A few months before 3 Body Problem launched on Netflix, I did something I’d never done before. I showed the opening sequence to my mother. The scene depicts a “struggle session,” a public rally where a physics professor is murdered by a…
I came of age in my personal and professional life at a time when AIDS, that other pandemic, also came of age. Those were scary times. You couldn’t be your true self back then and if you tried, chances are the virus would find you. Almost…
I actually wasn’t that interested in David Beckham. I mean, I knew he was this famous, branded guy and that Victoria was a Spice Girl. I loved football. My first documentary was about Pelé and [Franz] Beckenbauer coming to America to play…
Early in production on season one of Love on the Spectrum in the U.S., we were filming at Abbey’s house in L.A. Abbey (we use only first names on the show), an autistic woman living at home with her mom, Christine, was 23 at the time, and…
A decade ago, I was asked to do a TedX Talk about being the father of an autistic son, and another who is neurodivergent. That talk helped me decide to write a film that would focus on a father and a son who is autistic. Ezra, in theaters…
My name is Fredrika Newton. I am the widow of Dr. Huey P. Newton, who co-founded the Black Panther Party in 1966 with Bobby Seale while they were both college students at Merritt College in Oakland, California. Huey and the Black Panther…
It’s a Thursday morning and I’m barely awake when my phone greets me with a disturbing response to the fourth episode of Under the Bridge: tweet after tweet expressing anger, even hatred, toward Reena Virk. Someone saying, “I’m not even…
As a kid, I adored my grandfather. I knew he loved chocolate (the dark kind) and hated ketchup. I knew he enjoyed a good pun and could speak seven languages — around the dinner table it was French. I knew his Steinway was his happy place,…
Elections are a special time at The Daily Show. When I joined the show in 1998, we were anticipating the 2000 election. Bush v. Gore would later be called “the most consequential election of our lifetime,” but for us, it was also the most…
The first several weeks in the writers room of The Girls on the Bus, the Max series about female journalists covering a presidential campaign, went like this: “Oh, what if Sadie sleeps with a candidate?” Me: “Absolutely not.” “How about a…
When wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Famer Shawn “Heartbreak Kid” Michaels takes to social media and invites you to settle your rap rivalry in the squared circle — or Saturday Night Live takes a deep dive with a sketch — you know your…
I am not a scientist. I am an artist. I cannot begin to spout scientific data on what we will become once artificial intelligence outsmarts us. I can read the predictions of how our workforce will be replaced by AI. I can read the warnings…
This week’s reversal of Harvey Weinstein’s conviction sent shockwaves through survivor communities. It’s grossly ironic, if not outright cynical, that the release comes during Sexual Assault Awareness Month; it says volumes about the…
Shortly after Netflix released the trailer for its new adult animated series Good Times two weeks ago, our office started receiving calls and emails. Inspired by the iconic live-action sitcom of the 1970s, the new show’s use of the beloved…
Back in September 2021, a friend sent me a paragraph-long notice in a magazine, reporting that Hollywood director Christopher Nolan was working on a film about J. Robert Oppenheimer. This was disturbing news to me, a co-author of American…
As we enter the heart of Hollywood awards season, there are signs everywhere of both how far the entertainment industry has come in telling the whole American story — and just how far it has left to go. Last month, events during the…
Though Margot Robbie’s delightful tributes to Barbie on the red carpet have become a fun staple this season, seeing a possible homage to Barbie on a presidential debate stage this year was definitely a surprise. During the final, pivotal…
The threat of artificial intelligence to creators, and its value to big tech, is one of the most pressing concerns in the legal and music fields. Current litigation will ultimately shape how AI will be developed and implemented across…
When we woke up on October 7 to the stories of the barbarity of Hamas, when we heard about the hostages, when we saw the footage of the obliterated homes on various kibbutzim, when we were told the massive death toll and saw kidnappings…
I joined Outlier Society as president and became Michael B. Jordan’s producing partner after serving as president of production at Paramount Pictures. When I arrived at Outlier, the Creed III team was already in development on the script…
In 2017, The Hollywood Reporter gave me the opportunity to write an oral history about a passion of mine, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, the groundbreaking variety program anchored by Tommy Smothers, who died Tuesday at age 86, and his…
If you knew Laurie Frank — and who didn’t? — you know her great heart burst skyward on Nov. 30. Hours earlier, a technicolor rainbow appeared over the Hollywood Hills, Laurie’s Promised Land. You likely knew she was in the first class at…
Early in the final season of The Other Two, Cary Dubek (Drew Tarver) shows up at the distant and dingy offices of a Brooklyn-based burrito review website ready to do some press for his straight-to-VOD indie movie — only to discover what…
After a brief explosion during the pandemic, the comics industry is undergoing an existential crisis. It faces tumultuous sales at local comic shops, and the creative malaise audiences felt this year in the superhero movie genre is well…
Of the many narratives that were sparked by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes this year, one idea briefly lit up headlines over the summer: Could the reality TV industry take a step closer to unionization? After many past…
A favorite parlor game for film buffs is to pick Hollywood’s greatest year and then argue. The obvious answer — 1939, the certified Golden Year — always gets the most votes, but a few eccentrics make the case for a dark horse. 1928 was…
In December 2018, Aquaman arrived with the amount of fanfare appropriate for the moment. It was the height of comic book culture, and one of its reigning kings, Jason Momoa, arrived at the movie’s blue carpet premiere with a golden trident…
A charming South London rom-com, a retrospective of an African cinema giant and a handful of plays about death and illness are among picks by THR’s arts and culture critic.
Every so often, a series comes along that changes the game for the LGBTQ community and educates the masses about who we are and the discrimination we too often face. Whether a series brings Black transgender women to the forefront of the…
It’s rare that you get to work with legends. Rarer still that they live up to the title. So how lucky am I to have worked with two such people? I’ve been thinking a lot about Norman Lear and Andre Braugher since their sudden passing, and…