Hugh Grant’s Wildest Roles: Oompa Loompa in a Glass Jar and More

EXCLUSIVE: Tomii Crump has joined Creative Artists Agency as an agent in its Nonfiction Television department.  

Oppenheimer” and 89% and 8.2/10 for “Barbie“), Hollywood is looking at a skewed rerun of another box office showdown from July 2008.Fifteen years ago, Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” broke the opening weekend record with $158 million, but Meryl Streep’s “Mamma Mia!” also nabbed what was at the time the largest Friday-Sunday debut ever ($28 million) against a $100 million-plus opener. History may be repeating itself, with Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” looking to clear triple digits right as Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” hopes to open on par with the over/under $50 million launches of “Interstellar” and “Dunkirk.” The record set in 2008 against a Nolan epic may be set again this weekend *by* a Nolan epic.

Piers Morgan Uncensored, he said, “So now we’re not only using CGI and spending extra money and funding for these movies when we could just cast dwarves in that role.”“Now you’re taking at least one role away, or multipole roles away, for Oompa Loompa characters,” Postl continued. “That’s what they were in the past.”He emphasized how those in the dwarf community aren’t granted as many opportunities as they should be.“These roles — roles in Hollywood in general — are very hard for people of my community to get, besides the elf and the leprechaun,” Postl said.

Naman Ramachandran Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One” was the dominant force at the U.K. and Ireland box office with a mighty £10.3 million ($13.2 million), per numbers from Comscore. The Tom Cruise vehicle opened on Monday, July 10, instead of a traditional weekend slot. Even with just the July 14-16 weekend numbers, the seventh instalment in the franchise scored £6.3 million, comfortably making it the No. 1 film in the territory. In second place, Disney’s “Elemental” collected £2.4 million in its second weekend for a total of £6.6 million. Another Disney title, “Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny,” whipped up £1.7 million in third place in its third weekend for a total of £16.3 million.

Sabbatical Entertainment Sets Distribution Partnership With V Channels Media

Naman Ramachandran TNT Sports went live on Tuesday across the U.K. and Ireland, replacing BT Sport. The rebrand was revealed earlier this year as part of the Warner Bros. Discovery joint venture. TNT Sports is already used as WBD’s sports brand in Latin America and the U.S. TNT Sports will present the premium live sports rights previously carried by BT Sport including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Europa Conference League, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, Heineken Champions Cup, EPCR Challenge Cup, MotoGP, cricket, UFC, Boxing and WWE. In addition, the Olympic Games Paris 2024, grand slam tennis tournaments, including the Australian Open and Roland-Garros and cycling grand tours, including the Tour de France, will be available.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Christian Bale is probably not going to play Batman again after “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight” and “The Dark Knight Rises.” The Oscar-winning actor told ScreenRant last summer that he would only play Batman for a fourth time if Christopher Nolan was directing, but Nolan doesn’t appear to be interested in returning to the comic book genre. YouTuber HugoDécrypte asked Nolan point blank if he would make “another superhero movie.” Nolan bluntly answered, “No.” The question came during a speed round in which HugoDécrypte also asked the “Oppenheimer” filmmaker if he “could make a TV show one day.” Nolan also answered “no.” The director wasn’t as definitive when asked if he would want to direct a “Star Wars” movie. Nolan passed on giving an answer.

Sean Gunn, the actor who played the lovable townsman on the hit show, is calling out Netflix for his lack of residual pay. Sean, the 49-year-old brother of Marvel and DC director James Gunn, shared with on Friday that he was out on the picket line for the first day of the SAG-AFTRA strike to mainly «protest Netflix.» The streaming service currently streams all seven seasons of as well as the 2016 revival, . Sean played Kirk in all seven seasons of the show, as well as all four episodes of the revival, both of which star Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel as the beloved mother-daughter duo Lorelai and Rory Gilmore«I was on a television show called for a long time that has brought in massive profits for Netflix,» Sean told. «It has been one of their most popular shows for a very long time, over a decade.

departure of EVP Shawn Finnie, the fourth Black executive to exit the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in a year, Academy CEO Bill Kramer and president Janet Yang sent a letter to members on Friday affirming their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, saying there is “still much more work to do.”“We have heard from some of you who have asked about our Academy DEAI programs as these efforts across our film community and other industries have been called into question,” the letter began. “In addition, a number of Black executives in Hollywood have exited their roles, including within the Academy, and we recognize the concern this creates.

removed his interview from the social network on Friday “because it did not note that the residuals Gunn was referencing are paid by the studio [Warner Bros. Discovery] and not the streamer, Netflix” — a move Gunn said was “absolutely absurd.”“I never even used the word ‘residuals’ in my interview. The point I was making is that we don’t see any residuals for number of views on Netflix.

