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Director Kate Herron on Alternate Scenes, Big Ending – The Hollywood Reporter

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[This interview contains spoilers for Loki‘s season finale.]

When Kate Herron joined Loki as director, she knew she had an ace or two up her sleeve that would forever alter the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it. And in “For All Time. Always.” — the now season finale — Loki showed all its cards by revealing Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains, a variant of Marvel supervillain Kang the Conqueror, who set the events in motion that would open up the multiverse. Since the character of Kang is a key player throughout phase four of the MCU, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige and his team, along with Herron, knew exactly what was at stake with this particular casting.

“Casting was a very surreal experience. When I joined the project, we always knew that Loki and Sylvie were going to go to He Who Remains, and the multiverse would be released,” Herron tells The Hollywood Reporter. “So I already knew when I got the job that it was going to be a massive undertaking to do that and a big responsibility for Marvel to get it right. And Jonathan Majors is an actor that we were all just blown away by; I think everyone who knows his work is blown away by him. And when I knew we had Jonathan, he and I were solely focused on He Who Remains and this version of the character, this variant.”

At last December’s Disney Investor Day, Feige confirmed earlier reports that Majors would play Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. But since Majors ultimately appeared first in Loki, Herron further clarified the timing of his casting.

“[The Quantumania casting] happened at the same time,” Herron shares. “So basically, [Ant-Man director] Peyton [Reed] and I were in that discussion with Kevin Feige and the team at Marvel. We knew he was gonna be in [Quantumania], and we knew that a version of him was going to be in [Loki].”

As Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie’s (Sophia Di Martino) doomed love story culminated in a passionate kiss, the latter repositioned Loki so she could grab He Who Remains’ futuristic TemPad and send the God of Mischief back to the TVA. Despite Sylvie’s guile, Herron still considers her side of the kiss to be authentic.

“Sylvie is sort of where our Loki was in Thor. She’s driven by revenge, pain and anger, and that’s what he’s saying to her,” Herron explains. “He’s like, ‘I’ve been where you are, and I just want you to be OK. You’re not going to get what you want.’ But on her journey of self-healing, she’s not where he is. So she’s not going to see it that way. So there was a sense that she was turning to get the TemPad, but I don’t think it meant the kiss wasn’t genuine. In my head, it was always a horrible goodbye, really, but the feelings were real.”

In a recent conversation with THR, Herron also discusses her own shocking goodbye to Loki following the surprise season-two announcement. She then offers her take on the final scene and the subsequent questions she hopes are answered in season two.

Brava, Kate. Loki season one was top-tier MCU as far as I’m concerned.

Thank you so much. I love Marvel, and I was just so excited to have a chance to direct for them. It’s been so nice to see everyone enjoying it.

In a complete tonal shift, Friday morning’s news about you not returning for season two makes this victory lap rather bittersweet. After one of Marvel Studios’ best pieces of storytelling, you’d think that getting the band back together would be automatic. So what else can you say about this?

I would say that when I joined Loki, it was always going to be those six episodes. We were treating it like a movie, and we were running it like a movie. We weren’t doing it in the showrunner system. So it was a lot to direct these six episodes, and I gave it all of my energy and everything I had in my soul and in my heart. I threw everything I loved about Marvel at it. So I always intended just to do these six. And it was such a massive compliment and a delight that as we got much later into production, Marvel and Disney were like, “Ah, man. This is excellent, and we want to keep going.” So I just feel like my part is done, but I’m really excited to see where it’s going to go next. So I gave it all that I have, and it came from a place of love. I really enjoyed working on it, and I hope to work with Marvel again in the future. They changed my life, and I just love Marvel as I’m sure people can tell from the amount of Easter eggs and references I did throughout it. But I just feel like I’ve done my part with Loki, at least for now, and I’m excited to see where it goes next as a fan.

Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains. How did this go down from casting to filming?

