowl LII Halftime Show Starring Justin Timberlake”
D I R E C T I N G, C O M E DY
“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” “Late Night With Seth Meyers”
Michael Bonfiglio, “Jerry Seinfeld: Jerry Before Seinfeld”
Alan Taylor, “Game of Thrones,” Beyond the Wall
“Full Frontal With Samantha Bee”
Stan Lathan, “Dave Chappelle: Equanimity” Marcus Raboy, “Steve Martin & Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life” Glenn Weiss, “The Oscars”
Mike Judge, “Silicon Valley,” Initial Coin Offering
D I R E C T I N G, REALITY
Hiro Murai, “Atlanta,” Teddy Perkins
Alan Carter, “The Voice,” Live Top 11 Performances
Jesse Peretz, “GLOW,” Pilot Amy Sherman-Palladino, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Pilot D I R E C T I N G, LIMITED S E R I E S, M OV I E O R D R A M AT I C SPECIAL
Ken Fuchs, “Shark Tank,” Episode 903 Patrick McManus, “American Ninja Warrior,” Daytona Beach Qualifiers Nick Murray, “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” 10s Across the Board Bertram van Munster, “The Amazing Race,” It’s Just a Million Dollars, No Pressure
Edward Berger, “Patrick Melrose” Scott Frank, “Godless” David Leveaux and Alex Rudzinski, “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert” Barry Levinson, “Paterno” David Lynch, “Twin Peaks”
D I R E C T I N G, D O C U M E N TA R Y OR NONFICTION Judd Apatow, “The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling” Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, “The Vietnam War,” Episode 8: The History of the World (April 1969-May 1970)
Ryan Murphy, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” The Man Who Would Be Vogue
Bryan Fogel, “Icarus” Brett Morgen, “Jane”
Craig Zisk, “The Looming Tower,” 9/11
Chapman Way and Maclain Way, “Wild Wild Country,” Part 3
D I R E C T I N G, VA R I E T Y S E R I E S
For the complete list, visit variety.com
“Jane” “Mister Rogers: It’s You I Like”
Tim Mancinelli, ”The Late Late Show With James Corden,” Episode 0416
D I R E C T I N G, VA R I E T Y SPECIAL
Kari Skogland, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” After
Donald Glover, “Atlanta,” FUBU
Don Roy King, “Saturday Night Live,” Host: Donald Glover
Paul Pennolino, “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver,” Episode 421
Daniel Sackheim, “Ozark,” Tonight We Improvise
W R I T I N G, VA R I E T Y S E R I E S
Carrie Brownstein, “Portlandia,” Riot Spray Jim Hoskinson, “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Episode 438
Jason Bateman, “Ozark,” The Toll
Mark Cendrowski, “The Big Bang Theory,” The Bow Tie Asymmetry
Andre Allen, “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee,” Episode 2061
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Numbers Game Several performers have a shot at more than one Emmy in this year’s race BY JOE OTTERSON
Broadcast’s Road Back to Emmy Glory Specialize, and spend, or face more awards drought BY DANIEL HOLLOWAY
The Big Four broadcasters are in the final stages of negotiating an eight-year renewal of the deal through which they share rights to televise the Primetime Emmy Awards. For their trouble, they will get to continue broadcasting for nearly a decade what is effectively a commercial for HBO, FX, Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. (Coming soon: Apple!) The nominees from broadcasters this year were predictably paltry. The lone bright spot was NBC, which ranked third behind Netflix and HBO among networks and platforms with 78 nominations — up 22% from its tally last year. The network’s fortunes were buoyed by “Saturday Night Live,” which tied HBO’s “Westworld” for the second most nominations of any show with 21, only one back from the pack leader, the pay cabler’s “Game of Thrones.” ABC, CBS and Fox, however, each drew fewer than half the nominations that NBC did. At 16 nominations, Fox was bested by not one but two cable cousins — for now, anyway — FX and National Geographic. The network that will be relied on through its owned and operated local stations to drive earnings for Rupert Murdoch’s post-Disney deal empire managed only four more nominations than VH1 (soon to be a subsidiary of the CBS Corp. — or not). What the broadcasters need to do to get back in the Emmy game is simple: start spending $10 million-$15 million per episode on their dramas, just like HBO does with “Game of Thrones” and “Westworld.” Or they could take all creative restrictions off their comedy creators and encourage them to drift into genre-defy-
ing weirdness, as FX did with “Atlanta.” Or they could spend $8 billion a year on content in a volume game designed to destroy the television ecosystem as John Landgraf knows it. Hi, Netflix. Aside from all that, the broadcasters have few options. In the main acting and series categories, they boast few nominations now and for the foreseeable future. When the freshman season of NBC’s “This Is Us” failed to best Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” in the drama series race last year, the hurt was felt not only by Peacocks. Marketers at rival networks privately expressed disappointment that what many perceived as the best shot at a series Emmy for a broadcast show in years had failed to take the trophy. NBC’s big tally, however, does offer a path to Emmy riches for other broadcasters, should they choose to take it. Many of the network’s nominations came in categories that are less competitive — variety, specials and movies. Aside from “Saturday Night Live,” NBC’s biggest player was “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.” NBC campaigned aggressively on behalf of the live musical, and landed star John Legend a nomination for best miniseries or movie actor. As broadcasters continue to look to event programming to drive live ratings, it makes sense that they should turn more and more to those shows for awards emphasis. Campaigns for unscripted series, specials and movies — if invested in — could be more likely to yield returns than those mounted on behalf of dramas and comedies designed to appeal to broad audiences in an era where voters like that which is big, expensive and bespoke.
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”Saturday Night Live” helped NBC stay at the top of the list of mostnominated networks with 21 nominations.
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While most dream of walking away with even one primetime Emmy on awards night, several people have the chance to take home multiple trophies this year. Among those multi-nominees, the multi-hyphenates reign. Both Donald Glover and Bill Hader are up for five awards each for their work on “Atlanta” and “Barry,” respectively. The two will go head-to-head in every category they are nominated in, namely: comedy series, lead actor in a comedy series, writing for a comedy series, directing for a comedy series and guest actor in a comedy series. The fifth award is for their respective turns as hosts of “Saturday Night Live.” Glover won both the lead actor and directing awards last year, while Hader won his only Emmy to date in 2009 for his work on “South Park.” Jason Bateman is also up for awards for his work in front of and behind the camera. Bateman is up for actor in a drama series for his work on “Ozark” as well as directing. The reigning lead drama actor, Sterling K. Brown, is again in contention for that award for “This Is Us,” with the in-demand star also nominated for guest actor in a comedy for his stint on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” Meanwhile, Alex Borstein is nominated for the second time for her character voice-over performance on “Family Guy.” Borstein is also nominated in the supporting comedy actress category for the freshman season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Venerable actor Jeff Daniels is also back in the Emmy race this year, both for lead actor in a limited series for “The Looming Tower” and supporting actor in a drama series for “Godless.” Daniels was previously nominated three times for his role on “The Newsroom” in the lead drama actor category, winning that award once in 2013. And Emmys mainstay Jane Lynch is up for two awards: guest actress in a comedy series for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and host for a reality or reality-competition series for “Hollywood Game Night.” Lynch has won four Emmys to date, including back-to-back wins for “Hollywood Game Night” in 2014 and 2015. Which begs the question: Will Academy voters will be spreading the love on Emmy night, or should these performers be clearing room on their mantle?
CONTENDERS
By the Numbers
N O M I N AT I O N BREAKDOWN
Nominations by program (five or more)
22
21
Game of Thrones
18
16
10
14
Atlanta
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
10
7
10
7
5
5
Blue Planet II
The Defiant Ones
5
Fahrenheit 451
9
7
5
Stranger Things
Godless
7
American Horror Story: Cult
This Is Us
The Oscars
6
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown
5
Patrick Melrose
12
8
6
The Alienist
5
Ozark
12
8
6
USS Callister (Black Mirror)
T h e H a n d m a i d ’ s Ta l e
Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert
Twin Peaks
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
NBC 78
Nominations by platform
13
The Crown
Barry
The Voice
Silicon Valley
We s t w o r l d
13
9
7
Jane
Genius: Picasso
13
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
RuPaul’s Drag Race
GLOW
21 20
Saturday Night Live
5
Black-ish
Dancing With The Stars
5
So You Think You Can Dance
5
Will & Grace
Wild Wild Country
CBS 34 ABC 31
Hulu 27 Prime Video 22
VH1 12 Nat Geo 17 Netflix 112
HBO 108
FX Networks 50
CNN 10
Fox 16
Showtime 21
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CONTENDERS N O M I N AT I O N BREAKDOWN
COLUMN
The Big Picture
Variety’s TV critics wrestle with Emmy’s picks and pans BY DANIEL D’ADDARIO AND CAROLINE FRAMKE
The 2018 Emmy nominations feature many familiar faces, but also some welcome new changes to categories in long need of a shakeup. Most notably, Netflix officially established its programming dominance by overtaking Emmy darling HBO in overall noms. So what does that mean for an ever-ballooning industry — and what should win come September? Variety’s TV critics came together to talk it out. DANIEL D’ADDARIO: The story of the Emmy nominations seems to be Netflix pulling ahead of HBO in the number count — a victory for a strategy of producing mass quantities of content that, had it not happened this year, would have eventually. The shift in dominance, from a longtime titan to a relative upstart, suits an Emmys that seemed, in some ways, to be particularly excited about what was most fresh. Shows from the earlier part of the eligibility period — among them “The Deuce,” “Mindhunter,” “Ozark” and “Insecure” — all underperformed. Both “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Westworld,” which were airing new episodes during the voting period, fared better than I’d have expected, while “Game of Thrones,” which aired last summer, led the nominations but missed out on much-hoped-for recognition for stars Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington. And while the best drama field was hostile to newcomers, new comedies from “GLOW” (a rare contender from last summer) to “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” to “Barry” made their mark. While HBO’s 17-year run as king of the Emmy nominations was admirable (and, in being shattered, suggests larger changes afoot in the industry), I have to say I’m impressed by just how broad Netflix’s nominations are. They have mega-performers like “The Crown,” sure, but also fully three of the five best children’s program nominees as well as nominations for “Wild Wild Country” and, maybe most thrillingly, the jubilant and often complex
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“Queer Eye.” That’s a service that, for now, at least, is succeeding at providing something for everyone. Which of their nominations — or the nominations in general — were you most excited about? CAROLINE FRAMKE: It’s a tie between “Glow’s” fantastic Betty Gilpin, “American Vandal” landing a limited series writing nom and “Big Mouth” getting recognized for its original song “Am I Gay?” — which is about as on-brand for me as it gets. More seriously: Yes, Netflix beating HBO at its own game is huge, especially in light of recent reports that AT&T wants HBO to model itself more after Netflix going forward. But a few things to keep in mind is that 108 nominations would be staggering in any other context, and Netflix had to outspend HBO on vastly more programming in order to beat it. HBO is overall still getting the most bang for its buck. I respect the sheer breadth of what Netflix has tackled in such a short period, but I’d hate for HBO to chase its success too literally. Not every network can — or should — be Netflix. As for the most exciting nominations, I’m thrilled to be torn among many! I’m glad Kari Skogland and Amy Sherman-Palladino got directing noms for “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” respectively, though I’m beyond disappointed they’re the only women in their categories. I’m surprised that Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Killing Eve”) just got her first writing nomination given how good “Fleabag” was, and floored that the prolific Amy Sedaris only has a nomination now that the wonderfully bizarre “At Home With Amy Sedaris” has squeezed into variety sketch. Ted Danson finally getting in for “The Good Place” rectified last year’s wrong. Issa Rae’s first acting nomination for “Insecure” is overdue, as is “Killing Eve’s” Sandra Oh becoming the first actor of Asian descent to land a drama actress nomination. But from where I’m sitting, some of the best noms are in the supporting act-
ing categories. From “Atlanta’s” Zazie Beetz and Brian Tyree Henry, to “The Handmaid’s Tale’s” Yvonne Strahovski, to Kenan Thompson getting his first nom after 15 years on “Saturday Night Live,” the Emmys just honored a whole bunch of new and richly deserving nominees. Anyway, enough gushing: What are your top snubs? D’ADDARIO: I can’t complain too much about the packed lead actress in a drama category, but I’d have traded past winner Tatiana Maslany’s nomination with recognition for Maggie Gyllenhaal in “The Deuce.” Netflix’s “Alias Grace” was a huge oversight in the limited series races and its otherworldly star Sarah Gadon really was robbed. And I’d have liked to have seen Seth Meyers’ sharp, shrewdly political “Late Night” get recognition. Were any of these truly snubs? Hard to say, unless we’re defining “snub” to mean “unrecognized personal favorite.”
