THE RECOVERY CLEANISSUE LIVING HOW FACING HIS ADDICTION HELPED ROB LOWE BECOME THE PERSON BY CYNTHIA HE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE LITTLETON

02.04.2021 VARIETY ● 3

FEATURES P.30 53 P.30 Lifelong Commitment

Rob Lowe shares why he chose to By get sober 30 years ago and Cynthia how being honest with himself Littleton keeps him on the right path

P.38 Spotlight on Sobriety

The Osbournes talk about By Ozzy’s and Jack’s struggles Marc with substance abuse Malkin and how they overcame them

P.42 Road to Recovery

Music personality Matt Pinfield on addressing his relapse; how families deal with addiction and more

Rob Lowe decided to confront his substance abuse problems more than 30 years ago after a conversation with his mom. P.30 Styling: Annie Psaltiras /The Wall Group; Grooming: Georgie Eisdell/The Wall Group; (Cover and this page) and this page) (Cover Group; Wall Georgie Eisdell/The Grooming: Group; Wall /The Styling: Annie Psaltiras by Sheryl Lowe LOWE Jewelry: Mr. Leight; Garrett Sunglasses: Vintage; Sweater and pants: Mothfood

Cover photograph by Dewey Nicks 4 ● CONTENTS 02.04.2021

P.56 Directors weigh in on their col- FOCUS leagues’ work on awards hopefuls P.63 Writers from different genres share thoughts about this season’s scribes

BIZ + BUZZ

P.13 25

P.13 As entertainment giants close the books on 2020, corporate leaders note it was a transformative year

P.16 Is it time for Fox News to stop calling itself a news channel?

P.19 HBO Max’s “The Flight Attendant” turns a recovery journey into a mystery

P.22 Awards Circuit examines the Golden Globes nominations P.56 P.25 A lot of the usual big-name advertis- ers are sitting out the Super Bowl Don Cheadle reflects on George C. Wolfe’s direction of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” in one of Variety’s Directors on Directors essays.

OUR TOWN ARTISANS REVIEWS

FILM TV

“Judas and the “Firefly Lane” Black Messiah” P.81 P.79 P.27 29 P.75 77 P.79 81

P.27 Salma Hayek signs on to be a differ- P.75 “Tenet” composer Ludwig Göransson ent kind of superhero; Rupert worked on the score for more than Grint gets ready for a watch party a year to give it an experimental sound RESOURCE P.28 Want to have a special dinner out P.76 Sound designer Mark Mangini laments GUIDE at home? Here are a few ideas that films can’t be heard as intended

P.29 Comedian and art lover Cheech Marin P.77 Director Lee Isaac Chung’s childhood is having a museum named in his honor inspired “Minari” costume designs P.82

Variety, VOL. 351, NO. 1 (USPS 146-820, ISSN 0011-5509) is published weekly, except the first week of September and the last week of December, with 21 special issues: Jan (6), Feb (1), June (4), July (5), and Aug (5) by Variety Media LLC, 11175 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025, a division of Penske Business Media. Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA and at other mailing offices. Postmaster send address changes to: Variety, P.O. Box 15759, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5759. Canada Post International Publications Mail Product (Canadian Distribution) Publications Mail Agreement No. 40043404. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: RCS International Box 697 STN A, Windsor, Ontario N9A 6N4. Sales agreement No. 0607525. Variety ©2021 by Variety Media, LLC. Variety and the Flying V logo are trademarks of Penske Business Media. Printed in the U.S.A. Ma Rainey: David Lee/Netflix

6 ● MASTHEAD 02.04.2021

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8 ● PLUGGED IN 02.04.2021

co-write, with Imperioli set to star. The Stars untitled project is described as a meta of The Biggest blend of fact and fiction loosely based on Imperioli’s experiences as a practic- Upcoming ing Buddhist. Imperioli and Berg will Films Stories of serve as executive producers in addition to co-writing. Amy Solomon, who runs Berg’s production company, will also the Week From serve as an executive producer. Imperioli is best known for his role as Christopher Armie Moltisanti in HBO’s “The Sopranos.” He Our Reporters was nominated for five Emmy Awards and Compiled by Joe Otterson Hammer two Golden Globes during his time on the Exits series, winning the Emmy for supporting 2 ȃ7KH2ЏHUȄ actor in a drama in 2004. — Joe Otterson

Armie Hammer will no longer star in the upcoming Paramount Plus series “The Offer,” the behind-the-scenes story of the making of “The Godfather.” News of his exit from the show comes weeks after he dropped out of rom-com “Shotgun Salma Hayek Wedding” after a series of unverified Bliss Instagram direct messages supposedly Dakota Vscore = 82 written by Hammer leaked online. The Her score, rising messages described graphic sexual fan- Johnson since the start of tasies, including cannibalism. Hammer Joins Cast of the year, issued a statement when he dropped out Picturestart’s is no computer of the movie: “I’m not responding to these ‘Am I OK?’ simulation. bullshit claims but in light of the vicious 4 Tina Fey and and spurious online attacks against me,

Amy Poehler I cannot in good conscience now leave Images; /AP Dakota Johnson is among a slew of actors to Co-host my children for 4 months to shoot a film joining “Am I OK?,” from co-directors Tig in the Dominican Republic. Lionsgate is Golden Globes Notaro and Stephanie Allynne, which supporting me in this and I’m grateful to on Separate marks the first solo financing effort from them for that.” — Joe Otterson 1 Coasts Erik Feig’s company Picturestart. The cast includes Sonoya Mizuno, Jermaine John David The 78th annual Golden Globe Awards is going bicoastal. Hosts Michael Fowler, Whitmer Thomas, Molly Gordon, Washington Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, returning to helm the ceremony for Imperioli, June Diane Raphael, Notaro and Sean Malcolm & Marie the first time since 2015, won’t be in the same room: Instead, Alec Berg Hayes. Lauren Pomerantz wrote the Vscore = 80 Fey will broadcast live from The Rainbow Room (at the top of script for the film, which is shooting We don’t need to Develop to wait for the Rockefeller Center) in New York City, while Poehler will host in Los Angeles. Jessica Elbaum and HBO Series reviews to see from the Globes’ usual spot inside the Beverly Hilton Hotel in 3 Will Ferrell will produce through their his popularity. Beverly Hills. The decision to station Fey on the East Coast and Gloria Sanchez Prods. banner, along with Poehler on the West Coast comes as the Hollywood Foreign Johnson and Ro Donnelly’s TeaTime Press Assn., NBC and Globes producer Dick Clark Prods. con- Michael Imperioli could soon be back in Pictures and Notaro and Allynne’s tinue to iron out plans for this year’s awards show and adjust to the HBO fold. Variety has learned that Something Fierce shingle. Feig and Lucy the realities of mounting such a telecast during the COVID-19 Imperioli has teamed with Alec Berg to Kitada will serve as producers through pandemic. — Michael Schneider develop a scripted series that they will Picturestart. — Matt Donnelly

Natalie Morales The Weeknd is honoring Black-owned Variety Happily restaurants by donating 150 meals to @Variety Steven Yeun & Riz Vscore = 74 feed frontline health care workers in Ahmed on “Minari” The former “Girls” Tampa, Fla., during the lead-up to his FDR had fireside chats to and “Sound of Metal,” star is on an performance at the Super Bowl. reassure and inform his public; Actors on Actors even keel entering 6,167 likes AOC has Instagram Live. 39,164 views darker waters. Uncovered

“I was excited that two Santa Barbara that was in conjunction with the sunset, locals — Rob and I — could take advantage which made the beach a perfect natural- Olivia Cooke of photographing in a location we both light studio.” Born in St. Louis, Nicks studied Little Fish loved just steps away from my house,” says photography at ArtCenter College of Design Vscore = 72 Dewey Nicks of shooting Rob Lowe for in Pasadena. He is working on finishing a It looks like Variety lower numbers the cover of ’s second Recovery issue. portfolio of images for a show in Los Angeles are a distant Hammer, Morales: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP (2); Johnson: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP; Hayek: Jens Kalaene/picture-alliance/dpa Agostini/Invision/AP; (2); Johnson: Evan Shotwell/Invision/AP Richard Hammer, Morales: “The day we chose to shoot had a low tide as well as a new coffee table book. memory. Jamie Ferguson Nicks: Amy Sussman/Invision/AP; Cooke: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP; Washington:

10 ● FIELD NOTES 02.04.2021

Women Directors Shatter Golden Globes’ Glass Ceiling

I love firsts. this be a turning point where we begin to see In my lifetime, I’ve been fortunate enough more women landing behind-the-camera gigs to have witnessed a number of historic mile- and getting awards recognition on a consistent stones, including the first human to walk on the basis? Women still make up a fraction of direc- moon, the first Black president to be elected and tors, despite making gains in the past two years. now the first woman to become vice president, The latest study from the Center for the Study of who is also the first woman of color to hold that Women in Television & Film at San Diego State high office. University showed a record 16% of women were While what happened this week at the Golden behind the 100 top-grossing films of 2020, up from Globes may seem insignificant by comparison, for 12% in 2019 and a mere 4% the prior year. Dr. Hollywood it is a historical marker worth cele- Martha Lauzen, who oversees the study, noted brating: Three women were nominated for best that while the two consecutive years of growth director in the same year, outnumbering the men is good news, “the bad news is that fully 80% of three to two. top films still do not have women at the helm.” Directors Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”), Regina Now the spotlight turns to the Oscars, which King (“One Night in Miami”) and Emerald Fennell last year handed out zero nominations to female EDITOR-IN-CHIEF (“Promising Young Woman”) joined a pathetically directors despite acclaimed movies from Lulu small group of women who were ever nominated Wang (“The Farewell”), Alma Har’el (“Honey for their directing achievements in the Globes’ Boy”) and Greta Gerwig (“Little Women”), 78-year history. They’ve been shut out for the past among others. As we all know, only five women six years, and only one woman — Barbra Streisand in the Academy Awards’ 92-history have ever — ever won (in 1984 for “Yentl”). been nominated for best director and only one So what does this mean for Hollywood, which — Kathryn Bigelow — has ever won. over the decades has given far fewer directo- I am hopeful and so ready to witness more his- Claudia Eller rial opportunities to women than men? Could tory being made this year.

The spotlight turns to the Oscars, which last year handed out zero nominations to female directors despite acclaimed movies from Lulu Wang (‘The Farewell’), Alma Har’el (‘Honey Boy’) and Greta Gerwig (‘Little Women’), among others.”

02.04.2021 VARIETY ● 13 BIZ+ BUZZ

Hollywood’s major studios Balancing the Books take an accounting for the massive restructurings and pandemic conditions in 2020 Netflix

By Cynthia Littleton

The hard evidence of the transforma- tion of Hollywood’s largest studios into the direct-to-consumer platform arena can be found in the current media earnings cycle. In closing the books on the fourth quarter of a difficult year, entertain- ment behemoths are documenting the costs and the long-term impact of massive restructuring efforts. As Disney, NBCUniversal, WarnerMedia, ViacomCBS and Discovery re-engineer content and distribution operations for the future, Netflix logged another quar- ter that blew investors’ socks off. The quarantine conditions of the past year have been nothing less than an accel- erant to profitability for the company that

Wonder Woman 1984: Clay Enos/Warner Bros.; Soul: Pixar/Disney+; Spongebob Movie: Paramount Animation : Bridgerton: Liam Daniel/ Spongebob Movie: Paramount Soul: Pixar/Disney+; Bros.; 1984: Clay Enos/Warner Woman Wonder spent its way to market dominance. 14 ● BIZ + BUZZ 02.04.2021

While our restructuring definitely took a lot of cost out of the business, which you’re starting to see in the numbers, the real purpose of it was to allow us to grow in the future.” — Jeff Shell, NBCUniversal CEO

“They have been saving money on From top: Netflix’s 195.2 million worldwide), although marketing, since new subscribers have “Bridgerton,” with Disney Plus (73 million worldwide) is been easy to come by during shelter-in- Regé-Jean Page and gaining ground. Phoebe Dynevor, is place, and they have conserved capital on among the streamer’s Jason Kilar, CEO of AT&T’s Warner- new content, since it has been hard to get most-sampled Media, shook the firmament in enter- it produced with pandemic restrictions,” original series; tainment with a sweeping decision to Michael Pachter, managing director of “Wonder Woman have Warner Bros.’ 2021 film slate have 1984,” starring Gal equity research for Wedbush Securities, Gadot, was the first day-and-date premieres in theaters and tells Variety. He thinks the natural next Warner Bros. film on HBO Max, upending decades of theat- step for Netflix is acquiring more content WarnerMedia bowed rical exhibition precedent. The first such assets, such as MGM or Lionsgate, which simultaneously in effort by the studio, “Wonder Woman theaters and on are ripe for picking. HBO Max. 1984,” which had simultaneous bows In many respects, Comcast is the most on Dec. 25, drove a net gain of about 4 all-encompassing bellwether for the million subscribers for HBO Max in the health of the content business because fourth quarter, AT&T disclosed. it is active on both sides of the digital The limitations on moviegoing forced ledger, providing broadband and Wi-Fi by the pandemic have sent other film titles connectivity through its cable pipes that to streamers. Disney has experimented were once focused on delivering video with several offerings, including the programming. Today Comcast cares latest Pixar feature, “Soul.” ViacomCBS more about attracting and retaining is hoping Paramount Pictures’ family high-end broadband subscribers who animated film “The SpongeBob Movie: can no longer live without the high- Sponge on the Run,” originally destined speed connection that makes it possible for theaters, will bring some sizzle to the to watch Netflix, listen to Spotify, post on launch of Paramount Plus on March 4. Instagram and access all the other band- More high-profile Paramount titles that width-hungry apps out there competing have been in the can for months may for consumer attention. join “SpongeBob” in a streaming debut, Comcast’s fourth-quarter num- depending on how quickly multiplexes bers were welcomed by the industry, reopen in major markets this year. demonstrating strong growth in the Ted Sarandos, Netflix co-CEO and broadband services that are the foun- chief content officer, pointed to the dation of Hollywood’s next iteration of intensified competitive landscape in exhibition. Comcast added a record 2 talking up the streamers’ success with million net broadband subscribers for “Bridgerton,” the period drama from 2020, including a whopping 538,000 in Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland banner. the fourth quarter alone. No wonder the The company has been re-engineered December that starting with the compa- The fact that Netflix served up one of its company isn’t too worried about losing over the past two years, following the ny’s fiscal first-quarter report on Feb. 11, most-sampled original series ever was 248,000 video subs in the quarter. 21st Century Fox acquisition, with new internal transactions between Disney’s impressive, since it bowed the same day NBCUniversal’s massive shakeup of leadership and reporting lines. production and distribution units as “Wonder Woman 1984” and “Soul.” its TV operations — streamlining the The entertainment giant has split would no longer be treated as deals “It does point to people having a tre- management of broadcast and cable net- into two major units: Disney Media between separate entities. Instead, mendously big appetite for great enter- works under two distinct leaders — was and Entertainment and Disney Parks, Disney will determine the costs and tainment and all different kinds of it,” reflected in the $590 million write-down Experiences, and Products. Film and TV share of the combined unit’s overhead Sarandos says. “And the fact that they’re for severance costs that parent company production and distribution operations that will be shouldered by each project. willing to pay more for more program- Comcast took for the quarter. will be combined into one round num- That means executives in production ming is very encouraging.” “While our restructuring definitely ber, although it remains to be seen how and distribution shouldn’t have com- Wedbush Securities’ Pachter says took a lot of cost out of the business, much color Disney and Comcast will offer peting interests to make their own Netflix’s torrid growth means that the which you’re starting to see in the num- investors on distinct lines of business. But bottom lines look better. company generated about $3 billion bers, the real purpose of it was to allow the changes in the financial reporting The circumstances of the pandemic more in revenue last year than analysts us to grow in the future and really run it are symbolic of the larger push within have benefited Netflix at the same time expected. Netflix in the hunt for black as one business,” NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Disney to tap all of the company’s internal they’ve had the effect of making fledgling ink raises the table stakes for everyone, Shell told investors on Jan. 28. resources to power content-hungry new streamers Disney Plus and AT&T’s HBO Pachter predicts. Disney will begin a new era of finan- streaming platforms as much as possible. Max more competitive. Netflix remains “That gives them a lot of leeway to cial reporting on Feb. 11 when it deliv- Disney chief financial officer the dominant streaming service in the keep spending a lot on content and to

ers its fiscal first quarter 2021 earnings. Christine McCarthy told investors in U.S. with 73.9 million subscribers (and get to breakeven,” he says. Bridgerton: Liam Daniel/Netflix Bros.; 1984: Clay Enos/Warner Woman Wonder

16 “disastrous first week”inoffice. In SeanHannity’sopinion,President Bidenhada all hoursoftheday. If you weren’t on right-leaning commentarycrept into wing. Hannity gothisown show, and of preaching withthevoice oftheright a lie—andmoved deeperintotherealm moment ofacknowledgment thatitwas “Fair andbalanced”tagline—inarare beyond theirwildest dreams. the nation—andithasbeensuccessful and muddythewaters ofdiscoursein attempt toshiftthenationalconversation was Rupert Murdoch’s andRoger Ailes’ usually gotthelast word. Fox News reality. Colmeswas there, butHannity of that“balance”more onpaperthanin of equaltime. Colmes, atleast givingtheimpression Sean Hannity shared ashow withAlan primetime opinionshows. Hell, even servative voices withliberal oneson news duringtheday andbalancingcon- that idealisticgoal,providing straight the channelatleast pretended tofollow and balanced”?Believe itornot,earlyon, launched in1996withtheslogan“Fair Remember whenFox News Channel By MichaelSchneider a News Channel News to Admit It’s Not It’sforFox Time Commentary: Eventually, Fox News dropped the But itwas always afacade, withmuch ● BIZ + BUZZ has longbeengoodnews forFox News. all, ifratings are any indication, no“news” ion, andshouldbeclassified assuch.After a channeldominatedanddriven by opin- at leastbeanacknowledgment thatthisis start referring toitassuch.“FNC” would the “Fox News” facade? called “Arts &Entertainment.” Sowhy or “TheFirst 48”shouldbeonachannel to claimthat“Hoarders,” “Parking Wars” Classics.” Even A&E isn’t boldenough tecture. AMCisn’t “American Movie replaced documentariesonRoman archi- fiancéshavenow that90-day longsince refer toTLCas“TheLearningChannel,” nel andstopclaimingtobeso. You don’t network toadmitit’s notanewschan- and dropped thatslogan,it’s timeforthe that itwas nolonger“fair andbalanced” day anddiscussedasnewssegments. been increasingly shown throughout the clips from Fox News’ opinionhostshave was formerlyanewshour. Moreover, conservative opinionhost at7p.m., which reported, Fox News isaddinganother “disastrous first week.” Andashasbeen was already trashing thepresident’s night intoBiden’s term,andHannity last vestiges ofbeinganews outlet.One News hassprintedeven furtherfrom the administration backupthefactthatFox double down onthenoise. not tostandby itsreporting butinstead Newsmax andOAN, Fox News decided outlandish misinformationmachineslike Trumpists startedflockingtoeven more to turnagainst theirbeloved network. As was enoughforTrump andhis followers in November. Andthatonesparkoftruth the reality ofTrump’s lossatthepolls ing itasaTrump idea. ning withit,andthenFox News report- News hosts plantinganidea,Trump run- The echochamberbecameacycle ofFox Fox News butoftensetTrump’s agenda. and notonlyserved asamouthpiecefor had moved ontofull-blown propaganda, Trump administration, the network soon ontheouts. By thetimeof board (seeShepard Smith),you were MVPDs thatcarrythenetwork should should brand itselfas“FNC” —and Starting now, Fox News Channel Just asFox News eventually conceded And thefirstfewdaysofBiden But even Fox News couldn’t ignore

Source: America. Hewasexecdirector CBS Sports.Shewasaconsul- creative marketing andbrand of brand atCNNInternational. original programming for IFC. director of workplaceculture was previously seniorVPof has beenappointedsenior and diversity initiatives for communications for WGN operations for WWE.She tant oncollegeathletics. has been named senior has beennamedsenior has beennamedVPof THE BINGEBUMP VP of creative writing Christine LubranoChristine Jonathan Killian 16% J.D. J.D. Ndidi Massay 1 Power 13% IN TMT Insight surveyof1,745U.S.TMT 2 22% 22% 2 18% global musicgroup tobecome officer atPrimaryWave Music. 3 for Channel 4aftersixyearsfor Channel has exitedherpostashead became apartnerinWME’s Range MediaPartners. She a corporate restructuring. has left WMEtobecome a general managerof UTA’s partner andchief content manager andpartnerat with thecompanyafter lit departmentin2019. of features andformat has exitedherpostas 18% Natalia Nastaskin and “streamingfatigue”setsin. shakeout couldbeloomingoncelockdownslift— Disney Plushavecontinuedtosurge.Butasector Max andPeacock,whileplayerslikeNetflix been fueledbythearrivalofstreamerslikeHBO up from$38inApril, in December2020onvideosubscriptionservices, U.S. consumersspentanaverageof$47permonth Sarah Lazenby Tanya Cohen pi 00December April 2020 OUT 16% 4 adults, 17% 10% Dec. 5 16-19, per aJ.D. 11% are nowheadsof promotion for has beenpromoted toexecVP RCA Records. Selolwanesteers operating officer atConcord. Starz. A15-year veteran, she music labelsinceApril2020. formats. Rothschildoversees of originalprogramming for officer for theindependent hip-hop, R&B and mixshow hip-hop, R&Bandmixshow He’d beenchief revenue has beenuppedtochief 2020 6% pop, rhythmandrock. Sam Selolwaneand had beenseniorVP. 6 Keith Rothschild 2020 Power survey. Victor Zaraya Karen Bailey %8% 8% —Todd Spangler —Todd UP 7 ormore 02.04.2021 13% That’s That’s

Hannity: Jeff Roberson/AP

Remembered Cicely Tyson Cicely 1924-2021: By VanessaWilliams 18 acting ability. I was mesmerizedby herstrength and bed becausetheyhadthebigcolorTV. ber watching itatthefootofmy parents’ only afewtelevisionstations. Iremem- screen back then.Iwas 9, andthere were in “Sounder.” Ionlyknewherfrom the My firstmemoryofCicelyTyson was Cicely Tyson withherwinsfor “TheAutobiography of Miss JanePittman”attheEmmysinLos Angelesin1974 Miss Jane Pittman,” whichagainwas an I saw her in“TheAutobiography of ● BIZ + BUZZ we’d doourcollective bow together. On shows aweek, but itbecomesafamily. rehearsal together, andyou’re doingeight smacked by her, butshehelpedmefocus. “breathe” becauseIwas completelygob- worker comingin,andshetoldmeto when sheentered aroom. Shewas asocial this tremendous fortitudeandpresence and the2014 TVmovie film],andthere’s Bountiful” [inthe2013Broadway revival of Blackhistory. an actorandapivotal momentinterms extraordinary transformation forheras do theater, you have alongperiodof I saw heratevents. But whenyou I gottowork withheron“TheTrip to My favorite memory was eachnight, —As toldtoJazz Tangcay she was extremely disciplined,andshe good one.” light, she’d say, “Wheeee!Thatwas a we’d pickherup. Becauseshewas so itwas BlairUnderwood,in L.A., and Broadway, itwas CubaGoodingJr., and and producer. Vanessa Williams isasinger, actor legend here.” call her‘Ms. Tyson.’ You’re talkingtoa would callher“Cicely.” Iwould say, “You looked uptomy wholelife. Ayoung P.A. know whethershe was anelderthatI her anhomage. was tryingtosneakbackstageandpay sion.” Andit was Jesse Jackson, who doing outhere?! Thisistheintermis- laugh. Shesaidtoaman,“Whatare you sion. Iheard asqueal.Shehadgreat we were onBroadway duringintermis- every inchoftherole. completely Method andherdivinginto Mother Watts would beeating.” It was chicken intomy dietbecausethat’s what years, shesaid,“I’m goingtointroduce after beingavegetarian foralmost 45 and shewas completelypresent. And didn’t useacane, hereyes were bright that contributedtoherlongevity. She strict vegetarian foryears, andIthink beautiful daughter.” She saidtomy mother, “You raised a one Iwanted tobringby andintroduce. loved my kidsandwas generous toany- of bratty stepdaughterintheplay. She a daughter, even thoughIwas thekind acter thatsheplayed. Shetreated meas Watts,” whichwas thenameof char- what shewas meanttodo. and serenity withthat:Shewas doing gifts were, andthere was asenseofcalm had thatresponsibility given whather der towhatGodhadlaidoutforher. She had tremendous faithandwould surren- wanted todo. after 30years. Thiswas arole thatshe her, andsheloved beingbackonstage knew thattheaudiencewas there tosee She showed upforevery show because I feltvery protective ofher. Idon’t One ofmy favorite momentswas when I watched herprocess. Shewas a Every timeIsaw her, I’d say, “Mother She talked abouthermotheralot.She

Rick Rosen isheadoftelevision,WME. was trulyagifteddeveloper. For someone when there were hard conversations. She could beincredibly constructive, even to writersandmadethemfeelsafe, and ability toreally reach writers. Shetalked as anyone I’ve worked with.Shehadthis an executive andproducer withmaterial “Jamie was trulygifted.Shewas asgifted the best.” with heranalysisofmaterial....One to really commandaroom andrespect ers. ...She, atavery young age, was able friendly harborforwritersandproduc- really great withmaterial,andshewas a difficult. Butshehadthegoods. She was truly inaman’s world, was enormously have tonavigate that,andbeingawoman, age, buttobeinyour early30sandto It’s hard foranyone tonavigate, atany role models—was enormouslydifficult. in theindustrywhenthere were really no cially awoman, ayoung woman, atatime to attainthatmeteoricstardom —espe- By RickRosen Jamie Tarses 1964-2021:

02.04.2021

Tyson: AP; Tarses: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Phil Caruso/HBO Max 02.04.2021 Huisman) onboard, Cassiepartieswith meeting astranger (asplayed by Michiel nental tripssheserves for work; after and sometimesduringthetransconti- able goofwholoves tohave funbetween Cassie, played by KaleyCuoco, isanami- the fizzy, busyenergy ofa big nightout. late lastyear on HBOMax, beginswith “The FlightAttendant,” which debuted on Recovery A Fresh Focus the solution. things right—that’s whatprovides from herattempts tobeginsetting The show’s real charge, though,comes ery: That’s whatmakes forthemystery. of prestige shows dealing withrecov- “The FlightAttendant,” partofawave clearly provides someofthedrama of inability toseehersituation,orherself, the longerhaulofherentire life. Her what she’s inflictinguponherself over what happenedtoherthatnightbut vision, istounderstandnotmerely over thecourseof theseasonoftele- really goingonhere: Cassie’s struggle, the tendency, atfirst, toobscure what’s even toherself, whathappened. confidently defendherself—orexplain, end oftheirassignation,andthuscan’t Cassie isthatshecannotremember the to hiscorpse. Part ofthetrouble for him through thenightandwakes upnext The burblingonslaughtofplothas insecurity —serious stufffor Strong to to process hisemotionsofjealousyand using, forinstance, Kendall must relearn elusive goal. Even while confidentlynot dynamic, moving toward oraway from an dent lows, aswell asaconstantly shifting suggests, euphorichighsanddespon- extremity of, asthenewer show’s title These roles lendperformersboththe ating (though that’d bereason enough): the real world forthesestories prolifer- lence andcurrency ofsubstanceissuesin to seeeven areason beyond thepreva- ready togive upongettingbetter. It’s easy life issalvageable and,inothermoments, is, someofthetime, convinced thather centers onZendaya asRue, anaddictwho keeping thingstogether. And“Euphoria” with asortofclenchedhyperfocus on Kendall Roy, played by Jeremy Strong recovery: “Succession,” forinstance, has vision show toassaythejourneytoward This ishardly theonlyprestige tele- By DanielD’Addario Flight Attendant.”Flight HBO Maxseries“The as Cassie inthe Kaley Cuocostars into amystery journey to sobriety the protagonist’s Flight Attendant’ turns HBO Max’s ‘The dall andRue relapse intheirshow’s sober isanongoingprocess: BothKen- make thedramatic casethatstaying Emmys inthedrama categorieslastyear. Zendaya won thetwo leadperformer work with.It’s littlewonder Strong and Cassie canreally begin. cially welcome news. Now, thestoryof show’s Season2renewal feellike espe- the world without acrutchmakes the the endofSeason1feelingready toface tigating oneself. ThatCassiearrives at tive story, onethat’s completedby inves- it self-inflicted —astheultimatedetec- the emergence from trauma —muchof metaphor, butthisonedoes. It treats to operate sofullywithintheworld of flight attendantmightnotbeexpected achievement. Acaperaboutafun-loving like suchagenre-bending, unexpected excavate herchallengedpast. of ahazardous present isforCassieto for mostoftheseries, theonlyway out Mamet) —tocompletethepicture. But cutoff from herbest friend(Zosia brother (T. R.Knight),thefinally-had-it slow burnofdisappointmentfrom her reactions ofpeopleinCassie’s life—the into disaster. We seejustenoughofthe points inherchildhoodthatbrought her moments inheradultlifeaswell asthe into reconstructed memories, bothof is madevisualhere, asCassieretreats is anisolatedandisolatingendeavor The degree towhichsubstance abuse “mind palace”towhichsheretreats. Cassie’s innerlife, treated asasortof of addictioncomesinitsreflection of the onlytwo optionsavailable. of choiceandgivinguponthefuture are point atwhichgivinguphermedication the momentinherlifeshe’s cometo, a total collapse. It makes literal andurgent the precipice ofeithermajorchangeor the flight—creates asenseofherason nial coiled-ness, ready forthefightor mystery, inajustifiablestateofperen- the objectofalegitimatelyhigh-stakes new potentialthreats —herexisting, as constantly facingdown newtriggersand its formtendstofollow itsstory. Cassie’s isabout getting sober,Attendant” and first seasons. By contrast, “TheFlight “Euphoria” and“Succession,” though, That accountsforwhy theshow feels The triumphofthisshow’s treatment VARIETY

● 19 20 ● BIZ + BUZZ 02.04.2021

These eight indies got Breakouts From the industry excited. Find reviews of every new a Stay-at-Home feature in the virtual fest Sundance at Variety.com.

