Carole Radziwill is addressing her name appearing in the Epstein files, which will seemingly be a hot topic on the 16th season of The Real Housewives of New York City.
The Housewife used to be friends with Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell; Maxwell also shot the author’s photo for Radziwill’s 2007 memoir What Remains. Her connection to the Epstein files was brought up in the trailer for the upcoming season of RHONY, and she says it’s an important topic to discuss.
“Me and many, many, many more people found our names in these files, and it’s not something I shy away from because I think really it’s important to talk about it,” Radziwill said in a video shared by Vulture during a RHONY cast Q&A hosted by Andy Cohen on Tuesday. “It’s important to be transparent.”
Radziwill said that “obviously I didn’t know anything as no one, you know, 20 years ago would have known anything,” but that it’s “hard also” to grapple with the idea “that someone you knew that long ago and even called a friend at some point was a horrible, horrible person doing horrible things.”
“At first, I was really nervous, but I just think it’s an opportunity to talk about it,” Radziwill added. “There’s real victims and survivors that were brave enough to really stand up to these very, very powerful people. So, you know, not to be a downer, though.”
Radziwill is returning to the RHONY cast after previously starring on the series from season five through 10. It had previously been reported that she would be returning to the show for season 16, but only in a reduced status; however, she has regained her “Apple,” making her a full-time Housewife.
RHONY will debut its 16th season on Tuesday, Sept. 8, at 8 p.m. on Bravo. The new season arrives a little over a year after the second season of the reboot (season 15) concluded on a rocky note in February 2025.
RHONY was rebooted with a brand new cast for the show’s 14th season, following another hectic season 13. After that installment, Bravo initially planned to split RHONY into two shows — one centered around a fresh slate of women and another spotlighting the “legacy” cast. The latter idea was shelved when Peacock instead released The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: RHONY Legacy, a one-season project that highlighted Luann de Lesseps, Ramona Singer, Kelly Bensimon, Sonja Morgan, Dorinda Medley and Kristen Taekman on vacation.
Following devastating staff cuts and a chorus of pushback, CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is courting controversy once again for her editorial decisions at the helm of the network’s news division — this time for overseeing an article that critics say falsely insinuated Michigan’s Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed had ties to the September 11 attacks.
In CBS News’ Monday morning editorial meeting, Weiss reportedly praised the story written by Washington, D.C.-based producer Zak Hudak and directed that its headline be reworked — which has led the intervention to be criticized as a political dog whistle in this respect, using a thin premise to set El-Sayed’s name next to the phrase “9/11 attacks,” making an implication by association.
The article, headlined “Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed’s deleted tweets on Sept. 11 attacks invite scrutiny of past remarks,” surfaces two tweets that the candidate opted to delete, along with all of his other posts before July 2023, to prevent “any old posts from being taken out of context.”
Reaction was swift, with one senior staffer calling the piece “a small nugget of news, forced into something much larger, and messed up.” Critics are now railing against Weiss for her role in shaping the article, which many see as not merely taken out of context but wholly mischaracterized. Both of the COVID-era posts from El-Sayed, a public health advocate, compared the death toll and devastation of the September 11 attacks to the mounting toll of the pandemic.
In the tweets in question, El-Sayed compared the nearly 3,000 Americans killed on September 11 to the mounting COVID-19 death toll while advocating for a response as robust as the post-9/11 mobilization. In the second tweet, El-Sayed wrote that because more U.S. citizens had died from COVID than in the September 11 attacks, he hoped “that means we’ll spend the next ten years fighting a war for public health & against poverty … like we launched a global #WaronTerror after 9/11. We could save lives rather than take them.”
According to inside sources who spoke with the newsletter Status, Weiss “personally directed” that the story’s headline be tweaked to “specifically mention that El-Sayed, who is vying to become the first Muslim American senator, had deleted tweets referencing the attacks.”
