TAKE TWO

Can new studio chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy revive Warner Bros.?
By Matt Donnelly
 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3 VARIETY ● 3

F E AT U R E S P.30 Two for the Show

30 38
Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy By
are working overtime to Matt
P. restore Warner Bros.’ rep as Donnelly
the best studio for filmmakers

P.38 On the Fringe of Fame

Drew Tarver and Heléne Yorke By
explain why their roles in Ethan
scathing Hollywood satire “The Shanfeld
Other Two” are such a blast
(Cover) Hair & Makeup: Sophia Porter using Bumble & Bumble

Cover photograph by Art Streiber

6 ● EDITORS’ LETTER 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3

Even During Shaky Contributors

Times, We Need
Summer at the Movies
Senior entertainment and
media writer Matt Donnelly
profiled new Warner Bros.
Motion Picture Group
CEOs Michael De Luca and
Pam Abdy in Las Vegas and
Antibes, France. Guess
which setting he liked more?

Associate web editor

Ethan Shanfeld shared a
basket of french fries at
lunch with Drew Tarver and
Heléne Yorke and couldn’t
help but think of all the
shallow Hollywood journalists
depicted on their showbiz
satire “The Other Two.”

ȅ ȅ ȅ 

Cynthia Littleton Ramin Setoodeh

At Variety, the reporters in our newsroom
would be hard-pressed to name something they
love more than summer-movie season. It’s the time
of year when so many of us fell in love with the busi-
ness that we cover. Back in the day, there was that
unforgettable feeling of digging into a tub of pop-
corn as the air conditioning blasted, or breaking
curfew to fork over a few dollars to park at the
drive-in. And summer could even be a state of mind
— the big and bombastic movies that came out in
the warmest months were always there waiting at
video stores later in the year.
So much has changed in Hollywood, and in Amer-
ica, since the communal experience of moviegoing
defined relatively carefree times. The industry is
anything but relaxed now — between the writers
strike, an impending SAG strike, mass layoffs and so
much cost cutting that we’ve even heard a tale about
a top-tier director being asked to share a hotel suite
with a publicist.
Art director Will Hooks
designed the pages of this
Enter this week’s cover subjects. Mike De Luca and week’s cover story as well
as the Biz + Buzz section.
Pam Abdy are two studio chiefs who were hand-picked
Littleton: Photograph by Dan Doperalski; Setoodeh: Photograph by Alexi Lubomirski
“It’s seeing the small pieces
by David Zaslav last year to run Warner Bros. Pictures, come together to form a
big picture that makes my
a company that spent 100 years crafting unforgettable job satisfying,” he says.
movies from “Casablanca” to “Rebel Without a Cause”
to “A Clockwork Orange.” But with the rise of stream-
ing, did the pictures get smaller? With new releases
like “Barbie” and “Meg 2: The Trench” coming to cine-
mas, it’s betting audiences can still love the theatrical
experience. (One film that won’t be released by War-
ner Bros. is “Oppenheimer,” as its director, Christopher
Nolan, abandoned the studio in favor of Universal.)
“Pam Abdy and Michael De
Our Matt Donnelly’s time with them could have Luca’s even-keeled and
been a big-screen spectacular itself — together, he forceful personalities were
evident as we moved from
and his subjects spoke in Cannes, Las Vegas and back setup to setup around the
home in Los Angeles. And in their first long-form Warner Bros. lot,” says
photographer Art Streiber,
print interview, De Luca and Abdy address the chal- who captured the pair on
lenges of the job and how they hope to overcome May 3. “At every down
moment, they worked the
them. The two remain hopeful that this will be an phones and bounced ideas
old-school summer at the movies. And so do we. off of each other.”
 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3 VARIETY ● 9

B I Z + BU Z Z
Help Wanted: CNN struggles to find
a new leader after a

Crisis Experience a Plus disastrous year under

ousted CEO Chris Licht

CNN CEO Chris Licht was fired by Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav after a year; Amy Entelis is among his interim replacements. By Brian Steinberg

One of the most influential and

alluring jobs in journalism just
opened up. But it’s a rescue mis-
Licht: CBS; Zaslav: Ethan Miller/Getty Images; Entelis: CNN

