Hollywood Remembers James Earl Jones; Destin Daniel Cretton in Talks to Direct 'Spider-Man 4'; 'SNL' Adds New Castmembers; Latest Toronto Reviews

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( September 10, 2024 What's news: Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein underwent heart surgery. CBS has landed Nate Bargatze's first comedy special. John Mulaney is returning to Broadway with a new show. Aaron Rodgers will be the subject of a 3-hour docuseries on Netflix. Happy Gilmore 2 is officially in production. — [Abid Rahman]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. James Earl Jones 1931 - 2024 ►Icon. James Earl Jones, a commanding presence onscreen who nonetheless gained greater fame off-camera as the sonorous voice of Star Wars villain Darth Vader and Mufasa, the benevolent leader in The Lion King, died Monday. He was 93. Jones, who burst into national prominence in 1970 with his powerful Oscar-nominated performance as America’s first Black heavyweight champion in The Great White Hope, died at his home in Dutchess County, New York. [The obituary.]( —"That booming voice. That quiet strength." Mark Hamill, Kevin Costner, Octavia Spencer and Colman Domingo were among the first Hollywood voices to pay tribute to the late James Earl Jones. Hamill, who played the Luke Skywalker, son of Jones’ Darth Vader in Star Wars, was one of the first to react, writing on social media, “#RIP dad.” Later the same day, Star Wars creator George Lucas also honored Jones, calling him an “incredible actor, a most unique voice both in art and spirit." [The reaction.]( —"His booming voice made him a natural for roles of authority, but he radiated strength even in silence." THR's chief film critic David Rooney remembers James Earl Jones. David writes that the actor, whose rich baritone was as indelible a part of Darth Vader’s menacing power as the black helmet, mask and cloak, was also an absolute treasure of the American theater. [The critic's appreciation.]( Jorge Ramos to Exit Univision at End of Year ►Legend. In a seismic shift for Spanish-language TV news in America, Univision anchor Jorge Ramos is leaving the network after a 40-year tenure. TelevisaUnivision said that Ramos and Univision News both agreed not to renew his contract, which is soon to expire. He will step down as co-anchor of Noticiero Univision at the end of 2024, after the U.S. presidential election. Ramos has been the anchor or co-anchor of Noticiero Univision, which is the most-watched Spanish-language evening news broadcast in America, since 1986. [The story.]( —Rushed to hospital. Disgraced movie mogul and convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein was taken to Bellevue Hospital in New York Sunday night and underwent heart surgery Monday. According to his representatives, Craig Rothfeld and Juda Engelmayer, Weinstein was “rushed” to the hospital “due to several medical conditions.” They did not comment further on the current state of his health. [The story.]( —Potential problem. Rupert Murdoch’s transition of power at News Corp. to his son Lachlan is being challenged by a major shareholder in the media company. Hedge fund Starboard Value went public with a letter addressed to shareholders of the newspaper giant, owner of The Wall Street Journal and New York Post, calling on the company to eliminate its dual-class share structure and referencing a brewing Murdoch family standoff. The timing of the letter arrives a day before Lachlan is set to address investors at a Goldman Sachs conference on Sept. 10. [The story.]( —Arrested. Tyrese Gibson is in custody in Atlanta after a contentious child support hearing where he was ordered to pay upwards of $73,000 to his former partner by a judge to avoid jail time, according to court records. The Fast franchise star appeared in Fulton County Superior Court for the latest hearing in his ongoing battle with ex-wife Samantha Lee, with whom he shares a daughter, Soraya. Gibson was ordered to pay $10,690 a month in child support in April 2023, but Judge Kevin Farmer held him in contempt over his nonpayment. [The story.]( —"I could not understand how people were speaking about something with such passion for death." Shailene Woodley has defended her decision to share Melania Trump's statement following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. In a new interview, the Three Women star was asked if she felt she was “misunderstood” after receiving backlash for sharing Melania’s open letter on her Instagram Story. Woodley explained that upon reading the former first lady’s words, she thought, “This is so beautiful.” [The story.]( —Postponed. Donald Glover postponed the remainder of his North American Childish Gambino tour on Monday, citing physical health concerns and promising that all tickets will eventually be honored. Glover, who performs under the Childish Gambino moniker, wrote on social media he needed to cancel all remaining dates of his New World tour “to focus on my physical health for a few weeks.” The North American leg has about a month remaining, with the next scheduled date in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday and shows running through Oct. 3. [The story.]( 'SNL' Adds New Castmembers ►🎭 Three in, three out 🎭 Saturday Night Live is welcoming three new castmembers for the show’s landmark 50th season. Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim and Jane Wickline have joined the NBC variety show as featured players for 2024-25. The season will premiere Sept. 28 with most of last season’s ensemble intact, although Punkie Johnson and Molly Kearney announced their departures from the show over the summer. Chloe Troast, a featured player last season, is also departing. [The story.]( —"We are working to resolve matters concerning the documentary." Primary Wave Music and Prince Legacy, two companies with ties to Prince’s assets, released a statement Monday afternoon in response to reports of an unreleased documentary accusing the late musician of physical and emotional abuse. On Sunday, a lengthy report from the New York Times Magazine revealed that an unreleased nine-hour documentary from O.J.: Made in America filmmaker Ezra Edelman featured interviews with dozens of Prince’s former business partners, lovers, friends and associates which included multiple allegations of physical and emotional abuse. [The story.]( —Leaning into sports. Four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers will be the subject of a three-hour docuseries on Netflix. Aaron Rodgers: Enigma is set to premiere Dec. 17 — eight days before the streamer takes its biggest leap into live sports with two NFL games on Christmas Day. The Rodgers series is one of several sports projects Netflix announced Monday: It has also picked up a third season of Full Swing, which follows golfers on the PGA Tour, and ordered a new slate of documentaries under the Untold banner. [The story.]( —Late additions. Kristen Wiig, Viola Davis, Lily Gladstone and Only Murders in the Building stars Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short are among the A-listers who’ve been tapped to present at Sunday’s Emmy Awards ceremony. Also on the list of presenters for the 76th Emmy Awards are Matt Bomer, Colin Farrell, Joshua Jackson, Don Johnson, Mindy Kaling, Jimmy Kimmel, Greta Lee, John Leguizamo, George Lopez, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Martin Sheen, Jean Smart and Dick Van Dyke. [The story.]( —Back and fourth. Ali Wong’s post-divorce life is getting the Netflix treatment. The comic is set to release Single Lady on the global platform Oct. 8. The stand-up special, where she will also open up about her quest for love following the demise of her marriage, marks her fourth hour for Netflix. Her previous specials, including Ali Wong: Don Wong, Ali Wong: Baby Cobra and Ali Wong: Hard Knock Wife, featured similarly personal material, be it marriage, pregnancy or motherhood. [The story.]( —Debut. Nate Bargatze, the world’s top earning comic according to Pollstar, has signed on to do his first primetime special, an hour-long, holiday-themed variety show for CBS. Lorne Michaels and his Broadway Video are on board as producers of the hour, which will roll out in December and also stream on Paramount+. While many of the details are being kept under wraps, Bargatze intends to film the special Nov. 21 at the iconic Grand Ole Opry, where he got his start in comedy as an entry-level employee. [The story.]( —🎭 New face 🎭 Floriana Lima, most recently seen on A Million Little Things, has been added to the season 21 cast of Grey’s Anatomy in a recurring role. She’ll play Nora, a childhood friend of Owen (Kevin McKidd) and Megan Hunt’s (Abigail Spencer), who comes to Grey Sloan when a routine operation at another hospital results in dangerous complications. [The story.]( —🎭 Treading the boards 🎭 John Mulaney is returning to Broadway this winter as part of a comedic show with a rotating cast. The show, All In: Comedy About Love, will be led by Mulaney for the first five weeks, with a cast including SNL stars Fred Armisen and Chloe Fineman, Girls5Eva‘s Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Richard Kind, who has worked with Mulaney on several projects, including as an announcer on Mulaney’s Netflix special Everybody’s In LA. All In will feature a rotating cast of four actors for 10 weeks, with additional casting to be announced at a later date. [The story.]( Destin Daniel Cretton in Talks to Direct 'Spider-Man 4' ►In the mix. Destin Daniel Cretton, the filmmaker behind Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, is in talks to sign on to direct Spider-Man 4. The move brings an end to speculation of who would spin the web for one of the biggest franchises in Hollywood. If a deal closes, Cretton will bring fresh blood to this iteration of Spider-Man, which stars Tom Holland and is a co-production between two separate studios, Sony and Disney-owned Marvel Studios. And it will make him the fourth director to take on a Spidey solo feature. Jon Watts directed the previous three Holland-starring movies, while Marc Webb helmed the two Amazing Spider-Man movies that starred Andrew Garfield. Sam Raimi directed the trilogy that featured Tobey Maguire. [The story.]( —🎭 Tooling up 🎭 The Alan Ritchson action vehicle War Machine has found its battalion. Dennis Quaid, Stephan James, Jai Courtney, Esai Morales, Blake Richardson, Keiynan Lonsdale and Daniel Webber have been added to the cast of the sci-fi action movie that Patrick Hughes is directing for Netflix. The script, written by Hughes and James Beaufort, is set during the final 24 hours of the world’s toughest selection process and sees a team of Army Rangers encountering a threat beyond their imagination. [The story.]