The article frames the unearthed tweets against the backdrop of the approaching 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, casting El-Sayed as facing renewed political scrutiny as his campaign heats up and he’s forced to address the posts amid a historically unifying moment in American politics.
A spokesperson for El-Sayed’s campaign said in a statement to CBS News that “Abdul has always unequivocally condemned terrorism and the September 11 attacks,” adding that his opponent, Mike Rogers, is engaged in “bad-faith lies meant to mislead Michiganders.”
The Hollywood Reporter reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign for comment on the controversy but did not hear back Tuesday.
Weiss, a longtime lightning rod for controversy, was elevated to CBS News editor-in-chief last year by David Ellison, son of Oracle founder and Trump megadonor Larry Ellison. Since her ascent, she has faced scrutiny over her lack of broadcast news experience and criticism for killing segments seen as critical of Trump administration policy.
The incident is not the first time the network has been criticized over its characterization of a politician of Muslim faith. In July, the network was forced to remove a line from its coverage of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani after a false claim about those who signed a petition to keep the progressive Democratic mayor out of an upcoming 9/11 attacks 25th remembrance ceremony.
Tom Cruise said Tuesday that he is confident that Paramount will follow through on its promise to deliver 30 movies per year if it closes its deal for Warner Bros. Discovery, arguing in an interview that Hollywood needs to create an “abundance” of opportunity to help ensure film survives and thrives.
Cruise was interviewed by Pat McAfee on his show Tuesday afternoon, where he was booked to discuss his newly-announcedDays of Thundersequel. McAfee asked about Paramount CEO David Ellison’s promise to make 30 movies per year.
“I think it’s awesome. You know, here’s the thing: they’re going to deliver 30 movies. It’s a community to me. It’s not an industry. The people in these studios are not just people in the studios, they’re my family,” Cruise told McAfee. “I know we’re going to get those 30 movies. I want us all to come together as a community to make help those 30 movies. It’s not just going to be Paramount doing it. Everyone’s going to need all the help of every artist to be able to do it.
“[If] we do well with those, those 30 movies are going to turn into 40 movies,” Cruise continued. “It’s not good enough that I just get to make this movie for me. I see so many talented people that I want them to have that opportunity, to make the films that they want and be able to … these artists, all these greats, they got to cut their teeth and learn in the same way that you get to act and you’re learning. You take it, and the next one, and the next one. Every single one of them, the Iñárritus, the Spielbergs, the Nolans, me, all the opportunities that I’ve had, I want that for every writer, every director, every producer, every artist. And the only way you do it is we have to create an abundance. It’s production begets production.”
Cruise also talked about Days of Thunder 2, which will also star Anne Hathaway and release in summer 2028.
“I’ve been thinking about Cole Trickle for a long time,” Cruise told McAfee. “I love the sport. You know, I grew up like just taking cars in the back streets, before I had my license and racing on country roads and looking at dirt tracks and I love NASCAR and I love racing and airplanes and motorcycles. We did Top Gun and I took this story to Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer to produce, and Tony Scott came on. After the first one, also I just been thinking about what, how can I do it? How can I seat the audience into another journey with this character?”
And yes, he says he will be driving the race cars in the film: “Here’s the thing: if I’m making a movie about airplanes, I’m flying them,” Cruise quipped. “I’m driving.”
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Derek Jeter and Michael Strahan serve as executive producers on 9/11: United We Stand – 25 Years Later, a new documentary blending archival footage and personal interviews with entertainers, athletes, journalists and first responders. Pete Davidson, whose firefighter father Scott Davidson perished in the attacks, is among the participants, as is Jon Stewart, Matthew Broderick and Billy Crystal.
Alternatively, the two-hour documentary will be available to stream the following day (Sept. 2) on Disney+ and Hulu, which don’t have free trials of their own but are included in any of DirecTV’s Signature packages which offer the aforementioned five-day free trial.
