Tag: Entertainment-Variety

When Mitski wraps up a five-night residency at Hollywood High School this weekend, it will conclude an engagement that follows in a very limited tradition of rock or pop stars doing shows in the school’s 1,900-seat auditorium, preceded most famously by Elvis Costello in 1978 and Morrissey in 2013.

But in a broader sense, the run of concerts can be seen as a reinforcement of the 123-year-old school’s epic history of almost certainly being the learning institution most associated with the entertainment industry, including but not limited to a list of alumni that can nearly read as a who’s who of  20^th century show-biz greats. The fact that the school’s mascot and teams are the Sheiks — named after Rudolph Valentino’s pop-culture-shaking role in 1921’s “The Sheik” — is just one small piece of evidence of how much Hollywood High has been entwined with the industry that also informally bears the Hollywood name.

In a principal’s office that has framed magazine covers or sheet music of Judy Garland and Lana Turner greeting anyone who’s waiting at the front desk, principal Samuel Dovlatian spoke about why he believes as big an artist as Mitski chose Hollywood High for one of just two underplay residencies she is doing in the U.S. to promote her new album, “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me.”

“Her idea of coming to a classic-looking high school, where you see the auditorium with the wooden chairs and the proscenium and the red curtains, is a tribute, a throwback andan honor,” said Dovlatian. “She’s bringing the audience into a place that is familiar to them, putting themback in that place of attending a high school assembly concert… albeit really at that professional level with Mitski’s beautiful songs and lyrics touching the hearts of the listeners, who are enjoying it in a place where most artists get their start.”

Mitski herself has had a couple of different explanations for why she chose Hollywood High. (Her equivalent six-night New York residency could not have been in a more different facility — the modern, nine-figure arts center the Shed. Any of these places counts as an unusually intimate space for Mitski, whose last L.A. shows, in 2024, consisted of three nights at the 6,000-seat Shrine followed by one at the 17,500-seat Hollywood Bowl.)

On the first night of the residency this past Monday, Mitski told the audience that the setting brought up raw emotions about being a youthful misfit. “Can I tell you something, though? When I first got here, I slightly regretted having this at a high school, because I was immediately triggered,” she told the crowd. “I don’t know about you all, but … oh, my God. As soon as I set foot on campus, my brain immediately scanned and clocked all of my exits and places I can hide.”

By Thursday night’s show, she was cheekily describing inflicting those feelings on the audience as deliberate. “We’re basically bringing y’all to possibly one of the most traumatizing places, to get you all in emotional turmoil, sit you down, and then unleash this music on you. Ha ha ha ha,” she said, literally laughing out loud. “I got you primed. You know, it’s dark in here. No one can see you. You can cry! I’m crying, on the inside.”

While Mitski’s material can be as emotion-stirring as a statement like that can promise, if there was any crying going on, it might have been from the sheer devotion and gratitude of having made it through the ticket lottery to secure a place at the shows at all. Or, in the case of the Hollywood High students on hand, having gotten tickets Mitski’s management donated to the school, in a contest; 46 students were given a pair to see a show, after racking up 96% attendance rates, out of 168 who entered the competition.

Many of the students at Hollywood High are undoubtedly more impressed by Mitski than they are by the stars of yesteryear whose names or images are painted or peppered throughout the school. But for anyone of a certain age stepping inside the campus, which takes up a full, good-sized city block, it can be about as impressive a museum of Hollywood history as any in L.A., even before you get inside the school’s actual museum, which is only open on special occasions.

The corridor nearest the main office sports an alumni Wall of Fame, with stars and names painted by the classes of 1991-92. Among the A-listers who merited a star at that time: Garland, Turner, Carol Burnett, John Ritter, James Garner, Mickey Rooney, Robert Carradine, Barbara Hershey, Meredith Baxter, Scott Baio, Alan Hale Jr., Gloria Grahame, Jason Robards, Mike Farrell, Ione Skye, Donovan Leitch, Rick Nelson, Stephanie Powers, Sherree North, Nanette Fabray, producer Glen Larson, L.A. Times publisher Norman Chandler and U.S. judge John Aiso (who has a street named after him downtown).

