Kobe Bryant's Best Days Were Ahead

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17 MOURNING KOBE BRYANT The Laker legend’s influence stretched further than the basketball court ALSO INSIDE 19 FEATHERING HER NEST Cathy Yan talks about moving from indies to directing the 10 big-budget “Birds of Prey” FIELD NOTES Musings 24 STRICTLY BUSINESS on hot topics Media giants are making smaller moves — with an eye 12 to the future PLUGGED IN What’s trending 28 IN THE RUNNING at Variety.com Issa Rae talks with Variety about what made her want to 20 become a filmmaker TOP 100 Variety’s list of the top-gross- EXPOSURE ing domestic and international films of the past year. 33 PARTIES Oscar nominees luncheon; P.4 2 Grammy parties; SAG Awards; Sundance events Japanese rock star 44 DIRT Tak Matsumoto lists “Back to the Future” star his BevHills spread Christopher Lloyd puts Monte- cito, Calif., home on the block

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97 TURNING BACK TIME Quentin Tarantino and his production team brought 1960s L.A. back to life

99 DUAL VISION Director-lenser Reed Morano paired up with DP Sean Bob- bit for ‘The Rhythm Section”

“It was based on a lot of jujitsu, a REVIEWS lot of wrestling, tackling people to the ground, a little bit of crossbow, P.1 0 1 a little bit of gun training. Huntress 101 FILM needs to be able to do a little bit “On the Record” of everything.” “On the Record” review Mary Elizabeth Winstead, at the opening of 103 TV Harleywood in Hollywood, on training for her “Hillary” role in “Birds of Prey” p.40 50 CENT: LILI FORBERG/SHUTTERSTOCK; WINSTEAD: ERIC CHARBONNEAU/SHUTTERSTOCK; ON THE RECORD: MARTYNA STAROSTA/SUNDANCE INSTITUTE STAROSTA/SUNDANCE MARTYNA ON THE RECORD: ERIC CHARBONNEAU/SHUTTERSTOCK; WINSTEAD: LILI FORBERG/SHUTTERSTOCK; 50 CENT:

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KI-WOO You said you had a plan. What are we going to do about-- (quiet) The basement.

Ki-Tek is silent for a long moment. His face is cold and emotionless.

KI-TEK Do you want to know how you make a foolproof plan?

KI-WOO How?

KI-TEK Don’t plan at all. Have no plan.

Ki-woo, confused.

KI-TEK (CONT’D) If you plan, something will always go wrong. That’s life.

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VARIETY IS OWNED & PUBLISHED Kobe Bryant’s Best BY PENSKE MEDIA CORPORATION Jay Penske Days Were Ahead CHAIRMAN & CEO

GEORGE GROBAR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER I WAS STROLLING around my local ﬂea in the years following the sexual assault GERRY BYRNE VICE CHAIRMAN market Sunday morning when I looked case, which Bryant publicly apologized SARLINA SEE down at my phone and read the horri- for but never conceded was nonconsen- CHIEF ACCOUNTING OFFICER ble news: “Kobe Bryant Dies in Helicop- sual, he had grown as a human being. CRAIG PERREAULT ter Crash.” I let out an audible gasp. Of There’s been much discussion of the EVP BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT TODD GREENE course, my utter shock instantly mor- controversial issue on social media, with EVP, BUSINESS AFFAIRS & GENERAL phed into journalistic concerns over many believing he had. COUNSEL how we were going to cover this unfath- “This guy evolved in a big way DEBASHISH GHOSH MANAGING DIRECTOR omable news. when his 30s rolled around, and he was JENNY CONNELLY I have to be honest about the mixed humbled by what happened in SVP, PRODUCT feelings I had for the basketball legend Colorado,” says my colleague, co- KEN DELALCAZAR SVP, FINANCE ever since he was arrested in 2003 for editor Andy Wallenstein. “He needed to TOM FINN allegedly raping a 19-year-old woman be more humane and become a more SVP, OPERATIONS working in the Colorado hotel where he well-rounded person,” adds Wallen- NELSON ANDERSON VP, CREATIVE was staying. But, still, his tragic death stein, who had interviewed Bryant right JONI ANTONACCI struck me hard — particularly on a per- before he won an Oscar for his 2017 VP, PRODUCTION OPERATIONS sonal level. As the mother of two girls, short “Dear Basketball,” based on a REBECCA BIENSTOCK the thought that Bryant died alongside poem he wrote. Wallenstein also cred- VP, TALENT RELATIONS STEPHEN BLACKWELL his 13-year-old daughter, and knowing its Bryant with tapping his own humil- HEAD OF PORTFOLIO SALES the pain and suffering that his remain- ity and curiosity to carve out a distinct GERARD BRANCATO ing three daughters, Natalia, Bianka and path for himself rather than pursuing VP, PMC DIGITAL ACQUISTION Capri, and wife, Vanessa, must endure, coaching, management or a career in ANNE DOYLE VP, HR is simply incomprehensible. Years ago, the broadcast booth. MARA GINSBERG VP, HR “I would really my brother and I also lost a sibling and “He wanted to rediscover who he my parents a daughter. The trauma was with creative and business pursuits YOUNG KO VP, FINANCE like to believe remains, as do haunting thoughts about and who he was as a parent,” says Wal- that in the years GABRIEL KOEN what might have been had my 24-year- lenstein. “I respect him for that.” VP, TECHNOLOGY following the old sister not lost her life to the leuke- KEVIN LABONGE VP, GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS & LICENSING sexual assault mia that robbed her of a future. The NOEMI LAZO case, Bryant same can be said for Bryant’s daughter, VP, CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE had grown as a who was being groomed by her father to AND MARKETING OPERATIONS human being. BRIAN LEVINE someday follow in his footsteps as a pro- VP, REVENUE OPERATIONS Many believe fessional basketball player. Claudia Eller JUDITH R. MARGOLIN he had.” And, I would really like to believe that Editor-in-Chief VP, DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL JULIE TRINH VP, GLOBAL TAX LAUREN UTECHT VP, HR & CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS MIKE YE FAMILY TIME VP, STRATEGIC PLANNING & ACQUISITIONS Kobe Bryant sits CHRISTINA YEOH courtside at a VP, TECHNICAL OPERATIONS November Lakers game JULIE ZHU with daughter Gianna. VP, AUDIENCE MARKETING & SUBSCRIPTIONS NICI CATTON ASSOCIATE VP, PRODUCT DELIVERY KARL WALTER ASSOCIATE VP, CONTENT GURJEET CHIMA SENIOR DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL MARKETS EDDIE KO SENIOR DIRECTOR, ADVERTISING OPERATIONS ANDY LIMPUS SENIOR DIRECTOR, TALENT ACQUISITION AMIT SANNAD SENIOR DIRECTOR, DEVELOPMENT CONSTANCE EJUMA DIRECTOR, SEO LAURA ONGARO EDITORIAL & BRAND DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL KATIE PASSANTINO DIRECTOR, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DEREK RAMSAY

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News MEASURES TO LIMIT TRAVEL and Stars of the closure of most cinemas almost Upcoming Coronavirus Wipes Out completely eliminated box office tak- ings in China on what should have Releases the China Box Office been the country’s busiest moviegoing weekend of the year, the Chinese New Year (aka Spring Festival). The pain is 70 set to continue. The government extended the Blake Lively festival by three days as a means to The Rhythm Section As an avenging assassin, slow the nationwide spread of the she may find the point deadly coronavirus. she’s dropped since Jan. 1. During the annual holidays, city dwellers typically return to their rural hometowns, accounting for some 600 million excursions within the space 588 of a week. Family outings to the cinema have become a modern feature Sophia Lillis of Chinese New Year holidays. But the Gretel & Hansel Up five ticks since the cancellation of the release of all seven start of December, her tentpole movies has all but wiped out score is on a happy trail. theatrical business. Aggregate reve- nues for the top 10 titles still available on Jan. 25 were just $1.12 million. On Jan. 26, the trickle of business 42 halved again, to a total of $510,000. Last year, the top eight films on offer Purva Bedi during the first day of Chinese New The Assistant This film could help Year earned $200 million by mid- smooth the path to a rise evening. Total box office for the 2019 in her steady numbers. Lunar New Year period reached $860 million, per data from online ticketing

platform Maoyan. Vscore, powered by Variety Business Intelligence, identifies the social footprint, familiarity and availability of over 25,000 actors. For more info please • For the full story, head to Variety.com. visit Vscore.com E/SHUTTERSTOCK; BROSNAHAN: AFF-USA/SHUTTERSTOCK BROSNAHAN: E/SHUTTERSTOCK; Variety Poll SayS What? Favorite Super “[‘The“[ Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’] is a comedy. There’s a certain level of fantasy, but Bowl Halftime? iit’st rooted in a reality that a lot of women are still facing today: your agency aand autonomy not being taken seriously. Women are still being told that we’re Jennifer Lopez and Shakira will take over notn funny, which is crazy.” the Super Bowl on Feb. 2, headlining one Rachel Brosnahan of the biggest music events of the year: the halftime show. From Beyoncé’s surprise appearance to Lady Gaga’s astonishing “Can“C you believe it’s just Ricky Gervais and me this awards season? It’s the end jump into the stadium, we asked Variety. oof the road. It’s burning down to the ground. But I want to convince the world com readers which of the past four halftime tthere’s a reason to have a host. It’s my second time, and I was surprised last shows was their favorite. yyear when they asked me. But it’s genuinely something that I care about doing, aand it taps into the 12-year-old, community theater, let’s-put-on-a-show part of 6% mmy brain. It’s exhilarating.” Justin 20% Timberlake AubreyA Plaza on hosting the Independent Spirit Awards Coldplay/ Beyoncé/ “If you want to get really grand, [the Sundance Film Festival] needs to be a place Bruno Mars fofor possibility. A place where stuff can happen. All the artists are there with ttheir projects and their dreams. And the audiences — the audiences are there to be revived, somehow.” 71% OutgoingO Sundance director John Cooper Lady Gaga 3% Maroon 5/Travis Scott CHINA: JEROME FAVRE/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK; LIVELY: SHUTTERSTOCK; LILLIS: ARTHUR MOLA/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; BEDI: GREGORY PAC BEDI: GREGORY MOLA/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; LILLIS: ARTHUR SHUTTERSTOCK; LIVELY: FAVRE/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK; JEROME CHINA:

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Kobe Bryant’s Death Cuts Short Promising Second Act

THE FORMER LAKERS STAR EYED A CAREER AS A MEDIA-INDUSTRY STORYTELLER By Cynthia Littleton

IN ALL THINGS, Kobe Bryant was nothing 2016 following 20 storied seasons and ﬁve Bryant launched a production com- if not exacting. He was driven, demanding NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers. pany in 2013 that evolved into Granity and relentless in pursuit of greatness. Bryant wanted to “impact lives through Studios, which produced the 2017 ani- His tragic death in a helicopter crash storytelling,” as he told CBS News’ Dana mated short “Dear Basketball,” based on on Jan. 26 at the age of 41, an accident Jacobson in a podcast interview last a poem Bryant penned about his retire- that also took his 13-year-old daughter November. “Nothing in the world happens ment, which earned an Oscar. Granity has and seven others, means that the enter- without story.” been active in recent years in develop- tainment industry will never know what WINNING ACT “Content to Kobe was a means to an ing live-action and animated movies and the legendary basketball player might Bryant proudly end,” says ﬁlmmaker Gotham Chopra, who TV series as well as books, podcasts and have accomplished in the second chapter displays his Oscar worked with Bryant on the 2015 Show- other properties. for animated of his career. time documentary “Kobe Bryant’s Muse.” Most recently, Bryant told “CBS This short for “Dear With trademark focus, Bryant was Basketball” at “He wanted to inspire and empower young Morning” that he wanted to build his clear about where he wanted to direct his the Academy Awards people. That’s really where he saw the kind own animation studio to ensure that the energy after retiring from the NBA in April ceremony in 2018. of work he wanted to do.” work would be done to his high standards JORDAN STRAUSS/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK JORDAN

VARIETY 17 TOP BILLING rather than outsourced. He also wanted to hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. “He said, “Muse,” Nevins recalls Bryant coming back be a force in fostering diversity in enter- Granity Studios aimed to turn its pod- ‘No, no, no, to him with a flurry of questions about tainment to help broaden the horizons of cast series “The Punies” into an animated this is not “Homeland,” “Ray Donovan” and other future generations. series. Another book Bryant helped create, Showtime series. Later, he recalls watch- “I want a diverse animation team,” Bry- “Legacy and the Queen,” about a 12-year- going to be ing Bryant in the editing room working ant told “CBS This Morning. “That is the old tennis player, was envisioned as an handled by with producers to fine-tune music cues in opportunity. I want young African Amer- animated feature. telephone.’ “Muse.” When it came time for marketing ican children to understand that there is Bryant hosted the sports-analysis He got us meetings to support the release of the docu- a serious [entertainment] industry that series “Detail” for ESPN Plus in his post- down to mentary, Showtime executives suggested a you can pursue. We can’t just talk about it. NBA years. But friends and colleagues say focusing on conference call for all parties spread among We’ve got to be about it.” his goal was not to be on camera as much the flashes New York and Los Angeles. Bryant insisted Bryant applied his famous discipline as it was to have true clout as a producer of real the group meet at his Orange County home. to learning the business of television and “He said, ‘No, no, no, this is not going to and influencer in the media landscape. To intimacy in movies. He helped craft what was planned attain that, Bryant knew he first had to be be handled by telephone,’” Nevins remem- as a children’s book series — “The Wize- a student of the medium. the film.” bers. He wanted “Muse” to be his call- nard Series” — out of his frustration with David Nevins, Showtime Networks CEO Showtime’s ing card as an artist, and that meant he the gender-stereotyped stories he found as and chief creative officer of ViacomCBS, David Nevins wanted it to be personal. “He knocked on marketing a parent to share with his four daughters. recalls Bryant grilling him multiple times down the promo-ness of some of the mar- meetings As he told the Showtime podcast “All the during the making of “Muse” about how for “Kobe keting plan and got us down to focusing on Smoke” earlier this month, stories about the television business works. Bryant’s Muse” the flashes of real intimacy in the film.” princesses waiting for Prince Charming “He was a student of the process,” Nev- Bryant had strong instincts about how to come save the day were not going to ins says. “He understood that process is to frame a good story even before he really cut it with his two older daughters, who what makes the product. So he was very, focused on that arena after retirement, were inclined to athletics at an early age. very meticulous about learning the pro- Chopra says. He met Bryant around 2012 Gianna, who died with her father, was a duction process and figuring out why and expressed interest in doing a docu- budding basketball star. Natalia, 17, is an you do this first and why you do that sec- mentary on his life and NBA career. Bryant accomplished volleyball player. ond. He wanted to understand everything wasn’t ready at the time. But days after Bry- “I wanted to create stories that I could about how the business worked.” ant ruptured his Achilles tendon, an injury read to them,” Bryant told “All the Smoke” A few months into the production of that would require a great deal of rehabil- itation and effort to get back on the court, he sent Chopra a text message declaring, “Finally, we have the story.” The experience of working with Bryant on the film for more than 18 months was eye-opening, revealing the level of commitment it took to become the NBA superstar, who notably joined the Los Angeles Lakers straight out of high school at the age of 17. “He drove us crazy at times because he was so hands-on, but he drove us toward greatness,” Chopra says. “There was no com- promise in him for what his vision was.” One change in Bryant that Chopra noted after he hung up his NBA sneakers was a humbleness about the challenge of succeeding on an entirely different court — as a businessman and content creator. “He always had a strong point of view on things, but there was a humility to him,” Chopra says. “He was curious and willing to listen and learn from others.” The sudden end to Bryant’s life leaves many questions about whether his vision will endure through the projects he cham- pioned during his all too brief time as a content creator. When asked by “CBS This Morning” how he wanted to be remem- bered in 50 years, Bryant didn’t hesitate. And he didn’t mention point tallies or championship rings. IMPRESSIVEIMPRPRESSIIVEV OUTPUT Bryant told CBS News’ Jacobson he hoped to leave a legacy “as a person that Among Bryant’s projects were “Dear was able to create stories that inspired chil- Basketball” (top); dren and families to bond together, and the Showtime doc for their children to dream. But not only “Kobe Bryant’s dream but have the initiative to wake up Muse (left); and every morning and do all they can to help a planned series of inclusive that dream become a reality. That would be

children’s books. really, really cool.” MUSE: SHOWTIME BRYANT’S GO90; KOBE DEAR BASKETBALL:

18 VARIETY

Missing Link is LAIKA custom 3D printed fac in every shot of the expression is ab 106,000 faces were

“We create a whole world out of nothing. We take yards of fabric, plywood, paper, paint and we create a setting for great actors and animators to bring the story to life.” —Nelson Lowry, Production Designer

There were more than 110 sets and 65 unique locations— E\IDUWKHPRVWRIDQ\/$,.$ƓOP

There were more than 110 Sets and 65 Unique Locations— By far the most of any LAIKA film. ’s first film to utilize es for every character e film —so each facial bsolutely unique. e printed for the movie.

“There is perhaps no greater human yearning than to belong, to know one’s place in the world and, ultimately, to know who we are. Those yearnings are at the core of Missing Link and we think that’s what gives the ƓOPLWVKHDUWŐ —Chris Butler, Director/Writer

“Everything is shot in camera. There’s a real puppet in real sets, and every frame—and there’s 24 frames in every VHFRQGRIWKHƓOPŋLVEHLQJDGMXVWHG and moved and it takes 3 or 4 years to “ actually shoot the movie.” The most ambitious —Hugh Jackman (Voice of Sir Lionel) stop-motion featureus ever made. ureur A gargantuan achievement.”

—YAHOO! MOVIES .”

to Superheroes From Sundance book movie Aformer onasinglehand. book of women who’ve amajor comic directed For another, you cancount thenumber Pigs” still doesn’t have U.S. distribution. prize at Sundance, jury a special “Dead color like Yan. For one, despitewinning hot newdirector—except for women of for familiar careerpath aincreasingly budgeta blockbuster hasbecome an starring Margot Robbie. ofulous Emancipation OneHarley Quinn),” adaptation “Birdsof Prey (andtheFantab studio franchisemovie, Comics theDC ﬁlmmaker agighelminggiant landed at Sundance in2018,theChinese-born Pigs,”ble comedy “Dead madeabigsplash directing debut, theShanghai-setensem directing debut, FIND HERCONFIDENCE HOW ‘BIRDS OFPREY’ HELPEDDIRECTOR CATHY YAN JUST MONTHSAFTER Going straight fromindiebuzzto Cathy Yan’s feature

By AdamB. Vary - - I felt thiskinshiptoward themin a weird this. todirectors for thepiece, Speaking that want mademerealize todo Ireally That’s sofunny. That was actuallythestory were you thinking,“Thatcouldbeme”? directors. Whenyou were working onit, Street Journalabouttheriseoffirst-time In 2010, you wrote anarticlefor TheWall outside Washington, D.C., onavaried cin the33-year-oldjournalist, Yan grewup self could one. be thatthat sheher shefinallyunderstood filmmakers up-and-coming about story and “Batman Returns” togroundbreak LionKing” ematic dietrangingfrom“The with bine” and“To Live.” But asshediscussed ing Chinesefilmslike “Farewell MyConcu- Variety , itwasn’t untilshewrotea - - - star MargotRobbie. shares noteswith director CathyYan “Birds ofPrey” READY TOFLY new talenttoo. to make sure there’s asustainable flow of movies.directing blockbuster We have not enoughtosay we’ve got four women directors isthere. SowhatIt’s happens? of my gradewas female. Thedesire tobe andmorethanhalf to NYUfilmschool, done.be very, Itstarts early. very Iwent Women of arecapable this. “Ido!Ilovethinking, actionmovies.” that want to doactionmovies.” Iremember female directors, buttherearen’t that many “Actually, told, being for we’ve looking been whenIwasI remember just off starting female directorscandomovies ofscale. what we itdoes, whichisprove allhope that itdoes Hopefully amazing. pretty freaking settling intothat confidence. yeah, I yeah, similar self-awareness, that like, realizing Ifeltfeeling. like Iwas going throughalotof Igravitated tothat than they areapart. recognizing that they arestronger together as theotherBirdscoming intotheirown, growth. It’spersonal Harley about aswell alongtheway.breaks aware of.Ifranklyjust hadalotof lucky tobecoming adirectorthatpaths Iwas was totry, scared andtherewere noreal like Notlooked really. medoit. Ithink director.” Andthat was really, helpful. really as muchyou. That’s what makes you the that nooneknowsremember thismovie [Laughs] Shetoldme, “You’ve got to prep, andI’m like, amIdoing?” “What upPattyactually called Jenkins during about, like,about, I’ve concerned very day being Iremember from theget-go. But at thesametime, every that intheconversation —orbe for that. thinkthat Icouldreally dosomethinglike Ididn’t because meaback, you?” Ittook cept.” Andshewas like, “Well, how about know, directthescript—it’s con agreat like you allthedirectorhastodoisjust, “Birds” andIwas like, “Well, that sounds shetalked tomeabout end, at thevery after Sundance. We were just chatting, and thescreenwriter,Hodson, amonthortwo So whatwas your pitch? Prey”? How didyou about“Birds firstlearn of Why not? women. Whatdoesthatmeantoyou? 1984” and“Eternals” —are directed by Prey,” “BlackWidow,” “Wonder Woman superhero movies thisyear —“Birds of Speaking ofPatty, four ofthe big movie? handed thekeys tothisgiantfranchise How didyou managesuddenlybeing thought Icould doit. way. Ihadalways loved movies, butInever I alsothinkthat there’s alotmoreto can

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CLAUDETTE BARIUS/WARNER BROS. Disney Dominates Down Year Domestic Top 100 of2019: bought the studio in March and recently renamed it 20th Century Studios.— thestudio inMarchandrecentlybought it20thCentury renamed respectively. $1.57billionand$1.52billion, grossed ﬁnal yearIt was for the Fox: Disney morethanthecombined total of itstwobillion, closest rivals. Warner Bros. andUniversal highest all-timetotalafter2015’s “Star Wars: TheForce Awakens.” in$3.76 Disney took by “Avengers: led six places onthedomestic chart, thesecond- Endgame” with$858million, fromitsrecord haulof$11.4 billion, $11.9billionthepreviousyear. theﬁrstDisney grabbed 20 RANK TITLE DISTRIBUTOR DOMESTIC B.O. DOMESTIC DISTRIBUTOR TITLE RANK 10 13 15 7 22 19 16 2 4 8 6 1 9 5 3 14 12 17 18 20 11 21 DESPITE AMONSTER YEAR TOP BILLING 12 1 It: Chapter2 Fast &Furious ...Hobbs &Shaw How toTrain Your Dragon ...World Spider-Man: Far From Home Dumbo Shazam! The Secret Life ofPets 2 The LionKing Frozen 2 Aladdin Star Wars ...RiseofSkywalker Avengers: Endgame Joker Captain Marvel Toy Story4 John Wick ...Parabellum Us Pokémon Detective Pikachu Once UponaTime inHollywood Aquaman Jumanji: TheNext Level* Knives Out U

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$858,373,000 175,084,580 333,772,511 160,799,505 390,706,234 115,711,579 171,015,687 141,076,968 434,038,008 355,559,216 430,144,682 390,532,085 426,829,839 114,766,307 543,638,043 173,956,935 192,094,536 211,593,228 157,949,395 144,105,346 140,371,656 136,001,983 RANK TITLE DISTRIBUTOR DOMESTIC B.O. DOMESTIC DISTRIBUTOR TITLE RANK 36 23 37 41 44 32 30 29 26 25 38 35 33 39 42 40 28 34 43 31 27 24 Annabelle ComesHome Men inBlackInternational Maleficent: Mistress ofEvil The Addams Family Angel Has Fallen Dark Phoenix Rocketman Yesterday Hustlers The Upside Zombieland: DoubleTap The Lego Movie ...SecondPart Godzilla: King oftheMonsters Good Boys Spider-Man ...Spider-Verse Alita: BattleAngel Tyler Perry’s ...Family Funeral Mary Poppins Returns Downton Abbey Ford vFerrari Scary StoriestoTell intheDark Glass 92 32 U

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2018 2019 2017

11.4 7.

11.9 4.2% 2.6%

11.1 2% 95 45 †RELEASED IN2018, GROSSES FOR 2019ONLY SOURCE: COMSCORE 66 74 76 84 54 77 56 49 83 88 52 62 58 73 82 98 90 48 94 79 47 65 97 46 71 55 69 53 59 85 92 64 81 91 60 87 57 89 70 75 68 72 86 96 67 80 50 93 99 78 100 63 61 51 GROSSES FOR JAN. 1-DEC. 31,2019*STILL INRELEASE ONJAN. 1,2020 RANK TITLE DISTRIBUTOR DOMESTIC B.O. DOMESTIC DISTRIBUTOR TITLE RANK The AngryBirds Movie 2 The Hustle Overcomer What MenWant Cold Pursuit On theBasisofSex Terminator: DarkFate Ad Astra A BeautifulDay ...Neighborhood Bohemian Rhapsody The CurseofLaLlorona Rambo: LastBlood Gemini Man The Intruder Ready orNot Parasite Happy Death Day 2U Dragon BallSuper: Broly Escape Room Fighting With MyFamily A Dog’s Way Home Pet Sematary Child’s Play Five Feet Apart Countdown The ArtofRacingintheRain Long Shot Dora andtheLost CityofGold Booksmart Abominable Crawl Green Book Queen &Slim Breakthrough Little Women Ma Vice Judy Harriet 21 Bridges A Dog’s Journey Uncut Gems Spies inDisguise Midsommar Ralph Breaks theInternet Doctor Sleep 47 Meters ...Uncaged Isn’t ItRomantic Playing With Fire Wonder Park The Mule Last Christmas Little Midway Stuber Bumblebee U † *

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42,004,346 22,958,583 35,419,122 54,724,696 35,116,450 28,222,277 22,260,900 34,746,945 29,208,403 52,927,165 57,005,601 28,714,231 27,426,361 55,769,470 45,216,793 48,791,187 37,593,127 22,680,962 42,547,700 26,402,818 60,477,943 23,474,857 31,543,097 60,679,265 22,782,371 62,253,077 39,084,073 54,611,903 40,860,481 40,718,945 39,014,193 54,733,739 48,546,770 28,148,130 24,233,824 44,151,387 29,323,688 22,946,065 25,594,369 45,896,028 27,747,269 22,370,452 50,188,370 26,490,206 45,729,221 40,713,082 35,417,038 28,060,115 41,667,116 30,316,271 56,706,993 24,018,519 22,633,685 32,138,862 44,819,352 56,279,164

US: CLAUDETTE BARIUS/UNIVERSAL PICTURES; JOKER: NIKO TAVERNISE/WARNER BROS.; JUDY: ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS; AVENGERS: ENDGAME: MARVEL: ROCKETMAN: DAVID APPLEBY/PARAMOUNT

Overall, 40 foreign ﬁlms broke into the top 100, unchanged from 2018. — 40foreignOverall, ﬁlmsbroke from2018. intothetop100,unchanged of thetop100spots,three fewer movies theprioryear. thanthemainlandputonchart movies, Chinesetitlesheld20 with$724million. amongnon-Hollywood performer the best studios.the next China’s threeHollywood fantasy“Ne animated Zha” was on thelist, sixth Disney’swith $1.94billion. totalof thecombined international totalof$7.35billioneclipsed for thedomestic decline. sixof Disney thetop10places, took by “Avengers: led Endgame” Mouse Roars, Record Falls Int’l Top 100 of 2019: 22 RANK TITLE( 6 20 16 19 5 8 1 2 11 15 9 4 3 13 10 14 18 12 22 7 21 17 INTERNATIONAL BOX OFFICELEAPED TOP BILLING 33 41 Ne Zha* Pokémon Detective Pikachu How toTrain Your Dragon ...World Alita: BattleAngel Joker Aladdin Avengers: Endgame The LionKing Fast &Furious ...Hobbs &Shaw Maleficent: Mistress ofEvil The Wandering Earth Spider-Man: Far From Home Frozen 2 The Captain Toy Story 4 Star Wars: TheRiseofSkywalker Jumanji: TheNext Level My People, My Country The Secret Life ofPets 2 Captain Marvel Godzilla: King oftheMonsters Crazy Alien *

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319,209,334 732,480,696 377,908,643 321,183,136 640,068,298 396,300,000 695,464,640 815,600,000 741,460,004 702,877,409 412,739,364 684,167,340 404,339,483 322,327,451 586,624,452 284,113,953 724,182,758 275,644,983 288,900,000 361,247,720 7.7% to a record $31.1 billion, morethanmakingup 7.7% toarecord $31.1billion, .) B.O. RANK TITLE( 23 38 26 41 30 35 25 29 33 44 43 27 31 32 40 42 24 37 39 34 36 28 Bohemian Rhapsody† It: Chapter2 Aquaman† Green Book† Ip Man4:TheFinale John Wick ...Parabellum Dark Phoenix Extreme Job Dumbo Shazam! Terminator: DarkFate More ThanBlue Pegasus The Climbers Men inBlackInternational Once UponaTime inHollywood Bumblebee† Better Days* Annabelle ComesHome The WhiteStorm2: DrugLords Weathering With You The Bravest Disney China WB WB COUNTRY OFORIGINIFNOT U.S./DISTRIB *

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224,988,000 174,373,582 238,379,771 156,643,390 225,578,463 229,063,386 222,191,595 152,624,525 155,266,239 194,580,510 233,135,630 225,254,633 157,100,000 251,732,941 140,178,825 155,696,558 261,359,883 184,129,760 170,600,000 197,572,634 187,298,474 231,530,522 .) B.O. Hobbs &Shaw Furious Presents: 10. $ Skywalker The Riseof 9. $ 8. $ 7. $ Story 4 6. $ Marvel 5. $ Far FromHom 4. $ 3. $ Disney 2. $ Endgame 1. $ worldwide box office. $1 billionatthe from Disney)topped films (six ofthem Eight oftheyear’s TOP 10 TOP GLOBAL 761 787 1.04 1.07 1.07 1.13 1.13 1.25 1.66 2.80 Toy Joker Captain Spider-Man: Star Wars: Frozen 2 Aladdin The LionKing Avengers: Fast &

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108,763,095 126,650,508 105,517,940 132,486,683 128,065,023 108,580,837 102,388,771 103,000,000 136,488,386 121,439,483 116,200,000 122,482,409 101,152,312 105,819,310 67,286,161 48,650,154 93,951,354 98,700,000 97,396,704 51,143,687 98,773,103 68,380,353 52,426,044 55,275,539 57,270,450 64,965,182 74,769,845 86,400,000 53,818,996 60,736,361 86,712,914 58,090,000 79,433,045 59,281,000 65,879,554 52,500,000 99,261,000 52,533,000 47,119,013 68,500,000 70,972,041 76,206,359 76,165,000 52,149,039 86,118,910 64,686,062 57,396,915 55,717,741 50,901,999 91,569,000 62,479,069 81,080,710 64,108,412 78,079,556 60,036,871 64,789,076 .) B.O.

