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Steve Carell is not a 40-year-old virgin

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Good morning: In today’s edition of The Industry, we look at:
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Steve Carell’s debut, IATSE Studio Teachers for the win, the return of Jeremy Renner, from Heat 2 to Princess Diaries 3, and a banquet.

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Let’s go!

STEVEN CARELL IS NOT A 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN

Steve Carell doesn’t believe there’s a difference between comedy and drama.

He just made his ​Broadway debut​ in the title role of the challenging masterwork Uncle Vanya.

Here’s one of his first lines:

“Cheat on an old husband you can’t stand–what’s immoral about that? Stifle your youth, your deepest feelings–now, that’s immoral!”

Carell could deliver this line with his brand of self-agonizing comedy that characterized his 7-season + finale role of Michael Scott in The Office or the tortured dramatic dryness that epitomized his Academy Award-nominated performance of John DuPont in Foxcatcher.

For him, it doesn’t matter:

“Ultimately, I prepare for them in the same way – it’s all about trying to make it as truthful as you can. A character in a comedy doesn’t know that they’re in a comedy, and the same goes for drama. You don’t act a drama as if you’re in a drama – it’s just life, it’s just what’s happening.”

Carell has understood this sentiment since his youth, honing his craft for nearly a decade at The Second City Improv Theater in Chicago.

Watch a 32-year-old Carell navigate ​this tricky scene​ where he confesses to a fellow laundromat patron that he’s a serial killer.

As Steve Carell performs on the Broadway stage, he embodies Uncle Vanya, a character defined by disillusionment and unrequited love. This role requires a deft balance between tragedy and comedy.

The challenge of live theater, with its immediate audience feedback and the nakedness of performance without retakes, is the ultimate showcase of his versatile talent.

For More:

Two images of Carell on stage in Uncle Vanya. One ​photo​ of him brooding. One ​photo​ of him being consoled.

“I want to win.” Watch ​an unsettling clip​ of Carell in his Academy-nominated Foxcatcher performance.

Carell ​mixes drama with humor​ in The Office.

THE INDUSTRY NEWS

Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction for rape has been ​overturned​.

A New York appeals court reversed Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 sexual assault conviction, citing trial errors. The court criticized the inclusion of testimony from four additional women and decades-old uncharged allegations, deeming it prejudicial.

Judge Jenny Rivera stated:

“Under our system of justice, the accused has a right to be held to account only for the crime charged and, thus, allegations of prior bad acts may not be admitted against them for the sole purpose of establishing their propensity for criminality.”

She continued:

“It is our solemn duty to diligently guard these rights regardless of the crime charged, the reputation of the accused or the pressure to convict.”

Weinstein, who was currently serving a 23-year sentence in New York, will remain incarcerated. He received a ​16-year sentence​ in California for a separate sexual assault conviction.

Q1 numbers have dropped for Comcast, IMAX, and YouTube. Here’s the latest, with the change from last year:

  • ​Comcast​
    • $30.06 bn revenue
      • ↑1.2%
    • $4.17 bn net income
      • ↑7.6%
  • Peacock (owned by Paramount)
    • $1.1 bn revenue
      • ↑ 54%
    • $639 M loss
      • ↑$65 M
    • 34 M subscribers
      • ↑ 55%
      • +3M Q1

President Mike Cavanagh stated:

“Our disciplined capital allocation strategy, coupled with our strong balance sheet puts us in an enviable position relative to our peers to invest organically and aggressively in our six scaled and diverse growth.”

The NFL Wild Card game helped draw subscribers to Peackock and narrowed losses.

  • ​IMAX​
    • $79 M revenue
      • ↓ 9%
    • $3.3 M net income
      • ↑ 33%

CEO Rich Gelfond stated:

“Increasingly, our technology is driving content creation as much as it is content delivery. Oppenheimer, Dune: Part Two, and Godzilla x Kong demonstrate that more and more of today’s commercially and critically successful blockbusters are shot with Imax cameras for the Imax platform — which drives our global box office and makes our systems even more of a ‘must have’ for global exhibitors.”

IMAX accounted for 5.9% of the domestic box office.

Additionally, YouTube, which has 2.5B active users (100M paid) and is considered an existential threat to streaming companies, boosted ad revenue to ​$8.1 bn, up 20%​.

Sequels! Here are a few updates:

The IATSE Studio Teachers guild has reached a ​tentative agreement​ with AMPTP. To date, 12 of the 13 local guilds will present their members with terms for ratification. The last guild, the Affiliated Property Craftspersons (Local 44) is said to be finilizing their tentative agreement this week.​

The shared contract for all guilds under IATSE expires on July 31st.

THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT

Jeremy Renner ​returns to acting​, the first role since his tragic accident, sustained while saving his nephew from a snow plow. Renner will continue his role as Mike McLusky in season three of Mayor of Kingstown.

Here’s the official synopsis:

A series of explosions rock Kingstown and its citizens, as a new face of the Russian mob sets up shop in the city, and a drug war rages inside and outside prison walls. The pressure is on Mike McLusky (Renner) to end the war but things get complicated when a familiar face from his incarcerated past threatens to undermine the Mayor’s attempts to keep the peace among all factions.

It is fantastic to see Renner back in action, and the fact that he saved a child definitely adds to his hero credentials. Although he plays a corrupt mayor in this series, he has two iconic heroic roles:

Here’s the Mayor of Kingstown S3 ​trailer​. The show drops on Paramount on June 2nd.

