CBS lawyers tried to block Stephen Colbert’s interview with Texas legislator James Talarico, but Colbert posted it online instead—where it exploded, drawing far more viewers than TV. By defying CBS and the FCC’s new “equal time” rule, Colbert turned attempted censorship into a viral publicity gift. - The New Republic
“Yes, casting directors are finding the right person to carry the weight of the movie, but they are also responsible for nearly every face you see onscreen, creating the whole human environment of the film. Perhaps the casting award is most akin to the one honoring production design.” - The New York Times
Mehdi Mahmoudian, who wrote the screenplay for the Cannes-winning film alongside director Jafar Panahi, has been released on bail after 17 days. He was among a group of people arrested for signing a statement condemning Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for ordering the violent crackdown on protesters last month. - The Hollywood Reporter
Colbert said that CBS lawyers had told him “in no uncertain terms” that an interview he had planned for Monday’s show with State Representative James Talarico of Texas would not air on the show, even though the lawmaker was already in Mr. Colbert’s studio. - The New York Times
Train Dreams, Clint Bentley’s feature about an isolated logger in the early-20th-century Pacific Northwest, led the film categories with three wins. In the television categories, Adolescence, a British crime drama about a 13-year-old boy accused of stabbing a classmate to death, took four of the six prizes. - The Hollywood Reporter
“Warner Bros Discovery Inc. has agreed to temporarily reopen sale negotiations with rival Hollywood studio Paramount Skydance Corp., setting the stage for a potential second bidding war with Netflix Inc.” - Bloomberg (Yahoo!)
“The ‘dynamics of this novel are about otherness in various ways, and that otherness is in Heathcliff.’ Onscreen, however, Heathcliff has largely been played by white actors.” - The New York Times
“Paramount Skydance’s latest offer — No. 9 since last year — includes a premium ‘ticking fee’ for WBD shareholders of about $650 million for every quarter that the Paramount-WBD nuptials are not completed by Dec. 31, 2026.” - Variety
“When you read a book, you live inside it — you're intellectually and emotionally invested, because you create its world in your mind.” But a movie? You’re just visiting. - NPR
Not that we’re judging your trips to the cottage, but, for instance, "Tkaronto patiently and beautifully expresses that longing for connection through fleeting, thorny and bittersweet romantic interlude.” - The Guardian (UK)
“Some of them are startlingly cinematic, far beyond the workmanlike coverage we expect from seeing the same action on television.” - The New York Times
“The region’s new generation of filmmakers is no longer bound by the intimate, place-specific arthouse mode that often defined the late 2010s New Catalan Cinema. ... They are pushing into genre, into international co-production, into areas their predecessors rarely touched.” - Variety
Is it all about popularity? What about when a network drops every episode at once? Does a series need to have characters who might grip an audience, or a dense plot? The NYT editor in charge of recapping has Thoughts. - The New York Times
The wind-down of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has given birth to a new independent, nonprofit organization that looks to fill some of the gap left by CPB’s closure after nearly six decades. - InsideRadio
“This clandestine smear machine seemingly connects some of the most talked-about scandals of recent years. … (Figures are) targeted by mysteriously operated websites that are filled with character-assassinating claims and impossible to take down. In recent months, the origins of these sites have been connected and allegedly unmasked in court.” - The Hollywood Reporter