Christopher Nolan has confirmed that he will “absolutely” not be working on more films until after the Hollywood strikes end.This week (July 13), the cast of Nolan’s new film Oppenheimer walked out of the UK premiere at the moment an actors’ strike began.The national board of SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) – Hollywood’s largest union, which represents 160,000 actors and performers – voted unanimously to strike, according to The Los Angeles Times.SAG-AFTRA was seeking better pay and working conditions in the age of streaming, while other negotiations related to safeguards against the unregulated use of artificial intelligence in the industry.Thousands of Hollywood productions are therefore currently paused, and Nolan discussed the meaning of the strike in an interview with BBC News, saying: “It’s not about me.”Asked whether he would be working on new films during the strike, he responded: “No, absolutely. It’s very important that everybody understands it is a very key moment in the relationship between working people and Hollywood.“This is not about me, this is not about the stars of my film.”The AMPTP said in a statement that “a strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring our TV shows and films to life”.“The Union has regrettably chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the industry,” it added.The separate WGA (Writers Guild Of America) strike, which began on May 2, occurred following unsuccessful negotiations with AMPTP, who represent major Hollywood studios like Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon, Paramount, Warner Bros.

Christopher Nolan sees the insistence by striking SAG-AFTRA and WGA members that studios and streamers limit the use of artificial intelligence stems directly from the explosion of streaming over the past decade-plus.

that was hoped to have come from Cruise’s box office triumph with “Top Gun: Maverick” last year.On the other hand, “Dead Reckoning” is enjoying much stronger word of mouth than “Indiana Jones 5” with an A on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 96% critics and 94% audience. “Dead Reckoning” has also been reported to have stronger opening days in key overseas markets like South Korea and Great Britain, grossing $82 million internationally through Friday as it is on course for a $240 million global start.

Sean Gunn, who played Stars Hollow’s eccentric wannabe filmmaker Kirk on “Gilmore Girls”, is among the actors who hit the picket lines on Friday after SAG-AFTRA voted to strike.

according to Variety, who first reported his resignation, he was specifically praised for his work by Rosie Perez.Finnie’s exit comes just over 2 weeks after that of the film academy’s executive vice president of impact and inclusion, Jeanell English, who quit after just one year in the job. Finnie and English are just 2 of the Black Hollywood executives who have stepped down or have been laid off the last month.The others would be Vernā Myers, who exited Netflix, Latondra Newton who departed the Walt Disney Company and Karen Horne, who was laid off by Warner Bros.

#SAGAFTRA Picket Line Interview: #MCU Legend & #SAG, #WGA & #DGA member @ClarkGregg says "I feel like we're kind of fighting to keep the soul in the art form" pic.twitter.com/7SWpjbvqGbGregg wasn’t the only actor on the picket line concerned about AI. Christopher Clawson, another SAG member who also happens to have a master’s degree in innovation and technology from the University of San Diego, hopes to see the unions “come up with a very specific language that will protect performers.”“The thing that scares me is that the studio’s know more about what these capabilities are, than the union,” Clawson said. “Because they’re the ones who get pitched this stuff, you know? They’re the ones with the deep pockets.

William Earl During a press conference Thursday, SAG-AFTRA leadership announced that the union was going on strike, and picketing started up Friday. In New York, the four locations were announced as HBO / Amazon, Warner Bros. Discovery / Netflix HQ, Paramount and NBC Universal. In Los Angeles, 8 sites were announced, including Warner Bros., Amazon / Culver Studios, Fox, Paramount, Netflix, Sunset / Gower, Disney and Sony. Corporate greed was at the center of messaging on day one of joint picketing from SAG-AFTRA and the WGA. When the bus carrying SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher and the rest negotiating committee arrived outside of Netflix offices, they were mobbed by media and fellow protesters as they inched their way down the sidewalk along Sunset Boulevard.