Ah, so casting was a very surreal experience. When I joined the project, we always knew that Loki and Sylvie were going to go to He Who Remains, and the multiverse would be released. So I already knew when I got the job that it was going to be a massive undertaking to do that and a big responsibility for Marvel to get it right. So when we were casting, it was basically me, Kevin R. Wright, my co-executive producer, Kevin [Feige], Lou [D’Esposito], Victoria [Alonso] and Peyton [Reed]. So we were all just talking about actors, and the amazing thing about Kevin Feige is that he’s so collaborative. He wants everyone at the table to have a voice, and he wants to see what they think and how that fits into his plans for the character. And Jonathan Majors is an actor that we were all just blown away by; I think everyone who knows his work is blown away by him. He’s an amazing actor, and the thing that I love about him is that he’s this chameleon. He’s so different in everything he does, and that’s exciting, obviously, when you’re asking an actor to play a character who’s going to have a lot of different versions of himself. So for us, that was a thrill. And when I knew we had Jonathan, he and I were solely focused on He Who Remains and this version of the character, this variant. It was just fun digging into him. We have this character who’s so lonely and isolated, and the only character he probably interacted with is Miss Minutes, which is what we imply. At the beginning, you see that he’s surrounded by all this noise in the universe, but he’s quiet and he’s alone. So how introverted or extraverted is a character like that? What makes that personality? So it was really fun digging into it with him.

So even though Jonathan’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania casting was announced first, your team technically cast him first, right?

[The Quantumania casting] happened at the same time. So basically, Peyton [Reed] and I were in that discussion with Kevin Feige and the team at Marvel. We knew he was gonna be in [Quantumania], and we knew that a version of him was going to be in [Loki].

So once a big movie or show is finally released, fans like to comb through trailers for any unused footage. So was that “King Loki” moment supposed to be a quick insert for when Loki is tempted with a throne by Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) and He Who Remains?

So that moment wasn’t actually King Loki. It was just meant to be a memory from our Loki’s past. It was basically going to be in episode one because we had a lot of memories in that episode. But it was honestly a tonal thing. The scene was actually quite a funny scene, and it was really beautifully written. But he was about to see his mother die, and it didn’t feel right to have something so comical next to a gut-wrenching moment like that. So it’s just the nature of making any film, really. Unfortunately, you sometimes have to kill your darlings. (Laughs.)

Loki
Courtesy of Marvel Studios/Disney+

Did He Who Remains put a Time Twister on the edge of his desk, or a TemPad? Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) called it a TemPad even though it looked like a Time Twister.

(Laughs.) I love weaponry and technology so I’m just like, “The fun thing with this is…” So basically, it’s meant to be a futuristic version of the TVA tech. So that was the fun idea of it. When He Who Remains tells his story about his other variants meeting, you see bits of the TVA technology. So our idea was that it does both things. With the TVA technology, you see that the Time Twister hooks into the TemPad, but it’s these two separate, clunky things. But whereas with He Who Remains, he has more advanced technology than the TVA So it has both functions, basically, which we see him use. The difference is that he’s in control of the twist; it’s twisting him. Whereas when we see the TVA use the Time Twister, it’s with a Time Collar as they’re controlling a prisoner.

Loki
Courtesy of Marvel Studios/Disney+

As Loki and Sylvie kissed, she repositioned him so she could grab the futuristic TemPad and eject him back to the TVA. So do you consider the kiss to be genuine on Sylvie’s part despite her calculation during it?

Honestly, the way I always read that kiss is that her feelings were genuine and that it was a goodbye. Sylvie is sort of where our Loki was in Thor. She’s driven by revenge, pain and anger, and that’s what he’s saying to her. He’s like, “I’ve been where you are, and I just want you to be OK. You’re not going to get what you want.” But she’s not there yet. On her journey of self-healing, she’s not where he is. So she’s not going to see it that way. So there was a sense that she was turning to get the TemPad, but I don’t think it meant the kiss wasn’t genuine. In my head, it was always a horrible goodbye, really, but the feelings were real.

Since the TVA resides outside of time, what can you say about the mechanics of the final scene?

So the way I see it in my head is that the TVA exists outside of space and time, but reality and everything as we understood it has completely changed in the last few minutes. With the multiverse branching, how do we know the TVA still exists in that way? We don’t know, and I suppose that’s a big question that will be answered as the show goes on. But in my head, the intention is that Sylvie thinks she’s sending him back to the TVA, but because of the way time and branches are crossing each other outside the window, Loki has unfortunately been sent back somewhere very different. So reality has shifted just by the nature of what He Who Remains said, and the idea is that he’s in this alternate TVA now.