Mass The film takes the most explosive situ- happens at the outset of a subtly fevered (ACQUISITION TITLE) ation imaginable and gives it the rounded quarantine drama from Brazilian writ- Fran Kranz’s drama consists entirely of contours of a 12-step meeting. Yet the er-director Iuli Gerbase that is so of the two couples seated across a table from writing is so deft, and the actors (Martha moment, you all but wonder how they each other in a placidly sterile church Plimpton, Jason Isaacs, Reed Birney and had time to shoot and cut it just last week. antechamber, discussing the unthink- Ann Dowd) so committed, that by the But they didn’t: As an introductory dis- able: Two of them are the parents of a end you feel you’ve touched the burning claimer flatly clarifies before the opening teenage boy who was killed in a school core of something real. — O.G. credits, “any resemblance to actual shooting; the other two are the parents events is purely coincidental.” For the of the shooter. “Mass” might be described The Pink Cloud contained, emotionally taut chamber as a talk-therapy thriller built out of (ACQUISITION TITLE) drama that follows, in which casual memory — a psychodrama, a meditation It’s not often one sees a film arguing acquaintances are forced into isolated and a benediction, all at the same time. against its own topicality, but that’s what coupledom by a long-term public health

In a normal year, it’s easy to gauge the buzz at Sundance simply by eaves- dropping on filmgoers waiting in line or riding the shuttles around Park City. Festival organizers tried to shift the energy online this year, packing nearly 20 world premieres a day into a tightened schedule, and while a record-breaking acquisition ($25 mil- lion for “CODA”) suggests that the model may be working, it can be chal- lenging to recognize a genuine crowd- pleaser without a crowd. Even so, the encouraging thing about the 2021 edi- tion has been the clear sign that when cinemas do reopen, there are strong offerings in the pipeline, most of which seem to work just fine via streaming, should that be the way distributors choose to release them.

Jockey (SONY PICTURES CLASSICS) “Jockey” gives Clifton Collins Jr. the role of his career. In light of all the bad press that horse racing has gotten in recent years, it’s worth assuring audiences that no horses die on- or off-screen in this affecting indie. We’ll make no such promises about the people. Collins’ Jackson is the best jockey riding at Phoenix’s Turf Paradise, but he’s broken his back at least three times. Just as CODA Jackson is facing the need for retire- (APPLE STUDIOS) ment, two new arrivals appear to com- Tender, lively, funny and beautifully stirring. It tells the story of Ruby (Emilia Jones), a high school girl who’s the only plicate his choices. The first is a special hearing person in her family, and in many ways it’s a highly conventional film, with tailored story arcs that crest and steed, whom Jackson describes as “the resolve just so. Yet as written and directed by Siân Heder, “CODA” is made with such sincerity and precision, and is so horse I never thought I’d get to ride.” enthrallingly well-acted, that you may come away feeling grateful that this kind of mainstream dramatic craftsmanship The second is a 19-year-old prodigy still exists. Troy Kotsur and Marlee Matlin create characters of indelible force and fury, and Jones, as a girl torn between named Gabriel (Moisés Arias), who’s acting as her parents’ communicator to the outside world and communicating to them what’s really on her mind, per- convinced that Jackson is his father. forms with a captivatingly authentic purity of feeling. — Owen Gleiberman

— Peter Debruge Institute Seacia Pavao/Sundance 02.04.2021 VARIETY ● 21

The encouraging thing about the 2021 edition has been the clear sign that when cinemas do reopen, there are strong offerings in the pipeline.”

should have. In its unbombastic way, extraordinary roster of interviewees, sharing the stage with Stevie Wonder, with its exhaustive archival footage deep there simply isn’t time. — J.K. Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, Nina Simone dive, monochromatic morsels of admi- and others), but the footage sat in a base- ration from more than 80 celebrity inter- Summer of Soul (... Or, ment for 50 years. Seen now for the first viewees, and the brothers interjecting When the Revolution time, it possesses a special glow of revela- deadpan wit throughout, the film makes Could Not Be Televised) tion, and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, a persuasive case that there’s a universe (ACQUISITION TITLE) making his feature-film directorial debut, running on a very close parallel to ours A music documentary like no other. In has turned it into a joyful, cataclysmic and where Sparks are the biggest band in the 1969, Woodstock and Altamont were soon soulfully seductive concert movie that’s world. If you’re after gossip and back- to be legendary, but the Harlem Cultural really about a key turning point in Black biting, “The Sparks Brothers” is not for Festival would become a piece of forgotten life in America. Watching “Summer of you, partly because with all 25 albums buried treasure. The concerts were filmed, Soul,” what you experience is nothing less getting at least a quick segment, plus that and quite spectacularly (you feel like you’re than the sound of freedom. — O.G.

Land Passing (FOCUS FEATURES) (ACQUISITION TITLE) Robin Wright spends most of This radically intimate exploration of the desperately fraught concept of “passing” — being Black but pretending to be “Land” alone, but that’s not how white — ought to be too ambitious for a first-time filmmaker, but Rebecca Hall’s touch is unerring, deceptively delicate, her character Edee sees it. Newly quiet and immaculate, like that final fall of snow. In terms of overt drama, “Passing” is perhaps a slender story, but it widowed and raw with sorrow could only feel undernourished if you don’t share Hall’s fascination with the tides of envy and longing that flow between for reasons left (mostly) unsaid, these women, and if you somehow are not beguiled by their richly imagined interior lives. Tessa Thompson gives an Edee abandons nearly everything extraordinarily embodied performance opposite Ruth Negga, brittle and dazzling. Already in that first, insolent stare about her old life and buys a cabin there is a touchpaper lit on a long fuse toward tragedy. — Jessica Kiang on the side of a mountain in Wyoming — barely a shack, really, with no running water or electric- ity, surrounded by wilderness. Isolation serves a specific purpose for Edee, one that Wright, in a directorial debut so pure and sim- ple it speaks to enormous self- confidence, has better instincts than to reveal outright. It takes maturity to make a film like “Land,” so bless Wright for paring it down to a beautiful haiku, and for deliv- ering a performance that’s ambig- uous and understated in all the right ways. — P.D.

crisis, is so very 2021 it genuinely hurts: a film that mirrors the mental health swings and troughs of social distancing in ways we couldn’t have felt quite so vividly this time last year. — Guy Lodge The Sparks Brothers (ACQUISITION TITLE) After the 140 minutes of Edgar Wright’s fantastic, fizzy portrait zip by like a tight half-hour, even the previously uniniti- ated may well feel like they’ve known

Land: Daniel Power/Focus Features; Passing: Edu Grau/Sundance Institute Grau/Sundance Edu Passing: Features; Daniel Power/Focus Land: Sparks all along — or at least that they 22 ● BIZ + BUZZ 02.04.2021

Five Big Takeaways From the Golden Globe Nominations

The announcements were made later than in past years, but the ceremony will be no less influential

AWARDS CIRCUIT By Clayton Davis

The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. unveiled its Golden Globe nomina- tions on Feb. 3, nearly two months later than usual, due to its ceremony Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis being postponed by COVID-19. provides his analysis, predictions and The Feb. 28 celebration will be mostly virtual this year, with Tina perspective on the battle for Oscars, Fey and Amy Poehler hosting from opposite coasts. Golden Globes and other honors. But the show, which takes place while Oscar voters are filling out their ballots, will still be influential. Here are five takeaways from this year’s nominations.

“Nomadland” is the one to beat, and we should 1 get used to it.

Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland” landed an impressive four nominations — including best picture, director, actress in a drama and screenplay. It has dominated the crit- ics awards, winning more than a dozen best picture prizes, with Zhao nearly sweeping every director award. Frances McDormand has also been leading in actress trophies. The Searchlight Pictures feature should continue its steamroll. When it comes to the major guilds, it’s expected to perform well with the American Society of Cinematographers,

Cinema Audio Society and the like. Pictures Searchlight 02.04.2021 VARIETY ● 23

The race for best actress is the most competitive of 2 any category.

I’m reminded of the 2004 best actor year, where there was a deep bench of contenders in the mix, with Jamie Foxx eventually winning an Oscar for “Ray” but Paul Giamatti’s revered work in “Sideways” not getting nominated. The Globes drama side for the women — Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), Andra Day (“The United States vs. Billie icago 7: Niko Tavernise/Netflix Niko icago 7: Holiday”), Vanessa Kirby (“Pieces of a Woman”), Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”) and Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”) — could very well be the Oscar-nominated five. In addition to those, there are still Nicole Beharie (“Miss Juneteenth”), Sidney Flanigan (“Never Rarely Sometimes to be nominated by the HFPA in the ȇ'Dˎ%ORRGVȈ 1HWДL[ZLOO Always”), Sophia Loren (“The Life category. It’s also the first time women ORVWVRPH have the most Ahead”), Michelle Pfeiffer (“French outnumbered men in the lineup, which Exit”), Kate Winslet (“Ammonite”) and also happened at the Independent Spirit momentum. QRGVRQ2VFDU Zendaya (“Malcolm & Marie”) to factor Award nominations in January. nomination into the mix. Anything can happen. In a year when the pandemic ravaged morning. the industry, a celebration of new film- 45 makers is palpable. The Oscars of the 2010 film year hold the record for most Spike Lee’s drama about four Vietnam The streaming giant dominated the films directed by women to be nominated veterans returning to that country for Golden Globes — garnering 22 nom- for best picture — two (“The Kids Are All their fallen comrade’s remains was inations across the film categories — Right” and “Winter’s Bone”) — despite named best movie by the National Board which is now expected given its arsenal the filmmakers not being recognized. of Review but stopped in its tracks at the of content. The next closest studio was This year we are tracking to have three HFPA. "Da 5 Bloods" was completely Amazon Studios, which took home a films nominated. Others could also make shut out, not even receiving a nod for respectable seven nods. David Fincher’s the cut in the best picture race: Kelly the performance of Delroy Lindo, who “Mank” leads with six nominations and Reichardt’s “First Cow,” Sofia Coppola’s seemed a lock for recognition. Moving “The Trial of the Chicago 7” is not far “On the Rocks” and Eliza Hittman’s forward, it’ll need some of the votes from behind with five, and it’s no secret that 7KHRАFLDO “Never Rarely Sometimes Always.” passionate AMPAS members; since Lee Ted Sarandos wants that coveted best narrative There are many rich female charac- just won adapted screenplay in 2018 for picture prize from the Academy. After is written: ters in the acting categories, although “BlacKkKlansman,” Netflix is hoping he the streamer came up short with 2018’s not many women of color are repre- can stay in the mix. “Roma” and 2019’s “The Irishman” and This is the sented. The Globes snubbed previous “Marriage Story,” the focus shifts onto 3 “Year of the leader Yuh-Jung Youn (“Minari”), as the season’s big question: Does Netflix Women.” well as Rashida Jones (“On the Rocks”) have a best-picture-winning movie? and Dominique Fishback (“Judas and Sorkin’s drama about the seven people Three female filmmakers were nom- the Black Messiah”). The HFPA recog- on trial following the 1968 Democratic inated at the Golden Globes: Emerald nized Argentine Anya Taylor-Joy for her National Convention seems to have the Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”), work in “Emma,” which doesn’t seem best shot based on buzz and its perfor- Regina King (“One Night in Miami”) like a strong Oscar play at the moment. mance thus far. and Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”). They The cup is half full, but we can surely But the race is still “Nomadland’s” to

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Da 5 Bloods: David Lee/Netflix (2); One Night in Miami: Patti Perret/Amazon Studios; Trails of the Ch of Studios; Trails Perret/Amazon Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,(2); One Night in Miami: Patti Da 5 Bloods: David Lee/Netflix are the sixth, seventh and eighth women do better. lose right now. 24 — DRAMA • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • FILM • • • • MUSICAL ORCOMEDY MOTION PICTURE — PICTURE — DRAMA ACTOR IN A MOTION ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA Nominees Ballot Golden Globes Frances McDormand Vanessa Kirby “Hamilton” “Borat SubsequentMoviefilm” Tahar Rahim Gary Oldman Anthony Hopkins Chadwick Boseman Riz Ahmed Carey Mulligan Andra Day Viola Davis “Promising Young Woman” “Nomadland” “Mank” “The Father” “Music” “Palm Springs” “The Trial ofthe Chicago 7” “The Prom” Classics) Classics) (Amazon Studios) (“Ma Rainey’s BlackBottom”) Young Woman”) vs. BillieHoliday”) Black Bottom”) (Netflix) (Focus Features) ● BIZ + BUZZ (Netflix) (Vertical) (“TheUnited States (“Sound ofMetal”) (“Ma Rainey’s (Disney) (Netflix) (“TheMauritanian”) (Sony Pictures (“Mank”) (Searchlight) (“PiecesofaWoman”) (Neon) (“Promising (“TheFather”)

(“Nomadland”) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ANY MOTION PICTURE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLEIN IN ANY MOTION PICTURE ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE FOREIGN LANGUAGE MOTION PICTURE — MOTION PICTURE — ANIMATED MUSICAL ORCOMEDY ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL ORCOMEDY ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE — Leslie OdomJr. “The Croods: ANew Age” Helena Zengel “Another Round” Bill Murray Jared Leto Daniel Kaluuya Sacha Baron Cohen Amanda Seyfried Jodie Foster Olivia Colman Glenn Close “Two ofUs” “Minari” “The LifeAhead” “La Llorona” “Onward” Andy Samberg Dev Patel Lin-Manuel Miranda James Corden Sacha Baron Cohen Anya Taylor-Joy Rosamund Pike Michelle Pfeiffer Kate Hudson Maria Bakalova “Soul” “Over theMoon” “Wolfwalkers” Black Messiah”) the Chicago7”) of David Copperfield”) Subsequent Moviefilm”) (Samuel Goldwyn) Moviefilm”) (Disney) (A24) (“ThePersonal History (Disney) (“TheLittleThings”) (“On theRocks”) (“Hillbilly Elegy”) (“HillbillyElegy”) (“TheMauritanian”) (Magnolia) (Shudder) (“Music”) (“News oftheWorld”) (“TheProm”) (“TheFather”) (“One Night inMiami”) (“Palm Springs”) (Gkids) (“Judas andthe (“ICare aLot”) (“Borat Subsequent (“Emma”) (“French Exit”) (“French Exit”) (“Mank”) (Netflix) (Netflix) (“TheTrial of (“Borat (“Hamilton”) (Universal) categories,22 with Netflix dominated for Olivia Colman and 20television film nominations noms, including in “The Crown.” in “The an actress nod across all • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • TELEVISION • • • • • • • • • — DRAMA — DRAMA • • • • MOTION PICTURE ORIGINAL SCORE — SCREENPLAY — MOTION PICTURE DIRECTOR — MOTION PICTURE MUSICAL ORCOMEDY TELEVISION SERIES— ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES TELEVISION SERIES — DRAMA MOTION PICTURE ORIGINAL SONG—

“Nomadland” “Speak Now” “Mank” “The MidnightSky” “Mank” “Promising Young Woman Chloé Zhao Aaron Sorkin Regina King David Fincher Emerald Fennell “Ted Lasso” “Schitt’s Creek” “The Great” “The FlightAttendant” “Emily inParis” Matthew Rhys Al Pacino Bob Odenkirk Josh O’Connor Jason Bateman Sarah Paulson Laura Linney Emma Corrin Jodie Comer Olivia Colman “Ozark” “The Mandalorian” “Lovecraft Country” “The Crown” “Tigress &Tweed” “Io sì(Seen)” “Hear My Voice” “Fight forYou” “Soul” “News oftheWorld” “Tenet” “The Father” “The Trial oftheChicago7” “Ratched” (Alexandre Desplat) (Emerald Fennell) (“One Night inMiami”) Young Woman”) States vs. BillieHolliday”) Black Messiah” ) Newton Howard) Chicago 7”) Chicago 7”) Jon Batiste) Christopher Hampton) (Aaron Sorkin) (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross) (Ludwig Göransson) (Jack Fincher) (Netflix) (“Hunters”) (Netflix) (“Nomadland”) (Apple TVPlus)

(Hulu) (“KillingEve”) (Florian Zeller, (“One Night inMiami”) (“TheTrial ofthe (“Ozark”) (“The LifeAhead”) (“TheCrown”) (Chloé Zhao) (Netflix) (“BetterCallSaul”) (“Ratched”) (“Mank”) (“TheCrown”) (“Perry Mason”) (“TheCrown”) (“Ozark”) (“Judas andthe (Netflix) (Pop TV) (“Promising (“The Trial ofthe (“TheUnited (DisneyPlus) (James (HBO) (HBOMax) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • — MUSICAL ORCOMEDY — MUSICAL ORCOMEDY PICTURE MADEFOR TELEVISION LIMITED SERIESOR MOTION ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES TELEVISION OR MOTION PICTURE MADEFOR IN A SERIES, LIMITEDSERIES ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE TELEVISION OR MOTION PICTURE MADEFOR IN A SERIES, LIMITEDSERIES ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE TELEVISION OR MOTION PICTURE MADEFOR ACTOR IN A LIMITEDSERIES TELEVISION OR MOTION PICTURE MADEFOR A ACTRESS IN visit Variety.com For more GoldenGlobescoverage, Brendan Gleeson Daisy Edgar-Jones Ethan Hawke Catherine O’Hara “The Undoing” “Small Axe” “The Queen’s Gambit” “Normal People” Ramy Youssef Jason Sudeikis Eugene Levy Nicholas Hoult Don Cheadle Jane Levy Elle Fanning Kaley Cuoco Lily Collins Donald Sutherland Jim Parsons Dan Levy John Boyega Cynthia Nixon Annie Murphy Julia Garner Helena BonhamCarter Gillian Anderson Mark Ruffalo Hugh Grant Jeff Daniels Bryan Cranston Anya Taylor-Joy Nicole Kidman Shira Haas Cate Blanchett “Unorthodox” Playlist”) Playlist”) Attendant”) (“The Undoing”) (“The Undoing”) Gambit”) Crown”) Is True”) (“Schitt’s Creek”) (“Zoey’s Extraordinary (“Unorthodox”) (“EmilyinParis”) (“TheComeyRule”) (“The Undoing”) (“TheUndoing”) (“Hollywood”) LIMITED SERIES (Amazon Studios/BBC) (“The Great”) (“TheGreat”) (“Ozark”) (“TheFlight (“Small Axe”) (“Schitt’s Creek”) (“BlackMonday”) (“TheGoodLord Bird”) (“IKnow ThisMuch (“Ramy”) (“Ratched”) (“Schitt’s Creek”) (“Ted Lasso”) (Netflix) (“Mrs. America”) (“TheUndoing”) (“TheGreat”) (HBO) (“Your Honor”) (“The Comey Rule”) (“TheComeyRule”) (“TheQueen’s (Hulu/BBC) (“TheCrown”) (“Normal People”) (“Schitt’s Creek”)

02.04.2021 (Netflix) (“The

Sophie Mutevelian/Netflix 02.04.2021 VARIETY ● 25

VARIETY INTELLIGENCE PLATFORM

Top-Tier Advertisers VIP+ Riding the Pine for the Super Bowl STREAMING VIEWERS BROWSE QUICKLY By Brian Steinberg By Kevin Tran

Despite the number of TV shows or movies available, it’s most common for consumers to spend five minutes or less looking for something to watch on major U.S. video streaming services, according to a December survey conducted by YouGov exclusively for Variety Intelligence Platform. That’s surprising, given the disparity in catalog sizes of services like Apple TV Plus and HBO Max or Peacock. Apple TV Plus offered 32 TV series in early 2019, when it placed an ad in pregame December, while that figure was much higher for HBO Max (500) and programming). In 2021, Coke said it had Peacock (400), per streaming guide Reelgood. YouGov’s findings suggest to make a “difficult choice” to “ensure we are investing in the right resources that streaming users won’t necessarily dedicate more time browsing for during these unprecedented times.” content even if more options are available to them, implying that at some point there are diminishing returns to increasing the size of a content library. One of the best parts of the Super Bowl PEPSI is watching the kooky, brassy, celebri- The company’s parent will advertise For more data from VIP+, visit variety.com/vip. ty-filled commercials that support it. But Mountain Dew and snacks from Frito- viewers this year might pay attention to Lay, but ads for its flagship beverage who didn’t show up. will not appear in the Super Bowl. The 55% A combination of the economic company will put new emphasis on its impact of the coronavirus pandemic long-running sponsorship of the Super 16% 10% and changes in how Madison Avenue Bowl halftime show. 9% 5% 5% reaches consumers has spurred several Apple Super Bowl stalwarts to put their ads on AVACADOS FROM MEXICO 55% the bench. Coming onto the field in their This marketing group, which represents stead? A phalanx of first-timers, includ- two different groups of Mexico-based ing Chipotle, Fiverr, Vroom and Scotts avocado growers, took to the Super Bowl 15% 14% Miracle-Gro. in 2015 to make a guacamole-flavored 5% 4% 5% Will the regulars be missed? Below, pitch to legions of potential snackers, Disney a list of some of the advertisers sitting and kept returning. The company said 47% on the Super Bowl sidelines this year it would sit out this year’s game to and why: “reinvent” itself. 20% 16% 10% 5% BUDWEISER HYUNDAI 3%

Netflix Parent Anheuser-Busch InBev decided The big automaker has placed ads in 12 to take Bud out of the game and instead of the last 13 Super Bowls, gaining notice 56% donate money to efforts to raise aware- in 2020 for a spot that featured Rachel ness of getting a coronavirus vac- Dratch, Chris Evans, John Krasinski 18% 12% cine. Other A-B brews will be pitched on and David Ortiz talking about park- 5% 5% 4%

Game Day, but this is Bud’s first absence ing cars in Boston. The company cited Hulu from the event in 37 years. “marketing priorities, the timing of upcoming vehicle launches and where 48% COCA-COLA we felt it was best to allocate our mar- 22% The soda giant has been a Super Bowl keting resources” as the basis for its 9% 10% staple every year since 2008 (except for decision. 6% 5% Prime Video

Cardi B was among the stars in Pepsi’s 2019 Super Bowl ad. 58%

17% 12% 9% 5% 5% HBO Max

55%

16% 9% 5% 10% 6% Peacock

6 mins. 6-10 11-15 16-205 20 mins. Don’t or less mins. mins. mins. know

Source: Yougov. Note: Among U.S. adults 18+, respondents who gave an answer for an SVOD said they had used it within the past month. Data fielded Dec. 2-3,2020

02.04.2021 VARIETY ● 27 OUR TOWN

JUST FOR VARIETY (1)

(1) Salma Hayek says she knew nothing about “Eternals” when she was approached to play Ajax in (2) Chloé Zhao’s feature adaptation of the Marvel comics story. In fact, she was only given a summary of the plot before agreeing to join the film. “I had to sign the contract without reading the script,” Hayek tells me. “So that was very unsettling. … I was scared.” Even so, she wasn’t (2) about to pass on the opportunity. “It was empowering,” the Oscar nominee says of seeing herself for the first time as Ajax. She hopes to inspire Latinx youth and “short middle-aged women of every color.” Hayek continues with a laugh: “I’m very short. I’ve been bullied for being short my entire life. And all of a sudden it doesn’t matter — you’re a superhero in a Marvel universe. It moved me.” … Hayek, whose new indie “Bliss” bows on Amazon Prime Video on Feb. 5, is my first guest on the “Just for Variety” podcast. After two years of “The Big Ticket,” we decided it was time the an Agostini/AP podcast got a makeover and a relaunch. A companion to this column, the podcast will continue (3) bringing you interviews with today’s biggest stars, but I’ll also be going inside the pages of the magazine, with more interviews and commentary on the week’s buzziest stories. Also on the premiere episode is (3) Kat Dennings, talking about her return to Marvel as Darcy Lewis on Disney Plus’ “WandaVision.” You can find “Just for Variety” at variety.com or wherever you lis- ten to your favorite podcasts. … (4) Rupert Grint may have been in all eight “Harry Potter” movies, but he hasn’t actually watched most of them. “I’ve probably seen the first three at the premieres, but after that I stopped watching them,” Grint tells me. “But now that I have a daughter [Grint’s wife, actor Georgia Groome, gave birth to baby Wednesday in May], I will probably have to watch them (4) with her.” Speaking of the hit franchise, Grint says he doesn’t expect to be a part of the “Harry Potter” series being developed by HBO Max. “It’ll be weird if it was a continuation kind of thing,” he says. “I weirdly feel quite protective of that character. Even when I saw the stage shows, it was a very strange experience. … If it’s like a different group of friends, I guess it would be interesting.” Grint currently co-stars in the second season of Apple TV Plus’ “Servant” as the brother of a woman who is so traumatized by her baby’s death that she believes the therapy doll she’s been given is real. Grint received a similar doll as a gift. “It’s actually a vampire version,” he says, laughing. “It’s a vampire baby with fangs.” … How do you know if you’re a regular at Craig’s? The WeHo restaurant recently sent you a cel- ebratory sweatshirt designed by Brainwash for its 10th anniversary. Didn’t receive one? It’s (5) also available for sale on the Craig’s website. A portion of the proceeds goes to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. … (5) Delroy Lindo consulted with several war veterans, including two of his cousins, to prepare for his Oscar-buzzy work as a Vietnam vet in Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods.” Both relatives served in Vietnam. “They were the first two vets I talked to,” Lindo tells me. “My first cousin saw the film pretty much when it came out, and I called him immediately and said, ‘How did we do? How did I do?’ He gave me the thumbs-up. It took my second cousin about six weeks before he