At a Glance: How to Watch9/11: United We Stand – 25 Years Later
Where to Watch 9/11: United We Stand – 25 Years Later: Channel, Air Date, Time
The two-hour doc air on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026 at 9 p.m. PT/ET on ABC.
Where to Stream 9/11: United We Stand – 25 Years LaterOnline
The day after airing on ABC, the special will drop on Disney+/Hulu, and while these streaming services don’t offer free trials directly, fans can get free access through any of DirecTV’s Signature packages, which include the Disney+ and Hulu bundle and offer a five-day free trial.
Adria Arjona’s career is all gas and no brakes — except for when she was driving her truck near the set of Onslaught.
The in-demand actor is currently juggling a bevy of projects, including the aforementioned gonzo horror-thriller from Adam Wingard, a top-secret role in James Gunn’s Superman (2025) follow-up, Man of Tomorrow, and Michael B. Jordan’s The Thomas Crown Affair. Arjona also has several indie films in various stages of production, and her female lead role in Ed Brubaker’s Criminal series, based on his own Marvel/Image comic book, is finally nearing release.
When Arjona first met with Wingard to discuss Onslaught and her character, Celeste, a traumatized former Army sniper, she arrived in a 1979 Ford F-150. She suspects the truck may have helped her clinch the role, as Wingard had already envisioned Celeste driving something similar. After landing the part, Arjona even tried to get her real-life truck into the movie, but its bright orange paint job created some lighting challenges.
Arjona still drove her pickup to the New Mexico set, and there were days when the transportation department had to come to her rescue.
“I would get stuck in the middle of the highway. It’s a shitty truck. I bought it on cars.com. I shouldn’t have. It was so cheap, and now half of my bank account has gone toward trying to fix this truck,” Arjona tells The Hollywood Reporter in support of Onslaught’s Sept. 4 theatrical release.. “It finally runs, but when I was filming this movie, it didn’t. So the transport department had to come pick me up in the middle of a highway a couple times so I wouldn’t be late to set.”
Celeste’s PTSD has driven her into isolation at a remote trailer park, far from her seven-year-old daughter, Daisy (Blake Kennedy). But when a work emergency forces Daisy’s father and Celeste’s ex-husband (Jacob Scipio) to drop her off unexpectedly, their reunion coincides with a nearby military experiment going catastrophically awry. Suddenly, Celeste must protect her daughter from three super soldiers who are programmed to kill anyone in their path.
When trouble first arrives at the Windy Oasis mobile home community, Celeste goes to retrieve one of her assorted weapons. This leads to the moment in the trailer when she spins a handgun’s cylinder in front of her cabinet or rack of guns.
“That shot [of her spinning the gun cylinder in front of her arsenal] was one of the hardest shots I’ve had to do. I had to nail it in maybe three takes because we were running out of time,” Arjona recalls. “On the first take, the entire armory fell on top of me. It was a trailer packed with so many people. If somebody moves, everything moves. Adam probably still has the footage. We were like, ‘Fuck! Shit! Put it back.’ We then had time for one last shot, and [prop master/armorer] Brett [Andrews] was like, ‘Breathe, focus, you got it.’ And that’s the take that’s in the trailer.”
Next summer, Arjona will appear as a mystery character in Gunn’s Man of Tomorrow. Consequently, many fans are wondering who she’s playing, forcing her to choose her words very carefully throughout Onslaught’s promotional campaign. In any event, Arjona felt right at home on set, particularly given her history with DC Studios co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran, who produced her first film, The Belko Experiment (2016), a decade ago.
“Man, it was so cool. It’s just so easy to step back onto a set with people that you feel familiar with because there’s already trust. That’s how I felt coming [onto the Man of Tomorrow set] and stepping into this role,” Arjona shares. “James Gunn and Peter Safran were right there, and I had all the trust. I have all the support. I was like, I’m good because they’ve got me.”