I don’t think anyone really expected, say, Gadon, the largely unheralded star of a smaller Netflix project, to get a nomination. Here and elsewhere, we saw Emmy’s fondness for big star power rear its head; There probably wasn’t a full category’s worth of credible lead actress in a limited series nominees in this “Feud”-less, “Big Little Lies”-less year, so voters defaulted to big names like Edie Falco from the little-watched “Law & Order True Crime” and Sarah Paulson, as good as ever on a less-than-worthy “American Horror Story” season. Given just how much TV there is each year, it’s easy to break through with a big name, be you Larry David (invited back for an off-peak season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Jason Bateman (now an Emmy-nominated actor and director for “Ozark,” bless him) or John Legend (whose chances at an “EGOT” seem vastly more interesting to most commentators than his role in NBC’s “Jesus Christ Superstar” had been). I wouldn’t say I’m broken up about it — he’s been honored plenty — but I am surprised Al Pacino’s sheer name recognition didn’t carry him across the line for “Paterno,” in which he was as
nervily present as he’s been in a while. (In his absence, I’m rooting for Benedict Cumberbatch, speaking of familiar names.) Is it too early to start thinking about who should win? (Rhetorical question: Of course it’s not.) “Atlanta” is among the most purely interesting and well-executed shows out there of any genre — I’d hoped it would win last year, but in the intervening time it’s only grown more fearlessly itself. And in the best drama lineup, I find myself rooting for “Westworld,” whose strong showing — five acting nominations! — has me newly convinced it has the potential to go all the way, particularly given how tepidly received the end of “The Handmaid’s Tale” was. FRAMKE: I’m firmly on “The Americans” train for an overall win, though I acknowledge it’s a long shot given how excited I was for it to get nominated at all. Maybe more likely is its star Keri Russell, whose work in the final season was truly jaw-dropping. It’s Claire Foy’s last chance for “The Crown,” but that came out all the way back in December — or does that even matter? I tend to think recency bias
plays a fairly large role in nominations; shows like “Barry” and “Killing Eve,” for instance, definitely benefited from airing close to the nomination window. But then again, things like Maslany’s nomination for “Orphan Black” (which concluded last August) and multiple noms for “GLOW” (which dropped last June) makes me second-guess that theory. D’ADDARIO: I wonder if it isn’t the waning-but-still-extant influence of reviews, or, to put it more nebulously, “buzz.” Some shows that aired early in the eligibility period, like my beloved “Mindhunter,” seemed to fade in the public imagination long before the Emmys vote happened, but “GLOW” had fans banging the drum for it all year. (And it dropped a new season at the right time!) The new shows that did best, including “Barry,” “Glow” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” tended to have already been the beneficiaries of huge press support — after all, how else can a show stick out in a more-crowdedthan-ever marketplace? It’s nice to know that reviews, at least in aggregate, might still matter.
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Clockwise from top: “Atlanta,” “The Americans” and “Westworld” are all vying for coveted Emmys in this year’s race.
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Tipsheet
What: Just for Laughs Comedy Festival When: July 11-29 Where: Montreal Web: hahaha.com
REVIEWS ARTISANS FOCUS CONTENDERS EXPOSURE TOP BILLING
Though it’s a tricky time for comedy, the annual Montreal festival seeks to spread some joy with big names, epic shows and unique events Story by DREW TURNEY
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The Coachella of Comedy
R ET U R N I N G TO Montreal from July 11 to 29 is the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, a celebration of everything funny from the performers to the business behind the curtains. Paul Ronca, the festival’s director of industry and special events programming and strategic partner development, describes Just for Laughs as the Coachella of comedy. “If you’re a fan of comedy or work in it, this festival should be at the very top of your list,” he says. Now in its 36th year, Just for Laughs has evolved in direction and scope just like the industry that it celebrates. “We attract everyone in the world of comedy: creators, influencers, TV, web and film executives and podcasters,” Ronca says. After such growth, the line-up this year boasts some of the biggest names in the business. “Where do we start?” Ronca exclaims when asked which performers will draw big crowds. “There are so many killer acts this year!” The Kevin Hart Irresponsible Tour stops in for three shows during Hart’s worldwide circuit. Dave Chappelle and John Mayer bring their Controlled Danger show, while Steve Martin and Martin Short play three shows during their Canadian tour. David Cross, Trevor Noah, Tiffany Haddish, Wanda Sykes, Chris D’Elia and Tig Notaro are also on the bill. More of the most beloved of Just for Laughs institutions — the Comedy Galas — are also planned from Trevor Noah, Will Forte, Haddish, among others. And of course, there’s Variety’s 10 Comics to Watch, a popular event that spotlights emerging talent.
JULY 18, 2018
JUST FOR LAUGHS FESTIVAL / 10 COMICS TO WATCH
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en Just as in politics, it’s been a very tough year in Hollywood, and comedy isn’t immune. With names as big g as T.J. Miller and Louis C.K. among those accused of mabhorrent behavior, the comedy world has to come to terms with its own history off misogyny and sexism. In distancing the festival from those who’ve been n called out as abusers — including festival founder Gilbert Rozon — Ronca sayss the event has new owners and a fresh start. It is “the most demonstrative way wee could possibly address this,”” he says. “As an organization o we fully support the #MeToo movement and Time’s Up. In n fact, ICM [the festival’s new owner] is a founding sponsor of the Women’s Legal ed Defense Fund and has hosted ts many Time’s Up events at its headquarters.” It’s still a tricky balance to erstrike, but Just for Laughs cerm tainly isn’t shying away from edgier material. “The Ethnic Show” and “The Nasty Show” are both returning, poking good-natured fun at the traditions of other races and showcasing comedy’s “filthiest minds,” respectively. While risqué, “The Nasty Show” is nevertheless one of Just for Laughs’ most popular events and to Ronca, that’s par for the course for the art and science of making people laugh. “Comedy is the most honest art form on the planet, which automatically makes it risky,” he says. “Every decade has its envelope pushers. Remember George Carlin and [his bit] Seven Words You Can’t Say on TV? Society as a whole will always try to push the line further out, with comedy leading the way.” While he says the abuse, assault and other bad behaviors have no place in our society and he has enormous respect for those who stand and fight back for what’s right, Ronca also thinks the goal of most comedians isn’t to demean or downplay a serious situation, it’s to help take the edge off. “Comedy is there to make people reflect — in a positive way on all that’s happened under a different light. The goal of comedy is to heal and make us forget our troubles for a little while, not to hurt.”
WE RESISTED WITH HUMOR T
Paul Krassner is an author and journalist who also served as the editor and publisher of The Realist magazine, which published such works as the “Disneyland Memorial Orgy” poster and “The Parts That Were Left Out of the Kennedy Book.” A prominent figure in the 1960s counterculture scene, he is a founding member of the Yippies and one of the members of Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters. “Zapped by the God of Absurdity: The Best of Paul Krassner” will be published in 2019 by Fantagraphics.
he current FBI has swung a pendulum from 50 years ago, when the FBI was an enemy of progressive activists. An agent’s poison-pen memo attempted to smear Tom Hayden with the worst possible label they could invoke with fliers: Yep, an FBI informer. Others distributed a caricature depicting Black Panther leader Huey Newton “as a homosexual,” and ran a fake “Pick the Fag” contest, referring to Dave McReynolds as “Chief White Fag of the lily-white War Resisters League” and “the usual Queer Cats — like Sweet Dave Dellinger and Fruity Rennie Davis.” I was described as “a raving, unconfined nut.” I thanked the FBI for that title of my autobiography. BY PAUL KRASSNER FOLKSINGER PHIL OCHS observed, “A demonstration should turn you on, not turn you off.” It was the credo of the Yippies (Youth Intl. Party). We were in Chicago at the Democrats’ convention, where a certain competitiveness developed between Yippie leaders Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Abbie bought a pig as a presidential candidate, but Jerry thought Abbie’s pig wasn’t big enough, mean enough or ugly enough, so Jerry went
out and bought a bigger, meaner, uglier pig, which was released outside City Hall. In the elevator inside, a few cops were chanting, “Oink. Oink.” On a quiz show a contestant didn’t know the name of that pig. However, a book, “Surveillance Valley,” states: “The generals wanted to be consumers of the latest hot information. During the Chicago riots of 1968, the army had a unit called Mid-West News with army agents in civilian
clothes and they went around and interviewed all the antiwar protesters. They shipped the film footage to Washington every night on an airliner so the generals could see movies of what was going on in Chicago when they got to work in the morning. That made them so happy. It was a complete waste of time. You could pick up the same thing on TV for far less, but they felt they needed their own film crew. The main
Illustrations by STEVE BRODNER
KRASSNER: AP/ERIC REED
JULY 18, 2018
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JUST FOR LAUGHS FESTIVAL / 10 COMICS TO WATCH
CONGRATULATIONS ON
STAND-UP COMEDIAN OF THE YEAR CONTINUE TO BREAK THE MOLD AND BREAK RECORDS.
JUST FOR LAUGHS FESTIVAL / 10 COMICS TO WATCH
man and Danny the Red. In nasal tones, I explained that we were all taking a course in alternative media, that our assignment was either to write a term paper or participate in an activity, and that we had decided to take over a radio station for credit. “The airwaves belong to the people,” we chanted. We had planned to carry on this hoax for 15 minutes, but it lasted four hours. KNBC in San Francisco and several other stations put us on the air, live. New York listeners called the police, but when they arrived we told them it was a put-on. Then, after they left, I went on the air again, snickering as I told the way we had fooled the cops. And they came again.
JULY 18, 2018
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thing they were after was a pig named Pigasus, who was the Yippies’ candidate for president. They were really excited about Pigasus.”
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FEMINIST ROBIN MORGAN helped organize a protest of the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City. A few hundred women were there on the boardwalk, holding a special ceremony. Icons of male oppression were being thrown into a trash barrel — cosmetics, a girdle, a copy of Playboy, highheeled shoes, a pink brassiere — with the intent of setting the whole mix on fire. But there was an ordinance forbidding you to burn ANYTHING on the boardwalk, and the police were standing right there to enforce it. So there was no fire, but that didn’t matter. The image of a burning bra has become inextricably associated with women’s liberation. It’s a metaphorical truth. I WAS A GUEST on the Joe Pyne show on KTTV in Los Angeles. He was a
mean-spirited right-wing interviewer. His questions were vicious. “Well, Joe,” I said, “if you’re gonna ask questions like that, then let me ask you: Do you take off your wooden leg before you make love with your wife?” Pyne had lost his leg as a Marine in World War II. Now his jaw dropped, the audience gasped, the producers averted their eyes and the
atmosphere became surrealistic as Pyne went through the motions of continuing the interview. Once he asked Frank Zappa, “Your hair is so long. Are you a girl?” Zappa replied, “You have a wooden leg. Are you a table?”
STEVE POST ASKED ME to guest-host his radio night program in New York while he was away. At the time, a mass student strike was going on at Columbia University, so with a couple of talented friends, Marshall Efron and Bridget Potter, we pretended that we were Columbia students who had taken over WBAI. We used code names — Rudi Dutschke, Emma Gold-
AN EXCERPT FROM President Lyndon Johnson’s remarks at the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents Assn.: “A very funny thing happened to me tonight when I was on my way out of the White House [laughter] — I mean tonight. When I joined George Christian [his special assistant] to come over here, he said, ‘Mr. President, I think you forgot something.’ [LBJ indicated his White House identification pass.] So that is how I came to be wearing this. You may not like to wear your pass, but what do you think about me? I finally had to start using it after my announcement on March 31 [that he decided not to run in the next election]. One day, as I was walking over to my nap, a guard stopped me in the hall and looked at me very carefully and said, ‘Excuse me, buddy, but do you work here?’ So, Frank [Cormier of the Associated Press] and Carroll [Kilpatrick of the Washington Post], I am so glad you all remembered me tonight. You do remember me, don’t you, Hubert? [‘And how!’ replied Vice President Hubert Humphrey. But Tricky Dick Nixon defeated both Humphrey and Pigasus.]”
JUST FOR LAUGHS FESTIVAL / 10 COMICS TO WATCH
MAKING US 2018 FEST HONOREES LAUGH the festival will present the Just for Laughs Awards Show, hosted by Alonzo Bodden, honoring some of the biggest names in comedy. This year’s ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. July 27 in the Grand Salon Opera of the Hyatt Regency Montreal. FOR THE 11TH YEAR,
BY TARA BITRAN & JENELLE RILEY
LIZ FLAHIVE & CARLY MENSCH
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Even across a crowded writers’ room, we saw each other as like-minded brains,” Mensch says of her chemistry with Flahive, her co-creator on the hit Netflix series “GLOW.” They met as playwrights in New York 10 years ago, but started talking about doing a show together while working on “Nurse Jackie.” The particular idea for the Glorious Ladies of Wrestling came about after they watched the Brett Whitcomb documentary looking back on the original show. “I think, ultimately, it felt like a world that would be a great container for all of the stories we potentially wanted to tell,” Flahive notes. “It also felt like a very cool opportunity to not just tell stories between people, but between the kind of people they will be playing on a fictional show,” Mensch says. Flahive says they have developed a trust with each other and reached the point where “we can barely remember who wrote what” in a scene. And both recognize how rare its is to start out with a vision and have everyone help you make that vision to the point that what is on the screen is what they intend. “I think with our show, it’s an embarrassment of riches,” Mensch says. The streamer dropped the second season of “GLOW” on June 29.
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SHAYAN ASGHARNIA
Comedy Writers of the Year, “GLOW”
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JUST FOR LAUGHS FESTIVAL / 10 COMICS TO WATCH
HANNAH GADSBY Comedy Special of the Year Unless you’ve been living off the grid for the past few weeks, odds are you’ve heard about “Nanette,” the Netflix special from Australian comic Gadsby. A filmed performance of the show she’s been touring with for the past 18 months, the special blends art-history lessons, a dissection of the art of comedy and intensely personal storytelling. Gadsby has earned raves on social media from everyone from Ellen Page to Jon Favreau to Monica Lewinsky.