When Dovlatian unlocks the doors to the school museum, that’s when a much deeper dive into Hollywood High alumni begins. But first, the principal points to a photo of the school as it was originally constructed in its current form, surrounded by seemingly nothing, let alone an In-n-Out. “This is what Hollywood High looked like when it was first built in 1920s. a lot of farmland, with orange groves and poinsettias,” he says. “And one of the complaints from the farmers was, why are we building such an expensive high school when we don’t even have high school-aged kids around? So what we had to do was put out newspaper advertisements calling for families with high school student-aged kids to come to Hollywood, so that we could have enrollment.”

Another anomaly, inside the museum door: a class picture from the 1940s that has nothing but girls’ legs lined up in the front row. “If you take a look, you’ll notice that the majority of the students in the picture are our girls, because of World War II. The guys were all drafted or enlisted in their own right and were ready and willing. We have a whole war memorial upstairs that is a tribute to all of our soldiers and generals.”

But as much as the school can claim major government, business and military figures, the actors are the main draw for most visitors. The museum includes individual entries that include some figures whose fame was too recent for them to have been painted onto that wall in the administration building in the early ‘90s, from Rita Wilson to Lawrence Fishburne to writer-director Frank Darabont.

There are some non-marquee names whose place in the museum will delight Hollywood aficionados, from composer Earle Hagen Jr. to famed film noir director Edward Dmytryk. (The latter filmmaker shares a portion of one wall with his wife, actress Jean Porter; they were in the classes of 1926 and ’39, respectively, but didn’t meet and fall in love till they were on-set in 1945.) Others celebrated with their own framed photo and blurb include Linda Evans, Swoosie Kurtz, Carole Wells, Marge Champion and John Phillip Law. Brandy Norwood gets a nod, although perhaps not as big as she might’ve if she were an actual graduate; a magazine article in one corner of the museum mentions her mom pulling her out when she didn’t get the lead in a school play. (Brandy doesn’t lack for her due, though, being one of the figures pained on the Highland Ave.-facing façade of the school auditorium.)

Non-actors getting their due in the school museum range from famed sculptor Beatrice Wood to former attorney general Warren Christopher to one-time FCC chairman FCC chairman William E. Kennard.

But when it comes to students who took an unusual path toward fame, nothing may beat the next exhibit Dovlatian points out: “The Ken doll, as you can see, was modeled after our student, Ken Handler, at the time. If you see the ‘Barbie’ movie, of course, there’s reference to him in there, and here we see the variations and iterations of the Ken doll over the decades and how he changed from the original.” The principal also pulls out a shink-wrapped Hollywood High board game that was somehow licensed in the 1980s.

A trip to the school’s historic library includes a massive horizontal mural that was commissioned in the mid-1930s as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA), portraying the history of the arts. “You see the gentleman in the toga and the columns of the Greco-Roman era’s amphitheaters, and move onto the right with the ladies and their flowing dresses and the lyre… all the way up to the flapper era and the Spanish influence of Southern California on the architects, back architecture changing to the landscape of the desert and so forth, and all the way on the right you end up with the gentleman who is looking through a viewfinder. At the time of this painting of the mural, the film reel camera system was the latest technology at that time, and so we go from the Greco Romans’ oration in amphitheaters to filmmaking in the ‘30s.”

Hollywood High at present is trying to keep up with the technology of the ‘30s… the 2030s, assuming all keeps going to plan.

“This is the auto body shop that I’ve converted into a multimillion dollar studio,” says Dovlatian, stepping into a space on the western end of the campus that has students stationed at Macs in a darkened room on one side of a wall and a green-screen set and cameras on the other side. “With all the studios in town, I probably have equipment that they don’t even have,” the principal boasts. “You can do music videos and news broadcasts here, multi-camera with teleprompters and everything else. In the other room you have the control deck and the editing room for post-production. And we have community members, instructors from the industry, who come and support our projects.”

Dovlation is proud of what’s been accomplished during his 10-year tenture at the school, five as principal, following another five as vice principal. It’s not all about taking advantage of the interest that comes with proximity to the entertainment biz… although plenty of it is.

“I run Hollywood High School much like a college, with four majors that students pick from when they initially enroll,” he says. “The choices are the Teaching Career Academy, which prepares students for the child development career pathway. These students learn theory, meaning they learn Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Piaget, all the child development theorists, and they take that theory from the classroom and are big brothers and sisters to our neighboring elementary schools and see what the theories that they are learning look like on the playing field… Another major is the School for Advanced Studies, where this year we have really focused on the biotechnology career pathway. and students have an opportunity to learn the intersection between biology and technology.