We have to wrap, but is Eugene Cordero’s Casey OK? He went missing after episode two.

(Laughs.) Yes, Casey is fine! I love Casey, and I hope there will be more Casey to be enjoyed.

Well, congratulations once again, Kate. And if you do return to the MCU someday, please make a Miss Minutes slasher movie since she’s utterly terrifying.

(Laughs.) I would love to! That would actually be my dream.

***
Loki season one is now streaming on Disney+.



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Entertainment

Netflix Fires Execs For Criticizing Bosses Over Slack – The Hollywood Reporter

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Netflix has dismissed three senior film marketing executives — about half its staff at that level — after they were discovered grousing on Slack about management, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

According to sources, their immediate boss, vp original films marketing Jonathan Helfgot, whom they also criticized, was extremely reluctant to fire the three for their comments, arguing that employees vent as a matter of course and such dire consequences were not warranted. But sources say he succumbed to pressure from higher-ups at the company.

The episode is a window into Netflix’s unusual culture, which calls for radical transparency. Under the heading “Real Values” on its job website is an entry reading, “You only say things about fellow employees that you say to their face.”

Apparently, the executives in question thought the messages were private. An insider says an employee stumbled across several months’ worth of these messages and reported it. Netflix declined to comment on the matter.

Among those the executives criticized was chief marketing officer Bozoma Saint John. Though Saint John is Black, an insider says the company found nothing in the chat to be racist or disparaging to any particular community. Rather, sources say, Netflix deemed the conversation to be inconsistent with its core values. “Their culture is all about transparency and giving feedback,” says one outside observer with knowledge of the situation. “It would make sense that there should be no need for private conversation.”

Netflix marketing head Bozoma Saint John
Leon Bennett/WireImage

Another source familiar with the thinking of co-CEO Ted Sarandos says, paradoxically, the executives might have been better off speaking about their complaints more openly. “If you vent [there], you do it very publicly,” this person says. As for grumbling among a smaller group, “Ted told me it’s a firing offense because it’s destructive to the fabric of the company.”

But that might have been awkward in this case, as sources say Sarandos circumvented the company’s typical interview protocols when he hired Saint John away from Endeavor in June 2020. Saint John was the first Black person to join the ranks of the streamer’s top executives. Before joining Endeavor in 2018, she had worked at Apple and Uber in high-profile roles.

A source who has worked with Saint John says she has “a tremendous presence” and is a dynamic speaker. She is also described by one former Netflix insider as well as former colleagues at Endeavor as an unconventional marketing executive. Insiders say Sarandos and Reed Hastings place a low priority on traditional marketing strategy.

Saint John has become a name in her own right, giving Ted Talks and speeches. Posting to her 372,000 Instagam followers under the handle “badassboz,” she recently promoted Level 2 of her “Badass Workshop,” promising to help followers “architect your greatest self!!” at $150 for five sessions. In June, she appeared in a Conde Nast Traveler promotional video that invited viewers to discover places in Los Angeles “where she seeks out meaningful connections to her heritage — in the Porsche Panamera.”

She had announced to staff that she would be relocating to and working from Paris as “an ambassador of the [Netflix] culture,” but sources say those plans have been called off.

For THR‘s Women in Entertainment issue in May 2021, she wrote about her unique trajectory and about an Ad Age article that questioned her credentials and was then withdrawn with an apology after blowback on social media. “I don’t think it’s a surprise that Ad Age was not the first time somebody has called into question my accomplishments or tried to twist them into something negative,” she wrote. “Reaching the mountaintop just means you’re susceptible to the high winds. They’re fierce, they’re strong and they’re much colder…  I am not superhuman. I just happen to be super good at what I do.”

Meanwhile, Saint John continues to put her stamp on the marketing department. Recent hires include Allure editor-in-chief Michelle Lee and Spotify vp and global co-head of music Marian Lee Dicus. Saint John also recently parted ways with nine-year veteran vp Eric Pallotta. In a statement, Saint John said, “Over the past 9 years Eric Pallotta has helped build passionate communities of fans for our titles all around the world, and created the playful and entertaining brand voice that defines us today. We wish him the very best in his future endeavors.”



