Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Ethan Hawke’s Moon, Amazon’s God Complex, and an eternity.
Let’s go!
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Ethan Hawke has starred in 8 Richard Linklater films.
It’s a partnership akin to De Niro/Scorsese, Mastroianni/Fellini, Depp/Burton.
The next Hawke/Linklater partnership is Blue Moon, which premiered at Cannes and has just released a trailer.
Hawke’s character in Blue Moon is Lorenz Hart, the spurned half of the prolific songwriter duo Rodgers and Hart (showtune writers: My Funny Valentine, The Lady is a Tramp, Blue Moon). Rodgers, of course, would eventually go on without him to become the famed Rodgers and Hammerstein (Oklahoma!).
There are a lot of rumors that swirl around the partnership of Rodgers and Hart, some more intimate, alluded to, and that’s why the disillusionment of the partnership pushes the performance into a very particular type of Hawke-ian self-pity that draws us into the character.
In fact, the whole trailer focuses on the bar of a theater as Hart nurses a bruised ego and potentially a broken heart.
Hawke’s career has been built with Linklater on these types of self-deprecating characters with a huge heart.
And that’s what we love to see in the duo’s films: a man who exudes coolness but only because he’s terrified to open himself up to the pain of vulnerability. But when that hidden desire opens, we are born to the beauty of the Before Sunrise trilogy and Boyhood.
The tragic end of Rodgers and Hart appears to be another win for the continuing collaboration of Hawke and Linklater.
Blue Moon is in theaters in NY & LA on October 17, nationwide on October 24.
For More:
Blue Moon trailer here.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Amazon orders medical drama God Complex.
Joe Wright will direct the fashion series They All Came to Barneys.
Dean Fleischer Camp shops supernatural romance after directing Lilo & Stitch.
Alexander Alberts joins Jerry Bruckheimer TV as VP.
Will Smith (showrunner: Slow Horses) will exit after Season 5.
James Cameron’s post-Avatar project may be The Devils.
Happy Gilmore 2 becomes Netflix’s biggest US opening with 46.7M views.
Monica Bellucci stars in Guadagnino-produced Ketticè.
Netflix’s Pride and Prejudice series casts Rufus Sewell and Olivia Colman.
Jack Reynor will star in Apple’s Presumed Innocent S2.
Dolly De Leon cast in Apple’s dark comedy Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed.
Chloe Domont’s A Place in Hell adds Danny Huston and Kyle Mooney.
Locarno adds Yakushima’s Illusion starring Vicky Krieps.
A24’s sci-fi rom-com Eternity is directed by David Freyne, a master of triangular relationships.
Hot Tub Time Machine director Steve Pink to direct ensemble comedy What the Fck Is My Password?!
Celine Song to write My Best Friend’s Wedding sequel.
Canal+ sees 3.3% dip in revenue.
France’s TF1 Group reports $1.3bn half-year revenue, aided by Netflix deal.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Amazon follows Max. Amazon, inspired by the smashing success of Max’s 13-time Emmy nominee The Pitt, is taking its own turn in the medical drama space with God Complex.
Synopsis:
A neurosurgeon's self-sacrifice to an armed patient strains his marriage to an OB-GYN. The separated couple faces professional and personal challenges while working in healthcare's flawed system.
The co-creators have great pedigree, Sonay Hoffman (Co-Prod, story editor: ABC’s American Crime, Prod: Netflix/Marvel’s Daredevil) and Tommy Benjamin (staff: ABC’s American Crime).
The premise sounds super compelling and unusual. Hopefully, it’s enough to score Amazon some above-the-line Emmy noms next year.
Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer is now the lowest-paid studio CEO in the business. He received $9.8M for the fiscal year of 2025 (down 46%).
