Studios Have "Weighed In" on Pandemic Risk Insurance Bill, Author Says

The proposal, which would create insurance to cover pandemics and other public health crises, would be funded both by the federal government and major providers.

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) has introduced the Pandemic Risk Insurance Act of 2020 after discussions with studios, producers and news media, she said Tuesday.

"We have been talking to a lot of people in the media. They are concerned about event cancellations and other things. They have expressed interest, very much so," Maloney said during Tuesday afternoon's press call. She added, "We've talked to [studios], too, they're interested, too, and news media, news stations and Hollywood producers. ... They've all weighed in in certain ways." Maloney did not say whether any specific provisions in the bill was tailored to the entertainment industry. 

PRIA calls for the creation of the Pandemic Risk Reinsurance Program, which would pull from public and private funding sources in order to cover business losses from pandemics or other public health emergencies, which are not currently covered by insurance. The current draft sets up a system wherein businesses can purchase pandemic insurance with deductibles and premiums and, if a public health emergency were to strike, the federal government and insurance companies that elect to join the program would share the financial responsibility for protecting policyholders up to $750 billion. Notably, the Pandemic Risk Reinsurance Program would cover event cancellation as a viable form of business loss. The deductible proposed is roughly five percent.

Over two dozen national business and trade associations support the bill, Maloney said, including the National Retail Federation, Nonprofit New York and the U.S. Travel Association, whose representatives were on the call. "We all recognize that pandemics are unique and the economic effects of pandemics would be devastating, so without a backstop it's not clear whether insurers could or would cover pandemics," she added. 

Last week, two insurance carrier groups and an association of insurance agents proposed their own federal pandemic relief program called the Business Continuity Protection Program. That program would have businesses purchase federal revenue replacement assistance that, in the event of a public health emergency, would come from FEMA and cover up to 80 percent of losses.

When asked about insurance companies' opposition to sharing the costs of pandemic insurance, Maloney said that Marsh & McLennan Companies has publicly supported the bill and "there's always room for compromise. I think that's what legislation is about."

As for Republican support for the bill, Maloney noted that proposed legislation had just been introduced and that she has a call with U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin this week.

The lack of insurance for business losses as a result of the coronavirus pandemic has stymied the entertainment industry's effort to formulate a plan to return to work: Few companies seem willing to move forward with production without insurance protection, even at big studios, which could self-insure or potentially foster a liability-sharing agreement. One exception? A Universal Pictures and Jason Blum low-budget film currently in the works that would shoot on the studio lot with specific protocols in place to prevent the virus' spread.

The Hollywood Reporter previously reported that the MPA and the Independent Film & Television Alliance have been advocating for federal help in gaining insurance on productions, while DeWitt Stern Risk Strategies insurance brokerage managing director Peter A. Marshall was helping to craft language regarding media production for the bill. When reached by THR, Marshall said he didn't believe that language was included in the first draft, although it might be added if the draft goes to committee. 

The 'Mrs. America' Finale Was Always Going to Be a Tragedy

[This story contains spoilers from the finale of Mrs. America.]

The ending of FX on Hulu's star-studded miniseries Mrs. America shouldn't be a surprise for anyone who lived through the 1970s, nor to anyone who's read about the history of the Equal Rights Amendment. The movement to add language to the U.S. constitution ensuring gender equality ended three states short of its goal, although in the past three years Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia have passed resolutions despite the fact that the deadline for ratification elapsed in 1982.

While Gloria Steinem (Rose Byrne), Shirley Chisholm (Uzo Aduba), Bella Abzug (Margo Martindale), Jill Ruckelshaus (Elizabeth Banks), Betty Friedan (Tracey Ullman), and their colleagues fought to pass the ERA, Phyllis Schlafly (Cate Blanchett) started a movement of conservative women to fight against it. And although she was victorious in stopping the passage of the ERA and demonstrating the power of her grassroots organizing, it didn't lead to a position in Ronald Reagan's cabinet.

It's not a truly happy ending for anyone involved, but that's what happens when you're telling a true story, says creator Dahvi Waller.

"I knew from the beginning that this was a tragedy," she says. "This was a modern tragedy, and the women's movement lost in the end. And I didn't want to shy away from that just because maybe we want a different ending that would make us feel better. I think there are really important takeaways for where we are today, and the seeds of what we're dealing with 40, 50 years later were absolutely planted during this time. We wanted to connect some of those dots for audiences."

Below, Waller discusses the series' polarizing response on both sides of the aisle, its parallels to current politics, and why Mrs. America will not be getting a second season.

The finale is definitely sad, but are you hoping some people will also find it inspiring or galvanizing?

I think that word, galvanizing, is definitely something that I hope audiences will take away. You have to know what happened and you have to know how messy it was, but ultimately, that depression hopefully transforms into anger and that transforms into action. My biggest takeaway from working on this series is that you can never be complacent even when you think, "Wow, we've achieved that. We've come a long way." There's always more to do and our rights are so tenuous and our position is so tenuous, so I think galvanizing is just the right word.

It's not uplifting for Phyllis either, though I definitely could've watched that scene of Cate Blanchett peeling apples in the kitchen for 45 minutes.

I did watch her for 45 minutes on set! I remember it was like 3 in the morning. We were shooting this really late in the wee hours of the morning and multiple takes. Cate asked that we play that song that plays during that scene, and I did and could watch her for an hour. She's absolutely mesmerizing in that scene and to be that mesmerizing and compelling in a wordless scene is something only Cate Blanchett could pull off.

What were you hoping to say about Phyllis and what she ultimately got from this movement that she created?

The pilot and finale really are bookends. We started the pilot with Phyllis wanting very much to have influence and to be a member of Congress or to have influence in the Pentagon on issues of defense strategy. If that ultimately was her main goal, to, quote, save the country from the Russians and nuclear war, then certainly getting appointment by Reagan in his cabinet would have been her ultimate victory. So it's very purposeful that we chose to end the series not in 1982 when the deadline for ratification was up, but in 1981, when Phyllis learned that she's actually not going to be appointed to any position in the Reagan administration. What we're trying to say with the series is that when you are complicit in the oppression of women, it doesn't ultimately help you when you align yourself with the patriarchy. [If you're] protecting white male patriarchy and you're a woman, ultimately you also lose.

If Phyllis Schlafly were a man, and this series was about a male right wing grassroots organizer who helped get Reagan to sweep into the White House, I believe he would have been rewarded. Not only was Phyllis not given an appointment in the White House, but the reason for why she was not given an appointment in his administration is because she was considered too polarizing. And I think there's a great irony to that ending.

There are a lot of parallels to people who might have voted for Donald Trump in 2016 who now have come to realize that he will not do the things they thought he would.

Definitely the finale is drawing parallels between 1980 and 2016. I remember when I first looked into 1980 being so surprised that for many people living through that election, it did feel so similar to 2016. Because now we tend to romanticize the Reagan era, but at the time it was considered similarly a very sharp turn right for the country.

There's also a sharp turn for Phillis, who started as an outsider and now is on the inside of the boys club, but then she realizes that door isn't actually open for her after all.

We start with her in a bikini supporting Phil Crane as he runs for Congress and by the finale she's the belle of the ball. This whole gala is really like her coming out party into the Washington D.C. establishment. Reagan's people are there, Phil Crane is now the one backstage begging for her support of her grassroots army for his own presidential aspirations. She's finally gotten a seat at the table, but ultimately she's left in the kitchen.

On the other side of the aisle, the election of Reagan and the failure of the ERA seems like a nail in the coffin for the feminist movement. But in Bella Abzug's call to Shirley Chisholm she says "hold the door for the next bunch." Do you think there's a "next bunch" right now? Is there anyone you can point to that can reignite this movement, or is the movement just different right now?

I think the movement is definitely different and in better ways because it's more inclusive and it's more diverse as a movement and its leaders are more diverse. I definitely think there are young Bella Abzugs still in Congress. I look at AOC, I think she's incredibly inspiring. I really admire her and I have high hopes for her. We had one of the largest freshman classes of women in Congress in 2018 that we've had in a long time. So I think there there are incredible women who will take up the mantle and who also believe in lighting the torch of the next generation. And I think ultimately, that is how you keep a movement strong — is when the elders who were once the radicals light the torch of those who come after them, and keep it going.

What has the reaction to the show been like on both sides of the aisle? Is it what you expected? Did it feel different than it might have felt if people weren't stuck inside their homes in a very scary time?