Well, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav already put his foot in his mouth responding to the WGA writers’ strike, so now it’s Bob Iger‘s turn.

Timothée Chalamet was born to play Willy Wonka.

Wonka, director Paul King has revealed.Speaking to Rolling Stone, King said that Chalamet was offered the part because he already knew he could sing and dance, after seeing several videos of the actor performing onstage as a student at New York City’s Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art.“It was a straight offer because he’s great, and he was the only person in my mind who could do it,” King said.There a number of clips of Chalamet singing online, but it’s his rapping alter ego, Lil Timmy Tim, that really caught the world’s attention after one of his songs ‘Statistics’ was shown on the Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2017.

Naman Ramachandran A month after it said it was exploring the possible acquisition of “Fleabag” and “The Traitors” producer All3Media, U.K. broadcaster ITV is no longer actively exploring it. In a filing with the London stock exchange on Friday, the “Love Island” broadcaster said: “Further to its announcement on 16 June 2023, ITV plc confirms it continues to monitor but is no longer actively exploring the possible acquisition of All3Media. ITV plc assesses all potential value-creating M&A opportunities against its strict financial criteria and disciplined capital allocation framework.” ITV’s statement of interest in June, where it said that it is “actively exploring the possible acquisition of All3Media,” came with the caveat, “there can be no certainty as to whether any transaction will take place, nor as to the terms of any such transaction. A further announcement will be made if and when appropriate.”

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher will be on the picket lines Friday on the first day of the guild’s strike against the film and television industry. She’ll be joined by Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the guild’s national executive director and chief negotiator, and members of the guild’s negotiating committee.

Watch video of the press conference here.They were referring to a wave of sudden exits of executives that kicked off June 20 when Disney’s chief diversity officer and senior vice president Latondra Newton, left, according to Disney to pursue “other endeavors.” Then on June 28 Netflix announced that Vernā Myers, head of inclusion strategy, will leave the role in September after five years in the job in order to focus attention on her consulting company, The Vernā Myers Company.The next day, Warner Bros. Discovery laid off SVP of diversity, equity and inclusion Karen Horne, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s EVP of Impact and Inclusion Jeanell English stepped down.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor A group of state legislators representing the California Legislative Black Caucus are calling on film studios to meet with them regarding the sudden removal of Black female executives over the past few weeks. A mass exodus of Black women from senior leadership posts — Vernā Myers (Netflix), LaTondra Newton (Disney), Jeanell English (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and Karen Horne and Terra Potts (Warner Bros. Discovery) — has raised questions about the depth of the film and television industry’s commitment to diversifying the top ranks of the entertainment industry. The CLBC held a press conference on Thursday, citing the executives’ resignations and removals after the State Legislature approved the $1.6 billion Film Tax Credit initiative to provide tax incentives for the film studios.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” almost pulled an “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” by opening with an extended sequence featuring a de-aged version of its main star. “Dial of Destiny” de-aged Harrison Ford to mixed results for a 25-minute opener. “Dead Reckoning” director Christopher McQuarrie ultimately nixed an idea to de-age Tom Cruise because the technology just isn’t convincing enough yet. “Originally, there had been a whole sequence at the beginning of the movie that was going to take place in 1989,” McQuarrie told GamesRadar+ and Total Film. “We talked about it as a cold open, we talked about it as flashbacks in the movie, we looked at de-aging.”

The actors strike is “probably” going to last a while, according to SAG-AFTRA leadership.

Timothee Chalamet is set to bring the famous candy maker Willy Wonka to life in the upcoming musical Wonka. However, he didn’t even have to audition for the part.

AMPTP from the June 30 deadline through July 12, the actors guild formally called for a strike during a press conference on July 13 led by SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher and lead negotiator Duncan Crabtree. With Hollywood already largely shut down this summer by the writers strike, which has been ongoing since May 2, the actors strike will complicate things even further. First and foremost, all production will now be forced to shut down completely. Prior to this, some projects had managed to stay up and running by working off of already completed scripts and simply not having any writers on set — including big-budget productions like the second season of HBO’s “House of the Dragon.” Amazon just recently wrapped filming on Season 2 of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” in the U.K., making it one of the priciest shows to come in under the wire. Variety has confirmed that “House of the Dragon” will remain in production, however.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Brooklyn Peltz Beckham’s respective legal battles captivated our attention, so Discovery ordered a pair of investigative documentaries.

