Tag: HollywoodReporter

The 2026 Hamptons Film Festival will open with the East Coast premiere of Peter Farrelly’s I Play Rocky, with star Anthony Ippolito set to receive a breakthrough performer award.

Other stars set to be honored at this year’s festival include Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Bob Balaban; Project Hail Mary directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who will receive the Achievement in Directing Award; Club Kid director Jordan Firstman, receiving the FLYTE Breakthrough Director Award; and Misty Green star Rosalind Eleazar, who will receive the FLYTE Breakthrough Performer Award. Both Firstman’s Club Kid and Misty Green, directed by Chris Rock, will screen at this year’s festival.

The Hamptons Film Festival will also host world premieres of Jake Silberman’s Barbizon, Anne Sundberg’s documentary The Drug in Our Pocket, Josh Thompson’s documentary Kingdom Fungi Célia Millat and Bastien Garcia’s Maman Bibi Coco and Eric and Nick Weber’s Not Dead Yet, starring Richard Kind, Paul Raci, Polly Draper, Tovah Feldshuh, Toby Huss, Seth Herzog, Ed German and Bill Smitrovich.

Other titles set to screen at this year’s Hamptons Film Festival include the U.S. premiere of Florian Zeller’s Bunker, starring Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz; Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love, starring Rami Malek, Tom Sturridge, and Rebecca Hall; and the East Coast premiere of Anton Corbijn’s A Talent for Murder, starring Helen Mirren, Alden Ehrenreich and Olivia Cooke.

The festival will also feature the East Coast premiere of Andrew Morgan’s Bleeding Hearts, following Chaparelle musicians and real-life couple Zella Day and Jesse Woods.

“This year’s program brings together an exciting range of films, from highly anticipated premieres and ambitious new work to distinctive discoveries from emerging filmmakers,” HamptonsFilm chief creative officer David Nugent said in a statement. “Across our narrative, documentary and spotlight selections, we’re seeing bold storytelling, singular perspectives and films that will spark conversation long after the screenings. We’re thrilled with the breadth and depth of this year’s lineup and look forward to sharing these films with audiences throughout the Hamptons.”

HamptonsFilm executive director Bob Feinberg added, “For more than three decades, HamptonsFilm has been a place where audiences come together to discover great films and celebrate the artists who make them. This year, we’re especially proud to welcome Bob Balaban, Phil Lord and Chris Miller and Jordan Firstman, whose work has made such a lasting impact on audiences. We look forward to bringing filmmakers and film lovers together once again and creating the kind of shared experiences that make this festival so special to our community.”

The 2026 Hamptons Film Festival is set to run from Oct. 2-12.

Rhea Seehorn, our guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, which was recorded at Chapman University, is best known for outstanding performances on two Vince Gilligan-created TV drama series: as Kim Wexler, a lawyer and love interest of Jimmy McGill, on AMC’s Better Call Saul (2015-2022), and as Carol Sturka, a bestselling romance novelist who winds up as one of just 13 people on Earth who retains free-will after some a virus melds everyone else’s minds, on Apple TV’s Pluribus (2025-).

For her performance on Better Call Saul, Seehorn was nominated twice for the best supporting actress in a drama series Emmy and three times for the best supporting actress in a drama series Critics Choice Award, and won the Television Critics Association Award for individual achievement in drama in 2023. And for her performance on the first season of Pluribus — which the New York Times described as “enormous, in quality and quantity” — she has already won the best actress in a drama series Critics Choice and Golden Globe awards, was nominated for the best actress in a drama series Actor Award, and is nominated for the best actress in a drama series Emmy Award, one of 18 noms for her show; another is for best drama series.

