Netflix's Golden Globes
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Lily-Rose Depp’s heart of darkness. And we honor the wonderfully zany films of indie director Jeff Baena, who sadly passed away at 47.
Let’s go!
Golden Globe Winners.
It’s easy to be cynical about this awards show, and for good reason. Their ownership is dubious; they have a history of making questionable decisions, and it’s really just a cash cow.
But it’s, for better or worse, considered a precursor to The Oscars. So, let’s get into the highlights of yesterday’s wins:
4 wins: Emilia Pérez (Netflix)
Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Best Motion Picture, Non-English Language
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture (Zoe Saldaña)
Best Original Song, Motion Picture (El Mal)
My favorite scene in the film.
4 wins: Shōgun (FX)
Best Television Series, Drama
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Drama (Anna Sawai)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama (Hiroyuki Sanada)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Supporting Role (Tadanobu Asano)
3 wins: The Brutalist (A24)
Best Motion Picture, Drama
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama (Adrien Brody)
Best Director, Motion Picture (Brady Corbet)
Some great surprise wins:
Best Motion Picture, Animated
Flow (trailer)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here (trailer)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Sebastian Stan, A Different Man (Stan was also nominated for The Apprentice)
And a few well-deserved wins:
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Best Screenplay, Motion Picture
Peter Straughan, Conclave
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Demi Moore, The Substance
Netflix earned 7 total wins. FX had 5. HBO and A24 had 4.
We’re very surprised that Neon’s Anora was snubbed. It was one of my favorite films of the year.
For More:
Nikki Glaser’s hilarious monologue. You can watch the full thing, or we’ve conveniently fast-forwarded to the Adam Sandler Timothée Chalamet moment.
Kieran Culkin and the Tequilla shot.
Brady Corbet’s powerful and uplifting speech.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
LA’s Television City Studio is getting a $1 bn makeover.
George Folsey Jr. (editor: Blues Brothers) passed away at 85.
Damien Chazelle’s (dir: Whiplash) next film may be Evel Knievel on Tour.
Tom Ford (dir: A Single Man) next film may be an adaptation of Anne Rice’s 1982 historical novel Cry to Heaven.
HBO cancels The Franchise after 1 season.
Lily-Rose Depp’s heart of darkness shines in Nosferatu.
Jared Leto will play Skeletor for Amazon's Masters of The Universe movie.
Happy Gilmore 2 drops a teaser.
Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett join the cast of Colleen Hoover (author: It Ends With Us) next book to film adaptation Verity.
The screenplays for Nosferatu and A Complete Unknown are here.
Jeff Baena, king of indie zany, heartfelt comedy, passed away at 47.
After a five-year-long battle with colon cancer Film Independent President Josh Welsh has sadly passed away at 62.
Vertical debuts weekend for The Damned, which premiered at Tribeca.
Un Chien Andalou (co-writer: Dalí) is now in the public domain.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Despite a tough couple of years for the entertainment industry, specifically in LA, Television City is set to get a $1 bn makeover.
Since 1952, everything from your favorite soap operas like The Young and the Restless to lovable game shows like Family Feud and The Price is Right to successful competition series like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars have all been filmed in this infamous lot.
This iconic Fairfax District lot was bought by Hackman Capital Partners from CBS back in 2018, and the city’s upgrades have apparently been in the works for years.
Hackman’s Zach Sokoloff said of the upgrades:
“We are confident these cycles will work themselves out and Los Angeles will continue to be the global capital of media. When we talk to our customers, they want to film in LA.”
TV City is adding fifteen new stages, several production/retail offices, and more!
Tidbits:
George Folsey Jr., renowned film editor and producer, passed away at 85. Known for collaborations with John Landis, editing classics like Animal House and Blues Brothers, Folsey also produced An American Werewolf in London and Michael Jackson's "Thriller." Folsey Jr. had a storied career spanning editing, producing, and directing second units. He will be missed. Blues Brothers Trailer.
Leonardo DiCaprio has been one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood for over a decade yet he’s taking on something like he never has before. Unofficially, La La Land director Damien Chazelle’s next film Evel Knievel on Tour (IMDBPro link) is set to star DiCaprio as the beloved and wild daredevil Evel Knievel. Described as not your typical biopic, the screenplay is written by William Monahan (The Departed) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) writer Terence Winter. The film is currently in development, with little additional details announced.
Early last year fashion mogul Tom Ford announced his potential retirement from the designing game to take on a different passion: film. His first project has not been confirmed but is said to be an adaptation of Anne Rice’s 1982 historical novel Cry to Heaven. Ford’s previous two films, his 2009 debut A Single Man and 2016’s acclaimed Nocturnal Animals were both very well received which makes his new focus back on directing very intriguing.
Brett Ratner (Dir: Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand), is directing a doc on Melania Trump for Amazon MGM. It will release theatrically and later stream on Prime. Ratner has not directed a film since Hercules (2014). In 2017 he was accused of sexual harassment, which led to him being dropped by his reps. The doc will be released during the first half of this year.
Cancellations:
HBO’s The Franchise (Sam Mendes directed one episode of Season 1).
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
“A woman of pure heart can sacrifice herself for the good of the people.”
Lily-Rose Depp is making a name for herself in a haunting new horror.