“Another, of course, is the Hollywood Performing Arts Magnet, and this is the academy that prepares students to be on stage doing acting, dancing and music, and in behind-the-scenes theater design, set lighting and sound. We partner with community members in the industry who come and advise and prepare our students. … Last but not least, we have the New Media Academy Magnet, which not only won a Fistinguished Magnet School Award for Excellence Award, but we are up for national recognition as well. We take students from zero to introducing them to the career of filmmaking where they learn on high-end professional cameras. These aren’t just toy cameras, but we’re talking Sony, RED, Blackmagic, the types of cameras used into industry…”

On this particular visit to the campus, many of the students are dressed formally, although that’s not an indication of any sort of prep-school severe dress code. The principal explains, “Today’s one of the most important days of a senior’s life at Hollywood High School, because you will see my seniors dressed up in their suits and formal wear because they are presenting their senior dissertation, which they have to do in order to qualify to walk on the stage at the Hollywood Bowl, where our graduation is held.”

He stops a girl, Farah, on campus to ask about her dissertation. It happens to be a presentation having to do with show business, but not in any aspirational way. “My research question is, how does abuse in the entertainment industry affect potential child entertainers?” she explains. “As y’all know, in Hollywood there’s a lot of exploitation and physical, psychological, emotional and mental abuse. So, I’m touching on that topic and getting you guys to understand the child’s POV of how glamorous Hollywood looks, versus the dark side that really comes with it. … Definitely when I was younger, I used to want to be a Disney child actor, but my mom always rejected it, and I never understood why until I got older and really got to do my own research. So really that’s what made me pick this topic for my senior project. I’m very excited, and very nervous too.”

On stage in the auditorium where Mitski will soon perform, the cast for a student production of “Into the Woods” is rehearsing as student crew members work on the set design. This will all disappear at the beginning of spring break so that Mitski’s crew can come in and replace the Sondheim with the production needed to stage “Where’s My Phone?” and other hits.

This is an unusually high-level residency for Hollywood High, the last major one being Morrissey’s 13 years ago, which was shot for a DVD. (Costello’s show in 1978, meanwhile, was the basis of an EP that was included along with the ’79 studio album “Armed Forces,” finally released in full more than three decades later, in 2010.)

“A big name like Morrissey is gonna draw attention and media, but we have also other lesser-known artists throughout the years, independent artists and just people who are looking to rent a venue and put together a show,” Dovlation says. “I’ve had many cultural programs and shows, from Far East/Indian to children’s ballet shows, dance shows. The venue is flexible, available on the weekends, when it doesn’t conflict with our own productions. And I’m happy to rent that out to concerts, shows, performances, theater. I even have a church group in there on Sundays. So, we are community-friendly and want to support the entertainment industry.”

Sources say all the sound and lighting had to be brought in from scratch for Mitski, at her team’s considerable expense. Goldenvoice, the promoter, even taped seat numbers onto every seat in the auditorum, which usually doesn’t require such niceties. Will it be worth it, when an artist of her magnitude could easily go into a venue that is more ready-made for this high-tech a production?

Mitski tends to be press-shy, and wasn’t up for doing any interviews about the Hollywood High residency. But in a recent interview with the public radio program World Café (the only one she’s done in the U.S. about her new album), the artist explained why, even before a school was picked, she honed in on doing something outside the norm.

“It goes back to my very first intentions for this album,” she said. “Even though we ended up adding a whole bunch of orchestra and other instruments, at its core, the intention was, I want to get back to the feeling that I had 10 years ago — or earlier, 15 years ago — where I felt like I was in a room with a few people and we were really connecting… (where) it felt more raw and right down to basics, both in terms of performance and gear and everything, but also the basics of human interaction…

“I wanted it to feel like an experience I wanted to recreate… the feeling that I had going to going to DIY shows, punk shows,” where “I would think I’m experiencing something that is not like anything else, that I’m going to remember. You know, like going to an abandoned firehouse and watching a band. Obviously the scale is different, but I wanted to recreate that feeling of, I feel like I’m having an experience.”

When the “World Café” host asked about the logistics of bringing all that audio and video gear into a high school, Mitski responded, “I think you should ask my managers that, because it seemed terrible. I feel really bad, actually. God bless them.” Not mentioned was having to slot the concert dates into the school’s spring break, the only time something this elaborate could have been staged in a public school. (The school’s downstairs cafeteria, meanwhile, was converted into a combination merch booth and highly stylized photo-op space.)