It’s a bit overwhelming to Gadsby, who says, “I couldn’t have anticipated any of this. Someone asked me the other day if I’ve pinched myself and I said, ‘No, I’m too scared to. Because if I really did wake up and this was all a dream … what an asshole!’” All this attention comes at an odd time, as Gadsby says she’s quitting comedy. Still, she notes, “I don’t think I would have found the success if I hadn’t taken my place in the world apart. So in order to find this success, I really did need to declare I was quitting comedy and mean it.” After a pause, she adds, “But you know, everyone’s allowed to change their mind.” Gadsby hasn’t analyzed too much why the special has touched so many. “I think it’s going to take some time for me to understand,” she says, still sounding shocked. “I think it may have something to do with being so honest and vulnerable and taking risks. And it’s bigger than me and I’m not sure I comprehend it completely. I am astounded and grateful.”
I couldn’t have anticipated this. I think it’s going to take some time for me to understand.” Hannah Gadsby
TIFFANY HADDISH
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Long before she was cracking jokes about “Black Panther” star Michael B. Jordan impregnating her with a glance at awards shows, Haddish, the now-ubiquitous and newly invited Academy member began her comedy career at the Laugh Factory “back in the 1900s.” Noting that her inspiration comes from “the world around me and my soul,” the L.A. native, who this year alone shot “Uncle Drew” and “Night School” and signed a first-look deal with HBO, says her first standup experience was during her time at the Laugh Factory Comedy Camp. “It was thrilling,” the star of “The Last O.G.” adds. Recently playing host at the MTV Movie & TV Awards, which got a major ratings boost this year thanks to the comedienne, Haddish says despite her win for comedic performance on “Girls Trip” and her Cardi B.-inspired opening number, what she enjoyed most was “getting to wear costumes that I always wanted to wear.” Looking ahead to what’s next for the first black female standup comedian to host “Saturday Night Live,” Haddish hopes to be featured in Forbes as one of the highest-paid actresses in the biz, and of course, for plenty of success to come her way.
GADSBY: BEN KING; HADDISH: CASEY CURRY/INVISION/AP
JULY 18, 2018
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Comedy Person of the Year
W E P R O U D L Y C O N G R AT U L AT E
JOEL KIM BOOSTER HARI KONDABOLU
VARIETY’S 10 COMICS TO WATCH JUST FOR LAUGHS HONOREES
LIZ FLAHIVE & CARLY MENSCH COMEDY WRITERS OF THE YEAR
A N D S A L U T E A L L O F O U R C L I E N T S P E R F O R M I N G AT T H E 2 0 1 8 J U ST F O R L A U G H S F E ST I VA L
NICOLE BYER DEON COLE* DAVID CROSS CHRIS D’ELIA* THOMAS DALE CHAD DANIELS TIM DILLON ALEX EDELMAN OPHIRA EISENBERG CAMERON ESPOSITO JO FIRESTONE MEGAN GAILEY CHRIS GETHARD ERIN GIBSON GARY GULMAN KEVIN HART* TONY HINCHCLIFFE PAGE HURWITZ SABRINA JALEES AMIR K
MOSHE KASHER LAURIE KILMARTIN HOWIE MANDEL JOHN MAYER JESSICA MCKENNA JOSH ADAM MEYERS OFF BOOK: THE IMPROVISED MUSICAL JIM NORTON SEAN PATTON RUSSELL PETERS PUSH IT PRODUCTIONS COLIN QUINN ZACH REINO BRYAN SAFI THROWING SHADE ILIZA SHLESINGER* MOSES STORM WANDA SYKES MELISSA VILLASEÑOR *SHARED REPRESENTATION
I haven’t haven’t mett any anyone e in a llo ong ng time time e who wh ho deserv deser rves es this his more mo ore e tha tha an n you u!
JUST FOR LAUGHS FESTIVAL / 10 COMICS TO WATCH
A SERIOUS SHRINE TO FUNNY BUSINESS
The National Comedy Center is coming to life in Lucille Ball’s hometown this August By TRIPP WHETSELL
C
Chicagoan Howery got his start doing standup at local spot the Lion’s Den, later moving onto Riddles Comedy Club and Jokes and Notes to hone his skills. “For the most part, the stuff you see me do now is basically the best of everything I ever did at Jokes and Notes,” the “Uncle Drew” star says.
JO KOY
HOWERY: MATT SALACUSE/FOX; KOY: ANDREW LIPOVSKY/NBC
Standup Comedian of the Year Koy knew at 11 years old that he wanted to be a standup comedian. “I couldn’t wait to graduate from high school to finally be able to pursue my dream.” A year into his “Break the Mold” world tour, Koy’s first comedy venture was at a talent show in Las Vegas. “I wasn’t old enough to enter, so I had to pencil in my mustache with my mom’s makeup,” he says. “I was so nervous. I got up and bombed so bad. I got offstage and was in complete shock that I couldn’t leave.” But another contestant gave him a vote of confidence, “telling me what an amazing stage presence I had. I wish I could remember his name because that gave me the motivation to do it again.” The “Chelsea Lately” regular, whose proudest moment was receiving a standing ovation on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” yearns to write, produce and star in his own movie. But when it comes to standup, he is never one to write his jokes down. “I test all
my material onstage. I love sharing stories and seeing what really resonates with people.” Koy is about to shoot his next hour special and has a pilot deal with TruTV for his animated series, “The Functional Family.”
edy Center, which also runs the Lucy-Desi Museum and the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, got under way in 2011, bolstered by the efforts of Ball’s daughter, Lucie Arnaz, to honor her late mother’s wishes. TV producer Norman Lear was one of the donors and says: “It’s time laughter, which adds time to our lives, had a home. And there’s no more meaningful place to create one than the birthplace of Lucille Ball.” With $50 million funded by a public-private partnership and collaborative aesthetics by the exhibition design firm Jack Rouse Associates and Cortina Prods., priority number one for the Comedy Center was keeping it real. So much that they also turned to Herzog & Co., the production team behind CNN’s doc-series “The History of Comedy,” for storytelling expertise. “We knew authenticity was going to be a key ingredient,” Gunderson says. “This is an industry and an art form of people who are cynical, smart and good at making fun of things. We knew that if we didn’t get credibility and buy-in that it could risk becoming the butt of the joke.” The result: 37,000 square-feet in the combined site of a former railroad station and trolley garage now featuring more than 50 interactive exhib-
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Breakout Comedy Star of the Year
After starring as Robert Carmichael on “The Carmichael Show,” Howery stole the film in his turn as TSA agent Rod Williams in Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” in 2017. But the comedian claims the proudest moment in his career thus far was landing his own sitcom “Rel” on Fox, which is set to air in September. “Having my own sitcom is my dream come true,” he says. “As a kid, I was a big sitcom fan, and to actually have my own, with my name: it’s just perfect.”
Having a Ball The exterior of the new center
JULY 18, 2018
LIL REL HOWERY
oinciding with this year’s 27th annual Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, named after its most famous native, the National Comedy Center is set to open in Jamestown, N.Y. The fest takes place Aug. 1-5 with more than 50 events and 40 artists. Among those on hand to help celebrate what is being branded as the first non-profit institution and national-scale visitors experience dedicated to the art of comedy will be Lily Tomlin, Amy Schumer, Dan Aykroyd, and “SNL” writer, best-selling author and Emmy Award winner Alan Zweibel. “It’s not a hall of fame, which is what I like about it, and what they’re doing is a really important thing,” says Zweibel, who is on the advisory committee. “You can visit any era you want or any medium and get the aura of what things were like when they were produced.” According to executive director Journey Gunderson, the concept of turning the birthplace of America’s queen of comedy, who died in 1989, into a national destination for all things funny was a decades-inthe-making idea conceived by Ball herself. It began in the late-1980s when the Chautauqua Arts Council approached her about building a museum to honor her career. Opened in Jamestown as the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum in 1996 and still one of the area’s most popular tourist destinations, it features memorabilia from the beloved comedienne’s personal and professional life, including original props and set replicas from “I Love Lucy.” Fundraising for the National Com-
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its designed to tell the story of comedy from its origins up until the present day. Each visit starts with a sense-of-humor profile that is embedded onto radio-frequency ID wristbands worn to help ensure an experience that appeals to visitors’ personal comedic sensibilities. There are also personal archives from people including the Marx brothers, Charlie Chaplin, Jerry Lewis, Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller, Joan Rivers and George Carlin. Carlin’s collection, which was personally donated by his daughter, Kelly, includes, among many other things, handwritten jokes on scrap paper he kept in Ziploc baggies. “We came up a plan that there would be some sort of permanent exhibit to honor my father’s mind and contributions to comedy that would let the public get to do an interactive deep dive into his archives,” says Kelly Carlin who serves on the advisory committee. Additional attractions include an original section of the wall from Rowan & Martin’s “Laugh-In,” which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and will be dedicated by Tomlin during the Aug. 1 opening, along with scripts in director Harold Ramis’ handwriting donated by his daughter Violet, as well as specialty theme exhibits on comedic storytelling, troupe comedy, improv, politics, and the relationship between humor and healing, as well as comedy and the USO called “Laughing Matters.” Long term, the Comedy Center is expected to draw more than 100,000 visitors annually and continue to evolve. “We’re going to make this experience suited to the swimmers, the skimmers and the divers,” Gunderson says. “The casual comedy consumer, the family that’s on the way to take their kid back to college and then the hard-core comedy nerds for whom this is a mecca. We’re designing it for both and everyone in between so that the conversation is always relevant.”
COMICS TO WATCH
Variety selects comedy creatives to honor at the Just for Laughs Festival. This year’s crop will be feted with a cocktail party, panel and performance on July 26-27.
E V E RY Y E A R ,
JOEL KIM BOOSTER ‘Model Minority’
Chicago-born, Los Angelesbased comedian-writer Booster has fought hard for his accomplishments. “Since I was 17 years old, my life has all been on me. I’ve been completely responsible for myself, and because of that, my comedy is borne out of personal experience.” He’s made a roll call of appearances on some of television’s funniest programs, including “Conan,” Comedy Central’s “The Meltdown With Jonah and Kumail” and “This Is Not Happening.” “Any time I step on stage to do standup, it doesn’t feel like work,” he says. “I write jokes based around my experiences, and I enjoy mythologizing my life into an absurd way.” Booster also recorded a standup special for Comedy Central’s “The Half-Hour,” a full-length standup album called “Model Minority” and starred in the Netflix feature “The Week Of,” as well as the upcoming YouTube Red feature “Vulture Club.” He’s got big aspirations, too. “I’d love to write, produce and star in a show, and expand my range into dramas. I’ve been working with Nick Kroll on
Netflix’s ‘Big Mouth’ and I love his career, as he’s popped up in dramas while still doing comedy.” Booster is passionate about his identity, which plays a big part in his life. “While touring, I love visiting gay bars in whatever city I’m staying in, and exploring the environment.” His writing credits include TruTV’s “Billy on the Street,” and the upcoming Comedy Central series “The Other Two.” Booster says “likes to open as many doors as possible with comedy.” — Nick Clement
INFLUENCES (L-R) Tig Notaro, Madeline Kahn, Nora Ephron REPS Agency: WME; Management: OmniPop Lawyer: Ginsburg Daniels
SAM JAY
‘Saturday Night Live’ Jay says her goal as a standup is to “take people to the edge and talk about the things that people are uncomfortable talking about. “For me, it’s just about being honest and going to
Tipsheet
What: Variety’s 10 Comics to Watch Showcase When: 9:30 p.m., July 27 Web: hahaha.com
BOOSTER: YOKO HARAOKA; NOTARO: CHELSEA LAUREN/VARIETY/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; KAHN: KOBAL/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; EPHRON: MATT SAYLES/AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; JAY: JACKSON DAVIS
JULY 18, 2018
VARIETY.COM
JUST FOR LAUGHS FESTIVAL / 10 COMICS TO WATCH
Beverly Hills
New York
JUST FOR LAUGHS FESTIVAL / 10 COMICS TO WATCH
INFLUENCES (L-R) Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock REPS Agency: ICM Partners Management: Avalon Lawyer: Schreck Rose Dapello & Adams
DARREN KNIGHT
JULY 18, 2018
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‘Southern Momma’
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Plenty of comedians got their starts by parodying and mocking their family members. Not all of them have seen the same meteoric rise as Knight. In under two years, Knight’s online performance of his Southern Momma character, a hybrid that’s partially based on his mother and largely his grandmother, has garnered a windfall of social-media page views, 175 shows and his own documentary. Not bad for a struggling comic who uploaded his first video of the character on a whim. “It’s something that just kind of took off; I just made a funny video one day. I don’t know. God had a plan or something,” says the Alabama-raised comic whose digital persona shares her thoughts on everything from the Fourth of July to meeting her ex’s new lady friend. Knight’s no dummy with this character though; while he certainly credits her for his career boost, he knows the shtick can get old. Between his live shows and social channels, he intermixes his own standup and other characters such as Old Man Steven, a prank phone call connoisseur.