I definitely was not expecting to be experiencing the show coming out from my living room only. I definitely thought there'd be some kind of celebration with everyone together. I do feel bad that the hundreds of people who worked so tirelessly on the show [did] not have an opportunity to have a premiere party and everyone get together and celebrate. It definitely was disappointing for me just wanting to celebrate all the people who made the show possible. But in terms of the reaction, any time you take on a very polarizing subject matter, you're going to have a very polarized response and feedback. So I definitely expected that. I think what really has been gratifying for me are all the people I've heard from who felt moved to share their experiences of living through the time period with me, or who have been inspired to talk to their mothers about their experiences in this time period and told me they feel this closeness and learned so much about their mothers, that they would have never thought to ask these questions had they not watched the series.

Every cast member has mentioned how close they were with everyone on set, and how they're still close thanks to group chats and Zoom watch parties. What has it been like to experience the show collectively with your cast?

It's so funny because when I was up in Toronto when we were filming, I was so busy working that I sort of missed all the fun social gatherings that were happening. So it's just fun to learn that there was so much bonding happening up there. I was listening to a podcast with Niecy Nash and she said, "any time one of us flew in to town there would be a welcome wagon down in the hotel lobby" and that just warms my heart. It's wonderful to get texts and emails and phone calls from the cast just having watched it and hearing their responses seeing it all put together. Hearing Margo say that she was moved to become more of an activist having gone through this experience and played Bella really was so touching for me. I couldn't ask for a better cast, talent-wise. Having now gone through the whole process of making the show with them, I can say I couldn't ask for a better cast on an all-around human level. Just fantastic people all around.

Tracey Ullman mentioned she had to fight hard for her role. What can you say about her experience?

I love when I see someone who's a comedic actor taking on a more dramatic role, and it's something that [casting director] Carmen Cuba and I talked about a lot. And actually, if you look at our cast, there are many comedic actors playing dramatic roles — Ari Graynor, Rose Byrne, Margo Martindale does a ton of comedy, Liz Banks. So it's just something that really excites me when it comes to casting. I wouldn't have even thought that Tracey would be interested in doing the show because most of her work she writes and does herself and and creates all her own characters. I was so happy that she was so passionate about it, that Betty Friedan meant so much to her. I remember when we met and she talked about that I knew she she should play her and she was absolute perfection. Getting to see Tracey, who I've long been a fan of forever, getting to see her play the pathos of Betty and the tragedy of Betty and in those heartbreaking scenes when she drops off her daughter at the stepmother's was so revelatory to me and I'm so happy she was a part of the show.

You and several cast members have mentioned Shirley Chisholm in particular as a person who could have a miniseries of her own. But the show also elevated the profiles of plenty of women from this movement who aren't necessarily wider cultural touchstones like Gloria Steinem. What was that like?

When we were writing the series, a biopic of Shirley Chisholm with Viola Davis was announced. So we had high hopes that there would be an actual movie dedicated to just Shirley's story. With this series, it's epic. It spans eight years. It's a huge ensemble. We were never looking to do a biopic of one individual woman but rather to dip in and show a specific moment in time and in their political advocacy. One of my great hopes now that we've come to the end of this series and we've introduced audiences to Shirley and Flo Kennedy and Betty Friedan and Bella Abzug and Brenda Feigen, these lesser-known women's movement leaders, my hope is that all of them will get developed into their own series or film. To me, this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of telling the stories of heretofore untold women's stories. There are so, so many untold stories that have never come to light. And I hope this was really the beginning. I think it speaks to the scarcity of television shows centered on women, particularly in politics, that we want one show to be all things. But really we should have many shows being many things and having many diverse voices out there, not just one. I hope there are many to follow.

What direction do you want to go next? After immersing yourself in this period, do you want to do something completely opposite?

After I finished the finale and that script came out, I definitely said to many people that my next project has to be a contemporary romantic comedy. I cannot do anything about opening a book or doing research ever again — which I think is how you feel any time you've taken something like this on. But the truth is I do love this kind of writing. It's very hard. It's very rigorous. The research is pretty intense and labor-intensive. But I think if there were another moment in time that I felt really compelled to bring to light, I wouldn't be able to say no.

Is telling a story featuring so many women and centering so many women something you'd also want to continue?

Absolutely. I know that I love seeing all the series that have come out in the last few years with really complicated women at the center, and I would love to continue just telling female-driven stories with complex female characters. And particularly I'm really interested in female friendship and the dynamics between them. I find that really fascinating and I love watching television series that really get into that and the messiness of that.

Have you been feeling creative recently? Have you been working?

I'm with Susan Orlean. I'm actually reading her book, The Library Book, which I absolutely love. But I think she said on Twitter, like, "I can't get anything done," and I was like, "Oh, thank god." If she can't get anything done, I can put my pen down. It's very hard to concentrate. I definitely thought going into this, "oh, I get to have all this time at home, this is perfect for a writer," but psychically it's pretty hard to get a lot of creative work done. That said, I do think coming out of this time there will be a lot of creativity and I'm really curious to see how we as writers take on creating shows that are set today. What does that look like? What does the world look like? I'm interested in the spurt of creativity that'll come out of this time. But I think right in this moment, when you're trying to make through such a terrifying time, it's hard to get the creative juices flowing. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

What do you think about the idea of people using Mrs. America as an educational tool?

I come from a long line of educators. First and foremost, I write television to entertain, so I want them to be entertained. If they learn something? You know, this was never intended to be a polemic. If people want to read a history book about this time, I could point them to many history books. I read them all. But if they learn something that they didn't know, to me that's wonderful. But I see my role first and foremost as creating something that's entertaining. And I do think that often when we are entertained, especially if we're laughing or enjoying something, I think our minds are opened up in a way that sometimes when we're being lectured at they don't. So I do think that storytelling in this way can be educational. I've heard a couple of professors or teachers saying "I want to incorporate this in my curriculum" and I think that's wonderful. I remember when I worked on Mad Men that a lot of teachers used Mad Men episodes to teach history of the '60s. Obviously this is a fictional series and it's wildly entertaining, but that doesn't mean you can't pull from it. And I think that'd be wonderful. It certainly would make my dad proud. He's a professor.

What do you want people to take from the series?

It's funny because I never want to be prescriptive about what people should take away from the show, mostly because I'm always surprised by what people's reactions are to the show. So I never want them to go into it thinking "I'm supposed to take this one thing out of it." I'm curious what do they take out of it? Because we all bring our own experiences to viewing it. My hope is that maybe they see where we are today in a different light, or with a greater understanding. I hope people are inspired to become activists. This is ultimately a show about really amazing female activists who believe they could change the world. And if that inspires viewers, that'd be a great takeaway for me.

Mrs. America is a miniseries that definitely feels like a closed-ended miniseries with an actual ending.

Yeah, we do not Trojan horse in an open-ended series. This is absolutely designed to be a limited and I enjoyed that. It's great to know that you are headed to a direction and you can actually write the ending rather than scrambling when you hear your show is cancelled to figure it out. That was a gift for me. Knowing what you're writing towards and telling a very complete story is for me what's so great about doing a limited series.

Would you want to do another limited series? What do you want to do next?

I'm starting to develop a few different projects and really looking at the subject matter and what story I want to tell and let that dictate whether it's a limited or an open. You just kind of know. Sometimes you're like, "oh, this is a fun idea that really has four or five seasons in it with characters that can be ever-evolving." And "oh, this story really has a finite end," or even "this story really is more like a movie." So I think I let the subject sort of decide. But I love an open-ended series where you feel like characters are your family. Those are my favorite shows. So I'm really open to either.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Tom Hanks Offers 2020 Grads Special Pandemic Diploma

The star also included his 1974 senior year high school photo.

Tom Hanks is offering 2020 graduates a special diploma for their academic accompaniments amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. 

The star, who contracted the virus but has since made a full recovery, on Friday shared via social media the diploma.

It reads: 'Distinct labors in the face of the Great Pandemic. Successful completion of your education despite the hardships imposed bu the COVID-19 crisis. You have displayed honor, dedication, wherewithal and good citizenship."

The diploma is signed by Hanks and Albert Einstein.

"To all the Grads of 2020, you Chosen Ones! Print this up on a sheepskin! Hanx," the star wrote with the diploma. He also included his 1974 senior year high school photo in a separate tweet.

High schools and colleges across the country were forced to do video graduation ceremonies due to the pandemic. A multitude of stars offered advice and speeches to the Class of 2020. 

Scott Derrickson to Direct 'Labyrinth' Sequel

Scott Derrickson is stepping into the world of Labyrinth. The filmmaker is in talks to direct a sequel to the 1986 Jim Henson fantasy film, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Maggie Levin will write the script for the TriStar Pictures film.