sion, and the parent company of

CNN is about to find out if any-
body really wants the task of run-
ning the global news operation.
Warner Bros. Discovery is
expected to move deliberately
rather than quickly in its search
for a new CEO for CNN. Execu-
tives are telling staffers and TV
agents that it will likely take a few
months to fill the role that Chris
Licht held for one turbulent year.
Licht, the TV news veteran and
10 ●  ȣ 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3
“Late Show With Stephen Col-
bert” executive producer, was
ousted last week after spear-
heading a series of programming
moves and talent decisions that
kept “Turmoil at CNN” head-
lines circulating more often
than anything else produced by
the newsroom.
Licht’s final error was taking
part in a profile The Atlantic pub-
lished June 2 — 15,000 words de-
tailing “the Meltdown at CNN.”
Numerous statements from
Licht in the story and his ques-
tionable judgment in allowing a
reporter such broad access was
the last straw for his corporate
managers as well as CNN insid-
ers. Four days after the Atlantic
story hit, Licht was fired by WBD
chief David Zaslav.
Zaslav doesn’t have the lux-
ury of time to settle on his next
choice for CNN leadership. Licht
stepped into a messy and faction-
alized company when he signed
on in May 2022, two months after
previous chief Jeff Zucker was
abruptly ousted for failing to dis-
close his romantic relationship
with another senior CNN exec-
utive. Now Licht leaves an even
bigger dumpster fire in his wake.
The 2024 presidential elec-
tion cycle draws near, even as
the outlet’s ratings have fallen
and its staff has been buffeted
by job cuts, the shutdown of the
streaming video hub CNN+ and
rival companies picking up the
reporters and producers who
They have a short period of time, and I don’t
mean six months. They’ve got six weeks to work
’˜—–’ˆ—‹Œ‘Š‹ˆ•ˆĚĤĜĜ ˆť•ˆœ’‘‘ˆ‘‰ˆ‡ė
„ˆ†‹’’’‰„‘„Šˆˆ‘—ė’‘—‹ˆ–ˆ„•†‹‰’•
CNN’s next CEO
were laid off. CNN has been hob-
bled by internal scandals at a
time when it needs to tackle big-
ger issues such as cost-cutting
pressure and how the brand is
to survive in the streaming era.
“They have a short period
of time, and I don’t mean six
months,” says Jeffrey Sonnen-
feld, senior associate dean for
leadership studies at Yale School
of Management. “They’ve got six
weeks to work out something
here.” CNN declined to make ex-
ecutives available for comment.
The job search will no doubt
be tough. Established TV news
leaders may be put off by the
level of involvement in CNN
evidenced by Zaslav, who has
a well-earned reputation for
micromanaging. What’s more,
CNN’s roster of journalists is rest-
less after three ownership tran-
Poppy Harlow sitions for what was once Time
(left) is the last Warner in the past five years.
remaining
original anchor Staffers are eager to get CNN
of “CNN This out of the spotlight and the news
Morning,” after it produces back in. The drama
the departures
of Kaitlan Collins with Licht has distracted from a
(right) and bevy of big scoops related, for ex-
Don Lemon. ample, to the latest indictment of
former President Donald Trump.
To do that, they’ll have to
settle down with a new leader.
For now, CNN veterans Amy En-
telis, Virginia Moseley and Eric
Sherling will manage editorial
operations, with David Leavy, a
key Zaslav lieutenant, handling
all other business and adminis-
trative affairs. Entelis, an inter-
nal favorite, helped CNN win an
Oscar this year for the documen-
tary “Navalny,” and stayed even
as her original-programming
unit faced deep cuts. People who
know her say she has the respect
of the newsroom and is likely to
push back on Zaslav if she feels
his directions aren’t right for
CNN’s editorial mission.
Others who could be consid-
ered are occupied elsewhere.
Ben Sherwood, the former ABC
News president and Disney exec-
utive, is running a digital sports
startup. James Goldston, another
former ABC News president, is
working with Candle Media and
helped produce the Jan. 6 com-
mittee hearings. Jim Bell, the for-
mer producer of NBC’s “Today,”
Olympics coverage and “The
Tonight Show,” is working with
NewsBreak, a local news plat-
form. Noah Oppenheim, the for-
mer president of NBC News, has
turned to writing and producing.
And could there be a scenario in
which Jeff Zucker — currently
running RedBird IMI, a $1 billion
venture capital fund interested
in media, entertainment and
sports — returns?
Sherwood, Goldston, Oppen-
heim and Bell declined to com-
ment. A spokesperson for Zucker
declined to comment.
CNN’s business is so large
that some think the company
requires a true corporate man-
ager. Mark Hoffman recently
stepped down as chairman of
NBCUniversal’s CNBC after lead-
ing it for 17 years. While there, he
expanded the business news out-
let’s international holdings and
launched its digital operations.
Hoffman is known to dislike
publicity, however, and CNN is
constantly under scrutiny. The
executive could not be reached
for comment.
Meanwhile, CNN has other is-
sues to navigate. Its new morn-
ing show — a flashpoint during
Licht’s tenure that led to co-host
Don Lemon’s ouster — has not
fared well. Executives have con-
sidered pairing Poppy Harlow,
the last of the show’s original
trio, with Washington reporter
Phil Mattingly and CNN Interna-
tional correspondent Rahel Sol-
omon, according to three people
familiar with the discussions.
Dana Bash just took the reins of
the noontime program “Inside
Politics.” There is also a crushing
need to boost primetime, where
Kaitlan Collins will lead a new
9 p.m. show.
With so many programming
challenges and management is-
sues, CNN offers a thorny perch
at best. Only a handful of people
may have the experience to run
it, says Sonnenfeld, the Yale pro-
fessor. “They need someone with
an Edward R. Murrow sensibility
married with the strategic exper-
tise of Roone Arledge, someone
who has journalistic integrity
with a flair,” he says. Warner
Bros. Discovery needs to fill the
job without too much delay, he
adds: “After a short while, people
are going to want to have a sense
of direction.”
12 ●  ȣ 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3
How Will the Writers
Strike End?
WGA leaders vow to buck
the protocols of the past
By Gene Maddaus
In the summer of 1952, guilds rep-
resenting directors and actors
reached a historic deal with Hol-
lywood studios to earn a residual
on TV reruns. But the Screen Writ-
ers Guild held out for a royalty — a
percentage of the gross, not a flat
fee — and declared the first-ever
writers strike.
After three months, the writ-
ers accepted the residual and re-
turned to work.
That is the definition of “pattern
bargaining,” and that has been
the protocol for contract talks for
the Writers Guild of America, the
Directors Guild of America and
SAG-AFTRA ever since. The larg-
est studios and platforms make a
deal with one guild, and the other
two are usually forced to take the
same general terms.
The WGA is now in the middle
of its eighth industrywide strike.
Once again, union leaders are rail-
ing against pattern bargaining. In
a message to members on June 1,
the WGA called the strategy “gas-
lighting,” and said that it wouldn’t
work this time around.
“The era of divide and conquer
is over,” the guild said.
As the strike continues, the crit-
ical question is: Will it end the way
most previous ones have, with the
WGA taking a version of a deal al-
ready approved by another guild?
Or will it break from history?
Speculation about how the
strike that began May 2 will ul-
timately end has become more
prevalent since the DGA reached
its agreement with the Alliance
of Motion Picture and Television
Producers on June 3. The Direc-
tors Guild bargained for increased
minimums and a better stream-
ing residual, terms the AMPTP
could seek to apply to the WGA
and SAG-AFTRA, which began its
talks on June 7.
The DGA deal removes the
threat of an unprecedented triple
strike, while leaving the possibility
of a double strike if the actors walk.
That happened once — in 1960 —
when the Screen Actors Guild won
comprehensive residuals and a
pension and welfare plan after a
one-month strike. (The WGA strike
in 1960 began two months earlier
and went on for two months after,
resulting in similar terms.)
“If the actors strike, I suppose
one could make analogies to 1960,”
says Chris Keyser, co-chair of the
WGA negotiating committee, in a
text to Variety. “If they don’t, there
is no perfect analogy. Though the
writers, alone, may be on strike,
there is still unprecedented labor
solidarity and broad public sup-
port, in the industry and beyond.
... We are in a new world.”
The WGA also has argued that
this strike is different because the
writers, actors and directors are
pursuing different issues. While
there is overlap in residuals and
PATTERN OR NO PATTERN?
The guilds have some common issues, for which the DGA deal could be a template
Minimum Foreign Viewership-
increases streaming based residual
DGA deal residual DGA deal
5%, 4%, 3.5% DGA deal Not requested
76% increase
WGA demand WGA demand
6%, 5%, 5% WGA demand Shows with
25% hike in 200% more views
writer- increase pay more
producer Data
minimums SAG-AFTRA transparency
demand
SAG-AFTRA Unknown SAG-AFTRA
demand demand
Unknown Unknown
Sources: DGA, WGA, SAG-AFTRA, AMPTP statements
pay hikes, the WGA is focused on
writer-specific goals.
To some extent, that is always
the case. When the actors got a
deal in April 1960, the WGA told its
members: “It goes without saying
that our problems in many areas
differ from those of SAG and that
we in no sense feel bound by the
specifics of their deal.”
In 2008, the writers had to give
up on certain writer-specific con-
cerns and accept the pattern set
by the DGA for the union’s right
to cover the internet.
Even if the historical pattern
holds, however, resolution isn’t
necessarily imminent. The writ-
ers have often held out for weeks
or months after the other guilds
make their deals, hoping the pain
of the strike will force additional
concessions. The longest writers
strike, in 1988, lasted five months.
In that case, pressure within the
WGA began to build, and there was
a public campaign by a faction of
writer-producers who by then op-
posed the work stoppage.
There are no signs of that dis-
unity this time around. The WGA
and SAG-AFTRA have won strike
authorizations with 98% approval,
and support on social media is
likewise nearly unanimous. Maybe
this time is different.
“Historians like to find the con-
tinuities across different events,”
says Kate Fortmueller, assistant
professor of entertainment and
media studies at the University of
Georgia. “The more this unfolds,
the more I think it is unique in
Hollywood labor history.”
Artificial intelligence
DGA deal
AI is not a person
AI cannot replace director
Consultation on use
WGA demand
AI use cannot affect pay, credit
Illustration by Cheyne Gateley
AI cannot be trained on writers’
work
SAG-AFTRA demand
No AI use without permission, pay
AI cannot be trained without
permission
14 ●  ȣ 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3
Is Wes Anderson Leaving
Moviegoers Behind?
I’ve always been shy when it
comes to writing about Wes An-
derson, because he’s a filmmaker I
rarely connect with. When I watch
one of his movies, I can’t help but
see his talent (the visual wizardry,
the debonair lapidary cleverness),
but I feel like I’m experiencing
something that was made on a
different planet from the one I live
on. I first felt it at the Toronto Film
Festival in 1998 when I saw “Rush-
more” — because everyone there
did a backflip of ecstasy, hailing
Anderson as the filmmaker of his
generation, and I didn’t get it.
I mean, I kind of saw what
people were talking about: that
“Rushmore” was like “The Grad-
uate” for the new millennium,
that the Jason Schwartzman
hero had a formidable Holden
Caulfield-gone-meta-deadpan
attitude that was equal parts
devious and desperate, that the
Bill Murray character seemed
the apotheosis of Bill Murray,
and other things. But the bottom
line for me is that “Rushmore,”
on some essential chemical cine-
matic level, was too flip, too ironic,
too whimsical, too in love with its
cheeky postmodern self, and (yes,
let’s use the word! How could we
not?) too twee.
So alone did I feel in this percep-
tion, so shut out of the Wes Ander-
son cool-kid club, that I almost felt
like I needed to launch my own
club. My fear at the time was that
Anderson, with his relentlessly
stylized music-video-meets-Salin-
ger-meets-indie-hipster-absurd-
ist sensibility, represented a virus
that could kill movies. I envisioned
an entire generation of Wes An-
derson clones, turning movies into
cutesy dioramas from hell.
My hysteria calmed down rea-
sonably quickly. Three years later,
when I saw “The Royal Tenen-
baums,” I recognized that Ander-
son was actually a wily storyteller
who, though he staged a film like a
demented museum curator, could
devise a character as rich as Gene
Hackman’s Royal Tenenbaum,
who gave the movie a rueful spiky
emotional center. I still wasn’t ex-
actly an Anderson aficionado, but
my hater days were behind me.
In 2009, Anderson did some-
thing that delighted me: He
made “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” a droll
stop-motion animated comedy,
which seemed to be the ideal
form for his self-conscious sen-
sibility. I liked it better than any
of his live-action films. And then,
in 2014, Anderson did something
that, to my great surprise, blew
me away: He made “The Grand
Budapest Hotel,” the first movie
of his I all-out loved. It was a wildly
enthralling caper-thriller-adven-
ture, featuring the most brilliant
performance in any Anderson
film (by Ralph Fiennes). Was I now
(gulp!) … a fan?
‘Asteroid City’ marks the
director’s latest trip down
a rabbit hole of twee-ness
By Owen Gleiberman
I was willing to call myself one.
But it’s precisely as a Wes Ander-
son skeptic-turned-born-again-
admirer that I want to issue a
warning. Namely: For the first
time since the middle-aughts
days of “The Life Aquatic With
Steve Zissou” and “The Darjeel-
ing Limited,” Anderson is disap-
pearing down a rabbit hole. A
rabbit hole of pure insular Wes
Anderson minutiae passing itself
off as art.
Two years ago, “The French
Dispatch,” his wildly overstuffed
compendium of three short sto-
ries, was equal parts beguiling
and overwhelming. I met the
film halfway (it had funny and
trenchant observations to make
about modern art and the arm-
chair radicalism of Paris 1968), but
it was still too much of an overly
thought-out thing.
OK, it was just one movie. But
“Asteroid City” now Anderson has made “Aster-
doubles down on oid City,” which played to mixed
Wes Anderson’s
self-conscious reviews last month at Cannes and
sensibility. is set to be released June 23. It’s a
film lodged so far inside its own
Wes Anderson-ness that it never
comes out the other side. It’s like
“The French Dispatch” cubed. And
coming on the heels of that one,
it raises a question (or, at least, I’ll
raise it): Is Wes Anderson still an
Roger Do Minh/Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features
entertainer, or is he becoming a
fashion-victim fetishist of his own
aesthetic? What you feel watching
“Asteroid City” is Anderson dou-
bling down on everything that has
alienated viewers like me from so
many of his films.
Maybe I’m the wrong messen-
ger to say that. But the real mes-
sage is: This time, I don’t think it’s
just me.
16 ●  ȣ 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3
Remembered
1936-2023
Silvio
Berlusconi
By Nick Vivarelli
There are many reasons why Sil-
vio Berlusconi’s death, at 86 due
to complications from chronic
leukemia, represents the end of
an era.
Berlusconi single-handedly
created the concept of private na-
tional network television in Italy.
He was part of that rare breed of
Logan Roy-esque media moguls to
emerge in Europe in the late 1970s
and early 1980s, including Rupert
Murdoch and Germany’s Leo
Kirch. At a time when Italy’s air-
waves were monopolized by state
broadcaster RAI’s stodgy chan-
nels, his Mediaset TV platform
imported Hollywood series such
as “Dallas” and “Baywatch” and
movies like “Rambo” and “Conan
the Barbarian.” The locally pro-
duced topless quiz show “Colpo
Grosso” also defined Berlusconi’s
TV pioneer days. There was no
turning back.
After his Mediaset TV venture
boomed and the self-made mogul
snapped up daily newspaper Il
Giornale, the A.C. Milan soccer
team, film company Medusa and
top Italian publisher Mondadori,
Berlusconi went into politics in the
early 1990s. He did this blatantly
to defend his media interests and
ensure Mediaset remained Italy’s
dominant commercial TV player.
In doing so, Berlusconi managed
the feat of serving as the coun-
try’s premier three times, though
not consecutively, becoming
Italy’s longest-serving more-
or-less democratically elected
leader, undeniably thanks to his
sparkling personality, bound-
less energy and the empathic
connection he established with
voters of different social classes.
Being able to carpet-bomb the
electorate with political ads on
Mediaset, while also wielding in-
fluence on RAI’s news channels,
also helped. Italian politics, for
better or worse, will never be
the same.
However, what’s most signif-
icant about Silvio Berlusconi’s
passing, especially outside Italy, is
that the TV titan-turned-politician
was one of the last surviving true
media tycoons, along with Mur-
doch and Vincent Bolloré, founder
of France’s Vivendi.
Once Berlusconi is buried in
the monumental pink-marble-
and-granite tomb he built, it will
be interesting to see what hap-
pens to his outdated TV empire
and how his five children from
two marriages carve up that
empire. But two things are clear:
Mediaset, now rebranded Medi-
aForEurope, won’t benefit from
political protection in Italy’s Par-
liament anymore. And in both the
media and the political spheres
nobody has been designated to
pick up Berlusconi’s baton.
Carol Kane Boldly Goes
to ‘Strange New Worlds’
By Adam B. Vary
When Carol Kane was approached
about joining “Star Trek: Strange
New Worlds” for its second sea-
son, the celebrated 70-year-old
actor had to make a confession:
She’d never watched a single min-
ute of the venerated franchise.
“The science fiction world has
not really been attractive to me
for some reason,” Kane says. “Now
that I’m in it,” she adds with a
laugh, “I’m very excited about it. It
just wasn’t on my path until now.”
Clearly the producers were on to
something. Kane’s role on the Par-
amount+ series fits neatly within
her wheelhouse of sublime ec-
centrics, from her Emmy-winning
role on “Taxi” to supporting turns
in “The Princess Bride” and “Un-
breakable Kimmy Schmidt.” Here,
she plays Pelia, the new chief engi-
neer of the Enterprise and a mem-
ber of an alien species never before
seen on “Star Trek”: Lanthanites,
who are extremely long-lived and
utterly resemble humans, save for
a delightfully inexplicable accent
invented by Kane.
Carol Kane plays
the Enterprise’s
new chief engineer.
“I wanted her to sound like you
don’t know where exactly she
comes from,” Kane says. “There
is an elegance and a power to it.”
More challenging were the thick
gobs of “Star Trek’s” signature
technobabble that Pelia had to rat-
tle off without breaking a sweat.
Kane credits the show’s cast and
crew for explicating to her what
Pelia was saying. “I like to know as
much as I can about the made-up
science,” she says. “But I am not a
science- or math-oriented person.
So I don’t understand all of it. But
I do the best I can. Everybody’s
quite patient.”
As much as one can, Kane is
also preparing herself for how
the galaxy of “Star Trek” fans will
respond to her. “I’ve been told
that when you become part of the
world, you will experience a reac-
tion from the fans, which I guess
are called Trekkies,” she says. “I’m
kind of bracing myself for it, and
also excited about it.”
Despite her enthusiasm for
Berlusconi: Giorgio Cosulich/Getty Images; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Paramount+
joining the franchise, Kane has
yet to watch any “Star Trek.” “Well,
the writers said that they liked the
fact that I didn’t know it — they
felt that that would be useful for
my character,” she says. “I think I
will now.”
18 ●  ȣ 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3
‘Daisy Jones’
Is the Rare
TV Tuner to
Really Rock
The creators did their
homework by consulting
legendary musicians
By Michael Schneider
  