Hayek: James McCauley/Variety; Zhao: Pat Martin; Dennings: Michael Buckner/Variety; Grint: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP; Lindo: Ev Grint: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP; Martin; Dennings: Michael Buckner/Variety; Zhao: Pat Hayek: James McCauley/Variety; could watch the film, but he also gave me a thumbs-up.” Wagyu steaksthatrequire afinishing Iowa primebeeforSnake River Farms house experience intothehomewith The FinishingGourmetbringsthesteak- •> $200-$300 wood juicetosetthemood. ing desertcedarspray, crystalsandred- plus an“atmospheric box” withcleans- soup andcaramelized hazelnuttart, smoked withhay, velvet whitecarrot offers disheslike heirloomchicken months. Chef changes itstasting menuevery few Culver City’s modernistrestaurant •> $250 from tock.com. steakhouse orsushibar. Allare available that feelasspecialamealatfavorite home. Here are fourdinnersfortwo you menusat canstill enjoy high-end Restaurant diningmay belimited,but By PatSaperstein At-Home Dining Experiences L.A.’s Most Indulgent 28 Vespertine The FinishingGourmet ● OUR TOWN Jordan Kahn ’s latest and moltenchocolatecake. pasta (cookinginstructions included) hamachi appetizers, followed by caviar roses. Move ontosalmonmousseand of Ruinart BlancdeBlancsandadozen with two tinsofshassetra caviar, abottle romantic Valentine’s mealstartsout Petrossian Restaurant &Boutique’s •> $350 and SantaBarbaraseaurchin. such asJapanesebarracuda,hairycrab sashimi andnigirisushi,withselections appetizers andnumerouscoursesof offers apremiumsushiboxincluding in 2013,andnowchef L.A.’s topomakasespotssinceitopened Michelin-starred QSushihasbeenoneof •> $400 lobster tailandcrème brûlée. tail, macandcheesewithblacktruffles, creamed spinach,jumboshrimpcock- sear afterdelivery. paired with They’re Petrossian Q Sushi Hiroyuki Naruke Hiroyuki Naruke

pasta andcaviar meal includes Valentine’s Day Petrossian’s Alev Aydin welcomed athird childinlate2019, previous marriage.Tur isanauthor Instagram onJan.27. Thepopstar boyfriend, screenwriter-producer May. Thecouplehasasonnamed both actors, are alsoparents toa Hartnett revealed inaninterview Dokoupil hastwo children from a belly with the caption “surprise! belly withthecaption“surprise! Dokoupil isaco-anchorof “CBS announced theyare expecting and ajournalistfor NBC News; so full,Iloveyou,sweetness.” a second child, a daughter, in a secondchild,daughter,in announced herpregnancy on 5-year-old anda3-year-old. KatyTur andTony Dokoupil Teddy with Mr. Porter. Thecouple, shared aphotoof herbare andTamsin Egerton .” She alsotagged her , who turns 2 in April. , whoturns2inApril. This Morning.” This Morning.” , who commented, “Heart , whocommented,“Heart Josh Hartnett JoshHartnett Halsey Halsey

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were marriedinafriend’s “Steve onWatch.” Camila Alves CamilaAlves is anactor. Feathers Fur & & Fur have adopted two haveadoptedtwo 02.04.2021 Matthew Matthew

Radloff/Garrity: Scott Radloff; Hartnett/Egerton: KGC-03/STAR MAX/IPx/AP Marin: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP; Marin Center for Chicano Art: Riverside Art Museum; Leonard Robinson: Courtesy of Groundlings; Marsalis: Vaclav Salek/AP 02.04.2021 An artist’srendering offers Art,Culture MarinCenter for Chicano apeekinsidetheCheech &Industry. 700. For themostpartpaintings, but •> — foryour collection.’” to give you themuseum—building a museum?’Theywere like, ‘No, we want Variety understand itatfirstglance,” Marin tells came tomewiththeidea,butIdidn’t after a$13 millionrenovation. “They which willbelocatedinaformerlibrary council app in thefall.Earlierthismonthcity & Industry oftheRiverside ArtMuseum Marin CenterforChicanoArt,Culture Los Angeles, issettoopentheCheech that thecityofRiverside, just outside collection that’s sohighlyregarded ofCheech&Chong,as one-half hasa States. Thecomedian,best known collectors ofChicanoartintheUnited Cheech Marin By MarcMalkin Art Attack Is Giving Us an Cheech Marin at-risk youth, foranonlineimprov jam. arts organization foremerging artistsand with AmazingGrace Conservatory, an Fund. Plus, The Groundlings partners and benefitTheGroundlings Diversity diversity, inclusionandequityincomedy Sketch &Improv Comedy: Part II,” lookat webinars, “ThisIs Us” and“Racism in Gas.” Two Uncle Joe and“Cookin’ Show” With tions oftheimprov shows “TheCrazy programming thatincludesspecialedi- celebrating BlackHistory Month with The Comedy Connections Number ofpiecesheowns: Groundlings Theatre &School . “Iwas like, ‘Theywant metobuy Leonard Robinson roved plansforthecenter, isoneoftheforemost -moderated -moderated “Over is is order tocollect.I’mnotabillionaire.” do know thatIhave tobeworking in [Laughs] Itrulycan’t remember, butI •> show attheCheech.” brothers, andtheywillbetheopening and •> George Yepes Frank Romero •> were readily available tobepurchased.” terpieces ofChicanoartforthemost part it whocollectedonthatscale. Allthemas- to Chicanos, Iwas kindoftheonlyguyin tions throughout theyears, butwhenIgot mid ’80s, about1985. Imadeothercollec- •> tures andphotography.” there are graphic works andsomesculp- bunch ofthematthesametimeby Last piecebought: When hebegancollecting: First piecebought: Jamex DeLaTorre Most paidforapiece: .” , Carlos Almaraz “Maybe an . Theyare two “Iboughta “In the “In the “$20. Einar Einar and Feb. 4 Marsalis Branford Feb. 7 Feb. 5 7 MUST ATTEND MUST У УУ У У У У У  As partof theGrammy Museum’s The Screen Actors GuildAwards Actor, playwrightandpianistA HBO andtheNationalMuseumof The Walt DisneyFamily Museum Emerald Fennell The Fashion Group International’s F a H announcements. Collins Instagram Livevia@sagawards. the first timeonsocialmedia nominations are announcedfor Fiddler.” author Hershey Felder Secretary Sam Pollard the Absenceof Light”withdirector host thepremiere of “BlackArt:In African AmericanHistory&Culture waltdisney.org The Lost Empire” and“Brother Bear.” Notre Dame,” “Tarzan,” “Atlantis: about writing“TheHunchbackof nominated screenwriter hosts aconversation withOscar- Frédéric Fekkai Sustainability” withkeynoter U”presents“Beauty “Circular welcome remarks. Woman.” Fletcher Mulligan in thelineup. scoreRainey’s BlackBottom” isalso Branford Marsalis of 7.” theChicago Adiscussion with and Pemberton’s score for “TheTrial their originalsong“HearMyVoice” and score for “Da5Bloods”and Terence Blanchard celebration of BlackHistoryMonth, Daniel Pemberton and Sholem Aleichem thewallis.org about“Promising Young andsinger-songwriter 92y.org Lonnie G.Bunch Daveed Diggs . SmithsonianInstitution grammymuseum.org talks with stars asYiddish andothers. sagawards.org hbo.com abouthis“Ma VARIETY discusses his talkabout Tab Murphy in“Before make the Carey IIIgives Celeste fgi.org ●

Lily 29

THE RECOVERY ISSUE

30

A CALL FROM HIS MOM 30 YEARS AGO CONVINCED ROB LOWE IT WAS TIME TO SEEK

HELP FOR HIS SUBSTANCE ADDICTION PHOTOGRAPHS BY DEWEY NICKS

BY CYNTHIA LITTLETON

THE RECOVERY ISSUE 33

the posh Rosewood Miramar Beach complex. “Nothing can make you get sober except you wanting to do it,” he says. “The threat of losing a GROWING marriage, losing a job, incarceration — you name the threat, it will not be enough to do it. It’s got to be in you. The reason that people don’t get sober 100% of the time when they go into programs is that UP people aren’t ready when they go to use the tools.” Lowe shared his story with Variety for the sec- ond edition of the magazine’s Recovery series, designed to highlight insiders from all sectors of the entertainment industry who are managing the IN disease of addiction and thriving professionally with the help of a wide range of treatment and recovery programs available, even in COVID times. “One of the great gifts of recovery is that you OHIO, start living your authentic life. You start living your actual values and living as who you truly are,” Lowe says. Like a true thespian, he adds with his trade- ROB mark grin, “So it turns out this is who I am. It’s a good character.” And a lucrative one. Lowe is thriving amid the global content boom. He’s become a new star player in Ryan Murphy’s “9-1-1” procedural franchise. LOWE Since 2019, he’s hosted a buzzy podcast “Literally! With Rob Lowe,” produced by Conan O’Brien’s podcast group, that features dishy interviews pri- ; Sunglasses: Garrett Leight; (This page) T-shirt: James Perse; Jeans: Levi’s; Jewelry: Mr. LOWE by Sheryl Lowe LOWE Jewelry: Mr. Jeans: Levi’s; James Perse; T-shirt: (This page) Leight; Garrett ; Sunglasses: marily with his long list of industry friends and col- REALIZED laborators. Lowe has also penned two best-selling memoirs, 2011’s “Stories I Only Tell My Friends” at age 10 he wanted to be an actor, after seeing a and 2014’s “Love Life.” He adapted those tales into community theater production of “Oliver!” a solo show that was touring the country until it Armed with his intellect, drive and lead- was sidelined by COVID. He’s cashed big checks ing-man good looks, Lowe was destined for as a pitchman for Atkins diet products, KFC and stardom. But as sure as his younger self felt the DirecTV. He’s even built a steady side hustle as a thunderbolt of inspiration, he knows he would voice-over artist for animated series. never have scaled the heights of his profession, or “If you asked me one word to describe Rob, it found happiness as a husband and father, if he would be ‘star,’” says Dana Walden, chairman of had not addressed his alcohol problem and gotten entertainment for Walt Disney Television, which sober more than 30 years ago. It’s a job that is produces “Lone Star.” “He’s an incredibly versa- never finished. tile and gifted actor.” “The only way to stay in recovery is to be hon- Aaron Sorkin, “The West Wing” creator, who est with yourself on a minute-by-minute basis. also worked with Lowe on the 2005-06 London No secrets, no double life. And you have to get stage production of “A Few Good Men,” echoed real,” says the 56-year-old actor, who is busier Walden’s praise. than ever. “That’s what acting is all about — being “Underneath the celebrity and the handsome- real and being honest. ness is a world-class actor,” Sorkin says. “The longer you are in recovery the more facile you are in getting honest. It really helps get you where you need to be [as an actor] a lot quicker.” Lowe, whose résumé stretches from “The Outsiders” and “St. Elmo’s Fire” to “The West Wing” and “Parks and Recreation” to his lat- Lowe acknowledges that the public discussion of est network TV series, Fox’s “9-1-1: Lone Star,” the ethos and practices of recovery can be touchy reflected on the impact of sobriety on his life given the respect for the tradition of anonymity. and work during a socially distanced sit-down He has always been careful not to endorse a spe- interview on a hotel patio by the shores of his cific rehabilitation facility or recovery program. beloved Montecito, Calif. The conversation was His message for those struggling with the disease candid, punctuated by the roar of the Pacific of substance use disorder is that help is almost

Styling: Annie Psaltiras /The Wall Group; Grooming: Georgie Eisdell/The Wall Group; (Previous spread) Sweater: Mothfood Vintage spread) Sweater: Mothfood (Previous Group; Wall Georgie Eisdell/The Grooming: Group; Wall /The Styling: Annie Psaltiras Ocean and the rhythm of trains whizzing past always close by, if you look for it. 34 THE RECOVERY ISSUE

“L.A. is the capital of great recovery,” Lowe says. “There’s a lot of people who do struggle in our business. There’s something about the type of person that’s drawn to [Hollywood]." Moreover, Lowe points to surveys that show only a small percentage of those who need help seek treatment, in part because of the historical stigma around drug and alcohol abuse. “If the founders of recovery programs were alive today and saw how prevalent and devas- tating this disease is in our society, they would want that message out there,” he says. Substance abuse costs the nation about $740 billion a year in health care bills, crime and lost productivity, according to the National Institutes of Health. About 20.3 million Americans over the age of 12, or about 6.2% of the total U.S. population, are believed to suffer from substance use disorder, according to the 2018 national survey from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Of that total, about 14.8 million are struggling with alcohol addiction. The number of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. has steadily climbed during the past decade, fueled by the alarming rise in the abuse of pre- scription opioids and fentanyl. The total num- ber of deaths reached 67,367 in 2018, according to SAMHSA, with 31,335 coming from fentanyl and 14,975 from prescription opioids. Deaths due to methamphetamine, which fell sharply in the early 2000s, have been on the rise, totaling 12,676 in 2018. Substance use disorder is now recognized by medical experts as a neurological disease that affects different brains in different ways. But the stigma of drug and alcohol abuse being akin to a moral failing or a lack of personal control persists. And that remains a big roadblock for many in seeking help. “We treat the disease of addiction very, very differently in this country than we treat other diseases,” says Elizabeth Vargas, the ABC News alumnus who wrote a best-selling 2016 book, “Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction,” about her journey into rehab and recovery. She also hosts a podcast, “Heart of the Matter,” focused on addiction and recovery stories. “When somebody’s cancer comes back we don’t say, ‘Oh wait, we’re not going to pay your salary while you’re getting a second round of chemo,’” Vargas says. “Those who speak out publicly are doing a service to others out there who are still suffering.”

Lowe became an indelible part of pop culture as a charter member of the Brat Pack, the snarky All of my understanding about life has sobriquet given to a loose group of young actors who hit it big in the 1980s. The Dayton native proved to be a heartthrob from his first movie, being in recovery. --Rob Lowe 35 THE RECOVERY ISSUE

1983’s “The Outsiders.” He turned 18 while shoot- ing the adaptation of the famed S.E. Hinton novel on location in Tulsa, Okla. The shoot was challenging, and director Francis Ford Coppola put Lowe and his then- largely unknown co-stars — Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio and C. Thomas Howell — through their paces. It was a learning experience, in more ways than one. “Every day when we would wrap we’d get in a van. The Teamsters would give us a carton of beer. This was a Warner Bros. movie — as main- stream as it gets,” Lowe says, noting that Howell at the time was 15. Lowe started to drink as a young teenager. When he was 13, the family moved from Dayton to a blue-collar section of Malibu. The neighbor- hood kids who befriended Rob and his younger brother, actor Chad Lowe, included brothers Chris and Sean Penn and Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. As Lowe pursued his acting ambitions, he inevitably began to move with a faster crowd. The industry’s general attitudes toward illicit drug use — cocaine specifically — were markedly different from what they are today. “This was just how the business was back then. Cocaine was the thing that successful people did,” he says. “There was always that wonderful moment when as an active drug abuser you’d go on the set and figure out which department was selling the coke on the set. It was no different than craft services. Where are the Red Vines, and where is the great Peruvian blow?” he recalls. “Those days are long, long, loooong gone.” Even amid the debauchery, Lowe recalls, there was a kind of “innocence” that has been lost in an industry that today is much larger and more driven by large corporate entities than when he started out. “I feel so blessed and fortunate that I was able to live through that period, and I mean that in all of its definitions,” Lowe says. “The late ’70s and ’80s in Southern California in the entertainment business — there was nothing like it. And there never will be again.” Lowe’s movie career blossomed through the 1980s with starring roles in such films as “Class,” “The Hotel New Hampshire,” “St. Elmo’s Fire” and “About Last Night.” The freewheeling attitude toward drugs and alcohol changed as the major studios were swept up into publicly held media conglomerates that were more susceptible to pressure from share- holders and consumer groups. “It might be the only good thing that came out of having the suits and bean counters take over Hollywood,” Lowe says. “Robert Evans running Paramount was a little bit different than AT&T running Warner Bros.” For Lowe, the drug- and alcohol-fueled party come from getting sober and came to an end on May 10, 1990. That’s the day he took his first step into treatment and recovery. Lowe had already faced controversy and legal

Jacket: Levi’s Jacket: problems in 1989 when he was caught up in a 36 THE RECOVERY ISSUE

sex scandal involving two women, one of whom “It was like a badly written moment in a soap “People always thought I was going to end up was 16 at the time. While attending the 1988 opera — complete with the walk into the bath- like Warren Beatty in ‘Shampoo,’” Lowe says. Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, room and looking at myself in the mirror,” he says. “Instead, when I got sober, who I really was Lowe met the women at a nightclub. He and a At the time, Lowe had been holding on to the came out. It turned out I was one of the first of male friend wound up videotaping their sexual business card of a drug and alcohol counselor my peers to get married and have kids. That guy encounters with the women in Lowe’s hotel room. that a friend had handed him. “I couldn’t keep a was in me all the time, but the life I was leading The scandal broke and the sex tape leaked the pair of sunglasses for more than two weeks, but wouldn’t let him out." following year after the teenager’s family filed a I kept this card for a year in my wallet,” he says. Demi Moore, who co-starred with Lowe in lawsuit against the star. Lowe asserted at the time “I called it the next day.” “St. Elmo’s Fire” and “About Last Night,” says that he was unaware that one of the women was Lowe was primed for the journey of self-dis- her longtime friend has always benefited from underage. To avoid criminal charges, he agreed covery that began with his treatment. Learning uncommon drive. to perform 20 hours of community service in his about the science of addiction and how substance “Rob has an ability to visualize himself doing hometown of Dayton. abuse can rewire the brain was crucial for him. So the things he wants to do — and then he just does Lowe declined to discuss the incident other was therapy to understand who he was and how it,” Moore says. than to say that he was “ahead of the curve” he had been shaped by his formative experiences. Making his family priority No. 1 became Lowe’s in creating a celebrity sex tape. The bad press “All of my understanding about life has come guiding principle. It was one of the factors in his was a setback for his movie career, although he from getting sober and being in recovery,” he says. taking the role of White House aide Sam Seaborn rebounded in part by hosting “Saturday Night “The work that you do once you stop whatever on “The West Wing.” He commuted to Burbank Live” for the first time in 1990. it is you’ve been abusing — that’s when the real from Montecito to make sure that he and his sons The fallout from the Atlanta incident was work begins. And that continues to this day. In slept in the same house most nights. “The thing in a wake-up call for the actor. But the decisive many ways, it doesn’t get any easier but it does my life that I’m most proud of, for sure, is those moment that prompted Lowe to make his first get more fulfilling.” two men,” Lowe says. outreach for help was a call from his mother that Lowe’s life took another major turn when he Lowe credits the guidance of his late manager he missed. got serious about settling down with makeup art- Bernie Brillstein for helping steer him into career “I wasn’t ready until I was ready,” Lowe recalls. ist Sheryl Berkoff. The two have been married options in TV that suited his lifestyle. “Bernie was “I was ready when one day back in the days of for almost 30 years and have two sons: Matthew, very understanding about what I wanted to do answering machines my mother called me and I 27, and Johnowen, 25. and what I didn’t want to do,” he says. could hear her voice on the answering machine. I “I remember thinking if I couldn’t make it work One thing Lowe has never struggled with is didn’t want to pick up because I was really, really with Sheryl, then I wasn’t going to be able to make his work ethic. He loves his craft and loves to hungover and I didn’t want her to know. She was it work with anybody,” he says. “That was at least be busy. He’s had starring or co-starring roles telling me that my grandfather, who I loved, was half the impetus for getting sober, because I knew I in no less than 10 TV series in the U.S. and U.K. in critical condition in the hospital and she needed couldn’t be in a long-term relationship unless I was.” since starting on “The West Wing” in 1999. As an my help. And I didn’t pick up. My thought process Recovery and therapy helped Lowe discover at action-driven procedural, “9-1-1: Lone Star” is no

in that moment was ‘I need to drink a half a bottle the age of 26 that there was a big part of him that cakewalk to shoot. But Lowe is all in. by Sheryl Lowe LOWE Jewelry: Mr. Leight; Garrett Sunglasses: Vintage; Sweater: Mothfood of tequila right now so I can go to sleep so I can wanted the life of a Midwestern dad. Lowe’s fam- “He’s a wonderful partner to the network and wake up so I can pick up this phone.’” ily moved out of the L.A. rat race up to Montecito, studio. And he has a deep appreciation for his fans Even in his distressed state, Lowe realized that and he became the guy who could be counted and they love him,” Disney’s Walden says. “I think such thinking was “nuts” and that he needed pro- on to coach Little League and chaperone school one of the reasons Rob chose to do broadcast TV fessional help. field trips. was so that he could reach the maximum number of his considerable fan base.” Managing his sobriety has become “baked Below: A 14-year-old Rob Lowe in” to Lowe’s DNA. Early on, he traveled with a introduces himself to Hollywood with an ad in the Dec. 1, sober friend and took steps to always call ahead to 1978, edition of Daily Variety. make sure that the wet bar in his hotel room was Right: Lowe cites his 30-year marriage to makeup artist alcohol-free. Today, his home has a well-stocked Sheryl Berkoff and their sons, wine cellar and he enjoys pouring for friends, Johnowen (left) and Matthew, as his proudest achievements. just not for himself. “Your goals for your sobriety are like your goals for your 401K. When you’re young you have dif- ferent goals, and when you’re older, you manage it differently,” he says. “Just yesterday I was on set talking to another actor who has a lot of years of sobriety. We were almost having a mini meet- ing, just talking naturally about being sober and working to be a better person. If you’re open to it, those people come into your life.” Hahn Lionel/Sipa USA USA/AP USA Hahn Lionel/Sipa

THE RECOVERY ISSUE SOBER TRAIN

39

illustration by hsiao rong chen THE OSBOURNES OPEN UP ABOUT THE FAMILY’S PATH TO RECOVERY

by marc malkin 40 THE RECOVERY ISSUE

Ozzy, when you had your first drink or drug experience, did you know right away it was going to be a problem? OZZY OZZY: I’ve always been self-medicating because I’ve never liked the way I felt. I’ve had great success in my life, but I’ve never felt great about myself. And so, from a very early age, OSBOURNE I used to sniff fumes, all kinds of things, any- thing to get me out of my head.

When was the first time someone said to you, “Ozzy, you need help”? IS OZZY: I think the first time I took a drink. I needed help to get the next drink. And I never went for a drink. I went to get fucking smashed. I just checked out every day. And that becomes a way of FINALLY life. In England, the thing is the pubs. I don’t know what it’s like there now, but when I was younger it was “We’ll meet in the pub.” Everything was around the pub. One of the last things my father IN said to me before he died, he said, “Do something about your drinking.” So I had a drink.

Sharon, do you remember when you thought Ozzy had a problem? A SHARON: I knew nothing about alcoholism. Nothing. I had worked with a lot of musicians, a lot of actors. And I just thought that’s how people are when they drink. I just thought, “OK. They GOOD just like to drink.” That was it. I understood noth- ing about the “-ism.”

And when did you learn about the “-ism”? SHARON: I learned about it when Elizabeth Taylor PLACE. went to Betty Ford Center. And that was exactly 36 years ago. The 72-year-old rock legend, whose battle with alcoholism OZZY: She said to me, “I found this place where they teach you to drink properly. It’s called the and drug addiction began in the 1970s, has been sober for Betty Ford Center.” And I went, “That’s it. I’ve about seven years. “I thought I’d be drinking to the day been doing it wrong.” SHARON: I read the stories that she was there for I die,” says Osbourne, who took the first of his many drugs and drink, but I knew nothing about AA. I knew nothing about what happens there for your trips to rehab back in 1984. His wife and longtime man- recovery, nothing about how they educate you. ager, “The Talk” co-host Sharon Osbourne, 68, struggled I just said, “You’ve got to go.” I was pregnant at the time. And I gave birth to Kelly, and the next for years to keep the Black Sabbath frontman safe and morning, Ozzy left for Palm Springs. We lived in the countryside, way up north in England. And capable of performing. it was very barren, and all there was were the Ozzy, Sharon and their 35-year-old son, Jack, who has pubs. I just knew that this wasn’t the way people should carry on when they’ve got kids. 17 years of sobriety, sat down with Variety’s Marc Malkin Jack, we hear this so often: Children of alco- for an in-depth talk about substance abuse, its effect on holics and addicts say, “I don’t want to be like families and what it’s like to seek treatment while living my mom. I don’t want to be like my dad.” Did you ever say that? in the Hollywood spotlight. JACK: No, I guess I didn’t want to be the downside of it. I wanted to be the upside of it, because the upside of it, when things were great, it seemed like a lot of fun. I wanted the excitement of crazy adventures inebriated.

What was it like telling your parents you had a problem? Or did they tell you that you had a problem? JACK: It was like a bit of a staggered disclosure, if 41 THE RECOVERY ISSUE

you will. I was suffering from a lot of depression this in their life.” Little did I know that Jack was fear in their eyes. I mean, it’s a very selfish disease. in my early teens, and I was drinking a lot. And sniffing, and drinking, and God knows what else. My kids needed me. … I had a row with Jack. then we did “The Osbournes” and it gave me a I had to talk business. And I said, “What have rather large piggy bank, so my parents had less Sharon, you’ve always been described as the you ever fucking wanted? I’ll give you whatever control, and then my mom got sick [Sharon is a rock of the family. You’re the one who has you want.” He says, “What about a father?” That colon cancer survivor]. But in these times, I would stayed strong through it all. But how many kicked me in the balls so hard. It knocked me dip in and be like, “Things aren’t great.” And then times did you go in the bathroom, or go behind sideways. I went, “Oh, my God.” I’d give whatever I’d pull back — “Oh, things are OK.” So it was this a closed door, and just scream? materialistic things they ever wanted. But the dance. Eventually, my mom received a phone call SHARON: Probably every week. most important person wasn’t there. from a friend who was like, “This is bad.” How many times did you think Ozzy was going And as much as you say addiction and alcohol- What happened next? to die? ism is a selfish disease, so is recovery, because JACK: My mom sent some people to try and get me SHARON: Oh, my Lord. Well, basically for years, you have to put your recovery first. to go to treatment, but there wasn’t really a plan in because I was terrified that he was going to OZZY: Recovery is selfish. But you know if you place. I had not shown up to film something, and get sick in the night, or fall over, hit his head. don’t recover, you know exactly what it’s going I was tucked away at the beach house my parents I would always make sure that there was to do there. Kelly said to me one day [after she had at the time. And then I took off for a very somebody there, checking on him through got sober], “Nothing’s changed. I’ve gone so many long whirlwind of a weekend, and kind of came the night when he was on the road without years sober. What’s the problem? I might as well back home. I was pretty much done at that point. me. But it was always in the front of my mind. drink.” I said, “Let me tell you something, Kelly. When I drank after some period of time, it’s the How much do you think the reality show and Ozzy, what did it feel like to know that your chil- worst feeling you will ever, ever have in your life. fame contributed to your addiction? dren were watching you go through all of this? And you know what you do? You drink more to JACK: I think it was just a matter of time. I think OZZY: I didn’t give a shit, because I was loaded. get rid of that guilt. It’s just that and it’s over.” it just sped things up to the inevitable. Whether It’s a very selfish disease. You don’t think about I’d never touched a drink until the age of 50, I still it because you’re loaded, in an altered state. Jack, what do you say to a young person in think the end result would have been the same. I’m Hollywood who is struggling? one of those people that have an addictive person- How hard is it to get sober in the public spotlight? JACK: If you want it, there’s a way to achieve it. ality, and I like things that change the way I feel. JACK: We’re on “The Osbournes” in the middle of It’s kind of like shut your mouth and be willing to whatever season we were doing and I decided to take direction. It’s that honesty and open-mind- You’ve been sober almost half your life. go into treatment, and it becomes this very public edness, and willingness, to do whatever it takes. OZZY: That’s just great, Jack. I’m really proud thing at that point. And I just found it incredibly And if you want something bad enough, you can of you for that. invasive and, morally, really inappropriate. I was 17 achieve it. Just as if you want to get loaded bad years old. And the stuff that was being written, and enough, you’re gonna get loaded. And it’s that Jack, did you ever think you would have 17 having photographers try and take photos of me kind of situation of, for me, I really wanted it. years of continuous sobriety? while I’m in a medical facility. Such violations of And I did what I was told. And I followed the JACK: No. I didn’t think that was even possible. someone’s privacy while they’re trying to get help. direction of my tribe, my community around OZZY: The first year is the worst, isn’t it Jack? After OZZY: The thing is, people call it a disease, but if me. And it has continued. Whatever I did has the first year it’s like you can start breathing again. you had cancer, people wouldn’t climb over trees continued to work, because I continue to do it. JACK: But then I found after the first year, you’re and take a photo of you in your bed. Yet they do It’s never over. There were times, when I had like, “Oh, OK. So I guess I’ve just got to do that over when you’re in rehab. 10 years sober, and I was raising my hand as a again.” And then when you get to two years, you’re newcomer at a different 12-step recovery group. like, “All right, I guess I’ve got to do these two years What do you say to musicians who are strug- over again to get to four years.” The blessing and gling but think it’s the only way? Ozzy, why do you think you’ve survived? the curse, I think with sobriety, is that time goes OZZY: All I can say is, I’m 72 years of age. Most of OZZY: I’m lucky. There’s nothing special about by really quickly, in a very strange way. It feels the people that I drank with are dead. And the ones me. I should have been dead 1,000 times. I’m like a flash, 17 years, because you’re counting time. that aren’t, that still continue to drink, are going not being big-headed about that, or invincible. to be dead soon. It’s not a happy ending. If you It doesn’t take much to kill you. Sharon, were you worried that your kids want to carry on drinking, my hat goes off to you. SHARON: It really doesn’t. would be addicts too? SHARON: No, I was like, “This is really like a huge, Sharon, did you ever think that Ozzy would get it? Sharon, what’s it like to have a sober Ozzy? huge life lesson for them. They’ll never be like SHARON: Initially I thought the first, maybe up to SHARON: Very calm in the house. It’s very pleasant this, because look, this guy’s pissing himself on the fourth or fifth time he went into rehab, I in the house. It’s great for our whole family. It the floor. This one’s throwing up. This one’s just thought, “It will work. He’ll get it this time. This really is. got a divorce. And their behavior’s outrageous. time I know he’s got it.” And then after about the There’s no way they will follow this.” And they fifth time I’m like, “He’s never going to get it.” And This interview has been edited and condensed kept seeing their dad go back into rehab, and back, you just accept it. That’s the way it’s going to be. for clarity. To watch excerpts of the Osbournes and back. And so I just thought, “They won’t want OZZY: But then you realize the kids have got this roundtable, go to variety.com.