“If I were going to spend 45 minutes yelling at imaginary kids, it’d get a little redundant after a while,” he says matter-of-factly of the stage performances. Naturally, Knight’s act has been compared to the likes of Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy. So how does he feel about playing up the Southern in this political climate? “I don’t identify myself as Republican or Democrat,” he says. “People do expect you to hold a certain political role or agenda, so to speak.” What he wants, Knight says, is to be relatable. “Not everyone has a yacht off the coast of Bermuda,” he notes. — Whitney Friedlander
INFLUENCES (L-R) Chevy Chase, Jim Carrey, Ron White REPS Agency: ICM Partners Management: Bang Prods. Lawyer: Music Maker
ANNA KONKLE & MAYA ERSKINE ‘Pen15’
The lively duo of Konkle & Erskine, who serve as co-creators/co-stars of the upcoming Hulu series “Pen15,” seem primed for everything that’s coming their way. Konkle, an NYU Tisch graduate, previously starred in the Fox drama “Rosewood” and recently recurred on Showtime hit “Shameless,” while Erskine, another NYU Tisch grad, has wrapped Netflix production “Wine Country” and the indie feature “Plus One,” with other credits including “6 Balloons” and a memorable turn on the FXX series “Man Seeking Woman.” Their acting styles and personalities certainly complement each other. “Anna is so funny, and she absolutely kills me in real life and during performance,” Erskine says. She herself is “drawn to people’s vulnerable truths while bringing to life awkward characters.” Konkle’s got a similar viewpoint on comedy in that she “finds humor in sadness,” and refers to Erskine as her “best friend and a great collaborator.” They both have a shared passion for food, which makes them both laugh. “I worked for some amazing chefs in the NYC restaurant scene for many years,” Konkle says. Erskine is a fan of online Korean food-eating videos. “I love food so much, and I’m always thinking about what to order for lunch when I’m in the writers’ room!” Considering they both have further feature ambitions both in front of and behind the camera, it’s no surprise to learn they’re movie buffs, with Konkle expressing love for “Grizzly Man” and “Dogville,” and Erskine calling “Happiness” and “Splendor in the Grass” favorites. — Nick Clement
INFLUENCES (Konkle) (L-R) Lisa Kudrow, Todd Solondz, Amy Sedaris (Erskine) Gilda Radner (far right), Phillip Seymour Hoffman, her mother REPS Agency: Gersh Partners Management: Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment (Konkle), Mosaic (Erskine) Lawyer: Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman
HARI KONDABOLU
‘The Problem With Apu’ Kondabolu is always busy. The Brooklyn-based comedian-writer has recently released an album (“Mainstream American Comic”), a socially relevant documentary (“The Problem With Apu”) and a Netflix standup special (“Hari Kondabolu: Warn Your Relatives”), while having served as a writer-correspondent on the FX series “Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell.” “I’ve wanted to do standup since I was 14 years old. Comedy is challenging enough, but when you go out there and face a live audience, it makes you want to do better,” he says. After studying at Wesleyan University and then graduating from Bowdoin College with a B.A. in comparative politics in 2003, he received an MSc in human rights from the London School of Economics in 2008. “Shock only has a value to me when it has a greater purpose,” he says, when discussing what he finds genuinely funny. Kondabolu admits to “getting obsessed with old things. I’ve been watching episodes of ‘All in the Family,’ which of course would be hard to get made these days, but there’s a level of depth to the hilarity, and that’s what I’m always looking for. I like stuff that has a full range of emotions and provides a full experience for the audience.” He’s also a podcasting veteran, and co-hosts both “Politically Reactive” and “The Bulge,” which keep him sharp. “I could see myself doing what Samantha Bee and John Oliver are doing. I want to be on television telling great and important stories.” — Nick Clement
INFLUENCES (L-R) Chris Rock, Margaret Cho, W. Kamau Bell REPS Agency: WME Management: Avalon Management Lawyer: Jeff Endlich at Morris, Yorn, Barnes, Levine, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner & Gellman
AMANDA SEALES
‘Smart, Funny & Black’ Maybe you remember Seales from her early days as a VJ and a musician. Maybe you recognize her as the bougie and vapid Tiffany on Issa Rae’s HBO comedy, “Insecure.” Maybe you listen to her podcast, “Small Doses.” Or maybe you were
MURPHY, WHITE: CHELSEA LAUREN/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; CHAPPELLE: MJ PHOTOS/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; ROCK: MEDIAPUNCH/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; CHASE: DIANE BONDAREFF/INVISION/AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; CARREY: DAVID FISHER/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; KONKLE: MATT SAYLES/INVISION/AP; ERSKINE, KUDROW: STHANLEE B. MIRADOR/SIPA VIA AP IMAGES; SOLONDZ: ETIENNE LAURENT/EPA/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; SEDARIS: DAVID BUCHAN/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; RADNER: ADAM SCULL-PHOTOLINK/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; CHO: BROADIMAGE/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; BELL: SCOTT GRIES/INVISION/AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
those places that make me laugh and finding the jokes in there,” says the performer, who frequently speaks about her experiences as an out woman of color (even her Twitter name, Snatches O’houlihan, is a lesbian-friendly pun on a character from the movie “Dodgeball”). She says she’s not “about pushing an agenda,” but “as a woman, I think about rape and rape culture. As a gay person, I think about LGBT issues. As a black person, I think about race.” Jay just released her debut comedy album, “Donna’s Daughter,” and will be on Netflix’s “The Comedy Lineup” standup special. But these past few months have brought a new challenge: She recently completed her first season as a writer for NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” This means she’s been learning to write for other people, including a particularly crowning moment collaborating with co-head writer Bryan Tucker on the “Black Panther” themed edition of the show’s popular Black Jeopardy sketch. Part of Jay’s success might be that she’s willing to allow herself some trial and error. “I’m honest with myself and give myself room to be a person,” she says. “Also, it’s knowing that I’m going be a standup until I die; I’m never going to not do this. If I’m going to commit myself to this for life, which I have, there’s going to be ups and downs. That’s just the nature of it.” — Whitney Friedlander
JUST FOR LAUGHS FESTIVAL / 10 COMICS TO WATCH
INFLUENCES Her mother, (L-R) Chris Rock, Malcolm X, Maya Angelou REPS Agency: CAA Lawyer: Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz
DULCÉ SLOAN
JULY 18, 2018
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‘The Daily Show’
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Rising star Sloan has wasted no time in sprinting to the comedic top, becoming the latest full-time correspondent to join Comedy Central’s “Best F#@king News Team” on “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah.” Performing has always been in her blood. “I’ve been acting since I was a child. I was involved in lots of theater as a kid, both musicals and non-musicals, and I come from an artistic background and I credit my mother, Mary Ann Hill, as being a big inspiration for me,” she says. Sloan won the 2016 NBC Standup Showcase and grabbed a spot as a “Comedian You Should Know” on “The Steve Harvey Show.” Sloan made her standup debut in 2009 on TBS’ “Conan,” and says she “enjoys when a joke takes a second to register. That’s when it becomes something even funnier than you first thought.” She starred in the Fox pilot “Type-A” opposite Eva Longoria, and the Amy Poehler project “Dumb Prince” for NBC. She’s also appeared on MTV’s “Acting Out,” Comedy Central’s “@Midnight” and TruTV’s “Comedy Knockout.” And she’s got a lot in her sights. “My focus is to develop my own daily show, and become a better writer. I want to branch out with my material and deliver content that’s both socially relevant and very funny.” — Nick Clement
INFLUENCES “Big Kenney” Johnson (above), and her mother REPS Agency: APA Management: Levity Lawyer: Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein
TAYLOR TOMLINSON ‘Last Comic Standing’
One of the things Tomlinson says she’s learned since she started doing standup when she was 16 is that “you probably shouldn’t do standup when you’re 16 because you have nothing to talk about.” “I’m 24 now and I’m still constantly worried about the fact that I’m so young and I have so little life experience,” says Tomlinson, who cut her teeth in coffee shops and on the church circuit because she was too young to get into the 21-and-over comedy clubs. “I think this prompts me to, hopefully, dig a little deeper because you’re always trying to get that older couple after the show to say ‘you’re wise beyond your years,’ which is really just saying ‘you’re not like other girls.’” They’re wrong about that last part, she adds. Still, Tomlinson has a bit of a security blanket in her act: her jet black motorcycle jacket. “I think part of it is that I wanted an extra piece of armor when I went onstage and I think I was trying to look older,” says the “Last Comic Standing” alum who has also performed on TBS’ “Conan.” She adds that, despite her husky voice and confident stance, “I must have been 18 or 19 when I realized that when I get up, people were nervous that I was going to suck, which is a fair assumption. [So] I put a lot of time into how I presented myself.” She talks about perception and what it’s like to be a woman in her 15-minute segment of Netflix’s new “The Comedy Lineup,” a showcase of up-andcoming comics. Her goals, she says, are to follow in the footsteps of nice-guy comic Brian Regan and “get to a point where not only am I so respected by fellow comedians, but I have a loyal fan base and only do standup unless it’s a project [I’m] into.” — Whitney Friedlander
INFLUENCES (L-R) Maria Bamford, Beth Stelling, Brian Regan REPS Agency: UTA Management: Levity Entertainment Group
JULIO TORRES
‘My Favorite Shapes’ As with most comedians and writers, Torres found that his biggest challenge as a standup was figuring out how to begin. That’s why he usually starts his sets with multiple renditions of the word “hello,” as if he’s calling for attention without having to raise his voice. Essentially, he says, this opening simply came from his own overthinking. Torres’ devotion to the minimal details of life is omnipresent in his sets. He likes to tell his audience that his favorite color is clear and he is obsessed with emojis. “Sometimes instead of texting back my opinions to someone, I’ll just text back a deer,” he says laughing. His new show, titled “My Favorite Shapes,” is about miniature objects.
“I know when someone sees me that this may be the first and last time that they see me, so I should convey whatever I want to convey without any assumptions or backstory,” Torres says. He’s fully aware that this sounds rather Andy Kaufman-esque, which he says he “agrees with, in spirit, because comedy isn’t just jokes beyond a microphone.” Whatever the reason, we will be seeing more of Torres. He’s appeared on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” and “Late Night” and is a writer on “Saturday Night Live,” where he’s responsible for such hits as “Melania’s Moments.” Given that he also has an obsession with what he calls the “fantastical” worlds of children’s films and books, would he ever want to do an animated film? “ I have always fantasized about having this disgusting, gigantic, colossal studio budget and it will flop like nothing else has flopped before,” he says, completely straight-faced. — Whitney Friedlander
INFLUENCES Kate Berlant REPS Agency: UTA Management: 3 Arts Entertainment Lawyer: Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman
JABOUKIE YOUNG-WHITE ‘Set It Up’
People like to pigeonhole Young-White as the whippersnapper Twitter comedian. But he’ll have you know that he’s growing up and has a proper day job now, writing on Netflix’s “Big Mouth” and enjoying all the La Croix that writers’ room has to offer. “I could truly win an Emmy and they’d say ‘Twitter comedian Jaboukie Young-White,’” he jokes now. “I do love Twitter. It’s fun. But at this point, it’s not that I’m offended by it. It’s just not truthful.” FYI, he’s on Instagram too. Still, social media certainly was helpful in upping his profile. His fans recognized his small part in the Netflix rom-com “Set It Up” and he will also be in another film for the digital channel: The Gina Rodriguez-starring “Someone Great.” Young-White also performed standup on NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” a major moment in both his career and his family because that’s how his parents learned he is gay. He says it’s important for comics to talk about their personal lives onstage because “it’s sharing your point of view” and “giving people an insight into your life.” “It has been beaten into the ground, but representation does matter,” he says, mentioning the positive feedback he’s gotten from that act. Young-White says his goal is to have his own show. He’s developing a half-hour comedy that he says is “loosely based on my experiences growing up in a first-generation Jamaican household and my early 20s.” — Whitney Friedlander
INFLUENCES (L-R) Richard Pryor, Donald Glover, Greta Gerwig REPS Agency: CAA Management: 3 Arts Lawyer: Ginsburg Daniels
X: EDDIE ADAMS/AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; ANGELOU: GERALD HERBERT/AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; TOMLINSON: JUSTIN GILL; BAMFORD,YOUNG-WHITE: ERIC CHARBONNEAU/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; REGAN: DAVE ALLOCCA/STARPIX/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; TORRES: SANDY HONIG; BERLANT: STEVE COHN/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; PRYOR: KOBAL/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; GLOVER: ASH KNOTEK/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; GERWIG: EVAN AGOSTINI/INVISION/AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
lucky enough to score tickets to “Smart, Funny & Black,” her live show currently on tour. And if you don’t know her from any of these things, you will soon enough. “I always fancied myself busy,” Seales purrs, her tone an affectation of exaggerated luxury. The impressiveness of her resume is only compounded by the fact that she didn’t even start doing standup until November 2013. She says she knew she was growing out of the hip-hop space of her youth, but that “humor was always at the base of everything that I did and I, myself, wouldn’t be able consider myself a comedian until I did standup.” This doesn’t necessarily mean that Seales is the type of performer who obsessively writes jokes at four in the morning. “I’ve found that I’m good at writing narratives, but I’m not good at writing jokes,” says Seales. She adds she has a killer memory, perhaps because she neither drinks nor smokes. “For me, my jokes come in conversation. I work everything out on stage.” Has Seales always been this confident? “Nothing I do is scary. I was flat-chested and 15 at one point in time. But even then, I knew what I knew.” — Whitney Friedlander
salutes our clients
JO KOY Stand-Up Comedian of the Year
KENYA BARRIS NISH KUMAR NEAL BRENNAN* PETE LEE MAE MARTIN LONDON BROWN TREVOR NOAH MICHELLE BUTEAU BIG JAY OAKERSON CHRIS D’ELIA* NIMESH PATEL ANTHONY DEVITO SARA SCHAEFER OPEN MIKE EAGLE* ARI SHAFFIR MAMRIE HART NICK SWARDSON KRYSTYNA HUTCHINSON NICK THUNE KEN JEONG* BARATUNDE THURSTON ZAINAB JOHNSON JACKIE TOHN ROBERT KELLY* BARON VAUGHN Participants Just for Laughs Festival Montreal 2018
AMANDA SEALES JABOUKIE YOUNG-WHITE Variety ’s “10 Comics to Watch” and congratulates
CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER on receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
*Shared representation
CONGRATULATIONS
CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER
ON RECEIVING YOUR STAR ON THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME.
