Richard Dreyfuss Slammed for Alleged Bigoted Rant; THR's Most Powerful Women in Canadian Entertainment; How Mohammad Rasoulof Escaped Iran; 'Eric' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( May 28, 2024 What's news: Vivek Ramaswamy has revealed his plans for BuzzFeed. Josh O’Connor and Cailee Spaeny have joined the cast of Knives Out 3. Elon Musk's xAI has raised $6b in funding. Lizzo has responded to South Park featuring her in a recent episode. — [Abid Rahman]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. Richard Dreyfuss Slammed for Alleged Bigoted Rant ►"An Evening of Misogyny and Homophobia With Richard Dreyfuss." A Massachusetts theater is apologizing to its patrons who came to attend a screening of Jaws with star Richard Dreyfuss, but instead were subjected to alleged sexist and homophobic comments from the actor over Memorial Day weekend. Attendees who headed Saturday to The Cabot theater in Beverly, allegedly witnessed the Oscar winner going on a rant that, according to social media posts, began while he was speaking about Barbra Streisand and moved into his bigoted perspective on trans youth and the Academy's inclusion rules. [The story.]( —"The toughest (and funniest) 7 year-old we know." Jimmy Kimmel has revealed that his son Billy had his third (and hopefully last) open-heart surgery over Memorial Day weekend. "We went into this experience with a lot of optimism and nearly as much fear and came out with a new valve inside a happy, healthy kid," Kimmel wrote on Instagram Monday, captioning a photo of Billy smiling in what looks like a hospital bed. He went on to praise the doctors, nurses and staff at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where Billy was treated. [The story.]( —New funding. Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup has raised a huge Series B funding round. The company, xAI, says that it has secured $6b in a new round of funding that values it at $24b. Investors in the round include Fidelity, Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Kingdom Holding, and others. A $6b funding round is an astonishingly large number for a company launched less than a year ago, and underscores the desire for investors to secure a piece of AI businesses. [The story.]( —"This will almost certainly require large-scale headcount reductions." Vivek Ramaswamy’s plans for BuzzFeed are becoming a bit clearer, with the entrepreneur turned activist investor releasing a lengthy letter outlining what he believes the company should do to turn itself around. Ramaswamy, a former GOP presidential candidate, disclosed a sizable activist stake in BuzzFeed last week. In his letter Monday, Ramaswamy said that he has since upped his stake to 8.37 percent. [The story.]( —🎭 Staffing up 🎭 Challengers star Josh O’Connor and Civil War breakout Cailee Spaeny are joining Daniel Craig in the upcoming Knives Out 3 sequel. Last week, writer and director Rian Johnson confirmed on X, that Craig would be reprising his role as Benoit Blanc in the next ensemble murder mystery film. In a 45-second video teaser video, he also revealed the sequel’s title as Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. [The story.]( THR's Most Powerful Women in Canadian Entertainment ►Northern stars. THR has put together its first list of Canada’s most powerful women in entertainment, to showcase not just the female talent running TV and film sets across the border, but to celebrate the rainbow of identities that make up Canada’s film, TV and music industries. [The list.]( —"It was just starting to feel like just a job." Dylan Minnette is sharing why he took a break from acting to focus on music with his rock band Wallows. The 13 Reasons Why star, who has been working as an actor since he was 8 years old, got candid about his passions in a recent interview on the Zach Sang Show. "I was fortunate to find success in [acting]," he explained. "I was on 13 Reasons Why, and it was really popular and definitely reached a peak in what I’ve had in acting. But it also started to feel like a bit of a job." [The story.]( —"My worst fear." Lizzo has responded to South Park referencing her in its latest special, "The End of Obesity," centered on weight loss drugs. In a blind reaction video posted on her Instagram, the “About Damn Time” singer shared her thoughts on the long-running animated series’ new episode, which premiered Friday. "Guys, my worst fear has been actualized," she said at the beginning. "I’ve been referenced in a South Park episode. I’m so scared." [The story.]( —Not happening. Billie Eilish fans shouldn’t expect three-hour concerts anytime in the near future. Following the release of her third studio album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, the Grammy and Oscar winner took to the music app Stationhead to answer fan questions live. When asked if she would ever perform a three-hour-long show — similar to what Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have done for the Eras Tour and Renaissance World Tour, respectively — Eilish responded, "I’m not doing a three-hour show, that’s literally psychotic." [The story.]( How Mohammad Rasoulof Escaped Iran ►"I will never forget that the Islamic republic is a terrorist." Ahead of his triumphant appearance at the Cannes Film Festival last weekend for the world premiere of his latest film The Seed of the Sacred Fig, dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof spoke to THR's [Scott Roxborough](. In a fascinating interview, Rasoulof details his dramatic escape from Iran on foot before he was set to serve an eight-year prison term, and offers his hopes for the future and his rallying cry for his fellow countrymen and artists. [The interview.]( —"This one could thread the needle." Huanxi Media has climbed to the forefront of the Chinese film industry thanks to a streak of savvy project selection and a business model built around exclusive relationships with China's most bankable directors. THR's Patrick Brzeski spoke to Huanxi CEO Steve Xiang about the company's recent success and hopes of repeating the $637m success with Zhang Yimou's Full River Red with the auteur's new film She’s Got No Name. [The interview.]