We’ve all made the “Cop Rock”
jokes. The Steven Bochco musical
drama, which premiered in fall
1990, was a big swing: marrying
original music with procedural
storytelling. It was a colossal flop
that we still talk about three de-
cades later, and a reminder that
musicals are hard.
Music has been a part of the
TV landscape going back to the
1950s and shows like “Your Hit
Parade.” But few series have
successfully integrated regular
music performances into their
storytelling: “The Monkees” and
“The Partridge Family” worked
in the 1960s and ’70s. “Fame”
did it in the early ’80s. And
then “Cop Rock” scared people
off the concept.
The 1990s animation boom in-
corporated music in shows like
“The Simpsons” and “Animani-
acs.” But not until the 21st century
did scripted series really figure
out how to make musical num-
bers work as part of the narra-
tive. “Flight of the Conchords”
did it with satiric tracks, while
“American Dreams” relied on
oldies nostalgia. The late 2000s
and mid-teens saw the gantlet of
musical shows: “Glee” (a smash
hit), “Eli Stone” (not so much),
then “Smash” (not a smash),
“Nashville,” “Empire,” “Crazy
Ex-Girlfriend” and “Galavant”
(should’ve been a hit). Most re-
cently, “Zoey’s Extraordinary
Playlist” was a brief critical fave
and Emmy winner.
But I don’t know that we’ve
ever previously had so many mu-
sic-intensive scripted series on
TV at the same time: Apple TV+’s
“Schmigadoon,” Paramount+’s
“Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies,”
Disney+’s “The Muppets May-
hem,” Hulu’s “Up Here,” Disne-
y+’s “High School Musical: The
Musical: The Series,” Apple TV+’s
“Central Park.” And then there’s
Amazon Prime Video’s “Daisy
Jones & the Six,” which harks back
to the age of “The Monkees” — a
fake band performing real, orig-
inal music.
I have a confession to make: I
can’t stop listening to the album
“Aurora,” by Daisy Jones & the
Six. You could have fooled me
into thinking this was a real band
from the 1970s. The team behind
the series, based on the book by
Taylor Jenkins Reid, set out to
create something cut from the
same cloth as Fleetwood Mac’s
landmark 1977 release “Rumours.”
And they kind of did.
Prior to the writers strike, I
talked to executive producers
Scott Neustadter and Will Graham
about creating an entirely new
band. Said Graham: “The hard-
est part was we have to make an
album that stands with the greats
of this period.” Then there came
the serendipity of working with
music producers Blake Mills and
Tony Berg at Sound City Studios
in Van Nuys.
“Sound City is the place where
Mick Fleetwood first heard Lind-
sey Buckingham play the guitar
and has this amazing, storied his-
tory,” Neustadter notes. If these
walls could sing: Elton John, Nir-
vana, Tom Petty, Guns N’ Roses,
Johnny Cash and Red Hot Chili
Peppers all laid down tracks there.
“Daisy Jones & the “The space of Sound City has
Six” harks back this unpretentious magic,” Gra-
to “The Monkees”
— a fake band ham said. “You can kind of feel the
playing real music. ghosts of everyone who’s recorded
there. We wanted the audience to
be in these rooms with the charac-
ters. So that became a huge part of
the show and the writing process.
We had the unique experience of
getting to watch Blake and Tony
make this album and write some
pieces of that into the script.”
Honestly, the more I hear about
Neustadter and Graham’s pro-
cess in researching for “Daisy
Jones,” the more jealous I get.
They talked to Bernie Taupin
about his long-standing collab-
oration with Elton John. Sonic
Youth’s Kim Gordon shared
stories in the writers’ room about
what it’s like being married
to your bandmate. Edward Sharpe
and the Magnetic Zeros’ Nora Kirk-
patrick was a writer on the show.
Meanwhile, because of
COVID-related production de-
lays, the series’ stars, including
Riley Keough and Sam Claflin,
Lacey Terrell/Prime Video
became more than just actors
pretending to be a band. Daisy
Jones & the Six turned into some-
thing real, and it’s on repeat in
my earbuds. I never could say the
same about “Cop Rock.”
20 ● OUR TOWN 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3

OUR TOWN

Rae: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Sony Pictures Releasing; Pascal: Christopher Polk; Coolidge: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; Richardson: Momodu Mansaray/Getty Images; Jackson: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Alexander McQueen
JUST FOR VARIETY
(1)

Issa Rae (1) plays President Barbie in Greta Gerwig’s

much anticipated movie based on the iconic Mattel
doll, but getting into character inspired a Marilyn Mon-
roe performance too. “When I put on the costume and
wig, I was like, ‘OK, they did this,’ and I laughed,” Rae
(2)
told me at the premiere of “Spider-Man: Across the Spi-
der-Verse.” “Then I went into my trailer, and I filmed me
singing ‘Happy Birthday, Ms. President’ like Marilyn.”
The clip is still on Rae’s phone, and she said she
may post it on social media closer to the release of
the movie.
Meanwhile, Rae laughed when I reminded her
what she told me roughly three years ago during an appearance on the “Just for Vari-
ety” podcast (then called “The Big Ticket”): She said she was a longtime Spider-Man
fan but felt the studio was “oversaturating” him. “I still stand by that, but this is dif-
ferent,” Rae said. “It really is. I love that it marries all of the versions together, and it (3)

…
pokes fun at itself. And he’s a kid of color — it’s Miles Morales!”

Speaking of Spidey, producer Amy Pascal (2) revealed she was more than just worried
that the first movie, 2002’s “Spider-Man” starring Tobey Maguire, wouldn’t work. She
was head of Sony at the time and recalled spending most of the world premiere in the
bathroom crying. “I was terrified,” Pascal said. “How do you know? You never know!”
But, she said, her fears disappeared on opening day: “It was one of the greatest days of

…
my life.” Not that she’s resting on her laurels: “I’m not calm. If I ever get calm, shoot me.”

In Jennifer Coolidge’s (3) Variety Actors on Actors conversation with Jeremy Allen (4)
White, she proposes that Tanya return to “The White Lotus” as a seagull, so she can
poke out the eyes of her evil husband Greg (Jon Gries). Haley Lu Richardson (4),
who played Tanya’s assistant, Portia, weighs in on killing off Greg for this week’s “Just
for Variety” podcast. “Jon and I worked together in the first movie I ever did — when I
was 17 — called ‘The Last Survivors,’” she recalls, adding, “I was the hero and he was the
villain. I killed him at the end of the movie with a samurai sword.” She says she’d like to
re-create that moment in Season 3 of “The White Lotus,” which takes place in Thailand.

…
“Portia is somewhere in Asia with a samurai sword and kills Greg,” she says, laughing.

SIGHTINGS: Jeremy Renner, Angela Bassett, Lance Bass, Bill Hader, Ali Wong,
Tiffany Haddish, Nigel Lythgoe, Gabrielle Union, Lil Rel Howery and Jon Cryer (5)
taking in Janet Jackson’s (5) concert during opening night of the Hollywood Bowl’s
summer season. After opening the show, Ludacris joined his “Fast X” co-stars
Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster and their director Louis Leterrier
in a box seat. The performance culminated with a fireworks display as Jackson sang

…
“Rhythm Nation.” The night raised more than $3.4 million for the LA Phil.

Lisa Vanderpump’s iconic restaurant Pump has dipped out of WeHo, and the reality
show maven has no plans to resurrect the eatery. “It was purely a business decision,”
Vanderpump tells me. “With rents being $80,000 a month now, there’s just no way.”
22 ● OUR TOWN 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3

EXPOSURE
Edited
Edit d by
b Marc
M M
Malkin
lki

CHEEK TO CHEEK: Becky G

and Eva Longoria attend
a special screening of
Searchlight Pictures’
“Flamin’ Hot” on June 9 at
Hollywood American Legion
Post 43 in Los Angeles.

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic/Getty Images
24 ● O U R TOW N 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3

Ramos/Fishback/Nwigwe, Bay: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images/Paramount Pictures (2); Davidson, Caple/Dinklage: Nina Westervelt for Variety (2);
EXPOSURE
June 8
‘Elemental’
Premiere
Academy Museum, Los Angeles Peter Sohn

“Elemental” director Peter

Sohn says the Pixar Ani-
mation film began as a way
to honor the experience of
immigrant families. The film Leah Lewis
notably touches on Sohn’s
upbringing as the child of
Korean parents. “This project
started with me thanking my

Christopher Polk for Variety ( 7 )

parents for all the sacrifices
they made as immigrants
Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback and Tobe Nwigwe coming to this country,”
Sohn told Variety. “I came to
the studio and told the story
to everyone, and they’re like,
‘That’s the movie you need to
do.’ And from that point on,
Hayley Erbert
it’s just been trying to honor
Mamoudou Athie and Derek Hough
that story.”

Elemental, Race to Erase MS Gala:

Ga
June 2
Race to Erase
rase MS Gala
Michael Bay
Fairmont Century Plaza, Century City

June 5 The 30th annual eventt raised more than $2 mil-

‘Transformers:: lion to support multiplee sclerosis research. Long-
time attendee David Faustino said he was even
Rise of the Beasts’
asts’ more committed to helping
cure after his “Married
lping find treatment and a
d … With Children” co-star
Premiere Christina Applegate was diagnosed with MS.
“It’s becoming closer and closer to me,” said
Faustino. “Before, this event was something
Kings Theatre, New York City Pete Davidson I came to to help make e money and support
the cause, and they’ve e all become family and
After filming parts of the friends. But now it’s really
ally close to home, so
Jay Huguley
action movie in Brooklyn, stars it makes me want to be e here even more.”
Anthony Ramos, Dominique
Fishback and other cast mem-
bers returned to the borough,
where a life-size model of the
new Autobot Mirage (played
in the film by Pete Davidson)
and a Boston Dynamics robot
dog joined them on the red
carpet. The seventh “Trans-
formers” movie introduces the
animal-themed Maximals and
takes the story back to ’90s
New York. “Anthony and I were
friends before this, so we talked
about doing something epic
together, something Brooklyn,”
Fishback told Variety. “We
Steven Caple Jr. Siedah Garrett, Nancy Davis
didn’t know the universe was Lindsay and
and Peter Dinklage and Cinq à Sept’s Jane Siskin
conspiring to give us this.” David Faustino
26 ● OUR TOWN 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3

EXPOSURE

Megan Thee Stallion Janelle

Monáe

Carey,, Megan Thee Stallion : Christopher Polk for Variety (2); Monáe: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images; Cho: Mario Tama/Getty Images; Roberts/Fonda/Rosenthal/Weinstein: Steve Eichner for Variety;
Tribeca Festival; Elordi/Quinto: Kristina Bumphrey for Variety; Ross: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival
June 9-11
LA Pride LLos Angeles

The LGBTQ community and its allies celebrated Pride Month with a two-night
concert series at Los Ange
Angeles State Historic Park toplined by Megan Thee Stallion
and Mariah Carey. The weekend
we culminated with a Hollywood parade featuring
Timo Nuñez, Margaret Cho
Icon Grand Marshal Margaret
Marga Cho and Janelle Monáe riding on the ACLU
Mariah Carey at LA Pride in the Park and Kenny Hash
SoCal’s community grand marshal float.