But, as Mitski well recognizes — and was obviously able to convince management and booking — the 8,000 or so mostly young people who were able to attend over the course of a week won’t likely ever forget being this thoroughly schooled.

Netflix is still in love with “Love on the Spectrum.”

The streaming giant has renewed the U.S. version of “Love on the Spectrum” for a fifth season following the successful debut of its fourth season, Variety has learned exclusively.

Season 3 of the dating show that follows young adults with autism ranked in the Global Top 10 for two weeks. The docu-reality series, which also has two seasons of an Australian version, has won multiple Emmys over its tenure. In 2025, it won for outstanding unstructured reality program and casting for a reality program. The series also earned two Emmys in 2024 for casting and directing, as well as three awards in 2022, including unstructured reality program, casting and editing.

The seven-episode season features longstanding couples and fan favorites such as Madison and Tyler, Connor and Georgie and James and Shelley, as well as welcoming newcomers Logan from Las Vegas, Dylan from Los Angeles and Emma from Utah.

The new season, which dropped on April 1 at the start of Autism Awareness Month, follows the cast as they further explore romance in their lives, with tentative first dates, house-hunting, an amicable breakup, and a tear-jerking proposal among the biggest moments.

In addition, fan favorite Connor Tomlinson — who has appeared on the series for three seasons — confirmed to Variety that he will not return for the upcoming installment as he pivots toward an acting career.

“It is with humility and a heavy heart that I share I will not be partaking in Season 5,” Tomlinson says. “I feel like three seasons is enough to tell my story and find love on my own time.”

Adding with a quip, “I’ve chosen to pass the torch to the next person who can make it as big as me.”

Tomlinson said he plans to remain active in the entertainment industry. “Don’t worry about me — I’m still going to be in the acting business, especially voice work,” he shares. “I’ve always been a huge fan of animation and would love to be involved with a TV show.”

He also expressed gratitude to the creative team behind the series. “I want to sincerely thank Cian, Sean [Bowman, casting producer], and the entire crew for changing my life over the past three years.”

Netflix held the show’s official FYC event on Friday evening for this year’s Primetime Emmys race, where it screened the finale and featured a Q&A discussion, moderated by “Heated Rivalry” star François Arnaud, alongside executive producer and creator Cian O’Clery, and cast members Madison, Tyler, Connor (and his mother Lise).

Praised for its insightful and warm-hearted storytelling, the series continues to resonate with audiences worldwide. Along with O’Clery, Karina Holden also serves as executive producer. Production is handled by Northern Pictures.

Blake Lively vowed on Friday to keep up her fight against “digital violence,” a day after a judge threw out her sexual harassment claims against co-star Justin Baldoni.

In a statement on Instagram, Lively said that the heart of her case will go to a jury next month, and that she looks forward to telling her story in court.

“The last thing I wanted in my life was a lawsuit, but I brought this case because of the pervasive RETALIATION I faced, and continue to, for privately and professionally asking for a safe working environment for myself and others,” she said. “I hope the Court’s decision shows others that, as unfathomably painful as it is, you can speak up.”

Lively has claimed that she was sexually harassed during the production, and that Baldoni and his publicists launched a digital smear campaign to ruin her reputation after she complained about it.

On Thursday, Judge Lewis Liman threw out 10 of the 13 claims in Lively’s lawsuit, including the claims of sexual harassment, defamation and conspiracy. He allowed three claims to proceed to trial: retaliation, aiding and abetting in retaliation, and breach of contract.

In her statement, Lively urged fans not to get distracted by the characterization of the suit as “celebrity drama,” saying that framing is designed “to keep you from seeing yourselves in my story.”

“The physical pain from digital violence is very real,” she wrote. “It is abuse. And it’s everywhere. Not just in the news, but in your communities and schools. If you’re looking, my claims won’t be the first or last time you’ll see examples of the extreme dangers of retaliation and digital warfare. And it often won’t be directed at celebrities or those who may able to speak up. It affects us all.”

Liman ruled that Lively could not bring a sexual harassment claim under federal law because she was an independent contractor and not an employee. And she could not allege harassment under California law because the production took place in New Jersey.

On the issue of retaliation, he found she had made out a plausible case that she had a good faith basis for her harassment complaints, meaning that a jury will decide whether she faced unlawful repercussions for raising them.

