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Judge OKs ‘Rust’ producers’ settlement with slain cinematographer’s family

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Judge OKs ‘Rust’ producers’ settlement with slain cinematographer’s family

A New Mexico judge on Thursday approved a settlement agreement between the family of slain cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and the producers of the troubled western “Rust,” including Alec Baldwin.

Hutchins’ immediate family members — her husband, Matthew Hutchins, and son, Andros Hutchins — last year filed a wrongful-death lawsuit, alleging Baldwin and other producers acted recklessly, contributing to her being fatally shot in October 2021 on the “Rust” set near Santa Fe, N.M.

The family blamed cost-cutting measures, including the hiring of inexperienced crew members, and the disregarding of safety concerns expressed earlier by camera crew operators who ultimately walked off the job.

Last fall, the two sides reached an agreement to resolve the civil lawsuit, pending court approval.

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Financial details have not been made public.

The settlement was structured, in part, to compensate Hutchins’ son, who was 9 when his mother died. Thus, information about the proceedings has been kept confidential. The court appointed a guardian ad litem to serve as a legal advocate for the boy. The guardian filed a report under seal.

As part of the settlement agreement, Hutchins’ widower, Matthew, became an executive producer on the western film, which recently resumed production in Montana.

The judge’s stipulated order said that a portion of the settlement would be set aside for Hutchins’ son. His portion of the settlement will be distributed to him when he reaches the ages of 18 and 22, the judge’s order said.

“The settlement … is fair, appropriate, and in the best interests of Andros Hutchins, a minor, protected person,” District Court Judge Bryan Biedscheid wrote in his order.

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The settlement’s approval closes one prong of the fallout from the “Rust” tragedy, which shook the industry and raised fresh questions about safety on film sets.

In a statement last fall, Matthew Hutchins said: “All of us believe Halyna’s death was a terrible accident. I am grateful that the producers and the entertainment community have come together to pay tribute to Halyna’s final work.”

His statement complicated the work of the New Mexico district attorney, who at the time was starting to build a criminal case against Baldwin and others involved in the tragic accident. Baldwin in late January was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, but much of the criminal case has since collapsed.

Special prosecutors who had replaced the district attorney decided in late April to drop criminal charges against Baldwin. The development came after prosecutors said they received new information in the case — that Baldwin’s prop gun had been modified before being delivered to the low-budget western in October 2021.

Baldwin has long maintained that he did not pull the trigger when Hutchins, 42, was shot during a rehearsal on a sprawling ranch outside Santa Fe. Baldwin was practicing a cross-draw maneuver with his replica vintage gun when it fired, striking Hutchins in the chest at close range.

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The film’s director, Joel Souza, also was wounded but recovered.

Prosecutors earlier this year entered into a plea deal with the film’s assistant director, David Halls, who had handed the weapon to Baldwin, declaring it “cold,” meaning that it did not contain ammunition. In March, Halls pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon and received a suspended six-month sentence.

The armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, still faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter.

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George Lucas voices support for Bob Iger amid Nelson Peltz proxy battle

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George Lucas voices support for Bob Iger amid Nelson Peltz proxy battle

Is the Force strong with Bob Iger? On Tuesday, “Star Wars” creator George Lucas threw his support behind the Walt Disney Co. boss amid the executive’s fight with activist investor Nelson Peltz.

The Lucasfilm founder and longtime Disney shareholder released a statement professing his “full faith and confidence in the power of Disney and Bob’s track record of driving long-term value.” The Burbank-based entertainment giant acquired Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4 billion and has since released a spate of “Indiana Jones” and “Star Wars” movies and TV series under the storied banner.

“Creating magic is not for amateurs,” Lucas said in a statement provided to The Times. “When I sold Lucasfilm just over a decade ago, I was delighted to become a Disney shareholder because of my longtime admiration for its iconic brand and Bob Iger’s leadership.”

Lucas’ stamp of approval comes at a pivotal time for Iger and the Disney board. The House of Mouse’s annual shareholder meeting — which will see Peltz and his company, Trian Fund Management, attempt to unseat two Disney board directors — is scheduled for April 3.