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Entertainment

James Gunn on Cancel Culture, Kevin Feige’s Shock Over His 2018 Firing – The Hollywood Reporter

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James Gunn is sharing more details around his 2018 Marvel firing, including how he got the news and his feelings around “cancel culture” following that experience and his eventual rehiring a year later.

In a new interview with The New York Times, the Suicide Squad director said that it was Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige who ultimately delivered the news that Gunn had been let go, and shared both his and Feige’s shock around the decision.

“I called Kevin the morning it was going on, and I said, ‘Is this a big deal?’ And he goes, ‘I don’t know.’ That was a moment. I was like, ‘You don’t know?’ I was surprised,” Gunn recalled. “Later he called me — he himself was in shock — and told me what the powers that be had decided.

Gunn was overwhelmed after hearing the news and felt his entire career was over. “It was unbelievable. And for a day, it seemed like everything was gone. Everything was gone,” Gunn continued. “I was going to have to sell my house. I was never going to be able to work again. That’s what it felt like.” 

Gunn was fired as director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2018 after a number of conservative personalities resurfaced old tweets in which the filmmaker made jokes about pedophilia and rape.

In a statement released the day of his firing, Gunn said that, “I understand and accept the business decisions taken today,” but that he “regretted” the words in those tweets, “because they don’t reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.”

Following the news of his firing, the Guardian‘s cast was among many who came out in support of Gunn, even penning a letter advocating for his reinstatement. “I felt really fulfilled and loved in a way that I had never felt in my entire life,” the filmmaker said.

When asked whether he felt he was a victim of cancel culture, Gunn shared that he views it as painful, but also a system of accountability.

“It’s such a bigger issue than that. Because cancel culture also is people like Harvey Weinstein, who should be canceled. People who have gotten canceled and then remain canceled — most of those people deserved that,” Gunn explained. “The paparazzi are not just the people on the streets — they’re the people combing Twitter for any past sins. All of that sucks. It’s painful. But some of it is accountability. And that part of it is good. It’s just about finding that balance.” 

During the wide-ranging interview, Gunn also spoke about being only the second director to helm both a DC and a Marvel film — and the first “to receive a directing credit on the Marvel and DC movies.” (Joss Whedon went uncredited after taking over duties on Zack Snyder’s Justice League.) The filmmaker said he does see differences in Marvel’s and DC’s approaches to their franchises, “but not as many as people probably think.”

“There’s no doubt Kevin Feige is way more involved with editing than people are at Warner Bros. He gives more notes. You don’t have to take them and I don’t always take them,” Gunn said of his work with Marvel.

As for DC, Gunn thinks it’s “great” that the studio can do R-rated and family films, and said it works because “the folks over at Warner Bros. are really interested in building out a world and creating something that’s unique to the filmmakers.”

“That is the one of the ways in which DC can distinguish itself from Marvel,” Gunn said. “What I do is very different from what [the Ant-Man director] Peyton Reed does, it’s very different from what [Iron Man director Jon] Favreau did, it’s different from Taika [Waititi, the director of Thor: Ragnarok]. But not as different as Shazam! and Suicide Squad, however.

“The fact that they did Joker, which is a totally different type of movie, that to me is cool. I’m very excited about Matt [Reeves]’s movie [The Batman]. They’re getting some really good filmmakers involved. They’re always going to be hit or miss — I just don’t want them to get boring,” he later said.

As for whether he has plans to work with either studio in the future, the filmmaker says it’s up in the air. “I have no clue what I’m going to do. For me, Guardians 3 is probably the last one. I don’t know about doing it again. I do find, because of the ability to do different stuff in the DC multiverse, it’s fun,” he said.



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Entertainment

‘Loki’ Renewed for Season 2 at Disney+ – The Hollywood Reporter

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Loki is the first of Marvel’s Disney+ scripted originals to score a formal renewal.