Labyrinth told of a teenager (Jennifer Connelly) who has to navigate a fantastical maze in order to save her young brother, kidnapped by a goblin king (David Bowie). Though the film was a box office disappointment, it became a cult hit and has remained in the public consciousness via comic books, video games and more. A sequel has been in the works for several years, with Don't Breathe's Fede Álvarez previously attached to direct.

Heat Vision breakdown

Derrickson made a name for himself in the horror genre with The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) and went on to direct The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), Sinister (2012) and Doctor Strange (2016). He is also attached to direct Chris Evans in the upcoming Skydance thriller Bermuda, which he joined after exiting Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange sequel over creative differences.

Levin recently wrote and directed "My Valentine," a chapter of Hulu and Blumhouse's horror anthology series Into the Dark.

Lisa Henson of The Jim Henson Company is producing the Labyrinth sequel, with Brian Henson executive producing.  Derrickson and his frequent collaborator C. Robert Cargill are also executive producing. Blanca Lisa, vp of feature film production, is overseeing for The Jim Henson Company. Caellum Allan is overseeing with Nicole Brown for TriStar Pictures.

Derrickson is represented by WME, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Ziffren Brittenham. Levin is represented by WME, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Gang Tyre. Cargill is represented by Brillstein Entertainment Partners.

Tribeca Enterprises, YouTube Unveil We Are One Festival Lineup

21 international film festivals, including Berlin, Toyko, Sundance, Venice and Toronto, helped curate the more than 100 titles that will stream on YouTube from May 29 until June 7.

Tribeca Enterprises and YouTube have unveiled the lineup for the inaugural We Are One: A Global Film Festival, an online event launched in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic and the cancellation of traditional film festivals worldwide.

Some 21 international film festivals, from Berlin, Toronto, Sundance, Locarno and San Sebastian to Tokyo, Macao, Mumbai and Guadalajara, helped curate the We Are One program, which will be a mix of new films and gems from previous fests.

Highlights include the world premiere of Iron Hammer, Joan Chen's documentary about legendary Chinese Olympic volleyball star Jenny Lang Ping, and Eeb Allay Ooo!, a satire from director Prateek Vats, about the professional "monkey repellers" in New Delhi, which won the Golden Gateway honor at last year's Mumbai Film Festival.

Several of the former festival titles will have their online premieres during the We Are One event, including Cherien Dabis' Amreeka, the story of a Palestinian single mom and her teenage son who immigrate to small-town Illinois, which won the Fipresci critics honor in Cannes in 2009; and David R. Romay's thriller Beyond The Mountain, the big winner of the 2018 Guadalajara fest.

"We are so excited to share the combined efforts of our festival partners and YouTube with the world this week," said Tribeca Enterprises and Tribeca Film Festival co-founder and CEO Jane Rosenthal. "Together, we were able to curate a compelling slate of programming that succinctly reflects the subtle variations in style that make each festival so special."

Documentaries are a particular focus, with such titles as Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records, about the legendary London-based reggae label; Ricky Powell: The Individualist, a documentary about legendary street photographer Powell featuring interviews with Natasha Lyonne and LL Cool J; and Mugaritz B.S.O., a meditation on food and music from Spanish director Felipe Ugarte, which first premiered in the Culinary Cinema section of the Berlin Film Festival in 2011.

The lineup also includes dozens of fiction and documentary shorts, among them Bilby, Marooned and Bird Karma — the first shorts made by Dreamworks Animation — and the world premiere of Yalta Conference Online, a doc created exclusively for the festival by Japanese director Koji Fukada.

We Are One's VR section will feature Emmy-nominated documentary Traveling While Black and Atlas V, a sci-fi narrative starring Bill Skarsgard.There will also be special musical performances, including a 30 minute DJ set by Questlove.

Among the small screen highlights of the We Are One festival will be the Israeli series Losing Alice, a psychological thriller about an 40-something female director who becomes obsessed with a 20-something femme fatale screenwriter. The series will premiere its first episode online at the We Are One festival before its broadcast in June on Israeli network Hot. Losing Alice will screen in competition at television festival CanneSeries, which runs October 9-14.

In addition to the films and series, the We Are One fest will stream several curated talks, both archived from past festivals and brand new discussions, featuring the likes of Francis Ford Coppola with Steven Soderbergh, Song Kang-ho and Bong Joon-ho, Jane Campion and Claire Denis.

The We Are One festival will run exclusively on YouTube from May 29 through June 7 at YouTube.com/WeAreOne. On every film page there will be a donate button allowing viewers to contribute to organizations, including the WHO, UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders, helping on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis.

The full festival schedule is available here.

L.A.'s The Grove to Open Main Street for First Time for Charity Drive-Thru Event

Since Los Angeles' The Grove first opened its streets nearly 20 years ago, the only wheels that have rolled through have belonged to strollers, bikes and its famous trolley. On Saturday, the popular outdoor mall will, for the first time, allow cars to cruise through as part of a drive-thru charity event. 

Available for drive-thru service only from 12-8 p.m., guests can maneuver through The Grove Street and take in the scene and music while also having the opportunity to visit the Rosewood Miramar Beach's Miramar To-Go food truck with a menu from executive chef Massimo Falsini. It will feature Hank’s famous Double Diamond burger, tacos, fried chicken sandwiches, salads and ice cream sandwiches. Also on offer: kids' meals and still and sparkling water in flavors like Sicilian Lemon and Bulgarian Elderflower, provided by Grove-owner Caruso’s official water partner Icelandic Glacial.

For every meal sold, the company will donate one to Para Los Niños, a Skid Row-based nonprofit that provides education and wrap-around support to more than 6,000 of Los Angeles County's most vulnerable children and families each year. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Para Los Niños has continued to supply families in need with food, mental health services and basic necessities. The goal of the effort is to feed more than 2,500 families. 

“This pandemic has touched all of us in a profound and significant way and we will forever be changed,” said Rick Caruso, founder and CEO of Caruso and owner of Rosewood Miramar Beach in Montecito. “However, we must never forget to find comfort and joy in the embrace of community, and remind one another that the simple act of putting a smile on a face can make all the difference. On our part, we remain steadfast in our mission to bring people together in new ways and to continue to take care of those most vulnerable in our communities by giving back.”

The Miramar Food Truck has been serving the Montecito community throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Launched in late March, the #MiramarOnTheMove initiative has visited several locations throughout Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties, providing front line workers and first responders with complimentary hot meals. To date, #MiramarOnTheMove has served over 12,000 meals to essential workers and those in need.

Shopping malls like The Grove have been closed since mid-March when California enforced strict safer-at-home orders to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer both eased restrictions, moving into a low-risk phase two of recovery efforts that have allowed for the opening of some retail shops for curbside pickup only. 

Coronavirus

'Good Doctor' Producer Brightlight Pictures Hires Emily Alden as Development VP

The exec joins the Vancouver-based producer as it looks beyond the industry shutdown caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Good Doctor producer Brightlight Pictures has hired Emily Alden as its new vp of development.

Alden is charged with expanding the film and TV slate at Vancouver-based Brightlight, which also produces Firefly Lane and Julie and the Phantoms for Netflix, Upload for Amazon Studios, as well as The Good Doctor for ABC and Sony — all of which have shut down production amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

"Having worked with Brightlight before, I'm excited to be back with the team as we all navigate how the future of our industry moves forward in the current changing landscape," Alden said in a statement.

She earlier headed up production, distribution and development for Pacific Northwest Pictures, where her credits included Rebecca Addelman's debut feature Paper Year and Jason Bourke's Drone.

"Emily is passionate about telling compelling stories and committed to fostering unique voices and visions," Shawn Williamson, president of Brightlight Pictures, said of her appointment.

Worldwide Digital Video Game Spending Hits Record-Breaking $10.5B in April

Square Enix's 'Final Fantasy 7 Remake' sold $2.2 million digital units last month, surpassing 'Marvel's Spider-Man' which previously held the launch digital sales record for a Playstation 4 exclusive title.

Digital video game spending hit a record high in April as players continue leisure activities at home amid national stay-at-home orders to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Game spending topped $10.5 billion last month, higher than March figures ($10 billion) and up 17 percent from the same month in 2019 according to the latest report from Nielsen's SuperData. 

Nintendo's social simulation game Animal Crossing: New Horizons led the charge, selling the most digital units — $3.6 million — of any game during the month. After only two months on the market, the game is now the top Switch title in lifetime digital sales and lifetime digital revenue. 