( —"We’ve only just begun." Adam Sandler is ready to take a swing at Happy Gilmore 2 for Netflix. The streamer announced Monday that the feature sequel to the 1996 comedy film is ready to start rolling. Kyle Newacheck is helming the movie from a script by Sandler and Tim Herlihy. The original Universal film was directed by Dennis Dugan. Plot details have not yet been shared about the sequel. Happy Gilmore starred Sandler as an unsuccessful hockey player who becomes an unlikely golf sensation, thanks to his monster drives. [The story.]( —Sold! Brainstorm Media has picked up the action-thriller 72 Hours, directed by Christian Sesma and starring Sam Trammell and Twilight actor Cam Gigandet. A Nov. 1 theatrical and on-demand release is planned for 72 Hours, which centers on two brothers — a dedicated FBI agent and a crypto international money launderer — putting aside their differences and joining forces to save their family. [The story.]( Coppola Says His Dystopian Epic 'Megalopolis' is a "Vision of Hope" ►"It’s a dive into a world that exists more than it should." Francis Ford Coppola says his twist on the dystopian sci-fi movie genre in Megalopolis reflects his utopian ambitions for the world. Coppola, speaking at the Toronto Film Festival on Tuesday night as he presented a North American premiere of his pricey passion project, said, “There’s always the vision of human beings that are great and are capable of dealing with any challenge they have to make a beautiful world for ourselves and for our children. It’s a hopeful film." [The story.]( —"You need to find a way to take this film and airdrop it over Israel." After facing a failed attempt by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to block their world-premiere screening, the filmmakers behind the anti-Netanyahu documentary The Bibi Files carried on Monday night, debuting their work at TIFF with a mix of grim resolve and giddy triumph. THR's Steven Zeitchik reports that Alexis Bloom’s film, which builds its case against the long-serving Israeli prime minister on a foundation of never-before-seen interrogation tapes, at times played like a rally to the Israeli-skewing, often anti-Netanyahu crowd. [The story.]( Film Review: 'Relay' ►"A flawed but gripping case against the surveillance state." THR's [Lovia Gyarkye]( reviews David Mackenzie's Relay. Riz Ahmed plays a fixer who brokers deals between whistleblowers and corporations in this gritty drama, also starring Lily James and Sam Worthington. [The review.]( —"Dazzlingly inventive." For THR, Michael Rechtshaffen reviews Seth Worley's Sketch. A 10-year-old girl's grief manifests as violent drawings come to life in writer-director Worley's Spielbergian debut feature, starring Tony Hale and D'Arcy Carden. [The review.]( —"Broad but touching." THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews Julie Delpy's Meet the Barbarians. The latest feature from the director of 2 Days in Paris reveals what happens when a tiny French town welcomes a Syrian family into its midst. [The review.]( In other news... —The Apprentice [releases first trailer ahead of October release]( —HBO's [The Franchise skewers superhero movies in teaser trailer]( —Rachel Zoe and Rodger Berman [announce divorce after 26 years of marriage]( —Eminem [to open 2024 MTV VMAs]( —How [to watch Harris-Trump presidential debate online without cable]( ​​​What else we're reading... —Ahead of the debate, Peter Baker writes the focus is on Trump's advancing age and declining mental capacity [[NYT]( —Li Zhou unpacks the shocking rape case in France that is shaking the country to its core [[Vox]( —Following the comical Russian propaganda campaign involving American right-wing influencers, Charlie Warzel writes that extremely online YouTubers are almost too easy to dupe [[Atlantic]( —Liyan Qi and Wenxin Fan report that films about women are finally having their moment in China [[WSJ]( —Emma Roth has the 8 biggest announcements from Apple's new iPhone launch event [[Verge]( Today... ...in 1993, the first episode of The X-Files aired on Fox, with THR's critic drawing comparisons to Twin Peaks and The Twilight Zone. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Colin Firth (64), [Guy Ritchie]( (56), Chris Columbus (66), Amy Irving (71), Matt Rife (29), Ryan Phillippe (50), Johnathon Schaech (55), Clark Johnson (70), Sarah Levy (38), Elyse Levesque (39), James Duval (52), Harry and Luke Treadaway (40), Kate Burton (67), Judy Geeson (76), Kyle Bornheimer (49), Giannina Facio (69), Dylan Llewellyn (32), Erin Darke (40), Anurag Kashyap (52), Paulina Alexis (24), Alex Saxon (37), Gabriel Bateman (20), Sean O'Bryan (61), Harry Groener (73), Alice Hewkin (25), Stacey Nelkin (65), Jim Meskimen (65), Stephanie Erb (61), William McInnes (61), Andrei Claude (45), Pêpê Rapazote (54), Jacob Young (45), Larry Sullivan (54), Nina Repeta (57), Fred Olen Ray (70), Greg Mullavey (85), Kamil McFadden (28), Jay Laga'aia (61) 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. 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