The comic book powerhouse used the mid-credits scene from Loki’s season finale Wednesday to formally announce that the Tom Hiddleston starrer would be back for a second season. No additional details were included beyond the title card with the news.

Loki is the third of Marvel’s scripted TV series to debut on Disney+. The first, WandaVision, ended with an episode that was labeled as a series finale. The Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany series also scored 23 Emmy nominations Tuesday — second overall, an impressive showing for Marvel’s first foray — in the limited series category. Olsen is set to next appear in Marvel’s upcoming Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (due in March).

Marvel’s second offering, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, is billed as an ongoing drama series (it collected five Emmy nominations in the category Tuesday). That series leads into the next Captain America movie as Marvel continues to move seamlessly between television and film as it connects the MCU to Disney+ originals.

That push continued Wednesday with the Loki finale. Without getting into spoilers (we’ll leave that to our Heat Vision colleagues), the Loki finale set the stage for Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Hiddleston’s Loki character is also expected to also appear in the next Dr. Strange. (Marvel has yet to confirm whether or not that’s happening.) The multiverse-busting finale also seems to have paved the way for the upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home as it’s been rumored that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, along with former key villains played by Jamie Foxx (Electro) and Alfred Molina (Doctor Octopus), will appear in Marvel’s December release.

Marvel’s next Disney+ series will be the animated What If… (Aug. 11). Hawkeye is due in late 2021, with several other Marvel scripted originals (She-Hulk, Moon Knight, Iron Heart, Secret Invasion, Wakanda to name a few) also in various stages of development. For its part, Black Widow — which is available to stream on Disney+ and in theaters — also set up Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova to appear in Hawkeye.



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Sports

Gregg Popovich gets into heated exchange with reporter, Jayson Tatum’s move to bench and other takeaways from USA basketball’s loss to Australia

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A look at some Team USA takeaways after the Americans dropped their second straight exhibition game 91-83 to Australia on Monday night in Las Vegas.

Gregg Popovich was not happy with a reporter’s line of questioning after the defeat

It’s only exhibition season but the Team USA head coach Gregg Popovich was not a fan of one reporter’s line of questioning on Monday night. He asked Damian Lillard about watching past USA Olympic teams dominate most other countries in past years, a far cry from the current team’s showing in the opening two exhibitions.

“It’s not the first time that I’ve seen Team USA be tested,” Lillard said. “Maybe not beat two times in a row, but I’ve seen it before. These other teams and these other countries just continue to improve. These players, they get better, they get more confident and they also want to beat us badly. It’s definitely noticeable when you’re on the court.”

However, Popovich decided he wasn’t going to let the question stand unchallenged. After Lillard finished his response, he decided to make a statement.

“Let me also answer that question,” Popovich declared. “You asked the same sort of question last time, you assume things that aren’t true.”

The reporter interrupted Popovich at this point, leading to a testy exchange between the pair.

“Are you gonna let me finish my statement or not?” Popovich repeated numerous times in the back and forth before the reporter relented. “So you’ll be quiet now while I talk. And then I’ll listen to you,”

“When you make statements about in the past, just blowing out these other teams … No. 1 you give no respect to the other teams. I talked to you last time about the same thing. We’ve had very close games against four or five countries in all these tournaments. So, the good teams do not get blown out. There are certain games it might happen in one of the tournaments, world championships and Olympics when somebody gets blown out but in general, nobody is blowing anybody out for the good teams. So, when you make a statement like that it’s like you assume that’s what’s going on and that’s incorrect.”

It’s clear Popovich did not want the blowout narrative to take hold by trying to take the reporter to task following a second straight defeat for USA Basketball. It’s rare to see such a heated exchange after an exhibition contest but it was a sign that Popovich wanted to defend his players from not living up to early expectations.

Jayson Tatum tries out a bench role

Jayson Tatum is one of the best players on Team USA Basketball. However, Gregg Popovich was searching for a bit of a different defensive look on Monday night on the heels of an ugly effort against Nigeria on Saturday.

He elected to send top talents Jayson Tatum and Bam Adebayo to the bench with Draymond Green and Jerami Grant inserted into the starting five, likely in an attempt to bring more of a versatile defensive edge to the starting five. Tatum’s offensive opportunities would also be more numerous with the second unit in theory with Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant all in the starting five.