Meanwhile, the Final Fantasy 7 Remake from Square Enix sold $2.2 million digital units, surpassing Marvel's Spider-Man which previously held the launch digital sales record for an exclusive title on Playstation 4.

Another game that performed well was Capcom's survival-horror Resident Evil 3, the remake of the 1999 title. The game sold $1.3 million digital units in April, a similar figure to its predecessor, Resident Evil 2, which sold $1.4 million digital units at launch in January 2019.

The report also showed a continued interest in single-player Call of Duty experiences, as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered — the single-player portion of the 2019 first-person shooter game — sold $3.4 million units in April. 

Online games are powering through at a rapid pace, with Grand Theft Auto V seeing its highest monthly spending in-game content during the month. As a result of Epic Games offering the title free through its digital storefront, the game is expected to see strong numbers in May.

Since rapper Travis Scott appeared for a virtual performance in Epic Games' free-to-play battle royale hit Fortnite, the game has seen player numbers grow month-over-month across all platforms and monthly earnings are at their highest since May, 2019. Fortnite appears to be continuing to bridge the gap between blockbuster films and video games, having shown Christopher Nolan's Tenet trailer in the game this month.

Overall in digital spending, year-over-year earnings are up 14 percent on mobile and 12 percent on PC. Consoles show more significant growth, up 42 percent year-over-year with the interest attributed to high performances from existing titles.

BAFTA Sets Nominations Date for TV Awards Postponed Due to Pandemic

The new date and format of both the TV and TV craft awards ceremony will be revealed soon.

The British Academy's TV and TV Craft awards, which were postponed earlier this year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, are moving closer to reality. 

BAFTA unveiled on Thursday that the nominations for both sets of awards will take place June 4, with new dates and formats for the ceremonies to be revealed soon.

"We are thrilled to confirm the new date for our nominations announcement, for both the Virgin Media BAFTAs and the Television Craft Awards," said BAFA CEO Amanda Berry. "During this difficult time, we want to applaud the fantastic efforts of the many talented individuals, both behind and in-front of the camera, many of whom have continued to inform and entertain the nation in recent weeks. We look forward to announcing more details about the ceremonies soon."

The TV craft awards were originally set to be held April 26 and the TV awards were scheduled for May 17, but both were postponed on March 17 as the crisis began unfolding. BAFTA shifted the nominations, scheduled for March 26, to be closer to the ceremony.

"BAFTA continues to monitor current guidance on TV productions and live events," the organization said.

U.K. TV giants, including the BBC, ITV, Sky, Channel 4, Viacom's Channel 5 and others, along with the Association for Commercial Broadcasters and On-Demand Services and trade association Pact, on Monday introduced new industrywide guidelines for producing television safely in the weeks and months ahead amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

'Blacking Out' Mixes Classic Noir with Californian Wildfires

For many, Chip Mosher is known as the head of content for Amazon's digital comics company ComiXology, or perhaps for his former role as head of marketing for Boom! Studios. He's also a comic book creator, a fact likely to become far better known with the release of Blacking Out, his upcoming collaboration with artist Peter Krause (Archie 1941, Irredeemable).

Searching for the truth about the death of a woman whose body was discovered in the middle of a wildfire that destroyed 10,000 acres, former cop Conrad comes up against the victim's family, local police and his own limitations in the noir detective story writer Mosher described as a story "about bad people doing bad things."

Heat Vision breakdown

"My adopted hometown of Los Angeles is so dense with crime lore and in my 20 years living here, I haven't stopped falling down that rabbit hole," Mosher explained in a statement about the project. "That legacy and the emergent Southern California wildfires led to Blacking Out and I was fortunate to find talented collaborators willing to fuel my buzzkill vision."

Added Krause, "I love crime stories. Dark alleyways, bad decisions, a shady rendezvous — they are all lovely fodder for a comic book artist. Chip gave me a lot of freedom with Blacking Out — the script wasn't broken down in traditional pages and panels. Being able to pace the story and take the time to get it right really paid off. The result was a book that I'm very proud of — even if it's creepy as hell."

In addition to Mosher and Krause, Blacking Out features letters from Ed Dukeshire, colors by Giulia Brusco and design from Tom Muller.

Blacking Out is launching as a Kickstarter campaign, with multiple rewards on offer beyond the core 56-page graphic novel. Krause is offering an original drawing; Mosher, a personal tour of L.A.'s most notorious crime sites; and a murderer's row of artists including Eduardo Risso (100 Bullets, Moonshine), Francesco Francavilla (Afterlife With Archie, The Black Beetle) and Mirka Andolfo (Mercy) are illustrating an 11-card set of "cinematic lobby cards" prints featuring characters from the project.

More information about the campaign, and Blacking Out as a graphic novel, can be found here. Below, see exclusive interior artwork from Krause, the book's cover artwork by Krause and Muller, and lobby cards from Francavilla and Risso.

Martin Scorsese Self-Shoots Short Film for BBC About Being in Isolation

The legendary filmmaker explores what the shutdown has meant to him in the project set to air as part of 'Lockdown Culture With Mary Beard.'

Martin Scorsese has made a short film for the BCC about being in isolation.

The self-shot film in which the iconic director explores what the lockdown has meant to him is set to premiere on May 28 in the final episode of Lockdown Culture With Mary Beard, the retitled new series of the BBC's flagship arts program Front Row Late. Lee Daniels also appears on the show, explaining why he believes the current shutdown in Hollywood could be a radical creative opportunity for filmmakers.

"What I look forward to in the future is carrying with me what I have been forced to learn in these circumstances," said Scorsese of his isolation experience. "It is the essential. The people you love. Being able to take care of them and be with them as much as you can."

Throughout its latest run, Lockdown Culture With Mary Beard has featured cultural figures such Margaret Atwood and her sister with a homespun puppet show created at their kitchen table, sculptor Antony Gormley on his state of isolation and creativity, Kwame Kwei-Armah with Antonio Pappano and Juliet Stevenson on why theater matters and Icelandic-Danish visual artist Olafur Eliasson in a debate about nature and art.

The show has also included an exclusive monologue told through the voice of the COVID-19 virus from 2019's Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo, John Donne poem readings by both Helen Mirren and Emma Thompson and a discussion about the power of poetry during a pandemic with Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke, poet Lemn Sissay and historian David Olusoga.

"Martin Scorsese makes a wonderful end to the series. We see him at home, thinking about lockdown through the lens of classic movies, like Hitchcock's The Wrong Man," said host Beard. "But what's really clever is that this great Hollywood luminary also gets us to look at Hitchcock again afresh through the lens of our current predicament. I was absolutely over the moon when he agreed to do it for us. It feels a bit like hosting a little premiere. And it all contributes to a pretty amazing finale."

Warner Music Targets Valuation of Up to $13.3 Billion in IPO

The stock offering targets a price range of $23 to $26 per share, which would value the company at around $12.5 billion.

Warner Music Group on Tuesday moved forward with its planned initial public offering, saying it will raise as much as $1.8 billion for shareholders. 

The company in a regulatory filing said it will offer 70 million shares of Class A common stock at a target price of $23 to $26 per share. The stock will trade on the Nasdaq market under ticker symbol "WMG."

In its updated filing, the music major said it would "not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of the shares being sold by the selling stockholders in this offering."

The company will have 510 million shares outstanding after the IPO, which would value it at $11.7 billion-$13.3 billion, or $12.5 billion at the midpoint of the price range.

Warner Music, owned by Len Blavatnik's Access Industries, had filed for its IPO in February, with Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs acting as the joint lead underwriters.

Upon completion of the initial offering, WMG will have two types of common stock, Class A and Class B, the latter of which is held by Access Industries and will represent 99.2 percent of the total combined voting power of outstanding common stock following the offering. Because Access will control a majority of combined voting power, Warner Music said it will be a "controlled company" and may elect to not comply with certain governance standards under Nasdaq rules.

The speedy arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in March led the firm to delay its long-planned IPO, however the company said certain factors in its balance sheet have actually improved since the economic shutdown. While total revenue was down during the month of April compared to the year-ago period, streaming revenue actually grew 12 percent to $183 million, and publishing digital revenue improved by $3 million to $22 million compared to April 2019.

Warner Music's recorded music division generated $3.84 billion of revenue in fiscal year 2019, representing 86 percent of total revenue, according to that filing. The division is home to such artists as Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars and Cardi B and includes storied labels like Atlantic, Elektra, and the recently rebranded Warner Records.

