It’s Thursday, and I spent yesterday on a scoring stage with strings and horns and a composer who loves his Sprinkles cupcakes.
Hello from Los Angeles, where we’re scrutinizing the Venice lineup, contemplating a post-Game of Thrones HBO, and getting outbid at Leonardo DiCaprio’s charity auction.
VF.com’s Joanna Robinson e-mails:
The Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour is in full swing, and Wednesday’s session was dominated by one question: what, exactly, will happen to HBO after Game of Thrones? Casey Bloys, who recently graduated from head of comedy development at the network to president of all programming, assured journalists that he wasn’t preoccupied with finding the next Game of Thrones, but the network’s upcoming programming slate does still have one foot in the past, as I wrote from TCA yesterday. With new projects from Wire alums David Simon (The Deuce) and Sonja Sohn (Baltimore Rising), the already controversial Confederate from Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, and the return of old (mostly) favorites Deadwood and True Detective, Bloys is betting on brands he knows for his dramatic offerings. But the comedy slate, Bloys’s former stomping grounds, seems a bit more willing to experiment. Room 104 is a quirky, hotel-set anthology series created by Mark and Jay Duplass but helmed by lesser-known directors and featuring an up-and-coming cast. Made on a shoestring, Room 104 hearkens back to the Duplass’s origins in the indie scene and HBO’s early willingness to experiment with form and late-night (the show airs Fridays at 11:30) programming. When it comes to comedy, Bloys, basking in the success of last year’s freshman success Insecure, still demonstrates the innovative spirit that landed him his big promotion in the first place. If he can turn that instinct to dramas, HBO may hold on to its crown, even if it does lose its Thrones.
The fall film festivals compete mightily with each other over clout and timing. But with the Venice and Toronto Film Festival lineups dropping this week, there’s one metric where the Canadians are clearly beating the Italians: women. Venice festival director Alberto Barbera unveiled his slate Thursday in Rome, revealing an intriguing list that includes new films from directors George Clooney, Darren Aronofsky, and Guillermo del Toro, in addition to the already announced Alexander Payne film that will open the fest, Downsizing, and the latest documentary from Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. But among its 21 competition titles, Venice counts only one female director, Chinese filmmaker Vivian Qu. (Woodshock, the first movie from Rodarte founders Kate and Laura Mulleavy, will screen outdoors and out of competition). Contrast that with all the women packing their bags for Toronto, including Angelina Jolie, Greta Gerwig, Angela Robinson, Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Chloé Zhao, Dee Rees, Haifaa Al Mansour, Susanna White, Valerie Faris, Nora Twomey, Maggie Betts, Mélanie Laurent, and the list goes on. Often when film festival slates are bereft of women directors, programmers blame industry sexism for the paucity—you can’t program what doesn’t exist, they’ll say. But if TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey, working this year with a slimmer slate than usual, can find enough worthy films directed by women that he could hold a softball game at the Rogers Centre, maybe the other fests can look a little harder. Here’s the full lineup for Venice, which opens August 30.
VF.com’s Katey Rich e-mails:
There was a Titanic cast reunion, a Madonna/Paris Hilton encounter, and a lot of rosé, and Derek Blasberg was there to watch it all happen at a fund-raiser for the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in St. Tropez last night. As he writes in his report for VF.com, one of the night’s many highlights was a bidding war between DiCaprio—the night’s ebullient emcee—and Harvey Weinstein over a portrait of the actor, done in paint and crushed-up plates, by Julian Schnabel. Maybe Harvey was feeling nostalgic for his days on the Oscar circuit with Leo for Gangs of New York and Schnabel for Basquiat; maybe he was just that moved to support the foundation’s work to combat climate change. Either way, he didn’t prevail; as Blasberg writes, “DiCaprio, who was on stage and teasing the producer to stop putting his hand up, finally banged the gavel on his winning bid of $400,000.“ The star-studded evening eventually raised over $30 million for the foundation.
VF.com’s Hillary Busis e-mails:
There’s a knowing moment in Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky when a newscaster slyly refers to the heist at the center of the movie—a NASCAR robbery masterminded by a crew of blue-collar knuckleheads—as “Ocean’s 7/11.” But while the new film does bear more than a slight resemblance to Soderbergh’s beloved 2001 casino caper, it also succeeds on its own merits—at least, as long as you don’t think about it too hard. V.F.’s Richard Lawson digs into the pleasures and failures of the film in his review, which praises Logan’s cast—especially Riley Keough, who “stages Logan Lucky’s true heist, gliding off with the movie whenever she’s on camera”—and wrestles with whether the film is flippant, fast-paced fun, or “one big joke on poor rural Americans made by a bunch of rich Hollywood types.” (Spoiler: it’s both!)
VF.com’s Laura Bradley e-mails:
Wednesday night was a creative high for late-night comedians, who each found their own way to stand up for the trans community after Donald Trump tweeted his intention to ban trans people from serving in the military. Jimmy Fallon invited trans comedian Patti Harrison to respond to Trump directly; James Corden staged a musical number; Seth Meyers invited four of Late Night’s female writers to offer their insights and call out Ivanka Trump for slacking on the advocacy she promised the L.G.B.T. community. But Trevor Noah offered perhaps the most fascinating response, inviting two trans veterans to The Daily Show for a 15-minute interview in which they addressed what their experiences in the military were really like—and explained why Trump’s proposed ban, in reality, makes no sense.
VF.com’s Yohana Desta e-mails:
June Foray, a trailblazer in the animation world and a renowned voice actress, most famous for voicing Rocky in the children’s classic The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, has died. She was 99 years old. Foray was a jack-of-all-trades in the animation world, voicing roles in everything from Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera cartoons, to the classic TV special Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. On the silver screen, she voiced roles in films like Mulan, Cinderella, and Space Jam, effectively becoming a warm, familiar voice for children over numerous decades. Her work behind the scenes was just as important—she helped found the Annie Awards and was one of the stars who pushed for animation representation at the Oscars, highlighting the incredible work that animators have done in film. Here’s my obit for the late legend.
That’s the news for this blue sky Thursday in L.A. What are you seeing out there? Send tips, comments, and charming gondoliers to Rebecca_keegan@condenast.com. Follow me on Twitter @thatrebecca.