JOHN WICK 3: NIKON TAVERNISE/LIONSGATE; PARASITE: NEON; WANDERING EARTH: NETFLIX; TERMINATOR: ILM/PARAMOUNT PICTURES; NE ZHA: WELL GO USA ENTERTAINMENT FX AND FOX 21 TELEVISION STUDIOS PROUDLY CONGRATULATE OUR SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARD® WINNERS MICHELLE WILLIAMS SAM ROCKWELL OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES Bolder Bolder Media Giants Signal Small Steps for of developments have emerged for tradi strikeleast anew. petition onsteroids. petition for com aneweraof andlinear streaming nal apushtorevisethebusiness blueprint somegranular-levelbeen moves that sig tens of billionsof dollars. Oflate therehave in thaterating aremeasured M&Adeals and sometimessurprisingchanges. long-standing andmake operations big a newwillingness totake at ahardlook across theindustry.is spreading There’s spirit of reinvention andexperimentation that companies indicatetional media a RESOURCES FOR THESTREAMING ERA INDUSTRY LEADERS AREBREAKINGUPANDSHAKINGTO REALIGN 24 MAYBE THEEMPIRE TOP BILLING Over few thepast months, anumber This goes deeper thantheheadline-gen deeper This goes VREY VARIETY Cynthia Littleton BUSINESS STRICTLY can strike back. Oratcan strike back. Thinking

- - - - locally produced and syndicated content andsyndicated produced locally 13. It’s of grabbing ameans eyeballs for withonlyalittle fanfareonJan.launched platform streaming thatad-supported ing platforms inassembling theFox Soul tion of younger viewers tomobilestream- serve North America? North serve distribution venture withUniversal to would setupajointhomeentertainment with allitsvolume and market clout, and George Chien?Orthat Warner Bros., those channels, Sony alumsAndyKaplan to theexecutives whopreviouslyran channels inasale clutch of AsianTV Pictures Television witha would part Who could have that Sony predicted Fox Corp. isacknowledging themigra

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DISNEY+ Untitled-10 1 1/23/20 5:40 PM Untitled-6 1 1/23/20 12:24 PM Untitled-6 2 1/23/20 12:24 PM TOP BILLING

IN THE RUNNING stars as a New York City museum curator Marc Malkin who unexpectedly finds love with a magazine reporter (Lakeith Stanfield) after he reaches out to her to talk about pho- tos taken by her late photographer mother. “The Photograph” was written and directed by Stella Meghie, whom Rae met when she ‘Love & Basketball’ directed an episode of “Insecure” in 2018. The film hits theaters on Feb. 14, just five days after the Oscars will be handed out. Shortly after Rae and John Cho announced Gave Issa Rae the nominations on “Good Morning Amer- ica,” the Academy came under fire for the lack of diversity among nominees. Cynthia Reason to Dream Erivo is the only person of color nominated in the acting categories. “Of course I was bummed out and irri- THE FILMMAKER WEIGHS IN ON THE LACK OF DIVERSITY tated,” says Rae. “But I’m also just tired of AMONG OSCAR NOMINEES having these conversations, and will we be satisfied next year if there are more nominations, and does that really represent the fact that the Academy is changing or actually diverse? It’s just like we get these little carrots here and there, and yeah, I’m tired of those conversations. “All I can do is either discredit the Oscars as a non-objective party to merit film or buy into it and just be like, ‘Oh, maybe those films weren’t worth nominating,’ but I think it’s just a tired conversation.” But she knows it’s a conversation that will continue. “There are a lot of bumps,” Rae says. “I feel like we’re always in these cycles. Like this is not the first time this has happened. This won’t be the last time. We’ll see what the Oscars do next year with the attention and the ears and eyes of so many people. But then conversely, you have people being like, ‘Oh, now they’re the affirmative action awards.’ So it’s just like you can’t win anyway.” Rae will continue to create. What “Love & Basketball” did for her, she hopes her projects will do for others. She remembers being in college when she noticed that Hol- lywood’s support and promotion of black content appeared to be waning. ISSA RAE SAYS she had every reason to Angeles,” says Rae, 35, who grew up in Ingle- “I was just so mad by the representation think she could be a filmmaker when she wood. “It was a story about a tomboy who of a lot of black people, and black women was growing up. played basketball, which I identified with. particularly, on screen that I was like, this “The ’90s had lots of black television Omar Epps was gorgeous, and Sanaa Latham is not all we are,” she says. “We’re not just and film … a lot of the shows were helmed was every woman in a way that I hadn’t seen contestants vying for Flavor Flav’s love. by black people,” she recalls. “That’s what before — a relatable black woman. And then Like that’s not what all black women are, inspired me to at least try it.” behind the scenes it was directed and writ- and there have to be alternative represen- She may have only been 5 years old ten by a black woman. It just felt so grounded. tations [to] this.” when “A Different World” — a spinoff of It was just a regular love story that wasn’t Take Lupita Nyong’o in “Us,” in which “The Cosby Show” that took place at a his- rooted in any kind of trauma. It wasn’t rooted she played two characters — a mom in a torically black college and ran on NBC from in any major deceptions.” middle-class black family and her evil dop- 1987 to 1993 — went off the air, but it left In short, Rae says, “It made me want to pelgänger. Her work was an early favorite in its mark. be a filmmaker.” the Oscar race, but her name wasn’t called But perhaps even more influential was Rae is sitting in the production offices of when the nominations were announced. “Love & Basketball.” The 2000 roman- A SEAT “Insecure,” the HBO series that has earned “I was like, ‘Y’all didn’t see “Us”?’” Rae AT THE TABLE tic drama, written and directed by Gina her Golden Globe and Emmy nominations says. “‘Did y’all not see her do what she Lakeith Stanfield Prince-Blythewood, stars Omar Epps and and Issa Rae with as well as a Peabody Award. I’m interview- did in “Us”?’ In every way, that is to me the Sanaa Lathan as childhood friends who fall writer-director ing her for an upcoming episode of “The embodiment of a performance, and to not for each other while they’re both pursuing Stella Meghie, who Big Ticket,” Variety and iHeart’s movie pod- have that be recognized in any way is psy- calls the shots, careers on the court. on the set of cast. She’s just begun promoting “The Pho- chotic to me, but what can I do about it

“It took place in my neighborhood in Los “The Photograph.” tograph,” a romantic drama in which she besides keep going?” PICTURES LANTOS/UNIVERSAL SABRINA

28 VARIETY Storytelling with serious altitude. AT&T and WarnerMedia have joined forces to deliver the very best in entertainment.

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FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY Ariana Grande, in a Giambattista Valli tulle gown, arrives at the Grammys on Jan. 26 at Staples Center. DAVID FISHER/SHUTTERSTOCK DAVID

VARIETY 33 EXPOSURE

SAG Awards Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Aniston Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, Jan. 19

SAG-AFTRA celebrated the year’s best actors at the guild’s 26th annual gala. Expected winners Brad Pitt, Renée Zellweger, Laura Dern and Joaquin Phoenix took home trophies, as did the cast of “Parasite,” which picked up the biggest prize of the evening: best ensemble in a motion picture. Among the TV winners were Jennifer

Aniston, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Tony Shalhoub, (2); POLK/PEOPLE/SHUTTERSTOCK TOPHER Michelle Williams and the cast of “The Crown.” With his sixth nod, for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Leonardo DiCaprio became the awards’ most nominated male actor. However, he insisted to Variety, “You never get used to it.”

Cynthia Erivo

Leonardo DiCaprio and Julia Butters

Song Kang Ho, Park So Dam, Lee Sun Gyun and Choi Woo Shik

Renée Zellweger Laura Dern CHRIS FOXX/LOPEZ/RODRIGUEZ: (2); BONHAM/DOHERTY, DIGGS: CHRIS PIZZELLO/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK DICAPRIO/BUTTERS, SHUTTERSTOCK; /SHUTTERSTOCK

Helena Bonham Carter and Erin Doherty

Brad Pitt OLFF/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK (2); ERIVO: MATT SAYLES/INVISION/AP/ MATT (2); ERIVO: OLFF/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK Daveed Diggs

Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Lopez and Joaquin Phoenix Alex Rodriguez ZELLWEGER: DAVID FISHER/SHUTTERSTOCK; DERN, PITT: MICHAEL BUCKNER/VARIETY/SHUTTERSTOCK (2); PHOENIX/WINKLER: ROB LATOUR/VARIETY ROB (2); PHOENIX/WINKLER: MICHAEL BUCKNER/VARIETY/SHUTTERSTOCK DERN, PITT: FISHER/SHUTTERSTOCK; DAVID ZELLWEGER: and Henry Winkler COLIN YOUNG-W SONG/SO-DAM/GYUN/WOO-SHIK/SONG: KIDMAN/ANISTON,

34 VARIETY Untitled-25 1 1/15/20 1:45 PM

EXPOSURE Grammy We ek

Los Angeles, Jan. 23-26

While the scandal surrounding the Recording Academy’s controversial ouster of new president-CEO Deborah Dugan cast a cloud over Grammy Week, the industry largely put the battle on Lewis Capaldi and hold for the weekend to let the artists Maggie Rogers at have the shine they deserved. And the Universal Music shine they did, from the legendary Clive afterparty PIZZELLO/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; PIZZELLO/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; Davis Pre-Grammy Gala and the elite Roc Nation Brunch to the big show’s red Leon Bridges and Beck at the CAA carpet and a flurry of pre-, after- and Grammy Party during parties and showcases.

Billy Porter and Billie Eilish at the Spotify showcase Y; CAPALDI/ROGERS, MENDES: JORDAN STRAUSS/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK (2); BRIDGES/BECK: ALEX J. BERLINER/ABIMAGES; LIZZO: CHRIS LIZZO: BERLINER/ABIMAGES; ALEX J. (2); BRIDGES/BECK: STRAUSS/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK MENDES: JORDAN CAPALDI/ROGERS, Y;

Camila Cabello is flanked by Epic Records chairman/ Lizzo CEO Sylvia Rhone and Sony Music CEO Rob Stringer

Usher and Janet Jackson at the Clive Davis Pre- Grammy Gala

Cyndi Lauper and Bebe Rexha at the Women in Harmony Pre-Grammy Brunch

Beyoncé and Jay-Z at the Roc Shawn Mendes Nation Brunch USHER/JACKSON: LESTER COHEN/GETTY IMAGES FOR THE RECORDING ACADEMY; BEYONCÉ/JAY-Z: KEVIN MAZUR/GETTY IMAGES FOR ROC NATION ROC FOR IMAGES KEVIN MAZUR/GETTY BEYONCÉ/JAY-Z: ACADEMY; THE RECORDING FOR IMAGES COHEN/GETTY LESTER USHER/JACKSON: PORTER/EILISH, LAUPER/REXHA: CHELSEA LAUREN/VARIETY/SHUTTERSTOCK (2); RHONE/CABELLO/STRINGER: JOHN SCIULLI/GETTY IMAGES FOR SON FOR IMAGES JOHN SCIULLI/GETTY (2); RHONE/CABELLO/STRINGER: LAUREN/VARIETY/SHUTTERSTOCK CHELSEA LAUPER/REXHA: PORTER/EILISH,

36 VARIETY EXPOSURE

Alex Avant, Jay-Z, Clarence Justin Tranter and Avant, Diddy and Jack Antonoff at John Legend at the Clive Davis Pre- the Roc Nation LER THE CREATOR, LIL NAS X: DAVID FISHER/SHUTTERSTOCK (3); (3); FISHER/SHUTTERSTOCK DAVID X: LIL NAS LER THE CREATOR, Grammy Gala Brunch

Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton at the Warner Music pre-Grammy party Dan + Shay

Rihanna and T.I. at the Roc Nation Brunch HEN/GETTY IMAGES FOR THE RECORDING ACADEMY; TINASHE/BECKY G.: ALEX J. BERLINER/ABIMAGES ALEX J. G.: TINASHE/BECKY ACADEMY; THE RECORDING FOR IMAGES HEN/GETTY BERTO E. RODRIGUEZ/GETTY IMAGES FOR THE RECORDING ACADEMY; STEFANI/SHELTON: CHRISTOPHER POLK/VARIETY/SHUTTERSTOCK; DAN/SHAY, TY DAN/SHAY, POLK/VARIETY/SHUTTERSTOCK; CHRISTOPHER STEFANI/SHELTON: ACADEMY; THE RECORDING FOR IMAGES E. RODRIGUEZ/GETTY BERTO Tinashe and Becky G at the CAA Grammy party

Tyler, the Creator Lil Nas X Name Goes Here XXXXX XXXXXX

Dua Lipa and Hailee Steinfeld at the Roc Nation Brunch

Rashida Jones Cardi B and Lana Del Rey and Quincy Offset at the at the Clive Jones at the Clive Davis Pre- Davis Pre- NameClive Goes Davis Here Pre- Grammy Gala Grammy Gala XXXXXGrammy XXXXXX Gala CARDI B./OFFSET: CRASH/IMAGESPACE/SHUTTERSTOCK; DEL REY: MARK VON HOLDEN/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; R. JONES/Q. JONES: LESTER CO JONES: LESTER JONES/Q. R. HOLDEN/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; MARK VON DEL REY: CRASH/IMAGESPACE/SHUTTERSTOCK; B./OFFSET: CARDI AVANT/JAY-Z/AVANT/COMBS/LEGEND, RIHANNA/T.I., LIPA/STEINFELD: KEVIN MAZUR/GETTY IMAGES FOR ROC NATION (3); TRANTER/ANTONOFF: AL (3); TRANTER/ANTONOFF: NATION ROC FOR IMAGES KEVIN MAZUR/GETTY LIPA/STEINFELD: RIHANNA/T.I., AVANT/JAY-Z/AVANT/COMBS/LEGEND,

VARIETY 37 EXPOSURE Oscar Nominees Luncheon

Ray Dolby Ballroom, Hollywood, Jan. 27

Academy president David Rubin opened the program with a moment of silence for Kobe Bryant, after recalling how “excited” the late basketball legend was to be at the luncheon when he was nominated two years ago for his SWANSON/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK DAVID CHERT: short film “Dear Basketball.” Charlize Theron’s date for the afternoon was her mom, Gerda Jacoba Aletta Maritz, who was also celebrating her birthday. “How do you like the party I’m throwing for her?” the “Bombshell” star Florence Taika Waititi quipped. Brad Pitt was mobbed for selfies Pugh and also chatted with fellow nominees Sandy Powell and Roger Deakins. Oscar producers Lynette Howell Taylor and Stephanie Allain offered tips for acceptance speeches. “Be prepared,” Taylor said. “You will not jinx yourself by doing so.” DUVERNAY, MENDES/CUARO, RENCK: VARIETY/SHUTTERSTOCK (5); BOGNAR/REI VARIETY/SHUTTERSTOCK RENCK: MENDES/CUARO, DUVERNAY,

Noah Baumbach and Charlize Theron Kathy Bates Todd Phillips and David Rubin

DGA Awards KASSELL, RUBIN: PHIL MCCARTEN/©A.M.P.A.S.;HAR’EL/HARDWICKE,

Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles, Jan. 25

Sam Mendes took home the top prize for “1917,” while “Honey Boy” director Alma Har’el won the first-time feature award. Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar picked up the documentary prizes for “American Factory.” Reichert offered her advice for young women wanting to direct. “Do things that really matter to you,” she told Variety. “If you don’t have your heart beating for this project, whatever it is … you’re not going to survive. It has to really matter. And stick together with other women. That’s how we’ve gotten where we are. You don’t go it alone.” Alma Har’el and Catherine Hardwicke Nicole Kassell

Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar

Sam Mendes and Alfonso Cuarón Ava DuVernay Johan Renck PUGH, WAITITI: ROB LATOUR/SHUTTERSTOCK (2); BATES: MATT BARON/SHUTTERSTOCK; BAUMBACH/PHILLIPS: LIONEL HAHN/©A.M.P.A.S.; THERON/ LIONEL HAHN/©A.M.P.A.S.; BAUMBACH/PHILLIPS: BARON/SHUTTERSTOCK; MATT (2); BATES: LATOUR/SHUTTERSTOCK ROB PUGH, WAITITI:

38 VARIETY OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES WINNER PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARD®

THE DANNY THOMAS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING WINNER PRODUCER OF EPISODIC TELEVISION – COMEDY PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE • HARRY BRADBEER PRODUCERS LYDIA HAMPSON • HARRY WILLIAMS GUILD AWARD JACK WILLIAMS • JOE LEWIS • SARAH HAMMOND

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – MUSICAL OR COMEDY WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – MUSICAL OR COMEDY GOLDEN GLOBE® PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE 2 AWARDS

BEST COMEDY SERIES WINNER BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE CRITICS’ CHOICE 3 AWARDS BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES ANDREW SCOTT

Untitled-5 1 1/23/20 12:23 PM EXPOSURE

Sundance Film Festival Park City, Utah, RiRileyley KeouKeoughgh and Feb. 23-24 Taylour PaPaigeige at the ““Zola”Zola” prempremiereiere The fest opened with the premiere of Netflix’s ; ) 2

Taylor Swift documentary, “Miss Americana.” ( “We started the process not really knowing if we were going to end up with a documentary —

it was just sort of like: Let’s film; let’s see what (2); UTTERSTOCK you see,” Swift said during a post-screening Q&A with her director, Lana Wilson. “This was completely in her hands. And I really appreciate all the hours we talked. Those interviews — there were a lot of hours that she had to hear me talk about my feelings.” Jay Pharoah, Yaani King Mondschein, Ashley Blaine Featherson, Elle Lorraine, Courtney Sauls and James Van Der Beek at the “Bad Hair” party

Taylor Swift Kerry Washington

at the “Miss at the “Fight” CHARLES SYKES/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK KEOUGH/PAIGE: LINTON, Americana” premiere TEIN/C TEIN TEI TE T

premiere S RS R URS UR U ; BURS RSTOCK

Tara Miele, Sienna Miller and Diego Luna at the Variety Sundance Studio presented by AT&T W

Nanette Burstein and

Hillary Clinton at the JONES/WGAW TERSTOCK; MIELE/MILLER/LUNA: JOHN SALANGSANG/VARIETY/SHUTTERSTOCK; BURSTEIN/CLINTON, KEOUGH/PAIGE: CHARLES SYKES/INVISION/AP/SH KEOUGH/PAIGE: BURSTEIN/CLINTON, JOHN SALANGSANG/VARIETY/SHUTTERSTOCK; MIELE/MILLER/LUNA: TERSTOCK; “Hillary” premiere RCOMB/SHUTTERSTOCK; MIELE/MILLER/LUNA: JOHN SALANGSANG/VARIETY/SHUTTE MIELE/MILLER/LUNA: RCOMB/SHUTTERSTOCK; WIG: MICHAEL JONES/WGA U R

Harleywood Greta Gerwig Opening Hollywood & Highland, Hollywood, Jan. 23

The “Birds of Prey” fan event included a laser light show, fireworks and confetti. “It’s a very fun movie,” Margot Robbie, who reprises her role as Harley Quinn in the film, told Variety. “You’re seeing the world from Harley’s point of view, and it’s unpredictable and crazy and a kooky ride, and a lot happens.” Explaining the film’s R rating, she added, Beyond Words 2020 “Harley’s not someone to hold back. Writers Guild Theater, Beverly Hills, Jan. 23 The R rating really allowed us to take it to the next level with fight “Little Women” screenwriter and director Greta Gerwig recalled how scenes and saying what we want.” Louisa May Alcott’s novel inspired her to became a writer. “I’d grown up Jurnee Smollett-Bell, who plays with the book ‘Little Women,’ and I loved ‘Little Women,’” she explained at Black Canary, said the five months of the WGA West’s annual event. “And it was the book that made me think I fight training allowed the cast to “do Jurnee Smollett-Bell, could be a writer because Jo March was a writer. But I hadn’t read it since most of our stunts,” then laughed, “It Mary Elizabeth Winstead I was 14 or 15, and when I read it again when I was 30, it was so modern and Margot Robbie WASHINGTON: ARTHUR MOLA/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; SMOLLETT-BELL/WINSTEAD/ROBBIE: ERIC CHARBONNEAU/SHUTTERSTOCK; GERWIG: MICHAEL ERIC CHARBONNEAU/SHUTTERSTOCK; SMOLLETT-BELL/WINSTEAD/ROBBIE: MOLA/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; ARTHUR WASHINGTON: sucked, man!” and urgent that it felt like lines were written in neon.” MICHAEL HURCOMB/SHUT SWIFT: AGOSTINI/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; EVAN DER BEEK: PHAROAH/MONDSCHEIN/FEATHERSON/LORRAINE,/SAULS/VAN

40 VARIETY Untitled-9 1 1/11/20 10:17 AM DIRT

$8.5m

BEVERLY HILLS 7,000 SQ. FT. 5 BEDROOMS

6 BATHS

Much less conspicuously flamboyant than Japanese Rock Star some of the surrounding properties, the residence was briefly owned in the late 1960s by singer-actor Bobby Darin before it was sold in 1969 to legendary voice artist Mel Blanc’s Lists Rodeo Drive Pad voiceover artist son Noel Blanc. Thickly planted with tropical foliage on a just-shy-of-0.4-acre corner parcel along tree- THOUGH HE MAY NOT be a household name in America, Takahiro “Tak” Matsu- lined Rodeo Drive, the property offers nearly moto is a megastar in his native Japan, where the rock duo of which he’s long been 7,000 square feet of renovated living space a part, B’z, is the country’s all-time top-selling band, with more than 100 million with a total of five bedrooms and six bathrooms. Built in 1922, the Spanish-style main records sold worldwide. The 50-something guitar virtuoso, who also has a success- residence offers three bedrooms, including ful solo career that earned him a 2011 Grammy in the pop instrumental album cate- an expansive owner’s retreat, plus a discrete gory alongside jazz guitarist Larry Carlton for the record “Take Your Pick,” has long staff suite. The grounds include exten- maintained a home in Beverly Hills that will hit the market this week at $8.5 million. sive terraces for alfresco entertaining and a mosaic-tiled swimming pool surrounded by boulders, a waterfall and tropical plant- ings. The home is listed with Markus Canter MARK DAVID and Cristie St. James of Berkshire Hathaway THE REAL ESTALKER HomeServices California Properties. MATSUMOTO: JAE C HONG/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK JAE MATSUMOTO:

42 VARIETY Untitled-9 1 1/24/20 2:42 PM DIRT

Mamie Gummer’s Boho- Chic Cabin Up for Grabs Up-and-coming actor and showbiz scion Mamie Gummer, daughter of inestima- ble Tinseltown treasure Meryl Streep, has hoisted an organic modern cabin in the historic Beachwood Canyon area of Los Angeles up for sale on the open market at close to $1.5 million. Gummer, whose recent TV credits include “True Detective” and “Gods & Heroes,” and who took home a Drama Desk Award in 2016 for a starring role in the Off-Broadway play “Ugly Lies the Bone,” paid model/actor-turned-natural cosmetics entrepreneur Josie Maran not quite $1.4 million for the charmingly funky, treehouse-like retreat about 2½ years ago. $1.7m Listed with Bryony Atkinson at MaisonRe, the fully updated 1940s residence sits MONTECITO, CALIF. high and private above the street behind 1,020 SQ. FT. a secured entrance gate with three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms in about 1,700 2 BEDROOMS square feet. 1 BATH The stylishly appointed boho-chic cabin features exposed-wood support beams and terra cotta-style ceramic floor tiles through- There are two bedrooms and two thoroughly bungalow he scooped up just over five years out the open-plan living and dining rooms, updated bathrooms on the main floor, while ago for exactly $800,000. the former with a wood stove and the latter a spacious, second-floor loft space — a poten- Listed with Compass agents Ron Brand and with casement windows that extend all the tial third bedroom — is flooded with natural Arthur Kalayjian, the pint-size cottage sits on way to the ceiling. The kitchen mixes mod- light through several large skylights in the a slight rise above the street and is mostly hid- ern-day amenities with a classic farmhouse vaulted ceiling. den behind thick hedging and mature foliage, style that includes a perfectly preserved Interior spaces spill easily out to a huge with two bedrooms and one bathroom. The vintage range and copper countertops on wraparound deck with an outdoor kitchen and front door opens directly into the living room, cabinetry handcrafted of reclaimed wood. grilling area. Copious built-in bench seating which features a vaulted and beamed ceil- borders a stone fire pit, and a built-in dining ing, a tiled fireplace and picture windows that banquette is cleverly shaded by a tree growing fill the room with coastal light. A petite din- right up through the middle of a built-in table. ing area off the living room is open to a small but smartly arranged kitchen with high-end appliances. French doors in the dining area Christopher Lloyd open to a grassy backyard and a detached garage converted to a media lounge. Sitting Sets Sale in Montecito atop a series of white-stucco retaining walls, Christopher Lloyd, probably best known the upper-level terrace offers a fire pit and for his role as Doc Brown in the “Back to the over-the-rooftops sunset and ocean views. Future” trilogy, has a modestly sized cot- After a 2008 wildfire destroyed an exist- tage in fancy-pants Montecito, Calif., up for ing home, Lloyd, now in his early 80s, cus- $1.5m sale at just under $1.7 million. The three-time tom-built a sprawling, four-bedroom and Emmy winner, who made his acting debut 4.5-bathroom Tuscan-inspired villa in in the seminal 1975 film “One Flew Over the another part of Montecito that came for sale LOS ANGELES 3 BEDROOMS Cuckoo’s Nest,” hopes to double his money on in early 2012 at nearly $6.5 million and sold 1,700 SQ. FT. 2 BATHS the comprehensively updated 1950s Spanish later in the same year at $5.1 million.