©2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc.
WALK OF FAME HONOR
MORE THAN A HAT TRICK Cedric the Entertainer breaks new ground as a performer
By JENELLE RILEY
It’s not just any hat that will work, though — there is a method. Often it’s about color coordination and comfort. “And you have to be careful when you’re on stage,” Cedric says. “Wider brims tend to cover your eyes. I’m facially expressive as part of my comedy. And I don’t want to wear my hat on the back of my head.”
He’s become such an expert that in 2011, Cedric even launched his own designer hat line, Who Ced. The only drawback is that, as expected, he now has too many. “My wife is like, ‘You’ve got to get rid of some of these hats!’ And I’ll say, ‘OK. But not that one. No, not that one, either!’” While he says he doesn’t
have any “lucky hats” per se, odds are he’ll pick something special when accepting his Walk of Fame honor. The recognition comes at an auspicious moment in his career. In addition to celebrating 30 years in comedy, he’s hot off the success of “The Last O.G.,” which snagged the best premiere ratings for an origi-
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When he began performing onstage, the hats went with him. “If you wanted to represent yourself as a stylish male, you wore nice clothes and hats were a part of it. Coming out of the Midwest, trying to make a name for myself, the hat became part of who I am and where I’m from. ‘Oh, I’m from St. Louis, you’ll know by the hat.’”
JULY 18, 2018
KAREEM BLACK
C
edric the Entertainer is a man who wears many hats, both literally and figuratively. Born Cedric Antonio Kyles, he launched his career in standup comedy more than 30 years ago, while still working a day job as a claims adjuster at State Farm Insurance in St. Louis. Since then he’s parlayed his brand of straightforward, crowd-pleasing comedy into such successes as the record-breaking “Kings of Comedy Tour,” acting in films including “Barbershop” and such shows as TV Land’s “The Soul Man” and TBS hit “The Last O.G.” Along the way, he’s proven he can tackle hosting (“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”), Broadway (“American Buffalo”) and voice work (“Disney’s Planes” and the “Madagascar” series). He’ll be recognized for his achievements with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the live theater/live performance category at a ceremony on July 19. And then there are the actual hats. Outside of John Wayne, it’s difficult to think of a performer more associated with trademark headwear, something Cedric started sporting while still in high school. “It’s a very St. Louis thing,” he notes. “There were a group of guys in high school who were the dressers, they had style. And they would wear these hats. Me and my friends wanted to be those guys, so that became a thing.”
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nal series on TBS, and the critically acclaimed drama “First Reformed” with Ethan Hawke. In the fall, he’ll star in the CBS show “The Neighborhood,” which he is also exec producing. And of course, he is always working on his standup; in addition to his solo shows, he’s on tour with “The Comedy Get Down,” which includes George Lopez, D.L. Hughley and Eddie Griffin. It’s a long way from his desk at State Farm Insurance. Growing up, he’d listen to comics including Bill Cosby, Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor, and watch “The Carol Burnett Show” with his family. “I knew that I could entertain from a fairly young age,” says Cedric, who begged his mother, Rosetta Boyce Kyles, to let him attend a performing arts school. “My mother was an educator, a teacher, and she said no. I had this desire, but I never saw stand-up comedy as a viable thing.” Thus, his job as a claims adjuster. “Growing
up in the Midwest, you’re happy to get a job. It was a fairly good life, I had a company car and a little expense account.” There was only one problem. “I wasn’t a very good claims adjuster, because I would spend too much time having a good time,” he admits with a laugh. “I was the funny guy in the office and kind of this beloved character.” “Whenever I would go by his office, there would be a pile of claims a foot high and people gathered around his desk,” confirms manager and producing partner Eric Rhone, who met Cedric in college and
Tipsheet
What: Cedric the Entertainer receives his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. When: 11:30 a.m., July 19 Where: 6212 Hollywood Blvd. Web: walkoffame.com
eventually ditched his job at Monsanto to move to L.A. with his pal. “He was the life of the party, the life of the office. But in six years, I never once saw him process a claim. Everybody would be having a good time.” While it made him bad for insurance work, it was perfect for comedy. By this point, he was finding standup more accessible, thanks to such shows as “Evening at the Improv” and “Saturday Night Live.” He was also inspired by seeing Robin Harris, an actor and standup famous for his routine about “Bébé’s Kids,” perform. “Robin Harris came off like a favorite uncle who you knew really well,” says Cedric Another lightbulb moment occurred when Cedric was about 25 years old and met his first stand-up comedian, Percy Crews. “I had never heard of a travelling comedian. He told me he made $1,100 one week and $1,400 the next. I asked how and he sim-
ply said, ‘Telling jokes.’ Even having this corporate job, I wasn’t making that kind of money.” It was Crews who helped sign him up for the 1987 Johnnie Walker National Comedy Search. “I saw that Cedric had that ‘It’ factor and that people were drawn to him,” Crews tells Variety. (Crews was also responsible for putting the aspiring comic in touch with a friend of his, one Steve Harvey.) From his first moment on stage, Cedric was sold. “It was one of those experience that hooked you in for the rest of your life,” he admits. “To go up and get laughs, and to do well, that was it.” Cedric won $500 that night, and a career was launched. But still being cautious, he kept his day job for a couple more years while he hit every open mic he could find. And though his mother had always pushed for security, it was thanks to her that Cedric got a big break.
Entertaining Career Clockwise from left: Cedric the Entertainer as Eddie in “Barbershop 2,” in “The Last O.G.” and with Steve Harvey
“She was living in the same apartment complex as the general manager of the Funny Bone, they had all these clubs around the country and could get you booked all over. She told him about me and he came to see me. He booked me and said eventually I could be on the national tour. When that happened, I was able to quit my job and just go for it.” Though many comedians burn out touring or see it as merely a means to an end, i.e. a TV show or film career, Cedric still loves it to this day. “I like the immediacy of it. When you do television or film, you have a lot of people who are involved. When you do standup, it’s really your commentary. And you get an instant reaction. It’s just you and the
BARBERSHOP 2: SNAP STILLS/SHUTTERSTOCK; LAST OG: FRANCISCO ROMAN
JULY 18, 2018
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WALK OF FAME HONOR
TV L LAN AND D-V VIAC ACOM OM DOM DOMESTIC TELEVISION N
Thank you my good friend for entertaining us and the world over the last 30 years! We celebrate you and all of your accomplishments. Congratulations on receiving your star on
The Hollywood Walk of Fame!
Earvin “Magic” and Cookie Johnson
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audience.” He also loves the camaraderie of touring and partnering with other comics such as on “The Kings of Comedy” and “The Comedy Get Down.” Though often regarded as a cutthroat business, Cedric says he thinks of it as a team sport. “Comedy is subjective. People can get into competitions about these things. And I just feel this is the one business where there isn’t direct competition.” He points to when Kevin Hart took off as a comic. “People said, ‘Yo, dude, don’t you hate that?’ And I was like: Why would I hate that? I love that. He’s his own person, his lane is his lane, and that works for him. And when a comic like him gets big, it only shows you there’s room out there. It’s not like being an athlete where I have to win a championship to prove I’m the greatest.” So he’s more than happy to share the screen with other funny people, be it co-starring with his King of Comedy pal on “The Steve Harvey Show” for six seasons or supporting Tracy Morgan on “The Last O.G.” Ask who makes him laugh now, and you’ll get answers as varied as Jeremiah “J.J.” Williamson, who frequently opens for him, and George Lopez, Bill Maher or Billy Crystal. Coming up, some of his favorite comics were the late Richard Jeni, Jim Carrey and Robin Williams. Like Carrey and Williams, who moved from comedy into acclaimed dramatic work, Cedric is starting to explore more dramatic roles. He’s already worked alongside the Coen brothers (“Intolerable Cruelty”) and Spike Lee, who directed “The Original Kings of Comedy” concert film. He won raves for his turn opposite John Leguizamo in “American Buffalo” and hopes to return to the stage in the near future. And he’s also garnering great reviews for his pivotal role in “First Reformed” as Pastor Jeffers, the leader of Abun-
COMIC DIGS NEW ROLE
Cedric joins CBS ‘Neighborhood’ with Monday-night sitcom By DIANE GARRETT
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dant Life and who helps guide Ethan Hawke’s struggling man of faith. He met with writer-director Paul Schrader, who Cedric says, “wanted someone that people believed and trusted automatically, right away. He didn’t necessarily want an actor. In his mind, he was kind of thinking, ‘like Steve Harvey.’” Someone recommended Cedric, and Schrader wasn’t sure he could do more than comedy. “So I told him, ‘I understand this completely. I get what this role is, I understand this guy.’” The second time they spoke, Schrader said he
I knew I could entertain from a young age.… But I never saw standup as a viable thing.” Cedric the Entertainer
had the role, and Cedric calls the experience “perfect,” reveling in the opportunity to do a fully dramatic role. “And I love the idea of doing smaller, scene-stealing roles so you can grow your audience in that direction.” Schrader, for his part, loved being with Cedric both on and off set. “Walking around New York and Toronto with Cedric was a delight and revelation,” he tells Variety. “People’s eyes light when they recognize him. He brings joy wherever he goes.” In between his many projects, Cedric also finds time for charity endeavors: He has been raising awareness for Type 2 diabetes the past three years, and has hosted an annual fundraising gala in St. Louis since 2013. “I admire how engaged he is in social issues and always uplifting the community,” says Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who is scheduled to speak at Cedric’s Walk of Fame ceremony. For his turn in “First
Standing Up to Comedy Cedric the Entertainer continues to tour around the country in between TV, film and the occasional stage roles.
Reformed,” Cedric did something he hadn’t planned on since he made a name for himself; he went by his real name. In the movie, he is credited as Cedric Kyles. He admits he wasn’t sure about the swap at first, but now feels it was the right choice. “It all began because I would be introduced at clubs and the emcee would keep introducing people as, ‘This next comedian …’ And I didn’t have enough jokes in the beginning, and wasn’t comfortable calling myself a comedian,” he explains. “I did a hodge-podge of things, really, and only had a few minutes of straight jokes. So I said, ‘Call me an entertainer.’ And he introduced me as ‘Cedric the Entertainer,’ and I had this great show and got a standing ovation, and it stuck. And I kept it.”
hen Cedric the Entertainer joined “The Neighborhood,” the show immediately changed focus. Creator Jim Reynolds (“The Big Bang Theory”) originally envisioned the upcoming CBS show, inspired by his family’s experience moving into a historically black neighborhood in Pasadena, as told through the perspective of his small-screen alter ego. Cedric’s arrival as star and executive producer called for a different approach. Right off the bat, Cedric told Reynolds that he had a strong point of view, and the showrunner welcomed the input. “He gave us the benefit of having an authentic African-American point of view,” Reynolds says. Now the show operates more as a two hander, the showrunner says. Cedric plays Calvin Butler, a curmudgeon who casts a baleful eye on the friendly overtures of newcomers Dave Johnson (Max Greenfield) and wife Gemma (Beth Behrs). Calvin is wary that his new Midwestern neighbors will bring gentrification to his L.A. neighborhood and change its distinctive character. “He’s evolved, but not quite,” Cedric explains. “It’s a show about family and community.” The show debuts Oct. 1 at 8 p.m., with Tichina Arnold playing Calvin’s more welcoming wife, Tina. Sheaun McKinney (“Vice Principals”) plays elder son Malcolm, Marcel Spears as younger son Marty and Hank Greenspan is Dave and Gemma son’s Grover. Reynolds knows firsthand how wary residents can be of newcomers from different backgrounds. “The
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‘Neighborhood’ Curmudgeon Cedric the Entertainer, left with his TV family, is wary about friendly new neighbors in CBS’ upcoming comedy.