Robin Roberts, Jane Fonda, Tribeca Festival’s Jane Rosenthal

and Paula Weinstein at the “Following Harry” reception

Chance the Rapper, Stephanie Okereke

Linus and Derek Luke attend the jury lunch

ce the Rapper/Okereke/Luke: Jason Mendez/Getty Images for T

Jacob Elordi and Zachary Quinto at
Tracee Ellis
the “He Way” premiere
He Went That Way
Ross at the
Ros
“Cold Copy”
premiere

June 7-14

Tribeca Festival New York City

Jane Fonda received this year’s Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice Award. The Oscar winner
recalled her friendship with the late actor and musician during a conversation moderated byy “Good
Morning America” host Robin Roberts. “I told him I didn’t want to be an actor anymore because
use it
caused a divide between me and the people I was working with,” Fonda said. “He told me, ‘Fonda,
onda,
the movement has enough organizers. We don’t have any actors.’” She continued, “I neverr
wanted to live on a mountain and dole out money. I wanted to be down there with the people who
needed the money.” In presenting the award, Alicia Keys revealed that she and her Hollywoodod
activist friends, including America Ferrera and Kerry Washington, turn to Fonda first for advice
vice
on any number of issues: “She shows up. … She lives and breathes the life she speaks of.”
Chance
28 ● OUR TOWN 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3

EXPOSURE

Michael Arden

Noah Galvin
and Ben Platt

Eichner for WWD ( 7 ); Parks, Newell: Greys: Aurora Rose for Variety (2)
Lupita
Nyong’o

Suzan-Lori Parks
s

Brian d’Arcy James

June 11 and Ariana DeBose

Tony Awards
wards
United Palace, New York
rk City

The 76th annual ceremony

eremony was a
Joel Grey and
scriptless affair due
ue to the writers
Jennifer Grey
strike. But that certainly
rtainly didn’t
mean presenters and winners
didn’t have a lot to
o say. The over-
J. Harrison Ghee

Ghee, Hayes: Steve Eich

riding theme of the e night was a
call for inclusion and
nd diversity,
especially broughtt home when
Alex Newell (“Shucked”)
ucked”) and
J. Harrison Ghee (“Some Like It
Hot”) became the first nonbinary
acting winners in Tonys history. “I
James/DeBose, Ghee

should not be up hereere as a queer,

nonbinary, fat, Black
ack little baby
’o James/DeBose

from Massachusetts,”tts,” Newell

said. “And to anyonene that thinks
that they can’t do it, I’m going to
look you dead in your
our face that
you can do anything ng you put your
Galvin/P latt, Parks, Arden, Nyong’o,

mind to.” While accepting

cepting the
Tony for direction of a musical for
“Parade,” Michaell Arden recalled
being bullied with the “F-word.”
When he proudly proclaimed, “Now
I’m a faggot with a Tony!” he was
bleeped by CBS, but ut cameras
quickly turned to the
he audience
to capture fiancés Ben Platt and
Sean Hayes
Noah Galvin cheering
ering him on. Alex Newell
DOUBLE
DOUBLE

P.30
 DOWN
DOWN
CAN A KILLER ROLODEX AND
IMPECCABLE TASTE HELP MICHAEL
DE LUCA AND PAM ABDY RESTORE
GLORY TO WARNER BROS.?

By MATT DONNELLY
Photographs by ART STREIBER

P.31
VARIETY 06.14.23

And sing, they have. In a starkly dif-

ferent setting a month before, with the

AS
AAS
clatter of slot machines blaring in the
distance, I met De Luca and Abdy in Las
Vegas. They’d come to Sin City hoping
to reassure movie theater owners that
Warner Bros. was ready to deliver the
kind of blockbusters — “Barbie,” star-

W
WAVES
WAVES
ring Margot Robbie; “Dune: Part Two,”
with Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya;
and “The Color Purple,” with Oprah
Winfrey producing — that it has strug-
gled to produce in recent years. But as

SSWIRL
SWIRL
they rehearsed the important intro-
duction, De Luca couldn’t help but joke
about the low life expectancy of studio
chiefs in a business that’s never been
more treacherous to navigate.
“We’ll try to keep this job for more

IN
IIN
INTHE
THE
than two years,” De Luca said, sharing
a private laugh with Abdy. The quip
didn’t make it into their final speech,
being too frank an assessment of the
dire situation facing an industry still
battered by a pandemic and shifting

IINFINITY
INFINITY
INFINITY
consumer habits.
Two years before, at CinemaCon,
De Luca and Abdy were handing out
different business cards. In 2020,
they were tapped to run film at MGM,
where they lined up buzzy projects

PPOOL
POOL
— to mixed results — such as Ridley
Scott’s “House of Gucci,” Joe Wright’s
musical flop “Cyrano” and Paul
Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza,”
before the studio sold to Amazon for
$8.5 billion.
“We thought of MGM as an opportu-
nity to test our theory about original
movies with signature filmmakers,
and supporting first-timers,” De Luca

(Previous spread) Hair & Makup: Sophia Porter using Bumble & Bumble
says. “The legacy studios seemed gun-
shy in taking original swings, and we
thought they were leaving a lot of tal-
ent and material on the table.”
DeLuca and Abdy would know. As
a young hot-shot production chief at
of the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy take in the view New Line in the 1990s, De Luca helped
of the rolling hills of Antibes. The sun beats down so fiercely on a lily-white discover the likes of David Fincher
tablecloth that the co-CEOs and co-chairpeople of the Warner Bros. Film Group and made “Austin Powers” into one
shield themselves with Gucci and Ray-Ban shades. They resemble the all-pow- of the most profitable comedy fran-
erful studio chiefs of yore — or at least their surroundings do. A lot has changed chises in history. He later produced
since the Golden Age of Hollywood: Jack Warner didn’t have two smartphones prestige adult dramas like “The Social
constantly buzzing, misconduct allegations involving “The Flash” star Ezra Miller Network” and “Captain Phillips,” land-
and cratering share prices to worry about. ing Academy Awards nominations
“It’s so competitive now,” De Luca says, looking out at the shimmering water. and selling plenty of movie tickets
“We all have to sing for our supper.” in the process. Abdy came to prom-

P.32

inence as a top production executive
at Paramount, and later worked at
New Regency and Makeready, where
she shepherded auteur-driven films
such as Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s “The
Revenant,” Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter
Island” and Adam McKay’s “The Big
Short.” Clearly, they know their way
around the Oscars and A-list talent.
Back at the du Cap, they’re inter-
rupted. The familiar face that crashes
our table isn’t an agent or an actor
— but someone far more powerful:
their new boss, Warner Bros. Discov-
ery CEO David Zaslav, who stops by to
say that he’s going all-in on that theory
they tried to institute at Amazon. In a
plain white T-shirt and a Warner Bros.
centennial hat, the CEO snaps a photo
of his film chiefs being interviewed,
like a doting dad at an amusement
park. Zaslav says he expects a diverse
slate of films from De Luca and Abdy:
“Romantic comedies, gangster films,
horror, tentpoles, the gamut,” he says.
None of these movies, he continues,
will be made for streaming only, but
will instead receive theatrical releases
exclusively. “See you back here in 10
years,” says Zaslav, in Cannes for the
premiere of the racy HBO series “The
Idol.” “We’ll be toasting the 200 movies
that Mike and Pam have made.”
There’s a bit of irony to this scene. In
the past 14 months, Zaslav has been an
industry disruptor since he finalized
Discovery’s acquisition of Warner Bros.
Just last week, his vision for a new, less
partisan (and passionate) CNN seem-
ingly backfired with the humiliating
ousting of the network’s CEO Chris
Licht. At the film studio, however, his
move to install the respected duo of
De Luca and Abdy has provided some
much-needed stability.
After yet another corporate merger
and a shocking upheaval of the way
movies are typically released (cue
Jason Kilar’s ill-fated two years as
WarnerMedia CEO), De Luca and Abdy
are banking on their deep ties to A-list
filmmakers to make Warner Bros. a
destination for artists again.
“I’ve been at Warner Bros. for a long
time, because it’s the best studio in
the world for filmmakers,” says Todd
Phillips, director of the billion-dollar
“ROM-COMS, GANGSTER
FILMS, HORROR. IN 10
YEARS, WE’LL BE TOASTING
THE 200 MOVIES MIKE
AND PAM HAVE MADE.”
hit “Joker” and its upcoming sequel
starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady
Gaga. “But in recent years, the studio
kind of lost its way. To me, Mike and
Pam are a sign to everyone that War-
ner Bros. is back on track. They have a
deep respect for what we do.”
or generations, Warner
Bros. had been the gold
standard when it came to
nurturing top filmmak-
ers like Phillips. It’s where
Clint Eastwood was given the license
to move from action flicks like “Dirty
Harry” to directing contemplative dra-
mas like “Mystic River” and “Million
Dollar Baby,” where art-house favorite
Christopher Nolan was entrusted with
the “Batman” franchise, and where
actor Ben Affleck was allowed to move
behind the camera to Oscar-winning
effect with “Argo.”
But that legacy imploded in the
early days of the pandemic when
Kilar, who ran the now defunct War-
nerMedia, decided to debut the entire
2021 Warner Bros. film slate on HBO
Max. His reasons were complicated.
COVID had forced cinemas to close for
months, and even when they were able
to reopen, moviegoers were wary of
returning.
At the time, WarnerMedia, under
then-owner AT&T, was trying to bol-
ster a streaming service that had
launched during the public health
crisis. But it’s how Kilar announced
the decision publicly in the press,
with nary a word to stars and pow-
erful agents who had brokered deals
exclusively for theatrical releases, that
outraged the artistic community. The
town (make no mistake, that’s how the
06.14.23 VARIETY
DAVID ZASLAV
insular world of show business sees
itself) went nuclear, decrying Kilar’s
“self-dealing” and slamming him for
failing to engage it beforehand. Clearly,
the whole mess left a lot of artists
feeling burdened and worried about
working with the studio — including
Christopher Nolan, who took his next
project, “Oppenheimer,” across the
street to Universal. Abdy, all business
at the du Cap, says she and De Luca “are
through the worst of it.”
De Luca and Abdy say they weren’t
looking for such a plum gig when the
Warners job came available. Largely
unsure about how Amazon wanted to
“relate” to MGM after the acquisition,
“we said all the best to them and started
talking about launching a production
company. Then Zaslav called,” De Luca
remembers. Zaslav was looking to
make a change, ushering out 30-year
WB veteran Toby Emmerich as film
chief last June and replacing him with
new blood. For De Luca and Abdy, that
meant inheriting a movie studio that
came in fourth place in terms of market
share in 2022. Their mission is not only
to deliver hits for movie theaters, but to
flex some of their career-defining taste
to restore the luster to Warner Bros.
Already, the pair have greenlit eight
movies at a studio that, like all of Hol-
lywood, has had to face two words that
are poison to the industry’s penchant
for excess: cost cutting. They’ve been
able to pony up big money for an adap-
tation of the ubiquitous mobile game
Minecraft, starring Aquaman himself,
Jason Momoa, as well as enlist Tim
Burton to revive his demented pol-
tergeist comedy with “Beetlejuice 2.”
At the same time, they’ve splurged
on splashy talent packages, a new spy
thriller for Angelina Jolie and Halle
VARIETY 06.14.23

Berry, and have landed rights to best-

selling author T.J. Newman’s latest
aerial thriller “Drowning.”
Looking to field an entire team of
Oscar winners and nominees, with a
healthy dose of genre rock stars, De
Luca and Abdy recently secured over-
all deals with Baz Luhrmann, “The Bat-
man” director Matt Reeves and M. Night
Shyamalan (and greenlit his daughter
Ishana’s directorial debut at New Line).
They landed the next film from buzzy
“Barbarian” director Zach Cregger in
a brutal multi-studio auction. Abdy is
actively pursuing Iñárritu, with whom
she made two movies as production
chief at New Regency. She and De Luca
also brokered a splashy pact to make
new “Lord of the Rings” films, and vis-
ited Peter Jackson in New Zealand to
reestablish the studio’s connection to
the franchise’s original director.
And, yes, they want to mend fences
with Nolan. The “Batman” mastermind
is perhaps the studio’s most success-
ful director, one who lit a match and
walked off the lot after Kilar’s day-and-
date debacle, grousing with scorched-
earth flair that he went to bed working
for the greatest studio in the world
and woke up working for the worst
streaming service.
“We’re hoping to get Nolan back,”
De Luca says. “I think there’s a world.”
Both executives concede that Uni-
versal Filmed Entertainment Group
chairman Donna Langley is a force
to be reckoned with, as she secured
“Oppenheimer” after his public
breakup with Warners. De Luca and
Abdy remain hopeful. Two sources
familiar with Nolan say that the direc-
tor received a seven-figure royalty
check from Warner Bros. within the
past eight months. The payment was
tied to his 2020 film “Tenet,” which
the studio released. A source says De
Luca, Abdy and Zaslav all agreed he
was owed the bonus in good faith.
No strings were attached, according
to insiders, but the studio was partly
motivated to repair that fractured
relationship. In a sign that the healing
has begun, Nolan has done post-pro-
duction work on “Oppenheimer” on
the Warners lot. (A rep for Nolan did
not respond to a request for comment
on the matter.)
Making artists feel valued is clearly
important to De Luca and Abdy, Abdy and De Luca on the Warner Bros. lot