Gilligan recently described Seehorn — one of TIME’s 100 most influential people in the world for 2026 — as follows: “I’ve been really blessed to work with a lot of great actors over the course of many shows now — going all the way back to The X-Files and forward through Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. So I don’t say what I’m about to say lightly: There is something about Rhea Seehorn that puts her in a category all her own. She can do it all. She can be as dramatic as all get out, but she’s also one of the funniest people I’ve ever met in my life. The full range is there, everything you’d ever want in a performer. But it’s more than skill. It’s her outlook. She has a work ethic like you can’t believe. She really wants to be the best artist she can be. She probably wouldn’t identify herself that way, but she is an artist through and through. And she takes the craft of acting seriously in the most positive possible way. It’s never annoying, never precious. She’s also one of the most generous actors I’ve ever encountered. A day player will show up on set with one scene to film, someone who’s been on the call sheet for maybe 10 minutes, and Rhea will walk right up to them, introduce herself, and say, ‘You want to run our lines together?’ She does it because she wants the work to be good — not just her work, the whole show’s work. You feel that distinction. It matters.”

Over the course of this conversation, Seehorn reflected on her beginnings in the theater in Washington, D.C., and New York; how a decade of “unsuccessful” auditions nevertheless paved the way for her casting on Better Call Saul; how she reacted upon learning that Gilligan had written Pluribus for her (after initially envisioning the protagonist as a male); why playing Carol Sturka on that hit Apple TV show is both the most challenging and rewarding job she has ever had; plus more. She closed by taking questions from film students.

Food authority Eater is bringing its annual tentpole event Off Menu to Los Angeles.

The event, taking place Sept. 19 at the conic Tam O’Shanter restaurant, aim to highlight what’s trending now and what’s coming next to the dining scene, according to organizers. It will feature dishes and drinks from local favorites such as Holbox, Pasjoli, Ji Rong, Quarter Sheets, Cafe Telegrama, Sumibiyakitori Kidori, Lawry’s, Thunderbolt and Night on Earth. 

Other chefs from across the country, including Gregory Gourdet of Kann in Portland, Oregon, and Annie Shi and Jess Shadbolt of Dean’s in New York City, also will bring a taste of their food to the event. Additional participants will be announced soon.

Launched in 2025, Off Menu brings offers event-goers the opportunity to taste “dishes inspired by the trends, restaurant, and chefs shaping how we eat right now.” It “translates Eater’s reporting into an unforgettable night of bites and experiences from the biggest names in food,” organizers said.

“Eater regularly forecasts and features the trends, chefs, restaurants, and dishes that are redefining America’s food scene,” said Stephanie Wu, Eater’s editor-in-chief. “Off Menu brings our editorial mission to life by connecting celebrated culinary institutions and standout food with a passionate community of diners.” 

In addition, ticket-holders will have special access to explore the iconic Tam O’Shanter venue. Cathay Pacific will present a gateway to Asia in the Garden and Atrium where guests will enjoy yakitori, duck and champagne. Guests also will have the opportunity to enjoy drinks from the bar team behind Thunderbolt and Night on Earth, try ricotta pancakes from Café Telegrama and sample  British pub revival dishes from New York City hotspot Dean’s.

Tickets are on sale starting Tuesday. All tickets include all food and beverage, and Eater app users will receive a discount code prior to purchase. Vox Media will contribute 100 percent of the net proceeds of all tickets sold online to World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit organization that provides fresh meals in response to humanitarian, climate and community crises. 

In addition to Off Menu, Eater also produces other events such as Eater Under Wraps, a weekend event filled with holiday treats, seasonal activities and gifts, along with Dinner Party and Bang Bang, both of which spotlight chefs and restaurants across the country. (Eater was sold to Penske Media Corporation, owner of The Hollywood Reporter, earlier this year.)

The cast of 30 Rock is reuniting for the 20th anniversary of the show’s premiere — but not in front of cameras.

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski and Jack McBrayer will come together for a live show at New York’s Radio City Music Hall on Oct. 11, 20 years to the day after 30 Rock premiered on NBC. The show is a benefit for the Boys and Girls Club of Harlem, and the announcement calls it “a never-to-be-televised event.”

So if you want to go to there, you’ll have to get a ticket to the live show. The presale starts at 10 a.m. ET Wednesday, with public sales beginning at the same time Thursday.

“Listen up tens, a five is speaking!” Fey said in the release announcing the show. “Please join us to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the show Tom Shales once said ‘needs a better premise and funnier dialogue … and most of all a more commanding performer in the starring role.’”