his own CBS projects. Previously he starred on “The Soul Man” for TV Land, headlined “Cedric the Entertainer Presents” on Fox and
WHO MAKES CEDRIC LAUGH? GET A PEN
Standup keeps adding to the list of performers that make him chuckle
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H
e has spent most of his life trying to make other people laugh. But what — and who — makes Cedric the Entertainer chuckle? There’s no quick answer for the former State Farm claims adjuster, who cites Eddie Murphy movies such as “Coming to America,” Jerry Seinfeld’s observational humor, “Key and Peele,” his fellow comedy tour pals and up-and-comers such as Lil Duval as peo-
ple and performances that make him laugh. The star of the upcoming CBS show “The Neighborhood,” also a regular on TBS’ “The Last O.G.,” is a fan of sketch comedy and edgy risk-takers. “I just like it when I see it,” he explains, going on to further name Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Bill Maher, Billy Crystal, and the late Robin Harris and Robin Williams as comedians who make him laugh. Growing up in the Mid-
co-starred on “The Steve Harvey Show” from 1996 to 2002. He also appeared on Broadway in a revival of David Mamet’s “Ameri-
Funny Folk Cedric the Entertainer cites “Coming to America,” top, and “The Carol Burnett Show” as comic inspirations.
west, he learned the power of comedy while watching “The Carol Burnett Show.” Seeing his grandmother laugh, and the fun Burnett, Harvey Korman and Tim Conway had while performing on the CBS variety show, inspired Cedric to try and figure out how to make his grandmother chuckle at his own antics. “It was iconic television,” says Cedric of “The Carol Burnett Show,” and he was so convinced he wanted to be an entertainer that he tried to get his mother to send him to a performing-arts school. She refused, but he did not quit, singing, dancing and performing whenever he could through college and beyond.
can Buffalo,” and memorably played Eddie in “Barbershop” and its two sequels. “The Neighborhood” goes back into production in
“Whenever there was a mic and an opportunity, he was there,” says Eric Rhone, who met Cedric in college and became his manager and producing partner. “Wedding receptions, bars, birthday parties…” During his 30 year showbiz career, Cedric has worked the comedy circuit and acted in shows and movies including “Barbershop,” “The Soul Man” and “The Comedy Get Down,” occasionally venturing into dramatic roles such as “American Buffalo” and “First Reformed.” Still, he’s best known for his comedy, honed on stages for decades. “I was the director in 1991 when a young standup comedian from St. Louis took the Def Comedy Jam stage, performed a killer standup set, got a thunderous standing ovation, and became an instant nstant comedy legend,” recalls ls Stan Lathan, who has directed ted Cedric many times since nce on pilots and TV shows includncluding “The Soul Man.” “People forget he was ngs part of the original Kings e of Comedy,” says Steve nt Smooke, his CAA agent since 1996, invoking the comedy tour with Bernie Mac, D.L. Hughley and Steve Harvey that Spike Lee turned into a hit documen-
early August with a 13-episode order. “We’re looking forward to getting the back nine,” Cedric says. “We’re formulating stories now.” During their work on the pilot, star and showrunner have developed dialog and trust. “We came out of our meetings and we didn’t always agree creatively, but we always liked each other,” Reynolds says. “Cedric and my relationship is kind of a metaphor for the show,” Reynolds says. “He been instrumental to it.”
tary in 2000. “That comedy tour was selling out arenas. This was 18 years ago; back then, this was unheard of,” Smooke says. “He was ahead of the game.” Longtime friends and colleagues say his comedy style, rooted in his observation of life, hasn’t really changed much over the years. “You laugh with him, not at people,” Rhone says. “It’s not derogatory — it’s more on the lighter side, but at the same time with truth.” Regardless the project, Cedric tries to have as much fun performing as “The Carol Burnett Show” cast members did years ago. “Everybody loves working with Ced,” Lathan says. “There’s always lots of laughter on his sets.”
THE NEIGHBORHOOD: MONTY BRINTON/CBS; COMING TO AMERICA: PARAMOUNT/PHOTOFEST; CAROL BURNETT: CBS/PHOTOFEST
way to make it funny or at least interesting is to give everyone a leg to stand on,” he says. The show’s pilot was reshot when Greenfield and Behrs, both hit-comedy vets, replaced the original actors portraying the newcomers; sitcom vet James Burrows directed both versions. “Max and Cedric had chemistry right out of the gate,” Reynolds says. The comedian will also return for the second season of “The Last O.G.,” the TBS comedy starring Tracy Morgan, and does stand-up dates for “The Comedy Get Down” tour in between occasional film roles such as “First Reformed.” He had been developing
Cedric the Entertainer Always a star Now on the Walk. We congratulate you on your well-earned spot on
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CANNABIS GUIDE
Exploring the Cannabis Boom Discover how the business of bud is growing and innovating in Variety’s new Cannabis Guide, featuring top cannabis product manufacturers and distributors from around the world. Meet the first female CEO of a publicly traded cannabis company, Darby Cox, who runs the online accessories marketplace Smoke Cartel. Kush Bottles offers ingenious ways to keep cannabis safely and smartly packaged, whether you’re a wholesale
distributor or a delivery service. Futurola presents their line of exceptional pre-filled cones to spark up, made possible with cuttingedge filling tech and quality greens. And Advanced Nutrients features the lowdown on CEO BigMike Straumietis, who’s been pushing the science of cannabis cultivation for more than two decades. Find all that and more in this guide to the booming cannabis industry.
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Futurola was founded out of Future Coffee Shop in Amsterdam in 1996 by a brother and sister duo with the simple vision of sharing their passion for highquality rolling accessories with the world. Evolving over the past 22 years, Futurola is now a globally recognized leader in the cannabis industry. In the process of adapting to the North American market, Futurola’s partners identified the growing demand for exceptionally loaded cones while recognizing the lack of technology in the space. Before the introduction of the Futurola Cone Filling System in 2015, the cannabis
industry was plagued by inconsistently filled cones wrapped in harsh, low-quality rolling papers of precarious origins. The cones were painstakingly filled by hand with questionable shake, which is commonly identified as inferior cannabis product brimming with leaves and stems — the most undesirable smoke one could ask for. Coming from Amsterdam, where smoking cones is a much more respectable form of consumption (as compared to the glass and vape industries of the States), the leaders at Futurola saw a great disparity in the experience they are accustomed to, thus driving them to put an end to this era.
Fast-forward to 2018 — the Futurola Cone Filling System is now fully developed to accommodate businesses and growers of any scale. In order to understand why the system is so revolutionary, one must grasp the fine details of a perfectly executed cone from the inside out. A successful cone must be filled with properly shredded, high quality herb mix. Inconsistencies in the herb mix result in unevenly filled cones, which do not burn well (if at all), ruining the experience for the end-user. Futurola’s solution to this is found in the Futurola Shredder series, which features models ranging in
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Cones in both Classic White and Dutch Brown Rolling Paper. With a diverse collection of sizes and shapes, Futurola cones are available in a multitudinous 16 varieties ranging in capacity from 0.5 grams in the Reefer Size, up to 3 grams in the new Fatboy Pre-Rolled Cones, all of which can be filled in the specifically designed Filling Kits of the Futurola Knockbox. The overwhelming motivation of Futurola’s team is to return to their roots, giving new smokers in the medical and recreational markets a safe space to embark upon their cannabis consumption journey — all while fostering a profitable venture for professionals in the supply chain.
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case, it would be impossible to grow to the large-scale operations enabled by the Knockbox, which can fill an average of 1,000 cones per hour on a single machine. With a variety of attachments offered by Futurola, producers can fill many shapes and sizes of cones to meet the demands of their unique, local crowd. The icing on the cake of a perfectly filled cone is the Pre-Rolled Cone itself, which encompasses the cannabis. It would be a terrible shame to expend any amount of effort shredding and filling a cone to use the thick, harsh paper offered by many others in the Pre-Rolled Cone industry. In the essence of it all, Futurola is a rolling paper company, so it stands to reason that their product offerings include only the thinnest, most excellent caliber of Pre-Rolled Cones — sealed with organic arabic gum — available on the market today. Catering to the aesthetic concerns of their clients, Futurola offers Pre- Rolled
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capacity from 0.7 LB in the Futurola Mini Shredder, to 6 LB in the Futurola Mega Shredder. Each Shredder has a digital timer programmable for 1-15 seconds per shredding cycle, although most herb mix need only shred for 2 seconds. Many growers and processors prefer the midrange Futurola Super Shredder, which is capable of separating large stems from the flower, drastically decreasing processing time. The next step in guaranteeing exceptional pre-filled cones is the method with which the cone is filled. Filling cones by hand is not only incredibly time consuming, but it is nearly impossible to fill the cones uniformly. The Futurola Knockbox uses patent-pending soundwave technology to fill 100 PreRolled Cones in 2 minutes, ensuring that the cannabis gathers throughout the entire cone. To put it in perspective, even the nimblest of hands can only fill around 60-80 cones per hour. If that were the
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BigMike Straumietis, Advanced Nutrients CEO, Continues To Move The Cannabis Conversation Forward 102-32526 GEORGE FERGUSON WAY, ABBOTSFORD, BC V2T 4Y1
BIGMIKE STRAUMIETIS • A grower since 1983, BigMike’s overseen the cultivation of millions of cannabis plants. • Founded Advanced Nutrients in 1999. • Brought more than 50 firsts to the world of cannabis cultivation. • Launched Holiday Heroes, an international charity that supports tens of thousands of needy families and homeless people every year. • More than 2.5 million social media followers.
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• R & D team comprised of 25 Ph.D. botanists, microbiologists and organic chemists.
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• Currently writing his autobiography, titled Marijuana Don.
In the cannabis world, few match the stature of BigMike Straumietis. In fact, if you’ve grown or consumed cannabis in the last 20 years, you’ve benefited from something he’s done. As the founder and CEO of Advanced Nutrients, the world’s No. 1 cannabis company, BigMike has been advancing the science of cannabis cultivation for two decades. Pulling in annual revenues north of $105 million, and with sales in 100 countries and counting, Advanced Nutrients is responsible for more than 50 firsts to the world of cannabis cultivation, including holding the esteemed place as the first hydroponic nutrient manufacturer to publicly announce that its products are designed specifically for growing cannabis. However, Advanced Nutrients isn’t the only way BigMike is pursuing his life’s mission. In fact, he’s busier than ever in his mission to make cannabis an acceptable and everyday part of healing humanity.
Moving Cannabis Into The Mainstream Leveraging his international reach and resources, BigMike is ardently advocating for cannabis and pushing the plant to its true genetic potential at every opportunity.
He’s currently constructing Lacturnus Labs, a $30-million-plus facility in Los Angeles that will be the world’s premier cannabis research and development laboratory. Lacturnus Labs will spearhead the cannabis cultivation standardization process to bring a new level of safety, efficacy and reliability into the burgeoning legal cannabis industry.
BigMike’s Blends Hitting the market this September, BigMike’s personally curated line of ultra-premium pre-rolls features seven outcome-based blends that deliver exactly what you need, when you need it — whether that’s energy, pain relief, restorative sleep or creative spark. Keep up to date with the launch and get exclusive previews, only at BigMikesBlends.com. The Next Marijuana Millionaire™ As if he wasn’t busy enough, BigMike’s giving would-be entrepreneurs a shot at success and shattering the “stoner” stereotype with his groundbreaking competition show The Next Marijuana Millionaire™, currently in production. The show’s victor will win cash, prizes, and the opportunity to partner with BigMike to
make their cannabis business dream a reality.
Business Outlaws BigMike’s also partnered with his good friend Chris “Bulldog” Collins — a highly successful business fixer, trainer and coach — on their new podcast Business Outlaws, in which the two dispense hardearned, high-value business wisdom to aspiring entrepreneurs. Educational, entertaining, innovative and inspiring, Business Outlaws provides yet another platform for BigMike to spread cannabis knowledge and awareness. Listen to Business Outlaws on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify and everywhere podcasts live. Follow BigMike For Cannabis Inspiration, Industry Insights And Education Keep up to date with BigMike and his many cannabis ventures by following his Instagram, @BigMike JACKIE DOMANUS c: 323-383-5025 e: Jackie@AdvancedNutrients.com www.AdvancedNutrients.com
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Branching Out Beyond the Bottle KUSH BOTTLES HQ, ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
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How can an ancillary cannabis business survive in the ever-changing regulated legal marijuana market? If you’re Kush Bottles (KSHB), you evolve. Since the days of cannabis legalization, Kush Bottles has modestly gone from manufacturing pop-top containers to making major pushes into nationwide marijuana markets. Development of proprietary products, like the IP protected Wallee pack (the first wearable exit bag) and child-resistant Palm N Turn concentrate container, have played a major role in cementing Kush Bottles as a one stop shop for cannabis businesses. Through continuous innovation and releases, product offerings have branched out to vape products, hydrocarbons and other cannabis business supplies. Building its portfolio of innovative products, valuable brands and intellectual property. As in any consumer facing sector, brand marketing and personalization
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is of core importance. This is where providing concierge-level hypercustom branding and packaging services, and an end-to-end supply chain give our clients the unfair advantage. Our solutions are tailored to maintain brand integrity, while also providing a safe and reliable product that complies with the stringent requirements of state laws. Recent moves towards in-house labeling, printing, and even FDAcompliant packaging, will drastically shorten turnaround time on production, eliminate the need to work with multiple vendors and further reinforce our commitment to being a fully integrated partner for our clients. With that, we are poised for even more explosive growth. Our unique relationships with growers, dispensaries, manufacturers and ancillary companies continue to provide us first mover opportunities. With more than 50% of states having some form of legalization, the opportunity is ripe for newcomers and
established businesses alike to succeed in the cannabis market. By increasing our acquisitions and supply-chain offerings, we have anchored ourselves as the premier source for cannabis business buyers. Meeting the discerning needs of each individual customer with integrated services. We are no longer just a packaging company, we are a facilitator
for how other companies reach their customers, hit their goals and supply solutions for this business. Contact us at to inquire about local support specialists in your area. NICK KOVACEVICH, CEO o: 888.920.5874 www.KushBottles.com
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Smoke Cartel Breaks The Glass Ceiling MEET THE FIRST FEMALE CEO OF A PUBLICLY-TRADED CANNABIS COMPANY IN THE US—AND SHE’S ONLY 24
vaporizers and pet accessories. The college sweethearts remain partners in both business and life, and Geng now oversees operations as Cox directs Smoke Cartel’s executive strategies. As women continue to achieve equal representation on all fronts, what does it mean to be the first female CEO of a publicly-traded cannabis company in the United States? “I may be the first, but I won’t be the only one for very long,” assures Cox. “Legal cannabis is and will continue to be an entry point for diversity in entrepreneurship and leadership, and I hope to hold the gates open for women in this industry.”