P.34
06.14.23 VARIETY

P.35
VARIETY 06.14.23
whose mantra is “Let’s give people
white-glove treatment and get that
repeat business.”
But those gloves can get dirty. In
the current moviemaking landscape,
many productions are in limbo in
the wake of the writers strike, and
sets could shut down entirely if the
actors union officially joins the Writ-
ers Guild of America on the picket
lines next month. Beyond labor ten-
sions, the theatrical box office is still
clawing out of the crater left by the
pandemic. Consumer habits keep
shifting as studios change how and
where movies are released. Over the
course of COVID, theatrical windows
— the industry term for the amount
of time movies appear exclusively
in cinemas — shrank dramatically
as more films did away with the big
screen altogether in favor of stream-
ing debuts.
All that experimentation has failed
to satisfy investors. In fact, Wall
Street has grown disenchanted in
recent months with the economics
of streaming, believing that launch-
ing streaming services has cost too
much money and produced too few
profits. No media company has been
left unscathed, with share prices drop-
ping across the sector — Warner Bros.
Discovery’s stock has plunged nearly
50% since the merger in 2022. And that
selloff has spurred waves of layoffs
and cost cutting around Hollywood.
Economizing means sacrifice, evident
when I spotted Abdy in the Southwest
Airlines queue headed to Las Vegas
from L.A., pulling her own carry-on.
Typically, studio heads fly private jets
that are fired up before they’ve even
closed out their presentations with
“Good night, CinemaCon!”
And so Hollywood has changed
course yet again, with Warner
Bros. Discovery announcing that
its film group will no longer make
straight-to-streaming movies. “Not
only do we want to open more
motion pictures, but our theory
is that we’ve got to leave them
in theaters as long as possible,”
Zaslav says.
One set of movies that the two exec-
utives won’t have to worry about are
those involving Batman, Superman
and the rest of the Justice League.
The executives say that in one of their
P.36
first conversations with Zaslav they
suggested they spin off DC Studios
into a separate entity, as Disney did
with Marvel. To that end, “Guardians
of the Galaxy” director James Gunn
and producer Peter Safran took the
DC mantle last year.
“I think James has such a vision for
these characters. He lives and breathes
them,” De Luca says.
When it comes to what kinds of
projects excite them, the pair shy away
from what Abdy calls “executive-led
development,” where junior film exec-
utives and hungry writers “want to
do well and follow instructions.” She
concludes, “You end up with these
scripts that don’t have a controlling
filmmaker vision at the center.”
But here’s the catch: Respecting
filmmakers and giving them free-
dom and financial support can lead
to great movies, it’s true. It does not,
however, always result in big hits.
That was certainly the case when De
Luca and Abdy ran MGM. “Cyrano,”
an attempt to reimagine the classic
love story as a musical starring Peter
Dinklage, raked in all of $6.4 million
in domestic box office receipts. “Lic-
orice Pizza” managed to score MGM
its first Best Picture Oscar nomina-
tion in more than 30 years, but it still
lost tens of millions of dollars. In fact,
most of the movies that De Luca and
Abdy backed at MGM failed to turn a
profit (the notable exceptions being
“No Time to Die,” “Creed III” and the
Channing Tatum drama “Dog”).
De Luca argues that the box office
was hobbled by the pandemic. “We
were releasing movies in between
variants,” he says. Looking wistful,
though, he adds, “The one that breaks
“IF HE’S ON A CALL WITH
SOMEONE AND I OWE
THEM AN ANSWER, I JUST
YELL ACROSS THE
OFFICE. IT WORKS FOR US.”
my heart is ‘Cyrano.’ I loved it, but I
admit it didn’t work.”
e Luca and Abdy are
more approachable
than your average Hol-
lywood bigwigs. “She’s
a Jersey girl; he’s a
Brooklyn guy,” Zaslav says of his newly
minted studio chiefs. “You’re not going
to find two more real people.”
Abdy and De Luca are East Coast
Italians at their core. They talk about
food with the same fervor as they dis-
cuss the films they make, and brag
about finding the best pizza in France
during Cannes (it was a hole-in-the-
wall called Mammas in the town of
Juan-les-Pins).
At home on the Warners lot, they
share an office. Abdy takes her posi-
tion at a standing desk, with De Luca
sitting nearby — and four smart-
phones forming a porous barrier
between them. “I really feel like we
get much more done,” says Abdy. “If
he’s on a call with someone and I owe
them an answer, I just yell across the
office. It works for us.”
Their slate is still taking shape, and
many of the movies they’ve greenlit
won’t hit theaters until 2024 at the
earliest. In the meantime, they’ll
spend this summer shepherding
“Barbie” and “Meg 2: The Trench”
— high-profile projects that were
started in the previous WB regime.
Greta Gerwig, who co-wrote and
directed “Barbie,” praises De Luca and
Abdy for making her feel supported
throughout production on her $100
million movie. “I’ve never done a sum-
mer movie. Usually, I’m playing a cou-
PAM ABDY

Gutter Credit
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Joker 2, Dune Part Two: Folie à Deux: Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros. (2); Barbie:: Warner Bros.; Flash: DC Comics/Warner Bros.
ple festivals and hope someone buys
the film,” she says. She was particu-
larly touched that Emmerich, De Luca
and Abdy all came to her L.A. location
shoot in a show of solidarity. “Every-
one was on the same team of making
good movies. It was like having two
sets of grandparents,” Gerwig says.
De Luca and Abdy also committed
to changing the culture at Warner
Bros. by hosting movie nights with
preeminent filmmakers. “After the
AT&T years, everyone felt a bit of bat-
tered child syndrome,” De Luca says.
“We have one of the best film librar-
ies in existence, so we started inviting
our filmmakers to come and choose
a movie that inspires them and talk
about it with our staff.”
On any given night, visitors to
the lot have come to see Luhrmann
discuss “Rebel Without a Cause,”
George Clooney stop by to screen “All
the President’s Men,” Andy Muschi-
etti share “Superman” and — surprise
— Nolan wax poetic about “Chariots
of Fire.” (The program has been
temporarily suspended out of
9$5,(7<
respect for the writers strike.) it can goose theatrical marketing
The centerpiece of a week on the include HDTV’s pitch to make a full-
lot is Zaslav’s direct reports meeting, scale Malibu dream house to promote
not at the du Cap but in a conference Warners’ upcoming “Barbie.” Later
room attached to Jack Warner’s office this year, they say, Food Network
(where Zaslav sits when in Los Ange- will go all-in on chocolate-themed
les). When Discovery took control programming tied to the release of
of Warner Bros., Zaslav “de-layered” Chalamet’s “Wonka.”
the studio, Abdy says — removing The new realities of the movie busi-
the Byzantine structure that existed ness became clear to De Luca and
under Kilar, which had Ann Sarnoff, Abdy with the release of one of their
Warner Bros. chairwoman, running first big movies, “Don’t Worry Dar-
the show across different entertain- ling,” which they’d inherited. When
ment entities. the sci-fi allegory premiered at Venice
“It’s like Knights of the Round Table,” last August, its director, Olivia Wilde,
De Luca says, “It’s us, Casey Bloys, was overtaken by bad press about her
Channing Dungey, JB Perrette from dating Harry Styles, one of her stars,
streaming and games, and so on. It’s and feuding with the leading lady,
like a big family dinner.” Florence Pugh.
Abdy thinks the new structure is How did it feel to be in the middle of
most efficient in “how we talk about such a Hollywood hurricane?
each other’s talent. If there’s some- “That was just a bad PR head wind,”
thing our people are interested in De Luca says. “I found it a little sex-
on the TV side, if someone wants ist because if a male director had a
to make a reality show, we can have romance with someone on his cast?
those conversations in a way I don’t It happens all the time; no one cares.”
think happened before.” Abdy sighs, adding, “It’s an age-
Examples of that synergy and how old story.”
 Heléne Yorke
and Drew
Tarver, the
hilarious
brother-sister duo
from ‘The Other
Two,’ navigate
the hardships of
Hollywood
in another
season of
their beloved
Max comedy

By
Ethan
Shanfeld
 VARIETY

06.14. 23

IT’S
Together, Yorke and Tarver form the over-
looked brother-sister duo referenced in the
title of Max’s “The Other Two,” which, as the
third season heads toward its June 29 finale, has
become the most incisive Hollywood satire on
television. From former “Saturday Night Live”
head writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider,

NOT
the series follows millennial siblings Brooke and
Cary Dubek as they struggle to find their footing
in New York City, all while being overshadowed
by their 13-year-old brother, Chase (Case Walker),
whose surprise hit single turns him into a Bieber-
esque pop phenom. That feeling of inadequacy is
compounded in Season 2, when their mom, Pat,
played by Molly Shannon, becomes a daytime TV
star not unlike Ellen DeGeneres.
In Season 3, Cary, an actor, finally works his way

LONG
up to C-list celebrity status, while Brooke, after
talent managing her famous family members,
decides to leave the industry to “do good.”
“Cary and Brooke were always struggling, fall-
ing on their face, not getting what they wanted,”
Tarver says. “This season is exploring: ‘Hey, you’re
getting what you wanted, and you’re still not ful-
filled. Technically, you should be happy right now.’”
“I myself went through that during pandemmy
times,” Yorke says. “I was like, ‘I’m an actor. I don’t
do anything but sit around and make self-tapes
and whine about myself. I’m doing nothing that
after I request a quiet table in the back, reporter’s notebook and tape recorder in
helps anybody. I’m not doing the good work.”
hand, that the hostess of this rustic East Village trattoria asks who I’m meeting. Sitting shoulder to shoulder, the co-stars
behave like real-life siblings. Yorke, in a blue
When I tell her Drew Tarver and Heléne Yorke, her eyes light up in recognition
baseball cap advertizing “Nora Ephron’s Bread
before she begins listing other stars who frequent the restaurant: Ben Stiller; Pudding,” ribs Tarver about his new car (“Do you
Tyler, the Creator; Emily Ratajkowski; Ziwe. As I scan the menu, she recom- think you’re a dick-swinger now that you have a
Tesla?”). And when Tarver fusses over the spici-
mends the chicken Milanese — Pete Davidson’s favorite entrée. ¶ This interac- ness of his chicken sandwich, Yorke rolls her eyes
tion might sound celebrity-obsessed, verging on grossly superficial. But then and says: “Give me a bite of this!”
Tarver, who lives in Los Angeles, is visiting New
again, I’m about to sit down with the stars of “The Other Two,” the hilarious and York to promote “The Other Two” with Yorke,
scathing satire of how fame consumes, corrupts and confines us. ¶ Not long who lives with her husband and 1-year-old son
in Brooklyn. They’ve had more luck on this press
after we’re all seated, Yorke says with a hearty laugh, “Being an actor is, in many tour than Cary, whose fame-seeking has become
ways, a humiliating experience.” ¶ We’re not yet five minutes into our inter- so intense in Season 3 that in one episode, he trav-
els across town for an interview with TheBrook-
view, and she and Tarver are already lynBurrito.com, which ends up being a mental
diving deep into the mini hardships health facility treating those desperate enough
to travel across town for an interview with The-
of Hollywood: Waking up at 5 a.m., BrooklynBurrito.com.
recycling answers at virtual press Tarver’s own introduction to Hollywood is
scarily close to his character’s. In fact, it started in
junkets, avoiding parts that require a 2003, when his younger sister, singer-songwriter
certain number of Instagram follow- Katelyn Tarver, competed in a short-lived “Amer-
ican Idol” spinoff called “American Juniors,”
ers. “A lot of people who have aspi- hosted by Ryan Seacrest.
rations in this business think it’s all “Growing up in Georgia, the thought of being
an actor was preposterous,” Tarver says, a slight
about fame and going to fancy stuff,” twang in his voice suddenly evident. “But her
Yorke continues. “But everybody is doing that made me realize a career in entertain-
ment was possible. I was like, ‘OK, my sister sings,
just hungry and bloated, has a cramp
P. 40 and is holding a fart.”
and I’m medium-funny at a barbecue.’” When
Katelyn went to New York to record an album,
 means money. Is this a gross way to talk about it?”
For the stars of “The Other Two,” the goal is not
to break the box office or turn heads when they
walk into every restaurant (although they admit
it feels good that the hostess watches the show).
Yorke and Tarver say they’re more focused on
working with people they admire and finding
projects that inspire them.
“To be here, talking about a show that people
love is such a pleasure,” Yorke says. “I didn’t have
some raging success in my 20s. I’m proud to be in
Tarver, then 18, tagged along and started taking
something that’s great.”
classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade. Soon after,
Before the check comes, I ask if either of them has
he moved to L.A. to pursue comedy.
any particularly humiliating showbiz memories.
Raised in Los Angeles, Yorke studied theater
Tarver pauses. “My dad was an onion farmer,”
at the University of Michigan before working
he says, laughing before he can even get the story

P. 41
her way up to New York productions of “Bul-
out, as Yorke shakes her head in disbelief that he’s
lets Over Broadway” and “American Psycho.” “I
digressing to his childhood, rather than his life
never thought fame was available to me,” she says.
“When I was in school for theater, I just wanted to
be famous enough to meet Prince William.” She
pauses, folding a slice of prosciutto pizza. “This
is when he was hot.”
Both Yorke, 38, and Tarver, 37, have dozens of
television roles under their belts, from early gigs
as Hooters Girl and Homeless Gang Member #2,
respectively, to substantial roles in “Masters of
Sex” and “Bajillion Dollar Propertie$.” But “The
Other Two” marks the biggest moment of each of
their careers. Debuting in 2019 on Comedy Cen-
tral, the series then moved to HBO Max, steadily
growing an audience of comedy fans and the very
type of industry insiders the show satirizes. That
includes the cast members themselves.
“When you’re being a little bit dumb about
something, you immediately stop and realize,
‘Oh, we’re making fun of me,’” Yorke says. “Some-
times my own husband goes, ‘You gotta be careful
— you’re really being a Cary Dubek.’”
That the actors find themselves slipping into
the tendencies of their characters is a testament
to the series’ firm grip on its subject matter. “The
Other Two” captures a contemporary kind of suc-
cess, where actors spend their days in Zoom wait-
ing rooms, self-taping and scrolling themselves
to sleep while searching for praise on Twitter.
Chase, once a bright-eyed young singer, has been
reduced to a mere conduit for brand deals and
celebrity partnerships. In one Season 3 episode,
his publicist, played brilliantly by Wanda Sykes,
admits to inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to distract
from Chase’s apparently terrible album released Yorke and Tarver in
the same day. Unlike, say, “Entourage,” the show “The Other Two”
doesn’t depict “making it” as all that fun.
“Fame is a prison,” Yorke says. “You’re removed
from humanity in a way that breaks your brain. in Hollywood. “During the summer, there was a
Really famous people forget how to be humans.” convention, and me and my sister were going to
Of course, Tarver and Yorke still maintain a dress up like onions and be in front of his booth
certain amount of privacy. But they’ll be the first like, ‘Come buy Daddy’s onions!’” Throwing up jazz
to admit that even modest fame “fucks with your hands, he imitates his younger self with an Oompa
sense of who you are.” “You think of yourself as Loompa-like inflection. “I thought I wanted the
less of a human being and more like something spotlight. The day of, I got in the onion suit and
(Previous spread & this page) Greg Endries/MAX (2)

you’re selling,” Yorke says. “That’s what’s hard
about being an actor — you’re just selling, selling,
selling yourself.”
That mentality of constantly fighting for shelf
space, Yorke adds, can seep into an actor’s self-
esteem. “You get to a point where you want parts
and they’re out to people who just got nominated
for an Oscar,” she says. “And you’re like, ‘What
I’ve done will never be enough.’ Margot Robbie
can read ‘Barbie’ and be like, ‘I want this to get
made.’ And it will get made because her name
started bawling. I wouldn’t go out.”
Tarver eyes Yorke in anticipation of a snarky
response, and, on cue, she puts down her pizza.
“It’s funny that it was an onion suit and you
started crying.”
“It mimics what we do now,” Tarver says, ignor-
ing her, “which is ‘Look at me, look at me, look at
me!’ And then — ‘Ooh! Do I want this?’”
VARIETY “Speak for yourself, Drew,” Yorke says, snapping
into character with an exaggerated hair toss. “I
06.14. 23 love it.”
0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3 VARIETY ● 45

AWARDS CIRCUIT

The
Director
Emmy voters have the chance to reward several prominent helmers with nominations for the first time.
Meanwhile,‘The Secrets of Hillsong’ grapples with a difficult search for the truth
46 ● AWARDS CIRCUIT ● EMMYS: THE DIRECTOR
Searching for the Truth
The director of ‘The Secrets of Hillsong’ landed the first post-scandal interview
with former pastor Carl Lentz
When former Hillsong pastor
Carl Lentz first sits down in the
chair to be interviewed for FX’s
docuseries “The Secrets of Hill-
song,” he lingers in silence for a
long moment. Nearly impercep-
tible tears well up in his eyes. “I
really don’t want to mess up my
TV makeup,” he says.
The four-part docuseries de -
tails the downfall of the mega-
church and, particularly, Lentz,
who serves as one of the main
focal points for the first two epi-
sodes. Produced by Scout Prods.
By Rachel Seo
and Vanity Fair Studios, “The
Secrets of Hillsong” is the second
doc to focus on Hillsong — but the
first to land interviews with Lentz
and his wife, Laura.
Lentz, whose charisma and
force of personality charmed
thousands of churchgoers during
his time at Hillsong — including
celebrities like Justin Bieber —
was ousted from his post as lead
Director Stacey pastor in 2021 after Ranin Karim,
Lee isn’t sure a jewelry designer, announced
whether Carl Lentz
was being truthful that she and Lentz had been hav-
in their interviews. ing an affair. Lentz’s downfall pre-
cipitated closer examinations at
the seemingly glamorous mega-
church, which had been long
shielding its superstars from
criticism — much of which came
internally from volunteers, who
witnessed what they call abuses
of power from leadership.
“He hadn’t worn TV makeup
since he was last at Hillsong,”
director Stacey Lee told Variety as
part of “Doc Dreams,” presented
by National Geographic. “That
moment of him sitting in that
chair was not only a flashback,
0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3
the first flashback he had to his
former life. But it’s also the flash
forward, too, like what’s he going
to say in order to start to walk
back all of these things that he’s
done and been a part of that were
really not great. And I think that’s
what that moment really signifies
in the documentary.”
Besides the husband-and-wife
duo, Lee interviewed over 50
people for the series, including
former members of Hillsong,
who recounted their often-
traumatizing experiences in the
 XX
0 6 . 1X4X..22002232 VARIETY ● 47

church and with Lentz. Facilitat-

ing those interviews required a
lot of trust between the subjects
and the interviewers. “Anybody
that speaks up against Hillsong
or has an alternative narrative to
the image that’s presented have
been really shut down and iso-
lated,” she said.
The process of getting Carl and
Laura Lentz into the interview
chairs was also a tricky task,
one that started with a cold text
message.
Executive producer of “The
Secrets of Hillsong,” David Col-
lins, tells Variety that he reached
out to Lentz with a text that was
“a mile long,” in which the “Queer
Eye” creator unpacked his own
experience with Hillsong. Collins,
who identifies as gay and grew up
Southern Baptist in Ohio, regu-
larly attended the Los Angeles
location for a year and a half,
often bringing his children and
his partner with him.
But one Mother’s Day, after
Collins told the Sunday school and continue to wonder about the continued revelations about the founding: Frank Houston and his
teacher that his daughters were church,” Lee said of interviewing Former pastor church’s shady dealings continued son, Brian Houston.
conceived via egg donor, the other Lentz. She stated that her goal as a Carl Lentz to come out, Lee explained that “We are dealing with multiple
gave his first
man responded: “Well, you know documentarian is to break down she would ask the Lentzes about levels of abuse,” Lee said. “There
interviews in the
we teach the Bible here.” the façade that celebrities and four-part series. any new information that had is just so much to wade through
“I felt the blood just drain from other public figures often project just surfaced. “I would go back to with this story … As we talked
my body,” Collins says. “I remem- when they’re being interviewed. them and confront them about the about it on screen, and even as
ber taking my hands of my daugh- “With Carl, that took multiple, things that we were learning in the we edited it, we revisited it over
ters and walking out of the room multiple, multiple interviews.” reporting and ask again and again and over again to ensure that, that
and walking out of that church, Former Hillsong members as well because this is a live story.” vulnerability, that trust was on it.”
just broken, devastated. I didn’t in the series attested to Lentz’s The docuseries makes it clear, She added, “It continues to
ask the hard questions: ‘What’s the power as a performer, going so far however, that the Lentzes’ story unravel even as we locked our cut.
core belief at this church? What is as to say that Lentz could, seem- was just one part of the overar- It was important until the pencils
this church built on? What is the ingly, cry on command. So, does ching narrative involving the were finally down that we contin-
foundation that you’re teaching?’ Lee feel like Lentz was truthful in church as a whole. If the first two ued and we pushed as far as we
And it wasn’t even a don’t ask, his responses to her? episodes focus on Lentz, the sec- could and as hard as we could.
don’t tell policy. It was all are wel- “It’s a tough question,” Lee said. ond two examine the system of And we certainly, I feel like the end
come, except not all of you, not all “That’s a really tough question. A Hillsong and alleged abuses — result is incredibly well-balanced
of this family that I was in.” lot of criticism about Carl is how and cover-up — committed by and thorough and deeply, deeply
Collins recounted his story in charming he is, how magnetic he the people integral to the church’s human.”
his text message to Lentz, who is. … He was an incredible preacher.”
responded within minutes: “Want She continued, “I would ask
to grab lunch?” questions often — and Carl will tell
The two ate oysters in down- you this himself — over and over
town Los Angeles, swapping again because when you work with
stories about fatherhood, recov- celebrities, when you work with
ery and their experiences in the people who are media-trained,
church, but Lentz was reluctant they know how to answer things a
to participate in the docuseries. certain way. They have their beau- We are dealing with multiple levels of abuse.
Over half a year after the initial tiful, well-rounded answers.” There is just so much to wade through with
interaction, he finally agreed. Still, she tried to push where this story … We revisited it over and over
Gutter Credit