David Hasselhoff whose $3.6 million property DIGS Is Getting Restless is adorned with kitschy “Hoff” memorabilia including a “Baywatch” star David “Baywatch” pinball machine, DJ Khaled Goes Cut-Ratete Hasselhoff is bent on selling fits the criteria. He’s also Hip-hop musician Khaled his BevHills mansion, and looking for a new place to Mohamed Khaled, aka DJ Khaled,d, he’s recruiting his daughter is having trouble selling one of Tay to help. Tay, a former cast call Hasselhome. “Something his tricked-out Miami homes. member of “Rich Kids a little bit grander,” says the On the market since November of Beverly Hills,” is all grown Jan. 15, focuses on L.A. “Young and the Restless” 2018, the waterfront estate’s up now and a star of the celebrity broker Aaron Kirman actor. “So when you drive price has fallen yet again — CNBC Prime reality realty and his team, which targets up, you go, ‘Wow, that’s from $6.6 million to $6 million. show “Listing Impossible.” hard-to-sell, multimillion- David Hasselhoff’s house.’” MAE HAMILTON The series, which premiered dollar homes. Hasselhoff, MAE HAMILTON BROADIMAGE/SHUTTERSTOCK KHALED:

44 VARIETY Every win is a journey Watch the EE British Academy Film Awards on Sunday 2 February 2020

Red carpet broadcast livee on Facebook, Twitter and YYouTubeouTube before the ceremony

bafta.org @BAFTA #EEBAFTAsFTAs

Untitled-32Variety_CopyOp3_Alt_FINAL.indd 1 1 17/01/20201/21/20 12:57 12:04 PM 46 46 By BrianSteinberg CROWDED FIELD TO STAYCOMPETITIVEINA SHOWS AREBATTLING REVENUE-DRIVING A.M. NEWS VREY VARIETY VREY VARIETY

GUTTER CREDIT BROKEN HAS MORNING

GUTTER CREDIT

VARIETY 47 ROBIN ROBERTS NEEDS TO RELY Once a softer environment for news and interviews, morning television has become the most intense and competitive time of day for major TV news outlets, even though viewers are getting ON MORE THAN JUST HER more news from smartphone screens and other new-tech venues. And as the pace of breaking news increases, the shows are turning more hard-boiled. In recent years, viewers have seen anchors con- JOURNALISM TRAINING TO SURVIVE duct contentious newsmaker interviews, discuss shocking political maneuvers and even cover detailed sexual assault allegations against former colleagues. ON “GOOD MORNING AMERICA.” Adding to the tension: Key viewers have defected from the a.m. offerings on ABC, NBC and CBS. Over a five-season period that ended with the 2018-19 cycle, the audience that news advertis- ers pay for most — people between 25 and 54 — fell almost 22% at “CBS This Morning,” 28% at “Today” and a little over 38% at “GMA,” according to Nielsen. Meanwhile, cable’s best-known morning programs — “Fox & Friends,” “Morning Joe” and “New Day” — have won viewers by aggressively focusing on a narrower political spectrum and breaking national news. “It’s not your momma’s ‘Good Morning America,’” says Roberts one morning during a quick break on set while the cameras are off. “Nor should it be.” In sunrise visits to six of the nation’s most-watched a.m. programs, Variety found anchors taking on more roles as their networks extend into digital video and social media; producers working to beat their rivals in the traditional ratings, all the while hoping their networks monetize experimental ways of reaching viewers; and news personnel trying to figure out how to balance an increasing amount of hard news with the lighter tone that has been a hallmark of the time slot. “We are shot out of a cannon now,” says Roberts, because viewers who once tuned to the morning shows for their first headlines have already gotten them somewhere else, increasing the pressure to find ways to stand out. “It’s become a more difficult landscape to keep track of all the developments and put them into context,” says Brzezinski of “Morning Joe.” “There’s actually not enough time in our three-hour show to do that.” Adds Ainsley Earhardt, co-anchor ABC NEWS keeps throwing new program configurations at her, so at “Fox & Friends,” “We don’t have those opportunities as much as

much so that Roberts says she draws upon her childhood experi- we used to — to maybe throw in some of those fun segments — but JEREMY FREEMAN/CNN NEW DAY: MORNING JOE: MSNBC; ence, when her father had to move from job to job in the Air Force, you go with the flow, you go with the news cycle.” to keep rolling with them. “I had to make new friends every three To keep pace, many of the networks are eagerly tinkering with years,” she says. On camera at “GMA,” she’s done much the same. their a.m. mainstays. NBC News has in recent months retooled not When she joined the show as a co-anchor in 2005, Roberts worked only the flagship two hours of “Today” but all its other editions as with Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer, then just Sawyer. Then she well. CBS News has a new trio in place at “CBS This Morning.” CNN teamed with George Stephanopoulos and a broader “family” of news launched “New Day” in 2013 with an entirely different crew than anchors in a configuration that helped the show surpass its main helms it now. “Fox & Friends” brings live audiences into the studio rival, NBC’s “Today,” in the ratings for the first time in 16 years. Now, once a month. During one such broadcast on Veterans Day, pro- “GMA” looks nothing like the program that snatched the viewership ducers managed a military band and a street-side ceremony with crown (it’s still TV’s most-watched morning program, though NBC officials from the federal government attending. (“It’s like 10 shows has taken back the lead among key viewers). In 2020, Roberts is part in one,” confides Gavin Hadden, Fox News’ vice president of morn- of a trio — she opens the show with Stephanopoulos and Michael ing programming.) Strahan — and the second hour of “GMA” takes place before a live Michael Corn, senior executive broadcast producer for “GMA,” /ABC; CBS THIS MORNING: MICHELE CROWE/CBS; FOX & FRIENDS: FOX; & FRIENDS: FOX CBS THIS MORNING: MICHELE CROWE/CBS; /ABC; audience seated in a separate studio. sees changes coming at breakneck speed. “Our world as media con- In a different era, producers would try to maintain elements of sumers is evolving at an incredible pace,” he says. “If you’re running the show for as long as possible to avoid upsetting longtime view- “You no a show like this, you have to learn to evolve just as fast.” ers. David Hartman launched “GMA” in 1975 and kept on as host America’s six most-watched morning programs — “GMA,” into 1987. “There were very little if any format changes,” he recalls. longer just “Today,” “CBS This Morning,” “Fox & Friends” “Morning Joe” and Sticking to last year’s formula is no longer a strategy for the plant your “New Day” — bring in almost $1 billion in ad dollars and millions of future. TV’s business of dawn is breaking. Whether or not it can be behind viewers every year. At broadcast networks, the shows typically carry fixed remains to be seen. on a stool the entire news division. “Today” is “the beating heart, financially, In recent years, the morning slot has experienced tremendous spiritually and editorially,” of NBC News, says Noah Oppenheim, the upheaval. Consider the dismissals of Matt Lauer from “Today” and and do division’s president. “Yeah, it’s critical.” Charlie Rose from “CBS This Morning.” Or ABC’s quick-turn move your show. The programs once thrived by becoming part of a family habit, of Strahan to “GMA” from “Live” with Kelly Ripa. President Donald Those days passed from one generation to the next. Now each member of a clan Trump’s intense attraction to “Fox & Friends” can create ripples are over.” can check out Twitter headlines, smartphone notifications or even in the news cycle; his feud with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brze- email newsletters (former “Today” anchor Katie Couric has one that zinski of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” shocked the anchors as well as Hoda Kotb, reads like the opening rundown from her onetime perch). And there

their audience. “Today” are other options: New York’s WNBC offers early news at 4 a.m. ROCCO LOU GOOD MORNING AMERICA: CONGLETON/NBC; NATHAN SHOW: TODAY

48 VARIETY GUTTER CREDIT “CBS Th “CBS ThisMorning.” Gayle Kin Gayle KingandTonyDokoupilof of “Morn of “MorningJoe”;andAnthonyMason, Joe Scarborou Joe ScarboroughandWillieGeist of “NewDay”;M of “NewDay”;MikaBrzezinski, John BermanandAl John BermanandAlisynCamerota A Ainsley EarhardtandBrianKilmeade; “Fox &Friends’”SteveDoocy, and GeorgeStephanopoulosof“GMA”; Michael Strahan,RobinRoberts Guthrie andHodaKotbof“Today”; Clockwise fromtopleft:Savannah EARLY RIVALS Today CNN New Day MSNBC Morning Joe Fox NewsChannel Fox &Friends CBS ThisMorning CBS ABC America Good Morning NBC WHILE CABLEMORNINGSHOWSHAVEGAINED. THE KEYDEMOGRAPHICFORNEWSPROGRAMMING,A25-54, WEEKDAY BROADCASTA.M.SHOWSHAVELOSTVIEWERSIN OVER THEPASTFIVESEASONS,THREEMAJOR CHANGING VIEWS i Fox nsley EarhardtandBr

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SOURCE: NIELSEN mill at hour, 80milesper andthere’s nowarmup.” “Now consultant. it’s aTV-industry Magid, like jumpingonthetread- executiveCarlin, at andentertainment media vice presidentofglobal somemoviesabout listen coming toanewrecipe,” out, says Scott way your tostart day intothings. andease You’d seesomestars, hear ferent momentintime, theseshows were comfort f stuck withtheshow. fromscratch,’”to start whosays recallsKing, core viewers have SusanZirinskywhenwe hadourstuff: now ‘Oh weident] have God, lamentingto[CBSNews “Iremember pres- revamps alarm. sparked chors theshow withAnthony MasonandTony Doukopil. The plaudits for King’s Gayle slate of exclusive Sheco-an- interviews. Kotb,nah GuthrieandHoda while“CBS haswon ThisMorning” network shows, amongthea.m. team female co-anchor withSavan- nowclaims madeagainst features them).“Today” theonlyall- menhave of sexualraised someof the harassment denied (both in thewake ofLauerandRose afterallegations ousted were being and“CBS reworked ThisMorning” Both“Today” themselvesdal. well known.” thelongtimenewsreader In2015,NBCeliminated are doing,” shallremainnameless, says “They butthey are King. in 2012.“Our competitors willsay like [tome]Ireally what you guys whenitlaunched ontheproceedings anewsierfocus injected ing” withthetimes. alsochanged “CBSsegments, ThisMorn- butthey’ve wrestle withit.” our viewers expect usto get inthereandstop thenonsense. Idon’t if they areblathering onwiththeirtalkingpoints, buteven then, Camerota of “New Day.” “Sometimes, we have people tointerrupt People dolike itwhenwe holdtheirfeet tothefire,” says Alisyn heldtoaccount. aretuningintousseepeople “I thinkpeople kind of works.” ments that arelouder, at ahotter —you temperature know what? It ing programs. “But what we have noticed isthat whenwe doseg- “Foxlaunched &Friends” in1998andhas worked at othermorn- just waking up. You want itnice andeasy,” says Steve Doocy, who and awhopping113%for MSNBC’s “MorningJoe.” 25%for “Foxence hassoared &Friends,” 28%for CNN’s “New Day” audi- seasons, the25-to-54 Between the2014-15and2018-19TV viewers rivals, thantheirbroadcast ratings have ontherise. been they agree:Audiences like what they see. Whilethe shows draw fewer up on“Fox &Friends.” of administration theTrump some thrilltoseemembers showing zinski warn behavior about coming outoftheWhiteHouse. And MSNBC’s Othersenjoy hearing ruption). andBrze- Scarborough its commercials sotheback-and-forth cancontinue withoutinter- anchorsonCNN(thenetwork cut hasonoccasion the “New Day” and supporters between Trump clips oftheknock-down, drag-outs kids play next tothecouch. politics, that’s over toughstuff tohear coffee orwhilethe andcereal alist orasachampion ofwhitenationalism.” No matter what one’s was asawhitenation- “revealed hadleaked, tive newssiteBreitbart whose controversial remarksinpreelection emailstotheconserva- toldviewersScarborough that WhiteHouseadviserStephenMiller, on TV. Duringonerecent of“MorningJoe,” broadcast for example, eration of morningaudience mightnever have thought they’d see upashotof muchharderstuff. serve cupofcoffee.equivalent ofasoothing Thesedays, theshows often THE RULE OFMORNINGNEWS The collective morningvoice significantly. haschanged “At adif- In somecases, themorningshows have hadtowrestle withscan- The broadcast shows still boast celebrity interviews and cooking andcooking shows celebrityThe broadcast still interviews boast of thecable shows’ thosediscussions arepart appeal. Indeed, “I always thoughtthat itwas atendertimeoftheday. You’re The anchorsonthosenetworks arefierce rivals, butonthispoint tothesecable viewersAnd yet, programs. flock along Somepass era,thatIn theTrump makes for momentsthat adifferent gen- had long been tooffer hadlongbeen viewers the VARIETY ood. It was a nice 49 position on “Today” and pushed fluffier stories into the second hour. MORNING MILLIONS That let the anchors at 7 a.m. lean into a tighter focus on hard news, ESTIMATES OF ANNUAL AD REVENUE FOR TV’S LUCRATIVE says Oppenheim. “GMA” recently reworked its starting moments WEEKDAY A.M. SHOWS with a “cold open” on Roberts, Stephanopoulos and Strahan at the desk, pushing the usual voiceovers and video montages until after the trio kicks off the show. Now, even some of the cable hosts have begun to wring their hands over how tough a stance to take each day. “Mika and I for the 2018 2017 first time had to talk to each other before we went on the show and TOTAL AVERAGE TOTAL AVERAGE basically say, ‘Let’s keep it down to a simmer,’” says Scarborough. REVENUE PRICE OF REVENUE PRICE OF 30-SECOND 30-SECOND “We can’t say the world is coming to an end every day. We can’t pre- SPOT SPOT dict that locusts are going to descend from the heavens every day and tear the flesh off everyone in Washington every day.” He cred- Today $332M $42.7K $387M $48.5K its co-anchor Willie Geist for keeping discussions calmer, and notes NBC his team tries to use sports scores and other conversations about $319.1M $34.8K $315.3M $38.7K culture to cool things down. Over at CNN, co-anchors Camerota and Good Morning America John Berman disagree about the use of profanity on air. She won’t ABC utter an off-color phrase; he thinks giving viewers the actual words $155.1M $20.3K $155.1M $18.8K newsmakers use is important. “I think our audience is there,” he CBS This Morning CBS says. “I’ve covered war and stuff over the years, and I’ve never felt you should explore blood and guts and violence,” but “if that were Fox & Friends $67.7M $3.4K $62.6M $2.9K Fox News Channel to become the world on our show, I absolutely would feel strongly that we show the reality.” Morning Joe $46.4M $3.1K $37.2M $2.3K Mason of “CBS This Morning” thinks chaotic conversation puts MSNBC the shows in an untenable position. “It’s very tricky. There is that New Day $42.3M $2.5K $37.8M $2.1K element of the audience that wants you to go after whoever that CNN political figure is, and when you don’t, they let you know,” he says. $15.8M $854 $16.3M $929 “And then there is another element that doesn’t want the fight Morning Express HLN because it becomes noise they can’t decipher, and they let you know too. You’re going to lose, almost whatever you do.” Squawk Box $34.8M $2.2K $38.1M $2.5K The cable shows face questions as well. How many more people CNBC can they draw as news junkies increasingly look at the notifications Mornings $6.6M $440 $5.5M $324 on their smartphone screens? And if President Trump should leave With Maria office, will his successor generate half as many crisis moments? Fox Business Network None of that will keep them from trying to siphon more viewers. “Unless we have all the audience, I don’t think we have risen as far SOURCE: STANDARD MEDIA INDEX, FOR WEEKDAY MORNING BROADCASTS as we can go,” says Fox News’ Hadden. Despite the present day’s many on-screen clashes, TV’s original morning programs were built for comfort, not clashes. When “Today” launched in January 1952, host Dave Garroway led the pro- ceedings with a chimpanzee named J. Fred Muggs and used Les EVEN THE QUIETER MOMENTS in early-bird TV can be a squeeze. The Brown’s pop hit “Sentimental Journey” as the show’s theme. CBS day has barely started, and Savannah Guthrie is already pushing up tried to challenge its rival by teaming Walter Cronkite with a lion against a deadline. puppet named Charlemagne. ABC’S “GMA” took itself less seriously The clock ticks just past 6:30 a.m. at the show’s famous Studio 1A, at launch and tried to project the image of holding forth in a living in a tiny hair-and-makeup room often used for production meetings room, not a newsroom. “Our view was ‘Look into the camera; have as the anchors get ready to go on screen. Guthrie, Kotb, Roker and a conversation with one viewer,’ even though there were millions of Craig Melvin are talking to producers about everything from the state them out there,” recalls Hartman. of U.S.-Iran relations to a recipe that involves apples and pancetta — The dizzying array of outlets now vying for morning attention all elements of the coming broadcast — and Guthrie has to take a final puts pressure on all the shows to put up more content and throw look at the opening for the show: Due to overnight developments in something new at viewers at every turn. Even short bursts of sur- the news cycle, changes are needed. prise can help. Producers at “Today” recently booked Sen. Bernie “What we She and executive producer Libby Leist quickly start calling Sanders as well as comedian Larry David, who often plays him on have noticed other “Today” operatives, including producers in the show’s control “Saturday Night Live.” The show managed to get both men to stand is that room. Leist tracks down NBC White House correspondent Kristen with Al Roker in the show’s Orange Room for a between-segments Welker, who is scheduled to have a one-on-one in-studio discussion appearance, and cajoled Sanders into helping Roker with the when we do with Guthrie. They need to work out new questions. “Ten years ago, weather. (At a meeting backstage, producers from the 9 a.m. segments the show used to be put to bed in the afternoon the day before,” says “Today” broadcast tried, unsuccessfully, to get David to stay for that are Leist, “and now there are more conversations we have reinventing their show too.) louder, at the show as it gets up to air.” When George Merlis ran “Good Morning America” in the mid- NBC is working to push “Today” forward after an era of tumult. 1970s as executive producer, he recalls that producers would add a hotter The program has been under a microscope since 2012, when it lost more minutes to segments. “When we had something exceptional, temperature in the ratings to “GMA” for the first time in 16 years. That same we could really carve out extra time. By today’s standards, a 10-min- —it kind of year, co-anchor Ann Curry left in a tearful on-air goodbye. Since ute interview is like a documentary.” With so much more morning works.” then, the network has tried to boost the show’s 9 a.m. hour with the competition, he says, top producers must navigate an avalanche likes of Billy Bush and Megyn Kelly. Lauer’s ouster in 2017 brought each day. “It’s like a pack of howling wolves coming at you from Steve Doocy, new scrutiny to the news division and even parent Comcast. “All the every side.” “Fox & Friends” shows have their ups and downs, and I think the ‘Today’ show gets

50 VARIETY a lot of scrutiny,” says Guthrie. “I hope that’s because people think Producers hope they’ll get new sampling on both old and new this show still matters.” screens. Next fall, television ratings are going to include some of the Executives believe the program has found stability with Guthrie viewership that watches screens in places other than the home, such and Kotb — and a business plan that calls for consideration of digital as offices and hotel rooms. And sending morning segments into the and social elements to be just as important as the TV programming. streaming-video ether is gaining traction. At 22 hours per week, there’s more “Today” on TV than there are “Ratings are certainly the standard, but we are hearing from peo- primetime hours on the Fox broadcast network, and NBC’s vision of ple in different ways,” says Diana Miller, executive producer of “CBS morning business may be one others pursue as well. ABC News has This Morning.” also worked to turn “GMA” into an always-on digital presence. Both Roberts expects more transformation. When she first started programs have begun to dabble in e-commerce, allowing viewers to doing morning TV, she says, “people really didn’t want change.” buy some of the products they see showcased in certain segments. Now, “we are taking our cues from the public. We are taking our “You can imagine a future in which the broadcast television show is cues from how we live our lives now.” just one piece of a larger ‘Today’ brand that people are interacting Amid the frenzy, the anchors can’t forget why people continue with,” says Oppenheim. Leist envisions being able to offer cooking “It’s not to latch on to the morning show. “The way people are receiving it is demonstrations from the “Today” archives via Peacock, NBCUniver- your shifting, but I don’t think that changes the product,” says Doukopil. sal’s new streaming-video service. “The product still has to make a connection with people.” Magid’s Across the landscape, morning anchors are doing far more than momma’s Carlin says that modern viewers see themselves as “survivors.” So, early duty. Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade leaves “Fox & Friends” to do ‘Good yes, they want to hear all the explosive news stories, but they still several hours of radio, then returns for potential TV appearances. Morning want to walk away feeling positive. That’s no easy task, he notes: “I All the “Today” hosts appear on digital-video series such as “Cold think it’s very challenging for all of these shows to figure out, ‘How Cuts,” in which Roker interviews celebrity guests while they craft America.’ do they not get caught in a fear trap?’” a signature sandwich. Melvin anchors four hours each day on NBC Nor should Some news veterans wonder whether morning TV has irrevoca- and MSNBC. it be.” bly lost some of its sunshine. In the current moment, lighter topics “You no longer just plant your behind on a stool and do your show,” and cute conversation just aren’t as relevant as they were in the old says Kotb, who does three hours each weekday as well as a “Today”- Robin days, says Izzy Povich, vice president of morning programming at related program on SiriusXM. “If you think you’re going to go old school Roberts, CNN. “These are serious times,” she notes, but “maybe we will get and do it the way you used to — those days are over.” “GMA” back there one day. It would be nice.”

BATTLE TESTED HEIDI GUTMAN/ABC “Good Morning America” briefly surpassed “Today” for first place among a.m. shows in the key demo and still holds the lead in total viewers.

VARIETY 51 ‘Mockingbird’ Mission

CASE STUDY Ed Harris as Atticus Finch and Kyle Scatliffe as Tom Robinson (right page) offer their own take on Aaron Sorkin’s update of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

52 VARIETY WITH A NEW CAST, AARON SORKIN’S BROADWAY HIT DREAMS UP A RADICAL WAY TO SHARE ITS MESSAGE WITH A WIDER AUDIENCE BY BRENT LANG

VARIETY 53 school, and it has remained animmovable andithasremained school, culturaltouchstone for somany. Lee’s studied millionsofpeople because orhigh inmiddleschool part book Itshattered recordslaunching anational inlarge tourandaLondonproduction. becomingthehighest-grossingphenomenon, while Americanplay inhistory broughttheirowneveryone take toit.” AndIthinkit’s soon. moststory fun watching been how it’s andhow different, watch andknow theoldcast that doit, we were able going toget tobe totellthat anddomy ownforget thing,” itandtry about says Robinson. “Itwas athrillto thematerial.cessors approached ofhow at togetto thetheater various theirprede- anidea inrehearsal points of view.”point youit inmy know. head, fresh itfromawideopen, Just toapproach wanted “I didn’t want toknow what Jeff was doing,” says Harris. “Ididn’t want tohave takingover chosetodosobefore noteveryone full byanothercast, theirroles. the play continues abox tobe office hit. (“Little Women”). They theirrolesinDecember, assumed anddespitetheshift, Robinson (“Love, Simon”), Practice”) LisaGay Hamilton(“The andElizaScanlen Jeff Daniels asAtticus, outfor ushered acompany byHarris, hasbeen led Nick a Mockingbird” asitentersitssecond year. whichincluded Theoriginalcast, know, 18,000kids.’” isn’t,it really ‘Well, andsohesaid, we’ll just make itthat way andinvite, you 54 and harassment hasleftCalpurnia withadifferent perspective. alifetime enduringracist at abuse heart; aregood really believes that people toAtticus’ counterpoint asan important naive worldview.ing herserve Atticus the roleof Calpurnia,He expanded theFinch family’s blackhousekeeper, hav- inadaptingthenovel, in1960,tothestage. whichwas published icant liberties notable forkin, writing“A Few Network,” Men” Social Good and“The signif- took udice and racism was being seen only by wealthy white audiences. to undertake because he was worried that Harper Lee’s story prej- of a grand experiment, one that producer Scott Rudin was motivated rehearsals to get atrue sense the of size and scope the of venue. It’s Shubert Theatre on Broadway to aLong Island City studio for is soenormous that the production hashad to relocate from the Atticus Finch. “But it’s going to bememorable, I’m sure.” ¶ The space nominated “Apollo 13” and “Pollock” actor currently starringas ¶ “It’ll bemore anevent of than aplay,” says Ed Harris, the Oscar- to some 18,000 public school students from across New York City. a sell-out. Well, not asell-out exactly. Tickets are being given out free smash production, this Feb. 26, one-day-only engagement isalready concerts. Don’t try to get tickets. Like most performances the of nia avoice, conflict areal occurs.” conversationsspecific wanted ustohave. he really Andthenby givingCalpur- guy. throughthat AndIthinkwhat toseewhat material, Aaron didishesifted the whitemansaving the—ideally, tosave theblackguy, trying black thepoor would have offended by been itand[would have] It’s wanted toseeit. notreally pretation,” says “Ifthisplay Hamilton. were done10years ago, Ithinkpeople Yet, thisisn’t the“To KillaMockingbird” remember. that readers AaronSor- in2018,“ToSince itopened KillaMockingbird” acommercial hasbeen tohave“I wanted enoughtimetoseewhat they haddone, andthenkindof Robinson, HamiltonandScanlenallwent adifferent approach. Others took of seeing“To in Though they hadtheluxury KillaMockingbird” performed eventThe MadisonSquareGarden isn’t theonlymajorchange for “To Kill “He was hopingthat theaudience would morediverse,” be says Harris. “And “I don’t think itwould have assuccessful been ifitweren’t for Aaron’s inter- Scanlen, whoismakingher BroadwayScanlen, debutasMayella Ewell, awhitewoman I I VREY VARIETY Knicks and Rangers games, as well asBilly Joel sprawling sports complex bestknown for hosting to bepresented at Madison Square Garden, the history. ¶It will become the firstBroadway play n February, “To KillaMockingbird” will make The currentcastincludes role atCalpurniain as LinkDeas;atright: TAKING ASTAND LisaGay Hamilton(with Sorkin’s version. Finch), has anexpanded Finch), Russell Harvard,here Nina GrollmanasScout when he started toexplore whatwhen hestarted Sorkinhadwritten. so iconic. Hewas theactorfromhismind able tobanish that Peckhe worried takingonapart about hadmade winning anOscarintheprocess. Initially, Harrisadmits, the filmversion asastentorian voice of righteousness, ibly duringthecourse of theplay.” system belief a certain incred- challenged that isbeing ing against Ewell’s allegations. against JimRobinson, themanheistasked withdefend- gles toaccept that thejudicialsystem stacked may be also notasprogressive andstrug- asonemighthope community governed byJimCrow laws. However, he’s prevailing prejudices of hishometown, anAlabama record of success, onewhois willingtochallenge the Sorkin’s he’s telling, lawyer withlittle track acountry tuous andanunyielding example of moralcourage. In more nuance. he’s andthe1962film, Inthebook vir- it inalltherightways,” shesays. tain thingsthat would feel andthismodernizes dated, therewould cer- be an out-and-out tellingofthebook, Lee’s “Ifitwas tweaked. just tobe needed originalstory who falselyaccuses ablackmanof rape, agrees that “When you theplay read andyou“When working start on He’s Atticus whoportrayed Peck, in alsonotGregory “He’s notperfect,” says Harris. “Hehasflaws. Hehas of Atticus that modernization, givenAs part hasbeen

GUTTER CREDIT JULIETA CERVANTES (4) “[SCOTT RUDIN] WAS RUDIN] HOPING THAT “[SCOTT Ed Harris YOU KNOW, 18,000 KIDS.’” MAKE IT THAT WAY AND INVITE, SO HE SAID, ‘WELL, WE’LL JUST DIVERSE. AND IT REALLY ISN’T, AND THE AUDIENCE WOULD BE MORE rhetoric andhisrefusalin2017tofullycondemn bigots withhisanti-immigranthas emboldened tial electionyear. Critics say ofDonaldTrump he inapresiden- says, performed itisbeing because him even morenoblethanhewas intheoriginaldraft.” the scriptforPeck thefilm, kept insisting that they make told that duringthecourse andthewritingof of thefilm, acter asPeck isinthefilm,” says Harris. “And Ialsowas Finch, asnobleachar- thisversion tobe isnotintended the play, you that realize that thisAtticus thisman, This production packs moreofawallop, packs This production thecast raises. However, thevenue presentssomeunusualchallenges. tograpplewiththeissues that itbelieves needs ence theplay ofschoolchildren Idon’tnight. carehow still muchwe standing They’re up.” mightsuckthat night. ter that Ihave never inaplay been wheretherewas astanding ovation every says “And Hamilton. of arelegitimately joke moved. people Isort withmy sis- embraced. hasbeen enthusiastically theproduction page.the printed byhow Butastonished been theplay’s say they’ve performers uplift andless ambiguity—inotherwords, thekindoffable that Leeoffered on decision could have for looking somethingwithmore theatergoers alienated delivers moreof asting andcarriesthefullweight of itsmoralurgency. That won’t go onlike this, come andhopefully thefallwe willhave anewpresident.” cally we can’t go onlike this, whichIthinksays alot,” hesays. we “Sohopefully era.“Onein theTrump of thelinesthat Atticus hasinhissummation isbasi- in place rightnow. People sitintheaudience at forced thepresentday.” tolook but we have taken many, many withthecurrentregime —especially strides back ing itssweet timegetting here,” says “That’s Hamilton. inherentinany society, written somesixdecadesago, butitremainsstubbornly, topical. frustratingly riotersinCharlottesville.neo-Nazi “To KillaMockingbird” may have been take a timeout every oncetake inawhile. atimeoutevery no entrance andexits.” Talk anendurance about act —even theKnicks get to “We’ll onstage, allbe allthetime,” sa The cast of“To KillaMockingbird” for isexcited anaudi- performing tobe “People want toseehow really it,” AaronSorkintweaked itandinterpreted Sorkin’s that alterations hisversion ensured of Lee’s coming-of-age story Harris thinksthere’s anothersectionoftheplay resonance that hasadded “Calpurnia says morninghastaken itssweet timegetting here, progress istak- ys Harris. “Iknow Becausethere’s that. VARIETY 55

CONTENDERS

TRIUMPH “Les Misérables’” Ladj Ly is one of the few directors of color nommed.