Her agency, WME, which parted ways with Baldoni over the accusations surrounding “It Ends With Us,” issued a statement of support for Lively and her remaining claims on Friday, saying “she has helped expose the devastating harm caused by covert digital takedown campaigns.”

“In an industry that too often asks women to absorb the damage and stay quiet, Blake Lively chose to stand up for herself, her castmates, and those without the ability to fight back,” WME’s statement said. “She has met this moment with courage, moral clarity, and extraordinary determination. Even as others have tried to turn this case into a spectacle, she has kept the focus where it belongs: on facts, accountability, and the right to speak up without fear of retaliation. In doing so, she has helped expose the devastating harm caused by covert digital takedown campaigns designed to intimidate, discredit, and drown out the truth. She and her family have our full support as this case moves to trial.”

A magistrate judge ordered both sides to call in on Monday to discuss their updated settlement positions. The magistrate presided over a mandatory settlement conference in February that went nowhere, but the judge’s recent ruling may have altered the playing field.

In a statement on Thursday, Lively’s attorney Sigrid McCawley hinted that Lively may have already achieved what she was aiming for.

“For Blake Lively, the greatest measure of justice is that the people and the playbook behind these coordinated digital attacks have been exposed and are already being held accountable by other women they’ve targeted,” McCawley said.

She added, however, that Lively was looking forward to testifying at the trial in May, “and continuing to shine a light on this vicious form of online retaliation so that it becomes easier to detect and fight.”

Amazon MGM Studios has set Mel Brooks‘ long-awaited “Spaceballs” sequel to debut next spring.

The sci-fi spoof movie, which marks a return to acting for star Rick Moranis, will be released on April 23, 2027, in time for the cult classic’s 40th anniversary.

Moranis will reprise his role in the goofy intergalactic adventure as Lord Dark Helmet alongside Bill Pullman as Lone Starr, Daphne Zuniga as Princess Vespa, and George Wyner as Colonel Sandurz. Brooks, 99, a winner of the coveted EGOT and hailed as one of the greatest comedic filmmakers in Hollywood history, also returns as the Yoga-esque being Yogurt.

Josh Gad headlines the new cast, which also features Keke Palmer, Anthony Carrigan and Lewis Pullman, Bill’s son. (“Every day was such a trip,” the younger Pullman told People last year. “It … felt like a bizarre simulation. I just couldn’t believe my luck.”)

Josh Greenbaum, who is known for “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar” and “Will & Harper,” is directing from a script by Gad, Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez. Like the 1987 Brooks-directed original, the sequel is expected to riff on popular sci-fi franchises like “Star Wars,” “Star Trek” and “Alien.”

The sequel was revealed last summer in a video shared by Brooks. “Thirty-eight years ago, there was only one ‘Star Wars’ trilogy,” the crawl reads. “But since then there have been … a prequel trilogy, a sequel trilogy, a sequel to the prequel, a prequel to the sequel, countless TV spinoffs, a movie spinoff of the TV spinoff, which is both a prequel and a sequel.”The video points out that other franchises like “Jurassic Park, “Avatar” and “Harry Potter” have also continued to expand. “But in 38 years,” it concluded, “There has only ever been one ‘Spaceballs.’ Until now…”

Plot details about the sequel, including its title, are being kept under wraps, but “the title is rumored to be the name of the movie, and plot details are being described as information about what happens in the story,” reads Amazon MGM’s tongue-in-cheek synopsis. A prior logline also teased that the movie is a “non-prequel non-reboot sequel part two but with reboot elements franchise expansion film.”

Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Jeb Brody will also produce alongside Brooks (for his Brooksfilms Limited), Gad (for Angry Child Productions), Greenbaum and Kevin Salter. Adam Merims, Samit and Hernandez will executive produce.

Deadline first reported the dating news.

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for the season premiere of “Your Friends & Neighbors,” now streaming on Apple TV.

Just as Coop starts to glue his life back together, a new neighbor threatens to tear it back apart.

James Marsden swaggers into the Season 2 premiere of “Your Friends & Neighbors” as Owen Ashe, a cocky, charming and unfathomably rich bachelor. He swerves his blue McLaren directly into the drama of Westmont Village, throwing an ostentatious party and cozying up to the beleaguered Andrew “Coop” Cooper (Jon Hamm) and Samantha (Olivia Munn).