Then you realize the kids have got this fear in their eyes. I mean, it’s a very selfish disease. — Ozzy Osbourne

THE RECOVERY ISSUE 43

IN A LONELY PLACE

MUSIC PERSONALITY MATT PINFIELD RECOUNTS HIS RELAPSE AMID THE TURMOIL OF THE PANDEMIC

as told to michele amabile angermiller illustration by hsiao rong chen

It was the beginning of last year, and radio person- going to be able to afford to eat and live? Am I co-workers, a lot of musicians and non-musi- ality and former MTV VJ Matt Pinfield was still on going to be able to float the bills for my family? cians and even fans was incredible. One rock star the mend from a major car accident. Crossing the One day, something really got me upset, and I just donated $5,000, and the fund eventually totaled street in Hollywood, he had been hit by a car going gave in. I went to a corner store to pick up some $52,000. I was blown away and humbled. I had 40 miles an hour and immobilized for months. He things and in a split-second decision, bought a to accept the truth, and it was those people who also had suffered a torn retina. Then COVID came, bottle of vodka. really cared and didn’t want to see me go down and his sobriety of several years was compromised. That was April, and it took about nine days that dark path, stay there and lose my life. Pinfield, who can be heard on L.A.’s KLOS every before my friends realized something was wrong. I stayed off social media, and I concentrated Sunday night, recounts his relapse and how he As any alcoholic knows, one drink is too many. I on my recovery. One of the professionals at the found a way back to recovery. was maintaining for about a week, and then it treatment center said to me, if anything starts to At the start of 2020, I was in a good place started to affect my sleep and physical health bum you out, look at that list of people and realize mentally. I had just hosted Rock in Rio and was because I wasn’t exercising. Alcohol is really that you’re loved and cared about. That’s what you really excited for the year. Then came news a poison for me. At the end of April, one of my need to focus on — the good people in your life. about COVID and the lockdown. Loneliness friends said, “Matt, I can tell you’ve been drink- A few days before the end of that month, they and isolation are the enemies of recovery, and ing.” And I said yes. printed out all the comments from people who for someone who’s social like me — I’d go to I was raising money for MusiCares [on his pod- had donated. I was literally in tears, and so grate- three to four concerts in an average week — I cast "In a Lonely Place"], which helps musicians ful. Quite honestly, I’m accountable to all of those found it really tough. who are out of work or struggling financially, and people that gave of themselves to make sure that I no longer had access to recovery meetings went to them for my own crisis. Fortunately, my I got help. I can’t let them down. And I can’t let except for Zoom, which at first was just not com- friends reached out and said, look, we're going myself down. Every day you get a reprieve, and fortable. Pre-pandemic in recovery, you’d go to to do something about it. Jay Baumgardner — you got to keep it in the forefront — put recovery a meeting and then get something to eat, go to a he's the producer who owns NRG studios here before everything else. movie, do things. That’s an integral part of recov- in North Hollywood — is one of my close, close After the news of what I was going through ery — your life’s not supposed to be over socially; friends. And I stayed with him. Allison Hagendorf came out, I got letters from all over America you’re not supposed to be punished. You’re actu- at Spotify and Chris Trovero all rallied around me and the world: people saying how much they ally supposed to live a more fulfilling life sober. and got me on the phone with a rehab facility in the appreciate and thank me for telling my story. I Everything was shut down, so the things that I Bay Area. I really wanted to get on the other side realized that I need to help other people, to use enjoyed for my mental and physical health were of this. I didn’t realize Chris was putting together my platform as a public figure. I’m nine months unavailable. I was doing a regular livestream and a GoFundMe to help pay for it. He was such a sober this February and feel better than ever. I am interviewing artists virtually, but it just wasn’t saint that he drove me all the way to Northern accountable, and all I want to do is stay sober, do feeling right. There was uncertainty. Are we going California to attend the treatment center. the work that I love — my radio shows, podcasts, to survive this? What’s going to happen? Are we The outpouring of love and support from techs, interviews — and help out the next alcoholic. 44 THE RECOVERY ISSUE HOW ROCK MUSIC CAME TO CHEER RECOVERY OPENLY

FOR A LONG TIME, SUBSTANCE ABUSE WAS COOL — UNTIL IT WASN’T

by steve baltin illustration by kelsey dake

Throughout modern music, the mantra “sex, drugs Whether it’s the allure of the lifestyle or the veil addiction and mental illness, the closer we’d come and rock ’n’ roll” has been both a catalyzer and a of creativity, the dance of art and substance abuse to help reduce it, because it’s the hidden problem destructor. The cautionary tale practically writes goes back centuries, says Alice Cooper, who’s been in our country,” says Sykes. “Everyone has a family itself: Artist finds purpose in music, sees commer- sober for 37 years and was one of the first major member or a friend who’s affected by mental illness cial success, indulges in every substance known rock stars to publicly promote recovery. He points or addiction. So the more artists that come out and to man, falls, bottoms out, loses a career, climbs to writers like Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas make it OK to talk about, the better it will be for back out of the darkness through sobriety. That’s De Quincey, Edgar Allan Poe and Lord Byron, the welfare of the world.” the happy-ending version; there are plenty who known for espousing the use of mind-altering The strategy seems to be working. Between aren’t as fortunate. substances in their work. “Those guys were the talking about substance abuse and promoting pro- Indeed, the 50th anniversaries of the deaths rock stars of the day, and they had the exact same grams like MusiCares, which provides financial and of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison problem that rock stars have today, which was they other assistance for musicians in need, the music straddle 2020 and 2021. In April, it’ll be 27 years gave way too much credit to the escape valve, the industry has made great inroads into erasing the since we lost Kurt Cobain — that number given alcohol,” he says. stigma of addiction. In fact, some of today’s biggest added significance as it was the age of all of the It’s thanks to trailblazers like Cooper, who helped advocates for sobriety were music’s biggest par- aforementioned deaths, as well as Amy Winehouse, open the door to rehabilitation, that the likes of Guns tyers; they include Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe’s who will be gone 10 years come July. N’ Roses’ Slash and Duff McKagan, Travis Barker, Nikki Sixx and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. One can’t help wondering if sobriety had been Eminem, Elton John, Eric Clapton and countless “Golf had a lot to do with my recovery,” says touted as the cool route for a musician, rather others got sober openly and without shame. Today, Cooper. “All my other addictions, like cocaine and than the debauchery with which they’re so often artists of all genres — from ASAP Rocky to Moby to alcohol, were killing me. I knew I had an addictive identified, would things have been different? And Keith Urban — can wear their sobriety as a badge of personality — my stage show is a very addictive where did the road turn on substance abuse for honor. It’s become accepted, maybe even expected. thing to do — so I had to find positive addictions.” working musicians, who now can opt to work on So how did that stigma ease? John Sykes, chair- That insight comes too late for talented young a “dry tour” and receive counseling or participate man of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a top artists like Mac Miller and Juice WRLD, two rap- in AA meetings at each concert date? executive at iHeartRadio, was president of VH1 in pers who died of an overdose in 2018 and 2019, “I thought it was part of the deal, part of the life- the 1990s when the network launched its popular respectively. Earle, who nearly died himself, isn’t style,” says Steve Earle, the genre-spanning country “Behind the Music” series. In telling the stories of sure there is an easy answer. “The problem is kids and folk singer who recently lost his son, Justin such bands as Def Leppard, Aerosmith, Fleetwood think they’re immortal,” he says. “Death is not real Townes Earle, to addiction. The younger Earle died Mac and Mötley Crüe, in addition to a variety of to them; they haven’t lost enough people yet.” in August 2020 at 38, while at about the same age, pop and R&B stars, a common theme would often Cooper concurs. “When I was 27, I thought I was his father turned drug arrests in 1993 and ’94 into emerge: addiction and recovery. bulletproof,” he says. “What I was really doing was a commitment to recovery. “The more we could be transparent about killing myself slowly.”

THE RECOVERY ISSUE 47

VOICE OF A COMMUNITY

WHEN ELIZABETH VARGAS’ ROAD TO SOBRIETY WAS MADE PUBLIC, SHE DECIDED TO SHARE HER STORY WITH OTHERS IN NEED OF HELP

by cynthia littleton illustration by hsiao rong chen

Elizabeth Vargas didn’t seek to become a prom- I was in the middle of the process of trying to willing to do. What needs to be done takes money. inent voice for the recovery community. But the get sober was one of the most devastating things But it costs our country so much more not to treat longtime ABC News anchor was put on that to happen. It was very difficult. There’s a huge the people suffering from disease of addiction path nearly a decade ago when her treatment for amount of stigma around this disease. That’s than it would to invest the money that is needed alcohol addiction and anxiety became tabloid fod- why fewer than 20% of the people who need to get people into good, science-based treatments der. She wrote a much-praised book, “Between help get it. that they can afford. I hope this will be a priority Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction,” in It was so difficult to have something so pri- for the Biden administration. 2016. Last year she launched a podcast, “Heart of vate made public against my will. I’m not sure I the Matter,” with the Partnership to End Addiction would have written my book or spoken out if I Your podcast “Matters of the Heart” has fea- nonprofit advocacy group. The series is devoted to hadn’t been outed. It’s risky to reveal it all. But I tured guests such as former NBA star Chris candid conversations about addiction and mental figured the story is already out there — I might Herren, chef-raconteur Andrew Zimmern health crises. Vargas was also just tapped by Fox as well tell it. and shoe magnate Steve Madden. Have you to host the revival of “America’s Most Wanted,” found similarities in the stories of how people scheduled to premiere in March. How much does that enduring sense of stigma get to recovery? get in the way of people seeking treatment for We’ve talked to a variety of people about their You’ve been vocal about the need for better the disease of addiction? experiences. The common thread for everybody mental health and substance abuse treatment People don’t get help. They’re afraid to ask, afraid is that they were using that substance to numb options, especially with the conditions of the to admit they need help or they can’t afford it. something — to not feel anxious, to not feel pandemic. What have you learned from your Insurance companies haggle with people: “Can’t insecure, to not feel something. So that’s why recent reporting? you try an outpatient program?” We know there I’m doing the podcast. I want people to hear the The last year has been extraordinarily difficult are good, science-based treatment centers out stories of people who go on to do extraordinary for so many people in this country. We know there. We need more of those and fewer of the things with their lives. the statistics: anxiety, depression and sub- ones that are trying to cash in on a crisis killing stance abuse are up. There is a mental health thousands of people every year and costing our What have you learned from embracing the crisis in this country. country billions. recovery community? There isn’t a day that goes by I’m not profoundly What has kept you talking about these Do you think the change in the White House grateful for my sobriety. I never take it for granted. issues publicly? will make a big difference? I remember being told you have to hold it like a Having my anonymity stripped from me while We will see what the Biden administration is delicate egg in your hands. 48 THE RECOVERY ISSUE

THE LIZARD BRAIN

HOW I CAME TO UNDERSTAND THAT ADDICTION IS A DISEASE

by malina saval illustration by giacomo bagnara

In a bright, white auditorium on the rolling cam- You can only drink beer, but not hard liquor. You drinking to romantic relationships destroyed, pus of a rehab center on the East Coast, I learned hide bottles of vodka. You trick yourself into the addiction counselor pointed to that water that addiction is a disease. The giant room was believing that you can control it. Now there was a jug. “Blame Ethyl,” she’d say. She then suggested filled with addicts and alcoholics, including my specialist in addiction medicine standing at a lec- we attend Al-Anon, a 12-step program that, like then-husband, who’d checked in for a month- tern delivering a lecture debunking that notion Alcoholics Anonymous, is a nondenominational long stay to get sober after decades of drinking with scientific facts. The doctor was armed with fellowship for friends and loved ones with a and drugging. It was family week, and I’d flown anatomical illustrations of the human brain and drinking problem. In Al-Anon, I would discover in from Los Angeles, where we lived. We had a its limbic system; dubbed the “lizard brain,” this that while I had zero control over whether or 3-year-old and a 1-year-old at the time, both of is the area that regulates emotions and mem- not someone drank, I had the power to forge my whom were born amid the chaos of a family pum- ory. He explained the underlying elements of own path, to scrape out my own sense of serenity. meled hard by a disease in which piles of weed addiction, from endocrine function to the rise This was a revelation. and whiskey highballs were as commonplace as and fall of dopamine levels to the amygdala’s role I have been a grateful member of Al-Anon for diapers and baby food. There was no singular in triggering rage and fear. Genetics factor into more than 11 years, for as long a time as my now moment when everything imploded, but a series addiction, which is the reason that if you carry ex-husband has been sober. Frankly, Al-Anon of events that chipped away at our collective san- the gene, and you start using drugs or alcohol, has saved me. It’s helped me to not only under- ity, from raging arguments in Chinese restaurants you might not be able to stop. Your brain craves stand the disease of addiction but take personal to quieter episodes wherein my husband would more and more. And that brain will convince an inventory of my own character flaws, to have sit on the sofa, stoned, watching tennis for days addict to stop at nothing to indulge that need. empathy for those who struggle. Al-Anon has on end. We both went mad over time. It hap- Addiction is a disease that can be arrested helped me to love and respect my recovering pened, as Hemingway wrote in “The Sun Also but never cured. Even in sobriety, the ache to alcoholic ex-husband as one would someone Rises,” gradually and then suddenly. use can, and often does, persist. There is no with any other type of disease, with an attitude I had known long before family week that easy fix. Changes in brain structure, brain cells of boundless acceptance, grace and compas- addiction was a disease, but only in the abstract, and brain chemicals, can linger for years, even sion. We still fight; we still carry resentments; and only because that’s what they kept saying in decades. Long after the alcohol is out of a per- we sometimes blame one another for what ulti- various ABC Afterschool Specials and in morning son’s bloodstream, the "–ism" remains. That is mately broke down our marriage. But we now talk show segments that populated 1980s televi- the hell of addiction. have a set of practical tools — the 12 steps — to sion. But I didn’t fully appreciate what exactly During family week, I discovered there is no weather these rocky bumps in a way we’d never that meant. Was alcoholism like asthma? Was controlling the addict, and that nothing that I had been able to before. there a Ventolin inhaler-equivalent to treat the done had caused my husband to drink. Nothing Most importantly, Al-Anon has helped me, and disease of not being able to stop drinking and he had done had caused this either. We were both by extension my ex-husband, to better raise our drugging? It wasn’t until I married an alcoholic powerless over alcohol. To illustrate this point, in children, who are now 14 and 12. Because addic- and everything in our lives — from paying our a workshop for families living with alcoholism, tion is a family disease. It affects everyone. And rent to social outings — became so hard that the an addiction counselor placed an oversize water like any disease, if you don’t treat it, then you will biological and scientific basis of disease truly jug in the center of the room, taping a sheet of only get sicker. So we’re honest with our kids, came into focus. paper with the word “Ethyl” on it. As we circled and we’re realistic. We pray; we meditate. We When you’re mired in the disease of addiction, the room, family members bemoaning everything approach parenting in very much the same way you do a lot to try to make it stop. You bargain: from failed attempts at getting loved ones to quit we do sobriety — one day at a time.

THE RECOVERY ISSUE 51

BACK IN BUSINESS

SPORTS AGENT LEIGH STEINBERG HAS REBUILT A LIFE AND CAREER THAT WAS NEARLY DESTROYED BY ALCOHOLISM

by cynthia littleton illustration by hsiao rong chen

In 1996, “Jerry Maguire” made Leigh Steinberg says. “It came on late in life in the early 2000s.” But his sense of denial was “breaking,” he says. the most famous sports agent in the country. Steinberg notes that his nickname while attend- The epiphany that led him to sobriety came while A decade later, Steinberg, now 71, was well on ing UC Berkeley in the early 1970s was “one-beer he was in his late father’s home. He sat in the his way to losing everything, including his license Steinberg.” Although his struggle with alcohol was bedroom thinking about the values his father to serve as a talent representative. Tom Cruise’s extremely public, he believes his age is a factor in instilled in him as a youth — to pursue his per- famous catchphrase from the Cameron Crowe allowing him to be in recovery since 2010. sonal ambition, to be a good parent and to be a film — “Show me the money” — took on a cynical “I think I was equipped to deal with this force for good in the wider world. He realized dimension after Steinberg was forced to file for because it came on later for me,” Steinberg says. how much he had lost, and at what cost to his bankruptcy in 2012. Over the past decade he has spent a lot of time family and friends. His descent was fueled by alcoholism that left thinking about how his drinking habit “changed “I just thought, ‘What have I allowed to hap- him out of control at a time when other aspects from a convivial toast to a compulsion.” pen?’” he says. “I don’t have cancer. I live in a of his personal and professional life were under Steinberg points to a perfect storm of personal country with the highest standard of living. I have stress. He was arrested twice — once for a DUI, troubles that began in the late 2000s that included three wonderful kids. What excuses do I have to once for public intoxication — and wound up the death of his father, the end of his marriage sit and wallow in alcoholism?” getting help by moving into a sober living home. and problems in his business sparked by uneth- Steinberg rebuilt his agency business with the Today, Steinberg is back in the agency business ical actions by one of his partners. As all of this help of a group of investors who put their faith in and back to representing some of the biggest names swirled, one of his three adult children faced a him despite his well-documented struggles. This in football, notably Kansas City Chiefs quarter- serious health crisis. Steinberg even lost one of his time around, Steinberg Sports & Entertainment back Patrick Mahomes and Tua Tagovailoa, the homes in Newport Beach, Calif., to invasive mold. is taking a boutique approach to representing University of Alabama hotshot who signed last “I felt like Gulliver held down by Lilliputians,” star athletes. “Instead of trying to dominate the year as a quarterback with the Miami Dolphins. he recalls of that period. world of sports, it’s enough to represent a talented Last summer, Mahomes made headlines with a The shame of being arrested gave him a jolt. He niche,” he says. massive $450 million-plus, 10-year contract with felt terrible that his children had to read headlines Once he got sober, Steinberg wanted to prove the Chiefs described as the richest pact in sports about their father in such a debilitated state. But he himself by making a comeback in business and history, expertly crafted by Steinberg. still fell further, binge drinking for days at a time. returning to the large-scale charitable activities Steinberg’s rise and fall is a cautionary tale that His rationale was that self-medicating with vodka that he was known for in his heyday. alcoholism can destroy a person’s life at any age, would help him get through his other difficulties. “I never contemplated not coming back,” no matter how much wealth, success or power “The aspect of addiction that is most confusing Steinberg says. “I needed to return to the sense has been achieved. is the fact that it’s a disease that tells you that you of optimism and care for other people that got “I did not grow up with this problem,” Steinberg don’t have a disease,” Steinberg says. lost in a bottle of vodka.” 52 THE RECOVERY ISSUE

SHARING HIS REALITY

‘BACHELORETTE’ WINNER ZAC CLARK SPARKS A CANDID CONVERSATION ABOUT SOBRIETY ON THE ABC DATING FRANCHISE

by elizabeth wagmeister

In 2011, Zac Clark went missing. was a patient less than a decade ago. individuals and their personal battles to deliver The New Jersey native, known for his recent Clark never intended to find reality TV fame. In such a powerful narrative.” appearance on “The Bachelorette,” left home with- fact, his sister signed him up for “The Bachelorette” On-screen, Adams started to fall in love with out saying a word, prompting his family to begin without his permission. Now, with more than Clark over his vulnerability in revealing his true a search. He finally turned up at a bank, trying to 600,000 Instagram followers, he is embracing self. Today, he praises her curiosity and willingness cash a forged check stolen from his father. He was his newfound celebrity to reach those who need to learn about his journey. “One of the things that desperate for money to get high. treatment. impressed me was her ability to take this on and Years before, after suffering a brain tumor, “In addition to meeting Tayshia, the biggest gift ask a lot of questions,” Clark says, recalling his time Clark had become addicted to pain pills and was coming out of this is we’ve already been able to filming the show with his now-fiancée. “She even abusing alcohol. When he tried to cash the check, help a lot of people that we wouldn’t have been asked if she could kiss me if she had a glass of wine.” the bank teller knew something was wrong. But able to otherwise,” Clark says, sharing that his DMs From “Jersey Shore” to “The Real Housewives,” instead of calling the police, she called Clark’s are overflowing every day with messages from reality TV has had a long reputation for glamoriz- father, who rushed to the bank before his son people caught in the trap of substance abuse or ing drama, often fueled by alcohol — which in turn could disappear back onto the streets. Two days from family members seeking care for their loved drives ratings. When the current reality TV wave later, after hitting what Clark describes as rock ones. “In some weird way, if me writing back gives began in the early 2000s, the recipe for success was bottom, he was in treatment. someone more hope just by me weirdly being on essentially to put a camera on a larger-than-life Fast-forward 10 years and Clark, who turned television, I’ll do that all day.” personality and let chaos ensue. 37 the week of this interview, is one of the most On the show, Clark revealed his story to Adams On the “Bachelor” franchise, production for- notable reality stars to address his sobriety on during their one-on-one date. The scene stood out malized on-set rules surrounding alcohol in 2017, television as the most recent winner of ABC’s as one of the most significant moments ever to air after a highly publicized incident on “Bachelor in “The Bachelorette.” He became engaged to in the nearly 20-year history of “The Bachelor” Paradise” between contestants Corinne Olympios “Bachelorette” Tayshia Adams in December on franchise. His storyline was a curveball for the dat- and DeMario Jackson led to a production shutdown the 16th season of the dating show. ing series, which only recently started showcasing and to Warner Bros. launching an investigation. Ever since he got clean, he has dedicated his weighty conversations, including discussions with Nowadays, contestants are limited to two alcoholic life to helping others. In 2017, he co-founded the other contestants about race and mental health. drinks per hour, which are poured by production Release Recovery center, a full-service organiza- “The producers do an amazing job at evolving staffers — in other words, alcohol is available but not tion in New York that has more than 40 employ- ‘The Bachelor’ franchise to stay in step with the free-flowing. And if a cast member does not want to ees, and that recently launched a nonprofit world around us from season to season,” says drink, they are in no way encouraged to consume foundation to help individuals struggling with Brooke Karzen, executive vice president & head alcohol, according to sources close to production. addiction in underserved communities. He also of Warner Horizon Unscripted Television. “We For Clark, he explains that production took sits on the board of the rehab center where he are inspired by the way the show resonates with great lengths to make sure he never felt singled out for his sobriety, pouring apple cider in his glass during Champagne toasts and making sure he Tayshia Adams and Zac Clark always had a nonalcoholic beverage to hold during share a moment cocktail parties. “They deserve props for their during their “fantasy suite” awareness, and also probably learning more about date on “The this,” Clark says about the producers and crew. Bachelorette.” Zac proposed in Clark believes television can be a powerful the season’s medium for shining a positive light on recovery and final episode, and they addiction. With his increased platform, in addition currently live to helping others get treatment, he hopes to change together in New York. the perception surrounding substance abuse. “The more we can make recovery look good and normalize this thing and not even use words like ‘stigma,’ the better,” he says. “If someone had cancer, you’re not going to treat them differently, so if someone is sober, I challenge others to treat them like you would anyone else who had any

other illness.” Sjodin/ABC Craig 53 THE RECOVERY ISSUE

HOW I LEARNED TO OWN MY SOBRIETY

ASKING FOR HELP WAS THE FIRST STEP IN A DIFFICULT AND DEEPLY FULFILLING JOURNEY

by marc malkin photograph by michael buckner

Scott cut me off. “Marc,” he said, “do me a favor — six months here, a year there — but I always — don’t call me until you want help.” relapsed. I was what we call a “chronic relapser.” Before I could look up, he had already turned Then a little more than seven years ago, some- and continued on his way to the gym. thing finally clicked. I was not only going to meet- “Fuck you,” I thought. “I could use if I want to.” ings regularly, but most important, I began to own Four days later, I called Scott. For the first time, my sobriety. I no longer hid in the corners of rooms. I said, “I need help.” I raised my hand when they asked if there were The next morning, I met a man named Frank any newcomers — meaning anyone with fewer at a Starbucks on Eighth Avenue. Frank was a than 30 days of continuous sobriety. friend of Scott’s. He was a crystal meth addict in I also began telling more friends and colleagues recovery. He had been clean and sober for several that I was sober. I didn’t get into the particulars years. When Frank asked me how I was doing, I with most people, but I was very clear that I didn’t began to cry. — and couldn’t — drink or do drugs. When my “I can’t do this anymore,” I said. co-workers at E! celebrated my wedding with a “I know,” Frank said. surprise party, we toasted my marriage with spar- And then we walked two blocks up Eighth kling apple cider. Avenue. We made a right on 24th Street and At work events (back when we still gathered headed east. I went to my first 12-step meeting at in person), I consume a lot of water, or if I need a the Gay Men’s Health Crisis’ David Geffen Center. pick-me-up, I down an energy drink or a simple I don’t remember much about the meeting except glass of ginger ale. I often run into men I once there were about a dozen men sitting in chairs in a partied with. Usually, we give each other a quick circle. For the first time, I said, “My name is Marc, hello or a knowing glance. Sometimes, we chat and and I’m a crystal meth addict.” I always make sure to reveal that I’m sober. More That was almost 17 years ago. I have been clean often than not, they tell me how they also found and sober for seven and a half years. In other words, sobriety or that they are struggling to get clean. I it took me about a decade to get long-term sobriety. offer my number and suggest they call me if they I have been an entertainment journalist for 25 need someone to talk to. years. Much of that time I was working in the “gos- The past seven years have had their share of sip biz,” with stints at the New York Daily News, ups and downs. Getting sober doesn’t mean all Us Weekly, New York magazine, “Entertainment your problems go away. Life goes on, for better or Tonight” and “E! News.” worse. I used to party to celebrate the good times I spent most of my waking hours reporting, writ- or to try to forget and numb the bad times. Now, ing and talking about the private lives of celebrities. I face life as it happens. When things get really I may have excelled at my job, but I was never bad, I remind myself that if I could get sober, I can The sun had just come up on a Monday morning fully comfortable prying. My uneasiness really survive anything else thrown in my path. in the middle of summer in New York City. It was took hold when I was active in my addiction. How When I began going to 12-step meetings, I that time of day when the sidewalks are beginning could I ask celebrities (or their publicists) about would cringe when someone said they were a to fill with people walking their dogs, heading to their deepest, darkest secrets when I was living “proud” alcoholic or addict. How can one be work or, like my friend Scott, going to the gym. with one myself? I felt like a fraud, an impostor. I proud of doing things drunk or high that they Me? I was on my way home from another worried all the time about being found out. would never do sober? night of drug-filled unmentionables when I In the summer of 2004, just weeks after Scott But I get it now. I’m not proud of the things I ran into Scott. introduced me to Frank, I moved to Los Angeles did, but I’m proud of my journey. I’m proud of “Good morning,” he said. to help launch the “Entertainment Tonight” com- being a survivor. I’m proud of being able to take “Good morning,” I replied. I laughed and looked panion series “The Insider.” Moving 3,000 miles my friend Scott up on his offer, and for being able down at the pavement. I could feel the heat of the across the country meant I could start over. Or so to say, “I need help,” when he answered the call sun on my neck. It felt like my skin was boiling. I thought. I told myself I would stop drinking and that I desperately needed to make. “Are you using again?” Scott asked. using, but I broke that promise within two weeks. “Not really,” I said. “I mean, just a little. It’s OK. For the next decade, I was in and out of 12-step Marc Malkin is senior culture and events editor It’s no big deal. …” meetings. I would gather a bunch of sober time for Variety.