INTERNATIONAL

FEATURE AMAZON STUDIOS AMAZON

VARIETY 57 Play the Awards Bingo Foreign-Lingo Films made the December short list. list. made theDecember short “Burning,” by LeeChang-dong, helmed in thiscategory, although last year’s ﬁrst SouthKorean nominated ﬁlmtobe tional feature Oscar. Surprisingly, itisthe prestige kudos by nabbing theinterna- asite” willachieve thetriplecrown of multilevel “Par- blackcomedy masterful, likely that helmer-writer BongJoon Ho’s and aslewof critics’gongs, itishighly After thePalme d’Or, theGoldenGlobes EURO TITLESDOMINATE, BUTASIAN PICCOULD TAKE THEPRIZE 58 best picture. six noms,including “Parasite” drew SPLASHY SIX

CONTENDERS |INTERNATIONAL FILM By AlissaSimon VARIETY a remake or try to otherwise bottle Bong’s tootherwise a remake ortry will attempt seenifHollywood remains tobe so.site” isthefront-runner anddeservedly It seem toagree “Para- that theentertaining continueand moretheaters added. tobe onscreensincebeen itsNovember opening more than$25millionsofar. ithas Indeed, foreign-language grossing titleever released, in theU.S., andisthe highest-grossing non-English language title. mark arecord haulof commendations for a Theseadditionalnominations by Bong). story BongandHanJinWong,screenplay (by froma set decoration by ChoWon Woo) andoriginal with LeeHaJun, design(by ment inproduction Yang (by editing directing, Jinmo), achieve- is nominated: best motion pictureof theyear, score intheﬁve othercategories inwhichit Critics, alike oddsmakers andindustry ahitforThe ﬁlmhasbeen distributor Neon iswhether“Parasite”More uncertain will

titles. It’s anailingandcre- ametafictionabout return toform afterseveral less-compelling sly references tohiscinematic inspirations. colors,such asbold passionate embraces and incorporates the helmer’s signature touches atively filmmaker, blocked whichbeautifully shift boundaries notonlyinFranceshift boundaries andIhope of course messages to Ihope tothebigscreen. says. “Iamdoingmovies tobringemotionsand can bringmy everywhere,” cameranearly Ly charactersof color.leading of thefew nomineesfeaturing adirectorand of #OscarsSoWhite, “LesMisérables” isone Moreover, expansion. planned inanotheryear ination istheicingoncake of itsalready 10andthenom- the filminselectcitiesJan. nomination.opened AmazonGlobe Studios lecting additionalkudos, includingaGolden prize,scored ajury ittraveled widely, col- tition at theCannes Film Festival whereit a rareauthenticity. housing estate of Paris, ontheoutskirts ithas onlife documentaries inMontfermeil, ashort to Watch. Evolving fromLy’s years of shooting recently oneof named France-based LadjLy,debut by theMali-born, marks theedgy, impressive fictionfeature ination for thisfilm.” proudthat he’sme very received hisfirst nom- films andmy life for over 30years. Itmakes the film’s career. ofmy apart Antoniohasbeen Almodóvar says. isthehappiest endto “This in selectcities, 17. Jan. beginning less, thenominations have arerelease spurred lier, Almodóvar moreupbeat titles. Neverthe- October, butitdidn’t match thegrosses ofear- more likely rewarded thanthefilm. tobe andseems actorcategory intheleading nated duly prized at the2019Cannes fest, isnomi- tual rapprochement. workearly before theirfallingoutandeven- givenson, that hewas afixtureofAlmodóvar’s filmmakerpain-ridden achieves anextra fris- casting of AntonioBanderasastheweary, Thus, longestranged. whom hehasbeen the actorof oneofthe leading hisfirst films, from reflection involves thedirector’s reunionwith for “Volver” (2006). Breakdown”Nervous (1988)andshort-listed was for nominated “Women ontheVerge of a with“AllOscar glory (1999), MyMother” About odóvar. Itwas herethat hewent alltheway to director-writerprolific Spanish Pedro Alm- formerly known asforeign-language filmfor marks thethirdnomination inthecategory acerbic critique. blendof humorandsocial “I thinkof myself asaworld citizen —andI Following thefilm’s premiereincompe- Another personal film, “LesMisérables” film, Another personal happy withthesenominations,”“I amvery Sony thefilmin PicturesClassics launched Banderas’ moving performance, acareerbest and One strand of thisfilmabout memory iswidelyconsidered a “Pain andGlory” The deeply personal “Pain and Glory” “PainThe deeplypersonal andGlory” Variety ’s 10Directors

NEON MANOLO PAVÓN/SONY PICTURES CLASSICS ‘I amvery career.’ end tomy happiest This isthe nominations. with these happy well asforfilm. Antonio Banderasas received nomsforstar “Pain andGlory” DOUBLE DIP this past summer.this past which organized asuccessful rollout arthouse phy pickup award. for Itproved Neon, asavvy grandprize aswell asacinematogra- mentary fest theworld whereitnabbed cinemadocu- American audiences at the2019Sundance ner of achordwith theBalkansfirst struck living inharmony withnature inaharshcor- ofThe striking awildbeekeeper verité portrait achievement. nation for feature documentary and Tamara Kotevska, alsoreceived anomi- “Honeyland,” Stefanov by Ljubomir helmed Missing Picture”) thecreative documentary a nom(thefirst was Rithy Panh’s 2013“The — andthesecond nonfictionfeature toscore chevski’s 1994“Before theRain” was thefirst —MilchoMan- inthiscategory nominated be astalentstowatch. team delivered andmarkKomasapowerfully andhis themes of forgiveness andsecond chances are still reelingfrom tragedy.parish Theuniversal center, himselfoff passes asapriest inasmall spiritual awakening inhisjuvenile detention lent offender onwork who, release following a Mateusz Pacewicz centers ona20-year-old vio- phenomenon of fake priests, thescreenplay by role.Bielenia inhisfirst leading statuettes for riveting thespBartosz theater audience awards aswell asastack of golden collecting directorandit hasbeen bestfilm, went ontonumerousotherfestivals where CinemasawardEuropa fromdistributors, it severalit nabbed kudos includingtheLabel section ofthe2019Venice Film Festival where with plentyof buzz. tity stateside, thefilmentersOscarrace Although itissomethingofanunknown quan- it at theFilm Forum inNYC onFeb. 19. to wait. audiencespotential donothave muchlonger Komasa, intheU.S., hasyet released tobe but Polish drama“Corpus Christi,” byJan helmed othercinemaschools.”to open

Only thesecond Macedonian ﬁlmto North by Poland’sInspired surprisinglycommon After world preemingintheVenice Days Distributor Film Movement planstolaunch Unlike theotherfour nominees, intense

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THE BEST PICTURE PICTURE BEST THE ® 59 CONTENDERS | DOCUMENTARY Doc Branch Proves Unpredictably Predictable

FEATURE NOMS CONTINUE TO SHOW OSCAR’S LOVE FOR FIRST-TIMERS, INTERNATIONAL FILMS

By Addie Morfoot

WILL OF THE PEOPLE Petra Costa drew her first Oscar nom for “The Edge of Democracy.”

IT’S BEEN SAID time and again that the Acad- They include Bryan Fogel (“Icarus”), Ezra Edel- impress this nonfiction crowd, even in a field emy’s documentary branch is a consistently man (“O.J.: Made in America”), Louie Psihoyos where breakout hits can be hard to come by. unpredictable bunch. But is it? (“The Cove”) and Malik Bendjelloul (“Searching Examples include snubbing “Won’t You Be My Given its Oscar nominations record, it cer- for Sugar Man”). (And on the flip side, past win- Neighbor” ($22.8 million) and “Three Identical tainly doesn’t seem like it. In fact, while it ners often find it particularly difficult to break Strangers” ($13.4 million) last year, and turning might come up with choices that run con- into the category again, even well-established a blind eye to this year’s documentary box-of- trary to Oscar prognosticators’ early picks for names such as Alex Gibney, Barbara Kopple fice champ, “Apollo 11” ($15.3 million). They front-runners, the group has made its own likes and Davis Guggenheim.) Meanwhile, interna- also aren’t awed by archival footage. Again: and dislikes perfectly clear in recent years. tional entries like Feras Fayyad’s “Last Men in “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” and “Apollo 11.” Most notably, the members enjoy recognizing Aleppo,” Gianfranco Rosi’s “Fire at Sea” and And they especially do not seem to like being international productions, as well as newcom- Evgeny Afineevsky’s “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s told which docs are front-runners. Remem- ers. In the past two decades alone, 12 direc- Fight for Freedom” have all found themselves in ber Brett Morgen’s “Jane”? The portrait of the tors have taken home the Academy Award for the nominees’ circle over recent years. famed primatologist picked up awards from their very first documentary theatrical feature. Big box-office numbers also don’t tend to more than a dozen critics groups, the National FRANCISCO VAN STEEN PRONER RAMOS/NETFLIX PRONER STEEN FRANCISCO VAN

60 VARIETY FOR SAMA

Untitled-5 1 1/24/20 1:11 PM CONTENDERS | DOCUMENTARY

Board of Review and the PGA as the season went on, but came up empty-handed when it BUZZWORTHY TITLE came to the Oscar nominations. North Macedonia’s “Honeyland” drew doc and While the highly competitive nonfiction international film noms. branch is a breath of fresh air when it comes to gender parity, whether members are picking the “best” docu of the year is and has been the subject of much debate. In 2019, after narrowing down 159 eligi- ble features to a remarkably strong shortlist of 15 docs, the nonfiction branch whittled down that batch to five nominees earlier this year: “American Factory,” “The Cave,” “The Edge of Democracy,” “For Sama” and “Honeyland.” Eight directors are nominated in the category. Four are female, a fact that stands out all the more considering the absence of women from the best director category. The sole American production, “Ameri- can Factory,” released through Netflix, is also the putative favorite. Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert’s film about the Chinese takeover of a General Motors plant in Dayton, Ohio, has captured the attention of audiences and critics alike. While there are promises of giving work to more than 2,000 local residents, along with bringing hundreds of Chinese workers to Ohio, low wages and concerns about safety raise ten- sions among the Americans. The film, the first in the Obamas’ Higher Ground slate, has garnered plenty of hardware since its Sundance 2019 debut. Bognar and Reichert have picked up directing kudos from the Sundance fest, the Intl. Documentary Assn. and the Critics Choice Documentary Assn. The duo is also nominated for a DGA award. The film won Gotham and Los Angeles Film Crit- Fayyad, a Syrian-born filmmaker, was not able lives with her ailing mother in a village with- ics trophies and is nominated for BAFTA and to attend the IDA Awards in December when out roads, electricity or running water. She’s Indie Spirit kudos. he should have accepted his prize for writing, the last in a long line of wild beekeepers, eking Petra Costa’s “The Edge of Democracy,” is as he was denied a visa to enter the country. out a living farming honey. also a Netflix doc. A cinematic personal essay He is currently in Copenhagen trying to obtain The film made history when it became the about Brazil’s far-right takeover, Costa’s film a visa so he can attend the Oscar ceremony in first nonfiction feature to be nominated in the made its world premiere at Sundance 2019. February. doc category as well as in the international While the film has won over critics, it has not Directors Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts’ feature film category. garnered nearly as much hardware as “Ameri- “For Sama” also focused their lenses on Syria. The nomination marks the first North can Factory.” A portrait of a Syrian mother’s experience of Macedonian film to be nominated in the cate- With two “children” in the game, it’s any- her country’s plight, the docu had its world pre- gory in 25 years. The last time a Macedonian one’s guess if and how Netflix will campaign miere in March at the SXSW festival and won film received an Academy Award nomination equally for both docus. The streamer’s deep the documentary feature competition’s grand was in 1994 for Milcho Manchevski’s “Before pockets won’t make it difficult to promote both jury and audience awards. the Rain.” films, but chances are “American Factory” will The film, which recently cleaned up at the The doc garnered three 2019 Sundance experience a tad more love due to the wealth of British Independent Film Awards, winning awards: world cinema grand jury prize: recognition it has already received. the prize for British independent film, is argu- documentary; world cinema documentary Plenty of money and love were thrown at ably “American Factory’s” biggest competition. special jury award for cinematography; and National Geographic’s “Free Solo” Oscar cam- In December, al-Kateab and Watts took home world cinema dramatic special jury award paign last year. This year, the distributor has IDA’s feature kudo. Al-Kateab also received the for originality. While “Honeyland” has been Fayyad’s “The Cave” in the race. The film, org’s Courage Under Fire Award. In addition to described as a cinematic masterpiece and is which premiered at the 2019 Toronto Intl. being nominated for four BAFTAs and an Indie a critics favorite as well as a festival main- Film Festival, plunges viewers into the midst Spirit, the PBS docu won the National Board of stay, the film’s chances of winning the little of Syria’s civil war and viscerally illustrates Review’s Freedom of Expression trophy and the gold man against the behemoth that is Netflix the human cost of a struggle that is now in its Cannes Film Festival Golden Eye award. appear slim. ninth year. In addition to earning rave reviews, Another terminal trophy winner is Neon’s Unless, of course, the general voting mem- the film was nominated for a PGA as well as a “Honeyland.” From filmmaking duo Ljubomir bership decides to throw a wrench into the DGA award and has garnered Critics Choice Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska, the doc is set best-laid plans of the newly predictable docu- Documentary, Cinema Eye and IDA prizes. in remote North Macedonia where a beekeeper mentary branch. NEON

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Oscars: Mudslide Warnings also denied the rumor that Sharifwas therumor Muslim. also denied get it:Omarsez: ‘Inever fought inany army.’” Archerd ex-Egyptian soldierwhofought intheIsraeliWar. For- ing since Oscarnominations that OmarSharifisan “There’s pyramid- anot-so-subtle campaign been football since football itwas Afteritstarted first announced. apolitical the huntfor hadbeen OsamaBinLaden, Annapurna’s 2012 “ZeroDarkThirty.” about Thefilm, high gear justhigh gear before finalvoting. know whothefront-runners are. into Anditgoes since afternoms areannounced, strategistsstarts flawed, orthat isaterribleperson. theartist that arival’s campaigns whisper start filmisseriously in which contenders andtheirreps campaigning, lot of Israelis. Itwas oneof many low inOscar points that sincerumor he’s a killed heprobably Egyptian, oneofsomeone —possibly hisrivals the —started Arabia,” andwas actor. nominatedfor supporting So aroundevenIslamophobia hasbeen longer. final voting aroundfor hasbeen alongtime;2. ON MARCH 5, 1963, OF NEGATIVE CAMPAIGNS HAS BEGUN WITH ACADEMY AWARDS NOMINATIONS IN,THETRADITIONAL PERIOD 64 CONTENDERS |VARIETY VAULT The all-timelow centered on Columbia- point It’s that timeof year: Traditionally, mudslinging Sharif was asensation inthe1962“Lawrence of Two bigtakeaways: 1.MudslingingduringOscar VARIETY

Army Archerdwrotein Variety : more outlets to start rumors. more outletstostart butitacceleratednomination, astheinternetoffered that theflames. they fanned ativity was initiated by therivals, butit’s asafe bet strong connections inD.C. It’s unlikely all theneg- makers two behind rival best-picture contenders had Dark Thirty.” Perhaps itwas acoincidence that film- information” further torequest need about“Zero mony, DianneFeinstein Sen. therewas declared “no goods. This filmistainted tion techniques.” Theeffect was tosendthemessage: of“enhanced andothermethods boarding interroga- initsdepictionofwas water- promotingtorture years ago.” Further, therewere claimsthat thefilm investigation since theblacklist eramorethan60 outfor singled isthefirst aD.C. filmtobe Thirty’ sified governmentsified info torture. about they mighthave given been “unusualaccess” toclas- before aSenatecalled Intelligence Committee since were thatwriter MarkBoal notified they mightbe winning criticsawards, Bigelow directorKathryn and Here’s afraction of movies tosmear subjected The mudslingingwas aroundeven before Sharif’s On Feb. 36hoursaftertheOscarcere- 26,about As IwroteinaFeb. “‘Zero 8,2013,column, Dark

By TimGray ignore thecrapandconcentrate onthequality. again. But thisyear, hopefully thevoters willagain liked. attempts aﬁlmthat tobelittle audiences andvoters Guild andOscars, amongothers, saw that thesewere Luckily thevoters of theGoldenGlobes, Producers anddidn’tative stories started, letupfor sixmonths. favorite award at theToronto Film Intl. Festival, neg- inadvertent.” orchestration Itcan’t calculated. just hadtobe be timingof theselatestsaid: “The missives andtheir theissue who addressed directly.rare person She schizophrenia. Stacey Sniderat Universal was a John about amath Nash, geniusappearing whohad the Oscarfavorite, of negative aﬂood stories began “Richard Jewell” (2019). includingthecurrent(2014), andthelist on, goes a Slave” (2013),“Selma” and“American Sniper” (2002), “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008),“12Years ing Tiger, HiddenDragon” Pianist” (2000),“The “Amistad” Hurricane” (1999),“Crouch- (1997),“The (1996), People Flynt” vs. “The campaigns: Larry So fasten your belts. seat Itwillinevitably start Last year, won theaudience after“Green Book” When the2001biopic“A Mind” Beautiful was “Zero DarkThirty.” an all-timelowwith Oscar mudslinginghit ORCHESTRATED HITS

JONATHAN OLLEY/ANNAPURNA/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCK LEARNINGLEARNING TO SKATEBOARD IN A WARZONE (IF YOU’RE A GIRL): A&E NETWORKS: ST. LOUIS SUPERMAN: SAMI KHAN/MTV DOCUMENTARY FILMSFILMS;; WALK RUN CHA-CHA: NEW YORK TIMES OP-DOCS/CONCORDIA STUDIO in Small Doses in SmallDoses Global Scopes “We invite [the] audiencetofeel something “There’s adelicatedanceofputting peopleat INTERNATIONAL ISSUES DOMINATE DOCSHORTS These five Oscar-nominated The accident(some ofwhichwas televisedlive) An all-woman crew, ledby director and on thatday toprotect us,” Kamsays. own cellphonevideos,newsfootage andlater- Kabul for skateboarding kicks. immigration, refugees,immigration, the documentary combinesreal-time footage ofthe day interviewswithparents andciviliandivers. ease,” shesays, becauseofAfghani cultural students who remained in their cabins per students whoremained intheircabinsper accident recorded by rescuers, thestudents’ personal costpersonal of political presented toherby Frank Capra. project for Kamanddirector Yi Seung-Jun. The producer GaryByung-Seok Kam.Itisthefourth nominated for aBAFTA. Dysingerpreviously mores andrespect for elders.Theshortisalso documentary short films short documentary have madeittothesummit won aStudent Academy Award (“Sixteen women andgirls,whoare mostlyhiddenfrom of the nonfiction craft. Topicsof thenonfiction craft. activism, governmentactivism, malfea- are international inscope: Sewol ferry sankoffthecoastofSouth Korea Skateboard inaWarzone (ifYou’re aGirl).” traumatized SouthKorea, says “IntheAbsence” to gettheintimacyandopenness,” shesays. the world. “Iunderstoodwhatwas necessary the camera throughout A&E’s “Learning to sance andgirlsinwar-torn Down”), which,sheproudly notes,was NYU professor Carol Dysinger, was behind More than300peoplediedwhentheMV Dysinger’s previous experiences filming instructions, rather than attempting to escape. instructions, ratherthanattemptingtoescape. in 2014; mosttragically, 250were highschool impossible task of capturing these dynamic impossible taskofcapturingthesedynamic in Afghanistan prepared herfor thenear- behind thefootage: theabsence ofthecountry WARZONE (IFYOU’RE AGIRL) IN THEABSENCE LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD INA

By KathyA.McDonald

“St. LouisSuperman”and“Walk RunCha-Cha.” to SkateboardinaWarzone(if You’reaGirl),” Doc shortnomineesinclude(from top)“Learning NEW PERSPECTIVES CONTENDERS |DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT Times Op-Docs,the20-minute“Walk Run community insuburbanL.A.,” she explains of coma-like states(namedResignation Syndrome explains Samuelson,notingthatittook embedded inthefight.Thesepeopleare on exist inavacuum.Brucewas immersedand directing team(andentire production crew) and Concordia Studiofor theNewYork and thetollthatittakes onpeopleof shows thepersonalpriceofcivicengagement and nascentpoliticoBruceFranks Jr.’s journey a chronicle ofFerguson, Mo., rapper, activist significant timetoengenderthefamilies’ trust. and theseare difficultemotionalsituations,” and unresponsive; thefilmmakers putviewers always struckmethathumanbeingsreact so traumatizedby theirfamilies’ ordeal as and KristineSamuelsonare theproducing- California dancestudio. “Iwas intriguedby Cha-Cha” isacondensationof director Laura produced by OscarwinnerDavis Guggenheim marginalized backgrounds. “Politics doesnot much aspossible.“Thesituationissointense refugees, they’ve withdrawn completely. “It’s news reports aboutrefugee children frozen in work thattheydo,” shesays. AJEWitness up the28-minute shortafteritsTribeca Film the documentary’s origin. these EasternEuropean dancersteaching It took directors Smriti Mundhra and Sami It tookdirectors SmritiMundhraandSami financed the production; MTV Documentary financed theproduction; Documentary MTV the front lines,goingthrough alottodothe to Missouri’s HouseofRepresentatives. to stress andtraumaindifferent ways,” says to record thisharrowing taleofchildren for Netflix’s “Life Overtakes Me.” Afterreading Latin dancetopeoplefrom theChinese Nix’s seven-year chronicle ofaSouthern Produced by ColetteSandstedt,executive Festival premiere. Films (anddocmaven SheilaNevins)picked Mundhra says, whileahopefulstory, the film Khan ayear tocomplete“St. Louis Superman,” Haptas. Theaffected children are motionless Berkeley-based filmmakers JohnHaptas in theroom withthestrugglingfamilies as by doctors), thepairjourneyed toSweden WALK RUN CHA-CHA ST. LOUIS SUPERMAN LIFE OVERTAKES ME VARIETY

65 CONTENDERS | LIVE-ACTION SHORT

Familial Relationships of geography. Their first choice, southern Morocco, proved too complicated and costly, but southern Tunisia was perfect. “We tried to create storytelling that was surprising for the Link Nominees audience, not expected from the beginning to the end.”

EVEN THOUGH ONLY ONE IS IN ENGLISH, ALL THE It’s the first Oscar nomination for both.

FILMS TELL STORIES THAT TRANSCEND CULTURES THE NEIGHBORS’ WINDOW By Paula Hendrickson Marshall Curry Years ago, American documentary filmmaker Curry heard a podcast that became the seed for his first nonfiction, narrative film, “The Neighbors’ Window.” He calls it “fiction inspired by a true story,” that ends with a twist. On the surface, the English-language film is about a voyeuristic couple who become a bit obsessed with their neighbors’ lives. “It’s also in some ways an allegory for social media and the ways we get these incomplete glimpses into other people’s lives,” Curry says. “We always imagine that their lives are better than our own, but the truth is that life is more complicated than it seems from the outside.” “The Neighbors’ Window” marks Curry’s fourth Oscar nomination, his first in nonfiction.

SARIA Bryan Buckley and Matt Lefebvre Buckley’s film “Saria” — produced by Lefebvre — is based on a 2017 Guatemalan orphanage fire that killed 41 children. They cast it with girls from a Mexican orphanage. “My gut told me that if we got the right kids, their survival instincts and toughness would be things no young actress would be able to duplicate,” Buckley says. “That survival instinct and spirit is what I wanted to capture.” The filmmakers made a strategic decision to skip the fest circuit to get the story out as quickly as possible. With the surviving Guatemalan orphans currently facing murder charges, “The timing of this film is so critical. It’s an amazing Most nominees in this year’s the homecoming and what happens to the PRODIGAL opportunity to help these kids and push their family when the son returns, how it destroys “Brother- live-action short category hood” sees story out with the Oscars.” the family.” Adds producer Turgeon, “We’re the world involve familial relationships. seeing the subject through the intimate through the This is Lefebvre’s first Oscar nomination and Only one is in English — two lens of family.” Persuading the camera-shy intimate Buckley’s second. Mechergui brothers — Malek, Chaker and lens of the family. were shot in Tunisia — but they Rayene — to act in “Brotherhood” wasn’t easy A SISTER (UNE SOEUR) but writer-director Joobeur says they break the all tell stories that transcend Delphine Girard stereotype of what Arab Muslims look like. cultures. Three women were A seemingly innocent phone call turns This is Joobeur’s first Oscar nomination and out to be a daring act in “A Sister,” a nominated in this category. Turgeon’s second. Belgian film by writer-director Girard. The stakes are high, with the action happening BROTHERHOOD NEFTA FOOTBALL CLUB simultaneously in a moving car and an Meryam Joobeur and Yves Piat and Damian Megherbi emergency dispatch center. Girard didn’t Maria Gracia Turgeon expect the film to be so tense and dark. “I A visual comedy with dramatic moments, didn’t think of it as a thriller as I was focusing Traveling through northern Tunisia, Tunisian- “Nefta Football Club” opens on two boys so much on the relationship between the Canadian filmmaker Joobeur encountered finding a drug-smuggling, headphone-wearing characters,” Girard says. About leads Veerle two freckle-faced, red-headed shepherds donkey at the border between Tunisia and Baetens and Selma Alaoui, she says: “I knew who refused to let her take their photo. “There Algeria. “It’s inspired by a personal experience they would bring more layers to the story and was something spectacular about the place, when I was 14,” says director Piat. “The film that’s fantastic. We talked a lot about their the men and their faces,” she says. Knowing is about the fluidity of our world when it’s characters and about how their lines, the men from the area have been recruited seen through the innocence and creativity of words should contain more than what they say.” to fight with ISIS in Syria, she decided to children,” adds producer Megherbi. While the write a script. “I wanted to do a film about story is universal, it required a specific type This is Girard’s first nom.