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Focusing on customer service, high-quality inventory and product education, Cox oversaw operations and a growing staff utilizing Geng’s proprietary software. The combination yielded staggering revenues and a loyal customer base, catapulting Smoke Cartel into one of the top-performing online cannabis accessories stores on the web. Four years later, Smoke Cartel Inc., is now a publicly traded company under the symbol SMKC. In anticipation of future growth, Cox was recently appointed CEO of the company, which continues to base its operations in Savannah as it expands into new markets, including
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When Darby Cox first helped launch Smoke Cartel, Inc. in 2014, she had no idea she’d make history. Back then she was a 19 year-old college student cutting class to keep up with the smoking accessories website set up by her partner, Sean Geng. The two managed the e-commerce business together, fulfilling online orders for glass water pipes from their living room in Savannah, GA. “After a few months of bubble-wrapping until dawn, it was obvious we were filling a huge gap in the market,” says Cox, now 24. “People want to shop for cannabis accessories online from a safe, trusted resource and know it will be shipped quickly to their front door.”
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Training Day Destan Arslanoski practices a fall at the stunt training facility in Queenland, Australia in 2010.
Constantly Working in a Danger Zone Stunt performers say not enough is being done to address the risks they face; a Malaysia shoot offers a stark example Story by DREW TURNEY
REVIEWS ARTISANS FOCUS CONTENDERS
I N 2 0 1 1 , a 22-year-old stunt performer from Australia named Destan Arslanoski suffered a career-ending injury while working on a film in Malaysia. Arslanoski says that the performer who was scripted to swing a prop ax at his back, Craig Fairbrass, had been told to “tone down” the aggression of his approach during rehearsals. Nonetheless, Fairbrass missed the spine protector Arslanoski was wearing, hitting his lower back and causing an immediate and long-term injury. Representatives for Fairbrass declined to comment for this story. The film’s production company also declined to comment. “I collapsed to the ground and couldn’t feel my legs,” says Arslanoski, who today, at 30, is working as a corrections department custodial officer and serving part-time in the Royal Australian Air Force. Crew members dragged him near a fan in the almost 120-degree heat, and he lay prone and waited for nearly an hour before paramedics finally arrived — there were none manning the set — to take him to a hospital. The surgeon who treated him — who, Arslanoski later learned, worked directly for the production company — diagnosed only “bruising.” But after being discharged and returning to his hotel, Arslanoski says he experienced severe bowel problems several hours later that affected him for a week. Over the course of the next few weeks, he lost more than 50 pounds, making him realize the trauma to his lower back was serious. The medical expertise he sought during the subsequent legal battle diagnosed “chronic low back pain probably resulting from soft tissue trauma to the lumbar region.” Pain from the incident continues. “This is a permanent injury,” he says. “The older I get, the more I feel it.” It wasn’t the only injury on the set of the film, which Arslanoski cannot name due to a nondisclosure agreement included in his settlement. Nor was he the only victim of perceived mistreatment by the production company. A female stunt performer suffered a broken bone, and a cast member who suffered a torn bicep claims he was subsequently denied insurance coverage. These are just several in a long and ignominious run of accidents, injuries and deaths among stunt performers. Since video surfaced earlier this year of Uma Thurman being injured on the set of “Kill Bill,” incidents continue to come to light — including stunt performer deaths on the productions of “Deadpool 2” and “The Walking Dead.”
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ARTISANS
While Arslanoski doesn’t consider the shoot’s stunt coordinator, Yasca Sinigaglia, fully responsible for his injury, he does offer that “at the end of the day the stunt coordinator should have said no [to the stunt] and stood his ground.”
It takes a very strong coordinator to turn around and say, “This isn’t what we discussed.”’ George Cottle, stunt performer-coordinator
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Arslanoski believes that, in its own way, stunt safety is as big a problem in the industry as the widespread sex abuse that’s come to light over the past year. “Maybe I’m the first person to bring this to people’s attention,” he says. “Other people might say, ‘You know what? This did happen to me, and we’re afraid to talk about it.’” The former stunt performer describes himself as having been “young and naive” about procedures and paper trails. He signed a talent release form but no contract; he and his colleagues entered Malaysia on tourist visas (work visas were issued later); they were paid weekly in cash. Career ambitions played no small role. “I wanted to have a name as an international stunt performer,” he explains. “Once you have that on your résumé you can be hired anywhere.” That’s a common issue in the stunt world, says veteran stunt performer and coordinator George Cottle (“Ant-Man and the Wasp,” “Black Panther,” “Kong: Skull Island”), who agrees that the industry imposes a disincentive to speak up. “The coordinator, of course, wants to keep his producer or director happy, and the performer wants to do the same for the coordinator,” Cottle says. “It takes a very strong coordinator to turn around and say, ‘This isn’t what we discussed.’” SAG-AFTRA recently published new standards and practices for stunt coordinators and has long operated a hotline for performers to report concerns. While that will help, Cottle thinks a large part of the problem is that the management of stunts is not fully in the hands of stunt experts. “I just wish that people who aren’t [part of] this industry would stop trying to force the issue,” he says. “That is honestly when people get hurt.”
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Movement Maestro Dave Gerhard uses Adobe Character Animator to puppet Donatello for Nickelodeon’s “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Live” virtual reality experience.
Cowabunga! Turtles Go Virtual! Nickelodeon’s Entertainment Lab helps Comic-Con attendees interact with VR versions of iconic TMNT characters By TERRY FLORES @varietyterry N I C K E L O D EO N H AS big plans to intro-
duce its reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise during ComicCon with a virtual-reality experience that will put journalists and some lucky superfans directly into the show’s animated universe to chat live with two of the Turtles, Donatello and Michelangelo. The “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Live” experience, set for July 20, is the latest project from Nickelodeon’s cutting-edge Entertainment Lab, which
Incentives Australia
Recent Projects
Boasting climates that range from green tropical rainforests to arid red deserts, stretches of achingly beautiful beaches and the mysterious landscapes of the Outback, Australia has a lot to offer filmmakers. In fact, the first-ever full-length feature, “The Story of the Kelly Gang” (1906) was shot down under. Today, Australia also provides generous financial incentives.
Aquaman (2018) Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018) Kong: Skull Island (2017) Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Wonder Woman (2017) Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
launched last year to experiment with new and emerging technologies and broaden entertainment options for Nick’s audiences. “It’s really fun,” says Chris Young, senior VP of Entertainment Lab. “There’s a great moment when you realize you’re fully immersed inside of the Turtles’ universe. The characters that you know really well are right in front of you, and you can have a conversation with them.” The team has constructed a greenscreen cube, which is where users will put on HTC Vive VR headsets and immediately find themselves in a stylized New York street scene. “The idea is that the person will be in the Ninja Turtle reboot universe,” explains Young. “A camera is filming the journalist and compositing them live in real time into the environment. They’ll have a big Nickelodeon cartoon avatar head that can be chosen ahead of time.” It’s quite a setup behind the scenes, with several high-powered gaming computers, video and audio technicians, and a team of puppeteers making the Turtles move while the actors respond to the reporter’s or
Lab Work Other VR/AR experiences from the Nick unit Slimezone, VR LAUNCHED IN L.A., NEW YORK AND TORONTO, MARCH
Visitors put on VR headsets to interact with each other as well as stars of Nickelodeon shows Do Not Touch, AR app LAUNCHED ON IOS, MARCH
Allows users to experience 3D animation or games when the camera is pointed at a flat surface The Loud House, 360º video LAUNCHED ON YOUTUBE, JANUARY
Gives viewers a taste of life in the Loud household from every angle
16.5%
Rebate on qualifying Australian production expenditure
$11.5m $766k
Minimum film production budget
Minimum per hour of TV
INFORMATION COURTESY OF EP FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS, A PRODUCTION INCENTIVE CONSULTING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPANY
Wrestling With the ’80s Costumes for Netflix series ‘GLOW’ revisit a flashy and colorful decade By VALENTINA VALENTINI @tiniv O N M A N Y L EV E L S, dressing the characters in “GLOW” was a dream job for costume designer Beth Morgan. Not only was the creation of the costumes fun and inventive, she says, but each of the characters on the Netflix series is so well developed that it gave her countless opportunities to individualize them. “It’s such a great story about women,” says Morgan, who has created looks for TV shows such as “Last Man on Earth” and “Key & Peele.” On both seasons of “GLOW” she’s designed costumes for all the show’s characters entirely from scratch, talking at length about each character’s style and outfits with show creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch. Netflix dropped the second season into streaming June 29. From the start, as the show built and the female grapplers began to form their ragamuffin group, Morgan made sure she was peppering each episode with unique pieces for the characters’ final wrestling looks. For example, when the troupe goes
to a Malibu mansion and has a closet party in Episode 3, “it was important for us to already have an idea about where we [wanted their costumes to end up],” Morgan says. “That’s where we get the rice farmer’s hat on Fortune Cookie [Ellen Wong’s Jenny], the Viking hat on Vicky the Viking [Marianna Palka’s Reggie], and where Machu Picchu [Britney Young’s Carmen] finds her cape and that great Peruvian hat.” Morgan logged hundreds of hours researching costumes from 1980s wrestling. Her goal was to keep the costumes rooted in reality (despite their often ostentatious appearance), so she drew from Seventeen magazine and catalogs from J.C. Penney and Sears. “We didn’t want that over-the-top chaos when you think of the ’80s, like the neon colors and crazy bright prints. That wasn’t the ’80s of [the show’s] world,” she says. “These were working-class girls who were trying to make ends meet.” For the movement elements — and there are plenty in a show about wrestling — Morgan drew from the movies “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “Valley Girl,” “Pretty in Pink” and “Weird Science.” “What I love about the ’80s is that everybody was so much more individual in their styles. It wasn’t homogenized. There was no Amazon. Now, I feel like you could be anywhere in America, and two women from either coast could be wearing the same outfit, even if they’re of different nationalities and socioeconomic status.”
We didn’t want that over-thetop chaos that you think of when you think of the ’80s.” Costume designer Beth Morgan
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In Production TITLE/DISTRIBUTOR
GENRE
PRODUCTION
DIRECTOR/SHOWRUNNER
CAST
SHOOT START
LOCATION
Empire (Season 5) Fox
Drama
20th Century Fox Television, Imagine Television
Brett Mahoney (showrunner)
Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard
7/18
Chicago
The Code CBS
Drama
CBS Television Studios, Timberman/Beverly Prods.
Craig Sweeny (showrunner)
Raffi Barsoumian, Phillipa Soo
7/24
New York
The Aeronauts Amazon
Drama
Amazon Studios, Mandeville Films
Tom Harper
Felicity Jones, Eddie Redmayne
7/30
London
Good Boys Universal
Comedy
Universal Pictures, Good Universe, Point Grey Pictures
Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky
Jacob Tremblay
7/23
Vancouver
DATA PROVIDED BY VARIETY INSIGHT. FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF FILMS IN PRODUCTION, VISIT VARIETYINSIGHT.COM
VARIETY.COM
Yanks for the Memories Betty Gilpin and Alison Brie battle in style in the ’80s-set “GLOW.”
JULY 18, 2018
fan’s questions. Josh Brener, who voices Donatello, and Brandon Mychal Smith, who plays Michelangelo, will be on hand at Comic-Con to interact with users in real time. The puppeteers are stationed so they can watch the actors as they improv and create the animated performance. “We’ll be able to switch between different shots as the interview is happening,” says Young. “We can cut between all those things. That’s the technical side. Then there are some really interesting things happening on the audio side in order to create the proper delays and have everybody talking in sync. That audio is driving the character animation. The big idea is that we should have a little video package to hand to people when they’re done with their interview.” The Entertainment Lab team worked with Adobe Character Animator, Epic Unreal Engine and NewTek NDI to create the VR experience. And this is just one of a number of projects the experimental lab is working on. “This built on a lot of stuff that we’ve been doing in the lab over the last couple of years, specifically around this virtual cinema, mixed reality, VR pipeline,” Young says. Earlier this year, the team debuted Nickelodeon and Imax’s SlimeZone, a multi-player social virtual-reality experience at Imax VR Centers as well as a 360-degree episode of Nick’s popular animated series “The Loud House.” “A lot of that fundamentally applied to what we’re doing here,” Young explains. “A lot of it was copying and pasting over a curve that we had already implemented. Then it was just refining it to do exactly what this needed to do, which is stream these puppets into a VR environment and still have the mixed-reality live component.” This is just the beginning for the Entertainment Lab. “It’s still very early days in all this technology, whether it’s VR or AR or mixed reality,” Young says. “A lot of what we do in the lab is experiment around those areas. We’re fortunate to have access to iconic IP, so there are things like the Comic-Con experience with the Turtles that just feel right. We’re always interested in being where kids are. We know they have a passion for these kinds of things, so we want to bring them as many opportunities to connect with our brand as possible.”