As for Andor, the Emmy-winning series left Arjona’s Bix Caleen in a position where further adventures could be explored involving her and her child (Cassian Jr.? Cassie?) with Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). Arjona isn’t ruling out the possibility, but she’s also hesitant to do anything without series creator Tony Gilroy.
“Listen, I am the most loyal Gilroy there is. If Tony Gilroy is in, I’m right there with him,” Arjona says. “I respect so much what he’s created, and I love him so dearly that I don’t want to put my fingerprints on it. It might be too soon. I don’t want to say never, but I love the way he ended that show. I respect it, so I want to keep it like that for now.”
Prior to Andor season two, Arjona collaborated with Richard Linklater and Glen Powell on the romantic crime comedy, Hit Man, and she was heavily, yet unofficially, involved in the scripting process. For example, she not only wrote the film’s most memorable line of, “Who the fuck is Gary!?” but she also typed it into Linklater’s computer per his insistence. Riding high on that experience, Arjona received a much different response when she tried to pitch Gilroy some Bix material for Andor’s second go-round.
“I did call Tony with a bunch of ideas, and he was like, ‘No, no, no. Not this movie, baby.’ And I was like, ‘Damnit. Okay,’” Arjona says. “I was feeling very confident in my writing, but not with Tony Gilroy.”
Below, during a conversation with THR, Arjona also reveals the Onslaught character detail she brainstormed with her partner Jason Momoa.
***
Onslaught came your way as you were shooting Criminal and about to go shoot Splitsville a couple years ago. Considering Celeste is no walk in the park, what was your mindset at the time?
Right before I went to go meet [director] Adam Wingard, I was like, “I don’t know if I can do this one. This is going to be tough.” Celeste is such a multi-layered character, and I was tired. I was a tired girl. Going from a heist show like Criminal and a comedy like Splitsville to this world, I was like, “Oh man.”
But within 30 minutes of meeting Adam, I was like, I’m in. I want to do it. It has to be mine. I’m obsessed with this dude. I’m obsessed with this script. He pitched me the opening 25 minutes of the film, and I was like, “That sounds bonkers. It sounds like the coolest movie ever.” He already had a lot of the ‘80s-inspired soundtrack as well, and it just feels like a John Carpenter movie.
I love passionate directors who take swings, and I was like, “I want to support you. I want to go into the trenches with you. Let’s go.” So there was no turning back after that, and I’m so happy I did it. I’m so honored.
Adria Arjona as Celeste in Onslaught.
Richard Foreman/A24
Onslaught is an indirect sequel to You’re Next and The Guest. It completes a spiritual trilogy. Did Adam ask you to watch those films for a tonal reference? Or did he want you to dig more into the ‘80s?
Adam has no ego whatsoever, so he would never tell me to watch his own movies. He’d be like, “Just stick to the script. Let’s focus on this one.” But he did make me watch some ‘80s movies: Aliens and Terminator.
Funnily enough, our main thing was music. We shared a lot of it. He had some songs that are all in German, and some choices for the opening sequence are just wild because it makes you question tonally where he’s going with the movie. It can be really funny at times, and then suddenly, there’s heavy action. It’ll be really gory, and you’ll be scared shitless, before it swings right back into comedy. So the songs he shared helped me understand where we were living, tonally.
Celeste’s relationship with her adorable seven-year-old daughter (Blake Kennedy’s Daisy) is rather interesting. Daisy behaves more like a grown-up than Celeste does. She’s highly organized with her rolling suitcase. She also does the dishes, waters the plants and has proper manners. It’s Celeste who behaves more like the messy kid, and she tries to teach her daughter to follow suit. How did you and Adam land on that reversal?
It was a conversation Adam and I had at the beginning. We were both so tired of seeing the perfect mom, and we both wanted to deconstruct that a little bit. It meant finding a way for Celeste to have a little bit more tough love. She’s like, “Dude, don’t waste your time on manners. There’s so much shit going on in the world. What are we doing?” She’s a vet; she doesn’t have time for that. Every time she feels something, she just pushes it down. But her ex is teaching their daughter to express her feelings and meditate. That’s not Celeste, and it doesn’t mean she’s a bad mother. But because we made those choices at the beginning, Onslaught really becomes a mother’s redemption story.