66 VARIETY PARTNER AD CONTENT

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CONTENTS PAGE 68 PAGE 72 THE POWER OF EMPATHY: The film’s reinvention of an iconic MUSIC BEFORE MOTION: A haunting score from Hildur character as a struggling soul speaks to our time. Guðnadóttir inspired the metamorphosis of Joker. PAGE 70 PAGE 73 TODD PHILLIPS’ RISKY VISION: The filmmaker’s origins as an A CHARACTER UNMASKED: Joaquin Phoenix and the film’s craft indie director grounded his visionary approach to “Joker.” team combined to shape an unforgettable performance. PAGE 71 PAGE 74 MAVERICK MOVES: Though known for some of the biggest movies CRAFT TEAM BEHIND THE MIRROR: The mesmerizing bathroom in Hollywood, Phillips’ own origin story began in independent film. scene combined painstaking planning and freeflowing innovation.

JOKER: A CASE FOR EMPATHY | 67 Todd Phillips turned a famous character into a ‘JOKER’ PROVES THE voice for the forgotten and overlooked, and made an origin story that resonates POWER OF EMPATHY with our current moment

By FREDERIC DODDS Writer-director Todd Phillips says, “I how he might evolve — and then devolve. ably the most famous villain and say, love the complexity of Joker and felt his That is what interested me — not a Joker ‘Okay, what if we humanize this person? funny thing happened to origin would be worth exploring on film, story but the story of becoming Joker. Let’s see what could be possible causes Arthur Fleck, aka Joker, en since nobody’s done that. Even in the “For example,” he adds, “in the movie for who he becomes, and where can we, as route to becoming the center- canon, he has no formalized beginning. you see the difference in how kids and a community and a society, find our own A piece of a cultural phenome- So Scott Silver and I wrote a version of a adults react to Arthur, because kids tend to way to see how this could happen and how non that continues to strike a complex and complicated character and see the world through no lens. They don’t this could be remedied?’ ” responsive note with global audiences: see rich versus poor or understand a mar- And yet before the public even had the The character didn’t generate the may- ginalized individual like adults do. They chance to see the film, there was wide- hem pundits continually warned could be just see Arthur [the party clown] as a guy spread media speculation about its story headed our way if we dared to venture “‘Joker’ is the movie whose only intent is to make them smile. and swirling questions about whether the into a multiplex to see “Joker.” Instead, that touched the most It’s not inherent [for adults]. We have to movie would encourage violence. Arthur became a voice for the forgotten, learn how to be unaccepting of others — Variety chief film critic Owen Gleiber- the troubled and the downtrodden. electrifying chord and unfortunately, we usually do.” man has acutely dissected the misunder- “Joker” conveys an idea, and boiled with audiences.” Recalling his excitement about Phil- standing that surrounded the film’s debut, down to one word it is “compassion.” lips’ thoughts on the material, Bradley delving into why the empathetic approach You might even say that compassion is OWEN GLEIBERMAN, Cooper, one of the producers, described to its antihero is actually the source of its the movie’s superpower. CHIEF FILM CRITIC, VARIETY the movie’s bold approach: “Take prob- connection to audiences. “As Arthur says,

68 | PARTNER AD CONTENT VARIETY.COM/JOKER ‘Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out “What if we humanize this Just a week later, that take on the film’s that desperately needed to be received. there?’ he writes. “As the basic security of person? Let’s see what serious intent, its intensely relevant sub- In October, for example, USA Today the American middle class frays before ject matter and its fearless accomplished quoted a social worker who found our eyes, the primal anxiety is starting to could be possible causes filmmaking came to fruition, as “Joker” Arthur’s roller-coaster ride of on-again, tear at the fabric of people’s well-being.” for who he becomes.” made history, winning Venice’s top prize, off-again medical and social assistance In Gleiberman’s view, the movie’s role the Golden Lion. “accurate.” The social-health profes- in awards season is not just one of con- BRADLEY COOPER, ‘JOKER’ PRODUCER Gleiberman’s own review from the fessional said, “[The film] depicted how tender but one of social indicator: “If tival was packed with ruminations on how one day you have a program and the next “Joker” wins, it will play as a celebration and why the movie successfully engages day you don’t. And you see how that of the rare power a film built around a its audience with a startling tour-de-force impacts the people you serve. It’s enor- comicbook scoundrel could summon in a demonstrated beyond doubt that the confrontation of both America’s very real mously frustrating. We’re dealing with year when it expressed the rage, alienation movie spoke to humans of every gender, social ills and how they figure into the people’s lives.” and insanity that so many are feeling.” race and age group. personal torments of Arthur Fleck. Then came the raves from reviewers, The ailing, angsty, late-’70s/early-’80s “In an alternate universe, Phillips’ slow- “There’s no denying we feel something guilds and the Academy. “Joker,” which Gotham of Phillips’ “Joker” doesn’t look burn anti-comicbook spectacle would be for him — a twinge of sympathy, or at had started in the eye of a storm amid a very dreamlike, as most movies born of the [Academy Award] frontrunner, and least understanding,” he writes. media frenzy of fear, had become criti- this genre do. not just because it has the most nomina- Analyzing the character’s almost cally celebrated, embraced by audiences In fact, the film more greatly resembles tions. It’s the movie that touched the most Dostoyevskian condition, he adds, and honored with more BAFTA and what we see in America today, where electrifying chord with audiences.” “[Arthur’s] laughter is an act that parades Academy Award nominations than any some are thriving but the poor and middle Forbes magazine issued a think piece itself as fakery. What it expresses isn’t other film in 2019. class are being squeezed to the point of on Aug. 31, 2019 — the same day “Joker” glee; it expresses the fact that he feels Gandhi once said, “The true measure despair. While op-ed pages issued cau- premiered at the Venice Film Festival — nothing, that he’s dead inside. He’s a man of any society can be found in how it tions about “Joker” and its potential to noting presciently, “When you watch this on the edge of a nervous breakdown ... treats its most vulnerable members.” The provoke the darkest forces in our society, film, I assure you you’re not going to be even as you’re gawking at his violence, filmmakers of “Joker” have created a a few clearer-minded writers saw the thinking Joker is glamorized or fetishized you still feel his pain.” Over time, spurred piece of art that is startling in both its film’s true intentions straight out of the the way he’s been in most previous incar- in part by the reactions of filmgoers, more cinematic élan and its compassionate gate. “Even after the early accusations nations. This is one of the year’s best critics were taking a thoughtful look at portrait of society’s lost souls — the that it was a film liable to incite violence films and will be in the running for mul- “Joker,” and what they saw wasn’t a dan- ones that we see around us, traumatized proved unjust,” Gleiberman notes, “it was tiple Academy Awards.” gerous movie but a movie with a message and dispossessed.

JOKER: A CASE FOR EMPATHY | 69 TODD PHILLIPS’ RISKY VISION Helmer’s journey from radical docs to comedies Hollywood, including seminal films relying on dialogue, to tell the story in a “Network,” “Taxi Driver” and “Dog Day way that one could watch the movie with- prepared him to create transformative cinema Afternoon.” And through that lens, he saw out sound and still feel its emotional an opportunity to reimagine Joker with an impact. “Joaquin’s performance is so By JAMES LINHARDT public discourse. examination of a man and a city on the measured, and he says so much without The result is “Joker,” an innovative edge. saying a word,” Friedberg says. eeling in the wake of Donald film — anchored by Joaquin Phoenix’s According to production designer For the director, protagonist Arthur Trump’s election, Academy intense, Academy Award-nominated per- Mark Friedberg, Phillips often spoke with Fleck’s concerns cut deeply on both a Award-nominated writer- formance in the title role — that reflects his crew about the idea of the “shadow mythic and a historical level, and Phillips Rdirector Todd Phillips decided both the early 1980s of its setting and a self” — a facade that masks one’s vulner- and Phoenix joined forces to reimagine to come out strong. He wanted deeply unsettled current cultural moment. abilities — and the subtle visual transfor- Joker as an intensified version of a New to make a film about the evolution of a Phillips’ filmmaking origins are in mation involved in Arthur Fleck becom- Hollywood-style antihero. He’s a man complex character whose malaise would hard-hitting stories about complex char- ing Joker. Together they worked on ways who has been driven to the brink of an depict a world profoundly out of sync. acters and social discontent. With “Joker,” to reveal the character without always emotional cliff by an unkind society. Phillips’ vision would marshal the he found an unexpectedly perfect oppor- “Arthur is the guy you see on the street intellectual property of the DC Comics tunity to revisit his cinematic roots. who you walk right past — or over,” Phil- Universe to tell an original story with its To break new ground with “Joker,” lips says. “With this movie, we get a peek roots in real-world dysfunction. Along Phillips ironically looked to Hollywood “Let’s do the more at what’s below the surface.” He suggests with co-screenwriter Scott Silver (an history — and his own. He began his outside-the-box thing ... that at its core, “Joker” is a portrait of a Academy Award nominee for hit picture career as something of a renegade docu- society devoid of empathy. “The Fighter”), he imagined a film that mentary filmmaker, whose edgy projects It just felt like people To hammer home Arthur’s lonely, mis- would subvert the comicbook genre. would go on to become underground were ready for understood existence visually, Phillips It was conceived as not an escape from favorites. Having come of age as an artist something different.” opted to give his original fiction film a reality but an investigation of our in New York City some 25 years ago, Phil- gritty, documentary- style texture. “We fraying social fabric and corroded lips was inspired by the best of 1970s New TODD PHILLIPS included a few elements from the DC

70 | PARTNER AD CONTENT VARIETY.COM/JOKER MAVERICK MOVES Years on indie pics taught director street smarts

By JAMES LINHARDT “notorious” for its devotion “to the strangest images to be found on cellu- any directors have an loid or videotape.” indie past. For Todd His follow-up documentary, 1998’s Phillips, that meant “Frat House,” an exposé of campus Mdropping out of NYU culture’s underside made with direct- film school to finish ing partner and fellow festival founder working on his first documentary. In Andrew Gurland, tied for Sundance’s that first feature, the 1993 documen- Grand Jury Prize for documentaries. tary “Hated: GG Allin & the Murder By the time he made his narrative Junkies,” an in-your-face portrait of directorial debut with “Road Trip” in punk’s most reprehensible icon, the 2000 and followed that with “Old budding writer- director was already School,” Phillips had established him- breaching the porous divide between self as an indispensable chronicler of irreverence and madness. The film young-adult subculture, from the sick opens with a “message to a sick soci- and twisted to the merely offbeat. ety.” A moment later, it’s revealed the Nearly two decades later, there’s quote is from a serial killer. the astringent cultural commentary of Knowing distributors might balk at his magnum opus, “Joker,” which his cinematic effort, Phillips took a delves deeper than the director has low-paying data-entry job at Miramax gone but is perfectly suited to his psy- in its early days to find the names of chologically acute lens. “What ‘Joker’ every independent theater and theater has in common with my other movies manager in the U.S. That took three is the idea of chaos,” Phillips says. “If weeks; then he quit and spent a year ‘Joker’ is an agent of chaos, how do getting “Hated” booked across Amer- we get there? Is he made that way? ica. Eventually, it grossed $1 million. Society made him? Is it a combination In 1994, Phillips formed the New of events?” York Underground Film Festival, Incisive questions, indeed — ones which five years later Variety called Phillips’ films continue to mine.

canon,” he says of his goal, “and set it in a the right note, leaving both director and broken-down Gotham City around 1981, actor emotionally depleted. Of course, because that harkens back to that [New they eventually did get their take. As Hollywood] era.” Phoenix recalls of the one that nailed it, According to Friedberg, “The dysfunc- “[Todd] said, ‘What was that?’ And I said, tion, the disconnection from the powers- ‘Sincerity.’ He said, ‘Well, you should be that-be ... that’s the New York City of my sincere more often.’ ” youth. It was dirty. Every city agency was Phoenix credits Phillips’ tenacity with on strike at some point, and the ones that helping him tap into the core of the char- weren’t were corrupt. That’s what I acter. “Working with Todd on a scene,” he thought made this such a striking piece says, “if we didn’t find a surprising way of when I read it. And that’s where our con- exploring it in the moment, we felt like we versation started about this world of weren’t doing it right.” “Joker” — a Gotham that is not New York Directorially, Phillips tapped into his but is its own dark, gritty, tough urban city do-it-yourself documentary roots to give with roots in our collective past but with the movie an intensified realism and a an eye toward our current moment.” sense of palpable danger. “You gotta be Phillips and Phoenix worked in tandem bold,” he says, “because there’s much all during shooting to ensure that Arthur more great stuff available than ever, and Fleck’s transition to Joker was gradual, you’re competing with so many things. So even imperceptible. it’s really about cutting through the fog.” That partnership challenged them both Throughout the production of “Joker,” at times, Phoenix says: “I find it very dif- aesthetic decisions were guided by Phil- ficult and unsatisfying to work with lips’ desire to push the limits of conven- myself. I can only imagine what it must tionality and aim for something com- have been like for Todd. I tested him pletely new. “One of the mandates we had daily.” He remembers an extreme — and on this movie was when in doubt, let’s just in retrospect, crucial — moment during be bold. Let’s do the more outside-the- the shoot, when Phillips made him do the box thing. And it just felt like people were same scene over and over until it hit just ready for something different.”

JOKER: A CASE FOR EMPATHY | 71 MUSIC BEFORE MOTION ings from reading the script. He really didn’t give me began dancing to it. “The scene is his actual reaction Icelandic composer Hildur much direction in those first calls—he was curious to the music,” Guðnadóttir says. Without expecting Guðnadóttir’s haunting score to see how I heard it. But I knew he was keen on the to, she had helped choreograph one of the film’s sig- cello, so that was the leading voice from the start.” nature moments. A year later, she wrote the full steers Arthur’s downward spiral Guðnadóttir began improvising music on her hall- underscore and recorded it with a 72-piece orchestra dorophone, an electro-acoustic cello whose extra in New York City. Adding the sometimes harsh By JON BURLINGAME resonating strings and feedback mechanism pro- sound of baroque stringed instruments to more con- duced an especially cutting-edge sound. “I con- ventional strings, brass and woodwinds (along with ellist Hildur Guðnadóttir could’ve been nected really strongly with Arthur’s loneliness and her cello tracks, which she’d already recorded in her seen as an offbeat choice for the his sense of being lost,” she says, “not understanding Berlin studio), Guðnadóttir created a unique musical soundtrack to “Joker.” The Reykjavik- how circumstances had affected him and this under- tapestry, at once melancholy and disturbing, for C born, Berlin-based composer had lying turbulence. I had a strong physical and emo- Arthur Fleck’s gradual descent into the mad clown. released several solo albums and written tional reaction to that and was able to find the notes “In the beginning, you feel like you’re only listen- the score for 2018’s “Sicario” sequel, “Day of the that became his theme.” ing to a solo cello,” the composer says of the finished Soldado,” when Todd Phillips called. She sent the music to Phillips, who was still product, “but as the film develops, the orchestra “He seemed to know my work pretty well,” months from shooting. Later, as the director was steps more and more in front and in the end suffo- Guðna dóttir says of the writer-director. “He asked if capturing the now iconic bathroom scene, he played cates the cello. It’s what I felt was happening with I was interested in writing music based on my feel- the composition to Joaquin Phoenix, who right away his personal transformation.”

Antje Jandrig

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he landed on the timbre that best suited How thoughtful direction, masterful acting and craft Arthur, though the search continued even helped Joaquin Phoenix become both Arthur and Joker into the the film’s shooting stage. Costumes added another layer to the By JOY GOHRING unfamiliar lightness that allowed Phoenix character. Phillips notes that wardrobe to saunter and contort in new ways and, in for actors is akin to putting on a skin, and hat happens when you the film’s iconic “bathroom scene,” finally costume designer Mark Bridges’ choices go through life wear- settle into the balletic movements that helped Phoenix personify both Arthur ing a mask ... pretend- showcase Joker’s metamorphic arrival. and Joker. Early in the film, Arthur is “W ing?” asks director The character’s physicality is also dressed as a frail, Chaplinesque clown, Todd Phillips. evoked in his reflexive, almost maniacal but sometimes it’s the man who makes “Joker” protagonist Arthur Fleck starts laughter. Uncontrollable chortling is now the clothes and not the other way around. out sad and shy, slouching along weary a recognized medical syndrome, but back As Arthur dons a two-piece maroon and wilted. This perfectly reflects an early in 1981, says Phillips, “it was not really suit with shoulder pads to take the stage note Phillips gave star Joaquin Phoenix — diagnosed, though it was a real condition.” at a comedy club, he seems almost that Arthur walks with “heavy shoes,” “We talked a lot about who would Arthur pathetic. But when the same suit is worn carrying the weight of the world. be and why is he like this — what is his as Joker, as he dances onto the stage at That countenance ensures what Phil- thing, and where does that laugh really “Live with Murray Franklin,” the change lips calls “the shadow self” stays con- come from?” says the director. “Joker is a is striking. “This time it’s all put together, tained. But the indifference and cruelty of narcissist, but he’s an egoless narcissist in with a nice waistcoat and a ’70s line,” the world chip away, and when Arthur’s our mind. You know, the ego is Arthur — Bridges says. guard finally shatters, what emerges is the ego is the thing that’s trying to control In this moment, Arthur’s transforma- Joker, a person so malevolent it’s hard to this wild horse that is Joker, but Joker is tion from a man stumbling through life believe he and Arthur — a man who only pure id.” to the fully realized Joker is captured in longs for love and kindness — occupy the Phoenix was relentless in landing on his confident dance onstage, as the id same flesh and bones. Joker’s painful cachinnation. He studied fully takes over. Phoenix says it was cho- That dichotomy was aided by Phoe- videos of people with uncontrollable reographer Michael Arnold who helped nix’s own physical evolution, in which laughter disorders and kept testing out school him on the evolution of move- the actor lost 52 pounds in order to per- different pitches and rhythms. Eventually ment and dance, and the actor was partic- sonify a gaunt, lonely man seeking con- ularly affected by a 1957 TV perfor- nection in a world lacking empathy. mance of “The Old Soft Shoe.” Phillips saw the character as lean from Phoenix soaked up the research, eager the outset, and Phoenix fully immersed The drastic weight to viscerally capture the vastly divergent himself in the idea of Arthur having a halves of the character’s whole, but the skeletal frame. The director recalls the loss lent an unfamiliar evolution wasn’t like throwing a switch. star quipping, “I got it — I’ll just stop eat- lightness that allowed “All the preparation disappears into the ing and starve myself.” Phoenix to move performance,” says Phillips of his star’s The drastic weight loss helped him genius. “There’s not one moment where become more aware of his body. It lent an in new ways. you see him switch from Arthur to Joker.”

JOKER: A CASE FOR EMPATHY | 73 CRAFT TEAM BEHIND THE MIRROR Virtuoso artisan contributions helped reveal Arthur grabbed her was the murders and their “Todd put on the music really loud,” aftermath. That planted the seed in her Ledermann says. “None of us had heard it Fleck’s soul and nuances of darkly relevant tale mind: “I sat with it for a while ... The notes before. And I have to say the entire crew just clicked, and then they just hit me in was truly watching with their mouths By BOB VERINI There’s a harsh, flickering fluorescent the chest.” hanging open in awe.” light overhead, two smaller bulbs (one They would soon hit everyone in the Only a couple of takes were needed to single brief scene highlights the burned out, natch) next to a filthy mirror, chest, for as Sher recounts Phillips’ achieve an effect of uninterrupted ecstasy. artisanship and teamwork that and the mixed palette Sher favored — instructions, “ ‘Joaquin’s going to come Editor Jeff Groth says, “There’s a cut to have made “Joker” the year’s greens and reds mixed with yellows. “You into the bathroom. Let’s put the camera in one shot from within the bathroom stall … A most nominated motion pic- can feel the sense of sodium vapor” hov- place. You won’t know where he’s going.’ which we liked because it had a kind of ture. According to Todd Phil- ering in the air, Sher says. “[It’s] a very And we didn’t want to know.” The DP framing that looked like he was on a lips and Scott Silver’s script, Arthur Fleck powerful color in the movie.” adds that the director’s aim was clear: Let stage.” Otherwise, Groth cuts only three was to follow his first violent act — wip- Contributing to the effect would be the camera dance with Joaquin. times before Arthur, his anguished face ing out a trio of privileged jerks (the crew Arthur’s clown face paint, smeared with Friedberg and Sher’s work readily now triumphant, faces the mirror with called them “the Wall Street Three”) in a the blood of the Wall Street Three. accommodated this last-minute inspira- arms spread — a new beginning. subway car — with a panicky run through Makeup designer Nicki Ledermann was tion. “Our intent was for Joaquin to be The assembled crew agreed something lurid city streets and into a public ready to make it “really messy and blood- able to go anywhere in that bathroom,” remarkable had happened. “Instantly we restroom. ied, conveying the shock and the anxious- Sher says. “Mind you, it’s very small.” went, ‘This is really haunting.’ It speaks to There, he was to dispose of the gun, ness he just experienced.” What his camera captures, as anyone the metamorphosis in a way that’s true to wash off his clown makeup and look at his Superior preparation allows a produc- who has seen the movie will recall, are the the movie, which has a lot of silence,” reflection in the mirror. Cinematographer tion team to pivot quickly when ideas earliest moments of Joker’s emergence, as Sher says. “It allows for this really Lawrence Sher sums up the original con- strike. Sher recalls director Phillips saun- Arthur’s mask of pain starts to fall away. beautiful connection between music, ception: “He comes into the bathroom, tering over at one point to say, “Listen, I cinematography and acting.” collects himself: ‘Oh my God, what have I think we have another idea … We’re That interplay between artisans and actor done?’ ” going to play this piece of music.” continued throughout shooting, helping The straightforward, plot-driving Phillips was referring to an early selec- What the camera captures Phoenix create his acclaimed performance. sequence, which appeared on the shooting tion Icelandic composer Hildur Guðna- “I could not believe my eyes every schedule 10 days in, was prepared with dóttir had scored for what she calls “my are the earliest moments day,” says producer Emma Tillinger the same care as the rest of the movie. For main instrument” — an electric cello, here of Joker’s emergence, Koskoff. “Being on that set watching Joa- the set, built in-studio, Sher says he and subtly augmented with multiple sounds as Arthur’s mask of pain quin work was one of the great privileges production designer Mark Friedberg and sources. Guðnadóttir notes one of the of my career to date. I don’t know how he sought to “come from a place of reality.” first elements of the screenplay that starts to fall away. does it.”

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MÉMORABLE Bruno Collet and Jean-François Le Corre Tiny Toons The title is apt for Collet’s film about a painter with dementia who struggles to make sense of a world that appears to be disintegrating around him. Created in Long on Talent stop-motion with a style that evokes the beauty and grotesqueries of Van Gogh, Collet is inspired by the work of artist OSCAR-NOMMED PICS PROBE THE DEEPEST ISSUES WITH ARTISTRY William Utermohlen, who painted portraits of himself as his Alzheimer’s symptoms By Thomas J. McLean developed. The film won the top Cristal Award for shorts and two more honors at last year’s Annecy fest. “Being a former fine arts graduate myself, I decided that my main character would be a painter. My idea was that the memory of the works of art that he loved so much during his youth is still intact and that these artistic references rise to the It would be difficult to just really felt like we could change some surface when everyday life fades,” Collet says. “Mémorable” will be screening on Feb. find five films more diverse conversations,” he says. “So animation just felt like it made sense.” 7 at New York’s Animation First Festival as in technique approach part of the Best Annecy Shorts program at the French Institute Alliance Française. and subject matter than KITBULL Rosana Sullivan and Kathryn Hendrickson this year’s nominees for SISTER Pixar animator Sullivan developed this short Siqi Song animated short film. as a side project that began as a way for her to draw kittens and evolved into a more Song’s CalArts graduation film has its origins in her childhood in China, using DCERA (DAUGHTER) personal project about learning to connect wool creations to tell the story of a man who Daria Kashcheeva with others. It was picked up by the studio as one of its SparkShorts. “Kitbull,” a rare joyfully remembers growing up with a sister; In creating her student film “Dcera” at FAMU 2D project from Pixar, is about a kitten who the film then reveals the true story of his in Prague, Kashcheeva was interested in befriends an abused pitbull and then helps family’s history under China’s former one- telling a story about how childhood events him escape to find a forever family. Sullivan child policy. Song says for her the film is less shape adult relationships. Her stop-motion says choice was aesthetic as well as practical. about the policy, which has been reversed techniques collided hard with an interest “I wanted to capture that unpredictable nature SOFT SELL in recent years, and more about the sibling in hand-held cinematography. Studying of the kitten through the unpredictable Siqi Song’s relationship, and she thinks that is what is frame-by-frame the cinematography on stop-motion resonating with audiences. “It was kind of nature of drawing,” she says. “The practical “Sister” Lars von Trier’s “Breaking the Waves,” like a privilege to be able to grow up with a side of it is that I thought I was going to be explores a Kashcheeva created an unusual rapid pace doing most of the animation … so 2D was just sibling re- sibling,” she says. “Not a lot of people I know and style for this stop-motion film about a more accessible for me.” lationship. had the opportunity to do so.” woman remembering aspects of her life with her dying father. It earned two awards when it premiered last summer at Annecy. “When the puppet moved somewhere, I consciously delayed the camera movement,” she says. “I wanted to make a feeling that there is a real cinematographer, who doesn’t know what is going to happen next and who just experienced this situation in real time and followed the situation with his camera.” “Dcera” will be screening on Feb. 7 at the Animation First Festival at the French Institute Alliance Française in New York.

HAIR LOVE Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver Cherry says he’s been drawn to animation recently by its broad appeal and the chance to present to that audience a story featuring a strong black family in this tale of a young girl who needs her dad’s help to style her hair the way she wants it. “I know how powerful filmmaking can be and the idea of a young girl being able to see herself, love her natural hair and, her mom had natural hair and her dad had natural hair, and it

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ADG MEMBERS EVALUATE THE WORK OF THEIR NOMINATED COLLEAGUES IN EACH ART DIRECTORS GUILD CATEGORY

PERIOD FILM embraced the scenery comprising western FANTASY FILM ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD towns and ranches, painted backdrops and AVENGERS: ENDGAME Production Designer: Barbara Ling facades-on-top-of-facades with era-specific Production Designer: Charles Wood signage of 1969 Hollywood, cool midcentury “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” is Quentin homes and vintage vehicles. From the desolation of a ship adrift in space Tarantino’s magnum opus and tribute to the Barbara’s crew prepped, and the film to the enormous battle for survival of the 1960s Los Angeles in which he grew up. The crew shot, one side of Hollywood Boulevard universe, “Avengers: End Game” provided emotional connection that this can bring to a at a time so as not to interrupt the sacred a broad canvas upon which a production project could be a tall order … and a daunting lifeblood of the financially necessary designer could create cinematic art. Bringing project for a production designer to meet. tourism industry. together disparate parts of the Marvel Cin- The visual expectations of a director of The world they brought back to life served ematic Universe, Charles Wood also had to Tarantino’s caliber, on a picture of this scale, as an organic nesting place for the characters generate new worlds and establish a cohesive on a tight 12-week prep schedule, with his that Tarantino created and were realized by the design, all while visualizing two blockbusters requisite amount of attention to detail and an actors. For a brief three hours, that world came simultaneously, as “Infinity War” and “End- alleged edict that no action would be filmed back into being and — spoiler alert! — Sharon game” were filmed back-to-back. before a green screen, was enthusiastically Tate (with her unborn child), Jay Sebring, Abi- To do this, he created one additional world: embraced and realized by veteran production gail Folger, Steven Parent and Wojciech Fry- the Avengers art department. At its home designer Barbara Ling and her A-list crew. kowski did not perish — and 1969 Hollywood base in Atlanta, Wood assembled a team of Character and backstory were woven lived. It’s a Hollywood love story. skilled artisans representing the best in their seamlessly throughout the script in such a Written by Chuck Parker, Local 800 direc- crafts. These superheroes, a diverse group of way that the freeways, hills, streets, the Val- tor, whose credits include “Beyond the Trek” and women and men from across the country and ley and Hollywood Boulevard all lovingly “Under the Dome.” around the globe, with a satellite department in England, spent two years realizing the many worlds of the films. Wood is a master of visual design and the result is extraordinary. Written by dooner, Local 800 national associate executive director, whose credits include “Big Love” and “Maniac.”