Popovich’s plan worked well early as USA jumped out to a nine-point halftime lead but that momentum was unable to be sustained over 40 minutes.

“I thought we got better tonight,” said Popovich. “After a short time together, there’s a lot of things that have to be covered, but the first half and the second half were two different beasts.

“In the first half, we defended the way we wanted to defend. … We rebounded better. We moved the ball better at the offensive end and had more pace. In the second half, we tired out.”

Tatum was one of several players who struggled in the defeat, going just 4-of-12 from the field to score eight points. He added four assists and three rebounds over his 25 minutes in the reserve role. Whether Popovich sticks with Tatum coming off the bench will be an intriguing storyline to watch as the Olympics inch closer.

Patty Mills deserves a look from Boston this summer

With some of the best talents in the NBA suiting up for Team USA, it was an Australian point guard that ended up being the best player on the floor in crunch time on Monday night. Spurs guard Patty Mills finished with a game-high 22 points and a team-high four assists over his 30 minutes, helping Australia pull away with an 11-1 run over the final four minutes of the contest to seal the surprise win for the 16-point underdogs.

The 6-foot point guard is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer after spending his entire career with the Spurs. His mix of speed and passing vision led to easy buckets against Americans with the game on the line as he took advantage of USA’s lack of cohesion.

That type of versatility should make Mills an attractive target to Boston and several other contenders around the league this summer. The Spurs may be going in a younger direction with their roster, which could force Mills to find a new home. He has played several seasons under new Celtics head coach Ime Udoka and that could work well for the Celtics if they make a run at him with their mid-level exception.

It’s clear Brad Stevens is in need of some added point guard depth this summer after dealing away Kemba Walker and Mills’ effort on Monday night was a reminder that he can make an impact against some of the best talent in the world.



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Entertainment

Obamas Readying Film and TV Event ‘Blackout’ for Netflix – The Hollywood Reporter

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The Obamas’ Higher Ground and Fatherhood producers Temple Hill are re-teaming for a new project at Netflix.

The companies are developing Blackout, a film and TV “event” that is being adapted from six different love stories, each penned by a different writer. The project, Netflix notes, is being developed concurrently as a TV series and film adaptation. That means that some of the six stories could wind up in the film, while others are in the TV show. Sources caution that while this seems like a franchise in the making, it’s not a “multiverse” that will consist of multiple films and TV shows — at least not right now.

Blackout takes place in New York during a power outage on a hot summer night. It is told from the perspective of 12 teens with six shots of love. The six writers attached to pen stories for the film and TV project are Dhonielle Clayton (Tiny Pretty Things), Tiffany D. Jackson (Allegedly), Nic Stone (Dear Martin), Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give), Ashley Woodfolk (The Beauty that Remains) and Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything).

Temple Hill will exec produce the project, which marks as a reunion with Netflix and Higher Ground following Kevin Hart feature Fatherhood. Higher Ground, which has an overall deal with Netflix, teamed with the streamer to release the Sony Pictures film this year after the pandemic stalled its theatrical release. Temple Hill, founded by Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen, counts features Twilight, Maze Runner, The Fault in Our Stars, Happiest Season, First Man and TV’s The Outsider, Dave and Love, Victor among its credits.

Blackout becomes the Obamas’ latest project for Netflix, joining features American Factory, Becoming, Crip Camp, kids-focused entry Ada Twist and We the People, with several others in various stages of development. The Obamas inked a Netflix producing deal in May 2018. The former first couple set an expansive first slate of film and TV projects in April 2019.

Here’s how Netflix describes Blackout: “Six prolific authors have written six Black love stories all taking place during a power outage on a sweltering summer night. From the perspective of 12 teens with six shots of love, Blackout takes place as a heatwave blankets New York City in darkness and causes an electric chaos. When the lights go out and people reveal hidden truths, love blossoms, friendships transform, and all possibilities take flight. An ex-couple must bury their rivalry and walk the length of Manhattan to make it back to Brooklyn in time to kick off a block party. Two girls search for a lost photograph and find something more. Two boys trapped on the subway come face-to-face with their feelings. A pair of best friends stuck in the NYPL and surrounded by love stories figure out if there’s one in their future. A trio of kids on a senior trip take over a double-decker tour bus as they try to have a little fun…and work out their messy love triangle. Two strangers debate the philosophical nature of identity and wonder if they can find something else between them.”