Did you come up with a backstory for what happened between Daisy’s father and Celeste? Did her PTSD just make it impossible for her to lead a domestic life with them?
Yeah, she lost a couple friends [during battle], and it traumatized her. To everybody else, Celeste is this weird conspiracy theorist who lives in this trailer park. She isolates herself because everybody thinks that she’s crazy, and at the end of the day, she was right.
Adria Arjona as Celeste in Onslaught
Richard Foreman/A24
As you mentioned, Celeste is shell-shocked from her time as an Army sniper. Her PTSD affects her ability to pull the trigger sometimes, and so she grounds herself by digging her ring into her forearm. What did you make of that trauma response or release valve?
That was my idea.
I figured it was.
Really?
I was the first journalist you told about the stick-and-poke tattoo you received on the set of Andor season two …
That’s true.
So I likely connected one form of skin trauma to another.
(Laughs.) Her tremor was in the script, and I was like, There has to be a release. There has to be something that counteracts it. What is it? I was actually discussing it with my partner [Jason Momoa], and we both came up with this idea. I then told Adam: “Yo, what do you think if we have this scab on her forearm? You can tell she’s been doing this for a long time.” And then, to be funny, I was like, “Can the ring be her old engagement ring and can it be empty?” That would mean she pawned the diamond and bought a rifle or a bunch of beer or something. So that’s how she inflicts pain on herself, and it’s the only feeling she’s comfortable experiencing.
I watched a lot of interviews of vets and soldiers who’ve gone on deployment, and [pain] is sort of their comfort. It’s where they feel at ease. That stayed with me, and it really traumatized me. I was like, Man, that’s horrible. We need to showcase that pain is a big character. So I told Adam all of that, and he looked at me and said, “You’re insane. Let’s try it.” And within two hours, he had a prosthetic made for us to try out.
I read something that suggested Celeste’s truck is actually your truck. Is that true?
Funnily enough, I drive a [1979] Ford F-150, and to be fair, I think that’s why Adam gave me the role. I drove it to our first meeting, and he was like, “Is that your truck? That’s what Celeste drives.” And I was like, “Oh, I’m like Celeste.” So that might be one of the reasons why he cast me.
I then brought my bright orange truck to New Mexico where we filmed, and no one wants to see a bright orange truck in a movie. Our cinematographer [Oren Soffer] was like, “That’s going to be hard to pull off.” So it ended up not being my truck in the movie, but I did have my truck on set.
It became a whole thing with transport because I would get stuck in the middle of the highway. It’s a shitty truck. I bought it on cars.com. I shouldn’t have. It was so cheap, and now half of my bank account has gone toward trying to fix this truck. It finally runs, but when I was filming this movie, it didn’t. So the transport department had to come pick me up in the middle of a highway a couple times so I wouldn’t be late to set.
Adria Arjona as Celeste in Onslaught
Richard Foreman/A24
We’re introduced to Celeste’s arsenal of weapons at the start of the movie, and Chekhov’s gun makes us think she’s going to wield them all at some point, especially the one her ex referenced. But then the movie puts her on her back foot the whole time and challenges her to defend her and her daughter in other ways.
Yeah, once you see her arsenal, you’re like, Oh, she’s going to save the day. But I love the fact that Reggie [VelJohnson] and Eric’s [Wareheim] characters have a chance to redeem themselves as neighbors in the process. Celeste kicks some ass, for sure, but she has help as well. That was the whole point of her not getting to use her arsenal, which I think was really smart.
That shot [of her spinning the gun cylinder in front of her arsenal] was one of the hardest shots I’ve had to do. I had to nail it in maybe three takes because we were running out of time. And Brett Andrews, our armorer and prop master, is the reason I look cool in this movie. He came into my trailer [to teach me that move], and I practiced it nonstop the whole day. We knew we didn’t have that much time for that shot, and it’s so close-up that any tiny little mistake was going to show.