Gutter Credit CONTENDERS Helmers andscribestalk andwriteabouttheworkoftheirpeersin films that arein the awardsconversation thisseason 02.04.2021 Directors on Directors (P. 56 - 62) Writers on Writers (P. 63 - 69) VARIETY ● 55 56 ● CONTENDERS ● DIRECTORS ON DIRECTORS 02.04.2021

I love the film – it’s such a crazy film, it’s so you. It makes me look at all your work, and see how fucking crazy you are, and I love it. You take big chances all the way down the line.You’ve established a way BORAT SUBSEQUENT of filmmaking that is very THE FATHER FIRST COW MOVIEFILM rare – you don’t see it often, but it’s very specific to you. I’ve Directed by Florian Zeller Directed by Kelly Reichardt seen it twice now. It’s a love Directed by Jason Woliner Essay by Kenneth Branagh Essay by Olivier Assayas poem to Black Vietnam soldiers, Essay by Adam McKay exclusively about that experi-

How do you make a movie about the times ence … and it hangs together in Florian Zeller makes a mesmeric directorial The films of Kelly Reichardt are a blessing. we’re currently living through? the sense of its poetry. Andyour debut with “The Father.” As anyone who saw They have illuminated by their beauty, their Do you simply turn the camera on and doc- style keeps changing all the his play from which it is evolved can testify, heartfelt simplicity, their depth, the world of ument the careening disintegration? Or use there was already a powerful theatrical expe- independent filmmaking. I have always been story as a metaphor? Or maybe comedy can time: I sat through that movie rience at work. How to make such theatrical deeply admiring of how, with patience and work as a release for dark and ludicrous truths? and I had no idea what the fuck brilliance cinematic? Firstly, he trusts his story: quiet authority, she has followed the unique One director this year did all of the above. Its immediacy, its humanity and the raw rec- path of her inspiration. Jason Woliner’s “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: would happen next. You keep ognition it offers to so many audiences. Ultimately, she is about everything con- Images Shotwell/Invision/AP s; Stone: Richard Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American me off-balance, nothing And then, he trust his characters. He has two temporary cinema seems to have rejected, or Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation clichéd, nothing predictable. acting titans at the center of the film, and as a neglected, or despised: peace, grace, the frailty of Kazakhstan” is a docu-comedia dell arte-fa- director, he clears the way for them to do their of human emotions you can only capture with ther-daughter quest film. — Oliver Stone on work. His visual style is spare, measured, ele- the most delicate and the most nuanced touch, And in many cases the movie was filmed gant. It allows performance to be seen sharply attention to the eternal beauties of creation. during a pandemic and features actual radical “Da 5 Bloods,” directed at the center — intimate, darkly funny, ragged She’s been making her films off the track, white nationalists as unwitting main charac- by Spike Lee and deep. Zeller has a surgeon’s touch. He is actually off any track, trusting her vision, doing ters. To top it all off, it contains a few of the delicate and precise with his cutting style, and it on her own terms without ever compromis- more touching scenes of the year, including A two-time winner of the director yet it is never soulless. ing with an industry that has swallowed up so one featuring a sweet woman in a temple who Oscar, Stone’s films include “Born It is, however, forensic. He invites the viewer many gifted filmmakers. shows a wildly anti-Semitic Borat unwavering on the Fourth of July, “JFK,” “Platoon,” into a cinematic puzzle, where the question Without one false note she has created compassion and love. “Wall Street” and “Snowden.” of what is real, and what is not real is all-per- a remarkable, unique body of work that is Very few directors could drive this flaming vasive. But in his clear and uncluttered frame entirely hers, in both its diversity and its Ralph Steadman monster truck of a movie as he also manages to induce the slow mounting impressive coherence. Very few have accom- deftly as Jason Woliner. For a long time in the panic of a story that just will not be what it plished that. “First Cow” is a major addition. comedy world he’s been known as one of the appears to be. The surface of the movie is all A modern film, but standing outside of more skilled absurdist directors. calm and clarity, and the underneath is all time. An abstract, radical film, as demand- Finally the world exploded, and when the mounting dread and terror. This is a discordant ing, as daring as anything she’s done, but also smoldering debris, confetti and rats came rain- chamber music of the soul, and it is conducted clear, simple, imbued with universal values ing down, Woliner knew exactly how to film it. by Zeller with exquisite tenderness and pain. of friendship and survival, capturing both the As Zeller the director, he has the smart and landscapes of the American heartland, and its Oscar-nominated for directing “The Big Short,” humble idea to get out of the way of Zeller very soul. No surprise, she’s already done it, McKay has also helmed “Don’t Look Up,” the writer’s brilliant idea. In so doing, he lets but what higher goal than using your art and “Step Brothers” and episodes of “Succession.” something ancient emerge from the drama. A all your skills at connecting the present and the Greek tragedy in a London apartment. Hopkins past, wilderness and civilization, reminding us and Colman are magnificent, and their director where we come from and how the thread has has paid them the honor of leaving much to never been broken. them. Their performances return the favor The generous, human, often heartbreaking with soulful largesse. art of Kelly Reichardt, the clarity of her vision, The result is an emotional thriller that wran- feels all the more urgent in the dark, confusing gles with the mind, and fairly breaks the heart. world we nowadays live in. She genuinely is a Zeller the director has arrived — in triumph. treasure of international cinema and we should be grateful to her. An Emmy-winning and multiple Oscar- nominated director and actor, Branagh has Assayas’ films include “Irma Vep,” directed films including “Hamlet,” “Thor” and “Summer Hours” and “Personal Shopper.” “Murder on the Orient Express.” McKay: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Images; Branagh: Ian West/PA Wire/AP Images; Assayas: Ekaterina Chesnokova/Sputnik/AP Image Chesnokova/Sputnik/AP Ekaterina Images; Assayas: Wire/AP Ian West/PA Images; Branagh: Shotwell/Invision/AP McKay: Richard 02.04.2021 VARIETY ● 57

This is your latest, greatest movie in a long line of great mov- ies, and it has another young, almost undiscovered talent that you again were way ahead in recognizing. It’s great that you have an actor in Pete [Davidson] FUNNY BOY JUDAS AND who was comfortable and capa- LAND THE BLACK MESSIAH ble of showing vulnerability, and also knowing that that was a Directed by Deepa Mehta Directed by Robin Wright nice pathwayto comedy as well. Essay by Atom Egoyan Directed by Shaka King Essay by Julian Schnabel That’s something you’ve always Essay by Matthew A. Cherry been such a sniper with. You can

The first 12 minutes of Deepa Mehta’s new The most important art has something to say, find the humor in some of the Why do people make films? What is the need? film, “Funny Boy,” capture the spirit of child- and Shaka King speaks with the confidence of broadest storylines, situations, What is the goal? To communicate what? One hood quite unlike anything I have seen. We see filmmakers twice his age. Shaka never shies characters, but also in the of the most difficult things to film is two people the exuberance and playful energy of a group of away from the tough conversations in “Judas in a room, for it to ring true where actors are children running along a beach chasing a train, and the Black Messiah,” and he leaves the audi- most human and raw and vulner- not acting they are being and maybe what’s performing a mock wedding, having a fight, ence with a well-rounded and complex depic- able characters and situations.” even more demanding is to film one actor doing and playing a doomed cricket game. Through tion of Fred Hampton and the Black Panther and being. Even more so when that actor is the the gardens and rooms of a beautiful house, Party. The entire ensemble shines under — Jason Bateman on “King director. The need to express the deep sense an/Invision/AP Images; Schnabel: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP Images Images; Schnabel: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP an/Invision/AP we’re introduced to a host of characters that Shaka’s confident direction, especially Daniel of loss, the inexplicable confrontation with will reverberate through this luscious story Kaluuya, LaKeith Stanfield and Dominique of Staten Island,” directed by death that we will all face, is the essence of about the roots of identity, tolerance and love. Fishback; no part proves to be too small. Judd Apatow being alive, to try to comprehend the never In one of my favorite scenes, we’re in a room Upon the announcement and first descrip- ending question of why? with young Arjie and his very cool aunt. She tion of “Judas and the Black Messiah,” I, like An actor and Emmy-winning director of This film is a deep dive into that question dons her nephew, who was dressed as a bride many others, wondered why Shaka would “Ozark,” Bateman has directed films including and the determination of an artist, and who- in the children’s mock wedding and is drawn take the approach of intertwining both “Bad Words” and “The Family Fang.” ever will go with them on this path to realize to wearing lipstick, with a fabulous red feather Fred Hampton and FBI informant William a truth that can be a tool to face this thing boa. It is the first time anyone has ever given O’Neal’s stories as opposed to just focusing on that we will all face. Through the mining him permission to be who he is. The aunt asks Hampton. As I continued to watch, it became of these impulses and the use of the tools of if he wants her to put make-up on his face. clear that it was to show that you’re still choos- the actor-director’s body of talent, and deep Arjie is unsure how to respond. “Will it make ing a side even when you choose to sit on the commitment, we can channel her determina- you happy?” Aunt Radha asks twice, granting sidelines to avoid taking a political stance. We tion and be transformed, coming to value the the boy entrance to world of acceptance and see how straddling the fence leads to O’Neal’s essence of what we are. The air, the breath, the liberation. She then paints his toenails, and eventual corruption. We also see how his trees and the landscape, humans like leaves we are briefly transported to an image of adult capitalist approach to changing his financial blown together touching each other for a Arjie, painting the toenails of his male lover circumstances by any means necessary left divine moment of inexplicable clarity. many years later. He has remembered this him not only morally bankrupt, but also led Thank you Robin Wright and Demián Bichir moment with his aunt all his life. to his own demise and robbed the world of for all the precision and insistence to find that Deepa Mehta is a rare filmmaker, equally a great young Black leader with a powerful high pitched inexpressible note that rarely is comfortable in very different worlds and com- voice on the verge of uniting Chicago during achieved in film. It is the ultimate topic and pletely fluid in transmitting these wildly differ- a tumultuous time. certainly not the easiest to present. Years of ent sensibilities of East and West with unerring “Judas and the Black Messiah” is a technical tracing the depths of feeling loss, sincerity, confidence and skill. With “Funny Boy,” she achievement that isn’t afraid to ask the hard friendship, family, and just looking have not has explored a world within a world, setting questions, and one can only hope that America been wasted on this director and actor. It is this story of forbidden love within the explo- is finally up to the task of answering them. my privilege and honor to know Robin and sively violent history between Christian Tamils have seen how rigorous she has been in the and Buddhist Sinhalese. It’s a Sri Lankan Director of features “9 Rides” and “The Last different stages of editing the film to keep it Romeo-and-Juliet story told with passion, Fall,” Cherry won the short film Oscar last year so close to the bone and at the same time so insight and a deep sense of humanity. While for “Hair Love.” free of spirit. Hard thing to do. it’s culturally specific, its underlying theme and message of hope is universal. “Funny Boy” Schnabel is the Oscar-nominated director is beautifully cast, performed with absolute of “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” as well as conviction and shot with astonishing sensitiv- “Before Night Falls” and “At Eternity’s Gate.” ity and compassion. It’s about the best of times and the worst of times; seasons of darkness and seasons of light.

Egoyan was Oscar nominated as director for “The Sweet Hereafter.” His other films include

Egoyan: Dave Bedrosian/Geisler-Fotopress/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images; Cherry: Chris Pizzello/AP Images; Bateman: Willy Sanju Images; Cherry: Chris Pizzello/AP Dave Bedrosian/Geisler-Fotopress/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Egoyan: “Exotica” and “Remember.” 58 ● CONTENDERS ● DIRECTORS ON DIRECTORS 02.04.2021

The movie has both a deep and profound affection for film- making as an art, and also a very acute awareness of the absur- dity of the whole process and the whole enterprise. I found in it an extremely astute observa- THE LITTLE THINGS tion of that sort of paradox: how MA RAINEY’S MINARI you can feel totally ridiculous BLACK BOTTOM doing it, and yet somehow in it Directed by John Lee Hancock Directed by Lee Isaac Chung there is an art. Because you’re Essay by Scott Frank Directed by George C. Wolfe Essay by Bong Joon-ho very smart, and because you’re Essay by Don Cheadle sort of half-artist and half-

I remember the night, nearly 30 years ago, engineer, I find you a sort of sur- To make a good gumbo you need a good roux, I think it takes a lot of courage to shoot a film when I met John Lee Hancock. It was at a gical filmmaker in your delib- and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” has as its rich about yourself or your family, since it’s autobi- dinner somewhere up in the Hollywood Hills. erate specificity. But this movie and flavorful base the brilliant play by August ographical. But what I appreciated more about There was this tall, handsome Texan holding Wilson, fashioned into a dynamic screenplay this film is that it doesn’t wallow in nostalgia. the table in thrall with tales of his time spent had such an enormous amount by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Maestro director It’s a story about [Chung], but there’s a sense with a particularly legendary homicide inves- of affection and — dare I say — George C. Wolfe masterfully brings it all to of distance, too. So rather than it being about tigator in the L.A. Sheriff’s Department. John cinematic life with a control evident from the the history and story of a Korean immigrant talked about the detective calling him up in heart and appreciation of the first four minutes, as the movie unfurls sans family, the film can appeal to families all over

the middle of the night and asking him if he humanity of the artist. ... I think dialogue in the wooded darkness of Georgia the world or anyone who still carries the Images Wire/AP Affleck: Matt Crossick/PA had a sport coat. John was to put it on and it’s a masterpiece, it’s my favor- circa 1927. The terrifyingly familiar sight of memories of their parents. Similar to Alfonso meet him at a fresh crime scene. No idiot, young Black men running for their lives soon Cuarón’s “Roma,” the little boy in this film is John showed up, where hunched over the dead ite of yours, and you know I love yields relief as Mr. Wolfe’s bait and switch essentially you, but the film isn’t told from the body, the detective said, for that night, John almost all your movies.” delightfully transports us into the joy of a boy’s perspective. It follows the perspective was one of them. He was to keep his mouth transformative performance by Viola Davis of multiple characters, and it doesn’t feature shut and learn. Certainly not your normal — Ben Affleck on “Mank,” as Ma. Mr. Wolfe’s use of close-ups and mas- any voiceovers or narration. I think that level dinner table conversation, but by that point, ters, both stillness and movement working of distance makes the film more beautiful and who cared about dinner? We all sat in silent directed by David Fincher in counterpoint, seamlessly weaves into the universal. The film is neither too cold nor too grip as John told one story after another. Any An actor and Oscar-winning screenwriter, soulful blues washing over us. He centers the warm, while carrying a lot of love. That’s not one of them could have been a movie. All of Affleck has directed films including “The audience squarely in that tent, that time and an easy feat. It really surprised me. them expertly spun by this guy I’d just met Town,” “Gone Baby Gone” and “Argo.” place. You can almost smell it. for a few minutes before. Mr. Wolfe takes what in other hands might Bong won the director Oscar for “Parasite.” Naturally, I hated him instantly. I wanted have been a piece reverentially focused on His other films include “Mother,” “The Host” to be him. He made storytelling look so easy. words and ideas, and opens the experience and “Okja.” Just as he does when you read any of his scripts all the way up, exploring and exploding it, or watch any of his films. You succumb to the playing deftly with kinetic, Steadicam flow story. Instantly. John’s knack for both wides- to capture the energy of Ma’s anxious band as creen composition and realistic dialogue make they joust and needle. But then he settles down “The Little Things” a lot more than a mere and settles in close when necessary — to educe crime film. John’s love for the “True Story” the grave pain in Levee’s (Chadwick Boseman) along with his eye for detail and sense of place eyes, or Toledo’s (Glynn Turman) somber solil- render all of his work authentic and somehow oquy on “leftovers,” or Ma plopped squarely in larger than life at the same time. And of course, a chair with one ear cocked to the side because the actors lucky enough to work with him have “It sure done got quiet in here.” Periodically, been known to win an award or two. he takes us beyond the literal narrative to refer John was in the middle of writing “The to and reflect on Wilson’s characters and story Little Things” that night we met. It was a good with laconic, beautiful, interstitial shots of story then, and it’s a terrific film now. That’s Black men and women staring right at us, as the thing about great yarns. They don’t get if painted by Diego Velázquez, a challenge to old. Even close to 30 years later, they remain never forget the people who shared in these rock solid and ever meaningful. Just like a struggles. Finally, Mr. Wolfe closes his exqui- great friendship. site circle, with Ma departing both triumphant and bested, the band irrevocably devastated, A two-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter, our blues woefully assimilated and all of us Frank has directed movies including “A trying to catch our collective breath. Walk Among the Tombstones” and the series “The Queen’s Gambit.” An Oscar- and Emmy-nominated actor, Cheadle directed the film “Miles Ahead.” Frank: Sthanlee B. Mirador/Sipa USA/AP Images; Cheadle: Chris Pizzello/AP Images; Joon-ho: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Images; Shotwell/Invision/AP Images; Joon-ho: Richard Images; Cheadle: Chris Pizzello/AP USA/AP Sthanlee B. Mirador/Sipa Frank: 02.04.2021 VARIETY ● 59

NEVER RARELY NEWS OF THE WORLD NOMADLAND SOMETIMES ALWAYS Directed by Paul Greengrass Directed by Chloé Zhao Directed by Eliza Hittman Essay by Richard Curtis Essay by Barry Jenkins Essay by Debra Granik

This is precision filmmaking, non-judgmental, Given the backsliding and insidious bloviat- Writing about “News of the World,” I almost I think the first time we met was at Telluride at quiet and methodical, each minute fully loaded. ing of 2020, the impact of the quiet of this film feel I’m writing about two films. I’ve seen it a strange party. I remember I was just floored I felt like the film was doing the impossible, was stunning. For everything Autumn doesn’t twice — and the obvious bit is that it’s a great because I had seen her film, and I went on this taking me on this young woman’s difficult jour- say, we fill in the space of contemplation — we movie and a great Western. It looks exquisite, Tweet storm about how awesome “The Rider” ney with no sensationalizing and no compro- feel, we weigh, we deliberate, we identify. The and the soundtrack by James Newton Howard is. I think I said it should be hung in a gallery. mises. It was like seeing someone quietly take filming is intimate and tight in the framing is haunting and deep. It features two blazing … It’s a beautiful film, as is this. the political gun aimed at reproductive rights, of the shots, of time, of place, so tight that it central performances — one by Tom Hanks, There’s a meticulousness to her craft, and put it down, take out the bullets, and place it graphically excludes the amplified chatter of who’s been acting for a thousand years, deep yet it also feels kind of free. I think people on the table for us all to see. Eliza Hittman has other people’s judgments. In the year of the and sad and humane — and the other by Helena watch her work, and they first assume, “Oh, ipa USA/AP Images ipa USA/AP chosen her film language carefully in order to loss and replacement of RBG, the film replied Zengel, who’s 12 and just as good as Hanks. they just showed up and things just happened.” reinstate the humanity in this life passage, to with charged audacity by following these two It’s a strong story — and the action sequences But I know what it takes to get this framing take out the fear of physical danger, of botched, teen women who do not consent to the turmoil are all you’d hope for from the director of my and that framing. I think there’s this idea of back-alley disaster. At the same time, the emo- that is heaped on women’s bodily freedom. favorite Bourne films. It starts brilliantly and things just happening, but there’s also the craft tional weight that these two young women bear There is suspense in how they manage to defy ends exquisitely — with a human smile that’s as involved in knowing a place, getting there, together is not minimized. The film brings us the exhausted and limp male domination by powerful as a big bomb. It’s a love story about understanding the light, and then creating along with them to show this procedure as safe, court and pulpit and legislature. They avoid family love between two people who have both an environment for your actors to just do this clean, kindly administered by experts, sane, ensnarement of misinformation and manipu- lost their families. wonderful thing they do. recoverable, even necessary. This is a rebellious lation from a clinic run by the religious right. But then there’s the other film inside — the I wanted to thank her for making this film. film, with no overt protest. It simply will not This film is a vibrant counter-narrative in film about now. I’m often skeptical about the I work at the Telluride Film Festival, and so participate in the tedious discourse of the past which young women navigate to safe harbor idea that the best way to talk about the present I’ve done that drive. I’ve driven from Florida decades. It has moved on! despite the obstacles that many still want to is to make a film about the past. But in this to southwest Colorado. I’ve driven from San Hittman incrementally reveals how the place in their paths. film, Paul has addressed the question of how Francisco and L.A. So I’ve passed people like choices Autumn makes are logical and imper- to move from the pain of the Trump years. The the people in this film. I’ve been at the gas ative, so that the forces who want to get in her An Oscar-nominated director and screen- American Dream is tough to turn into reality station and looked over and seen them. I’ve way seem irrelevant, almost absurd. Within the writer, Granik has directed “Winter’s Bone,” — it takes determination, it’s full of sorrow, had a few conversations, but I’ve never really confines of this moment in this teen’s life, the “Stray Dog” and “Leave No Trace.” it’s the responsibility of every person and it’s taken the time to try to understand who they sting of wrenching pain, regret, and sorrow always going to be hard. And telling the truth are. I think with this film, she’s really taken is not fetishized. Unlike so many films that is risky — and love in action is complex. This the time to show us at least a glimpse of who deal with an unplanned or undesired preg- is a road movie about the road ahead for every these people are. nancy, her suffering from a bad relationship American, and it shows how it can be done. or social constructs of guilt are not the moral God bless America. Jenkins in the Oscar-nominated director basis used to justify her actions. This is a fresh of “Moonlight” and “If Beale Street Could Talk.” perspective, one that opens a space for positive An Oscar nominee for original screenplay, normalizing of this inflamed issue. Curtis has also directed films including “Love The interview scene at the clinic is austere Actually,” “About Time” and “Yesterday.” screenplay poetry. The eponymous words “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” become an elegy to the raw edge of honesty and mov- ing on. The repetition of the questions and the depth of the humane assistance in the voice of the reproductive rights guardian is an indelible moment of contemporary film. This is what caritas sounds like: exquisite, precise, searing. We needed this film this year, and we’ll need it going forward. This depic- tion of a teen woman’s journey confronts and deconstructs the malignant imagery that has been churned out for as long as there were no

Granik: Hubert Boesl/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images; Curtis: Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP Images; Jenkins: Sthanlee B. Mirador/S Caer/Invision/AP Le Images; Curtis: Vianney Hubert Boesl/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Granik: women to make films like this one. 60 ● CONTENDERS ● DIRECTORS ON DIRECTORS 02.04.2021

I’m such a huge fan, all the way back to ‘227’ and‘Poetic Justice’ and ‘Boyz N the Hood,’ and all those amazing films we grew up with, and seeing your progression as an actress into ‘Watchmen’ and ‘If Beale ON THE ROCKS Street Could Talk’ … it was PALM SPRINGS really inspiring to see someone I respect so much as an actress Directed by Sofia Coppola Directed by Max Barbakow come in and really take com- Essay by Jane Campion Essay by Phil Lord mand of a set and be able to talk to actors in a way I could only dream of, and really have a I get excited when directors give me an expe- that Laura and her husband dare not do. Felix Max Barbakow couldn’t have known that rience I haven’t had before; this is what I love, has escaped unscathed and untouched by his strong visual language. And now his movie “Palm Springs” would become the and I’ve come to learn it’s rare. brush with life, and this is what he wants for to see you with your first fea- movie of my quarantine. But he knows that The first film I saw of Sofia’s was “The Laura, but she has different instincts. She will everyone feels stuck in one way or another. Virgin Suicides.” Its dreamy gentleness and put her heart on the line, hoping for better, ture film, ‘One Night in Miami,’ And he knows that no one wants to be stuck girl-centric beauty created an allure in shock- but knowing the truth — love is both glorious about these incredible historical for eternity with a sourpuss. From the jump, he ing contrast to the heartrending adolescent and cruel. icons: Obviously there was imbues his film with something his characters sisters’ deaths. The exceptional Sofia has kicked about a find so fleeting … joy. We have spent all year

Sofia’s voice was particular from her first rom-com, and calmly, quietly, weaponized it. such a responsibility when staring out of windows, and from behind masks Images USA/AP r/Sipa film — soft, feminine, intelligent, with an I love this clever, entertaining film that carries you’re dealing with speaking and shields. The delights of this movie echo almost uncanny knowledge of how her voice its seriousness so lightly it’s hard to see. the delights that have made this year worth can be used to powerful and sharp effect. On about Malcolm X and Sam living. If we can’t go out dancing, we’ll dance at the way, she completely upends and opposes An Oscar-winning screenwriter and the Cooke and Muhammad Ali and home. If we can’t have our freedom, we might male-centric shooting convention, a lexicon only woman to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes, Jim Brown. I’m imagining try- as well have fun. primed for aggression, punchiness and impact. Campion has credits including “The Piano,” Fun is an underrated value in movies. The genre of rom-com is new to Sofia and “Bright Star,” “The Power of the Dog” and the ing to do a story on just one of Someone told me they had never loved a drama she adapts it to her personal style like she miniseries “Top of the Lake.” those incredible icons, Black that didn’t make them laugh. (Someone I still might a shirt, buttoned up and worn loose. admire greatly told me she never loved a com- “On the Rocks” introduces lead Rashida Jones men, much less to have all four edy that didn’t make her cry.) I had the (who as Laura, smart, vulnerable, loving and con- of them and bring a view into knew?) fleeting pleasure of watching “Palm fronting the possibility of her husband, Dean’s, such an intimate conversation.” Springs” with an audience, and we laughed at infidelity. The story is set in an affluent New the jokes and despaired with the characters, York where Sofia’s distinct sense of detail cre- —Melina Matsoukas on and got all the big ideas. That’s no small feat. ates a flavorsome evocation of place. This movie about theoretical physics is clear For all the good-natured father and daughter “One Night in Miami,” and makes sense and even when I don’t know “detectoring” and light-hearted mood, there directed by Regina King what’s happening, I know that clearly some- is an unspoken barb. It seems that Laura one does, and they’re going to let me in on it and her father, Felix’s, suspicion of Dean is Matsoukas’ feature debut, “Queen & Slim,” soon enough. Barbakow juggles tones without unfounded, but as they deflate one suspicion was released in 2019. ever sacrificing our engagement or dulling our after another, it equally raises the sense, at least surprise. His film uses fun as a cinematic tool in this viewer, that while Dean is innocent this to describe some really un-fun things. time, the prospect of a guilty outcome seems If we worry all this fun makes a movie unavoidable in the future. So, clever Sofia both any less worthy, I like to remember that “It clears him and smears him. Happened One Night” (five Oscars) is pretty The heart of this story’s romance is Laura darn fun. “Palm Springs” is a movie that hap- and Dean, but the real partnership, fun, tus- pens all in one night except that night happens sles and honesty is between the father and again and again. The answer offered here is daughter detective team. Felix coaches Laura that the only escape is the choice we make to be tougher and sharper about her faith- about how we want to live, day to day, moment less husband, and the inevitable Darwinistic, to moment. And I choose fun. So does Max. self-serving seed-spraying she should learn His wry voice behind the camera, a character to expect of all human male primates. Father akin to those in front of it, lets you know, I feel and daughter are an endearing study in oppo- all this too. I’ve been there. I want to show you sites. Felix, Bill Murray, is an unconstructed, the way out, if I can still find it. well-dressed and coiffed tomcat of a certain generation and superficiality, while Laura is Lord directed “The Lego Movie,” “21 Jump suffering real anxiety and heartache, unsure Street” and “22 Jump Street” alongside if her marriage is, well, on the rocks. The two Christopher Miller. He won an Oscar as a pro-

spat, and comment on each other in a way ducer of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Sthanlee B. Mirado Images; Matsoukas: Strauss/Invision/AP Jordan Images; Lord: Seidel/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Campion: Caroline 02.04.2021 VARIETY ● 61

PALMER SOUL THE SOUND OF METAL

Directed by Fisher Stevens Directed by Pete Docter Directed by Darius Marder Essay by Edward Norton Essay by Frank Oz Essay by Scott Cooper