UTA brokered the deal on behalf of the six authors and Temple Hill.



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World

Prominent Dutch Crime Reporter Is Shot in Center of Amsterdam

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AMSTERDAM — A well-known Dutch crime reporter was shot in the head on Tuesday night after leaving a TV studio in the center of Amsterdam, the police said.

Videos on social media showed Peter R. de Vries, 64, lying on the street with blood streaming from his face. “He is still alive,” a bystander can be heard saying. The police wrote on Twitter that he was “seriously injured” and had been transported to the hospital.

Mr. de Vries, who has long been a fixture in the Netherlands for solving cold cases and hosting his own televised crime show for nearly two decades, has said he regularly received death threats.

Over the past year, Mr. de Vries, who is also the director of a law office, had been an adviser to a key witness in a trial over multiple killings allegedly ordered by a crime organization. Ridouan Taghi, accused of being the gang’s leader, is a Dutch-Moroccan, who was arrested in Dubai in 2019 and is the prime defendant in the case.

After the shooting, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Ferdinand Grapperhaus, the justice minister, held an emergency meeting with security authorities. This was “an attack on a brave journalist and with that an attack on free journalism,” Mr. Rutte said.

The police said they had arrested three people, one of whom could be the “possible gunman,” but didn’t provide any more information about the suspects. The police did not comment on a motive.

Femke Halsema, the mayor of Amsterdam, called Mr. de Vries “a national hero for all of us,” at a news conference, describing the attack as a “brutish, cowardly crime.” She added that Mr. de Vries was “fighting for his life.”

Amsterdam — as well as other Dutch cities — has been the scene of multiple shootings over the past decade, in which criminals have targeted either each other or those interfering in their crimes. The nearby port of Rotterdam is one of the key gateways for importing cocaine into Europe, and the country is a leader in the illegal production of amphetamines and crystal meth.

“Normally those criminals kill each other, but now they are murdering lawyers and journalists,” said Minke Heino, who passed by the scene of the crime Tuesday night on her red bicycle. “They are acting with impunity. This is next level.”

Most recently, he has been in the news for the trial of Mr. Taghi. The lawyer for the key witness in that trial was killed in Amsterdam in 2019. The lawyer, Derk Wiersum, represented the same witness, known as Nabil B., whom Mr. de Vries is advising. The witness’s brother, Reduan B., was shot dead in 2018.

It is not the first time the Netherlands has seen a prominent figure attacked in a public place. In 2004, the provocative filmmaker Theo van Gogh was stabbed to death in Amsterdam, an episode that undermined the Netherlands’ image as a tolerant, peaceful country at the time. In 2002, the far-right politician Pim Fortuyn was assassinated days before a general election.

The news of Mr. de Vries’s shooting was met in the Netherlands with shock. “Unbelievable,” Thomas Bruning, the secretary of a Dutch association for journalists, wrote on Twitter. “This hits journalism right in the face.”

“This is terrible,” said Paul Vugts, a crime reporter for the Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool who lived under special police protection in 2017 and 2018. “Several people in connection to this case are either shot or killed. Peter would want us all to keep our heads cool and keep on working.”

Rosanne Kropman contributed reporting.



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Richard Donner Honored by Gene Hackman With ‘Superman’ Story – The Hollywood Reporter

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Gene Hackman honored his Superman director Richard Donner on Tuesday with a hilarious tale from the iconic production.

The legendary Donner died Monday at the age of 91. Following the news, fans and colleagues took to social media to share their sorrow but also their appreciation for his vast filmmaking talent.

The retired and largely-now private Hackman is known for several beloved (and Oscar-winning) roles, among the top being Lex Luthor in Superman (1978). Mourning the late director, Hackman recounted a funny anecdote to The Hollywood Reporter.