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Director: Christopher McQuarrie Starring: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson
F
or a moment there, the “Mission: Impossible” franchise appeared to be getting a little long in the tooth. This was perhaps a decade ago, between the third and fourth films, when audiences weren’t sure whether they were dealing with a trilogy or an open-ended series. Its star, Tom Cruise, was being a little too emphatic about his Scientology convictions in public. He had made a brilliant, self-effacing cameo in “Tropic Thunder,” showing up in a fat suit and a bald cap, then retreated in the other direction in real life via a series of unconvincing age-defying procedures, as if refusing to let go of his image as an eternal twentysomething. All signs pointed to it being time for Impossible Mission Force operative Ethan Hunt to gracefully retire. How lucky for us that he didn’t. Not only have the films gotten better since, with each one surpassing the last as the most exciting and ambitious of the lot, but Hunt himself has acquired a gravitas along the way that distinguishes the series from its most obvious inspiration, the James Bond movies. Now playing to an audience that’s forgotten (if it ever realized) that these films were inspired by a knockoff TV series from the same era, “Mission: Impossible — Fallout” isn’t just another stunt-driven save-the-world bonanza. Of course, it is that, offering a whirlwind tour of Paris, London and Kashmir this time around, but writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, on board for more after making slick work of the previous movie “Rogue Nation,” smartly ties this sixth installment back into what has come before. This time, it really is personal.
Illustration by MAX GUTHER
REVIEWS ARTISANS FOCUS
Mission: Impossible — Fallout
CONTENDERS
FILM REVIEW BY PETER DEBRUGE
EXPOSURE
Bruce Lee died young, but his impact resonates p.134
TOP BILLING
Hulu’s new horror series, ‘Castle Rock,’ borrows Stephen King’s setting but little of its suspense p.132
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EERILY FAMILIAR
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The Eyes Have It Rebecca Ferguson and Tom Cruise play characters with competing agendas in “Mission: Impossible — Fallout.”
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Ethan Hunt looks his age, even if that makes him the fittest 55-year-old on Earth, sporting distinguished little wrinkles at the corners of his eyes that subtly underscore this isn’t his first rodeo. If anything, that’s what sets “Fallout” apart: It’s aware of Hunt’s previous experience and incorporates that into the narrative. The villain is someone we’ve seen before (Sean Harris’ Lane). There’s a poignant coda to the romance with Michelle Monaghan from “M:i:III” and an extension of that sexy spy-who-loved-me dynamic with MI6 agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) from the last movie. And the masks are back in a big way — a silly, credibility-straining contrivance in the 1996 movie and the TV show. These are movies that dare you to believe your eyes, doubling down by insisting on doing many of the risky maneuvers practically, in camera. Maybe you thought you’d seen it all. Hunt has climbed sheer rock faces, driven high-speed motorcycles and dodged exploding helicopters. But the scenery has never been more spectacular, whether he’s standing atop the chimney of the Tate Modern with all of Lon-
CREDITS: A Paramount Pictures release, presented with Skydance, of a Tom Cruise, Bad Robot Production. Producers: Tom Cruise, David Ellison, Christopher McQuarrie, Jake Myers, J.J. Abrams. Executive producers: David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger. Co-producer: Tommy Gormley. Director, writer: Christopher McQuarrie, based on the television series created by Bruce Geller. Camera (color, widescreen): Rob Hardy. Editor: Eddie Hamilton. Music: Lorne Balfe. Reviewed at AMC Century City Imax, Los Angeles, July 11, 2018. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 147 MIN. Cast: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Michelle Monaghan, Alec Baldwin
don laid out before him or parachuting onto the glass roof of Paris’ Grand Palais — whose pristine white bathrooms supply the more memorable scene. The latter provides a strangely homoerotic encounter between Hunt and CIA assassin August Walker (“Man of Steel” star Henry Cavill, looking chiseled, if not terribly charismatic) as they attempt to corner a nefarious arms dealer named John Lark in the cruisey men’s room. In “Fallout,” the mission is clear: Recover three plutonium cores before Lark and a terrorist organization known as the Apostles can use them to target the Vatican, Jerusalem and Mecca in a single coordinated attack. But McQuarrie makes things complicated quickly, allowing the payload to go missing and putting Hunt and his team — Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg) — in a desperate race to recover the nuclear devices before they can be used. The trick is to steer the action through scenic locations, orchestrating outdoor chases whenever possible (there’s one through Paris that rivals the breakneck pursuit of the elevated train in “The French Connection,” this time on French soil) while
Cruise represents a kind of best-case American: a hero with a conscience, unwavering in his convictions.” finding creative ways to keep the stakes grounded in relationships that have been firmly established in the previous films. Just when you thought you knew who Ethan Hunt was, McQuarrie goes and redefines what makes him tick. And ticking is what the “Mission: Impossible” movies are all about, after all, from those self-destructing assignment messages to the series’ signature, pulse-quickening score — reinvented here in brilliant ways by composer Lorne Balfe, with completely surprising instruments
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and orchestrations that barely allow a moment’s calm — to the 15-minute countdown clock on a pair of nuclear devices that comprises the film’s finale. Compared with Cruise’s other franchise antihero, the thoroughly grizzled and relatively nihilistic Jack Reacher, Hunt is a regular Boy Scout, a clean-cut, againstall-odds action star who hesitates when forced to decide between sparing one life or saving millions. As far as Hunt’s IMF boss (Alec Baldwin) is concerned, that’s an asset. But it also fits with Cruise’s image as a moralistic matinee idol, a figure whose unrelenting perfectionism ensures that he’ll save the day, even with one second to spare. We elect movie stars the way we do world leaders, buying tickets instead of casting ballots, and the reason Cruise has remained on top for more consecutive terms than Vladimir Putin is that he represents a kind of best-case American: homecoming-king hunky, a hero with a conscience, unwavering in his convictions. Here, the villain is cynicism itself — not just Lane but the mysterious Lark, who has written a manifesto that insists the world has become so corrupt, it must face an act of great tragedy in order to bring about newfound peace. There are those within the government who agree with him, including rival/partner Walker, who clearly holds less regard for human life than Hunt does. They are an exciting pair, each tasked with recovering the plutonium, yet plenty distrustful of one another, and that creates a sense of anticipation as we brace ourselves for the moment in which these two uneasy comrades will ultimately have to face off in a fight that’s every bit as philosophical as it is physical. McQuarrie and DP Rob Hardy mesh well together, establishing the least intrusive technique the franchise has seen so far. McQuarrie has the confidence to let the material speak for itself instead of imposing his style the way someone like John Woo did. A decade ago, around the same time the “Mission: Impossible” series was starting to feel tired, director Paul Greengrass pioneered an aggressive, almost disorienting handheld template for the Jason Bourne movies that threatened to render classical action obsolete. But McQuarrie believes in creating coherent set-pieces: His combat scenes are tense, muscular and clean, shot and edited in such a way that the spatial geography makes sense. He places audiences just over Cruise’s shoulder, or staring into the actor’s face as he grimaces with exertion. Ethan Hunt has never met an impossible mission, and yet, for the thrill to work, audiences need to believe that this one could get away from him. Here, with everything that he’s ever cared about on the line, Hunt proves why he’s summer’s most valuable action hero.
TV REVIEW BY DANIEL D’ADDARIO
Castle Rock Drama: Hulu, 10 episodes (four reviewed), July 25 Starring: Andre Holland, Melanie Lynskey, Bill Skarsgård, Jane Levy
T
he fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine — the setting for Stephen King works including “Cujo,” “The Body” and “Needful Things” — may be one of the most bedeviled in all of American letters. It’s the place to which King returns, again and again, when seeking a burg whose name can serve as shorthand for boundless evil. Which would seem to lend a lot of promise to Hulu’s new horror series “Castle Rock”; we’re already primed to assume that anything can happen in a loose adaptation of King’s work, and are game to see his imagination outdo itself. (The novelist serves as an executive producer.) But “Castle Rock” is ultimately a letdown precisely because of how much it uses its setting to communicate a sense of creeping dread without really doing the work narratively. It’s eerie-by-numbers, repeatedly telling us how scared we ought to be without building characters for whom we feel sympathetic fear. Andre Holland, of “The Knick” and “Moonlight,” plays Henry Deaver, an attorney who had left Castle Rock. He returns after becoming embroiled in the case of a young man (Bill Skarsgård) found imprisoned, seemingly outside the bounds of the law, within a secret chamber in the local penitentiary. (It’s the Shawshank State Prison, naturally.) The lawyer’s past precedes him; everyone he meets seems to recall an infamous incident that resulted in the death of Deaver’s father when he was just a child. Is Deaver himself an agent of darkness— if unwittingly? Or is he just unlucky enough to keep stumbling on the wrong side of the ongoing battle
In the Hole Bill Skarsgård stars in Hulu’s “Castle Rock.”
between good and evil? These questions haunt the enterprise, and the appealing Holland does his best to make us empathize with Deaver. But too much of his backstory is delivered through undistinguished exposition, so much so that it comes to seem less richly textured in the way of the best King characters than simply piled on. Much of the dialogue here feels flat and surreal, frustratingly removed from human experience for a show whose gory scares aim to be gut-punch visceral. At least “Castle Rock” gets pure evil right; the creature at the story’s center, Skarsgård’s unnamed prisoner, is quietly, docilely compliant until moments when he needs to demonstrate his malign power. A character is said to have discovered “the devil was a boy”; we come to believe it, thanks to a performance that’s yet more effective than Skarsgård’s own in last year’s “It” adaptation. That megahit film and “Castle Rock” have opposite problems; “It” was grindingly, thuddingly obvious in delivering the same scares over and over, while “Castle Rock” seems at times to rush past moments of tension. King’s towns, including Castle Rock, glimmer with imaginative possibility thanks to their inhabitants. And yet most of the residents of “Castle Rock” leave no more impression than familiar types. Melanie Lynskey’s neurotic realtor Molly Strand, haunted by a timidity manifesting itself in illness, is a bright spot, showing us a person who has been warped by existence in a town where metaphysical danger is a fact of life. Were every character written with the care that goes into Strand, “Castle Rock” would be a shimmering example of just how powerful — and well-suited to TV — King’s work can be. But too many of her neighbors speak in broad, platitudinous terms about what they’ve suffered through, or explain that trauma in unremitting chunks of unreal dialogue. What does it really feel like to live in a place where supernatural horror plays out? Disappointingly, it seems pretty quotidian. CREDITS: Executive producers: Sam Shaw, Dustin Thomason, J.J. Abrams, Mark Lafferty, Ben Stephenson, Liz Glotzer, and Stephen King. 60 MIN. Cast: Andre Holland, Melanie Lynskey, Bill Skarsgård, Jane Levy, Sissy Spacek
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Music Screens
for
Summer 2018
On August 21, as we wade deep into Emmy season, Variety’s Music for Screens takes stock of the latest crop of Emmy music nominees. Additionally we’ll look at music supervision and scoring standouts and examine the ways in which sound-tracking for the small screen continues to break ground. We’ll also explore the most pressing issues facing music supervisors, composers, songwriters and executives as they navigate the increasingly disruptive intersections of music, visual media and the digital world. And watch for Variety’s highly anticipated breakdown and analysis of this year’s Emmy Music nominations in our annual “Cheat Sheet.”
ISSUE DATE August 21 | SPACE August 10 | MATERIALS DUE August 16
CONTACT JUDI PULVER (323) 654-5433 judi.pulver@variety.com
CNB.COM
7108.11
By TIM GRAY
JULY 18, 2018
VARIETY.COM
July 20, 1973
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In Death, Bruce Lee’s Star Rivaled James Dean’s
July 20 marks the 45th anniversary of the death of Bruce Lee, who had one of the briefest and most remarkable careers in Hollywood history. On July 23, 1973, Variety ran his 300-word obituary on page 7. He didn’t get star treatment because he wasn’t yet a star, at least in the English-speaking world. As Matthew Polly points out in his excellent new bio “Bruce Lee: A Life” (Simon & Schuster), Lee had a career in Asia as a child actor, a dancer, a young star (nicknamed “Little Dragon” by his fans) and then a martial arts practitioner and innovator. The rest of the world discovered him when “Enter the Dragon” opened in 1973, just one month after he died suddenly at age 32 of a brain aneurysm. Variety reviewer Whitney Williams enthused, “Lee socks over a performance seldom equaled in action [movies].” His charisma, good looks and dazzling moves ensured him a posthumous legacy as a star, and as someone who laid the groundwork to bridge the styles of East and West. • Visit VarietyUltimate.com for every issue of Variety since 1906.
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