Radio City’s announcement of the event says the night will feature “games, nonsense and surprises” with the five core castmembers along with appearances from other people who appeared on 30 Rock and special guests.

“We’re honored to be named the charitable partner for this celebration, says Shaba R. Keys, president and CEO of The Boys and Girls Club of Harlem. “All net proceeds go directly toward the after-school, academic, and career programs that help more than 2,000 Harlem young people each year chart a path to their own futures — and we’re grateful to be part of a night this special.” 

30 Rock ran for seven seasons on NBC, chronicling the behind-the-scenes shenanigans of a sketch comedy show run by Fey’s character, Liz Lemon, at a fictionalized NBC. The show won 16 Emmys during its run, including three straight for best comedy series from 2007-09.

Mindy Kaling and the cast of Not Suitable for Work are taking to social media to share their gratitude following the news that Hulu has decided not to renew the show for a second season.

The comedy series premiered in June and ran for nine episodes. It followed AJ (Ella Hunt), Abby (Avantika Vandanapu), Davis (Will Angus), Josh (Jack Martin) and Kel (Nicholas Duvernay), five work-obsessed 20-somethings living in the same apartment building in Manhattan’s Murray Hill neighborhood.

In what many compared to Friends, the series charted the group’s personal and professional lives as each of them attempted to figure out adulthood. Fans were particularly keen on the will-they-won’t-they relationships between AJ, Davis and Josh, as well as the romantic chemistry between Abby and Kel.

Those same fans will have been disappointed to hear Monday’s news, although The Hollywood Reporter understands that series producer Warner Bros. Television plans to shop the show around for a potential new home.

On Tuesday, Kaling — also the creator of The Mindy Project, Never Have I Ever and The Sex Lives of College Girls — took to Instagram to share a carousel of photos of the cast and team. “I love this show, I loved making this show, I love these people and I love all of you for all your sweet comments, messages, edits and for watching [Not Suitable for Work],” she wrote.

Martin reposted Kaling’s photo, saying he “will always love” Not Suitable for Work and “everyone who was a part of it […] thank you for watching.”

Avantika, meanwhile, shared a photo of her co-stars and wrote: “I love this cast and this team so very much!” She said the show “gave me such an opportunity of a lifetime and introduced me to people and audiences I could have never even dreamed of meeting before […] I am so grateful to Mindy, Charlie, Hulu, [and] Warner Bros for giving us this chance. We love you,” she added.

Many of the cast members caught up with THR about being in the show, including Martin, who said he felt “really lucky” after getting cast as Josh. As for Hunt, she told THR: “Being part of the Mindy-verse was exciting to me.”

Duvernay, also star of The White Lotus, embraced the Friends vibe. “That’s a giant to compare it to, but that’s initially how I felt being part of it,” he said. “A lot of the comedies put out nowadays are so angled at Gen Z to the point where it’s like scrolling on Instagram […] It has a more modern take on it. It’s work-obsessed kids trying to make their way in New York.”

THR‘s TV critic Angie Han wrote about the show in her review: “Despite being set in present-day New York, the show’s vision of love and career feels rooted somewhere in the 2000s, or even the 1990s. And while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing — a bit of escapism is crucial for a comfort watch — it means that for a show about Gen Z, Not Suitable for Work feels oddly Millennial.”

NSFW is Kaling’s first sole creator credit since The Mindy Project. She executive produced the project under her Kaling International banner with showrunner Charlie Grandy and 3 Arts Entertainment’s Howard Klein.

Breakout gay hockey drama Heated Rivalry is continuing to add to its season two cast, with Daniel Diemer set to play Ryan Price, a tough guy enforcer battling anxiety off the ice.

Diemer is best known as Paul in Netflix’s The Half of It and Tyson in the Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Shaheen Jafargholi will perform the role of aspiring musician Fabian Salah after star-turns in War, The Agency and Lost Boys and Fairies.

Ryan and Fabian’s love story drives Rachel Reid’s novel Tough Guy, the third installment in her Game Changers series, which Heated Rivalry is based on. Ryan was briefly mentioned during the first season during a conversation between the show’s leading men Shane Hollander, played by Hudson Williams, and Ilya Rozanov, played by Connor Storrie, as the latter spent a season together playing in Boston.

