Creative Space
Larry Charles Released the Movie He Set Out to Make: “That’s a Miracle in Hollywood”
Larry Charles’ résumé is all over the place. As a writer, he penned some of Seinfeld’s most memorable episodes (see: “The Library”). As a TV director, he skewered his industry with Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage. As a filmmaker, he embraced mockumentary with Borat and Brüno. But his latest entry, by his own admission, might […]
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Vladimir Duthiers Is Making Up for Lost Time
There’s an eight-minute window, just after 9 a.m. ET every weekday morning, when Vladimir Duthiers goes AWOL on live TV. Viewers might think he’s just off camera at the CBS News Streaming Network anchor desk that he shares with Anne-Marie Green, but the 53-year-old newsman is frantically covering over a mile of midtown Manhattan that separates […]
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Yvonne Orji on Embracing Her “Endearing” Christianity and “Crazy” Hollywood
Yvonne Orji, like so many of her peers, is eager to get back to work. But as she Zooms from her Los Angeles home office in mid-August, she’s mostly itching to get out of town. “When the strikes end, and I think it’ll be soon, everyone is going to be bat-crap crazy — so get […]
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The ‘Narcos’ Showrunner Is Ready to Tackle a New Drug War
Eric Newman didn’t set out to be a writer. In fact, segueing to writing, much less showrunning, wasn’t even his idea. The veteran producer, whose résumé was lined with films like Children of Men and Dawn of the Dead, was down in Colombia making Narcos when, he says, Netflix urged him to take the reins. […]
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“To Be in Hollywood Is to Be Gaslit”: Justin Simien Levels Up With Disney’s ‘Haunted Mansion’ at a Fraught Time
Filmmaker Justin Simien was the main attraction at the July 15 red carpet premiere of his latest effort, The Haunted Mansion. But it wasn’t because he arrived in a floor-length cape, his tribute to the movie’s costume designer. It was because the hours-old SAG-AFTRA strike prevented his starry cast — LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish and […]
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Hollywood Offered Jake Johnson a Path to Mega-Stardom, He Chose a Regular Life
In the far corner of his backyard in Eastside L.A., Jake Johnson hand-built an 8-by-12-foot studio cabin where he does most of his work. Sure, he needs to duck to pass through the petite doorway — roughly a foot short thanks to a minor snafu in his original flooring plan — but it’s cozy and […]
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For ‘Joy Ride’ Director Adele Lim, Raunchy Comedy Is a Palate Cleanser
Adele Lim is anxious to hear my recap of the previous night’s screening of Joy Ride when she pipes in from her home office in early June. Not only is it the screenwriter’s directorial debut, but it’s a bawdy, R-rated buddy comedy — the type of flick that rarely inspires the same reaction in a […]
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Lester Holt Suggests You Hold Those Hot Takes, Please
In a TV and media landscape revolutionized by technology, network evening newscasts are somewhat defined by their lack of evolution. The dramas, comedies and variety shows of today look little like those of the 1950s and ’60s, but the nightly news programs still beam their anchors into the living rooms of America each night — […]
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‘Property Brothers’ Drew and Jonathan Scott on Taking Control — and Taking Sides in the Gas Stove Debate
Drew and Jonathan Scott might be Canada’s most successful double export. Identical twins and serial entrepreneurs, the Scotts have parlayed their original home improvement series, Property Brothers, into an unscripted empire. Since wresting production duties on their flagship, they’ve become a dominant supplier to HGTV — accounting for roughly 17 percent of original programming at the […]
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Cannes: Plus M Entertainment CEO on Turning the Family Firm Into a Korean Content Powerhouse
South Korean executive Jeongin Hong never planned to become a movie mogul. After studying economics at Princeton and putting in distinguished stints in private equity at Boston Consulting and Goldman Sachs (“I’m a science and economics guy,” he says), he was lured back to the family business in 2015. His family’s firm happens to be JoongAng Group, arguably […]
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How Actor and Writer Kelvin Yu Redirected His “Flawed” Hollywood Business Model
The beach has always appealed to Kelvin Yu. Having grown up in Palos Verdes before eventually settling in Santa Monica with his wife and two young children, he’s rarely lived far from it. This proximity has allowed him to become a deft surfer, though he’s too modest to call himself one. “I’m not incredibly proficient, […]
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How Ray Romano Liberated Himself From “Sitcom Guy” Status
Eighteen years after Ray Romano’s final curtain call on his loosely autobiographical sitcom, the comedian still dutifully works from an office on the Burbank lot where he filmed eight of Everybody Loves Raymond‘s nine seasons. “When the show ended, Warner Bros. gave me this nice little office,” he says. “Not gave. I do pay rent.” […]
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