CONTEMPORARY FILM

PARASITE Production Designer: Lee Ha-jun

The physical world of “Parasite” realized by Lee Ha Jun creates a riveting visual metaphor for the complex social structure inhabited by upper and foundational classes of modern society, all the while effectively demonstrat- ing how each feeds off the other. Set in South Korea, the story and contemporary visual style translate easily to worldwide audiences as viewers are compelled to pay close attention to the numerous layered clues, and not just read subtitles. Film design, unlike real-world architecture, is constructed via narrative design, revealing story through crafted images. When

Tipsheet BACKWARD GLANCE WHAT: Barbara Ling scored Art Directors Guild Excellence her first Oscar in Production Design Awards nomination for WHEN: InterContinental “Once Upon a Time Los Angeles Downtown in Hollywood.” WHERE: Feb. 1 WEB: adg.org ANDREW COOPER/SONY PICTURES ANDREW COOPER/SONY

76 VARIETY COCONTENDERSNTENDERS scripts such as “Parasite” require a limited number of sets and locations, the design for each must substantively contribute to each scene, as viewers have more time to scruti- nize each detail. The primary setting in “Parasite” — a high-end contemporary home supposedly designed by a famous Korean architect as his primary residence — must facilitate intricate, timed blocking and camera movements, materially contributing to the narrative pro- gression. The beautifully fabricated house is expertly integrated into an existing neighborhood adding to the film’s plausibility. Complexities and proxemics resulting from the deceptively clean design and incredi- bly clever incorporation of angles, staircases, and sightlines, lead to storytelling and tension at its finest. Bespoke finishes, minimal- ist decor, and austerity of compartmentalized family member areas stand in stark contrast to the crammed sub-basement apartment of the working-class family nested among each other and their possessions. Visual representation of social strata not only through material possessions but also SNOW DAZE through juxtaposition of location and geogra- Michael Giaimo and Lisa Keene succeeded in charming phy reinforces the concept of class, adding to audiences with their rich the jeopardy of the characters. The high-end designs for “Frozen 2.” neighborhood is literally at the city’s upper reaches, while the working class is wedged into neighborhoods far below via mazes of roads and stairways, inhabiting sub-base- ments, nooks and crannies seemingly never tinged in glowing dewdrops) and fogbanks that intended for habitation. are powerful barriers (with internal lightning ADG Honorees Written by Nelson Coates, president of Local flashes), enhance the visual weight of the film. Accolades for multiple artists will be 800 and production designer on “Crazy Rich One of the more charming design handed out at the ADG Awards Asians” and the upcoming “In the Heights” moments is in an early scene where our two

heroines’ new young daughters are playing SYD MEAD ANIMATED FILM with what appears to be a frozen dollhouse William Cameron Menzies Award FROZEN 2 version of the enchanted forest. A little later, Mead, a concept artist and acknowledged visual futurist, Production Designer: Michael Giaimo there is a moment where snow hail crystals is known for his design contributions to science-fiction are frozen midair, signifying the elements films such as “Star-Trek: The Motion Picture,” “Aliens” Michael Giaimo, production designer on Dis- of fire and ice captured in diamond-shaped and “Blade Runner.” ney’s animated feature “Frozen 2,” and Lisa packets. Many of these astonishing design JOE ALVES ADG Lifetime Achievement Award from Keene, the co-production designer, had two moments prove the power of production the Art Directors Council major challenges. The first was to continue design to tell the story and to move it forward. Alves is known for his work on “Close Encounters of the a visual design legacy begun in the original All bets are off when the citizens of our Third Kind” and all three “Jaws” films, as well as “Escape smash hit “Frozen.” In the new story they had sleepy hamlet are forced to flee the town as from New York.” to visually manifest and harness the power of it is wracked by the extreme forces of nature DENIS OLSEN wind, water, fire and ice. “Frozen 2” carries caused by our main heroine Elsa’s awaken- ADG Lifetime Achievement Award from the Scenic, forward the rich palette of Disney classics. It ing that something is not quite on balance Title and Graphic Artists Council succeeds, in the words of one its characters, to between nature and mankind. It is not difficult Olsen’s film credits include “Ghostbusters,” “Rocky” 2 and 3, and “The Muppet Movie”; TV work includes “All in “Let down our guard, and we were charmed, it to figure out that these are the effects of cli- the Family” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” was magical.” mate change, and this movie brings it home in STEPHEN MYLES BERGER Second, the production design balances the subtle and not so subtle ways. ADG Lifetime Achievement Award from the Set fine line between visual textures and patterns: The transition of the color palette from Designers and Model Makers Council from subtle wallpapers in the palace to the rus- beyond the fog barrier to the enchanted for- Berger’s TV and film credits encompass “Malcolm in the ticated brickwork on bridges and buildings in est is sublime. The color palette in the early Middle,” “Desperate Housewives,” “The Way We Were” the rural storybook village of Arendelle. There scenes in the village and castle was warm and and “Robin Hood — Men in Tights.” are visually defining motifs and symbols that sweet, but now, in the enchanted forest, the JACK JOHNSON land the film in Norse decoration, such as sten- palette is mature with colors that paint the ADG Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illustrators ciled patterns on doors and walls and peri- forest as decayed and dying. Our two sisters and Matte Artists Council Johnson’s work has touched such projects as “Goonies,” od-correct furniture. Those details, replete are thrown apart in an epic struggle to save “Edward Scissorhands,” “Jurassic Park III,” “Pleasantville” with weeping willows (whose branches are the planet from man-made destruction. and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” NEY S DISNEY DI

VARIETYV ARIETY CONTENDERSCONTENDERS 77 CONTENDERS | ADG AWARDS

large audience of riveted viewers who would A NEW WAY have watched even more. Hull and his team “The Mandalorian” captured a well-deserved Emmy for their added to the “Star Wars” legacy with work, bringing to the camera a brilliant new characters and visual recreation of the 1986 nuclear disas- worlds. ter at the Soviet Union’s Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The production design for the industrial setting of the series was carried off with a believable and at times haunting effect. This world, through locations and sets, gives the viewer an emotional and authentic insight to a 1970s Soviet Union. This Soviet world is well behind the West’s achievements in technology, science, commercial and domestic architecture, but this fact is what made it interesting to observe and helped sharpen and develop the visual storytelling. “Chernobyl” was not directed or designed as a disaster movie, but nonetheless was gripping and created memorable images that you could not help but find seared into your memory. From the massive control room to the flooded underground tunnels and the smoking, destroyed nuclear power plant, the scale and complexity of the design work was formidable. The smaller interior sets of the offices, the hallways, the hospi- tal rooms, where the valiant first responders were treated, were crafted with a high level of verisimilitude. Written by John Iacovelli, whose credits ONE-HOUR CONTEMPORARY The series is a must-watch to understand SINGLE-CAMERA SERIES include “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” and the critical effect humankind has on our “Peter Pan.” BIG LITTLE LIES: “WHAT HAVE environment and how important researched THEY DONE?” “THE BAD MOTHER,” information in a long format can be, to grasp- ONE-HOUR PERIOD OR FANTASY “I WANT TO KNOW” ing the truth behind the daily reporting of SINGLE-CAMERA SERIES Production Designer: John Paino a historical event. The design team and the THE MANDALORIAN: “CHAPTER ONE” series director, Johan Renck, did a tremen- Production Designer: Andrew L. Jones The production design for “Big Little Lies” is dous job shocking and enthralling us with an example of visual storytelling at the high- bold, simple images, and finely detailed sets Andrew Jones and the creative team est level. John Paino seamlessly integrates the in this trip back to an important and tragic behind “The Mandalorian” had the epic feelings, textures and breadth of each charac- event that we must never forget. task of bringing the iconic “Star Wars” ter into his design. Especially striking is the Written by Thomas Wilkins, whose credits universe to the small screen. They created visual connection to the ocean that breathes include “Hawaii Five-0” and “Fargo.” bold new agglomeration of worlds that we a visceral sense of life and urgency into the have come to know over the 40 years of unfolding events. HALF-HOUR SINGLE-CAMERA SERIES the franchise. The production design is Every moment of each episode is an RUSSIAN DOLL:“NOTHING IN THIS one of our few links to defining where and immersion into the world of Monterey Bay WORLD IS EASY” when we are in the history of the known and the lives of six women and their gradual Production Designer: Michael Bricker timeline. but steady de-evolution after a life-altering From the vehicle designs to architectural event. From the uniquely beautiful driftwood What’s up with that door? In the opening links, Jones and his team define our place styled coffee shop to the specific use of tex- sequence, we see Nadia staring at herself in the “Star Wars” universe and deliver ture, light and color in every scene, one gets a down across a circular mirror, water run- on the promise of creating the scope of a sense of being swept along with the tide of the ning, in a bathroom of black subway tile, feature film. Pushing the boundaries of story as the show progresses. black walls, a bronze sculpture above the toi- filmmaking with their “stagecraft” technol- Written by Allison Schenker, whose credits let and classic New York hexagon-shaped tile ogy, they are able to create realistic alien include “Oceans Rising” and “Zoombies.” floor. These are our first clues to the circu- worlds in a way never seen before on televi- lar events running through Nadia’s life. Then sion. The unique blending of ground-break- TELEVISION MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES you see the door. Its gothic arch has a strong ing technology, old-school puppetry, and CHERNOBYL architectural impact, and the floating blue the immersive production design com- Production Designer: Luke Hull light? What is it? bine to bring the saga of a not so heartless “Russian Doll” invites us to the party bounty hunter to life. The miniseries ”Chernobyl,” with production through the portal of this amazing bathroom. Written by Dave Blass, whose credits include design by Luke Hull, blew its way through Production designer Michael Bricker cre- “The Boys” and “Preacher.” peak TV season in five episodes to capture a ates a visual poem to New York City. The lush DISNEY+

78 VARIETY COCONTENDERSNTENDERS sets are key players in the story. Maxine’s million views. The fabulous stacked set is ADG Nominees loft party is rich with friends, books, art, tex- fun and fresh from room to room. Kurt’s tures. The never-ending spaces of the floor design beautifully takes the audience on Winners will be named at the org’s 24th annual awards on plan are a reference to a nested Russian doll, the colorful emotional journey that one Feb. 1 at the InterContinental hotel, Downtown Los Angeles opulent with color, dark and mysterious as finds in life alongside their lover(s). the story itself. My favorite aspect to Kurt’s design is how EXCELLENCE IN The Handmaid’s Tale: “Mayday” Written by Michelle Milosh, whose cred- well it transports the audience from space to PRODUCTION DESIGN — Elizabeth Williams its include “The Keeper, the Legend of Omar space — from the wonderful fishbowl bath- FOR A FEATURE FILM The Umbrella Academy Khayyam” and “Significant Others.” tub, to everyone’s attic of memories and all “We Only See Each Other at Weddings and Funerals” — the way back to a romantic dinner for two PERIOD FILM (Tie yielded six nominees) Mark Worthington MULTI-CAMERA SERIES in the glamorous blue dining room. Kurt’s Ford v Ferrari — François Audouy TELEVISION MOVIE OR THE BIG BANG THEORY: design is a cozy carousel playhouse that The Irishman — Bob Shaw LIMITED SERIES “THE STOCKHOLM SYNDROME,” complements the song triumphantly. Jojo Rabbit — Ra Vincent Black Mirror: “Striking Vipers” — “THE CONFERENCE VALUATION,” Written by Spencer Brennan, whose credits Joker — Mark Friedberg 1917 — Dennis Gassner Anne Beauchamp “THE PROPAGATION PROPOSITION” include “In Vino” and “I’ll Be Watching.” Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Catch-22 — David Gropman Production Designer: John Shaffner — Barbara Ling Chernobyl — Luke Hull VARIETY, REALITY OR EVENT SPECIAL Deadwood — Maria Caso FANTASY FILM Fosse/Verdon — Alex DiGerlando If you started watching “The Big Bang The- DRUNK HISTORY: “ARE YOU (Tie yielded six nominees) HALF-HOUR SINGLE-CAMERA ory” in its farewell season, you might not AFRAIDOF THE DRUNK?” Ad Astra — Kevin Thompson SERIES know the design team has spent all 13 sea- Production Designer: Monica Sotto Aladdin — Gemma Jackson sons delivering character-charged sets. Avengers: Endgame — Barry: “ronny/lily” — Tyler B. Robinson Through a telescope you might take one boat, The scenery is the straight man in this Vic- Charles Wood Dumbo — Rick Heinrichs Fleabag: Ep. 5 — Jonathan plane, baby room, hotel room or Nobel Peace torian gothic anecdotal tale-within-a-tale Maleficent: Mistress of Evil — Paul Green Prize ceremony individually and see that John about the inspiration behind Mary Shel- Patrick Tatopoulos GLOW: “Up, Up, Up” — Shaffner and his team were committed to the ley’s “Frankenstein.” Episode 1, season 6 of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Todd Fjelsted — Rick Carter, Kevin Jenkins The Good Place: “Employee of design signatures established by the whimsi- “Drunk History” is told around a campfire. the Bearimy,” “Help Is Other cal, lovable nerds (and Penny) from day one. We are quickly transported to a period Pari- CONTEMPORARY FILM People” — Ian Phillips Or you can take a step back to see the feat of sian street created with theatrical flair using A Beautiful Day in the Russian Doll: “Nothing in This World is Easy” — Michael Bricker all the seasons and watch a legacy of design stylized backdrops and minimal props. All Neighborhood — Jade Healy John Wick: Chapter 3 : that trails behind the final seasons like the scenes are shot in and around historic Castle MULTI-CAMERA SERIES Parabellum — Kevin Kavanaugh tail of a comet. They are all strung together Green in Pasadena. Architectural elements Knives Out — David Crank The Big Bang Theory: “The with a distinctive look that was continuously wisely incorporated provide interesting Parasite — Lee Ha-Jun Stockholm Syndrome,” “The Conference Valuation,” “The lively, fresh, funny and charming. details that move the story forward: a cellar Us — Ruth De Jong Propagation Proposition” — Written by Adam Rowe, whose credits include door to Frankenstein’s morgue; a wrought ANIMATED FILM John Shaffner “The Good Place” and “American Crime Story.” iron railing in an Italian mansion; rooms Abominable — Max Boas The Cool Kids: “Vegas, Baby!” — dramatically embellished with furniture, Frozen 2 — Michael Giaimo Stephan Olson Family Reunion: “Remember SHORT FORMAT: WEB SERIES, fabrics and signage evocative of the period. How To Train Your Dragon: Black Elvis?” — Aiyanna Trotter MUSIC VIDEO OR COMMERCIAL The Hidden World — Sotto’s improvisational approach works Pierre-Olivier Vincent No Good Nick: “The Italian Job” TAYLOR SWIFT: “LOVER” MUSIC VIDEO well, since Castle Green serves as back- The Lion King — James Chinlund — Kristan Andrews Will & Grace: “Family, Trip,” Production Designer: Kurt Gefke ground for several other “Drunk History” Toy Story 4 — Bob Pauley “The Things We Do for Love,” episodes this season. Delivering this clever EXCELLENCE IN “Conscious Coupling” — It’s not every day you get asked to make a range of designs prove Monica Sotto very PRODUCTION DESIGN Glenda Rovello life-size dollhouse for Taylor Swift. Kurt worthy of her nomination. FOR TELEVISION SHORT FORMAT: WEB Gefke received that honor this year and his Written by Judy Cosgrove, whose credits ONE-HOUR PERIOD OR SERIES, MUSIC VIDEO OR rendition is still crushing it after nearly 100 include “Superstore” and “Cougar Town.” FANTASY SINGLE-CAMERA COMMERCIAL SERIES Apple: “It’s Tough Out There” — A Series of Unfortunate Events: Quito Cooksey “Penultimate Peril: Part 1” — Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, Bo Welch Lana Del Rey: “Don’t Call Me The Crown: “Aberfan” — Angel” — Emma Fairley Martin Childs MedMen: “The New Normal” — Game of Thrones: “The Bells” — James Chinlund Deborah Riley Portal for Facebook: “A Very The Mandalorian: “Chapter One” Muppet Portal Launch” — — Andrew L. Jones Alex DiGerlando The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: Ep. Taylor Swift: “Lover” — 305, Ep. 308 — Bill Groom Kurt Gefke

ONE-HOUR CONTEMPORARY VARIETY, REALITY OR SPECIAL SINGLE-CAMERA SERIES Drunk History: “Are You Afraid of Big Little Lies: “What Have They the Drunk?” — Monica Sotto Done?” “The Bad Mother,” “I Want 91st Oscars — David Korins SCIENCE to Know” — John Paino Rent: Live” — Jason Sherwood FICTION The Boys: “The Female of the Saturday Night Live: 1764 Emma “The Big Bang Species” — Dave Blass Stone, 1762 Sandra Oh, 1760 Theory’s” Euphoria: “The Trials and John Mulaney — Keith Raywood, design team Tribulations of Trying to Pee Akira Yoshimura, Joe DeTullio, S created Eugene Lee CB While Depressed,” “And Salt the / character- Earth Behind You” — Kay Lee Taylor Swift Reputation Stadium charged sets. Tour — Tamlyn Wright, Baz Halpi ICHAEL YARISH MICHAEL YARISH/CBS M

VARIETYV ARIETY CONTENDERSCONTENDERS 79 CONTENDERS | | WRITERWRITERSWGA AWARDSS

BEACH READ “Little Women” shows plenty of humor in the screenplay.

Serious Fun in THE YEAR’S CROP OF WGA-NOMINATED ADAPTED and original screenplays appears on the surface to be a grim lot. There’s war (“1917,” “Jojo Rabbit”), insidious homewreckers (“Para- Screenplays site”), a Civil War-era coming-of-age story (“Little Women”) and an arch murder investigation (“Knives Out”), to name just a few of the nominated scripts. HUMOR INFUSED IN NOMINATED WGA DRAMAS But here’s a surprise: Every one of them is funny. Or, at By Randee Dawn least, funny in parts. And as screenwriters and producers alike admit, a script without funny moments is possibly the grim- mest one of all. “Ah, yes, the hilarious ride that was ‘1917’!” laughs Kristy Cairns-Wilson, who wrote the WWI screenplay with director Sam Mendes. “Here’s the thing: even when you’re going through something horrible, you often crack jokes. Our characters were young men. There’s a wanking joke in the trenches!” As one of the heaviest topics cinema tends to regularly tackle, war pictures are not known for jocularity. But all the humor in this year’s scripts is aimed at character development. “You have to embed it into the genetics of reality,” says Cairns-Wilson. “With younger men, it’s hard for them to talk SONY PICTURES / about their feelings in the real world.” WILSON WEBB/SONY PICTURES WILSON WEBB/SONY WEBB

80 VARIETY Tipsheet Honorable Mentions WHAT: 72nd annual WGA Awards WHEN: Feb. 1 SCREENWRITERS FETED FOR CAREER ACHIEVEMENTS WHERE: Beverly Hilton, Los Angeles; By Stuart Miller, Nick Clement and Malina Saval Edison Ballroom, New York City WEB: wga.org On Feb. 1, the WGA West Awards will honor writers whose exemplary work has proven influential in both the cinematic and small-screen worlds. The WGA East War also gets a ribbing with a different type of humor will similarly honor Paula Pell, Richard Price and Lisa Takeuchi Cullen. — satire — in “Jojo Rabbit,” written and directed by Taika Waititi. Telling the late-days WWII story from the point of view of a 10-year-old boy (whose imaginary friend NANCY MEYERS on his protege — the last year for the megadeal is Adolf Hitler, played by Waititi) naturally lent itself Laurel Award for sidekick couldn't sit with the from Netflix that lured him to moments of light and fantasy. But there are several Screenwriting host — and her response away from 20th Century straight pokes in the eye that also are part of the story, Achievement was actually enthusiasm: Fox Television, where he such as when Jojo breaks up with his imaginary pal and The first job screenwriter “Oh. Well, gee … that just wrote and produced such kicks him out the window. Meyers had in the industry leaves us with everything hits as “Glee,” “Pose,” else in the world!” “It’s a real cartoonish moment,” says Waititi. “Humor was as a story editor for “American Horror Story” She shared six Emmy and “American Crime helps to disarm an audience and let their guard down, so Oscar nominated producer nominations for her work Story.” But he is staying you can deliver a deeper message that means more. I get Ray Stark. there, following an earlier put at his second Los more out of films that make people laugh and deliver an “It was an exciting one for the daytime “David Angeles home, the Young important message than straight dramas that are intent on job working for him,” Letterman Show,” and now Storytellers Foundation, an just being intense and depressing. People switch off when says Meyers, recipient she's receiving the Paddy org that teaches fourth- you force them into watching something like that.” of the Laurel Award Chayefsky Laurel Award graders in more than 80 for Screenwriting When it came to adapting “Little Women” for the big for Television Writing L.A. schools. Achievement. “It was screen again, director Greta Gerwig says she found sur- Achievement. Markoe, Falchuk, who is receiving through that job that it prising humor in the original text, particularly from the however, has switched to the Valentine Davies Award, kind of sealed my fate that book’s narrator. books and these days is “in says: “I’ve seen the power [writing] is my area, this “In the opening scenes she says something like, the final throes of writing that mentorship provides what I like.” ‘because readers like to know what characters look like, and illustrating a graphic for both the mentor and Meyers, who went SM here’s what they looked like,’” says Gerwig. “There are novel.” — the mentee. As well as on to pen such modern moments of real, snarky humor, which I hadn’t associated developing my own shows, comedy classics as “Private DAVID N. WEISS I am committed to finding with [author Louisa May] Alcott until now.” Benjamin,” “Baby Boom” Animation Writers Caucus new, unheard voices and Looking ahead from the WGA Awards, comedies are not and “It’s Complicated,” Animation Writing Award helping to turn them into traditionally Oscar winners, whether as best picture or draws her inspiration from Weiss, recipient of the the showrunners of the for screenplays; the frothy nature of a straight-up comedy various sources, but she Animation Writers Caucus future.” — SM tends not to feel … well, serious enough to voters. Argu- can never predict from Animation Writing Award, where a screenplay idea CHARLES RANDOLPH ably, original screenplay winners “Little Miss Sunshine” remembers how he will bloom. (2006) and “Juno” (2007) and last year’s adapted screen- “found my groove” in Paul Selvin Award “That’s one of the great play winner “BlacKkKlansman” were weighted a little the world of animation. Oscar-winning mysteries of life,” says more heavily in the humor department than many other Weiss had not yet served screenwriter Randolph Meyers of her writing scripts, but they weren’t exactly light. as WGA veep, nor built (“The Big Short”) is set to process. “You never know. “It is a strange thing why serious fare is considered his writing partnership receive the Paul Selvin I remember once that more Oscar-y,” says Rian Johnson, whose “Knives Out” has with J. David Stern and his Award, given each year Billy Wilder saw [1945 Emmy-nominated resume to a writer whose script an arch, slightly absurd touch. “We’re not a full-on com- drama “Brief Encounter”] (“The Smurfs,” “Shrek 2,” best embodies the spirit edy, but we’re pleased that as an audience-pleasing genre and from that he came “Rugrats”). He was in his of the constitutional civil movie we were able to sneak in there.” up with the idea for ‘The late 20s and had flown to rights and liberties that In several cases, scripts this year undercut their darker, Apartment.’ I always Ireland to work on “All Dogs are indispensable to the even horrific aspects with well-placed absurdist or surre- remember that. Because it Go to Heaven.” survival of free writers alist humor. In “Parasite,” co-written by director Bong Joon is a mysterious thing how it With animators awaiting everywhere. The award MS Ho and Han Jin Won, Han says he wanted to avoid any par- occurs.” — his words, he was comes on the heels of ticular genre labels while putting together the script. nervous until he began Randolph penning the MERRILL MARKOE “Various ‘genres’ in traditional concepts define the form brainstorming with the Fox News sexual- Paddy Chayefsky of the work, but also limit specific viewpoints at the same legendary Don Bluth and harassment drama Laurel Award time,” he writes in an email. “If I had approached ‘Para- John Pomeroy. “I would act “Bombshell.” site’ focusing more on ‘thriller’ or ‘horror’ genres, various Markoe hasn't written for, out the movie as we wrote Randolph also received or even watched, late and that's how I found my attempts, such as metaphors or symbols, [a] mix of both top honors from the WGA night TV in ages. Yet her style as a collaborator,” and BAFTA for his work literary and colloquial expressions and situational ironies irreverent sensibility still recalls Weiss, who is on “The Big Short,” which would have looked forced or difficult.” helps to shape late night. working on a live action he co-adapted with Adam Instead, he was able to construct scenes like the mon- As the original head writer remake of “Harvey” for McKay from the book by tage where the original housekeeper is set up to get fired; for the influential and Netflix. — SM Michael Lewis. His other that’s what he calls the “funniest scene,” along with a groundbreaking “Late Night credits include “Love & BRAD FALCHUCK crosscutting of scenes in which the son teaches his father With David Letterman,” she Other Drugs,” “The Life how to act and the father snitches to the mistress based on recalls how Johnny Carson Valentine Davies Award of David Gale” and “The his lessons. placed certain restrictions Falchuk made headlines Interpreter.” — NC

VARIETY CONTENDERS VARIETY 818 1 CONTENDERS | VES AWARDS Effects Honors Expand Impact

VES AWARDS SPOTLIGHT INNOVATIONS IN A FIELD THAT’S ALREADY PUSHING THE LIMIT

By Thomas J. McLean

THE VES AWARDS has firmly established itself as a respected mainstream institution, as indi- cated by a record number of submissions this year, expansion of categories in both number and breadth, and high demand for tickets. “We sold out in about 20 minutes,” says Mike Chambers, a veteran of the org who was recently reelected as its board chairman. “It’s a mixed blessing. We’re of course ecstatic so many people want to participate but it’s also hard to not be able to seat all the people who’d like to be there.” With more than 500 submissions in 25 THIS IS THE WAY categories — plus special honorees Martin Disney Plus hit “The Mandalorian” Scorsese, Roland Emmerich and Sheena Dug- came out of the gate to earn six VES nominations. gal — the VES nominees represent the most nuanced and complete recognition of the wide range of disciplines involved in creating visual effects for movies, television, live events, special projects and virtual reality. Leading nominees this year among features “He just seems a good fit for our organiza- alongside “Alita: Battle Angel,“ “The Lion are Disney’s “The Lion King” and Fox’s “Alita: tion and he’s a passionate fan of our work,” King” and “The Mandalorian.” Battle Angel” in photorealistic categories, and Chambers says. The ceremony will be recorded Chambers notes this year brought de-aging Pixar’s “Toy Story 4” in animated contests with and aired a week after the awards on Spectrum and fully animated photoreal characters to the five noms each. On the TV side, the final sea- News 1, a local news channel available to Spec- fore, while companies are making plans to res- son of “Game of Thrones” and Disney Plus’ trum subscribers across Southern California. urrect dead stars for projects using technol- acclaimed “Star Wars” spinoff “The Mandalo- The org also opened up its virtual cine- ogy. “Animation is a big part of that and I think rian” each earned a leading six nominations. matography and compositing categories to we’re going to see more and it’s going to be Changes to this year’s event included the include fully animated projects alongside pho- interesting to see how that develops over time reinstatement of the special (practical) effects toreal ones. and in what directions filmmakers and others in a photoreal or animated project category. “The request was made by some members choose to [go].” “We have a larger contingent of special- of the animation community,” says Cham- Nominees agree that while many problems effects practitioners and they wanted an bers. “[We] did quite a lot of vetting on the idea have been solved, there remains plenty of outlet to showcase their work as well, so after of whether that was appropriate and brought innovations in the field worthy of recognition, a lot of looking at it we added that back in,” people in to … make their case for why it was with fully animated digital characters in star- Chambers says. appropriate and we agreed.” ring roles among the most relevant. The event returns to the Beverly Hilton One of “Toy Story 4’s” nominations is Dan Deleeuw, VFX supervisor on triple Hotel, with Patton Oswalt returning as host. for virtual cinematography in a CG project, nominee “Avengers: Endgame,” says multiple DISNEY+