The news comes after several additions to the season two cast over the past month including Justice Smith, Charlie Gillespie, Emily Hampshire, Edvin Ryding, Robert Naylor, Sabrina Jalees and Priyanka. Hampshire and Priyanka were cast as the characters of Vanessa and Tarek, who also hail from Tough Guy — the pair are Fabian’s best friends.

Ryan and Fabian’s novel takes place while Ryan is on the Toronto team, alongside fellow season two additions Troy Barrett, portrayed by Gillespie, and Wyatt Hayes, portrayed by Naylor. However, both Troy and Wyatt eventually play alongside Ilya in Ottawa.

Diemer and Jafargholi join Williams, Storrie, Gillespie and Smith in leading roles for season two.

“Fabian and Ryan each bring a distinctive energy to the world Rachel Reid has created,” said series executive producers Jacob Tierney and Brendan Brady in a statement. “They are bold, complicated, and deeply compelling characters, and finding actors who could really take on all of those different sides was so important to us. Daniel and Shaheen bring such confidence and emotional honesty to the roles. We can’t wait for audiences to see what they do with Fabian and Ryan and how they make these characters their own.” 

Heated Rivalry is produced by Accent Aigu Entertainment in association with Bell Media. Season one of the award-winning show was adapted from the second novel in the Game Changers series, Heated Rivalry, which focuses on the ever-complicated situationship between Shane and Ilya, who are generational talents in the world of professional hockey and sworn on-ice rivals. The first novel of Reid’s book series, Game Changers, centered on François Arnaud’s character Scott Hunter and Robbie G.K.’s character Kip Grady and served as secondary material for the first season.

Season two of Heated Rivalry will be adapted from Reid’s sixth novel in the series, The Long Game, which continues Shane and Ilya’s story. The novel finds the hockey players now in a committed relationship with one another and learning how to build a life together while hiding their true feelings for one another in public. Series creator Jacob Tierney has said that Role Model, which takes place concurrently with The Long Game, will also be source material for the season. Role Model follows Troy’s romance with the Ottawa team’s social media manager Harris Drover, played by Smith.

The TV series is created by Jacob Tierney, who is also the writer, director and executive producer along with Brady and Jayme Alter Wilson. Lori Fischburg and Liane Cunje are producers, with Reid serving as as consulting producer.

Mike Goldbach serves as co-writer on season two. Additional second season cast already announced includes Emily Hampshire, Edvin Ryding, Robert Naylor, Sabrina Jalees and Priyanka.

Diemer is repped by Atlas Artists, Nuance Management and Gersh Agency. Jafargholi is repped by Simon Grant Jones at JAG.

Helen Mirren, Seth Rogen, Fan Bingbing, Adam Pietkiewicz and Bassam Tariq are set to receive TIFF Tribute Awards at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival.

Oscar winner Mirren will receive the Groundbreaker Award as she brings the thriller A Talent For Murder to Toronto for a world premiere. Rogen, who stars in two films at TIFF — Babies, directed by Lauren Miller Rogen, and Tangles, an animated film which Rogen and Miller Rogen produced — will receive a  Career Achievement Award, and cinematographer Pietkiewicz will receive the Artisan Award as he is honored in Toronto for his work on Angh, the debut film by Theja Rio.

In addition, director Bassam Tariq will receive the Rising Talent Award as he brings his latest movie, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, to Toronto, while a Special Tribute Award will be presented to Bingbing as her new movie, Wayne Wang’s Diary of a Mad Old Man, debuts in Toronto.

The latest Tribute Award recipients round out the celebrity lineup for the annual TIFF fundraiser that includes the previously announced honorees Penélope Cruz, Lee Chang-dong, Rosalind Eleazar, Siân Heder and Isabelle Huppert.

Proceeds from the Tribute Awards on Sept. 13 go towards the festival’s year-round talent development programs that encourage diversity, equity and inclusion in filmmaking. The gala dinner fundraiser for the fest’s philanthropic efforts is also an occasional harbinger of Oscar recognition and is held each year at Fairmont Royal York Hotel. 