There’s an old adage among film directors I love this movie. It’s a great movie. Not a great As we know, there was a time (well before merchandise table when the sounds he’s expe- that animals, kids and shooting on water are animated movie. A great movie. It’s warm and streaming) when films were completely rienced all of his life quickly dim — changing to the quickest ways to derail a smooth film abstract, it’s funny and tender, it’s raucous and silent. Filmmakers then discovered sound as muffled voices backed by a high-pitch ringing. production. Digital effects have made ani- sublime, it’s accessible and challenging, and it’s a powerful storytelling tool to help immerse The moment is stark and grim, but leads to an mals and water a lot easier to wrangle. But stunningly beautiful. I mean really stunningly the audience in their stories and bring them altered life for Ruben, changing how he sees anchoring a film on the bet that you can pull beautiful. What is it about Pete Docter’s movies to life in rich and vivid detail. The first wide- (and hears) the world around him. a deeply affecting performance from a child that always hit home? I believe they come from spread success of sound movies occurred in But it’s this depiction of loss of sound, and is still truly an act of bravura and daring by a true place inside him. And that true place 1927, with the release of Warner Bros.’ “The the portrayal of deaf culture, where “Sound a director. Basically it’s like hitting a Major connects with our true places inside us. This Jazz Singer,” an 89-minute long musical that of Metal” departs from most every other film League curve ball. time, with amazing music and a large idea that featured synchronized dialogue and music. about deafness. This comes into stark relief in Fisher Stevens takes that swing in his film lingers in us long after the movie has ended, Filmgoing audiences never looked back. the second act, where Ruben visits a commu- “Palmer” and absolutely crushes it out of the Pete and his brilliant Pixar artists have done When used remarkably well, and in innova- nity for the deaf and learns that deafness isn’t a park for an emotional home run. With young it again with “Soul.” tive ways, the power of sound can shape the disability, but a culture. It’s during this section Ryder Allen as his muse, Fisher sculpts the emotion of the viewer more strongly, even, that another remarkable performance comes character of a boy named Sam with such Oz has directed such films as “The Dark than dialogue or images. That’s precisely what to life, that of Paul Raci, who portrays Joe, a nuance and tenderness that the transformative Crystal,” “Muppets Take Manhattan,” “What happened for me in Darius Marder’s mesmer- community leader. It’s here where Paul says emotional effect he has on the other charac- About Bob?” and “Bowfinger.” izing “Sound of Metal,” a film of intensity, sub- to Ruben, “Being deaf is not a handicap. It’s ters in the film isn’t just believable, we feel it tlety and grace. At the center of “Metal” is an not something to be fixed.” This is not only a ourselves, profoundly. The film is titled for unforgettable turn by a remarkable actor — Riz reminder for Ruben, but for us all. Thankfully, the character Palmer (played with beautiful Ahmed — as a punk metal drummer who sud- Darius Marder’s wondrous film not only restraint and pathos by Justin Timberlake) and denly discovers he’s losing his hearing. As a offers us a complex and rich soundscape, but that’s appropriate … because I think Palmer musician, Ahmed’s Ruben is not only at risk of a reminder that the absence of sound will stay is meant to be all of us, caught up in his own losing his hearing, but also his identity. Ruben’s with us well after the credits roll. problems and only slowly coming to grasp that devotion to his craft has kept his addiction and caring for someone else and standing up for self-destruction at bay; now his world deteri- Cooper’s films include “Crazy Heart,” “Out of their uniqueness is the key to opening up his orates before our eyes and ears. the Furnace” and “Antlers.” own life, elevating him and giving him purpose. From the opening moments, Marder thrusts Stevens gets terrific, complex, humanity out us into Ruben’s world, in an explosion of of all his excellent cast and makes the artistic sound and images — a deeply committed assertion that people struggling to redeem and drummer unleashing a furious barrage at full ennoble their lives is, by itself and without tilt. Along with his sound designer, Nicolas frills, great storytelling. Becker, Marder constructs a rich, nuanced, It’s the kind of directorial work that Bruce and extremely complex soundscape, allowing Beresford did in one of my all-time favorites, the viewer to burrow deeply into Ruben’s state “Tender Mercies,” which “Palmer” brought of mind in a manner not experienced in a film back to mind. And if we’ve ever needed a in recent memory. reminder that simply caring for each other is Creating a soundscape for a film about a heroic, we need it, and films like this one, now. drummer losing his hearing is no simple feat. Rather than relying on a sound library, the film- A three-time Oscar nominee for acting, makers captured low-frequency vibrations and Norton has directed the films “Keeping the other very specific tones (perfectly adjusted Faith” and “Motherless Brooklyn.” to different moments in Ruben’s life) using the human body to generate the aural world Ruben experiences. From Ruben’s breathing, to his voice (and others’), and to his physical movements, the audience experiences Ruben’s deterioration in a remarkably intimate and heartbreaking manner. This is in full effect

Norton: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP Images; Oz: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Images; Cooper: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP Images Agostini/Invision/AP Images; Cooper: Evan Strauss/Invision/AP Images; Oz: Jordan Norton: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP when Ruben, just before a show, is setting up a 62 ● CONTENDERS ● DIRECTORS ON DIRECTORS 02.04.2021

For your film, I felt the tone so consistently, and you took so many bold choices with thetone as well. Without giving any- thing away, it was miraculous that in 2020 you were able to have a twist — several, but one truly shocking twist — that was so remarkable. But your tone TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 THE WHITE TIGER THE UNITED STATES VS. remains so consistent as you BILLIE HOLIDAY make these really bold choices, Directed by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Ramin Bahrani and that’s so fucking hard Essay by Bartlett Sher Essay by Fernando Meirelles Directed by Lee Daniels to do. I was amazed by that … Essay by Craig Brewer I think that the best films are In Act IV of Shakespeare’s “Henry V,” the King Here comes a strong candidate for this year’s Lee Daniels isn’t interested in black and white. often Trojan horse films, that stands with his men and reads a list of names awards season, “The White Tiger.” Let me explain. if you can lure someone in with of those who have died in battle that very day. Watching Ramin Bahrani’s new film is like Of course, there are strong elements of Aaron Sorkin concludes “The Trial of the being plugged into an oxygen tank, a breath of racial equality, empowerment, and injus- the promise of entertainment Chicago 7” with Tom Hayden’s bold effort to fresh air. Adapted from the Man Booker Prize- tice that courses through all his work. With and then leave them feeling read the names of young men killed in Vietnam winning novel by Aravind Adiga, it reveals an his new film, “The United States vs. Billie something, you’ve done some- during the course of the trial. It’s just a list, India in transition from an archaic society with Holiday,” the racial dynamic is in full force. a series of human beings, but it summons a many problems of inequality and corruption, The office of J. Edgar Hoover has declared war thing valuable. Your film pathos, an era; it’s a call for rebellion and truth, to a modern India, with exactly the same prob- on a single song, Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” a AP Images did that so beautifully, because and it’s a great fucking end to a movie. lems. Instead of the country’s recent prosperity riveting ballad of protest against the lynchings But Aaron Sorkin the writer always begins resolving social issues, it seems to be leading it of Black Americans. From the set up alone, the film itself is like its lead with words, with extraordinary transactions to breaking point — as personified by Balram, you can see the clear areas of turf each side of character: it lures you in with between characters — fast, complex, claiming played by the excellent Adarsh Gourav. Balram the conflict would occupy in a standard movie the promise of beauty and the high wire between great ideas and beliefs has such a common face that the police could narrative: right and wrong, good guys and bad and country. not identify him if he committed a crime. And guys, black and white. But Lee’s characters are sexuality, and it’s so enticing Aaron the director opens “The Trial of the that’s exactly what he does. never that simple. and sparkly. And then it Chicago 7” with a breathtaking series of images It is an uncomfortable experience to be Billie Holiday, played with chilling force by that spin the viewer back to 1968, to a time served in India. Doors are opened, suitcases Andra Day, is not your standard Hollywood wakes up and says: ‘Hang on, when the republic felt on edge, precarious, and loaded, always with smiles. I never understood protagonist. Yes, she is cheated, abused, set-up, I’m actually very sober and to a story where we look into the mirror of our where that comes from. I live in an unbear- and beat down, but she also wounds the family I’m going to tell you a fucking past and inhale a lesson that offers us oxygen ably unequal country, Brazil, but the attitude around her with selfish abandon. Her contin- to sustain us through the present. of those who serve is different. And that’s what uous return to the needle breaks our hearts. story.’ I love that about it.” As a director who has been lucky enough the film is about, the psychology of servants. She falls into the arms of manipulative men to work with Aaron as a writer, I was gob- Balram, the driver of a wealthy family, likens and literally flinches at the touch of genuine — Olivia Wilde on “Promising smacked by the directing in “Chicago 7,” and his class to roosters waiting docilely to have affection. In one scene, a Black elevator atten- Young Woman,”directed it summoned my deepest form of compliment: their heads cut off. The competition for an dant refuses to allow Billie Holiday to enter, jealousy. I was jealous of his graceful capture of opportunity is so fierce that a servant is grate- directing her instead to the service elevator. by Emerald Fennell the sweep of history, of his juggling of difficult ful for the opportunity to be exploited. Balram The crucible of emotions that Andra Day con- Wilde’s feature directorial debut was trial scenes, the surprising, smart transitions, lives in this kind of Stockholm syndrome, until jures ranges from humiliation and rage to a 2019’s “Booksmart.” the perfect casting, and the way he dropped he becomes aware of his situation. As there fleeting moment of sympathy for a man fear- audiences into a spell, and helped them emerge is no political way to resolve the issue, his ful of becoming “Strange Fruit” himself. And renewed, and thinking again about who we are. solution is radical. He breaks with tradition. how does our heroine react? Not with a nod of Aaron Sorkin made a movie where a list of Balram’s way out is every man for himself. understanding or a hand on his shoulder, but names recited signified how truth can pierce The film navigates between a black comedy, an angry flick of her lit cigarette to his chest. the iron shield of injustice. He reminded us a social drama and a thriller, but I also watched Like a volatile lover, Lee Daniels’ charac- again of our past at a time when we need to it as a documentary. Ramin changes the gears ters draw you in with genuine sympathy and rethink who we are. But that is great directing with elegance and mastery in a film where strength, but don’t be fooled. You’re gonna … using story, images, words, to give us the everything works beautifully. If Satyajit Ray get bit, you’re gonna get hit, and you’re gonna intimation that we could be a little bolder, and revealed India to the world 60 years ago, now get hurt. And just when you want to slam the maybe a little better. it seems like Ramin’s turn to take the baton. door and scream, “TO HELL WITH YOU!” you soon find yourself tangled in the sweaty Tony-winning theater director Sher’s work Meirelles received an Oscar nomination sheets again. includes productions of “South Pacific,” “Cym- for “City of God.” His other films include “The It’s messy love. And no one understands that beline” and “My Fair Lady.” Constant Gardener” and “The Two Popes.” better than Lee.

Director Brewer’s films include “Hustle & Flow” and “Dolemite Is My Name.” Sher: Walter McBride/Getty Images; Meirelles Brewer: Sthanlee B. Mirador/Sipa USA/AP Images (2); Wilde: zz/KGC-11/Star Max/IPx/ Images (2); Wilde: zz/KGC-11/Star USA/AP Sthanlee B. Mirador/Sipa Brewer: Images; Meirelles McBride/Getty Sher: Walter Prince-Bythewood: Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan/Spia/AP Images; Curtis: Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP Images 02.04.2021 King” for TriStar Pictures, starringViola Davis. directing the historical epic“TheWoman Prince-Bythewood’s nextfeature filmwillbe NewYork Women inFilmandTelevision. include theNancyMaloneDirecting Award from Bythewood received for herworkonthefilm Guard.”“The Old AmongtheaccoladesPrince- directed theNetflix blockbusterhitfeature theLights.”Mostrecently,and “Beyond she & Basketball,” “TheSecret Life of Bees” written suchinfluentialfeature filmsas“Love Gina Prince-Bythewoodhasdirected and and grittoshow us. found heruniquevoice. Andusedhercourage power ofherpen.Radhaisanartist whohas with hope, andabeliefinourselves. Thatisthe the completeflippingoftropes. To leave us us fully. It’s the specificity, theworld-building, vulnerability endears andself-deprecation, and truth.Oh,thathumor, minedfrom own. Shedraws usinwithpathosandhumor struggles, herdreams, andmakes themour That bringstheaudienceintoherworld, her to tell.It isapersonalstory toldbrilliantly. the dopestsoundtrack thathasitsown story and crafted aclassicunderdog story with humiliations, andmistakes andtriumphs She hasdrawn from herown tragedies, and this artasRadhajusttellingherown story. It isartimitatinglife. Yet onecannotdismiss to staytrueyourself, your art,your soul. yet nooneseesitbutyou. It inspires courage ney. To have a storythatburnsinsideofyou, completely universal. It reflects anartist’s jour- Old-Version” issodistinctlypersonal,yet so ence toseethemselves init.“TheForty-Year- great onestellitinaway thatallows anaudi- Everybody hasastoryonlytheycantell.The audacity. Her filmjustmademehappy. of energy andlightthatinspires by itssheer Year-Old Version” isarevelation. Asunburst And RadhaBlankhasmadvision.“TheForty- takes courage andheartfightvision. To centeraBlackwoman inherown story Our storiesare sovast yet sovastly untold. Essay byGinaPrince-Bythewood Screenplay byRadhaBlank OLD VERSION THE FORTY-YEAR- Original Screenplay FBI informantWilliam O’Neal) carrythebulk LaKeith Stanfield (asPanther memberand this cast.Daniel Kaluuya (asHampton) and mechanism, andwe have themost capablein and intoourmindsatjust therighttime. experts, timingthemtoexplode offthescreen placed thesewords withthecare ofmunitions Will BersonandtheLucas brothers have words have power, andbecauseShaka King, compelled tochoosetherightwords because leader inhishomewhilehelay sleeping. Ifeel posefully. Police shotandkilledthisyoung Fred Hampton. tion ofIllinoisBlackPanther Party chairman unflinching gazeintothelifeandassassina- freedom. “Judas andtheBlackMessiah” isan education aboutmy own people’s struggle for formed meintwo hoursandrefreshed my moving imagesandmore moving words trans- awe anddeeplove simultaneously. Thisfilm’s Black Messiah.” Ifeltrage, betrayal, sadness, I was shakingafterIwatched “Judas andthe Essay byBaratundeThurston Lucas andKenneth and ShakaKing;storybyKeith Screenplay byWillBerson BLACK MESSIAH JUDAS ANDTHE who communicates the uniqueweight Black one ofthemovie’s mostmemorable scenes, Then shehelpshim doit.It’s Johnson, in sider how touse thepower withinhiswords. well-versed inpower, tomore carefully con- Johnson whochallengesHampton, aman or even fullselves. Not soin“Judas.” It’s men, withwomen present butlackingpower ation strugglethattendtotellthestory of so many earlierretellings oftheBlackliber- Deborah Johnson) that“Judas” departsfrom will gotodefendthestatusquo. most powerful andhow farlaw enforcement a window intotheraw, racist fearofAmerica’s and Martin Sheen(asJ. EdgarHoover) give us how isheholdingallthistogether? As Iwatched Stanfield, Ijustkept wondering, captive duowe firstsaw togetherin“Get Out.” but Ithoughtsaw flashesofthetortured, of thisweighty story. Andmaybe it’s justme, Of course, words infilmrequire adelivery I chosetheword “assassination” pur- Butit’s withDominiqueFishback (as Jesse Plemons(asFBIagentRoy Mitchell) I was shakingafter -- Baratunde Thurston and deeplove.” sadness, awe I felt rage, betrayal, the Black Messiah.’ I watched ‘Judas and named oneof itsfavoritesof 2020. zen WithBaratunde,” whichApplePodcasts executive producer andhostof “HowtoCiti- Black.”Heisthe Times bestseller“HowtoBe host, speaker andauthorof theNewYork Baratunde Thurston isanEmmy-nominated “Judas” heightens thembeautifully. Americas are filledwithcontradictions, and too similartoAmericaofthelate1960s. Both see thatAmericaoftheearly2020slooks white insurrection. Thatpriminghelpsus COVID andpoliceviolenceunchecked primed recently by theracialized impactof our societyandchoosesomethingdifferent. more easilyseethecorruptionandracism of heighten thecontradictions sopeoplecould Panthers! Theysaw themselves asworking to Turns outsheprobably gotitfrom theBlack ior. Ithoughtshehadmadethatphrase up. the contrast ofstated values versus behav- contradictions.” Shewanted metoturnup my motherwould say tome, “heightenthe my own politicalawareness andperspective, the nation.WhenIwas achildgrowing into of contradictions, withinpeopleand movement forBlackliberation. women bearinAmericansocietyandthe We are ready forthisfilm.We’ve been “Judas andtheBlackMessiah” isastory Essay by Richard Curtis Essay byRichardCurtis by ClareDunne and MalcolmCampbell;story Screenplay byClareDunne HERSELF and aFuneral” and“AboutTime.” known for “Love Actually,”“Four Weddings Emmy-winning screenwriter andproducer, Richard CurtisisanOscar-nominated and the filmaswhole. has alltheintelligent,perceptive balanceof endingthat ful, deeplyvisual,double-edged with economy andskill—thenapower- that laysoutthestallofsubjectmatter his advice—abrutalandshockingbeginning the beginningnotsomuch.” Thisfilmsatisfies in afilmare thebeginningandend— said tomewryly, “Theonlythingsthat matter film isexactly whatthewriterintended. project, andtheconfidencethatfinished and ithasalltheintegrityofavery personal actress whoplaysthe lead,herfirstfilmrole, Campbell. It’s thefirst scriptby Clare, the is co-written by Clare DunneandMalcolm and cinematic—butalsosmallpersonal. someone withoutahome, isbothbigandbold the central plot,thebuildingofahomefor deed confirmstheirpersonality. Andthen, cast smallcharacters whoseevery word and come intocontactwiththem—beautifully goodness andfriendshipfeellike whenyou — smallgestures, slightmomentsofwhat the writingthere issogracious anddelicate the bigreveal oftheseCOVID times—and the filmiskindnessandcommunity, again, yet somehope. Andthesecondsubjectof ject, here treated withtruthandhorror and during thepandemic,suchanimportantsub- domestic abuse, whichhasrisenhorrifically script. Its startingpointisthesubjectof I thinkthisisabeautifulandvery timely It’s very interesting tomethatthescript I worked withDanny Boylelastyear, who VARIETY ● 63 64 ● CONTENDERS ● WRITERS ON WRITERS 02.04.2021

Original Screenplay

Apatow has always gravitated toward I’M YOUR WOMAN THE KING OF comedic anti-heroes, MANK STATEN ISLAND whether in ‘Larry Screenplay by Julia Hart Sanders’ or ‘Knocked Screenplay by Jack Fincher and Jordan Horowitz Screenplay by Judd Apatow, Essay by Andrew Kevin Walker Essay by Aneesh Chaganty Pete Davidson and Dave Sirus Up’ or ‘Trainwreck.’” Essay by Mike Birbiglia --Mike Birbiglia

Patient writing in thrillers is as common of Most people equate anti-heroes with char- Scott replies, “Why do you think I smoke so Don’t ask me about “Mank.” I have no objec- an aspiration as it is difficult to achieve. More acters like Tony Soprano or even Han Solo. much weed? So I can slow it down.” tivity to offer. I mean, a film made by more often than not, thrillers that attempt to allure They’re characters who give us every reason Scenes like these hang a lantern on the blend than a few immensely talented people I’m audiences with quiet stories result in exciting not to like them and yet somehow, we still of inherent conflict and humor of life. Claire blessed to count amongst my closest friends, pitches, but bloated screenplays. “I’m Your do. In drama they tend to be characters who doesn’t see a path for Scott. Which is painful. including the director, my beloved, (yes, editor, Woman” is not only a patient story, but also, sometimes even kill people and retain a certain I am sure I want to put a comma there) David And sad. And funny. Images pa USA/AP the rare thriller that uses its silences perfectly. irresistible charm. They’re robbing you, but These scenes feel like life and simultane- Fincher? A film that is a beautiful, frayed-at- Its precise writing turns this often-hushed they’re smiling as they do it. ously serve the larger story the writers are tell- the-edges valentine to Olde Tyme Hollywood, tale into a high-stakes affair of following the Comedy can be more challenging when it ing. By the end of the film, Scott starts to see a and at the same time a mirror held up to our breadcrumbs — with just the right amount comes to anti-heroes because one of the most path for himself. This path is flawed and never corrupt, modern days of propaganda-skewed of dialogue and action to keep the audience common notes from Hollywood studios is fully resolved. But he’s trying. We’re laughing politics? What do you suppose I, a lowly (and on its hero’s trail before unexpectedly, and that they want the comedic characters to be as we watch him try. We’re choked up because often inebriated) screenwriter, think of this often beautifully, earning its keep as a thriller. more “likable.” But often this process results we’re rooting for him. celebration of a lowly (and understandably And what a hero! In Jean (played by Rachel in a death by a thousand cuts. Likable cuts. We inebriated) screenwriter, whose whip-smart Brosnahan), writers Julia Hart and Jordan end up with comedies that feel less like life and Mike Birbiglia is a comedian, actor and writer remarks rival even the Greatest-Movie-Ever- Horowitz recognized the vast potential of more like fantasy. who most recently wrote the Broadway hit Made dialogue he’s putting to paper? I do feel taking a rarely represented, albeit storied, Enter Judd Apatow. “The New One,” which became a book of the like you’ve got to see “Mank” more than once to archetype of the crime genre and turning a Apatow has always gravitated toward come- same name. Birbiglia also wrote the book truly appreciate its visual and auditory splen- film’s entire spotlight … on her. It’s a brilliant dic anti-heroes, whether in “Larry Sanders” “Sleepwalk With Me” as well as the feature film dor, and to keep up with the crackling dialogue. writing decision that provides invaluable nar- or “Knocked Up” or “Trainwreck.” He takes adaptation of the same name which won the Additionally, I did, I must confess, visit the rative specificity and cinephelic wonder. I felt the risk of creating a protagonist the audience Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. set several times, back in the days (soon to like I was discovering a new room in a house may not like, but executes a literary magic trick He is the writer and director of the critically return, one hopes) when such a thing was pos- I’d visited at least a hundred times since I was so that by the end of the film we do like the acclaimed film “Don’t Think Twice,” starring sible. But it isn’t only that I stood there on the a kid. How had I not been here before? Writers character, but in a way that we didn’t expect. Gillian Jacobs and Keegan-Michael Key. As soundstages of Los Angeles Center Studios, Hart & Horowitz know this; it’s what gives In “King of Staten Island,” Apatow teams up an actor he has played recurring roles on the watching slack-jawed while the cast and crew them permission to take their time and what with comedy star Pete Davidson and “SNL” show “Billions” as well as “Orange Is the bottled lightning. Or that I got to witness first- allows the story to succeed at its deceptively writer David Sirus to create the character of New Black.” He also acted in Judd Apatow‘s hand as Mr. Oldman expertly brought Mank tight-roped intention. Until suddenly, bang. Scott Carlin. 2015 film “Trainwreck.” He currently has a to affable life. I was also privileged to have Scott is unemployed, aimless and often weekly podcast called “Working It Out,” where known the screenwriter who wrote “Mank,” Aneesh Chaganty is the co-writer and director stoned. He’s an aspiring tattoo artist whose he invites guests to try new material, includ- David’s father, the late Jack Fincher. A kind of “Searching” and “Run.” only guinea pigs are his friends and occasion- ing an episode with Judd Apatow. and intelligent man. A dignified man. A man ally unsuspecting, underage kids. When Scott is for whom, when I watched “Mank” the first kicked out of his mother’s house, he’s forced to time and saw his credit, “Screenplay by Jack find a job, a place to live and a general direction Fincher,” on the silver screen, I shed a tear, for his life. wishing he were still around to see that title A hapless Scott says to his younger sister card for himself. So, anyway, like I said ... don’t Claire (Maude Apatow) just before she leaves ask me about “Mank.” for college, “I’m going to open that tattoo restau- rant. I looked it up. I Googled it. It’s never been Andrew Kevin Walker is a screenwriter and done — not even as a joke.” producer known for having written “Seven,” Claire doesn’t see it. She says, “No one wants for which he earned a BAFTA nomination for to go to a restaurant and watch people get tat- original screenplay, as well as several other tooed while they eat. It’s gross.” films, including “Brainscan” and Tim Burton’s “It’s the best idea ever,” Scott retorts. “Ruby “Sleepy Hollow.” Tattoos-day. Where everyone’s welcome.” In another scene with the siblings, Claire

tells Scott that “time is slipping away,” to which Soto/imageSPACE/Si Derek Images; Walker: Images; Birbiglia: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP USA/AP Chaganty: Sthanlee B. Mirador/Sipa 02.04.2021 VARIETY ● 65

Original Screenplay

MINARI NEVER RARELY ON THE ROCKS PALM SPRINGS SOMETIMES ALWAYS Screenplay by Lee Isaac Chung Screenplay by Sofia Coppola Screenplay by Andy Siara Essay by Alexander Chee Screenplay by Eliza Hittman Essay by Susan Orlean Essay by Kumail Nanjiani Essay by Haim

“Minari” writer-director Lee Isaac Chung To say we were profoundly moved by Eliza I wish my dad had been a smooth, witty super- I judge a comedy by how upset it makes me. began his script with a disarming simplicity: Hittman’s poignant movie “Never Rarely wealthy art dealer (alas, he was merely a nice, As I watch a perfect comedy movie unfold, he set down his Arkansas childhood memories Sometimes Always” would be an under- clever real estate developer). And I wish, when delight turns to envy to jealousy to anger. I as he could remember them, finding the story statement. Sidney Flanigan and Talia Ryder I suspected my ex-husband was cheating on me, start hoping for some misstep so I can finally there. He refined the material even further elevated an already exquisite script with that I would have enlisted my dad’s help and we start enjoying myself again. over meals with the cast during filming. And so performances that kept us on the edge of our would have tracked my ex to Mexico (sadly, my “Palm Springs” made me absolutely furious. a scaffolding of what he couldn’t forget became seats, teetering between fear and hope for the ex chose Buffalo as his love nest — go figure). I I was watching this perfect movie waiting this unforgettable story. journey they embarked on with little more wish the experience of teaming up on the find- for some flaw to give me an excuse to say, Scintillating, intimate, immediate, “Minari” than each other. To watch these two young the-cheater mission would have brought me “Yeah it’s really good, but….” No miscues moves from one indelible scene to the next, women, bound together with a connection close to my father, the way trench warfare bonds came. I was enraged. asking and answering questions, stated and that radiated safety, love, support and lack of soldiers. I wish our banter had been economical Siara’s script takes the familiar and makes unstated, with the smooth assurance of a mas- judgment, was as breathtaking as the onscreen and revelatory (we tended more toward sloppy it new, subverting expectations at every turn. terpiece that knows itself. Each member of chemistry of the actors. and obfuscating). In other words, I wish I could Oh you’ve seen a movie about people stuck in this Korean immigrant family is starting over The scene in which the movie gets its title live inside the world of “On the Rocks,” where a time loop right? How about two people stuck in this Arkansas landscape, even if they didn’t is devastatingly moving and only one of many these wishes come true, and the world has a in a time loop? How about three? mean to, and they are trying to hold on to each moments in the film that made our hearts crispness and clarity that feels exceptional. And you’ve seen people realize they’re in a other, even if, maybe, they can’t do both: The ache and sink. Hittman’s filmic silence speaks “On the Rocks” is about wishes: Wishing your time loop and try various ways to get out of it. boy who complains his grandmother “smells louder than words, leaving us to engage with marriage still had honeymoon electricity, and Well, here, Nyles has been stuck long enough like Korea” and picks a switch for his father to Autumn in powerfully subtle intimacy. that domestic and child-rearing chores ener- that he says, “Can we skip this part?” spank him; the big sister who lives every day There is no underscoring the importance of gized you rather than depleted you, and that What happens then, as an audience, is we watching over her brother, afraid for his life; this movie, especially now when the future for disconnection between intimate partners can get to experience a familiar premise in a way the father who just wants to succeed once in Planned Parenthood is so uncertain. Hittman be rewired and repaired. Sofia Coppola builds that completely avoids every single expecta- this new world where no one tells him how handled this intense and delicate subject in her this movie like a piece of ballet, each principal tion we have of that premise. things are done; the mother, who feels erased movie with a grace and authenticity we could whirling in his or her own private pirouette, That fact highlights the ways in which the by her husband’s dream; the grandmother, who only hope as a society to attain in life. “Never glancing off one another and changing course. script is a mix of contradictions and opposites. can’t cook but can play cards, showing up with Rarely Sometimes Always” is more than a work Rashida Jones and Bill Murray, daughter and It’s familiar and completely original. It’s sad red pepper flake, anchovies, an envelope full of art: it’s a haunting window into what it is father, come together and then apart and and full of joy. It’s sincere and cynical. It is a of cash and some minari seeds. These are the like for many young women today who are together again, and we realize, in the end, that film about stasis that is constantly evolving. kinds of details you can’t fake, made available facing one of the most important decisions it’s their relationship, not Jones’ marriage, that We watch this story of people reliving the through this kind of autobiographical writing, of their lives as it pertains to their mind and is being fixed here. He’s the selfish, vain, charm- same day over and over and all we feel is the resulting in a new quintessential story of our body. It’s a reminder that women’s healthcare ing absentee dad whom the dutiful daughter exhilaration of discovery. In that way, the expe- community’s history in America. is imperative, important and to be watched fears she can no longer beguile, now that she’s rience of watching the film perfectly mimics closely as this movie. a sweatshirt-wearing, breathlessly busy mom. the message of the film, summed up by the Alexander Chee is an award-winning novelist You don’t really worry that Marlon Wayans is following exchange: and essayist, most recently the author The musical group Haim are sisters Este, cheating on Jones. Coppola, in her magically “What if we get sick of each other?” of “How to Write an Autobiographical Novel.” Danielle and Alana Haim, hailing from sneaky way, has redirected us with the lightest, “We’re already sick of each other. It’s He is a professor of creative writing at Los Angeles. The band’s critically lauded surest touch. It’s the father/daughter relation- the best.” Dartmouth College. albums include “Women in Music Pt. III” ship, not the marriage, that’s “on the rocks.” Life is boring, repetitive, mundane and full and “Days Are Gone.” of joy, excitement, love. Isn’t that great? Susan Orlean is the author of eight books. In No it’s not. I’m absolutely furious. 1999, she published “The Orchid Thief,” a nar- rative about orchid poachers in Florida. It was Kumail Nanjiani is the Oscar-nominated made into the Academy Award-winning film, writer of “The Big Sick” and Apple TV Plus’ “Adaptation,” starring Nicolas Cage and Meryl “Little America” for which he also serves Streep. Orlean has been a staff writer for the as executive producer. Next up he will be seen New Yorker since 1992. She is currently adapt- in Chloé Zhao’s “The Eternals” for Marvel.