On the first take, the entire armory fell on top of me. It was a trailer packed with so many people. If somebody moves, everything moves. Adam probably still has the footage, but the whole thing just fell on top of me. We were like, “Fuck! Shit! Put it back.” We then had time for one last shot, and Brett was like, “Breathe, focus, you got it.” And that’s the take that’s in the trailer.
So this is the part of the interview where the publicists in the gallery start biting their nails …
(Laughs.)
To play it safe, how was your reunion with James Gunn on the set of Man of Tomorrow? [Gunn wrote and produced her first movie, The Belko Experiment.]
Man, it was so cool. I haven’t had the opportunity to do sequels to a lot of things. Andor was the first time that I did a second season of something, and it felt so safe. So I understand why people [in franchises] are like, “Oh my God, we’ve been together for ten years.” It’s just so easy to step back onto a set with people that you feel familiar with because there’s already trust. You’re not trying to gain anything on that first day.
So that’s how I felt coming [onto the Man of Tomorrow set] and stepping into this role. James Gunn and [co-DC Studios head] Peter Safran were right there, and I had all the trust. I have all the support. I was like, I’m good because they’ve got me. I’ve only felt that once before on the second season of Andor, and it’s a great feeling because the first days on set are always scary.
Now that you’re one of the most employed actors in town, have you pitched a Bix and Cassian Jr./Cassie show to Lucasfilm yet?
Listen, I am the most loyal Gilroy there is. If Tony Gilroy is in, I’m right there with him. I respect so much what he’s created, and I love him so dearly that I don’t want to put my fingerprints on it. It might be too soon. I don’t want to say never, but I love the way he ended that show. I respect it, so I want to keep it like that for now.
Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) in Tony Gilroy’s Andor Season Two.
Courtesy of Lucasfilm
Earlier this year, Tony and I had a long conversation in which he welcomed my one quibble with season two. I wanted to see Bix go on a proper mission with Cassian (Diego Luna). When he went undercover on Ghorman as a fashion designer named Varian Skye, she could’ve served as his muse or model. To see them both wearing high fashion for a change, I just can’t get that image out of my head. Anyway, were you frustrated at all that Bix’s missions were mostly off screen?
No, because Tony challenged me in a different way. He instead gave me periods of time in Bix’s life to jump into that were very complex and complicated. I knew that I was able to play an action piece, but those emotional beats were really strong for Bix and really challenging for me. So I wasn’t necessarily frustrated because I respect Tony’s writing. I was like, Hmm. Okay, cool. There’s a reason and a rhythm to the way that he writes.
I never want to get in Gilroy’s way, even though I [pitched him some ideas] after writing the Hit Man script with Richard Linklater and Glen Powell. All three of us collaborated together. So I did call Tony with a bunch of ideas, and he was like, “No, no, no. Not this movie, baby.” And I was like, “Damnit. Okay.”
Yeah, you literally wrote Hit Man’s show-stopping “Who the fuck is Gary!?” line, so it sounds like you were feeling yourself after that.
(Laughs.) Yes, I was feeling very confident in my writing, but not with Tony Gilroy.
*** Onslaught opens September 4 in movie theaters nationwide.
As Donald Trump now rallies for a federal film and TV tax incentive, Canada’s actor union is urging the feds in Ottawa to bolster its own country’s domestic production sector.
“It’s now more important than ever, that Canada keeps its focus on producing more Canadian stories here at home,” ACTRA national president Eleanor Noble said a statement on Tuesday. “Canada must support its own industry, and we must carve out our own place in the world.”