The premiere picks up some time after the end of Season 1, which saw Coop exonerated and reunited with his family after he was accused of murdering Sam’s husband. Sam was able to plead her case down to a few misdemeanors, but she’s still a pariah among the Westmont social circles. Hoping to get a fresh start as a realtor, she meets Ashe as the listing agent of her own home.

While Ashe is a stranger to the country club elite of this fictional New York suburb, Marsden has known his co-stars for a while. The role came to him via text messages from both Hamm and Munn.

“We grew up in Oklahoma City, and she was friends with my sister, who went to the same high school,” Marsden says of Munn. “She said, ‘We’d love to have you on Season 2. It’s a fun role. Please say yes.’”

And while Marsden and Hamm had never worked together before, they regularly face off in a fantasy football league. “I don’t think it was intentionally a Hollywood fantasy football league, but it sort of became that over time,” Marsden says. “Chris Evans asked me to join 10 or 12 years ago. It’s not very public, though. It’s like a secret league that we’re all in, but it’s pretty laid back. Not in any sort of Hollywood, entitled way. It’s just a bunch of fun guys who happen to be in Marvel movies.”

When you read the scripts for “Your Friends & Neighbors,” what were your first impressions of Owen Ashe? 

It’s always easier for me to play a character the further they are from who I am. There are characteristics I share with this guy, but mostly he’s very high energy, high-net-worth, high swagger — someone who comes into town and shakes things up, disrupts everything going on in Westmont Village and catches the attention of the locals, and primarily the attention of Jon Hamm’s character. So I got excited about playing something different from what I’m used to.

I’ve met people in my life that this character reminded me of, so I tapped into that a little and drew some inspiration from those past experiences — and got to send them up in a playful way. But ultimately you just realize your duty is to service the story. He’s a nice foil to Jon Hamm’s character, and it’s fun to blur the lines of whether these two are going to end up pals or lock horns at some point in the season.

What are the subtle keys to playing a charming douchebag?

You can’t go too far into douchey territory. You’ve got to make the guy actually intelligent, actually charming. And I think unawareness is the big key — the more unaware someone is of how unsavory or self-satisfying they’re being, the funnier it is. You need to make sure it’s fun for the audience. You don’t want to put them off or make them think, I just hate this guy. They have to see his charm and have fun watching him do the dance. Unawareness is really the key thing. These people aren’t aware of how inappropriate they’re being, or how arrogant it comes off when they talk about their cars, their money, their Italian clothes. Leaning into the humor of that, playing a character that can be laughed at, is what makes it fun.

Why is he so drawn to Samantha?

He’s smart enough to recognize the, um, bullshit. (I’m looking around because my youngest son is nearby.) He’s a smart guy, and he sees right through everybody. He can see the people fawning over him because he’s wealthy, and he can pick them apart. He can see if someone is putting on a facade. So, when he sees Sam, he’s curious about why she’s been ostracized from the social cliques in Westmont Village. From the get-go, he can see she’s a straight shooter — very direct, unapologetic about her past, not trying to hide anything. She just says, “Yeah, my husband killed himself, and I was arrested.” And I think he’s fascinated by that. With Sam, he sees transparency, honesty and directness, and that’s attractive to him.

He also has this instant connection with Coop. Does Ashe know more about them and about the community he’s just joined than he’s letting on?

I don’t think he knows anything specific about Coop’s history or Olivia’s history, or any of them. He’s moved to this town to start a new life, maybe calm it down a bit with his daughter. And the biggest weapon in his arsenal is spending money and throwing big parties — that’s his way of introducing himself to the community. But he’s also probably hiding some darker details. A lot of people like to talk about themselves, but Owen is someone who likes to ask questions about other people, and maybe that’s his way of keeping the attention off of himself. What he does for a living might be legitimate, or it could be a little shady — maybe he’s got money in offshore accounts. He’s a shifty guy, so I think he’s moved to Westmont for some reason.

But I do think there’s a lot of good in him. There’s a kid in him: He’s very unfiltered and excited about what’s next. He’s enthusiastically interested in what these people’s lives are like and who they really are. He’s drawn to Coop because he’s another one who’s direct and doesn’t mince words. But Owen is good at reading people, and when he looks at Coop he sees someone who isn’t showing his hand fully — and that’s always a mark of intelligence to Owen. Like, OK, what’s this guy’s secret?

Does he see himself in Coop?