Chee: Robert Gill/Dartmouth College; Hai: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP Images; Nanjiani: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Images Shotwell/Invision/AP Images; Nanjiani: Richard Chee: Robert Gill/Dartmouth College; Hai: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP ing her novel “The Library Book” for television. 66 ● CONTENDERS ● WRITERS ON WRITERS 02.04.2021

Original Screenplay

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN SOUL It’s incredibly SOUND OF METAL special to see jazz Screenplay Emerald Fennell Screenplay and story by portrayed on the Screenplay by Darius Marder and Essay by Lisa Taddeo Pete Doctor and Mike Jones Abraham Marder; story by Darius and Kemp Powers big screen for kids. ” Marder and Derek Cianfrance Essay by Quincy Jones --Quincy Jones Essay by RZA

There is nothing I like to do better than Having grown up in the South Side of film helped keep the jazz element of the film A picture can paint a thousand words. But how excuse a woman for taking vengeance, noth- Chicago — the biggest Black ghetto in real. And seeing the kids in Joe Gardner’s many pictures can words paint? In our profes- ing in the world. America during the Great Depression — I band room reminded me of when my high sion as screenwriters, we must always keep that Emerald Fennell, who variously and freely didn’t exactly come up in an environment school band teacher, Parker Cooke, allowed equation in our creative consciousness. It’s our understands that certain shades of pink are as that fostered childhood safety, let alone me to have free rein over class instruments job and our goal to guide our interpreters, which good for disemboweling as they are to frost a creativity. There were no film or television because I didn’t have any at home. It just goes include cast, crew and directors with the clearest es cake, does more than merely excuse. programs created to spark the mind of a to show you that a person’s belief and sup- path to paint the visual moving images we’ve Her “Promising Young Woman” is the anti- child, and access to other media of inspi- port is often the greatest gift you can receive! scripted. Although writers accomplish this daily, dote to the toxic-revenge fantasy. What if that rational content was limited. With such a I had the honor of presenting Pixar with it’s not an easy task, so I can imagine the “mul- drunk girl you picked up — you slimy nice guy background, I can’t help but marvel at the its first Oscar in 1996 for “Toy Story,” when tiple” of the task that befell Darius Marder and who probably fills empty bottles of Barolo external, visual beauty of “Soul,” as well as I produced the Academy Awards, and it’s his brother Abraham penning “Sound of Metal.” with boxed wine — what if she wasn’t drunk? the internal beauty of its storyline. astounding to see how far it’s come. Aside The film not only achieves in painting the bois- What if the little steps you took toward evil In December 2018, director Pete Docter from the overall beauty of “Soul,” it’s apparent terous “punk” grind of a fledgling metal band could be seen in glaring black light? What if and producer Dana Murray came to my home that many of the questions Joe Gardner and (with a bold female lead singer “Lou” played by she had a glittering knife? to have a conversation about my jazz roots, Soul 22 ask themselves are somewhat reflec- Olivia Cooke) but it seamlessly intertwines it That’s one of the core ideas of this lucid as they were in the process of developing tive of questions that many of us viewers have with the emotional turmoil of the rapid loss of powder keg, but it quickly heats and expands Pixar’s newest film, which would eventually been prompted to ask ourselves throughout a musician’s most important sense, sound (a tat- until it explodes its premise, glorifying all the become “Soul.” the year 2020 and beyond. Congratulations ted-out drummer Ruben played by Riz Ahmed). complexities of a woman while also showing From the incorporation of jazz, one of the to the entire team on a job well done. The writers were able to communicate these how that complexity can be used against her. greatest African-American contributions ideas internally and externally. Sonically, har- “Promising Young Woman” comprises at to culture, to the prevalent conversation Quincy Jones’ career has encompassed the monically and even enharmonically. This was least five different genres and does not follow around finding one’s own purpose, screen- roles of composer, record producer, artist, done so well that while watching the film, there any rules, except the rule of never being bor- writers Docter, Kemp Powers, Mike Jones film producer, arranger, conductor, instru- were moments where I had to check my own ing. What Carey Mulligan did with Fennell’s and the entire Pixar team have created a truly mentalist, TV producer, record company hearing (mic check, one-two, one-two).... The words was not acting or existing but something unique animated experience. executive, television station owner, maga- revulsion of being a musician losing his hearing that marries the skill of the former with the It’s incredibly special to see jazz por- zine founder, multimedia entrepreneur in the middle of a tour wasn’t only achieved in effortlessness of the latter. I couldn’t take my trayed on the big screen for kids, because and humanitarian. He has received an Emmy, the writing and remarkable acting of Riz Ahmed, eyes off the palliative pinks and the sly, dark with America being one of the few countries seven Oscar nominations, the Jean Hersholt but also in the choice of frequencies used in the roses and the vortex blacks and wow lady, without a minister of culture, it’s evident that Humanitarian Award and 28 Grammys. In sound design. I always wondered, did George the devilishly calibrated soundtrack drove our collective culture tends to lose sight of 2016, Jones received a Tony for revival of a Lucas write the sound for his lightsabers or laser home every scene. “Heathers” crossed with its roots. But if you know where you come musical for “The Color Purple.” blasters? Now I ask, did the Marder brothers “Kill Bill” woven through with the raw silk from it’s easier to get where you want to go; write the low-frequency filter sweeps and the passion of “San Junipero,” as timeless as it is and ultimately, the role of educating the next smothered mids in “Sound of Metal”? I would futuristic as it is Velvet Underground as it is generation about our culture is placed in the guess yes, just as I would guess they wrote the Cyndi Lauper. hand of creators themselves. muted sign language dialogue between char- I felt both sunk and empowered after watch- I can attest to the power of jazz as a uniting acters, the disturbing distorted sounds of the ing it. But mostly what I felt was admiration, force, and the film captures much of what implants, and the thought-provoking gesture of and gratitude. Thank God there are women makes it special: mentorship, music educa- every tattoo. This is what writers do. We write in film. tion, improvisation, perseverance, balance so the word can be “seen” and “heard” and in and being present in the moment. Hiring my this case “unheard.” In my humble opinion, a Lisa Taddeo is an author, journalist and two- little brother Jon Batiste to do the jazz in the screenplay translated into a movie should either time recipient of the Pushcart Prize. Her 2019 have you walk away with questions or maybe nonfiction book, “Three Women,” became a obtain some answers. Darius Marder’s “Sound No. 1 New York Times international bestseller of Metal” does both. Thanks, guys. and is currently being adapted by Showtime as a TV series. Her debut novel, “Animal,” will Robert F. Diggs, aka RZA, is a recording arti- be published in June. stand founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan. Taddeo: Christopher Lane/Contour/Getty Images; Jones: Michael Underwood/ABImages/AP Images; Rza: Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP Imag Jewell/Invision/AP Images; Rza: Taylor Images; Jones: Michael Underwood/ABImages/AP Christopher Lane/Contour/Getty Taddeo: 02.04.2021 VARIETY ● 67

Original Screenplay Adapted Screenplay

[‘Borat’] doesn’t just resonate -- it illuminates, predicts THE TRIAL OF THE BORAT SUBSEQUENT FIRST COW CHICAGO 7 MOVIEFILM and warns, all the Screenplay by Jon Raymond and while making you Kelly Reichardt; based Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & laugh your ass off.” upon the novel “The Half-Life” Essay by Peter Morgan Dan Swimer & Peter Baynham by Jon Raymond & Erica Rivinoja & Dan --Peter Farrelly Essay by Marilynne Robinson Mazer & Jena Friedman & Lee It’s axiomatic to say Aaron Sorkin is gifted. “First Cow” shows us the frontier as it must Kern; story by Sacha Baron Baron Cohen released alongside the film show But his work — always sharp, erudite, provoc- have been, squatters in Eden, itinerants of var- Cohen & Anthony Hines & Dan just how dangerous it got. When Borat moves ative, is also a gift to us. It gives those of us ious nations gleaning the wilderness to sustain Swimer & Nina Pedrad; in with a couple of affable QAnoners for a living outside America the gift of a window a tenuous life. Pompous Empire is there, too, long weekend, we’re horrified mainly by the into the American psyche. It gives his fellow based on a character created and a crude economy based on beaver pelts men’s beliefs. But when they take him to a gun Americans the gift of a mirror into which to by Sacha Baron Cohen that will collapse should fashions change in rally and Borat sings a song about the “Wuhan

/AP Images /AP gaze to make sense of themselves. And the Paris. But these dwellers in unchinked cabins Essay by Peter Farrelly Flu,” the violence gets as real as Cartel Land exacting standards he sets for himself gives are acting out old humanity in a new world as the assault-rifle-packing crowd attacks the mainstream cinema and television the gift of a for no reason they can describe, or because stage with blood-thirst in their eyes. This is playwright. Indeed his latest original screen- things were harder elsewhere. The film is like doing Buster Keaton’s falling half-house play — which ranks alongside his very best visually beautiful, in the way forests are when The world’s premier satirist, Sacha Baron stunt without the benefit of a rehearsal, a tape they are seen up close, not made sublime by — harks back to his theatrical roots. Thirty Cohen, has come through again with the measure, or maybe even a window. years after “A Few Good Men” first opened inspired, entertaining, and painfully rele- distance. The story turns on a relationship of on Broadway, in its moral force and idealism, courteous loyalty that develops between two vant “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.” The Peter Farrelly is a two-time Oscar-winning “The Trial of the Chicago 7” also bears com- strangers. Where a conventional writer or original 2006 “Borat” is a masterpiece and filmmaker of “Green Book” netting Academy parison with the mother of courtroom dramas, filmmaker would exploit the period and the one of my favorite comedies of all-time. Awards in both the best original screenplay “12 Angry Men.” But where Lumet’s jury room setting for the action and adventure we might “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” is better. and best motion picture of the year catego- was cramped and oppressive, “The Trial of the reasonably expect, the eye of this movie is the Unquestionably the most prescient movie of ries. Farrelly, along with his brother Bobby Chicago 7” is cinematic and epic: it zips and moment of calm peacefulness enjoyed by two the year (or maybe any year), it doesn’t just Farrelly, is also the multi-hyphenate behind glides between past and present, particularly friends amidst the storms of greed, urgency resonate — it illuminates, predicts and warns, iconic American comedies such as “Dumb in one of the film’s most rousing scenes, which and strife. This is a bold shift of emphasis, like all the while making you laugh your ass off. and Dumber,” “Shallow Hal,” “Me, Myself & flits between Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) the decision to put acts of violence off-stage, Smartly directed by Jason Woliner, this is Irene” and “There’s Something About Mary.” and William Kunstler’s (Mark Rylance) mock a hard movie to define. It’s a comedy first, or to acknowledge that most of the wanderers cross-examination, one of Abbie Hoffman’s but it’s also a thriller and a horror movie and into the West would not have owned a horse (Sacha Baron Cohen) freewheeling live perfor- a PBS-type special chronicling the deterio- or a gun or a presentable suit of clothes. The mances and the clashes outside the Haymarket ration of a nation in real time. Whereas the mythic chivalry of errant gunslingers might Tavern. As the sequence builds in intensity, the original had our favorite Kazakh chasing have some basis in history apart from its cel- segments speak to each other across time and Pamela Anderson around the globe, this time ebration in contemporary dime novels. And space, and you sense a playwright turned film- he’s chasing a much less alluring muse — Mike what has it left us but a fascination with guns maker relishing this vaster canvas; the canvas Pence — during the waning days of the Trump and with violence as the resolution of conflict. of American history itself. epoch, a time when, for approximately 40% We now in our strange moment can see civi- Returning to the theme of gifts, “Trial of of our nation, truth has become subject to lization the way these frontiersmen saw it, as Chicago 7” is also a Santa sackload of great interpretation and a lack of evidence is proof random, frayed, as surviving among us as habit parts for an exceptional company of actors, that someone is out to get them. Throwing and nostalgia. And through it all what matters many of whom have rarely been better. But Borat and his long-suffering daughter Tutar more than those sabbaths of unanticipated perhaps the biggest gift Sorkin dispenses, and into this mix is like trying to park a tour bus affinity and loyalty that make us friends? the reason I’m here, chiming in, is the gift he in a Trader Joe’s parking lot, but, surprisingly, gives his fellow writers. With “Trial of the they fit right in. Maria Bakalova’s high-energy Marilynne Robinson is the author of “Gilead,” Chicago 7” he once again succeeds in making turn as Tutar is sneaky brilliant, like a hen in winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction me want to go back to my desk and write, to the Fox News house. She’s a one-take won- and the National Book Critics Circle Award; make sense of the madness around me. And in der and deserves a bunch of award nomina- “Home” (2008), winner of the Orange Prize and times as challenging and dispiriting as these, tions, as do the writers. Sacha Baron Cohen the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; and “Lila” that’s the biggest gift of all. deserves everything — for his performance, (2014), winner of the National Book Critics Cir- the cultural-significance of the project, as cle Award; and “Jack” (2020). Her first novel, Peter Morgan is the Oscar-nominated screen- well as the heroism it took to make this. This “Housekeeping” (1980), won the PEN/Heming- writer of “The Queen.” His other film credits is death-defying moviemaking of the high- way Award. include “The Last King of Scotland.” est order — and behind-the-scenes clips that Morgan: Ian West/PA Wire/Press Association/AP Images; Farrelly: The Yomiuri Shimbun/AP Images; Robinson: Pacific Press/Sipa USA Press/Sipa Images; Robinson: Pacific Shimbun/AP The Yomiuri Images; Farrelly: Association/AP Wire/Press Morgan: Ian West/PA 68 ● CONTENDERS ● WRITERS ON WRITERS 02.04.2021

Adapted Screenplay

I don’t remember the last time I loved a movie as much as I loved FRENCH EXIT NEWS OF THE WORLD NOMADLAND ‘Nomadland.’ The

Screenplay by Patrick deWitt; Screenplay by Paul Greengrass Screenplay by Chloé Zhao; based look of it. The based on his book and Luke Davies; based on on the book by Jessica Bruder sound of it. ” Essay by Rodrigo Amarante the novel by Paulette Jiles Essay by Cheryl Strayed Essay by Kirk Ellis --Cheryl Strayed

Azazel Jacobs and Patrick deWitt are probably Paul Greengrass’ and Luke Davies’ script for Early on in Chloé Zhao’s extraordinary film taking seasonal jobs that pay just enough for not gonna like what I have to say, but it’s too late “News of the World” is an exemplary adapta- “Nomadland,” Fern (Frances McDormand), her to cover her expenses. Along the way, she to go back now. After watching this film, it’s tion. Faithful to the basic story architecture a 60-ish widow who’s living alone in her van meets other, more experienced, nomads, most hard to see them separated. They’ve created a of Paulette Jiles’ award-winning 2017 novel, in the wintery high desert plains of Nevada, is of them senior citizens who’ve been wounded third thing with this film, a perfect amalgam. It the remarkably spare script finds a cinematic asked if she’ll adopt an abandoned dog she’d one way or another, who welcome her into the must hurt to see it. I’ve read deWitt’s books and equivalent to the author’s austere style and found earlier that day. “No,” she says and, a fold, share stories with her around bonfires, have seen Jacobs’ films, and I loved both of their retains Jiles’ dark, elegiac vision of the West couple minutes later, she pats his adorable and offer her their practical advice and spir- works, each with a very unique voice, each with even as it compresses events and characters head and walks away. itual wisdom about how to make a life on the a talent for creating worlds where likelihood and invents situations absent from the source “She’ll come back for him,” I said to my road. The most prominent of them are Linda is thankfully abandoned for the sake of luring material. Perhaps the script’s most impressive husband with certainty. Of course she would! May, Bob Wells and Charlene Swankie, who you into a tale, to reflect something that is yours. quality is its essentially non-verbal expres- That’s what happens in movies when a solitary were first featured in Jessica Bruder’s pow- I think that a story, a poem or a painting, can sion, befitting the story of a taciturn war character comes upon an orphaned dog. They erful book, “Nomadland: Surviving America be read, and thought about, but it only really veteran and a semi-feral captive who must make everything better for each other. The two in the Twenty-First Century,” upon which becomes useful if you have found yourself in it, find a way to communicate that transcends of them become best friends. The inevitability the film is based. They play themselves in the like a dream. That’s when the story reads you, if language. In Greengrass and Davies’ version of their bond becomes the very meaning of the movie alongside the exquisite (and exquisitely you’re lucky. This film did this to me. of turbulent post-Civil War Texas, words are movie: the savior becomes the saved. unvarnished) McDormand with stunning ease It seems here that deWitt’s words, his partic- fraught with peril. Even the stories from far- But I was wrong. Fern doesn’t return for and candor. ular style of dialogue, switching from refresh- away places Tom Hanks’ Captain Thomas him. Alone, she moves on. I don’t remember the last time I loved a ingly implausible to the kind of naturalism that Jefferson Kyd reads to packed houses can The blunt fact of that is one I keep return- movie as much as I love “Nomadland.” The most can’t fit into fiction, could only be enacted prompt gunfire and riots. When people do ing to as I ponder “Nomadland” in the days look of it (cinematographer Joshua James with Jacobs’ also unique sense of scene, of act- speak, they speak simply and to the point. since I first watched it, perhaps because Richards makes a poem of the American West ing. I can’t separate them anymore. The space The script further pares back Jiles’ already Fern’s decision, and the way it both upends with his camera). The sound of it (Ludovico Azazel leaves, never underestimating the audi- stripped-down narrative, eliminating the our expectations and rebuffs our longings, Einaudi’s score is so moving you could watch ence, never glossing nor greasing his charac- (admittedly complex) Reconstruction Era is emblematic of so much in this beautiful, the movie with your eyes closed). And most ters, letting you think for yourself, is the perfect subtext and narrowing the focus entirely to unsparing film. Zhao — who wrote, directed of all the tough shimmering truth of it that match to Patrick’s story and dialogue. They both the growing bond between Captain Kyd and and edited the movie — knows what we want. knows in the end we can only save ourselves. have a playful generosity in their work, they his charge, Johanna. The story exists entirely She decided to give us the truth instead, in all do not shout to be understood, they whisper in the present, with only occasional, enigmatic of its complexity and contradiction. Cheryl Strayed is the author of the No. 1 New to have you come close and see for yourself. references to the past — a necessary reminder “Nomadland” is a melancholy film, but not York Times bestselling memoir “Wild,” the “French Exit” is a story that unfolds like no that exposition and backstory are the two a sad one. It’s a solitary film, but not a lonely New York Times bestsellers “Tiny Beautiful one would guess, especially touching because most overrated (and overused) elements in one. It’s a road film, but one more rooted in Things” and “Brave Enough” and the novel it hits you not where you have covered. It isn’t mainstream American screenwriting. the wild, unpaved landscapes beyond. It’s a “Torch.” Strayed’s books have been translated a story about leaving, let alone silently, but a In this existential approach, as well as its film about people who have been victimized, into nearly 40 languages around the world departure from this very strategy. The title sug- journey structure, “News of the World” at but who will not be victims. Of all the things and have been adapted for both the screen gests the opposite of what the film brings forth times recalls the elemental majesty of the I loved about the movie — and I loved every- and the stage. at first; an overly announced exit, only to have classic “Ranown” series of late-1950s Westerns thing about the movie — I loved its embrace The Oscar-nominated movie adaptation you believe you get it when characters move written by Burt Kennedy, directed by Budd of complexity and contradiction the most. Its of “Wild” stars Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl to France. But that sense of comfort serves to Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, sensibility is grounded in the knowledge that and Laura Dern as Cheryl’s mother, Bobbi. leave room to reflect what is behind it, quietly plain-spoken tales of retribution told with sim- many things can be true at once. “Tiny Beautiful Things” was adapted for the charged: the plan to do so, and what it says about ple elegance, also centered on a solitary man As the film opens, Fern is grieving her late stage by Nia Vardalos, who also starred in the maker. This reflects over every character, thrust into unexpected alliances. And like the husband, Bo, reckoning with her long goodbye the role of Sugar/Cheryl. The play was directed each with their own expectations, their own best Westerns, it finds all-too-contemporary of the place where they’d once made a home by Thomas Kail and debuted at The Public plans. It reflected over me. “French Exit” is relevance in traditional archetypes. — the company town turned ghost town of Theater in New York City. Strayed is the host of less a film about a trip than it is about luggage. Empire, Nevada — and learning to live as a the New York Times hit podcast “Sugar Call- Kirk Ellis won two Emmysand the Humanitas nomad in a van she calls Vanguard. Over the ing” and “Dear Sugars,” which she co-hosted Rodrigo Amarante is an Emmy-nominated Prize for his work as writer and co-exec pro- course of the year that follows, she travels with Steve Almond.

songwriter, multi- instrumentalist and artist. ducer on the HBO miniseries “John Adams.” throughout the American West and Midwest, Images Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP Images; Strayed: Jack Vartoogian/Getty Amarante: 02.04.2021 VARIETY ● 69

Adapted Screenplay

ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI PIECES OF A WOMAN THE WHITE TIGER

(screenplay by Kemp Powers; Screenplay by Kata Weber; Screenplay by Ramin Bahrani; based on his stage play “One based on her stage play based on the book by Aravind Night in Miami….”) Essay by Gabor Mate Adiga Essay by Jeremy O. Harris Essay by David S. Goyer

I held my breath and held my partner’s hand “Martha is fine. She is always fine,” is one of Ramin Bahrani’s adaptation of Aravind while waiting at the climax of Kemp Powers the opening lines in Kata Weber’s soul-searing Adiga’s novel “The White Tiger” is the kind and Regina King’s “One Night in Miami” to see screenplay. Uttered by the lead character’s part- of film the traditional studios rarely make what decision Muhammad Ali would make, ner, Sean, a sensitive and vulnerable latter-day anymore — a keenly observed social satire as though I was back in a dimly lit theater Stanley Kowalski, the assertion is almost imme- depicting one man’s struggle to escape India’s among an audience breathing the same air as diately belied by the calamity that follows. The soul-crushing caste system. In short, it’s a the actors performing for them. So alive were rest of the film dramatizes what is not fine about film about “real life.” A film designed to pro- these performers and so rich their words that Martha and her world, but ultimately is. That voke its audience. And while the film takes the weight of thousands of tar of theatrical his- paradox illuminates Weber’s script. place in India, Bahrani’s real target could be tory pummeled me in the chest and demanded Although there is drama aplenty in Weber’s seen as the economic disparity baked into the I let loose my breath then grab hold to someone rendition of what was originally a two-act fabric of America. We’d like to believe in the near. The power of a skilled dramatist is to take stage play, directed in this movie version by Horatio Alger myth — and indeed aspirants ideas into their hands like a rope used to tie her husband, Kornél Mundruczó, the subtlety from all over the world long to emigrate to an audience inextricably to the circumstances in Weber’s writing of Martha and its nuanced the Shining City on a Hill — but the simple of the characters so that through the mimesis realization by Vanessa Kirby is the interiority truth is, the Western World is just as socially on display we begin experiencing the world of the real action. We, the audience, are invited stratified as India. as they do. This skill is rarely amplified with into Martha’s heart and mind as she endures the In Bahrani’s parable, there are those who the care and nuance that King brought to it unspeakable loss of her newborn, the dissolu- starve and those with full bellies. It’s a mod- as a director nor of this cast as a company but tion of her relationship and the well-meant but ern-day “Great Gatsby” by way of “Goodfellas” when it is, it is undeniable that works borne of unfeeling demands of her Holocaust-survivor and as a fellow screenwriter I find Bahrani’s the theater are incomparable to those borne mother, Elizabeth, enacted with steely elegance screenplay impressively deft. Adaptations are anywhere else. by the redoubtable Ellen Burstyn. Films often portray harder than most people realize, particularly To know as well that Kemp Powers, one of Films often portray trauma, but rarely with when dealing with source material as densely America’s exciting new voices, trusted that the keen insight Weber brings to the subject. trauma, but rarely layered as this and told in first-person narra- his words, ideas, and the collision of circum- Trauma, and its transcendence, are at the core tion. The screenwriter has to decide what to stance he conceived in his fictional account of her story. The birth and death of Martha’s with the keen keep, what to condense and what to excise. In of real events could translate into a cinematic infant, depicted in a remarkable extended single a way, it’s like sculpting. Adiga’s novel is filled world without pomp or circumstance is a shot scene that virtually moves the audience insight [Kata] with interior observations, many of which testament to his intellect as a screenwriter. from witnessing the tragedy to experiencing had to be reconfigured into more exterior, Yet, the trust that of placing this work in the it, serves to instigate new trauma. More accu- Weber brings to the cinematic moments. Economic inequity is hands of one of America’s greatest actresses rately, it reveals the trauma that the seem- a theme running through most of Bahrani’s in her directorial debut is another testament ingly functional lives of the main characters subject. Trauma, and work — from “Chop Shop” to “99 Homes” and lesson to younger less-trusting writers have harbored all along. For Sean, it triggers — but this is his most ambitious and accom- because who else could have had the patience, a spiral into familiar patterns of escape and its transcendence, plished work to date. eye and intellect to know how extend that self-destruction. Elizabeth’s response is to trust to four great actors. Moreover, who else insist that her daughter emulates her defiant are at the core David S. Goyer is a writer and producer, known would know how to beat out his rhythms and and vengeful response to her own birth trauma for “Dark City,” The Dark Knight” and “Bat- his ideas with this company and not for them in Nazi-occupied Hungary. The redemption of her story. The man Begins.” His most recent projects include but a great actor? “One Night in Miami” is a for them all, and for the audience, is Martha’s the Netflix horror series “The Sandman” and masterclass in stage to screen adaptation and recognition of the transcendent and soul-res- birth and death of the sci-fi series “Foundation.” a testament to trust and skill being the classic cuing difference between grievance and grief. Martha’s infant... foundation to great cinema. “We shall be saved in an ocean of tears,” a great psychologist once said. Martha’s wisdom and serves to instigate Jeremy O. Harris is the playwright and salvation is that she emerges from benumbed creator of the most Tony-nominated Broad- rage to embrace sorrow. new trauma.” way play ever, “Slave Play.” Gabor Maté is a globally reknowned author. Harris: Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP Images; Mate: Steve Russell/Toronto Star/Getty Images; Goyer: David Buchan/Variety Star/Getty Images; Mate: Steve Russell/Toronto Jewell/Invision/AP Harris: Taylor — Gabor Maté