Compare that to:
$86.96M, Bob Bakish (ex-CEO Paramount)
↑178% (part of exit package)
$61.9M, Ted Sarandos (Netflix co-CEO)
↑ 24%
$60.3M Greg Peters (Netflix co-CEO)
↑ 50%
$51.9M - David Zaslav (Warner Bros. Discovery)
↑ 4%
$41M - Bob Iger (Disney)
↑ 30%
$40M - Andy Jassy (Amazon)
↑ 37%
$33.9M Brian Roberts (Comcast)
↓4.5%
$22.2M George Cheeks (Paramount co-CEO)
$19.6M Brian Roberts (Paramount co-CEO)
$19.5M Chris McCarthy (Paramount co-CEO)
Make $1bn+, do a passion project:
Dean Fleischer Camp, fresh off directing Lilo & Stitch's billion-dollar success, is shopping a supernatural romance pitch. There's even a bit of a bidding war going on. He’ll write, direct, and produce. He wrote Marcel the Shell, so this feels like it's right up his oddball alley.
James Cameron’s next film after Avatar 3 might be The Devils. This is an adaptation of the book by Joe Abercrombie about “a special force of monsters who are enlisted to save Europe from flesh-eating elves.” It’s off the walls, and that’s part of the appeal for Cameron. It’s an alt-reality medieval Europe.
Tidbits:
Gene Pressman’s upcoming memoir, They All Came to Barneys, will be adapted into a TV series by Joe Wright (dir. Pride and Prejudice), set to direct the adaptation, and Billions’ writer Beth Schacter will pen the scripts. The series will follow Pressman’s family’s fashion retail empire from humble beginnings as a small discount shop to Barney’s becoming an internationally recognized clothing destination. The memoir will hit shelves on September 2nd.
Happy Gilmore 2 is a straight-to-streaming hit! The sequel was Netflix’s biggest US opening weekend of all time with 46.7M views. By comparison, the original Happy Gilmore film opened at $8.5M. Sandler’s biggest non-animated US domestic opening was The Longest Yard (2005) at $47.6M. This is a big deal as the 10-film+ Sandler/Netflix deal had always driven eyeballs to the platform, but the nostalgia factor put Happy Gilmore 2 over the top.
Leadership shake-ups:
Will Smith (no, not this one), showrunner of Slow Horses, will depart after Season 5, which premieres this fall on Apple TV+. Though the series is renewed through Season 7, Smith is stepping away to pass the creative torch on to Gaby Chiappe and Ben Vanstone for Seasons 6 and 7. Excited to see what Smith does next.
As Amazon dramatically increases its theatrical output, executive Glenn Gainor is exiting the company to start prod co/consulting firm Hollywood Ventures Group. Gainor was formerly the physical production head of Amazon Original Movies.
Comcast spinoff Versant brings on veteran executive Tom Rogers as senior advisor. Rogers was the first president of NBC Cable and, in his new role, will provide counsel on “industry trends, new developments, and competitive dynamics.”
Representation and management company, Entertainment 360 (clients: Margot Robbie, Jeremy Allen White), hires Logan Britt as new Chief Business Officer. Britt will oversee all areas, including talent representation, production, and new verticals, as the company grows.
Former Starz Director of Original Programming, Alexander Alberts, has joined Jerry Bruckheimer Television as VP. JBTV is behind shows like Lucifer and the CSI franchise, with Alberts previously having worked with the mega production company on the Netflix series Hightown.
Mini Tidbits:
We have a Cliff Booth sighting with Brad Pitt sporting shaggier hair but the same iconic yellow shirt in Fincher's sequel to Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. First look.
Warner Bros. Discovery is splitting back into Warner Bros. and Discovery Global. Warner Bros. International TV will be under the Discovery Global company (which also houses Discovery+, TNT, and CBS).
According to Nielsen’s recent ad-supported gauge, 73.6% of TV watched is ad-supported (a gain of 1.2% from last quarter), 45.3% of that ad-supported TV watching is on streaming. No doubt a product of Netflix’s recent launch of its ad tier.
Hulu is expanding its already extensive true-crime slate with a new doc, Blood & Myth, based on an audiobook that explores a series of violent crimes that disrupt a remote Alaskan town. Blood & Myth will premiere Sept. 4th on Hulu.