He does. He even says, “We’re two bachelors living in this town together.” He likes guys who paint outside the lines. He sees that Coop has a tendency to ride a little closer to the edge than most people do, and that’s something that resonates with him. For Owen, things have to be exciting, and if it gets dull or boring, he moves on. He sees that in Coop as well.

I imagine that party sequence was shot over several days. Is it unusual to be in that mode for so long?

It’s not as fun as it looks, I’ll say that. But it’s not a terrible time. We’re there, and it’s this beautiful estate and music is playing. You’re not drinking real champagne, and you’re in the pool for four hours, when in the show you’re in the pool for 25 seconds. That gets to be a drag. You go, This is what I do for a living. I’m in a tuxedo in this pool at 4 a.m. — because it’s a night shoot, so you’re shooting until sunrise. It’s good socially. In between takes you can hang with a bunch of people and chit chat. It does start to grind away at you as you do it for 12 hours. How many times am I going to have to dance on the dance floor? How many times am I going to have to jump into the pool with my suit on? It’s not ever as fun as it looks.

“Jury Duty” is back with “Company Retreat.” Do you have ideas for a potential third season?

There are other minds that work on that. But if it were me, I think it’d be fun to do a tech start-up. But it’s got to be a place where you can’t have your phones. Maybe a crazy Hollywood party or a weekend masquerade party where no phones are allowed.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Viz Media has picked up North American and select international streaming rights to the anime adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi’s “Mao,” with the series launching April 4 on Hulu in the U.S. and on Disney+ across Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America.

The series premieres the same day on NHK General TV in Japan, where Hulu Japan will also stream it from April 5. The show is slated for a continuous two-cour run without a midseason break.

The anime adaptation, produced by Sunrise and announced last July by Bandai Namco Filmworks, arrives as part of the broader celebration of publisher Shogakukan’s centenary. Takahashi launched “Mao” in Shogakukan’s Weekly Shōnen Sunday in May 2019, and the manga has reached 27 compiled volumes as of February 2026. Viz Media, which has held the English-language North American manga license since 2021, began releasing simultaneous English chapters alongside the Japanese publication in May 2023.

A dark supernatural fantasy spanning two eras, “Mao” follows Nanoka Kiba, a junior high student who is hurled back to Japan’s Taisho period after revisiting the shopping arcade where she survived a mysterious childhood accident eight years earlier. There she encounters Mao, a brooding onmyoji mystic who has spent nine centuries under a life-altering curse, and whose probing questions force Nanoka to see her own strange existence in an entirely new light. The two form an uneasy alliance as they take on the dark forces entangled with both their fates.

Takahashi is one of manga’s most decorated and commercially dominant figures, with “Urusei Yatsura,” “Ranma ½,” “Maison Ikkoku” and “Inuyasha” among her signature works. She has won the Shogakukan Manga Award twice – for “Urusei Yatsura” in 1981 and for “Inuyasha” in 2002 – and is an inductee of the Eisner Award Hall of Fame. Much of her canon has been adapted into anime, live-action series and film, and her body of work has come to be known collectively as the “Rumic World.”

Teruo Sato, who previously directed “Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon” Season 1, helms the new series, with series composition by Yuko Kakihara and character design and chief animation direction by Yoshihito Hishinuma, another “Yashahime” and “Inuyasha” veteran. Further key credits include art direction by Hiroshi Kato and Izumi Hoki, color design by Masumi Otsuka, CG direction by Tomohiro Fujie, photography direction by Akane Fushihara, editing by Kazuhiro Nii, sound direction by Hiromi Kikuta and music by Shu Kanematsu. The series is a production of the Mao Production Committee.

Boy band Kis-My-Ft2 perform the opening theme “Heartloud,” with True performing the ending theme “Juai” (Cursed Love).

Yuki Kaji voices the title character Mao, with Natsumi Kawaida as Nanoka Kiba. The supporting cast includes Hiro Shimono as Hyakka, Toshiyuki Toyonaga as Kamon, Momoka Terasawa as Otoya, Kazuyuki Okitsu as Shiranui, Motoko Kumai as Funa Uozumi, Yoko Hikasa as Tenko, Risa Shimizu as Sana, Reina Ueda as Yurako and Takashi Matsuyama as Byoki.

Viz Media’s rights cover TV, home video, electronic sell-through and video-on-demand across North America, Latin America and Australia/New Zealand.