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David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is in “advanced talks” with California Attorney General Rob Bonta to settle the 12-state antitrust suit that’s holding up its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing anonymous sources.

A Paramount spokesperson declined to comment. A rep for Bonta’s office said, “Potential settlement talks are confidential. We cannot confirm or deny whether settlement talks are occurring or their alleged substance.”

Per the Journal’s report, the talks are “ongoing and there is no guarantee that an agreement will be reached.” Paramount and the California AG have “discussed compromises including Paramount agreeing to operate the two companies’ movie studios separately for a period rather than immediately combining them,” according to the WSJ article.

However, Bonta has previously said that running the two companies separately — but under common ownership — would be a mere “behavioral” remedy, and that he is looking for a structural remedy that would entail separate ownership.

RELATED STORY: Who is Rob Bonta and Why is California’s Attorney General Suing to Block Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger?

A judge has scheduled a trial in the matter for March 2027. Paramount had requested that the 12 states — and the Writers Guild of America, which also has filed an antitrust suit seeking to block the Paramount-WBD deal — post a $1.88 billion bond to cover its potential losses from a “ticking fee” payable to WBD shareholders (starting as of Oct. 1 at a rate of $7 million per day) if Paramount ends up prevailing in court. A hearing on the bond motion is set for Sept. 24.

Ellison’s $111 billion pending deal for Warner Bros. Discovery is being bankrolled in part by his mega-billionaire father, Larry Ellison, as well as the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. On Thursday, the FCC approved Paramount’s petition to allow 49.5% of its equity to be held by foreign entities if the Warner Bros. Discovery is consummated.

David Ellison has internally told Paramount execs he’s seriously considering relocating the company’s operations — including, over a longer time horizon, its studio — out of California if Paramount is unable to close the Warner Bros. deal by the end of September. He’s floated the possibility of moving the company to Tennessee, Texas or Georgia.

In “Without Blood,” written and directed by Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek plays Nina, a woman who spends her adult life looking for the three men responsible for the wartime murder of her father and brother when she was just a child.

In two of the cases, her revenge is fatal. But then she meets the third accomplice, Tito (Demián Bichir), now a clerk in a newspaper kiosk at a train station.

The movie is in many ways a two-hander featuring Nina and Tito talking over drinks with flashback scenes chronicling both of their sometimes harrowing lives.

“I was afraid that I couldn’t play this part, and also I was afraid to go so far every day at work and go into this really difficult place,” Hayek says during a joint interview with Jolie. “At the beginning, I wasn’t sure that Angelina was directing. I thought she was just producing. I’m like, ‘Oh no, I don’t want to suffer like that. I don’t want to.’ And then she started talking to me about the importance of the piece. And then you have to understand that Angelina is an extraordinary director.”

“Without Blood” is an adaptation of Italian writer Alessandro Baricco’s novella of the same name. Like the book, the movie doesn’t specify the time or the location where the story takes place, nor identify the war at the center of the story. The characters speak English and Spanish.

“I wanted it to be that anyone watching it from anywhere could identify with it,” Jolie says. “Even if it wasn’t an actual war or a conflict, there’s something beautiful in the book where it says, ‘We return to where we break.’ So part of the conflict and the idea of the film is that anybody can identify with something in your life where something happened where it broke you and changed you, and how much you wish you could sit across from that person and have answers and have some kind of say your piece and hope that they could see you and hope that it gives you some kind of healing or closure. Of course, sometimes it doesn’t give you what you think you’re looking for or doesn’t heal those.”

This isn’t the first time Jolie has made a film about war and conflict. Her directorial debut was the Bosnian war drama “In the Land of Blood and Money” in 2011. “Unbroken” (2014) told the story of American prisoners-of-war during World War II. The life of Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung under the rule of the Khmer Rouge was the subject of “First They Killed My Father” in 2017.

“In ‘First They Killed My Father,’ we had trauma therapy tents because a lot of people there had been through war and I’ve learned that everybody’s been through some level of trauma,” Jolie says. “What we did on this was the time spent with everybody discussing it. We all ended up spending a lot of time talking about our pain, talking about our losses, our traumas. Obviously, community can be very, very healing.”

Jolie and Hayek Pinault first worked together five years ago when they co-starred in the Marvel movie “Eternals.” Next, Jolie will serve as a producer on Hayek Pinault’s directorial debut, “Arena,” an epic romantic adventure that the “Frida” star also wrote.

“In a way, she’s my partner,” Hayek Pinault says. “I’ve written two different scripts with two different pens that she gave me. It’s a really good, enriching and artistic relationship. That is hard to find. It’s such a gift.”

I asked Jolie if she’s ever been tempted to direct lighter material like a comedy. “We’ve laughed a lot. We fantasized about making different comedies together,” Hayek Pinault says.

Jolie laughs, “My comedies tend to be a bit dark. I think I have a dark sense of humor.”

Hayek Pinault turns to Jolie and says, “You’re funny. So funny. She just keeps it a secret.”

Jolie isn’t sure she has what it takes to helm comedy. “I don’t know how good I’d be. You have those things that we think, as an actress, you like to try everything and then you get to a point you realize other actors are good at certain things and there are many who are better at comedy than I am. But I do think I’m a pretty good straight person, like the ‘Maleficent.’ I’m a good straight.”

“Without Blood” is in theaters now.

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It’s week two in the NFL season and we’re already seeing a big rivalry game between two NFC North teams. Although both the Vikings and the Bears are 1-0 on the season, this game has a little more weight since it’s a division matchup. Whichever teams wins this Sunday, they’re one step closer to winning the division and having better placement in the NFL Playoffs in January 2027.

On Sunday, Sept. 20, you can watch Minnesota Vikings vs. Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, while the NFL game broadcasts on FOX.

Want to watch the game online? FOX is a network available via Sling Blue.

Right now, Sling Blue goes for $54.99 per month, while the streaming package comes with FOX for the Vikings vs. Bears game. It’s the best plan for the best news and entertainment. Sling Blue comes with ABC and NBC (in select markets), as well as more than 40 other channels, like Bravo, Cartoon Network, Discovery Channel, E!, FOX Sports, FX, FOX News, MS Now, NFL Network, National Geographic, SYFY, TLC, USA Network, A&E, AMC, BBC America, BET, CNN, Comedy Central, Food Network, Fuse, HGTV, History Channel, IFC, Lifetime, Nick Jr., QVC, TBS, TNT, Travel Channel, Vice and many others.

Meanwhile, a subscription to Sling Blue also gets you access to the FOX One streaming service at no extra cost (a $19.99 per month value).

Additionally, you can get the Sling TV Season Pass, which starts at $199.99 when you prepay for five months of service. It’s ideal for the NFL season to watch more games online. It comes with the higher tier Orange + Blue plan, as well as the Sling Sports Extra, which comes with more sports channels, like NFL RedZone, NBA TV, NHL Network, MLB Network, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, SEC Network, ESPNews, ESPNU and others. With Sling TV Season Pass, you’ll get more than 60 channels for NFL games and other live sports.

All Sling TV plans have live TV over the internet, on-demand movie and TV shows, 50 hours of cloud DVR storage and up to three streams across devices, such as smart TVs, smartphones, tablets, laptops and web browsers, at the same time.

On Sunday, Sept. 20, you can livestream Minnesota Vikings vs. Chicago Bears, with a start time of 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on FOX with Sling Blue, below:

Please note: Prices and channel availability depends on your local TV market. Learn more about Sling subscription prices and channels here.