TIFF Tribute Award honorees tend to have films in Toronto’s official lineup. The 51st Toronto Film Festival is set to run Sept. 10-20.

Hulu has decided not to renew the Mindy Kaling-created series Not Suitable for Work for a second season, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The comedy series, which premiered in June and ran for nine episodes, starred Ella Hunt (AJ), Avantika Vandanapu (Abby), Will Angus (Davis), Jack Martin (Josh), Nicholas Duvernay (Kel) and Jay Ellis (Bill). It centered on “five work-obsessed 20-somethings striving for professional success and, if they have time, personal happiness in Manhattan’s most glamorous neighborhood, Murray Hill,” per the show’s logline.

Warner Bros. Television, which produced Not Suitable for Work, plans to shop the show around for a potential new home.

When THR chatted with Martin about the show in June, he said he wanted a role in Not Suitable for Work the minute he learned about the show. “I really wanted to be in it, and I just got really lucky,” he said after getting cast as Josh.

As for Hunt, after getting the role of AJ, she told THR, “Being part of the Mindy-verse was exciting to me.” When Duvernay, who scored the role of Kel, first read the pilot, he “thought it was hilarious and refreshing” because “a lot of the comedies put out nowadays are so angled at Gen Z to the point where it’s like scrolling on Instagram.”

“It has that vintage … not to make the comparison, but from the jump, it’s always had a bit of a Friends vibe,” he added during a previous interview with THR. “That’s a giant to compare it to, but that’s initially how I felt being part of it. It has a more modern take on it. It’s work-obsessed kids trying to make their way in New York.”

Victor Garber, Greg Germann, Judy Gold, Ego Nwodim, Harry Richardson, Constance Wu, Laura Bell Bundy, May Hong, Bhavesh Patel, Emilia Suárez and Michael Benjamin Washington also served as recurring guest stars on the show.

Kaling executive produced Not Suitable for Work with showrunner Charlie Grandy and 3 Arts Entertainment’s Howard Klein.

Variety was first to report the news of the show’s cancellation.

Dave Grohl appeared unsure whether anything could ever be this good again as he took the stage for a unique Foo Fighters concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday.

Not only did the musician and his Grammy Award-winning band perform at the storied venue for the first time ever, but they did so with accompaniment from the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Leading the full orchestra was departing conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who celebrated his farewell weekend with the L.A. Phil at the Bowl before his tenure as music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic begins next month.

“Tonight, we’re going to play as many things as we can before we have to stop,” Grohl told the crowd during the 15-song set. “We usually play for three hours a night, but tonight, we picked the best songs that we can perform with our friends in the L.A. Phil and Mr. Gustavo Dudamel. Some of these you may have never heard before, so sit back and enjoy.”

Indeed, the rock band dusted off some deep cuts to go along with staple singles “Times Like These,” “All My Life,” “The Pretender,” “My Hero” and “Best of You.” Also included within the set were such tunes as “Razor,” which the band had not performed live since 2006, and “Home,” which they last played in 2007.

“Gustavo, how you doing?” Grohl asked at one point of Dudamel, who has led the L.A. Phil since 2009. The former Nirvana drummer went on to quip about the orchestra and choir, “So I figure we just get 14 more buses and take them on tour for the rest of our lives. Good plan?”

As he has done lately, Grohl dedicated the performance of “Aurora” to late drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died in 2022 at age 50. “He would have loved this,” Grohl said with a fond laugh about his longtime friend and collaborator.

Foo Fighters, who are currently on tour in support of recent album Your Favorite Toy, ended the night with their standard closing song and signature hit “Everlong.” This particular rendition included a fireworks show.

“I wish that we could do this every fucking night for the rest of our lives with all of these amazing people,” Grohl said ahead of the final song. “What an honor to be invited to this hallowed ground, this special place, to be able to give Gustavo one more big rock show before he has to leave this wonderful city. And then to share this experience with all of you guys, it’s so amazing.”