“It was an opportunity for us to she could. The Hillsong story was
ask the questions that so many still developing as she and her again to ensure that that vulnerability, that
congregants are still wondering team filmed and edited, and as trust was on it.” — Stacey Lee
FX
48 ● AWARDS CIRCUIT ● EMMYS: THE DIRECTOR
Top of the Rookie Class
A look at hot helmers who may harvest their first Emmy hardware this year
The Emmy race has never been she’s helmed episodes of Max’s
more crowded for those working “Tokyo Vice.” But “Beef” serves as
behind the camera on TV’s most an undeniable pronouncement of
acclaimed series. what’s to come.
While these directors below
have never won Emmys, their Peter Hoar
work on this year’s juggernaut Fresh off directing Max’s “It’s a
dramas, side-splitting comedies Sin,” Hoar helmed “Long, Long
and affecting limited series could Time,” the third episode of HBO’s
change that come September. freshman hit “The Last of Us” —
possibly the most-loved episode
Hikari of television this year. The fea-
The titular “Beef” between Amy ture-length outing tells the
(Ali Wong) and Danny (Steven sweeping tale of Bill (Nick Offer-
Yeun) in Netflix’s hit limited man) and Frank (Murray Bartlett),
series wouldn’t be as raw if not who find love in the aftermath of
for Hikari’s direction in the pilot the mushroom apocalypse. In
episode. Relatively unknown to “Beef,” starring the thick of it, Hoar’s delicate but
many audiences, Hikari’s shorts Ali Wong and assertive direction drew resound-
Steven Yeun, could
and feature have played film fes- lead to Hikari’s ing praise that could earn him
tivals like Berlin and Tribeca and first Emmy. a nomination.
By Hunter Ingram
Rian Johnson
Peacock’s “Poker Face” isn’t John-
son’s first foray into television.
The Oscar nominee helmed one
of TV’s most-lauded episodes
with “Breaking Bad’s” penulti-
mate outing “Ozymandias.” But he
wasn’t nominated for an Emmy,
making his work on “Poker Face’s”
pilot episode the perfect chance
for voters to recognize him.
Clare Kilner
As only the second woman to
direct an episode within the
hallowed halls of the “Games of
Thrones” franchise, Kilner makes
a commanding debut behind the
camera for three of the most con-
sequential episodes in “House of
the Dragon’s” freshman run –– the
0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3
battle at the Stepstones in “Sec-
ond of His Name” (Episode 4), the
signature chaotic wedding in “We
Light the Way” (Episode 5) and
the political coup in “The Green
Council” (Episode 9).
James Ponsoldt
Best-known for films like “The
Spectacular Now” and “The End of
the Tour,” Pondsoldt brought his
brand of dramedy to Apple TV+’s
new therapy series “Shrinking”
for the pilot, fourth and fifth epi-
sodes. It also never hurts to pop
up elsewhere on the ballot, which
could happen for Pondsoldt. He
directed the first half of Ama-
zon’s rock-and-roll limited series
“Daisy Jones & the Six.”
Nzingha Stewart
Speaking of “Daisy Jones & the
Six,” it was no easy task ending the
decades-spanning story on a sat-
isfying note. But Stewart rose to
the occasion with “Track 8: Looks
Like We Made It.” Her background
of directing music videos for the
likes of Jay-Z and Missy Elliott and
recent episodic work on Netflix’s
“Maid” and “Inventing Anna”
made her an excellent choice for
bringing this music saga — and
possibly Emmy gold — home.
Christopher Storer
The tone and the tension at the
root of FX’s category-defying
series “The Bear” begins with
Storer’s direction in the pilot epi-
sode. As showrunner and creator,
Storer helmed more than half the
first season and understood the
kind of environment he needed to
build inside the kitchen. And then
he executed it with the precision
of a master chef.
Jon Watts
Watts took a break from deliv-
ering some of Marvel’s most
successful theatrical hits — the
last three “Spider-Man” films
— to direct the pilot of FX’s Jeff
Bridges-led drama “The Old
Andrew Cooper/Netflix
Man.” While it has been nearly a
year since the series premiered,
Watts’ taut direction, coupled
with his name recognition in the
industry, firmly places him as an
Emmy contender.
 XX
0 6 . 1X4X..22002232 VA R I E T Y ● 51

Theaters in Europe Bounce Back

European exhibition executives have reasons to be cheerful By Ben Croll

Gutter Credit
Warner Bros.

“Barbie” looks to goose the global box office when Warner Bros. releases the anticipated title, starring Simu Liu, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, in July.
52 ● FOCUS ● CINEEUROPE 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3

The walls of Barcelona’s

international convention center
might soon rattle once the 4,000
European exhibitors, suppliers
and service providers in town
for the CineEurope trade show
breathe out a collective sigh of
relief. At the root of such succor
are Europe’s more than encourag-
ing box-office admissions, which
saw a marked uptick in late 2022
and have continued to rise into
the new year.
“I think this edition will be very
much about celebrating because
2022 was a much better year than
2021,” says Laura Houlgatte, CEO
of the Intl. Union of Cinemas
(UNIC), which tends to the needs
of cinema trade associations
and exhibitors across the old
continent. “[What’s more] the
numbers for the first quarter of
2023 have left everyone in a very
good mood.”
Organized by the Film Expo
Group, and running from June
19 – 22, the Barcelona-based
trade show will bring together
operators and exhibitors from a
diverse set of territories all lifted
by the same rising tide. Whereas April — Houlgatte also credits Disney’s “Indiana Jones and the pertinent, as exhibitors consider
early 2023 admissions in Ger- strong domestic slates in France, Dial of Destiny,” and Paramount’s “Indiana Jones both the wider environmental
many, Norway and Finland have Germany and Finland as key “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reck- and the Dial of impact of concession-driven
come within percentage points drivers. “It is imperative to have oning Part One” have all got UNIC Destiny” got a businesses that trade in so much
PR boost when
of equivalent pre-pandemic fig- a constant flow of content com- members buzzing, while another it premiered at disposable material alongside the
ures, receipts in France, Austria ing into our cinemas,” she adds. summer title has operators tee- Cannes in May. larger regulatory ramifications of
and the Netherlands have all “We must make sure to avoid any tering on edge. next year’s European parliamen-
bested those 2017-2019 numbers empty months.” “Everyone is extremely excited tary elections.
by at least 2%. Summer slate presentations about ‘Barbie,’” she says. “There’s “The industry needs to address
While the robust performances from Studiocanal, Warner Bros., huge hype.” these concerns from a wider
of blockbusters like “Avatar: The Sony Pictures, Universal, Para- With pandemic shutdowns fad- operational perspective,” Houl-
Way of Water” and “The Super mount and Disney will hopefully ing into the rear-view mirror, with gatte explains. “This is prompted
Mario Bros. Movie” certainly see to that, alongside a handful international travel restrictions by a number of national laws that
played a role — not least by push- of feature screenings still to be lifted, and with local exhibitors are coming into force, which ask
ing analysts from Gower Street confirmed. Houlgatte tells Vari- no longer qualifying their opti- all businesses to be more sustain-
to amend their 2023 global box ety that from those upcoming mism as “cautious,” this year’s able. [And] we need to address
office forecast by 10% this past slates, Universal’s “Oppenheimer,” CineEurope promises both sig- those policy issues that could
nificantly higher attendance than potentially have an impact on the
in previous editions and a more way cinemas operate.”
far-reaching view. “I wish we could leave the word
Conferences and case studies ‘recovery’ behind us, and I hope
will focus on national Cinema that we will by next year,” Houl-
Days and pricing mechanisms gatte continues. “But we’ve been
as ways to eventize new releases building on and getting better
and lure audiences back, while in terms of admissions and
another panel will consider the in terms of content flow [and
—Œ–Œ“ˆ•„—Œ™ˆ—’‹„™ˆ„†’‘–—„‘—Ť’š new technologies – including AI – now] it’s time to look forward,
of content coming into our cinemas. as possible tools to improve user to ask how best to adapt, invest
Lucasfilm Ltd.

experience and marketing. and innovate so to provided

We must make sure to avoid any empty Moreover, questions of sus- cinemagoers with the best expe-
months.” — Laura Houlgatte tainability will prove especially rience possible?”
 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3
Italian Fest Aims to Boost
Country’s B.O. Numbers
Filming Italy Sardegna programs big films, sets big stars and tackles the issue of post-
pandemic cinemagoing
The Filming Italy Sardegna
Festival that kicks off Italy’s sum-
mer moviegoing season will play
a prominent role in the ongo-
ing push to lure Italians back
into movie theaters, just as the
country’s box office is starting to
gain traction.
A robust roster of talents from
Hollywood and Italy and a solid
lineup of premieres are booked
for this event, which combines
film and TV and unspools June
22-25 in the Forte Village resort
near Cagliari, capital of Sardegna
(Sardinia in English). The fest is
set to take place just as the Italian
government starts to invest €20
million ($22 million) to promote
moviegoing through a campaign
Sony Pictures
called Cinema Revolution, under
which cinema tickets will be half-
price for a limited time.
By Nick Vivarelli
“While in past years I struggled
to find films, this time around
I have 50 titles,” notes Tiziana
Rocca, the marketing guru and
former Taormina Film Festival
chief who launched the Sardinia
event six years ago.
To help restore moviegoing
mojo, Rocca has secured the
Italian bow of racy Jennifer Law-
rence comedy “No Hard Feelings”
as the opener, while the local
launch of latest DC offering “The
Flash” will be the fest’s closer. The
selection is in the spirit of “try-
ing to stimulate word of mouth
on the part of the youth demo-
graphic,” she says. Other movies
premiering locally include Pix-
ar’s “Elemental,” Liza Azuelos’
“Room of Miracles” and Italian
vampire comedy “Un matrimo-
nio mostruoso.”
VARIETY ● 53
grandfather Costantino Nivola
was an artist who fled Nazi and
Fascist persecution and settled
in New York in 1939.
The Italian talent contingent
comprises ace director Mat-
teo Garrone and A-list actors
Francesca Chillemi, Claudia
Gerini, Paola Cortellesi and
Laura Chiatti.
Besides being a local industry
booster, Filming Italy Sardegna
also serves as a campus of sorts
for more than 2,000 Italian film
students from more than 20 film
schools who will be attending
screenings and masterclasses
and reaping benefits from the
informal contact with stars and
industry execs.
Highlights from fest’s TV com-
ponent include the Italian pre-
miere of Netflix’s animated comic
series “Nimona,” which is set in
a techno-medieval landscape
where magic and technology com-
bine, HBO’s “The Idol” and Italian
megahit “Mare Fouri” (“The Sea
Beyond”), which is set in a youth
detention center overlooking the
bay of Naples where male and
female inmates contend with
being incarcerated as they explore
Jennifer Lawrence
love and dream of a better life.
and Andrew Barth
Feldman star in The Filming Italy industry panel
comedy “No Hard will explore the prospects and
Feelings,” which
hopes for Italy’s box office, which
screens at Filming
Italy Sardegna. in 2022 tallied a measly 44.5 million
admissions, a 48% drop compared
While the catchy opening and with its average pre-pandemic
closing titles will not have talent level. That total is also below the-
in tow — though Lawrence will atrical moviegoing recovery rates
be taping a salute to the fest that for Europe’s main territories
will be shown at the premiere — though Italy’s numbers have
— Rocca has recruited stars to been gradually improving in the
make the trek, including Rosario first half of 2023 — as well as chal-
Dawson, who, reflecting the fest’s lenges faced by the Italian industry
strong accent on women in the in the international market arena.
biz, will receive its Filming Italy Panelists include RAI Cinema
Women Power Award; Richard chief Paolo Del Brocco, Fremantle
Gere; Laura Dern and Woody Group COO Andrea Scrosati and
Harrelson, who will be having a Italy’s deputy culture minister
joint onstage conversation; Den- Lucia Borgonzoni.
nis Quaid; Christopher Walken;
Aaron Eckhart; Dominic West;
Emile Hirsh; and “Fast X” star TIPSHEET
Daniela Melchior. WHAT: Filming Italy Sardegna
Actor Alessandro Nivola will WHEN: June 22-25
hold a masterclass with Variety’s WHERE: Forte Village Resort,
executive VP of content, Steven Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy
Gaydos, during which he will talk WEB: filmingitalysar-
about his Sardinian roots. His degnafestival.it
 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3 VARIETY ● 55

REVIEWS
The Flash
By Owen Gleiberman

FILM REVIEW
Director: Andy Muschietti

Starring: Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton,

Ezra Miller is mesmerizing as the titular speedster in “The Flash.” Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon

In comic book movies, when it

comes to a hero’s superpowers
— flying, lifting objects, repelling
bullets — the audience is almost
always on the outside looking in.
But in “The Flash,” when the title
character throttles forward at
the speed of the hot-singe light-
ning streaks at his back, or floats
through the air in slowed-down
motion so that a mere second
appears to last forever, the movie
makes us part of the experience.
We know just what he’s going
through, which is why the scene
gives you a jolt.
Early on, Barry Allen (Ezra
Miller), a forensic chemist in the
Central City Police Department,
receives a call from Alfred (Jer-
emy Irons) — yes, that Alfred —
letting him know that there’s an
attack underway, and that none
DC Comics/Warner Bros.