82 VARIETY LION KING: DISNEY; ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX grow the visual effects industry and raised the andraised grow thevisualeffects industry by features andseries haverequired helped ing that story,” says Cozens. space that that arecreating characterandtell- there’s dozens of inandaroundthat artists and allthedetailinperformance, but anchor indrivingthecharacterarcforward the character’s arcfrominnocent towarrior. sor Mike Cozens, andwere essential toconvey shots by visualeffects, says animation supervi- formance was enhanced inmorethan1,800 Angel,” actress Rosa Salazar’s live-action per- person. a particular ple’s brainsrecognize consistent asbeing with of thecharactertofinemovements that peo- farbeyondwhich goes thephysical appearance challenges was retainingthelikeness of Smith, on finefacialmovements. Oneof thebiggest focus asdidagreater systemcreation helped, entirety of themovie.” We thisthingconvincingly for hadtocarry the Williams. “There’s nowhere for to. ustoretreat anybehind kindof smoke andmirrors,” says that played akey dramatic role. “We can’t hide tal characterfor a120-frame-per-second film that last little bitandfillinthegaps.” time we hadontheprojectthat we could reach day,” says Williams. “But we felt that withinthe right thenandtherewe couldn’t doitonthat ago, whenasked ifwe we could knew doit, fighting hisolder, current-day self. featured adigitalversion of young Will Smith filmthat ontheAngLee-directed supervisor Man,” says Weta Digital’s GuyWilliams, aVFX smile andhow hischeeksmove ashespeaks.” still retainallthequalityof Mark’s crooked get Hulkand itontothelargerof Smart shape you’re able totake that andretar- performance the charactertolife,” says Deleeuw. “And then aroundtheeyesscrunching brings that really but it’s subtleskinmovement allthat really and muscles move andgetting theperformance, more convincing look. Hulk emerge fromtheuncanny valley witha Smart skin moves tolighthelped andreacts that moreaccuratelynology simulates theway facial performance. Adding that tonewtech- high-resolution digitalversion of Ruffalo’s avery techniquestocreate eras andmo-cap and employed multiplecam- onthefilmused that we were finallyableent artistry todoit.” a lotof different andalotof differ- technology Hulkisitwas kindofSmart theconfluence of Mark Ruffalo) possible. was nice “What about workthe nominated Hulk(played on Smart by technological advances madeacharacterlike The complexity of shots andnumber “It’s Rosa’s andshe’s performance like the For characterin“Alita: thelead Battle More accurate skinpigmentsandanewpore challenge wasThe real adigi- creating “At of theproject two thebeginning years Similar challenges were faced on”Gemini trickisit’s“The notjust capturinghow the systemThe Medusa by Disney developed the photorealisticcategory. “Alita: BattleAngel”lead “The LionKing”(top)and NEW TECHNIQUES days that dofantastic visualeffects work and andsmallerbudget. schedule just onashorter of thestudio for feature,required atentpole visual effects shots, involving discipline every featured 400areas. episode Thenominated on theserieswas withfeatures onpar inboth worknominated hiscrewat WETA Digitaldid of “Game ofThrones,”the finalseason says the Deleeuw. what isinvolved inmakingtheshots,” says and they have understanding of anin-depth your work recognized isbeing by your peers says Deleeuw. “You’re inasituation where and depthof VFXwork outthereisunique, ing asanorgthat recognizes thebreadth forbar quality, says Williams. TheVES’stand- “There’s somany shows outtherethese on Darren Christie, compositing supervisor of most filmed entertainment now.”of entertainment most filmed visualeffects amajorpart because arereally get therecognition that thiswork deserves of theindustry inourpart unsung heroes and theawards isjust tomake surethat the andmission goal of oursociety primary change could initsfuture. be sosucha andrevisingthem, ing at itsrules year’s crop. whichisnomorethanfivenominated, inthis whocanbe of people expanding the number effecta nominated hasgrown andwarrants workingadds thatof people on thenumber sohigh,” lifted has been says Christie, who thebar stands see onethat outbecause really comp work that it’s of hardto actuallysort “We always want tokeep butthe itfresh, saysChambers theVESisconstantly look- VARIETY

83 CONTENDERS | COSTUME DESIGNERS GUILD AWARDS

Now in his third year as president, Perez has watched the technology drive the changes in the industry. Artists Shine “Tech is advancing us,” Perez says. “We want to move along with it.” As more projects are being created through in Spotlight CGI, Perez believes it’s important for designers to move with the curve and not follow it. The guild hosts seminars so designers can COSTUME DESIGNERS GUILD AWARDS SEES PROFILE understand the technology and work with it as RISE AS MORE ARTISANS GAIN FANS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA it progresses. “If they start doing more projects like ‘Avatar,’ we might not have to phys- By Jazz Tangcay ically make costumes, but we’ll still have to design them,” he says. “It will grow to a new evolution of costume design.” Pay parity is also an issue the CDG is wres- MAJESTIC tling with. “Costume designers are 85% “The Crown” women. Production designers are 85% men. will again vie for a Costume We are work for hire. They build. We are two Designers department heads doing what I think is an Guild Award. equal job,” Perez says. “But because we are mostly women, we are getting paid less and I think that’s something that needs to be addressed as part of this movement.” As the guild tackles day-to-day issues, it also recognizes the value of its award show and the special honors it will present this year. The Spotlight Award will be given to Charl- ize Theron, in recognition of an artist who col- laborates with costume designers. “One of my first films was ‘Men of Honor’ with a young Charlize and Robert De Niro,” Perez says. “She was a delight and she made my job so easy to do. It’s so fitting we’re honoring her because she inspired me and set the bar for the rest of my career.” Screenwriter, director and producer Adam McKay (“Succession,” “Vice”) will receive the Distinguished Collaborator Award. McKay is one, who Perez says, “is constantly making shows where costume designers get to show their artistry.” Michael Kaplan will be honored with the Career Achievement Award. Kaplan designed costumes for such iconic films as “Blade Run- ner,” “Flashdance” and “Fight Club”; he’s also IN THE AGE OF INSTAGRAM, costume the Neighborhood” (Arjun Bhasin), “Hustlers” nominated this year for “Star Wars: The Rise designers have used social media to intro- (Mitchell Travers), “Knives Out” (Jenny Eagan), of Skywalker.” duce legions of fans to their art, with names “The Laundromat” (Ellen Mirojnick) and “Queen The legendary Mary Ellen Fields will be hon- such as Sandy Powell, Arianne Phillips, Col- & Slim” (Shiona Turini) for contemporary film. ored with the Distinguished Service Award. leen Atwood and Mary Zophres earning super- For period film, the nominees are: “Dolemite Is Fields is the head of Bill Hargate Costumes and star status. My Name” (Ruth E. Carter), “Downton Abbey” has collaborated with designers including Ellen This level of recognition is a source of (Anna Mary Scott Robbins), “Jojo Rabbit” (Mayes Mirojnick, Albert Wolsky and Julie Weiss. “You pride for Salvador Perez, president of the Cos- C. Rubeo), “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” can have a spark, Mary will take that concept tume Designers Guild. “One of the reasons we (Arianne Phillips) and “Rocketman” (Julian Day). and make it more beautiful,” Perez says. started our awards was because we wanted to “Aladdin” (Michael Wilkinson), “Avengers: End- put a spotlight on costume design,” says Perez, game” (Judianna Makovsky), “Captain Mar- a veteran of costume design with more than vel” (Sanja M. Hays), “Maleficent: Mistress of 40 credits to his name. He’s in the midst of fit- Evil” (Ellen Mirojnick) and “Star Wars: The Rise ting Mindy Kaling, who will serve as host of this of Skywalker” (Michael Kaplan) round out the Tipsheet year’s Costume Designers Guild Awards. sci-fi/fantasy category for film. WHAT: The awards also go deeper than the Oscars, The TV field sees newcomers “Watchmen,” 22nd annual Costume Designers Guild Awards offering more competition categories, such as “Chernobyl” and “Fosse/Verdon” alongside WHEN: Jan. 28 period, contemporary and sci-fi/fantasy. previous winners, “Game of Thrones,” “The WHERE: Beverly Hilton Film nominees include: “A Beautiful Day in Crown” and “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” WEB: costumedesignersguild.com DES WILLIE/NETFLIX

848 4 VARIETY CONTENDERS | ARTIOS AWARDS

Tipsheet

WHAT: 35th Artios Awards WHEN: Jan. 30 WHERE: Beverly Hilton; Stage 48, N.Y.; Four Seasons, London WEB: castingsociety.com

Boast says. “It’s about relationships and about being able to push the envelope when needed. It’s a really intricate craft.” Two of the awards that have meant a lot to the organization, especially when it comes to visibility, collaboration and the scope of the impact of casting, are the Lynn Stalmaster Award for Career Achievement and the Marion PAVING THE WAY Dougherty New York Apple Award. This year Russell Boast, president, CSA, the former will be given to Geena Davis during looks to the future the Beverly Hilton ceremony, while the latter, of more inclusive which is recognition from the casting commu- casting. nity to individuals who have made a special commitment to the New York entertainment industry through their collaboration with casting directors, is going to Audra McDonald. “It can be very nerve-racking when you’re auditioning for the showrunners or the peo- Celebrating ple who you’d possibly be working with. What I now know is that the people behind the table — the casting directors and the directors and the showrunners — are on your side. They want Casting’s you to succeed,” says McDonald, who stars on CBS All Access’ “The Good Fight.” “That’s something that I think you need to keep in mind when you’re getting started.” Collaboration Looking ahead to the next 35 years of the casting business and the Artios Awards, Boast THE 35TH ANNUAL ARTIOS AWARDS HONOREES SPEAK says there will be a push to ensure CSA is TO THE ‘HEART’ OF CSA Danielle Turchiano “maintaining our history, maintaining the past” while still continuing to “push the envelope, encourage new talent [and] encourage different ways of perceiving the world.” Davis, too, hopes the field of casting continues to increase inclusion in storytelling across THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, the Casting Soci- what the CSA is today and our push for inclu- screen size, and she notes that the field is the ety of America held its inaugural Artios Awards sion and diversity.” “quickest and best way to make real progress to celebrate casting directors’ indelible con- The 34th annual Artios Awards focused on in representation.” tributions to the industry. The Beverly Hills the celebration of that evolution: remember- “My observation is that when a character ceremony was short and sweet, handing out ing the past by honoring the founders of CSA, doesn’t need to be female — typically because awards in only four categories. As content has enjoying the present by feting those the vot- she’s in a relationship with a male character — continued to increase in volume, so too have ing members thought were doing the best work writers tend to go to male as the default. Writers the Artios Awards grown. Now, the ceremony at the moment, and looking toward the future often will not have asked themselves, ‘Does this boasts more than 35 categories across film, with the announcement of an inclusion pro- character need to be a white straight male?’ So television and theater, as well as special honor- gram designed to inspire and assist “diverse this is where casting directors comes in — they ees/achievements, with ceremonies expanding candidates interested in pursuing a career in can be the one saying, ‘This character could to include New York and London. casting, which would be CSA-endorsed and easily become female/a person of color/LGBTQ/ “With time, it’s been an evolution,” says which would start to change the conversation differently abled/intersectional,’ and propose Russell Boast, president, CSA. “The more peo- behind the camera,” Boast says. actors who push the boundary or who can play a ple have come to understand what the art and This year, there is a push to recognize the role beyond how the writer may have described craft of casting is, the more they’ve been able “creative collaboration” of the field, as well as them in the script. It’s very freeing to think out- to recognize that we’re in a position to have a to celebrate the growth of CSA itself. side the box, and I think casting directors can voice to change stereotypes or break molds. “It’s very important that all young casting probe the ones leading the way and showing how All the honorees this year speak to the heart of fessionals understand what casting really is,” it’s done.” RYAN MILLER/SHUTTERSTOCK RYAN

VARIETY 85

FOCUS

AS HIS TV EMPIRE EXPANDS, HIP-HOP MOGUL CURTIS “50 CENT” JACKSON RECEIVES A STAR ON THE WALK OF FAME. RICHARD PHIBBS/TRUNKARCHIVE.COM

VARIETY 87 FOCUS WALK OF FAME

launch ABC primetime series “For Life.” And yet, no one is about to confuse Cur- tis Jackson with your average network development lifer. He’s hardly the first button-pushing rap figure to successfully cross over to the boardroom, but it’s tough to think of one who’s managed to do so without blunting any of the outspoken- ness and unfiltered provocations that were his stock in trade back when he seemed to have ongoing feuds with half of his fellow artists on the hip-hop charts. Taking a break from this month’s TCA in the lobby of the Beverly Hills Four Sea- sons, the 44-year-old tries to explain why the rules of C-suite delicacy and cautious- ness don’t seem to apply to him. “Look, OK, it’s like this: When I’m having a good moment and everything’s positive,” he says, putting a friendly hand on this reporter’s shoulder and flashing a bright politician’s smile, “then I’m Cur- tis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson — mogul, producer, executive producer, actor. But then as soon as something goes wrong, as soon as anything goes wrong” — and here he flexes his shoulders and unleashes the thou- sand-yard stare familiar to any of the 13 million people who bought his debut album — “then it’s 50 Cent, rapper. It’s a balance, right?” There aren’t many who could manage that balance. Jackson has been a fixture of the culture for long enough now that’s it’s difficult to remember just how jarringly controversial his arrival was, and how fine the needle he’s been able to thread ever since is. And even now, he still sees stir- ring up the pot and creating enemies as just part of the game. “There are times in business where you SEVENTEEN OR SO years ago, as the world don’t have competitors, so you make ’em,” POWER OF was first getting to know the rising under- he says. “But pick someone who’s really dog Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, it would good at what they do, and then try to com- have been hard to imagine the most con- pete. It’s just the competitive nature in THE DOLLAR troversial man in hip-hop receiving a star me. Look at your records, find your favor- on the Walk of Fame on Jan. 30. It would ite records. Then when you’re making a THE EVER-OUTSPOKEN CURTIS have been even harder to imagine that record, go back and play your own record his successes as a beverage entrepreneur, against that one. It tells you if you need ‘50 CENT’ JACKSON BROADENS actor, venture capitalist, boxing promoter, more work.” HIS TV EMPIRE, AND RECEIVES A and executive producer of cable and net- Sometimes it’s tough to tell how seri- STAR ON THE WALK OF FAME work television would have been just as ously Jackson means for his various call- central to that honor as his music. outs and provocations to be taken. When By Andrew Barker But that’s exactly where 2020 finds the he issues a warning to “Grey’s Anatomy,” Queens hip-hop mogul. With “Power” — for example, promising that “For Life” will the Starz series for which he served as soon become the No. 1 show on the net- executive producer, co-star and, most work, he’s clearly calling back to the not- recently, an episode director — finally at-all serious sales challenge he issued to coming to an end after six seasons, Jack- Kanye West back when both had simulta- son is already busy with several new neous album drops in the mid-2000s. But

FORMULA 50 small-screen projects. The in-produc- there have been just as many times when Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson tion Starz spinoff “Power Book II: Ghost” is the objects of his scorn haven’t taken his used his music career as a part of a massive development deal Jack- prodding so lightly. launchpad for a wide-ranging son struck with the cable net, and just as His origin story has been told and series of entrepreneurial ventures, from film and TV signiﬁcantly, he’ll be breaking into broad- retold so many times it’s practically cal-

to beverages and fashion. cast as executive producer of the soon-to- ciﬁed into myth, but hardly any pop ﬁg- BORIS GRDANOSKI/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK

88 VARIETY STARZ and related service marks are the property of Starz Entertainment, LLC. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a registered trademark of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. PBR-19700-19

Untitled-18 1 1/23/20 12:40 PM FOCUS WALK OF FAME

ure to emerge since can match it for sheer Tipsheet “Then you start to look at the charts drama. Raised in conditions that can be and you see Post Malone and these guys — WHAT: Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson genuinely described as Dickensian, Jack- receives a star on the Hollywood and look, he’s real talented. But I thought son had escaped a teenage life of crime, Walk of Fame Post was a little confused when I met him raised some serious noise within New WHEN: 11:30 a.m. Jan. 30 for the first time: He had this ill mink York rap circles with his uber-combat- WHERE: 6250 Hollywood Blvd. coat on, but then he had cowboy boots. I ive yet playful early singles, and was get- WEB walkoffame.com didn’t know if he was a rapper or a country ting ready to launch his debut album singer. I was like, ‘Yo, my man, just rap!’ ” through Columbia Records when he was He’s also amused by the degree to shot nine times in a car outside his grand- which some of hip-hop’s more trans- mother’s house. As he recuperated, he was gressive impulses have infiltrated other dropped by his label and effectively black- genres. “What happens is all the cultures balled from local radio stations, with fur- dominant sound of popular music. And merge: R&B used to be love music, it used ther threats to his life still circulating. more than anyone save perhaps Jay and to require buttons,” he says, indicating a After building up a new wave of notoriety Sean Combs, he established the model of suit jacket. “And now the R&B singers have via self-released mixtapes, he finally found modern hip-hop entrepreneurship: From all the tattoos, and that distortion of the the only three figures in the business who his blockbuster Reebok partnership to lyrical content is now in the music. I did were willing to take a chance on music’s an early equity investment in Vitamin ‘Candy Shop,’ and that’s basically PG-13 most high-risk investment: superstar Water that’s already being studied in col- compared to what R&B singers are say- label-owners Eminem and Dr. Dre, and the lege business classes, not to mention his ing these days.” Here he pauses for a few late manager Chris Lighty. Their gamble headfirst dives into film, television, video minutes to quote some of the dirtiest R&B paid off almost instantly when his 2003 games, book publishing, et al, there was lyrics he can think of, from Jhene Aiko to album “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” became the hardly a nook or cranny of the business he Rihanna and SZA. “I feel like I have to be a highest-selling debut in hip-hop history. didn’t try to enter. lot more aggressive with what I say [now], Though he notched numerous mul- Jackson nonetheless expresses some because those are not even hip-hop art- tiplatinum follow-ups in the years after, reservations about hip-hop’s full-fledged ists, those are R&B singers.” Jackson is aware that he can never repli- cooption by the mainstream, noting: Of course, most of these developments cate the conditions that made his intro- “Steve Stoute wrote a book called ‘The have occurred during an atypically quiet duction such a phenomenon. “People love Tanning of America,’ ” which argued that period for Jackson on the music side. It’s things that are damaged or distorted,” he the rise of hip-hop wove black culture been six years since his last proper album, says. “The album is ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’,’ deeper into the fabric of American cul- the lukewarmly received “Animal Ambi- and at the time it was: back then when all ture and commerce than ever before, “but tion,” and he acknowledges that hip-hop parties involved are still on the street, and my perspective is reversed. I look at it like isn’t always kind to its stars as they age. the possibility of dying is very present. we lost our color at that point, and hip- “Youth culture is extremely passion- That’s what makes it exciting, because the hop became broad enough for everybody ate and will always be connected to hip- stakes are so high. Either it works, or you to participate in. And this is when it grows hop,” he says. “That’s what keeps it vibrant, die in the process. And people hear that faster, because people see themselves as keeps it current, keeps it changing. But and they go, ‘shit ….’ They watch it like a being able to be a part of it, and not just because they’re involved, and they have a feature film.” spectate around it. short attention span, they’ll always want But just as much as his authenticity or his lyrical dexterity, the success of 50 Cent was driven by his innate musicality — his singles all had undeniable earworm hooks, and he was one of the rare rappers of the era who sang most of those hooks himself — and his ability to quickly discern the potential of hip-hop as a border-crossing, translingual commercial force. “Drake was saying recently that I had influenced him to start singing, which was the coolest shit in the world for him to say, because I can’t sing as good as he sings,” he says. “I was always just trying to out- line the melody. Because once you have a broad enough audience, you’re gonna have people who don’t speak English, so all they can follow is the melody. … And when you’re writing [lyrics], I mean: ‘Go shorty, it’s your birthday’ — that’s not rocket science. Every day is somebody’s birthday.” Along with Eminem, Jay Z and shortly later Kanye West, Jackson defined the MADE MEN sound and the look of postmillennial hip- Jackson poses with Eminem and Dr. Dre, longtime collaborators who hop, and he did as much as anyone to signed the young rapper after he power its evolution from a massively pop- was dropped by Columbia Records.

ular, yet often marginalized, genre into the RAMIN TALAIE/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK

90 VARIETY Untitled-7 1 1/23/20 12:25 PM LIVE! THURSDAY, JANUARY 30 AT 11:30AM PST

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce is Pleased to Recognize Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce invites you to watch our Walk of Fame ceremonies LIVE from anywhere in the world exclusively on walkoffame.com. Your front row seat awaits you!

WALKOFFAME.COM

www.hollywoodchamber.net CONGRATULATIONS TO CURTIS “50 CENT” JACKSON ON HIS MILESTONE ACHIEVEMENT OF JOINING THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME

Untitled-9 1 1/24/20 2:41 PM FOCUS WALK OF FAME

something else from you, something new. And you’ve got to know when to deliver and when not to, because you can oversaturate it really fast. At certain points you have to know when to slow down.” So when will it be time to deliver again? “Soon. You’ll see something from me in ‘For Life,’ the way I did the theme song for ‘Power.’ And then, I’ll say I’ve got some music that I’ve been working on quietly, ’cause I wanted to just put it out. I’ll probably release it quietly too, maybe in the middle of the night sometime.” In the middle of the night, maybe. But quietly? That doesn’t seem like Jackson’s m.o. Indeed, as often as he might come across as a kinder, gentler version of the man who created constant waves and scandals in his earlier days, Jackson is hardly afraid to stir controversy, or to be on the opposite side of most modern sensibilities. Most recently, he criti- SHOWTIME cized Oprah Winfrey for her interviews with Jackson on the set of “Power” with creator-showrunner Courtney Kemp and guest star Kendrick Michael Jackson accusers, and for her (since Lamar. The Starz series is concluding after its sixth season, though spinoffs are planned. withdrawn) executive producer credit on Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering’s Sundance documentary, “On the Record,” about the sexual- TV MOGUL ‘FOR LIFE’ assault allegations against Russell Simmons. Jackson has no compunctions about dis- CURTIS JACKSON EXPANDS HIS ‘POWER’ BASE AT STARZ AND BRINGS cussing the topic — in fact, he brings it up — DRAMA TO ABC though it’s sometimes hard to get a bead on By Will Thorne exactly what his objections are. (“You’re picking on the easy targets. What about Harvey CURTIS “50 CENT” JACKSON’S candy shop spinoff “Power Book II: Ghost,” which sees Weinstein? What about Epstein?” he asks, doesn’t just sell rap tunes and movie cameos. Jackson reunite with musical collaborators though it’s not clear why this should be an The rapper had producer on credits several Method Man and Mary J. Blige, both of whom either-or proposition.) More than anything, of the films he appeared in, but it wasn’t until are set to star in the upcoming series. though, he seems constitutionally averse “Power” muscled its way onto screens via Jackson says he sees the series as less of a Starz in 2014 that he became a full-fledged spinoff and more of a “continuation,” and is to the idea of dwelling on the irreconcilable TV producer. effusive about what Blige, in particular, brings traumas of the past, even when those trau- Jackson co-stars and executive produces to the party. mas are as raw and as serious as in the case of the series, which centers around Omari Hard- “Mary is just one of those people where “Finding Neverland.” wick’s ruthless drug dealer “Ghost,” alongside every time things are going wrong, everything “It did damage my perception of Michael creator and showrunner Courtney Kemp. starts to go right. Our audience has adjusted Jackson,” he says of Winfrey’s interview with “Power” is set to end its six-season run in Feb- to seeing her in pain — she’s figured out how his accusers. “You see it and go, ‘damn ….’ ruary, but the way Jackson sees it, the shop is to portray being in pain while still enjoying But are we supposed to still dance when the far from closed. herself personally,” he says. “She’s the kind of music comes on, or are we supposed to think “I like to say that ‘Power’ never ends,” person who can go through things, and then about the little boys? There’s no answer, so Jackson says. “I was saying we were going tap into it in such a strong way that people there’s nothing to resolve it. There’s no one to go seven seasons before the first season, really relate to that.” because I wanted to gauge it on the success Next month will also mark Jackson’s first big who’s gonna come help you ﬁgure out what to of ‘The Sopranos.’ I’m always shooting for leap beyond Starz. think about that.” the stars.” His legal drama “For Life,” starring Nicholas Here he switches gears, and talks about the The success of “Power” has been such that Pinnock and Indira Varma, is slated to pre- need to litigate past transgressions more gen- in October 2018 Jackson signed a $150 mil- miere Feb. 11 on ABC. erally: “You know, I saw Eddie Murphy apolo- lion four-year overall deal with Starz, meaning “For Life” examines the flaws and chal- gized for ‘Raw,’ and I was like, ‘fuck is wrong he continues to develop scripted and lenges in our penal and legal systems, with you?’ I don’t understand why you apolo- unscripted projects exclusively for the pre- inspired by the life of real-life lawyer Isaac gize for being a comedian, you’re supposed to mium service through his G-Unit Film & Tele- Wright Jr., who became an attorney and have a warped perspective. Who is the apol- vision banner. legal advocate for his fellow prisoners ogy for? And if we’re apologizing today for The deal included a three-series commit- while fighting to free himself of a crime he [things said] in the 1980s, then shit, every- ment, the addition of a dedicated develop- didn’t commit. ment executive, and a discretionary fund for “He’s a unicorn,” Jackson says of Wright. body’s fucking wrong.” use in developing G-Unit projects. “It’s not even one in a million, it’s just one.” But apologies aside, has he ever said “When I sat down with Chris [Albrecht, Starz It’s clear Jackson and his G-Unit label are anything on a record that he regrets? “No, CEO] and walked him through my plans for fashioning themselves a strong reputation for because at the point [I said it], I was thinking G-Unit Film & Television going forward, he let telling gritty, African-American stories. With that,” he says. “I don’t ever apologize for that me know I was essentially requesting the big- three more “Power” spinoffs in the works — everything you go through makes you who gest deal in premium cable history,” Jackson and his “shooting for the stars” mentality, you are.” said at the time. Jackson is intent on serving plenty more

And hate it or love it, 50 is still 50. The first of those three series is “Power” treats to the TV biz. STARZ