And ACTRA Toronto, the performer union’s biggest branch, urged Ontario, led by Premier Doug Ford, to raise the value of its provincial tax credit for foreign and local producers to stay competitive. “Canadian and international productions are a life blood for our members. If Ontario wants to remain a world-class production centre, we need a balanced plan to attract international investment, grow Canadian production and protect performers,” stated Kate Ziegler, president of ACTRA Toronto.
Calls for Ontario’s film tax credit for foreign and local producers to be raised in value started in early 2025 when British Columbia raised its own tax incentive for major studios and streamers shooting locally and New Jersey introduced among the most generous tax credit programs among U.S. states.
The ACTRA leadership comments followed Trump on Monday expressing support for the idea of a federal tax credit in a lengthy Truth Social post. Advocates have called a federal tax credit a crucial step for the U.S. to compete with film incentives offered by Canada and other rival locales like the U.K. and Australia, among others.
ACTRA, while recognizing existing legislation has yet to be passed, pointed to Trump’s intervention continuing an ongoing debate on ways to bring U.S. production back across the Canadian-U.S. border, and how Canada should respond. The Canadian actors union recognizes its membership secures wide employment on American film and TV production north of the border, as do local crews, creatives and support businesses.
But ACTRA cautioned American production in Canada cannot be the foundation of the country’s media and entertainment sectors to ensure longterm sustainability.
“If Canada does not strengthen its domestic industry with Canadian stories, made by Canadian storytellers, we risk one of two outcomes: American productions electing to stay in the U.S. as a result of their own tax-incentives, hollowing out our production ecosystem; or they stay, leaving Canada increasingly dependent on a single foreign client for the health of our industry. A refrain which is playing out across Canada amid our ongoing trade dispute,” the performers union said in a statement.
Trump’s call for a federal film tax credit also follows his fight with Canada over tariffs escalating into a full-blown trade war, with implications for how homegrown film and TV production is financed and produced.
That cross-border trade war shows little signs of being resolved anytime soon after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in late August said trade talks were abandoned in part after the U.S. negotiators objected to digital-content rules around the French language that can lead to higher operating costs for U.S. companies looking to get content into French-speaking Quebec. Carney said the disagreement over French language rules for American companies amounted to an attack on Canada’s culture and identity.
Moulin Rouge! shot up to $2.3 million in its final week on Broadway, marking the highest gross the musical has seen in several years on Broadway.
The show played its final performance Aug. 30, played to more than 100 percent capacity, with average paid admission of $223.46, the highest of the industry last week. In its final week, the musical welcomed back Aaron Tveit as a cast member for most of its performances, with other original cast members joining on stage for a number during the final performance. This is an impressive tally for the musical, which recently saw Megan Thee Stallion star in the show, even though it pales in comparison to the $2.7 million the musical brought in over 9 performances over Christmas week in 2019.
This was the highest grossing musical of the week, followed by Hamilton with $2 million, MJ with $1.7 million, The Lion King with $1.59 million and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which recently announced the upcoming addition to Rupert Grint to the cast, with $1.57 million
Paranormal Activity opened on Broadway Aug. 25, receiving positive reviews for translating horror to the stage. In its opening week, which included a fully comped opening night, the play brought in $735,747 and played to 99 percent capacity.
Ahead of the slow Labor Day period, several shows hovered around 60 percent capacity, including Six: The Musical, which recently announced a Jan. 3 closing, Stranger Things, which is also closing in January and Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York), which has been seeing low capacity for the past several weeks.
Overall, grosses were up close to 4 percent from the prior week and attendance was up 2 percent.
The 39th edition Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will open on Oct. 26 with a gala screening of Zeze Takahisa’s music drama Sukiyaki. Festival organizers also revealed that Yeon Sang-ho‘s zombie action horror film Colony will close this year’s event on Nov. 4.
