Negromancer News Bits and Bites from November 14th to 20th, 2021- Update #21

by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

You can support Leroy via Paypal or on Patreon:

ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:

MOVIES - From THR:  Father/producer Ivan Reitman and son/director Jason Reitman discuss "Ghostbusters: Afterlife."

From Negromancer:   My review of "Ghostbusters: Afterlife."

TELEVISION - From Deadline:   ABC's holiday special, "A Very Boy Band Holiday," will feature members from several famous boy bands, including "New Edition," "*NSYNC," "NKOTB" (New Kids on the Block), and "Boys II Men," to name a few.  This special will air Mon., Dec. 6th, 2021.

MOVIES - From Variety:  “Oppenheimer,” director Christopher Nolan's $100 million-budgeted historical drama about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb, could be considered one of an endangered species - prestige dramas with budgets that big.

SCANDAL - From Deadline:   "Bohemian Rhapsody" (2018) screenwriter Anthony McCarten has filed a breach of contract suit against Graham King and his GK Films for money owed on the Oscar-winning film about Queen and its iconic singer Freddie Mercury.  The film grossed 911 million dollars worldwide, but Fox says the film is still not profitable and is 51 million dollars "in the red" (debt).

MOVIES - From Deadline:  Martin Scorsese is set to direct and produce a biographical film about the legendary rock band, "The Grateful Dead."  Oscar-nominee Jonah Hill will play the band's front man, the late Jerry Garcia.

NETFLIX - From CNET:  Netflix launched a website Tuesday (Nov. 16th) where it posts charts of its most popular shows and movies, updated every week and ranked by the total number of hours that subscribers spent watching them. 

STAR TREK - From Deadline:  "Star Trek: Discovery" has left Netflix and now will be exclusive to Paramount+.

MOVIES - From THR:  The film studio Miramax is suing director Quentin Tarantino over plans to release non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on his 1994 film, "Pulp Fiction."

STREAMING - From THR:   The "Harry Potter" franchise trio: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson and director Chris Columbus are among those appearing in a 20th anniversary HBO Max retrospective of the first film in the series, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

TELEVISION - From THR:  TV Pilots 2021: The Complete Guide: Keep track of all the broadcast pilots that are in contention for the 2021-22 season at ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and The CW.

BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficePro:  The winner of the 11/12 to 11/14/2021 weekend box office is Marvel Studios' "Eternals" with an estimated take of 27.5 million dollars.

From Negromancer:   My review of Marvel Studios' "Eternals."

MOVIES - From THR:  Mel Gibson is set to direct "Lethal Weapon 5," which will likely be the final installment in the franchise which began in 1987 with "Lethal Weapon" starring Gibson and Danny Glover.

STREAMING/PARAMOUNT+ - From Variety:  Paramount Plus has released a teaser trailer for its "Halo" live-action TV series, which is due in 2022.

STREAMING/HULU - From THR:  The next film in the "Predator" film franchise is a prequel entitled "Prey."  Set 300 years in the past, it pits Comanche Nation warrior, a young woman named "Naru," against an alien Predator warrior.  It is expected to stream on Hulu Summer 2022.

BOOKS/MOVIES - From THR:  Over the summer HarperCollins released Quentin Tarantino's paperback novelization of his Oscar-winning film, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."  On Nov. 9th, the deluxe hardcover edition debuted and it has lots of extras.

MOVIES - From Deadline:  MGM has won the bidding war for a pitch about an buddy-action movie starring Jason Momoa ("Aquaman") and Dave Bautista ("Guardians of the Galaxy" series; "Dune")

OBITS:

From Deadline:  Veteran character actor, Art LaFleur, has died at the age of 78, Wednesday, November 17, 2021.  LaFleur appeared in many television series and in at least 20 TV movies.  LaFleur is best known for playing "Babe Ruth" in the coming-of-age sports movie, "The Sandlot" (1993) and for his appearances in two other baseball-themed movies, "Field of Dreams" (1989) and "Mr. Baseball" (1992)

From Deadline:  American jazz musician, composer, and lyricist, Dave Frishberg, has died at the age of 88, Wednesday, November 17, 2021.  His songs have been recorded by Rosemary Clooney, Shirley Horn, and Mel Torme, to name a few.  He also wrote the song, "I'm Just a Bill" for ABC's "Schoohouse Rock!" series.

------------------

"RUST" ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING DEATH:

From Deadline:  This link will take you to Deadline's Halyna Hutchins page, which articles related to everything about her shooting death on the set of the Western film, "Rust."