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up with his frequent collaborators: editor Fred Raskin, cinematographer Robert Turning Back the Clock Richardson, sound editor Wylie Stateman and makeup head Heba Thorisdottir. And he recruited first-time collaborators Phil- lips and Ling. for ‘Once Upon a Time’ Tarantino had seen Ling’s work on “The Doors”; she was his go-to for re-creating QUENTIN TARANTINO AND HIS TEAM RE-CREATED 1960S the period for “Once Upon a Time.” Rich- LOS ANGELES — AND HAD A GAS DOING IT By Jazz Tangcay ardson coincidentally had worked with Ling on that film, and when he read Taran- tino’s script, the first thing he said was “We QUENTIN TARANTINO’S earliest memory the makers of the machine, but the idea need Barbara.” of Los Angeles was as a young boy visit- never materialized. Instead, the film opens “There was no other choice,” Tarantino ing Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, standing with black-and-white newsreel footage of says when it came to selecting the costume in the courtyard and looking at the hand- Rick Dalton (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) designer. Phillips, who has often collabo- prints of John Wayne and Roy Rogers. He and stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) set- rated with Tom Ford, James Mangold and recalls the Mold-A-Rama machine outside ting the scene for their coming exploits. Madonna, didn’t disappoint. She showed up that dispensed a souvenir wax pagoda if you But Tarantino has the machine: “It sits to their first meeting in a Hawaiian shirt and inserted a quarter. in my garage,” he chuckles as he lounges armed with an extensively researched look The director had toyed with re-creating across the table from Ling and the film’s VINTAGE SHOT book of ideas. “She was the perfect person,” that memory as the opening to his Oscar- costume designer, Arianne Phillips, at the Tarantino sets up a says Tarantino. “She came in with that book, scene with Brad Pitt nominated “Once Upon a Time in Holly- Arclight Café in Hollywood. and it was so cool.” and Leonardo DiCaprio wood.” He went so far as to have Barbara When it came time for Tarantino to in "Once Upon a Time Early in the planning, Tarantino sug- Ling, his production designer, track down assemble his team for the movie, he hooked in Hollywood." gested Phillips coordinate the costumes as ANDREW COOPER/SONY PICTURES ANDREW COOPER/SONY

VARIETY 97 ARTISANS if he were going to shoot in monochrome. “I FREQUENT FLYERS to be some of the best fun he’d ever had. was never really going to do this,” he admits, Many of the top crew in “Once Upon a Time in “I was able to find the extras I wanted to “but there are a lot of ugly colors on period Hollywood” are veterans of other Tarantino films. feature,” he says. “I was able to talk to them costumes that take you out of movies. I said, and work it out.” In a moment of spontaneity, ‘What if we did it in black and white so we The Hateful Eight Inglourious the sequence where the Playboy Bunnies are (2015) Basterds (2009) can get rid of the colors?’” Robert Richardson, Richardson, Stateman, dancing was something the director dreamed Phillips gave her team a very specific, col- cinematographer; Fred Thorisdottir up on the day of shooting. “[Choreographer] Raskin, editor; or-controlled template and idea. She under- Kill Bill: Vol. 2 Toni Basil was there,” he recalls. “She just Richard L. Johnson, (2004) stood the necessity of authenticity. “I saw art director; Wylie taught them that little dance move.” Richardson, Raskin every single person. My thing is fit to the Stateman, supervising For Tarantino, the biggest challenge was (second assistant face; don’t fit to the body,” she explains. With sound editor; Heba how to film the iconic location. Says Ling, Thorisdottir, makeup; editor), Stateman, that in mind, she and her crew created a Victoria Thomas, Thorisdottir “Showing the grotto was a smart move. If you backstory for the extras. “It helps people to casting director Kill Bill: Vol. 1 showed the grass, then you could be any- take pride in their work, and by creating a Django Unchained (2003) where.” The authenticity was in presenting (2012) narrative it empowers them to not only exer- Richardson, Raskin the familiar, says Tarantino: “The combina- Richardson, Raskin, (assistant editor), cise their creativity but to really put a finger- Stateman, Stateman, tion of the floor and the grotto leading to the print in helping to tell the story.” Thorisdottir, Thomas Thorisdottir pool is what makes it the Playboy Mansion.” Tarantino points to the payoff. “When The scene at the Playboy Mansion was Sharon Tate [played by Margot Robbie] is an important moment in the film because in Westwood and I see the people crossing Ling was responsible for building that “everyone wanted to go there,” Phillips says. the street, I love the girl in the suede black world. She transformed Hollywood Boule- “I cried the first time I saw it because Margot boots,” he says. “I was so intrigued. You can vard, reimagined Manson Family compound embodies that innocence, and the way it was live or die by the extras.” Spahn Ranch and worked on the Univer- cut to show that joy.” Both Tarantino and Phillips knew they sal Studios backlot to create the sets for The scene also features Mama Cass didn’t want just a “hippie section” in the film “Lancer" and “The Green Hornet." (Rachel Redleaf) and Steve McQueen simply because the movie was set in the ’60s. “Some of it is really Penn & Teller,” (Damian Lewis), whom the costume The era was one of change that called for a Tarantino says of Ling’s work. “You see designer puts in optic white pants. The mix of characters. Ling, who was a teenager what's important, and you don’t see what challenge: White at night is less than ideal during the film’s time period, says it would isn’t important. The best thing she did was for lighting — but not for Richardson, who have been “weird” to show everyone as a hip- take a falafel place right next to the Vogue wanted to keep the character in the quint- pie, because that wasn’t the way things were. Theatre and turn it into the Orange Julius.” essential outfit. “God bless Robert Richard- A key objective for Phillips was to make Tarantino and the crew spent three days son,” Phillips says. Rick fit into that era. She notes that people in shooting at the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Creating the range of costumes for “Once 1969 were still wearing clothes from years Hills. It was the perfect backdrop for a key Upon a Time” allowed Phillips to fully expe- earlier, and that helped DiCaprio’s character scene with Sharon and Roman Polanski [Rafal rience the Tarantino vernacular. “I got to slip effortlessly into the period. “People were Zawierucha]. “I was dreading that scene,” do Westerns, Nazi outfits, land pirates,” she wearing the same things they wore 10 years Tarantino admits. The pressure of having says. “I had this pupu platter of every Taran- [prior], and to make Rick work, we had to tons of extras who had to deliver and staging a tino movie.” have people who were a little out of time and party scene — something he doesn’t really like Ling and Phillips referenced a scene in a little out of step,” Phillips explains. doing — made him nervous. But it turned out “Inglourious Basterds” in the movie-within- the-movie that Rick makes when he moves to Italy to star in spaghetti Westerns — directed by no less than Antonio Margheriti, the “Ital- ian director” pseudonym tossed out by Eli Roth in “Basterds” (and an actual B-movie helmer). In “Once Upon a Time,” Rick appears in “The 14 Fists of McClusky,” in which he torches Nazi soldiers with a flame- thrower in much the same way Daniel Brühl’s Fredrick Zoller shoots up Allies in the mov- EVOCATIVE ERA ie-movie in “Basterds.” Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate dances “I had seen drawings,” Tarantino says at the Playboy Mansion (left); production designer Barbara Ling of Ling’s sketches of Rick’s rampage. “Talk and costumer Arianne Phillips, about taking the streets; she took this room. flanking Tarantino, combined to One minute you’re standing in the middle of

deliver the film's period look. IMAGES SONY PICTURES/AP FOR S: BLAIR RAUGHLEY/INVISION it — and then we’re going to burn it down.” Tarantino, who’s 56, still insists he plans to make just 10 ﬁlms and then retire. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” is his ninth. But his collaborators don’t see him hanging up his clapboard anytime soon. “There are new horizons,” Ling teases. “Imagine him in episodic TV.” Adds Phillips: “He could do a musical.” Or maybe he can remake “Butch Cas- sidy and the Sundance Kid.” That was what was playing at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on that ﬁrst trip to L.A. It’s a scene that still

seems ﬁt for the big screen. LING/TARANTINO/PHILIP PICTURES; ONCE UPON A TIME: ANDREW COOPER/SONY

98 VARIETY ARTISANS Pair of DPs Team to Make ‘The Rhythm Section’

Director-lenser Reed Morano chooses Sean Bobbitt as her visual partner-in-crime for Blake Lively-Jude Law thriller

By Valentina Valentini

SEAN BOBBITT AND REED MORANO have a DIFFERENT DRUMMERS common perspective. Both have been cin- Blake Lively and ematographers on scores of projects, and Jude Law star each sees a script from a visual point of in Paramount view. And when Bobbitt shot 2012’s “The thriller “The Rhythm Section,” Place Beyond the Pines,” Morano was there about a woman as second unit director. So when Morano who becomes an invited Bobbitt aboard “The Rhythm Sec- assassin after she discovers tion,” a daughter-turned-assassin thriller the death of her starring Blake Lively and Jude Law and pro- family in a plane duced by “Bond” franchise matriarch Bar- crash was no accident. bara Broccoli, he didn’t hesitate to sign up. “[Reed] has very strong ideas — visual ideas — which is what you’d expect from a fellow cinematographer,” says Bobbitt, well no accident. In preproduction, Bobbitt and “The common language was there from known for his work with Steve McQueen. “It Morano decided to create two distinct feelings the beginning for us both,” he says, “and was all about Reed.” for the film — first the chaotic world of drugs her understanding of what a camera could His challenge with “The Rhythm Section” and prostitution, then the cold calculation of do — the way she worked to get the perfor- was to create two visual worlds for Lively’s the assassin. “We wanted this film to feel as mance to tell the story.” Stephanie Patrick, a woman who begins the intimate yet as epic as it could,” Bobbitt says. Morano, who still collects occasional movie as a drug-addicted prostitute, dam- For some of the more intimate shots with credits as a cinematographer, made her aged and unstable, and transitions into a Lively, he handed the camera over to Morano, directing debut with 2015’s “Meadow- highly motivated assassin seeking to avenge knowing that their vision was the same and land,” starring Olivia Wilde. She also her family’s death in a plane crash that was there’d be no break in the visual narrative. helmed 2018’s “I Think We’re Alone Now,”

N: MARIA LAURA ANTONELLI/SHUTTERSTOCK; STALLONE: MEDIAPUNCH/SHUTTERSTOCK STALLONE: ANTONELLI/SHUTTERSTOCK; N: MARIA LAURA with Peter Dinklage, and won an Emmy for her direction of the “Offred” episode 1 2 3 4 of Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Bob- bitt shares the secret to Morano’s success: IN PRODUCTION “Reed is extremely eloquent in her ability to express ideas and get them across very precisely and succinctly.” Gabby Duran & The Marco Effect Samaritan See For “The Rhythm Section,” they shot The Unsittables MGM SEASON 2 wide format and found a subtle way to APPLE TV PLUS SEASON 2/DISNEY differentiate the stages of Lively’s movement through their choice of lenses. Along GENRE Drama Comedy Thriller Drama with Alexa XT and Alexa Mini cameras, PRODUCTION Chernin Entertainment, Omnifilm Entertainment Nordisk Film Prod., MGM Studios, they used Canon Xtal Express anamorphic Endeavor Content Nadcon Film Balboa Prods. lenses. As Stephanie’s life becomes more stable, they drifted into more stable lenses. “The older Hawke C-series still have a DIRECTOR/ Jonathan Tropper Mike Alber, Gabe Snyder Martin Zandvliet (director) Julius Avery (director) funky, anamorphic element to them but SHOWRUNNER (showrunner) (showrunners) are slightly cleaner than the Xtal Express lenses,” Bobbitt notes. “As we were ﬁlm- ing, we sort of fell in love with [the Xtals], so we’d used them for moments of high CAST Jason Momoa [1], Kylie Cantrall [2], Ulrich Thomsen [3], Sylvester Stallone [4] Sylvia Hoeks Maxwell Acee Donovan Zaki Youssef tension. And with Tom Poole of Company 3 in New York — whom Reed and I have SHOOT START 2/5 2/3 2/3 2/10 always worked with — we developed a strong look to augment the feel of those LOCATION Toronto VancouverPrague; Copenhagen Philadelphia; Atlanta lenses and to help tell that story of Steph-

RHYTHM SECTION: BERNARD WALSH/PARAMOUNT PICTURES; MOMOA: BROADIMAGE/SHUTTERSTOCK; CANTRALL: OVIDIU HRUBARU/SHUTTERSTOCK; THOMSE HRUBARU/SHUTTERSTOCK; OVIDIU CANTRALL: BROADIMAGE/SHUTTERSTOCK; MOMOA: PICTURES; BERNARD WALSH/PARAMOUNT RHYTHM SECTION: Data provided by Variety Insight. For a complete list of films in production, visit varietyinsight.com. anie’s transition.”

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BREAKING THE SILENCE Drew Dixon, one of the main subjects of "On the Record," says she felt great pressure not to go public with her allegations of sexual harassment and rape against Russell Simmons.

FILM REVIEW premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festi- the film to director Ava DuVernay, Winfrey BY OWEN GLEIBERMAN val, and like the seismic Lifetime series “Sur- decided that “On the Record” didn’t offer a viving R. Kelly,” “On the Record” presents a rich enough understanding of the hip-hop On the searing, at times shocking exposé of alleged world that Russell Simmons emerged from criminal acts. Yet here, as in those chronicles, and helped to build. what’s extraordinary is the disturbingly inti- Winfrey’s ultimate motivation remains Record mate communion the film creates between murky, but I can testify that “On the Record,” the audience and the survivors. Not just the as a documentary, feels fully finished — it’s facts but the meaning of these alleged crimes been made with the seamlessly crafted, comes frighteningly alive in the emotional open-eyed humanity we’ve come to expect DIRECTORS: KIRBY DICK, AMY ZIERING details of their telling. from directors Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, WITH: DREW DIXON, SIL LAI ABRAMS, Even before premiering at Sundance, “On who have made several pivotal documenta- JENNY LUMET, TARANA BURKE, KEIRNA MAYO, KIMBERLY WILLIAMS CRENSHAW the Record” had come to occupy the center ries (“The Hunting Ground,” “The Invisible of its own drama, when Oprah Winfrey, who War”) on the subject of rape. Dixon’s testi- was one of the film’s producers, withdrew her mony is powerfully convincing, and the film name from the project, scuttling the distribu- presents the culture of hip-hop with a deft “ON THE RECORD,” a documentary that pres- tion deal it was set to receive with Apple. That insider authority. It’s at once sympathetic and ents the former music executive Drew Dix- means that the film has come into Sundance sophisticated enough about the social import on’s accusations of sexual harassment and looking for a distributor — but far more cru- and sexual braggadocio of the hip-hop world rape against the hip-hop mogul Russell Sim- cial, the abruptness of Winfrey’s departure to celebrate its bad-boy artistry and, at the mons (the film includes several other Sim- raised the question of why she was abandon- same time, to call its bitches-and-hos misog- mons accusers as well), is the fourth major ing a project that she had shepherded (one yny on the carpet with an honesty you rarely documentary of the #MeToo era to offer an built around an issue that, as a survivor of encounter in music documentaries. But that incendiary indictment of men who have used sexual abuse herself, she has long put a spot- wouldn’t work if the film were less knowing their power within the entertainment indus- light on). Winfrey says she thought the film about its universe. try to commit and cover up patterns of abu- wasn’t ready for Sundance, and that there In the testimonials of sexual abuse that sive behavior. Like “Leaving Neverland” and were “inconsistencies” in Dixon’s story that have come to light in the wake of #MeToo, it “Untouchable,” the documentaries about “gave me pause.” There was also a report might be an exaggeration to say that the expe- Michael Jackson and Harvey Weinstein that in The New York Times that after showing rience of the victims has been overshadowed. OMAR MULLICK/SUNDANCE INSTITUTE OMAR MULLICK/SUNDANCE

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TV REVIEW BY CAROLINE FRAMKE Hillary

DOCU-SERIES: HULU (4 EPISODES; ALL TORTURED PATH REVIEWED); MARCH 6 WITH: HILLARY CLINTON, BILL CLINTON, "On the Record" JENNIFER PALMIERI, ROBBY MOOK conveys how Dixon's journey became a nightmare of profound trauma. AS BOTH HILLARY CLINTON and the team behind “Hillary” know very well, it’s Yet it’s part of the nature of these crimes that and realizing it’s going to crash. (Simmons nigh impossible at this point for some- when they’re exposed, the people who com- has denied that he ever engaged in sex that one to approach her with total objectiv- mit them can exert the domineering force was nonconsensual.) ity. Throughout her life, Clinton has been a of mesmerizing monsters. Even now, to take After leaving Def Jam, Dixon went to work uniquely polarizing figure both in her own in the horrific and revelatory reports about for Clive Davis at Arista, an experience that right and because of her marriage to for- Harvey Weinstein is to focus, inevitably … on proved fruitful until the executive L.A. Reid mer President Bill Clinton, himself a per- Harvey Weinstein. took over and also, she claims, subjected her petual lightning rod of controversy. Clinton “On the Record” offers an essential correc- to harassment. She says in the movie that Reid has distinguished herself as a sharp tive to that dynamic. The film draws us into was so angry when she refused his advances thinker, a powerful politician and a woman the life of Drew Dixon, a woman of compel- that, out of spite, he passed on signing an who’s responded to the fact of extraordi- lingly down-to-earth poise, intelligence and unknown artist she brought to him named narily public life by doubling down on her passion. She grew up in Washington, D.C., Kanye West. beliefs and blunt way of appraising non- where as the daughter of African American If “On the Record” were simply a record of sense when she sees it. Depending on politicians (her mother served as mayor of sexual harassment and violence, it would end whom you ask, Clinton is a heroic trail- D.C.) she was a teenage music fanatic who there. But the movie plunges more deeply than blazer, a ruthless neocon, a feminist icon befriended Christopher Wallace (aka The perhaps any #MeToo narrative we’ve seen into or the embodiment of everything wrong Notorious B.I.G.) and was drawn to the raw the tortured ambivalence that women who’ve with politics. Dissecting and portraying the majesty of hip-hop. She moved to New York been victimized feel about calling out their truth of her life is a mammoth task — and after attending Stanford, and as a rising fix- accusers. For Dixon, becoming an influential one that “Hillary,” despite its best and most ture of the rap world, caught the attention hip-hop executive was her dream career, and ambitious intentions, struggles to pull off. of Simmons, who invited her to work for she feared that Simmons, the so-called godfa- The new docu-series from Hulu and his formative label, Def Jam. Dixon became ther of rap, would crush it. In addition, the film director Nanette Burstein, which premiered an A&R executive, cementing her place by looks at the particular conundrum that black in its entirety at Sundance on Jan. 26, tries assembling the influential soundtrack for women face in spotlighting predatory behav- to convey the sweeping arc of Clinton’s per- the documentary “The Show” and helping ior by black men. Black women, the film says, sonal story and how it intersects with some to build the careers of artists like Method have often felt disconnected from #MeToo, of the country’s most formative historical Man, whom she paired with Mary J. Blige for since to publicly “destroy” a man like Russell moments. It includes extensive interviews the seminal mashup “I’ll Be There for You/ Simmons is an action frowned upon by large with Clinton, her staff, her old classmates You’re All I Need to Get By.” But what she segments of the African American commu- and journalists who have followed her experienced at Def Jam was a dizzying rise nity. Dixon says that she felt enormous pres- career, all threaded through with archival up the music industry ladder accompanied sure not to do so, and some of the film’s moral footage of Clinton as a student, lawyer, first by a sickening descent. drama comes from scenes shot two years ago, lady and politician. Buzziest of all, Burstein She talks about the harassment she after the Weinstein reckoning, when Dixon is got exclusive access to Clinton’s 2016 presi- endured within the corridors of Def Jam, considering going on the record in The New dential campaign, which, over the course of where, she alleges, Simmons would come York Times. It’s as though she’s meditating on the series, we get to watch crash and burn into her office with his penis exposed. He passing through a ring of fire. all over again as her team struggles to adjust CREDITS: Pro- was someone she idolized, and she recalls Dixon ultimately did go public, in a 3,600- ducers: Amy Zier- to the unprecedented challenge of running ing, Kirby Dick, how she would try to rationalize his behav- word Times story published on Dec. 13, Amy Herdy, Jamie against first Bernie Sanders, then Donald Rogers. Executive pro- ior (“I thought he was, like, this tragic ADD 2017. And so much of the testimony in “On ducers: Dan Trump. (That Clinton and the docu-series Cogan, Regina K. puppy dog who I had to keep retraining”). the Record” isn’t new. Yet to let this movie Scully, Ian Dar- alike position Sanders and Trump as equally ling, Patty Quillin, But one evening, after partying at Bowery immerse you in Dixon’s hopes and dreams Ann Lovell, Mari daunting opponents is perhaps one of the Snyder John- Bar, Simmons pressured her into coming up and fears and rage, and to live the experi- son, Geralyn most unintentionally revealing aspects of White Dreyfous, to his apartment to hear a demo, then asked ence of how her journey became a nightmare Julie Smolyan- the series.) sky. Directors, screenplay: Kirby her to go into his bedroom to get the CD. The of profound trauma, is to come away with a Dick, Amy Zier- In the interviews, Clinton is simulta- ing. Camera: Ava next thing she knew, he was there, naked more devastating understanding of the price Berkofsky, neously forthright and guarded, warm Thaddeus Wadle- with a condom on, “telling me to stop fight- extracted by sexual violence, and the insidious igh. Editor: and wary. She insists that she’s “an ideal- Sara Newens. ing in a very cold, menacing, detached voice ways it can remain hidden from the world. Did Music: Ter- ist and an optimist” who in the next breath ence Blanchard. that I’d never heard from him before.” Later Simmons, like Weinstein, employ a network Reviewed online, emphasizes the importance of being “will- Jan. 22, 2020. (In in the film, another accuser, the writer and of enablers? Most likely, but the film suggests Sundance Film ing to work in the system.” She’s extremely Festival.) Running time: 95 MIN. activist Sil Lai Abrams, describes a strik- that he hardly needed one. He was shielded With: Drew Dixon, aware of her singular place in history and Sil Lai Abrams, ingly similar encounter (in Simmons’ bed- by the smoothness of his image, by the awe in Jenny Lumet, the frenzy that follows her every move, and Tarana Burke, room, his sudden appearance in a condom, which the world held him and by the brute- Keirna Mayo, Kim- vacillates between blaming the press and berly Williams

MARTYNA STAROSTA/SUNDANCE INSTITUTE STAROSTA/SUNDANCE MARTYNA etc.), comparing it to being on an airplane force arrogance of his power. Crenshaw blaming herself for stoking it, accidentally

VARIETY 103 REVIEWS

of drawing parallels that only rarely align. The closest it comes to working is in the third episode (“The Hardest Deci- sion”), which flashes between Trump attacking Bill Clinton’s infidelity to deflect from the “Access Hollywood” tape and how the Clintons worked through Bill’s lying about Monica Lewinsky and the impeach- ment scandal. (Bill, in expressing regret that Lewinsky’s life has been “unfairly” defined by this moment, is perhaps as candid as he’s ever been on the subject; Hillary, in admitting it was difficult to keep the family together but without explic- itly mentioning Lewinsky at all, is typically careful with her words.) Not only do these incidents link up thematically, but this episode doesn’t jump between 2016 and the past nearly as much as the others, instead homing in on a turning point that demands room and attention. Then comes the final episode (“Be Our Cham- pion, Go Away”), which speeds through MOVING TARGET her first senatorial run, her 2008 presi- In “Hillary,” the dential campaign and her ascendance to politician (here with daughter secretary of state within half an hour. Each Chelsea) says she’s of these is a fascinating chapter of Clin- keenly aware of ton’s career with events that foreshadow the scrutiny that accompanies her the 2016 campaign. All deserve more than every action. the CliffsNotes version “Hillary” gives us in its race to the finish line. As a whole, the series is a fittingly messy, compelling portrait of an equally or otherwise. She hopes, as she says in the One of the biggest problems with “Hil- messy, compelling person with some first episode, that people might come away lary” is that it’s broken up into four episodes moments that will no doubt provide even with the knowledge that she is “neither as that, despite overtures to corresponding more fodder for the endless speculation good nor as bad as people said.” The docu-se- themes between Clinton’s past and pres- about its subject’s private thoughts and ries itself treads the line between outright ent, rarely feel like episodes unto them- motivations. But it could have been so adulation and overt disdain carefully — at selves. (It would honestly be unsurprising to much more, perhaps by bifurcating itself first. By the end, it frames Clinton as the learn that Burstein finalized an overall cut into two documentaries: one on the life of gate-crashing spark that set the #Resistance before chopping it into four hourlong seg- Hillary Clinton (the woman, the myth, the on fire after Trump’s election. As with every- ments in order to fit the TV format — that’s legend) and one specifically on the opti- thing regarding Hillary Clinton, this framing how scattered its organization feels.) With so mism and ultimate horror of her 2016 might ring true for some while feeling offen- much material to work with, and the addi- campaign. As a mashup of all the above, sively false to others. Burstein’s “Hillary” is tional burden of wanting to shed new light “Hillary” quickly becomes far more over- fascinated by this duality, but nonetheless on the 2016 election and Clinton’s hereto- whelming than enlightening. has trouble providing a three-dimensional fore undisclosed feelings on it, “Hillary” CREDITS: Executive producers: Nanette Burstein, Howard T. Owens, Ben Silver- explanation of it. bounces between timelines under the guise man. 60 MIN With: Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Jennifer Palmieri, Robby Mook

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MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD has been working steadily in film and Mary Elizabeth on television since 1999, when at age 14 she got her first regular gig, on the fantastical NBC soap opera “Passions.” She thought she was signing on for “a daytime version of ‘Dawson’s Creek,’” Win- stead says, but then the show’s campily supernatural heart revealed Winstead itself. “Every day was just sort of, like, what is happening? It was very strange!” Since then, Winstead has starred in “Death Proof,” “10 Clo- verfield Lane,” and the “Fargo” TV series, among many others. On Feb. 7, audiences will see her as Huntress in Cathy Yan’s “Birds of ‘You Realize Prey” — the first superhero movie of 2020 — wilding out with Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn.

What did you know about sort of martial arts, physical How Hindered Huntress before you training. I was thinking, “Oh, signed on? I had a vague yeah, I’ve done this before! awareness of her. Once I heard I’ve got this!” And then I was You We re’ about the project and I started like, “Wait a second. It’s been researching her, I found her to 10 years!” But thankfully, it all be a really interesting, myste- came fairly naturally to me. It

By Kate Aurthur rious kind of character. Then was really difficult, that’s for I met with Cathy and Margot. sure. And a little bit addictive, And I became more and more I think. interested in the world that they were building — of all these real- “Birds of Prey” has nearly all ly quite intriguing women. women leads, a woman director, a woman screenwriter, What parts were the most women producers — does the fun to shoot? She’s a bit of a industry feel different from loner, and the closer that she how it did a few years ago? comes to the other women in Absolutely. Just stepping onto the ﬁlm, the more fun I had. the film set and realizing how Once we started really getting liberating it was to be sur- to do scenes together — ﬁght rounded by so many women scenes together, and training in positions of power was an together — it’s such a fantastic incredible feeling. But it also group. And we had a ball. Espe- makes you realize how little cially Rosie Perez. Anytime I you’ve ever experienced that can hang out with Rosie Perez before. I think we all bonded, is a good day! all the cast on this, over the fact that we’ve all been doing this What’s Rosie Perez like? for a really long time, and the Whether she’s in a good mood, experience we’re most famil- a bad mood — whatever’s going iar with is the one of being the on, she’s a blast. She’s just such only woman in the room. You a great storyteller. She’s so fun- know, I think we were all really ny. She’s vivacious. She’s seen it familiar with what that experi- all, you know. And she’s also so ence feels like. So to come into lovely and sweet and endearing a set and have it be the oppo- and vulnerable. site of that, I think you realize how hindered you were before. You made “Scott Pilgrim vs. How there were all of these lit- the World” almost 10 years tle barriers to break through in ago. Did you think back to terms of communication that your fight training for that aren’t there anymore when movie during “Birds of Prey”? you’re surrounded by women Absolutely. It was kind of crazy who see you and understand to think that it had been that you for who you are. So it was a long since I had done any real really liberating experience.

STRAIGHT SHOOTER AGE: 35 BIRTHPLACE: Rocky Mount, N.C. THINGS YOU DIDN’T NEXT PROJECT: Mary Elizabeth A Netflix movie called “Kate,” in which KNOW ABOUT she plays an assassin ON CO-STARRING IN 2016’S Winstead portrays MARY ELIZABETH “SWISS ARMY MAN,” ABOUT A MAN TRAPPED ON A Huntress in “Birds WINSTEAD DESERTED ISLAND WITH A DEAD BODY: “I just was so moved of Prey.” by it, even though it’s this weird little fart movie.” CLAUDETTE BARIUS/WARNER BROS. BARIUS/WARNER CLAUDETTE

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