Also on Team Iger is investment firm and Disney shareholder ValueAct Capital Management. In Peltz’s corner are former Marvel Entertainment Chief Executive Ike Perlmutter and ex-Disney Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo, whom Trian is nominating for a board position along with Peltz.

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“When Bob recently returned to the company during a difficult time, I was relieved,” Lucas continued in his statement. “No one knows Disney better. … I have voted all of my shares for Disney’s 12 directors and urge other shareholders to do the same.”

Lucas hasn’t always spoken so warmly about Disney. In 2015, in an interview with Charlie Rose, he expressed regret for selling Lucasfilm to what he referred to as “white slavers.”

“They looked at the stories, and they said, ‘We want to make something for the fans,’” Lucas told Rose. “They weren’t that keen to have me involved anyway — but if I get in there, I’m just going to cause trouble, because they’re not going to do what I want them to do. … And so I said, ‘OK, I will go my way, and I’ll let them go their way.’”

Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm was among Iger’s most high-profile accomplishments during his first 15-year run as CEO, along with the purchases of Pixar, Marvel and 21st Century Fox.

The company brought back the Skywalker franchise in 2015 with J.J. Abrams’ “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which grossed $2 billion in global box office sales. Jon Favreau’s series “The Mandalorian” was one of the first major hits for Disney+, leading to a surge in subscribers and Baby Yoda merchandise sales.

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But the studio, led by Kathleen Kennedy, also has had stumbles, including the poorly received film spinoff “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” The 2019 trilogy capper “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” grossed $1.08 billion, significantly less than the two previous installments, and got poor reviews. Lucasfilm’s latest movie, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” collected a disappointing $384 million in ticket sales.

The next “Star Wars” movie for theaters is “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” planned for 2026, with Favreau directing.

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The Idea of You first reviews: Anne Hathaway-Nicholas Galitzine’s rom-com debuts with 100% Rotten Tomatoes score

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The Idea of You first reviews: Anne Hathaway-Nicholas Galitzine’s rom-com debuts with 100% Rotten Tomatoes score

Anne Hathaway, known for her slice of life romantic movies had been involved with serious and pathbreaking stories lately. Fans were eagerly waiting her return in light-hearted love stories for quite some time. The actor has finally made her comeback with Michael Showalter’s rom-com The Idea of You. The movie is being hailed by critics after its premiere at SXSW for its feel-good moments and sparkling chemistry between Anne and actor Nicholas Galitzine. The initial first reviews of the film has got it a stellar response on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb. (Read more: The Idea of You OTT release date: Catch Anne Hathaway’s sizzling chemistry with Nicholas Galitzine)

The Idea of You starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine is soaring high in its first reviews.

Anne Hathaway shines in feel-good romantic comedy

The Idea of You scored 100% on Rotten Tomatoes on the basis of five reviews so far. A positive review by The Hollywood Reporter read, “The Idea of You functions best as a carefree treat — a feel-good romantic comedy that delivers some laughs and bursts with the magnetism of its lead. That it manages to wiggle in some lessons about self-discovery is merely a bonus.”

Hindustan Times – your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

The Idea of You is a coming-of-age story on self-awareness

IndieWire lauded Anne’s acting prowess in its critique and wrote, “What makes the character fascinating and unique is how she is not trying to recreate her younger years or reclaim her lost youth. Instead, Solène is just finding herself in this new stage of her life, learning what she wants, and growing into her new self. Life doesn’t end on motherhood, let alone end on 40. There is still plenty of time to find yourself, find love, get a heartbreak and push yourself into more. Hathaway captures this with incredible vulnerability, but also a self-awareness and confidence in what she wants that makes Solène excel at both the comedy and drama of the story. Early on, Hayes says people don’t really know him, they know the idea of him. By the end of this adaptation, we get the full picture of this romance and the two people involved.”