Its publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, has a catalog of more than 1.4 million copyrights, including from songwriters Twenty One Pilots, Lizzo and Katy Perry. It generated $643 million of revenue in the latest year, or 14 percent of total revenue.

The company also owns global music distribution firm Alternative Distribution Alliance, live music app Songkick, EMP Merchandising and UPROXX.

Blavatnik's Access Industries acquired the music giant in 2011 for $3.3 billion. 

'Grey's Anatomy' Season Finale Soars With Multi-Platform Viewing

Grey's Anatomy finished its season earlier than expected due to the coronavirus pandemic. It followed its usual pattern, however, of adding a ton of audience via delayed and digital viewing.

The ABC drama more than quadrupled its initial rating among adults 18-49 over five weeks of multiplatform viewing and more than doubled its total audience. The 35-day figures for the show are the best since its season premiere in September.

The April 9 finale of Grey's Anatomy drew 7.33 million viewers, a same-day season high, and a 1.4 rating in the key ad demographic of adults 18-49, tied for the second best of the season. After five weeks, those numbers rose to 16.5 million viewers — a gain of about 9.2 million people, or 125 percent — and a 5.98 rating in the 18-49 demographic, more than four times the initial number.

Those gains track with the show's multiplatform numbers for the season as a whole. With five weeks of viewing across platforms, Grey's Anatomy averaged a 5.92 rating among adults 18-49 and 15.7 million viewers, gains of 366 percent in the demo and 152 percent in total viewers from its same-day averages (1.27 in adult 18-49, 6.24 million viewers). 

While the same-day tallies represent less than half of the show's 35-day audience, most of the finale's audience watched within three days (as is usually the case with delayed viewing). Per ABC, after three days of multiplatform playback, the episode had risen to 13.1 million viewers and a 4.22 rating in the 18-49 demographic.

Nielsen's three-day figures, which account for DVR viewing but not that on Hulu, ABC's app or other platforms, had the finale at 9.85 million viewers and a 2.3 rating in the demo. That means digital platforms accounted for about 3.25 million total viewers and almost 45 percent of the 18-49 rating over three days. The remaining four-plus weeks added 3.4 million more viewers and 1.76 points to its 18-49 rating.

With digital platforms included, Grey's Anatomy is ABC's top-rated and most-watched show of the 2019-20 season.

TV Ratings Grey's Anatomy

Netflix Faces Libel Suit for Linking I.C.E. Contractor to Miserable Immigration Detention Facilities

Who is facing more defamation suits at the moment — The New York Times or Netflix?

Our guess is the latter. On Wednesday, the streamer added to its plate of libel actions (When They See Us, Making a Murderer, The Laundromat, etc.) when The GEO Group filed suit over Messiah, a fictional thriller co-executive produced by Mark Burnett. The series, which premiered earlier this year, is about a CIA officer investigating a spiritual movement. Netflix's promotional material describes it as not based on true events.

Nevertheless, in Florida federal court, The GEO Group — a private contractor who admits working with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — objects to scenes of an immigrant detention facility bearing its name and trademarks.

Messiah "falsely accuses GEO of detaining immigrants in overcrowded overheated rooms with chain-link cages and depriving them of beds, bedding, sunshine, recreation, and educational opportunities," states the complaint. "Unlike in Messiah, GEO does not house people in overcrowded rooms with chain-link cages at its facilities, but provides beds, bedding, air conditioning, indoor and outdoor recreational spaces, soccer fields, classrooms, libraries, and other amenities that rebut Messiah’s defamatory falsehoods."

The plaintiff is represented by the firm of Clare Locke, the same Virginia firm that once took on Rolling Stone in the infamous rape-on-campus story.

This time, the complaint (read here) is adorned with images of GEO's real facilities as well as the miserable ones on Messiah, where producers are said to have plastered the plaintiff's logo. GEO says its "state-of-the-art" facilities for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement provide "safe, secure, and humane environments."

Along with a defamation claim is a trademark cause of action plus unfair competition and unfair trade practices. GEO demands an injunction plus compensatory and punitive damages.

'Cardinal,' 'Schitt's Creek' Win Big at Canadian Screen Awards

Other winners recognized during the virtual ceremony include Netflix/CBC's 'Kim's Convenience,' Hulu/CTV's 'Letterkenny' and IFC/CBC's 'Baroness von Sketch Show.'

Hulu/CTV's Cardinal on Wednesday night won big at the Canadian Screen Awards, picking up seven during the virtual ceremony, including best drama, while Eugene and Dan Levy's Schitt's Creek nabbed six trophies, including best comedy.

The Cardinal murder-mystery series also earned a best drama lead actor prize for Billy Campbell and a best drama lead trophy for co-star Karine Vanasse. And the CBC's Anne With an E, the Anne of Green Gables adaptation co-produced with Netflix, picked up five honors, including best drama guest performance for Dalmar Abuzeid.

The Canadian Screen Awards were produced virtually this year after an original March 29 airdate was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

On the comedy side, Schitt's Creek, originally a CBC and then a Pop TV laugher, earned Catherine O'Hara a best comedy lead actress trophy and a best comedy lead actor prize for co-star Eugene Levy. Schitt's Creek last month completed its sixth and final season by hitting audience records in the U.S.

IFC/CBC's Baroness Von Sketch Show dominated the sketch comedy categories, taking home five awards, while Kim's Convenience from Netflix and the CBC and Hulu/CTV's Letterkenny earned two each.

Other multiple winners included Lifetime/Global's Mary Kills People, History's Vikings and the TV movie Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey.

The Canadian Screen Awards in March was forced to cancel its traditional gala nationwide telecast on the CBC network as the Canadian Academy of Cinema and Television had to pivot to this week's preproduced presentations of 2020 winners on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channels, as well as at academy.ca.

The 2020 national awards will culminate with the Canadian film competition trophies to be handed out Thursday night.

A complete list of Canadian Screen Award winners is available here.

U.S. Justice Department Warns L.A. Stay-at-Home Extension Could Be Illegal

A vague letter sent to Mayor Eric Garcetti and L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer did not spell out any specific violations, but noted concern about statements both had made publicly.

The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday warned the mayor of Los Angeles and the county's top health officer that an extension of the coronavirus stay-at-home order may be unlawful.

The vague letter sent to Mayor Eric Garcetti and LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer did not spell out any specific violations, but noted concern about statements both had made publicly that restrictions may be prolonged without a vaccine.

“Reports of your recent public statements indicate that you suggested the possibility of long-term lockdown of the residents in the city and county of Los Angeles, regardless of the legal justification for such restrictions,” Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband wrote. “We remain concerned about what may be an arbitrary and heavy-handed approach to continuing stay-at-home requirements."

Dreiband acknowledged that Garcetti had broad authority to protect residents during the pandemic.

Garcetti said the city would be guided by science and data rather than politics. He said the city's 7-day average of deaths is holding and he feels confident about measures the city is taking.

“We are not guided by politics," Garcetti said at a briefing. “There’s no games, there’s nothing else going on, and that’s the way we’re going to continue to safely open.”

“There’s no city in the world that right now doesn’t have some sort of orders and restrictions because we know this virus kills,” Garcetti added.

Even as more of California reopens restaurants and shops, Los Angeles is among a small number of California’s 58 counties that either have not sufficiently contained the virus to reopen more activities and commerce or, in the case of several San Francisco Bay Area counties, have chosen to move more slowly.

The letter came the same day the White House coronavirus response coordinator named the LA region as an area where spread of the virus is a concern. Los Angeles County, with a quarter of the state’s nearly 40 million residents, accounts for nearly half of its COVID-19 cases and about 55% of the state’s more than 3,600 deaths.

Dr. Deborah Birx asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help look into the source of new cases to help prevent future outbreaks.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

The Justice Department has recently sided with churches that want to resume services in the face of policies in many states that forbid such gatherings until the spread of the virus is under control. The department has intervened in several court cases challenging stay-at-home orders as a violation of the constitutional right to freedom of religion.

President Donald Trump on Friday said churches and other houses of worship are “essential” and called on governors across the country to allow them to reopen this weekend.

Earlier this week, Dreiband sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom warning that his plan to ease restrictions discriminated against churches by allowing secular businesses, such as restaurants and shops, to reopen under certain guidelines in the second phase of his four-part reopening plan.

“Simply put, there is no pandemic exception to the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights,” the letter said.

He used the same line in the letter to Garcetti and Ferrer but never mentioned religion or any other potential violation of the law.

Newsom said he would likely allow for religious gatherings within weeks, though he said he will offer a plan Monday for churches to reopen.