From Deadline:  Actor Daniel Baldwin defends his brother, Alec Baldwin, in the accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film, "Rust."  "Someone loaded that gun improperly," Daniel says.

From Deadline:  The newest lawsuit involving the tragic shooting on the set of the Western film, "Rust," has been filed by the film's script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell, against Alec Baldwin, the producers, the production company, armorer Hanna Gutierrez Reed, and others.

From Deadline:  Serge Svetnoy, the gaffer on "Rust," has filed a lawsuit against several parties related to the film, including the production, the financiers, star Alec Baldwin, armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, and first Assistant Director David Halls.

From THR:   In the wake of the tragic accidental shooting on the set of his film, "Rust," Alec Baldwin on Monday took to social media to urge Hollywood to employ a police officer on every film and TV set that uses guns.

From THR:   The budget for "Rust" - Alec Baldwin was set to earn $150,000 as lead actor and $100,000 as producer, while $7,913 was earmarked for armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and $17,500 was set aside for the rental of weapons and $5,000 for rounds.

From Deadline:  Attorneys for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the set of the film, "Rust," said that they’re looking into whether a live bullet was placed in a box of dummy rounds with the intent of  “sabotaging the set.”

From THR:   Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the film, "Rust," released a statement through her lawyers.  She says she had “no idea where the live rounds came from” that were recovered by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's during the investigation of the accidental on-set shooting death of Halyna Hutchins.

From Jacobin:  An opinion piece says that cinematographer Halyna Hutchins' death on the set of the film, "Rust," was not a freak accident, but was about Alec Baldwin and his fellow producers' cost-cutting decisions.  Baldwin accidentally fired the gun that killed Hutchins.

From Deadline:   Two of executive producers on "Rust," Allen Cheney and Emily Salveson, disavow responsibility for the film's troubled production.

From THR:   Iconic "Ghostbusters" actor Ernie Hudson is reeling from the news of the death of Halyna Hutchins, like the rest of Hollywood. Hudson also appeared in the film, "The Crow," the film in which its star, Brandon Lee, was killed because of an on-set accidental shooting.  He also agrees with the call to ban real guns from movie sets.

From THR:  The Sheriff of Sante Fe County says that his office has recovered three guns and 500 rounds of ammunition from the set of the movie "Rust" where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed.

From Deadline:  Regarding criminal charges in the death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust," District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altweis, "all options are on the table - no one has been ruled out."

From THR:  Does Hollywood Need Guns? Will new regulations lead to an overreactions to a tragedy.

From Deadline:   "Rust" producers have opened an internal investigation into the fatal shooting on the set of the Western film.  They have hired outside lawyers to conduct interviews with the film's production crew.

From Deadline:  "Rust's" AD (assistant director), Dave Halls, has come under scrutiny in the wake of the on-set shooting death of the film's cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins.

From Deadline:  The affidavit of Sante Fe Sheriff's Department Detective Joel Cano has been made public. It can be read at "Deadline."  The affidavit was for a search warrant from the property were the Western, "Rust," was being filmed.

From THR:  The production company behind "Rust" has shut the film down until the police investigation into the fatal, on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins is through.  The Sante Fe County Sheriff's Office has also revealed a timeline of the shooting.

From Deadline:  The Santa Fe Sheriff’s Department confirmed Thursday night that Alec Baldwin “discharged” a prop gun on the New Mexico set of the movie, "Rust."  As a result, one crew member, director of photography Halyna Hutchins, was killed and director Joel Souza was injured and remains in a local hospital - his condition unknown.

From THR:  "Rust" director, Joel Souza, who was wounded in the accidental on-set shooting, says that he is "gutted" by the death of his cinematographer on the film, Halyna Hutchins.

From Deadline:  The fatal shooting on the set of "Rust" may have been "recorded" according to detective for Santa Fe Sheriff's Department.

From Deadline:  The production company behind the film, "Rust," will launch an internal safety review after the fatal accident that killed Halyna Hutchins; possible prior gun incidents; and a camera crew walkout.

From CNN:   Crew member yelled "cold gun" as he handed Alec Baldwin prop weapon, court document shows.

From Variety:  Actor Alec Baldwin releases statement on the death of Halyna Hutchins: "There are no words to convey my shock and sadness."

From Variety:  The prop gun that killed “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza on during an on-set accident on Thursday contained a “live single round,” according to an email sent by IATSE Local 44 to its membership.