THR Cover Story
Inside James Cameron’s Billion-Dollar Bet on ‘Avatar’
A few years ago, after James Cameron finished the first Avatar film, his kids called a family meeting to deliver some notes on his parenting. Some of the kids, who today range in age from 15 to 32, had attended the MUSE school in Calabasas that Cameron’s wife, Suzy Amis Cameron, founded in 2006. At […]
- By
Inside Trevor Noah’s Bombshell Decision to Leave ‘The Daily Show’ — and What Comes Next
On Sept. 29, seven years and a day after assuming his role as host of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah requested a few extra minutes during that night’s program. He wanted to thank his audience for sticking with him, which his producers OK’d as long as he kept it brief. There was a lot to […]
- By
How Keke Palmer Invented “Keke Palmer”
Lauren Palmer was 15 years old when she set out on a seven-night Nickelodeon cruise of the Mexican Riviera. This was 2009, the apex of popularity for the actress’ teen sitcom True Jackson, VP, and the only condition placed on an all-inclusive vacation for her entire family was that she spend a few hours signing […]
- By
Sylvester Stallone Gets Candid About Career, Regrets, Feuds: “I Thought I Knew Everything”
You’re sitting with Sylvester Stallone and the word that keeps coming to mind is so simple and grunt-y that it could be dialogue from one of his tough-guy action movies: Big. The man is barrel-chested big. His tanned, lined face is broad with a wide nose and dramatic eyebrows. His luxuriant suede jacket flaps when […]
- By
Steven Spielberg: The Origin Story
In March 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Steven Spielberg was watching his 103-year-old father, Arnold, deteriorate. After growing distant when the filmmaker, now 75, was in his 20s and early 30s, father and son had reconnected and become close. They lived near each other in Pacific Palisades, and Steven would go […]
- By
Lupita Nyong’o on the Intense Shoot for ’Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ and the Weight of Global Stardom
Lupita Nyong’o learned lots of valuable lessons as an acting student at the Yale School of Drama — on Shakespeare, accents, the Alexander technique — but there was one crucial omission from the curriculum. “We kept being told that it’s going to be one long, lonely, hard and fruitless journey, being an actor,” Nyong’o says. […]
- By
‘The Rings of Power’ Showrunners Break Silence on Backlash, Sauron and Season 2
“This is where everything happens,” says showrunner Patrick McKay. “The War Room.” The large, windowless room’s centerpiece is a lengthy conference table, but your eyes are immediately transfixed by what’s covering the walls. You’re surrounded by concept art laying out major set pieces for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season two. […]
- By
Jeremy Strong Knows What You Think
What do you do when you want to be seen but also don’t want to be seen? On a sweltering morning in September, Jeremy Strong bounds into the sunlit dining room of the Sunset Tower Hotel and surveys the industry crowd. A wave of recognition ripples across the terrace. Patton Oswalt smiles and salutes; Strong […]
- By
Inside the Documentary Cash Grab
At first, director Alex Gibney wholeheartedly embraced the influx of energy — and money — the streamers have increasingly pumped into the documentary space over the past decade. Selling to the growing platforms eager to bulk up their content libraries struck the Oscar-winning director of Taxi to the Dark Side and Going Clear: Scientology and […]
- By
Viola Davis and Gina Prince-Bythewood on the Battle to Get ‘The Woman King’ Made
The first time Gina Prince-Bythewood and Viola Davis met about The Woman King, in the offices of Davis’ production company in the spring of 2020, the filmmaker broke one of the rules of her trade. “As I started talking about my connection to the material, I lost it,” Prince-Bythewood says. “There’s no crying in directing. […]
- By
Inside the Final Days of ‘The Wendy Williams Show’
On the morning of Sept. 30, 2021, two television executives made their way to Wendy Williams’ apartment in downtown Manhattan. As the longtime producers of The Wendy Williams Show, Debmar-Mercury co-presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein were trying to assuage the fears of the talk show’s 100-person staff, who they knew were reading about Williams’ […]
- By
Steve Martin on His Late Career Surge and Contemplating Retirement: “This Is, Weirdly, It”
Steve Martin keeps telling himself to stop fiddling with the same material, but he can’t help it. This lifelong impulse made a recent appearance a few stops into his latest tour with Martin Short, You Won’t Believe What They Look Like Today! One joke was earning two perfectly adequate laughs from the crowd, but he […]
- By