The 25-year old actress stars in Nosferatu, an unsettling remake of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, alongside Nicholas Hoult (Juror #2), Willem Dafoe (Poor Things), Emma Corrin (The Crown), and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter). While Eggers magnetizing direction eked out bold looks of terror from each actor, it was Depp’s heart of darkness that bled life onto the screen.
In the classic reimagining she plays Ellen Hunter, a woman who is both the cause of the decrepit vampire’s destruction and the literal beating heart of Count Orlock’s desires. Depp shines in the gothic, grotesque, and twisted love story, balancing the gentle fearfulness of this new bride and an all-consuming aggression, making for a complex and majorly physically demanding role that makes her performance all the more impressive (trailer).
Depp most famously and previously starred in the Sam Levinson (Euphoria) created HBO drama series The Idol (2023) alongside pop/r&b singer The Weeknd.
Previously a model, the budding actress’ acting career is getting a strong start with her raw and memorable work in Nosferatu which is in theaters everywhere.
If you are enjoying the newsletter and see its value, please consider supporting the newsletter by becoming a premium subscriber https://theindustry.co/subscribe
Jared Leto to tackle another weird voice when he takes on the role of Skeletor for Amazon's Masters of The Universe movie. Always one to commit deeply to his roles, whether it was his nasally sneer as (the worst) iteration of Joker, or his Italian caricature in House of Gucci, a big part of Leto's transformations, has been a vocal component. This is why despite maybe not being a huge fan of Leto's roles in the past, Skeletor might be the role he was made for.
Leto's hall of strange vocal choices:
The campy Skeleton villain with a very distinct voice has always been lampooned in pop culture.
Campy might be what they are aiming for with this one, judging by Master's ensemble cast, including Alison Brie as Evil-Lyne. Amazon is probably going for a slightly self-aware movie that isn't afraid to make fun of itself, no doubt spurred on by Mattel's other franchise film, Barbie nailing that tone. Whether on purpose or not, Leto absolutely fits the mold.
Masters of the Universe will be coming to theaters June 5, 2026
Tidbits:
Happy Gilmore's sequel gives us a little teaser, showing Sandler’s boots, the slapshot golfing style and promises a confrontation with nemesis Shooter McGavin. Scheduled to release sometime in 2025 we might have to wait for a full trailer to get more of a full story. Check out the Teaser here.
In new Colleen Hoover (wri. It Ends With Us) news, her next book to film adaptation Verity has cast Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett (Trap) to star opposite the previously announced Anne Hathaway. Hartnett will play the titular character’s husband who hires Johnson’s Lowen to finish a book his wife was working on up until a mysterious accident leaves the manuscript unfinished. The 2018 bestseller has been described as a gothic psychosexual thriller in the same vein as Rebecca or Gone Girl with a release date not yet announced.
FESTIVALS AND RESOURCES
Read Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu screenplay here:
https://theindustry.co/p/prospective-best-screenplay-academy
Eggers directs, and Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, and Willem Dafoe star.
Also, read A Complete Unknown, plus 30 more Oscar-hopeful scripts, at the same link above.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Jeff Baena, king of indie zany, heartfelt comedy, passed away at 47. The NY Times has reported it was a suicide.
Baena was a rare indie director who could mine absurd settings and circumstances for uproarious comedic juice. He had no attachment to realism, and this allowed his films to sing.
Take The Little Hours (2017), where he served as writer and director. He turned a 14th-century medieval nunnery into a place of raucous, hilarious debauchery. Brought to life by the cast:
Alison Brie
Dave Franco
Aubrey Plaza (Baena’s wife)
John C. Reilly
Molly Shannon
Fred Armisen
How many of the seven sins can you count in the trailer set to Bling Bling by Junglepussy?
His also wrote and directed the A24’s 11th film, the Aubrey Plaza zombie-movie Life After Beth (2014), which was surprisingly heartfelt (trailer).
Baena got his first break co-writing David O. Russell’s cult hit I Heart Huckabees (2004).
He will be deeply missed.
Vertical gets damned. This was the indie distributor’s debut weekend for The Damned, which premiered at Tribeca.
Synopsis:
A 19th-century widow has to make an impossible choice when, during an especially cruel winter, a foreign ship sinks off the coast of her Icelandic fishing village.
The film is directed and co-written by first-timer Thordur Palsson.
Check out the very creepy, very chilly trailer.
After a five-year-long battle with Colon Cancer Film Independent President Josh Welsh has sadly passed away at 62. Welsh held that title for over a decade during his time, was able to grow the company’s budget, programming slate, and membership as well as drastically increase its international reach and relationship with major studios. Brenda Robinson, a board member of the non-profit arts organization, said in a statement:
“We are devastated by the loss. Josh was a tireless champion of independent voices, a trusted arts leader, and a cherished colleague and friend.”
Welsh was not only a pillar of the independent film community but a kind and impactful figure of film worldwide who will be greatly missed.
Tidbit:
Un Chien Andalou, the absurdist experimental film directed by Luis Buñuel (Exterminating Angel) and co-written by Salvador Dalí, is now in the public domain. This is one piece of juicy IP (full short film).
ON THIS DAY
1982. Eddie Redmayne is born in London.
See you tomorrow!
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
Follow us on: Facebook | Instagram | X
Want to advertise with us? Email: clarke.scott@theindustry.co
To quote Nikki Glaser, "Yes, Wicked, Queer, Nightbitch. These are not just words Ben Affleck yells after he orgasms. These are some of the incredible movies nominated tonight."