​Jessica Gunning​ is wildly watchable in Baby Reindeer. She plays the cripplingly clingy stalker whose dark, twisted nightmare of a vision for her future with Donny Dunn, played by the show’s creator Richard Gadd, is compassionate. Gunning has full command over the ceiling and the floor of her character, the latter showing her loneliness and desperation rather than just her mania.

Tidbit:

Michael B. Jordan is ​producing​ a film adaptation of a Philip K. Dick short story for Amazon MGM Studios, T-Minus.

Here’s the official synopsis for the short story:

Time travelers from the United States, called tempunauts, are sent only a few days into the future rather than a century as was intended. In this near-future, they learn their return from the future was fatal to them.

Drew Pearce (co-writer: The Fall Guy) and Nick Cuse (Station Eleven) will write the script.

In an edition earlier this week, we covered Russell Crowe staring in The Exorcism as an actor who begins to experience strange happenings while filming a supernatural horror film. The newly released ​trailer​ delivers the life-imitating art bit but seems to resonate further as a father/daughter story.​

Vertical (Asphalt City) picked up the North American rights from Miramax. The Exorcism will be released theatrically on June 7th.

FESTIVALS AND RESOURCES

One of the most frustrating elements of screenwriting is how solitary it is.

Even if you have a writing partner, someone has to stare at a blank page. When you’re starting a new draft, it’s easy to get lost re-writing the first few pages to death before an idea can properly be explored through the rest of the script.

To keep myself in check, I often set a very meager goal of writing three new script pages/day.

But what is entirely missing in the process is a level of accountability.

What I’ve found satisfying about the latest version of Final Draft is how they’ve added Writing Goals and Productivity Stats.

From these, it’s great to get insight into my personal writing habits so I can improve.

It makes the process less painful.

Their new writing sprint timer, too, allows me to cut out the noise and optimize my writing sessions.

If you already own Final Draft, version 13 has a bunch of new and improved features, including Writing Goals and Productivity Stats, Midnight Mode, Emojis, Character Development Tools, etc.

Final Draft’s 2024 Spring Sale ends May 6th.

Get 25% off ​here​.

Cannes Market. Here are the latest projects being brought to the Marché:

  • ​Sunny Dance​
    • Starring: Bella Ramsey (GOT, The Last of Us)
    • Dir/Writer/Producer: George Jaques (BFI’s Black Dog – 2023)
    • Sales agent: Embankment Films (The Father)

Synopsis:

Ivy (Ramsey), a teenage cancer survivor, is forced by her parents to attend Children Run Free Camp, a summer retreat for young cancer patients.

Synopsis:

Retired reclusive spy is drawn out of hiding by enigmatic neighbor. As they interact, their secrets are unearthed, revealing hidden pasts.

Synopsis:

On Christmas Eve, a family gathers for what could be the last holiday in their ancestral home. As the night wears on and generational tensions arise, one of the teenagers sneaks out with her friends to claim the wintry suburb for her own.

First look photo of ​Cera​ as a storm-battered cop.

The most hotly anticipated package:

  • ​Way Of The Warrior Kid​
    • Starring Chris Pratt
    • Director McG (Terminator Salvation)
    • Sales Rep: Film Independant, UTA Independant Film Group

Synopsis:

A self-doubting kid who gets bullied learns to find his inner warrior with the help of his uncle, an elite Navy SEAL, who uses his training to guide the youth over the summer.

The film is based on a powerful novel. Pratt described the film adaptation as follows:

“I hope this story will help bridge the growing divide and inspire the next generation to learn valuable lessons about discipline, self-reliance, strength, and compassion. This is the kind of movie that can define a generation, like Karate Kid or Rocky. As a dad, this is the kind of movie I want to show my kids. So, with the help of an incredible creative team and the right partner, we’re gonna make it.”

Way Of The Warrior Kid is slated to begin production this summer.

INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT

Chris Smith has an obsession with con artists. His latest true crime series, Hollywood Con Queen for Apple TV+, dropped a wild ​trailer​ that tracks the financial devastation to crew members lured to Indonesia by a ​brilliantly cunning imposter who impersonated top Hollywood executives, including Kathleen Kennedy and Amy Pascal.

Smith’s previous work includes the Netflix documentary Fyre (2019) and Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond (2017).

Hollywood Con Queen drops on Apple TV on May 8th.

Bowen Yang (SNL) ​teams​ back up with ​Andrew Ahn​ (Fire Island) for ​The Wedding Banquet​. Synopsis: Wai-Tung, a gay Taiwanese-American, agrees to marry Wei-Wei (Lily Gladstone) for a green card. When their parents visit for the wedding, Wai-Tung’s homosexuality is revealed, leading to eventual acceptance. The film is a “reimagining” of Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet (1993, ​trailer​).

NY Times critic pic ​Nowhere Special​ is an understated tear-jerker from Uberto Pasolini (producer: The Full Monty) about a slowly dying father trying to find the best adoptive family for his young son (​trailer​).

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Palme d’Or winning Director Laurent Cantet has ​died at 63​. In the pantheon of films about teachers taming unruly classrooms, of which Adrien Brody’s Detachment (2011) and Sidney Poitier’s To Sir With Love (1967) are members, Cantet’s The Class (2008, ​trailer​) stands out as one of the best. This Cannes Palme d’Or winner tracks a white teacher in France contending with racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood. It’s an astonishing tale of human empathy.

Cantet will be missed.

ON THIS DAY

1954. Seven Samurai, directed by Akira Kurosawa, is released.

That’s all for the week. See you Monday.

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Written by Gabriel Miller. Research by Spencer Carter.

Editor: ​Gabriel Miller​.

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