More than 1,200 California pastors have said they plan to violate his order, if necessary, to resume worship May 31.

The Los Angeles letter mentioned remarks made last week when Ferrer said that absent a COVID-19 vaccine, some form of restrictions would last “the next three months,” and Garcetti said the city would "never be completely open until we have a cure.”

Ferrer later clarified her remarks, saying restrictions would be gradually eased.

Jennifer Garner, Chris Colfer and Lena Dunham to Headline 2020 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Virtual Ceremony

'Hunger Games' author Suzanne Collins and 'Captain Underpants' author David Pilkey are also set to take part in the June 4 ceremony, traditionally held at Carnegie Hall.

Though the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is normally held at the world-famous Carnegie Hall, amid the novel coronavirus, the ceremony is getting the virtual treatment with a few stars set to participate in the celebration. 

Jennifer Garner, Lena Dunham and Glee star and author of The Land of Stories series Chris Colfer are set to join and congratulate the winners of the 2020 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, in a virtual ceremony set to take place on June 4. 

New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Dav Pilkey (Dog Man, Captain Underpants) and New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games) are also set to make an appearance to participate in a special 100th Anniversary tribute to the title sponsor, Scholastic Inc. The event will also include additional surprise guests, poetry readings from this year’s National Student Poets, and a chance to see selections and hear excerpts from award-winning pieces of art and writing. 

"The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have a strong tradition of honoring innovation and creativity among student artists and writers," said Christopher Wisniewski, Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. "These young people have produced works that take risks, speak truth to power, find beauty in the mundane, and start crucial conversations about our society. Their accomplishments remind us that no matter what’s going on in the world, the future looks bright. We are proud to honor them with this recognition, hoping that by opening up the ceremony on a virtual stage, the world can share in our congratulations as well."

Amid the pandemic, for the first time, this year the national celebration for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards will take place exclusively online. With this virtual shift, Gold and Silver medalists can share their experience in real time.

Works were selected from approximately 320,000 submissions from students in every state in the nation. Teens in grades 7-12, ages 13 and up, from the U.S., Canada, and American schools abroad were eligible for national honors. Nearly 3,000 works of art and writing received national medals for this year's awards.

The Alliance provides more than $300,000 in scholarships annually to top Awards recipients and partners with esteemed colleges and universities to make scholarships available for college-bound National Medalists. 

Past recipients of the Awards include Stephen King, John Updike, Kay WalkingStick, Charles White, Joyce Carol Oates, Tschabalala Self, Zac Posen, and Andy Warhol.

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards will take place on June 4 at 3 p.m. PT and can be streamed here. 

Protesters Stop L.A. Freeway Traffic, Smash Patrol Car Windows

Hundreds of people protesting the death of a black man in Minneapolis police custody blocked a Los Angeles freeway and shattered windows of California Highway Patrol cruisers on Wednesday.

Hundreds of people protesting the death of a black man in Minneapolis police custody blocked a Los Angeles freeway and shattered windows of California Highway Patrol cruisers on Wednesday. 

One demonstrator who jumped from another police vehicle was possibly injured in the rally organized by Black Lives Matter and other protesters. Demonstrators gathered in the late afternoon on downtown streets and eventually, dozens of people moved onto U.S. 101 despite police efforts to keep them from walking into the lanes. 

When a CHP patrol car arrived, demonstrators surrounded it. The car's window was smashed and it jerked forward and moved away with several protesters who had jumped onto the hood. Television news footage showed one man finally hopping or jumping from the side of the moving car and then flopping onto the ground.

A second CHP car arrived and was attacked, with one demonstrator hurling what appeared to be a wooden skateboard through the back window before it moved off.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the man on the ground was seriously injured but protesters surrounded him and others formed a line across the lanes to prevent traffic from moving forward.

Firefighters then arrived and took the man away on a gurney. He was upright and raised one hand in a salute or protest. He was expected to be evaluated at a hospital.

After about 20 minutes, the crowd then began streaming away from the freeway. Traffic was blocked but appeared to be lighter than during a normal rush hour because of coronavirus restrictions. Most demonstrators weren't wearing masks or following social distancing suggestions aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19.

The protest was organized by the group Black Lives Matter-LA. At its peak, hundreds of people gathered outside the Los Angeles County Hall of Justice.

The demonstration was mostly peaceful and no arrests were immediately made, Los Angeles police Officer Mike Lopez said.

The gathering coincides with a large protest in Minneapolis after a white police officer there was seen on video with a knee against the neck of a handcuffed black man who complained that he could not breathe.

Based on the video, Mayor Jacob Frey said officer Derek Chauvin should be charged in the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody.

'The Man Standing Next' ('Namsanui bujangdeul'): Film Review

Min-ho Woo's drama watches as those closest to a South Korean president decide to kill him.

A cinematic history lesson that will be all-new to most Americans lacking ties to Korea, Min-ho Woo's The Man Standing Next observes the inner circle of South Korean president Park Chung-hee during the 40 days before his assassination on Oct. 26, 1979. Though touching on a le Carre-like web of loyalties, ambition and hidden agendas, the film (an adaptation of Kim Choong-Seek's book KCIA Chiefs) is generally less engrossing than that might suggest, only coming to life in the sweaty hours leading up to that murder. More conventional than the work of the bold South Korean auteurs who are finally breaking into Stateside consciousness, it may nonetheless benefit from post-Parasite openness to imports from the nation.

Kim's book explored the importance during this period of the KCIA, the intelligence agency that functioned as the right hand of President Park (Lee Sung-min). (Aside from Park, the story's characters have been somewhat fictionalized, with names different from those of their real-world counterparts.) The agency's director was Kim Gyu-pyeong (Lee Byung-hun), who, like his predecessor Park Yong-gak (Kwak Do-won), had served alongside the president in the Army before he took power in a military coup.

By late 1979, he had been the country's ruler for 18 years, and even many of his closest allies — not to mention protesting citizens — thought it was time to leave. The former KCIA director is in the U.S. as the story begins, using the Koreagate scandal as a way to build interest in a memoir, Traitor of the Revolution, which denounces his former comrade. The president sends Kim to the States to retrieve the manuscript and ensure it never sees publication; it seems he wouldn't mind if the author died in the process. (On several occasions, President Park confers one-on-one with a trusted underling about delicate situations and concludes with, "You have my full support. Do as you please." When the aide inevitably does something extreme, the president pretends he didn't tacitly give the order.)

On his trip, Kim learns what American spies know about his workplace. It seems there's a mystery man, code-named "Iago," who's closer to the president than he is — and who handles Swiss bank accounts that reportedly overflow with ill-gotten gains. If Kim hadn't already secretly believed it was time for this administration to end, now he can add his offended loyalty to the points on that side of the argument. But playing the role, Lee gives us little insight into what Kim is feeling. The actor looks the part and has a magnetic seriousness, but is emotionally opaque.

Back in South Korea, Kim increasingly butts heads with Gwak (Hee-joon Lee), the trigger-happy security head who is relied on more and more by the president. The bulk of the film's plot concerns Gwak's assorted power moves, but a scene triggering the last act sums things up: When Kim has no plan to stop anti-Park riots in Busan, Gwak argues it's time to bring out the tanks, explicitly saying that it won't matter much if he has to kill "a million or two" people in order to quash dissent. When the president agrees, Kim knows what he has to do.

Though the script would've been wise to trim some of the political maneuvering and lay more groundwork for this final day — who are those men Kim calls on when he decides to kill the president? — the immediate build-up to the assassination does get appropriately tense. Staging and performances don't really rule out either of the competing views of the real-life assassin — was he a patriot executing a dictator, or just reacting to thwarted personal ambitions? — though the picture does lean toward the former position. Whatever his reasons, the killing didn't immediately have the effect he may have expected: There would still be a couple of coups and a period of martial law before South Korea saw democratic rule.

Production companies: Hive Media, Gemstone Pictures
Distributor: MPI Media Group (Available Tuesday on digital)
Cast: Byung-hun Lee, Sung-min Lee, Do-won Kwak, Hee-joon Lee, So-jin Kim
Director: Min-ho Woo
Screenwriters: Min-ho Woo, Ji-Min Lee
Producers: Sarah Kang, Won-guk Kim, Min-ho Woo
Executive producers: Kim Do-Soo, Hwang Soon-il
Director of photography: Go Rak-Sun
Production designer: Cho Hwa-Sung
Costume designer: Kwak Jung-Ah
Editor: Jeong Ji-Eun
Composer: Cho Young Wuk

In Korean, English
113 minutes

'Hannah Gadsby: Douglas': TV Review

The Australian comic returns to Netflix in her follow-up to the groundbreaking 'Nanette.'