of the other Justice League mem-

bers, notably Batman, is around
to help. So Barry, in his form-fit-
ting red thermal crystal helmet
and suit, zoom-runs to Gotham
56 ● REVIEWS
City, where he confronts a high-
rise hospital whose east wing is
collapsing, leaving a nursery full
of newborns falling through the
air. The extended sequence in
which he saves them, grabbing
energy bites of candy and bur-
rito in between, has the feel of an
underwater comedy ballet. It’s
life-or-death but cheeky as hell.
Just like our cracked hero.
Miller’s the Flash is an old
friend, of course, from “Batman
v Superman: Dawn of Justice,”
“Suicide Squad” and both ver-
sions of “Justice League.” But
Ezra Miller has never gone full
Ezra Miller the way they do in
“The Flash.” With sculpted dark
eyebrows and insinuating lips,
the actor is a mesmerizing cam-
era subject, like the young Jimmy
Fallon crossed with the young
Bob Dylan. But it’s the voice that
gets you. In “The Flash,” Miller is
insouciant, irritated, irascible
and irresistible, like Andy Cohen
on a bender of high anxiety. With
the possible exception of Dead-
pool, no straight-as-an-arrow DC
or Marvel superhero has exhib-
ited this level of psycho flippancy,
this antic dissociation from his
own heroism.
The Flash’s speedster abilities
are all about the relativity of
time, so it feels right that “The
Flash” starts off as a knowing riff
on “Back to the Future.” Barry,
mirroring Batman (played, in an
older-and-wiser cameo, by Ben
Affleck), is haunted by the specter
of violently losing a parent — in
Barry’s case, his adoring mother,
Nora (Maribel Verdú), who was
CREDITS: A Warner Bros. Pictures release of a Double Dream/Disco Factory production. Producers: Barbara Muschietti, Michael Disco. Executive producers: Toby Emmerich, Walter Hamada, Galen Vaisman, Marianne Jenkins. Director: Andy Muschietti. Screenplay: Chris-
tina Hodson. Camera: Henry Braham. Editors: Jason Ballantine, Paul Machliss. Music: Benjamin Wallfisch. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 144 MIN. Cast: Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú, Kiersey Clemons, Jeremy
Irons, Antje Traue
Older and younger
versions of the
Flash (Miller) are
joined by Supergirl
(Sasha Calle) in the
comic book caper.
murdered after his father, Henry
(Ron Livingston), went out to buy
a can of crushed tomatoes. When
Henry returned, he was arrested
and charged with Nora’s murder;
he’s now appealing his sentence
from prison. Speeding into the
cosmos so quickly that he goes
back in time, Barry decides that
he’s going to rewrite what hap-
pened, the “butterfly effect” be
damned. So he saves his mother’s
life, but oh, is that going to mess
with reality.
Suddenly, there are two Bar-
rys: the time-traveler and the
18-year-old college freshman,
with longer hair, an even bitch-
ier attitude and no superpow-
ers yet. And suddenly the world
is a different place too, with
crisscrossed pop-culture wires,
so that the star of “Back to the
Future” is now ... Eric Stoltz. (OK,
that’s a serious disturbance in the
universe.) Barry restages the lab
accident that gave him his pow-
ers, and the result is that young
Barry becomes the Flash, and
older Barry loses his powers com-
pletely. Did I mention that Gen-
eral Zod (Michael Shannon), the
glowering heavy from Krypton,
has just landed on Earth?
There’s a lot going on in “The
Flash,” and for a while it’s an
entertainingly heady comic book
caper of time-warp heroism and
identity. Miller, putting a spin of
effrontery on every line, is the per-
fect actor to play this corkscrew
superhero. When the two Barrys
break into Wayne Manor, only
to discover that Bruce Wayne,
played in the multiverse strand
they’re in now by Michael Keaton,
is a hairy hermit in flip-flops, the
film seems alive with possibility.
Keaton is a more suave Bruce now
than he was in 1989, and when he
suits up and says, “I’m Batman,”
audiences will feel a ripe tingle
of nostalgia.
The trouble with “The Flash” is
that as the film moves forward,
it exudes less of that “Back to the
Future” playfulness and more of
that mythological but arbitrary
blockbuster self-importance.
Directed by Andy Muschietti
(the “It” films), from a script by
Christina Hodson (“Bumblebee”),
the film turns into a top-heavy
noisy-busy picaresque, gathering
up characters and themes along
the way. Look, it’s Kara Zor-El
(Sasha Calle), aka Supergirl!
Look, it’s older Barry regaining
0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3
his superpowers, and now Zod
needs Supergirl’s DNA to recon-
stitute Krypton. And what about,
you know, the space-time con-
tinuum? By the climax of the
movie, that’s become a glob-
ule of grandiosity, with room
for crowd-pleasing cameos by
everyone from TV’s old Batman
and Superman to a slightly more
recent Batman. This is the “Spi-
der-Man: No Way Home” strat-
egy: Gather a bunch of iconic
actors on-screen and let the
audience whoop with pleasure at
the referentiality.
The thing is, none of it makes
a lot of sense. In “The Flash,” the
multiverse of possibilities that
opens up by toying with the past
becomes an excuse to throw
everything but the Batcave sink
at the audience. Despite the vivid-
ness of its star, the movie steam-
rolls Ezra Miller’s personality as
it goes along. The climactic bat-
tle against General Zod, with its
kamikaze Batplane death zooms,
its overblown sound and fury, is
working too hard to engulf us
after a story that did a nifty job
of beguiling us. For a while, Ezra
Miller brings it. But in the end they
Warner Bros.
deserved better, and so do we.
 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3
The Righteous Gemstones
By Alison Herman
TV REVIEW
Comedy-drama: HBO (9 episodes;
all reviewed); June 18
Cast: Danny McBride, Adam DeVine,
Edi Patterson, John Goodman
Last month, HBO said goodbye to
two of its signature series: “Suc-
cession,” a tale of three born bil-
lionaires vying to replace their
aging patriarch; and “Barry,” an
action comedy that unlocked new
levels of ambition in its star-au-
teur, Bill Hader. Fans — and, one
presumes, the network — were
left with a vacuum the next sea-
sons of “The White Lotus” and
“House of the Dragon” are too
far off to fill. Fortunately, a show
that combines the best of both its
erstwhile peers returns June 18
for a third season. “The Righteous
Gemstones” remains consistent
in its outrageous opulence and
crude humor, but its latest chap-
ter is unusually well timed.
Like “Succession,” “The Righ-
teous Gemstones” follows a
family poisoned by wealth and
power at a crucial inflection
point; like “Barry,” the show has
a visual panache that defies our
expectations for a half-hour
comedy. But unlike either show,
“The Righteous Gemstones”
Jake Giles Netter/HBO
resists the impulse to justify its
grandeur with dramatic or tragic
elements. The Gemstones are not
the Roys, forced to confront the
emotional poverty beneath their
material riches, nor Barry Berk-
man, scrambling for redemp-
tion without real accountability.
They’re buffoons, their idiocy
only amplified by the motor-
cycle chases, musical sequences
and megachurch sermons that
immerse us in their world. The
straightforward comic tone
doesn’t detract from the sharp
observations made by creator
Danny McBride and longtime
collaborators including Jody
Hill, John Carcieri and David Gor-
don Green. Instead, it channels
their insights into masculinity,
the South and American con-
servatism, previously honed on
“Vice Principals” and “Eastbound
& Down.”
At the start of Season 3, the
Gemstone siblings — eldest son
Jesse (McBride), singer Judy (Edi
Patterson) and deeply repressed
Kelvin (Adam DeVine) — are
technically in joint control of the
church founded by their deceased
mother, Aimee Leigh (Jennifer
Nettles), and now-retired father,
Eli (John Goodman). Despite the
de facto throne room they’ve built
for themselves (“What we’re going
for is that when people come in to
meet, they feel a little less,” Jesse
explains), the younger Gemstones
have a far shakier grip on author-
ity than their parents. Without Eli
to shepherd their flock, the tel-
evangelists are now vulnerable
to rivals like the Simkins siblings,
a trio of orphans led by Stephen
Dorff’s Vance who’ve had to work
for the role the Gemstones inher-
ited. McBride’s ability to attract
top-tier talent for relatively small
parts continues to pay dividends;
elsewhere this season, Shea
Whigham stops by as an aging
race car driver courting the Sim-
kins’ endorsement.
Meanwhile, Eli’s estranged sis-
ter, May May (Kristen Johnston),
comes out of the woodwork to ask
for help. May May’s branch of the
family is more radical and much
less well-off than her brother’s;
Eli threads the needle of Christi-
anity and capitalism, but May May
and her ex-husband, Peter (Steve
Zahn), are true believers who han-
dle snakes and prep for the apoc-
alypse. When Peter’s extremism
goes too far and provokes the ire
of the U.S. government, May May
asks Eli to take in her sons, Chuck
(Lukas Haas) and Carl (Robert
Oberst) — igniting old resent-
ments about their different life-
Adam DeVine, styles and points of view.
Danny McBride To fans of “The Righteous Gem-
and Edi Patterson stones,” these subplots might
star in “The
Righteous sound familiar. Last season, too,
Gemstones.” featured a figure from Eli’s past
VARIETY ● 57
who exposed the unsavory greed
behind the dignified preacher
(Eric Roberts’ Junior); that saga
also introduced eccentric figures
from the wider world of evan-
gelical celebrity (the Lissons, a
scammy couple played by Eric
André and Jessica Lowe). The
show isn’t making new points
about the hypocrisy of for-profit
worship. It just underscores them
in ever more audacious ways:
with monster-truck rallies and
pyrotechnics and episode-length
flashbacks and a poolside music
video starring Walton Goggins’
veneered crooner Baby Billy
dressed as a giant oyster. Like
most of “The Righteous Gem-
stones,” that last bit must be seen
to be believed. Once you have,
though, you’ll be as loyal a con-
gregant as any in the Gemstone
Salvation Center.
CREDITS: Executive producers: Danny McBride, Jody Hill,
David Gordon Green, John Carcieri, Jeff Fradley, Brandon
James. 30 MIN. Cast: Danny McBride, Adam Devine, Edi
Patterson, John Goodman, Cassidy Freeman, Tim Baltz,
Tony Cavalero, Greg Alan Williams, Skyler Gisondo
58 ● FACETIME 0 6 .1 4 . 2 0 2 3

Naysha Lopez
“It’s not a kumbaya season;
there’s definitely drama. ”

Things you
didn’t know about
Naysha Lopez Things you
didn't know about
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Continental title in 2013, recently parties to being on the show?
took another shot at a “RuPaul” People were really excited about
crown, on the eighth season it because our viewing party is
of “Drag Race All Stars,” before iconic. This has never been the sit-
bowing out in May. She can now uation where the person hosting
be seen competing on the Fame and grilling the girls is going to be
Games segment in episodes of on the runway.
“RuPaul’s Drag Race Untucked” • What’s the biggest difference
on Peacock, in which the elimi- between “All Stars” versus a
nated queens show the looks regular season? On a regular iarity that I felt with them and the the day, it’s just a competition, so
they would have worn, and fans season, it’s a possibility that you Latino representation — pretty that allows us to be honest with
vote for a winner. While she was might know someone. Coming much half the cast — and that each other. So it’s not a kumbaya
absent from fans’ screens, she around to “All Stars,” I pretty much made me excited. season; there’s definitely drama.
was busy hosting “RuPaul” view- knew everyone. Right off the bat, • What queen did you form a You have a lot of people who left
ing parties at the renowned Ros- you can sense the great, creative, new friendship with? Before I their seasons early, such as myself,
coe’s Tavern in Chicago, but she strong energy in the room. Every- got there, I thought, “If this loud- Jaymes Mansfield and Kahanna
tells Variety that she’s ecstatic to one was here for that redemption mouth bitch Kandy Muse is there, Montrese, and I think we are going
be back on TV. this time, so that energy is com- I’m going to let her have it.” Then to surprise the audience with how
• What was it like coming back pletely different. we ended up being really good talented the girls are. You should
for “All Stars”? Before being on • Who were you most shocked friends. I absolutely love and never define any of these queens’
“Drag Race,” I was a fan of the show. to see when you walked into the adore her. talent by their placement, and
Then I got on, and you continue to workroom? I wouldn’t say that I • What are two things fans that is really going to reflect on
be a fan. You’re just more in tune was shocked to see anyone, but aren’t going to be expecting the season.
with what the girls go through I was excited to see Jessica Wild this season? Everyone on this • Describe “All Stars” Season
because you’ve been through and Monica Beverly Hillz. The season loves and cares about each 8 in three words. Unpredictable,
it. I host a viewing party at this excitement came from the famil- other. We know that at the end of climactic, eclectic.
David Martinez

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