( —"I had to create a better film than the first." Patrick also spoke to Korean action maestro Ryoo Seung-wan about his hotly anticipated movie I, The Executioner, that premiered in Cannes. Nine years after creating one of Korea's most successful action blockbusters of all time with The Veteran, Ryoo discusses his ambitious vision for the sequel — a movie that deconstructs the usual moral logic of an action flick while still delivering all the genre’s thrills. [The interview.]( Seth Meyers On Making Getting Drunk on Air an Art Form ►"I have a great time, and then I wake up the next morning in a full white-hot panic because I only have a foggy memory of how it went." Late Night host Seth Meyers may be dispirited about another Biden-Trump election — and interviewing politicians in general — but he tells THR's [Lacey Rose]( that he finds some solace in the booking coup of his viral "Day Drinking" segment: "It’s what’s known as the Rihanna bounce." [The interview.]( —"One has been accused of very tragic things and one is no longer with us." THR's [Christy Piña]( spoke to ID president Jason Sarlanis, showrunner Elissa Halperin and executive producer Michael Hirschorn about Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter, the docuseries that dives into the allegations of sexual assault against Backstreet Boys frontman Nick Carter and brother Aaron Carter’s struggles with mental health and substance abuse. The trio discuss why this is the right time for the doc, and why it’s taken so long for the #MeToo movement to hit the music industry. [The interview.]( —"I'm not supposed to be here." For THR, Brande Victorian spoke to Nkechi Okoro Carroll, the showrunner of All American as The CW makes it to 100 episodes. Carroll, who joins just four women (including Shonda Rhimes) who have achieved the episode milestone, discusses All American's skill for tackling several hot-button issues concerning student athletics. [The interview.]( 'The Jinx — Part 2': Andrew Jarecki on What Happens Next ►"If the story were not new, if it wasn’t evolving in really dramatic ways, then we wouldn’t have ended up making it." THR's queen of chat [Jackie Strause]( spoke to filmmaker Andrew Jarecki about the finale of season two of HBO's The Jinx. Amid an ongoing civil lawsuit against Robert Durst's widow, Jarecki — who has worked on The Jinx for two decades — discusses the ramifications of the finale and what it all means for the future. [The interview.]( —"The winter timing also gives season three a different feel, and I’m excited to show that tone of the Midwest." THR's Seija Rankin spoke to Somebody Somewhere co-creators Bridget Everett, Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen about the cultural impact of the HBO Midwestern dramedy. The trio took a break from editing season three and also discussed the show’s trajectory. [The interview.]( TV Review: 'Eric' ►"A self-consciously noble failure." THR's [Angie Han]( reviews Netflix's Eric. In Abi Morgan's new show, a puppeteer (Benedict Cumberbatch) sets out to find his missing son — with help from the kid's imaginary monster friend — in 1980s New York. [The review.]( —"Authorized but refreshingly frank." THR's chief film critic [David Rooney]( reviews Laurent Bouzereau's Faye. The French filmmaker takes in Oscar winner Faye Dunaway's career highs and lows, her personal life, her bipolar disorder and her "difficult" reputation in this HBO doc. [The review.]( In other news... —Karlovy Vary Fest [unveils lineup with Oleh Sentsov Ukraine war doc; Geoffrey Rush among jurors]( —Will.i.am to [discuss AI and future of creativity at Edinburgh TV Festival]( ​​​What else we're reading... —The Guardian and Israel-based +972 Magazine and Local Call have a bombshell report on the Netanyahu government's nine-year campaign of spying, threatening and hacking the ICC [[Guardian]( —Evan Osnos has a fascinating longread profile on the Hollywood Ponzi scammer (and reportedly terrible, but great smelling, actor) Zach Horwitz who bilked people out of hundreds of millions [[New Yorker]( —Jessica Karl writes that an Emmy win for Hot Ones would send a shockwave through late-night TV, a genre that is starting to look shabby in comparison to YouTube interview shows [[Bloomberg]( —Myles Burke looks back at the visceral impact of Sex Pistols releasing their song "God Save the Queen" in 1977 and how it seemed to challenge the very foundations of British society [[BBC]( —Melena Ryzik spoke to woman-of-the-moment Michelle Buteau about graduating from support roles to the lead in Babes and Survival of the Thickest [[NYT]( —Tracy Brown looks at how the Grateful Dead inspired the late Bill Walton and shaped his life’s perspective [[LAT]( —Te-Ping Chen reports on the increasing loneliness of the American worker, who are "more digitally linked but less personally connected" than ever [[WSJ]( —Here's a bonus list: "Party like it’s 1999: 10 movies that encapsulate one of the greatest years for cinema" [[Guardian]( Today... ...in 1970, Paramount unveiled the Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis comedy The Out-of-Towners in theaters. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Carey Mulligan (39), Jake Johnson (46), [Kylie Minogue]( (56), Anne Reid (89), Romain Duris (50), John Wells (68), Michael Barrett (54), Jessica Rothe (37), Lukas Gage (29), Alexa Davalos (42), Christa Miller (60), Laura Bailey (43), Svenja Jung (31), Monica Keena (45), Jesse Bradford (45), Megalyn Echikunwoke (41), Liam O'Brien (48), Justin Kirk (55), Chiara Mastroianni (52), Krista Kosonen (41), Sarah Yarkin (31), Kate Ashfield (52), Leah Ayres (67), Rafi Gavron (35), Raza Jaffrey (49), Ashley Laurence (58), Joseph Cross (38), Emily O'Brien (39) Bill Walton, who starred for John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins before becoming a Hall of Fame center for his NBA career and one of the biggest stars in basketball broadcasting, has died. Walton, who had a prolonged fight with cancer, was 71. [The obituary.]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} by The Hollywood Reporter. Please add email@email.hollywoodreporter.com to your address book to ensure delivery to your inbox. Visit the [Preferences Center]( to update your profile and customize what email alerts and newsletters you receive. The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 11175 Santa Monica Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90025 [View in Browser]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Your Privacy Rights]( | [Ad Choices]( | [Terms of Use]( | [Unsubscribe](