“I showed up for the first day of make-up tests for Superman with a fine Lex Luthor moustache I’d grown for the role,” he began. “Dick, wearing his own handsome moustache, told me mine had to go. He bargained to lose his if I did mine. True to his word, he celebrated my last razor stroke by gleefully pulling off the fake whiskers he’d acquired for the occasion.”

Concluded Hackman, “Dick made it fun, and that’s why the films turned out that way, too.”

Another entertaining tidbit from the Superman production came from Donner himself, who said in a making-of feature years ago that he was aghast when he learned how much Marlon Brando was being paid for his role as Superman’s father, Jor-El ($3.7 million and 11.75 percent of the picture’s backend for 13 days of work).

“When I first came on the picture and I heard how much Marlon Brando was paid for it, I was really upset, because it seemed like much more money than anyone is worth,” Donner said then. However, he later admitted, “But then working with him and seeing him on film, to me, he is underpaid.”



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Netflix Cancels Four Comedies, Including ‘The Crew’ – The Hollywood Reporter

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Netflix is canceling four comedies right before the holiday weekend.

The streamer has axed The Crew (ending with season one), Country Comfort (ending with season one), Mr. Iglesias (ending with part three) and Bonding (ending with season two).

In addition, Netflix closed a development deal with The Crew‘s Kevin James to develop a new single-camera comedy series for him to produce and star in.

The company also has another project with Mr. Iglesias’ Gabe Iglesias, with the third of a series of his stand-up specials slated to shoot this summer.

Netflix has also inked a development deal with Bonding creator Rightor Doyle.

Yet one comedy recently received a renewal from Netflix — The Upshaws will return for season two.

 

 



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Blumhouse Sues ‘Boss Level’ Producers, Hulu Over Recutting Deal – The Hollywood Reporter

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Blumhouse Productions says it was “swindled” by the producers of Boss Level after it was brought in to recut and salvage the film because the initial version failed to sell.

Boss Level, which stars Mel Gibson, Frank Grillo and Naomi Watts, was licensed by Hulu — but only after Blumhouse reworked the picture, which the Jason Blum-led company says had been “disappointing and lacking in commercial appeal.”

Blumhouse is suing Emmett Furla Oasis Films, The Fyzz Facility, and actress-producer Meadow Williams, alleging that instead of paying what the parties agreed upon they chose to “misappropriate the fruits of Blumhouse’s creativity and labor for their own unlawful benefit while leaving Blumhouse high and dry.”

According to the breach of contract suit, which was filed Thursday by Marty Singer and David Jonelis of Lavely & Singer, Blumhouse also fronted the cost of the recut (which amounted to more than $126,000). “Blumhouse agreed to ‘recut the Picture’ and to ‘bring its ideas and creativity to the process,’” states the complaint. “As consideration for Blumhouse’s valuable services, the EFO Defendants jointly and severally agreed that, inter alia, should the ‘New Cut’ of the Picture be ‘licensed in the first instance to a streaming service, e.g., Netflix, Blumhouse [would] be paid 5% of the license fee paid by such service, without deduction of any kind.’”

Blumhouse says the new cut of Boss Level “contains a substantial amount of new material and unique elements created solely by Blumhouse, including a completely new final shot to end the Picture” and contends the contract said the film couldn’t be licensed until it was paid for the work.

“[W]ithout any notice to Blumhouse, the EFO Defendants licensed the ‘New Cut’ of the Picture to Hulu for an all-in fee of $11,750,000, and then (when the concealed deal was discovered by Blumhouse after-the-fact) failed and refused to pay Blumhouse the $587,500 fee to which it is entitled under the Agreement,” states the complaint. “Notably, prior to Blumhouse’s creation of its ‘New Cut,’ Hulu had passed on the opportunity to license the Picture from the EFO Defendants. It was only as a result of Blumhouse’s valuable services that Hulu became interested in licensing the Picture.”

Hulu is also being sued. Blumhouse says it has sent multiple cease and desist notices demanding that the streamer stop exploiting the film.

Blumhouse is seeking more than $1.5 million in damages and a declaration that EFO had no right to license Boss Level and Hulu has no right to exploit the film until it is paid.

The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to reps for Emmett Furla Oasis, Williams and Hulu for comment.



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