Hannah Gadsby begins her new Netflix special, Douglas, with a proclamation seldom heard in standup sets. It isn't as radical as her vow to "quit comedy" in Nanette, the Australian comic's Emmy- and Peabody-winning 2018 meta-comedy special that deconstructed joke structures to explain how humor can prop up power imbalances. Nonetheless, it jars when Gadsby rattles off a kind of table of contents for the next 70 or so minutes. On the agenda are observational humor, some "needling of the patriarchy," a dog-park story, a discussion of her relatively recent autism diagnosis and "one Louis C.K. joke."

In other words, Gadsby is still Gadsby, breaking down the conventions of comedy to remake it into something that she (still) wants to be a part of. But with the cultural phenomenon of Nanette casting such a long shadow, Douglas finds the hyper-self-conscious comedian in a defensive mode. Midway through, Gadsby explicitly addresses the critics who dismissed the earlier special as "not comedy," but the entirety of Douglas seems intended to prove that the seriousness in Nanette wasn't some cover-up of a lack of great jokes. This new special is Gadsby's version of a crowd-pleaser, and it's consistently, even boastfully, hilarious.

Thankfully, the comic's subjects haven't changed much. Named after Gadsby's dog, Douglas is full of grievances both petty and legitimate, from her dislike of the word "sweater" ("Yeah, this is the top I wear to soak up the wet of my body") to her bristling at men's dismissals of women's anger. A throughline about how men have had the privilege of naming things based on their priorities starts out as Feminism 101 and grows increasingly funnier with more preposterous examples. And to Gadsby's credit, she shuts down at least one instance of eager "clapter," claiming she's just "hate-baiting" her detractors.

But the best parts of Douglas concern art history and the obvious horniness of many Renaissance painters in bits that recall both the engrossing erudition of Nanette and the nerdy ebullience of the sadly defunct website The Toast. Get ready for some very strange, very damp visits from the Virgin Mary. 

Since Nanette, Gadsby has given a handful interviews about her autism diagnosis just four years ago. For viewers craving a greater understanding of the female experience of being on the spectrum (and the general overlooking of girls and women with autism), the comic doesn't quite deliver, though she does couch the topic in an amusing story about "going from the teacher's pet to being the teacher's nemesis" in a single class. (This time, Gadsby embraces the "clapter" for a brief detour ranting against anti-vaxxers.)

The comedian wraps up the segment with an impassioned endorsement of neurodiversity — nothing you haven't heard before if you pay even the smallest bit of attention to online discussions of autism, but, given the entertainment industry's lagging interest in disabilities of all kinds, still a novelty for pop culture.

If Nanette demonstrated Gadsby's mastery of tone and command of the audience, Douglas is an even richer showcase for the comic's technical prowess. Gadsby robs herself of the element of surprise by exhaustively listing at the beginning of the special everything she'll talk about, then manages to startle us anyway with her crackerjack comic timing and cascade of clever callbacks.

There's probably no matching Nanette in its intensity or revelations — "if it's more trauma [you expect], I'm fresh out," Gadsby half-jokes. But she's clearly determined to satisfy with this lighter, broader hour, partly by managing expectations, partly by outlining in great detail her many dissatisfactions with the Ninja Turtles. In lieu of the self-deprecation she publicly eschewed in Nanette is a more overt swagger about her comedic talents. It's wholly justified.

Writer: Hannah Gadsby

Director: Madeleine Parry

Premiere: Tuesday, May 26 (Netflix)

James Corden Reveals What Prompted Recent Eye Surgery

The 'Late Late Show' host explains why he had to cancel remote tapings of his show a few weeks ago and how the injury kept him from driving in the Justin Bieber "Carpool Karaoke," as well as whether the popular segment could be filmed in the era of social distancing.

James Corden opened up about his recent, last-minute eye surgery when he visited The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Wednesday.

The Late Late Show host had to cancel some remote tapings of his show last month after he had to undergo "minor surgery," as he explained at the time on Instagram. Corden briefly addressed his absence when he returned the following week.

But on Wednesday's Ellen, Corden explained more about the injury that caused him to seek medical attention and what it was like to have the procedure.

Corden said that he injured his eye years ago while performing in a play in New York. "I used to do this bit in the play where I'd hit myself in the head with a trashcan lid and one night during the play I injured my eye. Not really badly," he recalled. "I had to go and see a doctor. He gave me some things and he said, 'Look, over some time, it will heal.' And it did."

"About a year ago it flared up again — this sort of little scratch on my eyeball," continued Corden. "I'd been seeing doctors a lot."

He then recalled being called out online for not driving the car while filming Justin Bieber's "Carpool Karaoke" segment. "We were being towed by a truck and people said that it was a disgrace that I didn't really drive," said Corden. "The reason I didn't drive that day was because my eye was really hurting and we were worried that it wouldn't be safe."

"Three weeks ago I woke up and I couldn't open my eye," he said. After struggling to find his phone and Advil, he reached out to his doctor. "He said, 'Look, I think we have to sort this out. I think this has been happening too many times.'"

"So we went to the surgery and he had a mask and gloves and all those things. He wiped the whole thing down. And he took one look at my eye and he said, 'We're going to operate on it now,'" recalled the late night host. "I said, 'But I've got a show at 5 p.m.' And he said, 'No you don't.' He said, 'You don't have a show — until the earliest — next week. You've got to do this right now.'"

Corden said he was "grateful" for the last-minute surgery because it didn't give him "time to dread it."

"It's the strangest thing because you're awake, but it's just numb so you can't feel anything," he said of the procedure. "I just kept going, 'Oh my God. Oh my God.'"

Earlier in the episode, Corden spoke about how excited he is to return to hosting The Late Late Show with an audience. All late night shows have been filming from the hosts' homes during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

"It will be a while before we're singing in a car with anybody," he said about his fan favorite "Carpool Karaoke" segment. "We can't really think of a remote way to do it. It really does rely on two people being in close proximity."

"I think we're all experiencing those spikes of anxiety," he said. "Whenever I find myself getting like that, I just start to think of the day, whenever that may be, when it is safe to go out again and it is safe for you to go out and dance around your audience and it's safe for me to get in a car with someone. I think it's going to be the greatest boom of joy we've ever experienced."

"So whenever I find myself or me and my wife, or particularly our kids, thinking, 'Oh man. This is tough,' you just go, 'Well, right around the corner there's going to be, I think, a glorious — I have no idea how long away that is — but I think it will be spectacular."'

Corden also spoke about homeschooling his kids while they are stuck at home. "It's hard to know who's being homeschooled, whether it's me or my son," he said. "If I ever sit in on lessons with him, I find myself going, 'Wow. I did not know that.'"

He added that he "can't do" his 9-year-old son's homework. "I find myself going, 'You know what, Max. Honestly, you're not going to need any of this in life,'" Corden admitted. "Do you remember when we were in school? Teachers would go, 'Well, what are you going to do when there isn't a calculator around?' And you're like, 'Well, now there is always a calculator around.'"

Corden also explained his Shirt Off Shoot Off Challenge, which benefits Feed the Children. The challenge has NBA players throw the clothes that they are wearing into their laundry baskets in 45 seconds.

While many NBA players have participated in the challenge, Ellen producer Andy Lassner also played the game. Both Corden and DeGeneres agreed to donate $1,000 for each basket that Lassner made.

Working (Out) From Home With 'Prodigal Son' Star Tom Payne

Payne, with friend and fitness trainer Tom Fitzgerald, shares workout tips, home gym must-haves and COVID-19 lockdown updates.

Working out from home can be tedious or invigorating, depending on the approach. Actor Tom Payne has been working out with friend and trainer Tom Fitzgerald for over three years, but since the COVID-19 safer-at-home orders in Los Angeles, the two have taken their sessions virtual. The two first met in 2014, connected by Fitzgerald’s husband Jamie, a fashion publicist and high school friend of Payne’s.

“I feel like everyone has had a crash course in Zoom these past few weeks,” says Payne. And it’s true, the whole fitness world has gone virtual. Fitzgerald (@trainertom86) expected gym closures and stay-at-home guidelines to wipe out his entire business, but has been happily surprised by the loyalty of his clients and a general willingness to switch to virtual training. “They say a good trainer can put together an effective workout in a broom cupboard,” he says, “this is the time to put that theory to the test!”