Based on true events, Sukiyaki tells the story behind the famed Japanese pop song “Sukiyaki,” sung by crooner Kyu Sakamoto. The song topped the charts in a forward-looking post-war Japan but remarkably became a global phenomenon, holding the No.1 spot on U.S. Billboard charts for three consecutive weeks in 1963. The film, which is a sure-fire bet to be a hit when it opens in Japanese theaters on Dec. 25, depicts the history-making collaboration between the song’s composer Nakamura Hachidai (Okada Junichi), lyricist Ei Rokusuke (Matsuzaka Tori), and Sakamoto (Nakano Taiga).
“Sukiyaki tells the dramatic stories of three artists who inspired people in postwar Japan, interwoven with a collection of musical masterpieces. We are delighted to open the festival with this moving film, which stars three of today’s most prominent Japanese actors,” said Ichiyama Shozo, TIFF’s programming director.
TIFF’s closing film this year will be the wonderfully inventive Korean zombie film Colony, that that wowed genre fans when it premiered in the Midnight Screenings section of the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. The film tells the story of a biological weapon being unleashed inside a Seoul skyscraper that turns the people trapped inside the building into a deadly zombie hive mind. Colony was a huge hit when it was released in South Korean cinemas and won plaudits from critics. The movie comes from Yeon, the director behind Korean classics such as Train to Busan, Seoul Station and Peninsula. The prolific filmmaker also created the hit Netflix shows Hellbound and Parasyte: The Grey.
“Colony delivered the greatest excitement and emotional impact among the films at this year’s Cannes,” said Ichiyama. “While an overwhelming number of zombie films have been produced, this film makes us realize that the genre still possesses untapped potential.”
Additionally, TIFF has also announced that it will screen Takashi Yamazaki‘s Godzilla Minus Zero as a special Centerpiece screening at the festival. The hotly anticipated film, a followup to the Oscar-winning global box office smash Godzilla Minus One, has the distinction of being the first Japanese production to be filmed for Imax. The logline for the film reads, “War reduced Japan to zero, and Godzilla plunged it even further, into minus territory. Two yearshave passed since then, and the country has faced agonizing struggles to achieve recovery andfinally return to normalcy. But just as humanity is clinging to a hard-won peace, a new threatstrikes, crushing hope in an instant.”
Said Ichiyama, “Godzilla Minus Zero is a true sequel to Godzilla Minus One, one of the standouts in the Godzilla series, and it brings a powerful new interpretation of Godzilla, delivering a level of surprise that far exceeds expectations. It is a masterpiece that was truly meant to be made in these challenging times.”
CBS Sports commentator and former NFL quarterback Tony Romo entered a no contest plea Tuesday in a drunk driving case in his home state of Wisconsin. Romo also said he will seek medical help for what he called an “over-reliance” on alcohol.
Romo’s plea comes after he was arrested in July on suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. He was also cited for having an open bottle of alcohol in the SUV he was driving, unsafe passing on the right and refusing to take a test for intoxication after he was arrested.
First offenses for OWI in Wisconsin are considered a civil offense. Romo will have his driver’s license for six months, have ignition interlock devices installed on any vehicles he owns and wll have to complete an alcohol assessment program and pay a fine.
In a statement posted to his social media accounts, Romo said that he “faced a recent personal failure” with his no contest plea and said he turned to drinking to manage chronic pain resulting from his NFL career.
“Multiple back surgeries ended my career earlier than expected and left me with constant, debilitating pain,” the former Dallas Cowboys QB wrote. “That pain led to a dependence on pain medication, and my efforts to get off those medications led to an over-reliance on alcohol.
“As I have taught my three young sons: When you fall short, you stand up and take full responsibility. That is an important first step. The harder and more important step is examining the path that brought you here and making the changes necessary to move forward. That path requires honesty.
“None of this is an excuse. These are my failures, and I take responsibility for them.”
CBS Sports placed Romo on leave following his arrest. Romo’s statement says that “in time” he hopes to return to the NFL booth, but in the immediate future, “I am working closely with a team of doctors to address my health and make the necessary changes.”
While Romo is on leave, JJ Watt will serve as the lead NFL analyst for CBS, joining play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson.