H.E.R. is going to do, it's wow a crowd.The 26-year-old singer delivered a stunning performance during Wednesday's 2023 ESPY Awards, playing her latest single, the elegant power ballad «The Journey,» as a tribute to the 30th anniversary of basketball coach Jimmy Valvano's inspirational speech at the first ESPYS in 1993 when he was terminally ill with cancer.Valvano was an American college basketball player, coach and broadcaster who served as head coach at North Carolina State University and led his team to win the 1983 NCAA men's basketball title against the heavily favored Houston Cougars.Per , Valvano's famous speech implored the audience to laugh, think and cry each day. He also announced the formation of the V Foundation for Cancer Research, whose motto would be «Don't give up.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Despite reports over the years that Warner Bros. was courting the likes of Donald Glover, Ezra Miller and Ryan Gosling to play Willy Wonka, it was only Timothée Chalamet who got the offer to lead director Paul King’s prequel musical “Wonka.” And Chalamet didn’t even have to audition. King recently told Rolling Stone that he was a Chalamet “stan” and thus knew the actor had the singing and dancing chops required to play Wonka. “It was a straight offer because he’s great and he was the only person in my mind who could do it,” King said. “But because he’s Timothée Chalamet and his life is so absurd, his high school musical performances are on YouTube and have hundreds of thousands of views. So I knew from stanning for Timmy Chalamet that he could sing and dance really well.”

In the much-anticipated musical prequel titled Wonka, Timothée Chalamet takes on the role of the eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka – but he's overshadowed by a late arrival in the short clip. The trailer for the latest adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic tale was released on Wednesday and showcases a star-studded cast including Olivia Colman, Rowan Atkinson, Keegan-Michael Key, Matt Baynton, and Matt Lucas.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director As thousands of moviegoers gear up for double features of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” one person taking joy in the “Barbenheimer” craze is Nolan himself. Although his movie will be battling “Barbie” at the box office, Nolan recently told IGN that “it’s terrific” to have both summer tentpoles open on the same day. “Summer, in a healthy marketplace, is always crowded, and we’ve been doing this a long time,” Nolan said. “I think for those of us who care about movies, we’ve been really waiting to have a crowded marketplace again, and now it’s here and that’s terrific.” Cillian Murphy, who stars in the title role of “Oppenehimer,” agreed with Nolan, telling IGN: “I think it’s great. I mean, I’ll be going to see ‘Barbie.’ I can’t wait to see it. I think it’s just great for the industry and for audiences that we have two amazing films by amazing filmmakers coming out the same day. Could spend a whole day in the cinema, what’s better than that?”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director The official trailer for Warner Bros.’ “Wonka” gave moviegoers a first look at Timothée Chalamet’s singing and dancing chocolatier. It also dropped a surprise at the very end: Hugh Grant sporting green hair and orange skin as an Oompa Loompa. How did such casting come about? Thank “Wonka” director Paul King, who previously cast Grant as the villainous Phoenix Buchanan in “Paddington 2.” “Going back to the book, and reading all those poems, and hearing [the Oompa Loompas’] voice as a very sort of cynical, sarcastic, cruel, funny, but wicked voice, I went, ‘Oh… That’s sort of a bit like Hugh!’,” King told Empire magazine. “It was a real light bulb moment – you go, ‘Hugh Grant’s an Oompa-Loompa! Yes please! Merry Christmas, with a bow on it.’”

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Candice McDonough has been appointed to the newly created role of executive VP of publicity and communications for DC Studios. In the new position, she will oversee media relations, publicity, as well as external and employee communications. McDonough is moving from parent company Warner Bros. Film Group, where she led communication for more than five years. She will report to DC Studios co-chairmen and CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran. “Candice is not only one of the smartest communications strategists out there, but we also know firsthand that she has a unique knack for partnering with creative talent to ensure their work is presented in the strongest and most compelling way,” Gunn and Safran said in a statement. “We could not be more excited to welcome Candice to DC and our senior team.”

The James Gunn and Peter Safran run DC Studios at Warner Bros. has made Candice McDonough their newly created EVP of Publicity and Communications.