Hollywood Editor Don Zimmerman (Night at the Museum, The Nutty Professor, Bill & Ted 2) has passed away at 81. He received an Oscar nomination for cutting Coming Home (1978, trailer starring Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern). Zimmerman had great comedic timing, with our personal favorite of his being Galaxy Quest (1999).
Trailers:
Comedy Central’s South Park (season 27)
Ep 2 promo
Premiere: Aug 6th
Apple TV+’s The Lost Bus
Dir: Paul Greengrass
Star: Matthew McConaughey, America Ferrera
Release: Sept 19
Film Movement’s My Sunshine
Premiere: Cannes Un Certain Regard
Release: Sept 12
Renewals:
Netflix’s Untamed (for Season 2)
Star: Eric Bana
This is a fascinating series, Eric Bana is doing his best work in years, his character is brooding, tortured, stoic, but it feels like he’s stuck in a show with a much lighter tone/shooting style.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Italian mom Monica Bellucci (The Matrix Revolutions) is set to play an Italian mom in Ketticè, a Luca Guadagnino-produced drama. The actress will play the matron of an upper-class Sicilian family in the coming-of-age film from Italian director Giovanni Tortorici (Venice’s Diciannove)
Official Synopsis:
In 2000s Palermo, a group of teenage boys and girls navigate the challenges and experiences of adolescence, exploring friendship, love, and self-discovery as they come of age in the vibrant Sicilian city.
In Bellucci’s first Italian film, Malèna (2000, clip), she played the titular role, a Sicilian widow who displayed a kind of quiet authority but emotional nuance you’d expect in a matriarch who carries both legacy and power.
Ketticè is currently filming in Italy.
The Bennet’s house is filling up.
Netflix’s series adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has added several new British talent to its ensemble cast, including Rufus Sewell (The Diplomat) as the supportive, but intimidating Mr. Bennet.
Not only does the actor have experience in period pieces and costume dramas, but his character Hal Wyler in Netflix’s The Diplomat exudes a similar warmth masked by witty sarcasm, just like the famous patriarch. Hal is observant and calm, but often constrained by the chaos around him (perfect for a father of five daughters).
Other cast additions include:
Fiona Shaw (Harry Potter, Killing Eve)
Louis Partridge (Enola Holmes)
Daryl McCormack (Bad Sisters)
The streamer has also just put out a first look image of the sisters in a field with their mother (played by Olivia Colman) as filming on the six-part series is ongoing in the UK.
Jack Reynor (Midsommar) joins Season 2 of Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent opposite Rachel Brosnahan (Superman). The series is going the anthology route, adapting the novel Dissection of a Murder, which Apple and Warner Bros TV have acquired.
Synopsis:
Leila Reynolds (Brosnahan) is way out of her depth, but the defendant only wants her – and to make matters worse, her husband is the prosecutor. Soon, Leila is fighting to keep her own secrets buried, too.
Legal dramas feel like a new but unsurprising step for Reynor; he has always been fairly cerebral in his roles.
Tidbits:
Sony Animation’s anticipated sports comedy movie Goat has just added extensively to its cast. Set in an all-animal world, Academy Award nominee Jennifer Hudson and live-action Mufasa, Aaron Pierre, will join Stephen Curry, who is voicing a small goat with big dreams.
After redefining what it means to steal a scene, Cannes Palme d’Or winner Dolly De Leon is about to steal the suburbs. The Triangle of Sadness actress has been cast in the upcoming Apple TV+ series Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, a half-hour dark comedy alongside Tatiana Maslany (The Monkey) that will follow a newly divorced mom who soon gets involved in blackmail and murder. Currently in preproduction.
Claudia Doumit (The Boys) and Ellie De Lange (Wolf Hall) join Season 2 of Netflix’s 3-Body Problem as series regulars. The sci-fi series, based on Cixin Liu’s novels, follows humanity's response to alien contact. This has been heralded as China's answer to Star Wars. If season 2 follows the growing escalation of the books, we will soon hit a fever pitch and a very interesting sci-fi twist that turns the world on its head.
Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and paywall once in a while, you could miss it.
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