72 ● CONTENDERS 02.04.2021

Why Gong Li Is Getting Called Gong Lang

China’s Oscar entry pays homage to its volleyball hero

By Tim Gray

then coached the U.S. women’s team nominated, or even win, that would that was like a textbook. I learned from to a silver medal in 2008. When her make Chinese people very excited.” Gong Li stars watching Al Pacino, Robert De Niro; they China women’s team won the gold “Leap” could do well in its Oscar as volleyball inspired me. After that, performances medal at the 2016 Rio Games, Lang hopes. It’s a well-made, touching coach Lang like Meryl Streep’s were really helpful.” became the first person, male or crowd-pleaser, and Academy of Motion Ping in “Leap.” In China, the women’s volleyball team female, to win volleyball gold as both Picture Arts & Sciences voters have are as famous as football stars in the U.S. a player and a coach. often embraced sports films, starting “The team members uphold the spirit of Gong describes one big challenge: with the 1931 “The Champ,” for which athletes and the spirit of China. I want “Lang Ping is so well known and so actor Wallace Beery and writer Frances the world to know that,” she says. beloved, not only to Chinese people, Marion both won the gold statuette. In preparation, she went to training but around the world. People are very Since then, several have won best camp for 15 days. “I saw how Lang Ping impressed with her.” The actor says picture, including “Rocky” (1976), coached her team. She is very strict, and she was under the microscope: “People “Chariots of Fire” (1981), and “Million has a unique way of directing: She does would either call me a success or fail- Dollar Baby” (2004). not criticize her team members, but uses ure; there was no middle ground. So Other best picture contenders include the method of encouragement. GRAY’S GOLD taking the role was very risky. Watching “The Pride of the Yankees,” with Gary “We were shooting with actual team the movie, I felt relieved.” Cooper as Lou Gehrig (1942), “Breaking members. I told them ‘Just be yourself. Gong Li became a star in Zhang Yimou’s Gong, who has played glamorous Away” (1979), “Field of Dreams” (1989), We have editing, but there is no special 1988 “Red Sorghum,” her film debut. roles in such films as “Raise the Red “The Fighter” (2010), “Moneyball,” effect to create your facial expression or Since then, she has headlined dozens of Lantern,” “Memoirs of a Geisha” and (2011) and “Ford v Ferrari” (2019). to edit your true heart. So just act with films from China, Hollywood and else- the 2020 “Mulan,” transforms herself Gong’s parents were professors your true heart.’” where; she says the new “Leap” offered physically so much that “I felt like I and expected her to follow. But she Gong has lofty goals for the film. “I her “the hardest role I’ve ever played, became Lang Ping.” She laughs, “Some wanted to act, so enrolled in the Central hope people can get to know the Chinese but the best role.” people were calling me Gong Lang.” Drama Academy. national women’s volleyball team, espe- The film, directed by Peter Ho-Sun As for the idea of an Academy “When I was young, I didn’t under- cially during a sensitive time like this. Chan, is China’s submission for Oscar’s Award nomination for the film, she stand movies; we did not have a lot of We need to have positive energy so we international film category. Gong plays says, “Chinese people take Oscar very movies imported. After I entered the can face reality, and so we can live, and Lang Ping, who was the MVP of wom- seriously. Most Chinese people fol- Academy, we watched a lot of movies. through the movie give people more

en’s volleyball at the 1984 Olympics, low the Oscar ceremony, so if we get I saw ‘The Godfather’ over and over; courage and more positive energy.” Distribution We

02.04.2021 VARIETY ● 75 ARTISANS

Ludwig Göransson Experimental Sounds created music the orchestra played backward as well Boost a Film Beyond Time as forward for ‘Tenet’

John David Washington and Robert Pattinson star in “Tenet.” By Jon Burlingame

Most composers spend a few weeks, sometimes even a few months, on a film score. Ludwig Göransson spent a year and a half on Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet.” The time-shifting spy thriller, last year’s cerebral challenge from the maker of “Inception” and “Interstellar” (currently being promoted for multiple craft awards, including Göransson for original score) forced the Swedish composer to come up with sounds and textures that had rarely, if ever, been heard in mainstream movies. Göransson — an Oscar winner for “Black Panther,” an Emmy winner for “The Mandalorian” and a double Grammy winner for Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” — created more than five hours of music, a little more than two hours

Melinda Sue Gordon/Warner Bros. Melinda Sue Gordon/Warner of which wound up in the movie. The 76 ● ARTISANS 02.04.2021

The Streaming Conundrum By Mark Mangini

I wanted it to sound like what the film looks like — very jarring to the ear.” --Ludwig Göransson mixture of guitar, synthesized sounds, processed and distorted orchestra is unlike anything he has written before. The work started nearly two years ago, in February 2019, when composer and director met and spent “six or seven hours” just listening to, and talking about, I’m disheartened that many Academy music. “It was very clear, early on, that he voters will decide who the contenders really wanted to experiment,” Göransson for this year's awards are by viewing (and tells Variety. This was three months listening) from a streaming service or before Nolan began shooting “Tenet.” platform. I am not a cinema purist, nor Göransson began by creating a 10-min- am I advocating a return to “only in a ute piece in his studio. “I tried to push cinema” — this is just an examination it as much as possible, using tricks and of the ways we judge films and how we things that I had collected during my can make the most informed decisions. years as a producer that I hadn’t really The compromises made to watch a film seen in films,” he says. Nolan liked it and on televisions, laptops and tablets result in encouraged the composer to continue. reduced fidelity to image and sound that “One of the first pieces I wrote was this make some disciplines difficult to judge big action sequence,” Göransson recalls. adequately — judgments that rely on tech- “He wanted something fast, propelling Christopher Nolan shares a note with Washington on set. nical as well as artistic fidelity. They rob and aggressive.” Göransson worked on sound (my field) of its fullest impact and the composition for two months and one reversed once more. And when he asked some of the attributes that differentiate day received a call from Nolan in Tallinn, an entire orchestra to perform a similar good work from great work. Estonia, where the director was shooting task — during the pandemic, when 70 Will we be able to recognize the most the movie’s terrorist-attack prologue. musicians were recording individually in worthy contenders? “‘Can you make it more aggressive their home studios, with their contribu- Two years ago, I judged the con- at the two-minute mark?’” Göransson tions to be mixed together later — it was tenders for animated short online. I remembers Nolan asking. The composer even more complicated, requiring weeks streamed all the candidates on my laptop. complied. Only months later, when he of trial-and-error recordings during the ALMOST THERE Upon seeing them again during an was invited to an early screening of late spring and early summer 2020. encore performance at the Samuel edited footage, did Göransson realize What surprised Göransson was how Ludwig Göransson Goldwyn Theater, I wanted to change that Nolan had paced the entire sequence effective the pandemic recordings turned is a Tony Award short of an EGOT. my vote. The experience of seeing these to that early demo. “It was almost like a out to be. “They created these interest- films “as they were intended” had music video,” the composer says. ing textures that worked perfectly for the Emmy (2020) a significant impact on my perception Throughout production and post-pro- sound Chris and I were after — something “The Mandalorian” of their quality. duction, Göransson continued to write not of this world,” the composer says. Music Composition for a Series music based on the script and talks with Much of the score is not recognizable as (Original Dramatic Score) the director. When he finally saw footage, either electronic or traditionally orches- he, Nolan, producer Emma Thomas and tral. “So many of the elements are manipu- Oscar (2019) editor Jennifer Lame met every Friday for lated, processed or stretched,” Göransson “Black Panther” six more months after their return from explains. “I wanted it to sound like what Music Written for Motion Nolan’s many international locations to the film looks like — very jarring to the Pictures (Original Score) nail down the finished version. ear. The music is very intense. It definitely Because one of the film’s key plot takes you on a journey.” Grammy (2019) points is the concept of inverting time, There are even vocal sounds interpo- “This Is America” Göransson pursued the notion of creat- lated: Not just Travis Scott’s end-title Song of the Year; ing music that would play the same for- vocal, which is sprinkled throughout Record of the Year ward and backward. It was easier said Göransson's score, but Nolan’s own “Black Panther” than done, particularly when it involves breathing sounds. “We wanted some- Score Soundtrack for musicians and not machines. thing nasty and uncomfortable-sounding Visual Media Göransson had three percussionists to represent Sator” (Kenneth Branagh’s play a specific rhythm, which he then Russian bad guy), the composer reports. Other notable films: reversed in his computer. He played it “I recorded my breaths, but they weren’t “Venom” (2018) for the musicians and asked them to raspy enough. So we recorded Chris “Creed” (2015)

emulate it, which he recorded and then Nolan’s. That worked.” “Fruitvale Station” (2013) Mark Mangini Austin Hargrave Goransson: Bros.; Melinda Sue Gordon/Warner Tenet: 02.04.2021 VARIETY ● 77

Sound is particularly aggrieved because most will listen on televisions or (God forbid) their devices — on two Autobiographical Detail speakers, missing out on the immer- sion and fidelity found in most cine- Sparks ‘Minari’ Costumes mas. Movie soundtracks are meant to be experienced in multichannel sur- By Jazz Tangcay round-sound, augmented by deep bass (the subwoofer). Imagine asking Academy viewers to watch contenders for best cinematog- raphy with one eye? Some voters have home theaters that can approximate the cinema audio expe- rience, but that is not the norm. And even then, these audio mixes are modified and diluted to suit those environments. The rest will listen on TVs with sound- bars or laptops with speakers the size of an olive. Would you watch a film on a screen the size of an olive? The most insight a viewer might gather thusly would be: Yes, there are costumes; yes, there is hair and makeup; and yes, there is sound. “Minari” director Lee Isaac Chung’s While the Academy streaming plat- own experiences inspired costume form does allow for 5.1 surround-sound, designer Susanna Song in creating the it is sometimes glitchy and unreliable (as wardrobe for the semi-autobiographical are Netflix, Amazon and other stream- A24 film, named for the green vegetable ing options). It does not allow for Dolby that plays a central role in the story. Atmos, 7.1 or Imax audio mixes, the for- Song says she had just two weeks mats many filmmakers intended you to for costume prep and only one short hear their movies in. day for fittings. Here, she breaks down More importantly, a 5.1 surround how the looks for the family’s 6-year-old -sound mix is not available on every son, David (played by Alan Kim), and film, leaving the listener with a stereo grandma Soonja (Yuh-Jung Youn) came mix by which to compare. How can that together alongside father Jacob (Steven be a level playing field for the best sound Yeun) and mother Monica (Yeri Han). Alan S. Kim and Yuh-Jung Youn co-star in “Minari.” award? Imagine streaming some films in 1080p but others in standard def? Would Child of the ’80s “Originally, I wanted Jacob in polo A Familiar Grandma that be fair to cinematographers? “Director Lee Isaac Chung didn't have shirts as he transitions from Korean dad “In the script, the kids were fantasiz- I have to believe fellow artists in the a lot of photos of himself when he was to farmer, but Lee didn’t want the polo ing about the perfect grandma — the Academy are as disheartened. I know a kid. But the first thing he mentioned shirts, so I put them on David along with grandma who cooks for them, bakes the care they put into their work — work while going over the creative process the T-shirts. I referenced an old photo cookies and cleans. that relies on critical color balance, res- was how he loved his cowboy boots and of my brother because he’s the same “Every Korean grandma or parent, olution and clarity of an image. I know he wanted them in the movie. age as Lee and he wore these colorful especially in the ’80s, had this nice church how DPs obsess over focus, light and “I bought these boots that weren’t your striped shirts. For color, I immediately look. I wanted to deceive the kids. She’s shadow; production designers over traditional Western boots, but they were thought of red and blue — primary col- this cursing, gambling, party-animal the selection of colors and hues; or easy for a 6-year-old to put on. He also ors, because those are the same colors no-filter grandma, and that’s exactly like makeup artists over intricate detail in mentioned he had striped socks that he for America and Korea. my grandma. facial appliances or stippling. All are would wear with 1980s-style short-shorts. “Alan is a wiggly worm. He wanted “I wanted her to represent the minari. compromised by the digital algorithms I thought of David as a little grown-up. to play with me all day, and he’s such a She brought it to the farm. I knew from and consumer hardware used to bring us He’s been put into this new environment, natural talent. He wasn’t practicing his reading the script it would grow like a films quickly and conveniently. and it’s like his new playground, so he is lines before his scenes came up; he just wildflower. I liked the green because it This is not our work. It is a fac- the king of his castle — in his head. did it naturally.” popped out so much. Because of my TV simile of it. background, I think people were fear- The Academy is beginning to acknowl- Sketches of Soonja show her in minari green and ivory; David is styled in striped socks, shorts and T-shirt. ful of my color palette and that I might edge the changing landscape regarding make it like a sitcom, but Lee loved it and where we see films, yet I think how we thought it was perfect for when she visits judge films is at least as important as the minari field. whether that film was shown in a cin- “She didn’t have a lot of things, and ema for seven days. This year's argu- she was self-sacrificing. She would steal ment shouldn’t be which films are David’s socks, or she would wear Jacob’s eligible for nomination but how the shirts, or even Monica’s shirts, because #%*! can we tell which ones deserve that’s who she was. our votes in the first place? “I had some ’80s stock of costumes, so Grandma’s ivory ‘church look’ was from Mark Mangini is a five-time Academy my collection. It had a matching skirt with Award-nominated sound designer it, but Yuh-Jung Youn, who plays Soonja, known for films including “Blade Runner wanted to wear bigger clothes. It was two 2049,” “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” sizes bigger, but she wanted three sizes and “The Fifth Element.” He won an bigger because she knew it would be hot Oscar for sound editing for “Mad Max: in Oklahoma. I ended up finding this nice

Minari: Melissa Lukenbaugh/A24 Minari: Melissa Fury Road.” Valentino skirt that worked perfectly.”

02.04.2021 VARIETY ● 79 REVIEWS

Judas and the Black Messiah

By Peter Debruge

FILM REVIEW

Director: Shaka King

With: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Darrell Britt-Gibson, Daniel Kaluuya, Algee Smith, Ashton Sanders and Dominique Thorne star in “Judas and the Black Messiah.” Stanfield, Jesse Plemons

A century ago, Winston Churchill made the case that “history is written by the victors,” but here in the year 2021, even — and sometimes especially — those crushed beneath the boot of authority have found ways to make their side heard. Every so often, with time, the underdog version of events wins out, putting the lie to the propaganda and spin of those in power. To cite one example, early Christian martyrs oppressed by the Romans went on to write their own history. With that model in mind, think of director Shaka King’s “Judas and the Black Messiah” as “The Gospel According to the Black Panther Party,” an intense, infuriating and indisputably timely big-screen retelling of the circumstances under which Illinois BPP chapter chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) was assassinated by the establishment. Big screens are in limited supply these days, and the pandemic has pressured Warner Bros. to reroute this Oscar contender to the conglomerate’s HBO Max streaming platform, but that may actually serve to broaden the message of a film that sees righteousness in a once radical cause. At the center of the operation was William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield), the former Black Panther security captain who sabotaged the movement by serving

Glen Wilson/Warner Bros. Glen Wilson/Warner as an undercover informant for FBI agent 80 ● REVIEWS 02.04.2021

strategized, they ought to redirect their in a plan he couldn’t possibly have anger toward the system. Hampton was anticipated. Together with recent films a passionate and compelling speaker, “MLK/FBI” and “The United States vs. whereas Kaluuya (who’s a decade Billie Holiday,” this project exposes the older and less overtly demonstrative) degree to which American law enforce- explores a more reserved side of the ment targeted high-profile Black fig- character at first: de-escalating a tense ures. It does not, however, condone meeting, rehearsing speeches modeled violence. on Reverend King’s and bashfully flirting That’s the exceptional accomplish- with future girlfriend Deborah Johnson ment of King’s approach, considering (Dominique Fishback). that the movie gives audiences every Intimate moments between Fishback reason to resent a system that shows and Kaluuya add welcome dimension, such disregard for Black life. It allows humanizing Hampton, who was too Hampton’s incendiary words to be heard easily painted as an agitator by his ene- — including the no-turning-back line mies, as a lover and a fighter. At Hoover’s “Kill a few pigs, get a little satisfaction” instruction, authorities find a flimsy — while showing the fatal extremism of excuse to arrest him, while thinking fallen comrades Jimmy Palmer (Ashton of more “creative” ways to ensure his Sanders), Jake Winters (Algee Smith) silence. But after a stint in prison, the and Judy Harmon (Dominique Thorne). wounded Panther emerges more out- In an earlier scene, Hampton and spoken than ever. It is here, in the film’s Bobby Rush (Darrell Britt-Gibson) explosive second half, that Kaluuya hold class, quoting Chairman Mao on transforms into the Hampton the public the difference between war and poli- knows best — part spoken-word poet, tics: “War is politics with bloodshed, part evangelical preacher — in service and politics is war without bloodshed.” of a socialist agenda the powers that be Would the impeached ex-president were determined to suppress at any cost. agree? Would Hoover? Both instigated Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons). Fifty-one brazen but all too plausible. According The price worked out to just $300. violence and got away with it, whereas years after the fact, a redacted version to Plemons’ character, “The Panthers That’s the proverbial 30 pieces of silver Hampton was given the death penalty. of Mitchell’s personnel file indicates and the Klan are one and the same,” a for which O’Neal sold Hampton to the Following its world premiere at the that the conspiracy, carried out by the specious argument the agent uses to feds, drawing the floor plan of Hampton’s Sundance Film Festival, “Judas and Chicago police, traced all the way to convince O’Neal (who’s been arrested West Side apartment and drugging him the Black Messiah” opens in a climate FBI honcho J. Edgar Hoover (Martin for impersonating a federal agent) to the night of the raid. While the “Judas” where tensions between authorities and Sheen, lending smarmy conviction to infiltrate Hampton’s group. By 1969, label seems fitting, O’Neal later made equality seekers have flared once again. a rare bad-guy role). These revelations as a well-constructed opening mon- clear that this wasn’t a “betrayal” in The powerful film puts the current corroborate the riveting script’s more tage reminds, Malcolm X and Martin his mind. “I had no allegiance to the moment into fresh historical context speculative aspects, largely based on Luther King Jr. had both been brutally Panthers,” the informer would later and suggests that ambivalence can its a candid interview O’Neal gave in the silenced. In major cities, law enforce- explain, although the film finds it more own form of betrayal. 1987 docu-series “Eyes on the Prize,” a ment harassed Black citizens, and in dramatic to portray him as conflicted. reenactment of which opens the movie. response, the Panthers swore to police There’s no other actor today quite like CREDITS: A Warner Bros. Pictures release, presented in association with Macro, Participant, Bron Creativity, of a O’Neal’s experience offers a per- the police. Stanfield, who turns the cool attitude he Macro Media, Proximity Media production. Producers: verse inversion of Spike Lee’s recent In Chicago, a charismatic young orga- displayed in “Sorry to Bother You” into a Ryan Coogler, Charles D. King, Shaka King. Executive producers: Sev Ohanian, Zinzi Coogler, Kim Roth, Poppy “BlackKklansman,” as King (who nizer emerged with a plan: Hampton chilling kind of moral detachment. Hanks, Ravi Mehta, Jeff Skoll, Anikah McLaren, Aaron L. Gilbert. Producers: Josh Cloth, Ted Gidlow, Niija Kuyken- co-wrote with Will Berson and comedy pushed to unite various factions — not As both the film’s protagonist and an dall. Director: Shaka King. Screenplay: Will Berson & duo Kenny and Keith Lucas) plays the just rival Black groups but also the Young inherently likable actor, Stanfield eas- Shaka King; story: Berson & King, Kenny Lucas & Keith Lucas. Camera: Sean Bobbitt. Editor: Kristan Sprague. believe-it-or-not plot not for comedy Patriots (Southern white leftists) and the Kaluuya portrays ily invites our sympathy, even though Music: Craig Harris, Mark Isham. Reviewed online, Los but tragedy. Young Lords (Puerto Ricans) — in what Fred Hampton as part O’Neal represents the lowest-imagin- Angeles, Jan. 26, 2021. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: spoken-word poet 126 MIN. Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse When King shows G-men, their rac- he called the Rainbow Coalition. Rather able life-form: a rat sent by “pigs” to Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, Algee and part evangelical Smith, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Lil Rel Howery, Dominique ism and disrespect for civil rights are than fighting among themselves, he preacher. poison a Panther. But he is also a pawn Thorne, Martin Sheen

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Firefly Lane

By Caroline Framke

given the review excerpts on her web- Hour,” a daytime talk show that feels when her forced mousiness defies site that explicitly compare “Firefly like a mashup of “Oprah” and “The Ellen belief. And it’s easy to understand Lane” to “Beaches.” And yet, despite Show,” both of which are referenced why Heigl, also an executive pro- its many parallels to tearjerkers past, in passing with a semblance of a ducer, gravitated to the role of Tully; “Firefly Lane” loses out on much of its self-aware wink. Kate, meanwhile, her career was built on a foundation of potential emotional resonance by get- is distracting herself from her divorce such spiky, sexy women who demand ting lost in its own narrative trickery. while working her first job since to be taken seriously. Tully, who cre- TV REVIEW Each episode weaves among having her daughter (Yael Yurman). ated a life out of the rubble her stoned Netflix (10 episodes; the three timelines in fits and starts that Here, Heigl and Chalke live more hippie mom, Cloud (Beau Garrett, all reviewed); Feb. 3 only occasionally make thematic sense. naturally in their characters and the chewing every piece of scenery into The transitions between Tully and Kate relationship between them. This pulp), left behind fits right into Heigl’s Starring: Sarah Chalke, Katherine as teenagers (played with charm by Ali era feels like a completely separate repertoire. Some of the series’ most Heigl, Ben Lawson Skovbye and Roan Curtis) to the two show from the ones unfolding in the discordant and perversely fascinating as hardworking career gals of the ’80s other two time periods, which not coinci- moments, in fact, arise from the clash Netflix’s hyperspecific categories to them as lonely women in their 40s dentally feature wildly exaggerated cos- between the show’s overtly maudlin have become something of a punch- sometimes works. More often, they’re tuming and production design; the ’80s sensibility and Heigl’s more sour than line over the years. For every general jarring enough that I kept rewinding newsroom material might as well be a sweet performance. collection of “comedies” and “real- episodes to be sure I didn’t miss some “Working Girl” parody, except no one is in Put it this way: The show itself ity TV,” there are ones like “criti- connective tissue. (I didn’t.) It almost on the joke. skews more Kate than Tully, and the cally acclaimed LGBTQ TV shows” feels like each time period was written Having embodied appealing klutzes moments when that’s not true feel (“Queer Eye” and “Tales of the City”), by entirely different people. on shows like “Roseanne” and “Scrubs,” uncomfortably forced. (See Tully “Feel-Good Reality TV” (“The Great By 2003, Tully has become the mul- Chalke is well up to the task of embody- saying, “You’re my soulmate, bitch,” British Baking Show” and “Dream timillionaire host of “The Girlfriend ing Kate in early midlife crisis even to Kate’s “You’re the bitch, bitch” — a Home Makeover”) and “Oddballs cute attempt to give this “girlfriend and Outcasts” (“Sex Education” and hour” bite, but not one that particu- Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke topline “Firefly Lane.” assorted standup specials from men larly works.) who were bullied in high school). While it might be tempting At first, these subgenres just felt like for some to describe “Firefly Lane” cheeky ways to organize Netflix’s as a Hallmark or Lifetime movie ever-ballooning library. Increasingly, stretched beyond its limits, that though, it seems as if Netflix orig- wouldn’t be quite right. For one, inals are pitched and written with dismissing media about women, for an eye toward fitting into these women, in that way is annoying and esoteric characterizations. reductive. More germane to the real- Enter “Firefly Lane,” a new drama ity of “Firefly Lane” is that it’s not on from Maggie Friedman that’s tai- Lifetime or Hallmark but on Netflix, lor-made for Netflix’s “soapy romantic which has quietly built a small empire TV dramas about friendship” category, of exactly such “soapy romantic which currently features shows rang- dramas” that are easy enough to ing from “Grey’s Anatomy” to “Emily in get lost in for a weekend (or for a Paris.” Based on Kristin Hannah’s novel, holiday season, in the case of the net- the unabashedly sentimental series fol- work’s many, many Christmas movies). lows two best friends from the moment Shows like “Sweet Magnolias” and they meet in 1974, through their time “Virgin River” might not get much working at a local TV news station in critical or awards attention, but the ’80s, and finally, to their lives as that’s not especially important when 40-somethings navigating work and they land such consistent, dedi- relationships in 2003. Tully (Katherine cated audiences. There’s little doubt Heigl) is a charismatic force of nature that “Firefly Lane” — confusing con- who spins the pain of her past into gold, ceit and tone and wigs and all — will while Kate (Sarah Chalke) is her kind, attract the same. constant shadow who struggles to make her own mark. CREDITS: Executive producers: Maggie Friedman, Stephanie Germain, Katherine Heigl, Shawn Williamson, If this sounds like the hit 1988 film Lee Rose, Kristin Hannah, Ilene Rosenzweig, John Sacret “Beaches,” well, you’re not wrong. Young. 60 MIN. Cast: Katherine Heigl, Sarah Chalke, Ben Lawson, Ali Skovbye, Roan Curtis, Yael Yurman,

Netflix Hannah is well aware of the similarities, Beau Garrett 82 THE RECOVERY ISSUE

WHERE TO FIND HELP

NUMEROUS INDUSTRY ORGANIZATIONS OFFER ASSISTANCE FOR BATTLING ALCOHOL AND DRUG ADDICTION, EVEN IN COVID TIMES

by MACKENZIE NICHOLS

Broadcasters Foundation of America Inpatient treatment BROADCASTERSFOUNDATION.ORG, ESTABLISHED 1961 Detoxification and rehabilitation services are offered Broadcasters Foundation of America provides finan- in a hospital- or clinic-based setting. They are most cial assistance for those working in local radio and TV commonly used for people also suffering from mental broadcasting. The organization has focused on helping illnesses or severe physical problems. industry insiders through natural disasters and other emergency situations but is open to offering support ORGANIZATIONS Partial hospitalization for those suffering with addiction problems. Participants typically live at home but attend treatment The entertainment industry offers a host of resources for four to eight hours a day for at least three months. for those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. Following is a rundown of industry-backed organizations Episcopal Actors Guild ACTORSGUILD.ORG, ESTABLISHED 1923 that provide addicts a way to find help. Residential programs The Episcopal Actors Guild offers financial backing to These programs typically last one month to a year and MusiCares performing arts professionals of all faiths in the New offer phases of treatment that gradually reintroduce a per- GRAMMY.COM/MUSICARES, ESTABLISHED 1989 York City area. son into the world, with the goal of living independently. MusiCares is a foundation offshoot of the Recording > Provides financial grants for addicts seeking inpa- Residential treatments are seen as best for those who don’t Academy that provides social and financial services to tient and outpatient treatment, including support for have access to a stable living environment. eligible professionals in the music industry. rent, utilities, medical bills and transportation costs > For drug and alcohol problems, MusiCares offers: Offers free performance and wellness workshops, Opioid treatment programs yoga and meditation classes > Help in finding 30-day programs, inpatient treatment, Clinics dispense methadone, naltrexone, buprenorphine intensive outpatient treatment, sober living or outpa- and other drugs that help those who are dependent on tient support for eligible applicants SIMS Foundation heroin, OxyContin, Vicodin and other opioids. They typ- > Help arranging reduced rates for treatment facilities SIMSFOUNDATION.ORG, ESTABLISHED 1995 ically involve individual and group counseling sessions. in some instances The foundation established in memory of musician Sims > Safe Harbor Rooms backstage at major festivals and Ellison offers counseling, rehabilitation and wellness Intensive outpatient programs awards ceremonies that often include a 12-step meeting support groups to musicians in the Austin, Texas, area. A person is required to attend nine to 20 hours of treat- > Offers financial help for individual counseling and ment activities per week; the program typically runs The Actors Fund partial hospitalization programs as well as medical two months to a year. ACTORSFUND.ORG, ESTABLISHED 1882 detoxification and residential rehabilitation > Primarily serves musicians in the Travis County, With offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, The Outpatient programs Actors Fund provides assistance to those in the perform- Texas, area but also provides assistance to musicians These programs are offered in health clinics, commu- ing arts and entertainment industries. on tour nity centers, state and local health department offices. > Case management services and short-term counseling Attendance requirements vary from daily to one to three on topics such as health insurance and job development times per week. > Financial assistance for amenities such as sober living or inpatient treatment plans; The Actors Fund works with MusiCares and other organizations to develop custom financial plans > 12-step meetings at its offices (now held online because TREATMENT of social-distancing mandates) > Works with industry employers to educate them about Great strides have been made in the past 20 years in addiction and help clients keep jobs developing treatment options for chronic drug and alco- hol addiction. Here’s an overview of the most common HOTLINES Will Rogers Motion treatment options. Hotlines for treatment information and referrals Picture Pioneers Foundation WRPIONEERS.ORG, ESTABLISHED 1939 Group counseling > Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services The Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation Alcoholics Anonymous and other support group-based Administration, U.S. Department of Health and operates a hotline offering assistance to industry pros in programs harness the power of bringing addicts together Human Services, National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP; film distribution and exhibition and vendors. The fund to share their experiences and aid one another. AA samhsa.gov is open to those who face “an illness, transition or cata- describes its renowned 12-step program as “a group of > Los Angeles County Substance Abuse Service Helpline: strophic event.” The fund also has a staff of social workers principles, spiritual in their nature, which, if practiced as 1-844-804-7500; publichealth.lacounty.gov/sapc who help aid recipients line up financial assistance for a way of life, can expel the obsession to drink and enable > New York State Office of Addiction Services and food, health insurance and other amenities. the sufferer to become happily and usefully whole.” Support: 1-877-8-HOPENY; oasas.ny.gov