Since lockdown orders went into effect, Payne has kept up his regular workout routine by bolstering his home workout space with a weight bench and medicine ball. “We also had a few things that we hadn’t been using,” he says, “that are now part of our routine like Olympic Rings and a BOB fighting doll!” But most significantly, Payne and his fiancée, model and singer Jennifer Akerman, purchased bikes and sometimes replace a regular workout with a long bike ride around Los Angeles.

Fitzgerald, on the other hand, cleared out space in his living room in front of a mirrored wall. In this workout space, he has everything from foam rollers to TRX, even using socks and towels as sliders. “What I miss most is a squat rack,” he says, “but I just focus on long isometric holds and slow the tempo on each rep with the weights I have at my disposal.” Exercising with less weight means longer workouts, but Fitzgerald has reclaimed his travel time between sessions now that he is training clients virtually.

In addition to all the physical benefits of working out, exercise is good for mental health. The release of endorphins can boost one’s mood, and consistency helps pave a path through chaos. “Sticking to a routine gives some semblance of control in this unsteady time,” says Payne, whose show, Prodigal Son, was just renewed by Fox for a second season.

Payne and Fitzgerald started training together while Payne was playing Jesus on AMC’s The Walking Dead. Though Payne’s original goals were to improve body shape and gain muscle, his job needs ended up playing a significant role in the training regimen Fitzgerald designed for him. “Jesus was adept at martial arts,” said Fitzgerald. “We knew Jesus would need to look strong, but not enormous.” So rather than trying to bulk up and gain excessive muscle, Payne’s workouts focused on natural-looking definition.

Then, in 2019, Payne was cast as Malcolm Bright, the lead on Fox’s Prodigal Son. While the change of roles was drastic in terms of personality, things stayed consistent in terms of physique and fitness needs. “Malcolm Bright's upbringing and styling is of course very different in Prodigal Son,” explains Fitzgerald. “[But] I believe that a certain innate, savage resilience is extremely pertinent to that character as well.”

An average workout consists of upper and lower body exercises and biking, with a day of rest between each session. The specific exercises, as Fitzgerald puts it, “involve lifting heavy loads with a lot of time under tension, followed by a lighter set with higher reps for muscular endurance.” These sets are focused on compound movements, where several muscles are used simultaneously to achieve a strong push or pull in a knee or leg-dominant exercise. When muscles are supplied the correct nutrients, heavy compound movements are known to boost testosterone and muscle growth.

Like many fitness plans, the strategy behind Payne’s workouts puts a high level of importance on diet and rest. Both Fitzgerald and Payne are ectomorphic, a body type that tends to be lean and has difficulty putting on muscle or fat due to a high metabolism. So in between workouts, Payne tries to consume a high number of calories, focusing on protein. “Most people would need a period of ‘cutting in’ after a program like this,” Fitzgerald explains. “However, Tom has such a fast metabolism that just keeping up the calories is the main challenge: losing fat in order to show muscular definition happens almost automatically.”

During these unpredictable times, sticking to a routine (fitness or otherwise) can be extremely difficult, but Fitzgerald — whose entertainment-industry clientele also includes costume designer Dawn Ritz, writer/director Craig Johnson, director Darren Stein, and stylist Jenny Ricker — is still optimistic. “As long as we can create the right attitude through our rapport and find an appropriate balance between muscle groups,” he says, “we can continue to put in physically challenging work that will keep us healthy and confident, and continue to move us towards our goals.”

'The Last Dance,' 'The Walking Dead' and Cable's Top 2019-20 Performers

Like their broadcast counterparts, cable networks were largely down in the ratings during the 2019-20 season. As more households cut the cord and streaming options proliferate, viewership of linear networks continues to slide. Two months without live sports during the coronavirus pandemic also hurt the likes of NBA partners TNT and ESPN and regional sports networks that would have filled hundreds of hours with NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball games.

Which is not to say that the entire cable picture was gloomy. Below are some of the top performers of the just-completed season, from a huge docuseries about one of the most famous athletes of the 20th century to an initially lightly watched comedy that exploded via other viewing options.

The Last Dance: This is not just a case of recency bias. ESPN's nonfiction series about Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls is among the highest-rated shows on all of Nielsen-measured TV this season. Among adults 18-49, only three primetime NFL franchises and The Masked Singer ranked higher than The Last Dance's 2.9 rating. Across all platforms, the series averaged almost 12.9 million viewers through May 20.

The Walking Dead (still): Yes, the AMC flagship's numbers are a shadow of what they were a few seasons ago. The same could be said for a large majority of shows on linear networks, and the fact remains that The Walking Dead remains far above all other scripted shows on cable, averaging 5.4 million viewers and a 1.9 rating among adults 18-49 with a week of delayed viewing. The demo number ranks 11th among all Nielsen-measured primetime shows this season. AMC's Better Call Saul ranks fourth among cable dramas in adults 18-49 and 25-54, and the joint AMC and BBC America airings of Killing Eve rank 15th.

Food Network and HGTV: The two Discovery-owned networks have thrived during coronavirus lockdowns, with ratings rising by double digits since mid-March and Food Network quickly pivoting to at-home shows. HGTV's Celebrity IOU, which featured the likes of Brad Pitt and Melissa McCarthy helping Property Brothers' Drew and Jonathan Scott renovate homes for people who have meant a lot to them, was the biggest first-year series in the network's history. 

90 Day Fiancé: The multi-show franchise has been a hit for TLC for some time, but ratings for 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days have soared in the past two months. Before the 90 Days has averaged 3.35 million same-day viewers since its Feb. 23 premiere and has played a large role in making TLC the top cable channel among women in 2020 so far. Before the 90 Days also ranks in the top 40 across cable and broadcast TV among adults 18-49.

The Real Housewives universe: Bravo has more shows (six) among the top 100 broadcast and cable rankings in adults 18-49 than any other cable outlet. Three of those are Real Housewives series (Atlanta, Orange County and Beverly Hills), and a fourth, Vanderpump Rules, is a spinoff of Beverly Hills. (The other two are Below Deck and Below Deck Mediterranean.) There have been a staggering 58 seasons of Real Housewives in various locales since Orange County inaugurated the franchise in 2006.

Dave: Maybe no show on a linear network better illustrates the way viewer habits have changed than FXX's first-year comedy starring and co-created by Dave Burd, aka Lil Dicky. The show's initial audience on FXX was miniscule, averaging just 213,000 viewers per episode. With streaming, replays and delayed viewing, however, the audience grew by a factor of more than 20 to 5.32 million people, per FX Networks, making it the most-watched comedy series ever on FX or FXX.

The Outsider: HBO's Stephen King adaptation didn't attract the kind of buzz and week-in, week-out scrutiny of Watchmen or Westworld, but it did attract a bigger audience than either — some 9 million viewers per episode across all platforms. That's the biggest for a first-year HBO drama since season one of Westworld in 2016. (The Outsider is produced by MRC, which shares a parent company with The Hollywood Reporter.)

TV Ratings

Robert Durst Murder Trial to Move to New California Court

The case against the 77-year-old scion of one of New York’s wealthiest real estate dynasties is expected to move to the Inglewood courthouse from Los Angeles.

The California murder trial of real estate heir Robert Durst is likely to move to a new venue this summer, depending on how a judge rules on a defense motion for a mistrial.

The case against the 77-year-old scion of one of New York’s wealthiest real estate dynasties is expected to move to the Inglewood courthouse from Los Angeles, The Daily Breeze reported Friday. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Windham will consider the defense’s mistrial motion in a hearing scheduled for June 23, court spokeswoman Mary Hearn said.

Durst's defense team filed the motion in April, arguing he cannot get a fair trial because of a long pause in the proceedings brought on by coronavirus court closures. The attorneys say the stoppage, which is expected to end with a scheduled resumption of the trial July 27, makes it unrealistic the jury will be able to perform its functions.

"The risk that jurors will not be accurately able to recall the evidence introduced prior to adjournment is heightened here," the motion says.

Durst is on trial in the killing of his best friend, Susan Berman, in her home in Beverly Hills in December 2000.

Prosecutors argued in opening statements that Durst shot Berman because she knew Durst had killed his wife, who disappeared in 1982. Durst has never been charged in his wife’s killing and denied having any role in either death.

The jury had been hearing the case in a courtroom at the Airport courthouse near Los Angeles International Airport before the COVID-19 pandemic forced officials to close the county’s courthouses to all but time-sensitive, essential matters in March.

Moving the trial from the courtroom where it was being heard to a larger venue at the Inglewood courthouse will better enable the court to implement social-distancing protocols, Hearn said.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover.