The Actor Roundtable; Netflix 'Friends' Deal; Iger's Bonus; Oscar's Host Problem; Zucker Running?; New THR Cover

What's news: 2018's finest actors gather to discuss their big years, wavering confidence and how they developed their craft. Plus: Netflix and AT&T strike a Friends deal, Bob Iger's revised bonus and why hosting the Oscars is a tough sell. — Will Robinson [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment]( December 04, 2018 What's news: 2018's finest actors gather to discuss their big years, wavering confidence and how they developed their craft. Plus: Netflix and AT&T strike a Friends deal, Bob Iger's revised bonus and why hosting the Oscars is a tough sell. — Will Robinson [On the cover:]( Six leading men — Mahershala Ali, Chadwick Boseman, Timothee Chalamet, Richard E. Grant, Hugh Jackman and Viggo Mortensen — open up about the confidence to lose control, protecting their performances and who can play which roles now, Stephen Galloway reports: + Battling self-doubt: "A common denominator that I have noticed among actors is this thing of having low self-esteem on one hand and a large ego on the other. And my confidence is so index-linked to whether I am working or what I am working on," Grant says. "What you have done before doesn't count. You are saying, 'I want this job ahead of you guys,' but at the same time you think, 'I don't feel as worthy as those guys for the job.'" + Black Panther effect: "I never thought I would see a studio say, 'Yeah, we are going to put the money behind this movie with a mostly black cast,'" Boseman says. "It made me more idealistic about the world and about how things can go, and that that could happen in other places, other production companies, other studios, on other projects. That's aspirational for not just myself but for other people." + Off-limits roles: "You know, even as a kid I didn't like being told no. It stimulates me. [The answer to] your question about Othello is: Yes, I could try, but why should I?" Mortensen asks. "No matter how well I played Othello, the overriding concern and interest and criticism would be, 'Why is he playing Othello?' So why waste my energy? Aren't there other characters I could play? So that's maturing." [Full cover story.]( Iger's Revised Deal Raising expectations: When Bob Iger's contract expires at the end of 2021, he could be in line for a much larger, or smaller, bonus as he steps down as CEO of Disney, courtesy of an amendment to his contract, Paul Bond reports: + The breakdown: Based on Monday's stock price and assuming Disney shares outperformed 75 percent of the other stocks making up the S&P 500, Iger would get a bonus of about $135 million, whereas without the amendment he'd get roughly $119 million. If Disney underperforms 75 percent of the rest of the S&P 500, he could get a zero bonus rather than the roughly $79 million he previously might have received. * Key number: Disney says the break-even point — where he will earn as much under the new plan as he did under the old one — occurs if Disney shares outperform 60.5 percent of the rest of the S&P 500. + Full co-sign: "The decision to implement more rigorous performance criteria reflects feedback received directly from shareholders and underscores Mr. Iger’s and the board’s confidence that the current strategic direction of the company will generate significant value for our shareholders," a Disney spokesperson said. [Full story.]( Elsewhere in film... ► Female blockbuster writers team to help Hollywood's "development ills." Lindsey Beer (Chaos Walking), Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel) and Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy) have [established]( a production company called Known Universe to "open doors to genre work." ► Small movies floundering in China. Erich Schwartzel and Julie Wernau report on the obstacles facing independent movies in the Middle Kingdom, as blockbusters and domestic hits dominate: "TriCoast has had five movies stuck in censorship proceedings in China since July 2017—about three times as long as it usually takes for approval." [[The Wall Street Journal](] ► BAFTA follows Academy, shifts 2020 film awards date. The move to Feb. 2, 2020 [ensures]( that the BAFTAs are still ahead of the Academy Awards — where they've been since the British Academy made the shift in 2001 — but it means the biggest film awards show outside the U.S. is now just one week earlier than the Oscars, rather than the usual two. ► Prince music-inspired movie in the works at Universal. Like the Abba music that [inspired]( the Mamma Mia! movie franchise, Universal is looking to develop an original film that uses Prince songs as signposts, instead of a pseudo-biopic like Purple Rain. ► Marvel developing Shang-Chi movie with Wonder Woman 1984 scribe. Dave Callaham is [penning]( the film, which would be the studio's first to focus on a superhero of Asian descent. ► Tilda Swinton's The Souvenir nabbed by A24 for North America. British director Joanna Hogg's romantic drama, executive produced by Martin Scorsese, is [headed]( to Sundance and a 2019 theatrical release. ► Appeals court agrees to hear more voices in battle over AT&T-Time Warner merger. Over the objections of AT&T and Time Warner, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has decided [to permit]( 27 antitrust scholars to speak up at a hearing later this week. ^How Ben is Back got made: After struggling with a loss of confidence and enduring personal grief, Peter Hedges' therapist advised that he wasn't telling stories he "needed to tell." The result? Asking his son Lucas to play a struggling drug addict opposite Julia Roberts, Seth Abramovitch reports. [Full story.]( On the festival circuit... ► Rosamund Pike, Wu-Tang Clan, Jordan Peele-produced Lorena Bobbitt series added to Sundance. Given the impressive list of names in the episodic lineup, it is clear that Sundance has become a destination for small-screen fare that screens against the festival's bread-and-butter indie films. [Details.]( ► Adam McKay’s Vice to open Capri, Hollywood. The 23rd edition of Capri, Hollywood, which will be chaired by Lee Daniels, [will take place]( Dec. 26, 2018 - Jan. 2, 2019. Honorees... ► Speed sound editor to receive MPSE Career Achievement Award. Two-time Oscar winner Stephen H. Flick will be [honored]( at the Motion Picture Sound Editors' 66th Golden Reel Awards. After the fires... ► Katy Perry, Gwen Stefani help fundraise for Malibu fire recovery. Alanis Morissette, Rita Ora, Macy Gray, Robin Thicke, Natasha Bedingfield and Rita Wilson also [performed]( at the One Love Malibu festival, along with speakers Dick Van Dyke, Demi Moore and Whitney Cummings. For your consideration... ► Oscar hopefuls Amy Adams, Steve McQueen and Boots Riley feted at SFFilm Awards Night. More Academy members are [based in]( the Bay Area — particularly members of the visual effects and sound branches — than any other city save for Los Angeles and New York, Scott Feinberg reports. ► 20 films advance in Oscars' VFX race. Incredibles 2 and Isle of Dogs made the shortlist, along with titles such as Black Panther. [Shortlist.]( ► Annie Awards: Incredibles 2, Ralph lead features. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Mary Poppins Returns and Early Man are among the contenders for the International Animated Film Society's awards. [Nominees list.]( Musical notes... ► Grammy nominations reveal postponed due to George H.W. Bush memorial. The contenders for the music-industry honors will be unveiled on Friday, instead of the [previously scheduled]( Wednesday date. ► Ticketmaster: Customers suing over scalping bought ticket out of class action. To buy tickets, the live events giant argues, customers also agree [to waive]( any right to a jury trial and to binding arbitration. In memoriam... ► RIP Wright King. King's character received a kiss from Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire during its original Broadway run, its first national tour and in the classic Marlon Brando-Vivien Leigh film. He died Nov. 25 at 95. [Obit.]( ► RIP Michele Carey. The attractive actress who starred alongside John Wayne in El Dorado and with Elvis Presley in Live a Little, Love a Little, died Nov. 21 at 75. [Obit.]( Coming attractions... ► Trailer: Captain Marvel soars in new clip. The new trailer features Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury given more insight into the evil Krull species and Carol Danvers' Kree heritage. [Watch]( | [Breakdown]( Original Lion King screenwriter apprehensive of remake. Linda Woolverton, the creator of such beloved Disney characters as Belle and Simba, visits THR podcast It Happened in Hollywood to reveal all about the makings of two modern animated classics. [Listen]( | [Subscribe]( The 'Friends' Situation Not on a break: After a notification appeared on Netflix indicating the classic NBC sitcom would be leaving Netflix on New Year's Day, a new deal was quickly announced: Lesley Goldberg emails: After a wave of panic swept through the internet over the weekend, Netflix on Monday afternoon confirmed that it has struck a new deal with producers Warner Bros. TV to keep Friends on its platform in the U.S. throughout 2019. The new pact, details of which were not made available, will see Netflix remain the exclusive streaming home for Friends until 2020. At that point, Friends — which ranks as one of Netflix’s most-watched acquired shows — is expected to move to WarnerMedia’s forthcoming streaming platform. Launching in the fourth quarter of 2019, the Netflix rival will likely see Warner Bros. slowly begin to move its other hits from other platforms back in-house. + "Non-exclusive" deal: AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson discussed the renewed pact Tuesday morning at the 46th annual UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York: "What does that mean? It means Friends can go on to our platform [as well](." Elsewhere in TV... ► Viacom CEO predicts Nickelodeon turnaround, "not focused" on big deal. Bob Bakish at the UBS conference also says the company is planning more streaming services. [More.]( ► Amazon teams Peaky Blinders, Catastrophe producers for Dirty. The "funny, filthy, brutally honest look at modern lives" [comes from]( Shameless writer Danny Brocklehurst. ► TBS signs Samantha Bee to first-look deal. The Full Frontal host [has launched]( a production company, called Swimsuit Competition, that will focus on narrative and documentary TV projects. ► The CW developing Jane the Virgin spinoff. Writer Valentina Garza, showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman and star Gina Rodriguez are [working on]( the offshoot. The potential series will not air as a backdoor pilot as part of Jane the Virgin's final season. ► Fox developing divorce comedy. From You're the Worst alum Alison Bennett, the comedy [revolves]( around children of divorce Jillian and Trevor, who after a whirlwind romance that resulted in a baby and a wedding (in that order), attempt to carve out their own family's identity — with eight grandparents offering differing advice. ► Tamron Hall's daytime talk show getting Hearst TV distribution. Set to [debut]( next fall, the show will appear in 24 Hearst Television markets, in addition to eight stations in the ABC-owned Television Stations Group, reaching 50 percent of U.S. television households. Casting call... ► HBO taps Issa Rae, Laura Dern to battle over Cabbage Patch Dolls. The Dolls, [inspired]( by true events, will explore class, race and privilege, based on events that happened in Arkansas in 1983. ► HBO enlists Ben Mendelsohn for Stephen King adaptation. Jason Bateman [will direct]( the first two episodes of the MRC drama The Outsider and executive produce through his production company Aggregate Films. ► Twilight Zone enlists John Cho, Allison Tolman, Jacob Tremblay. They [join]( Sanaa Lathan, Adam Scott and Kumail Nanjiani in the CBS All Access anthology. ► Edge of Seventeen YouTube spinoff casts its lead. Isabelle Fuhrman will [take on]( a version of the role played by Hailee Steinfeld in the feature film, while Liana Liberato will co-star. [Quoted:]( "When Chip and Joanna Gaines left HGTV, it sucked all the air out of my lungs. I couldn’t take my eyes off the two of them." — Discovery CEO David Zaslav, on Fixer Upper stars leaving for their own venture. ^Cher, Reba McEntire, Philip Glass, Hamilton lauded at Kennedy Center Honors: The 41st event had Gloria Estefan as host and performances by Kelly Clarkson, Amanda Seyfried and Kristin Chenoweth, among others, Adrienne Wichard-Edds reports. [Details.]( Digital digest... ► Oath to pay $5 million over children's privacy charges. "AOL, through its ad exchange, helped place targeted display ads on hundreds of websites that it knew were directed to children under 13. ... The penalty that the Verizon-owned Oath agreed to pay is the largest a company has paid for a case tied to Coppa." [[The New York Times](] ► Will Ferrell to revive Anchorman character with The Ron Burgundy Podcast. The Funny or Die-produced podcast [will launch]( on the iHeartRadio Podcast Network in early 2019. Ratings notes... ► ABC move does nothing for Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Facing a night of NFL, a move that certainly didn’t help the show, the show [averaged]( a limp 0.9 rating among adults 18-49 and only 3.3 million viewers. This followed another year of lows, and marked a steep 40 percent drop in the key demo. Latest reviews... ► Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. "The second season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is awash in stumbles and questionable choices of focus, yet when Amy Sherman-Palladino's dialogue is humming and the remarkable cast is in rhythm, there are few shows on TV whose faults are easier to excuse," Daniel Fienberg writes. [Review.]( From the stage... ► The Cher Show, reviewed. "We get Cher at three distinct points in her evolution, cracking wise and offering cautionary advice, encouragement and consolation through her ups and downs. That quasi-interior dialogue is often quite affecting," David Rooney writes. [Review.]( Talking points... ► CNN President Jeff Zucker is "still interested" in running for political office. He also said he "[never was aware](" of Matt Lauer's misbehavior during their time together at NBC. Coming attractions... ► Trailer: MTV's Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club unveils first look. The Greece-set reality series, previously titled Lohan Beach Club, premieres on Jan. 8. [Watch.]( Halo director Rupert Wyatt exits Showtime TV series. The Rise of the Planet of the Apes helmer cited a scheduling conflict for his departure. Wyatt was [poised]( to direct multiple episodes and serve as an executive producer. Where's the Oscars Host? Tough gig: With the 91st Academy Awards less than three months away, producer Donna Gigliotti has yet to line up an emcee, but don’t blame her —  it's a gig that almost no one should want, Stephen Galloway writes: + Tall task: The host is expected to boost the ratings, which means he or she must have wide name recognition; must be funny (without being tawdry), topical (without being controversial), politically savvy (without being too partisan), young (but not so young as to scare the Academy's governors) and satisfactory to a coalition of competing interests. * The rub: It's time the Academy embraced controversy instead of steering away from it. That's what Donald Trump did, and it helped him become president. The more milquetoast the host, the more muted the show. The Oscars might not be ready for a shock jock to become emcee-in-chief, but a little more shock might just make for a whole lot more awe. [Full column.]( What else we're reading... — "Punch-Drunk Critics in the Era of Peak TV." Kyle Paoletta writes: "Faced with a thickening glut of television, critics produce fewer negative reviews. With limitless A- and B+ programs available to overpraise, why trash a B-, let alone an F?" [[The Baffler](] — "When SpongeBob Was Just a Sketch on a Beach in Baja." Biddle Duke remembers his friend Stephen Hillenburg: "It’s fair to say that the group around that campfire was generally confident that while Steve, then 32, would likely have a successful career as a cartoonist and filmmaker, his sponge would remain in the pages of that sketchbook." [[The New Yorker](] — "How the Golden Globes Do What the Popular Oscar Couldn’t." Richard Lawson asks, about the musical/comedy category: "Why are some people so intent on maligning a category that has given awards to beloved Hugh Jackman, to underrated Colin Farrell, to trickster god Bill Murray, to Kathleen Turner (twice in a row), and to Madonna, for God’s sake?" [[Vanity Fair](] — "TV Reboots Are Having a Great Awokening. It Sucks." Emma Grey Ellis contends: "When these 'progressive' reimaginings try to strike that representation chord, they often hit a sour note — tokenism." [[WIRED](] — "Inside Lindsay Lohan's Enduring Cult of Celebrity." Claire Valentine catches up with the actress: "All things considered, Dubai makes a lot of sense for Lohan. It provides a swath of protection from the prying eyes of the press and distance from her own ambivalent relationship with America." [[PAPER](] What else we're watching... + "Trevor Noah chats with his grandma about apartheid." [[The Daily Show](] + "Margot Robbie explains that long Birds of Prey title." [[Tonight Show](] + "Michael Douglas debunks Danny DeVito's story about saving his life." [[Late Night](] + "Julie Bowen's Italian boyfriend didn't do well in America." [[Jimmy Kimmel](] From the archives... + On Dec. 4, 1997, Steven Spielberg premiered Amistad premiered in Washington, D.C., an account about the real-life slave ship mutiny that resulted in a landmark Supreme Court ruling: "Power in Hollywood: a tired subject if ever there was one, but Amistad demonstrates what it really means. ... It's the creative means to bring any experience home to an audience, whether it comes from a faraway planet or from our underexplored past." [[The New York Times](] Today's birthdays: Tyra Banks, 45, Jay-Z, 49, Fred Armisen, 52, Marisa Tomei, 54, Tony Todd, 64, Jeff Bridges, 69. Enjoy reading this? Six days a week, look for Today in Entertainment in your inbox to stay up-to-date on the industry. Sign up for this newsletter (and others) at [THR.com/Newsletters](. Follow The News Is this email not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( ©2018 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Preferences]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Use]( December 4, 2018