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Anne Hathaway owns every scene in Michael Showalter’s rom-com

While appreciating the storytelling and characters, Variety in its review was quoted as, “The film version finds a solution that honors Lee’s intentions — the way Hathaway’s character puts any number of priorities ahead of her heart — while providing a more satisfying sense of closure for their on-and-off relationship. Galitzine, who played it so proper in Amazon’s Red, White & Royal Blue, turns up the emo charisma while relaxing his body language, letting the puppy dog eyes and tattooed torso do the talking (though the English accent doesn’t hurt). Still, this is Hathaway’s movie, and she owns it: independent, desirable and never, ever desperate. Solène’s a cool mom to Izzy, and when it comes to Hayes … ‘I could be your mother,’ she tells him. ‘But you’re not,’ he fires back. Wouldn’t want to get the wrong idea.”

The movie has also got a stellar 6.2 Score on IMDb. Anne will next be seen in David Lowery’s epic American melodrama Mother Mary.

The Idea of You is scheduled to release on Amazon Prime on May 2, 2024.

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Inside 'Moonlight' writer Tarell Alvin McCraney's inaugural Geffen Playhouse season

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Inside 'Moonlight' writer Tarell Alvin McCraney's inaugural Geffen Playhouse season

Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney has unveiled the lineup for his inaugural season at the helm of the city’s most prominent Westside theater.

The 2024-25 season will feature a mix of classics and new co-productions, as well as Los Angeles, West Coast and world premieres. It also debuts a strategic direction for the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater, the Geffen’s intimate performance space.

“I’m someone who tends to plan ahead so I see this season as seeds in the ground,” said McCraney, the Oscar-winning “Moonlight” screenwriter and decorated playwright who was appointed in September. “It’s a primer and a foundational setting for the development work we’ll be doing on other plays that I’ll program into this season, and it’s readying us to be able to take larger swings in future seasons. So to me, it’s a call to work, to water those seeds and nurture them as best as we can.”

The season launches with a 20th anniversary staging of McCraney’s “The Brothers Size” (Aug. 14-Sept. 8), the modern-day fable about two brothers in the Deep South that marked McCraney’s theater debut. Part of his autobiographically resonant trilogy “The Brother/Sister Plays,” the co-production with New York City’s the Shed will be directed by Bijan Sheibani.

“It’s one of the first plays I ever wrote, and it’s the first professional play I debuted, and all these years later, it’s one of my most produced works,” McCraney said of the piece, inspired by his collegiate studies on Yoruba culture and his experience of his brother’s three-year incarceration. “Yet it all came from an ancient myth, a very small story that I came across in research for a class.”

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Performed in the round in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater, the production is meant to establish the Geffen venue as a lab for artistic development and a platform for creative experimentation and development of new works, including workshops and readings. It will also continue as a flexible performance space for select ticketed Geffen Playhouse productions throughout the season; additional programming will be announced at a later date.

Playwright and performer Sara Porkalob will portray dozens of characters in “Dragon Lady.”

(Songbird Studios)

The Gil Cates Theater will house the L.A. premiere of Sara Porkalob’s “Dragon Lady” (Sept. 4-Oct. 6). Directed by Andrew Russell, the solo show sees Porkalob embodying dozens of characters to recount her family’s remarkable origin story. “It reminded me of my early roots in theater and how compelling it is to watch someone do a virtuosic turn onstage that’s so simple and yet so difficult,” McCraney said of Porkalob.

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“Her storytelling blew me away — it’s enchanting, personal and wildly funny, and I love that she’s fully up for the challenge of getting in our larger space with this intimate show.” And because it’s the first of “The Dragon Cycle” trilogy, “I’m hoping that we build a strong case to bring in more of it later on.”

Conor Lovett and Rainn Wilson will star in a reimagining of Samuel Beckett’s classic tragicomedy “Waiting for Godot” (Nov. 6-Dec. 15), directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett and produced in association with noted Beckett theater company Gare St Lazare Ireland. (While the choice is driven by Wilson’s “strong affinity” for this text, McCraney also happens to have grown up near Miami’s Coconut Grove Playhouse, where “Waiting for Godot” had its American premiere in 1956.)

Then, it’s Michael Frayn’s beloved backstage farce “Noises Off” (Jan. 29-March 2, 2025), a co-production with Steppenwolf Theatre Company that’s helmed by its artistic director, Anna D. Shapiro. “Steppenwolf has deep roots here at the Geffen,” said McCraney, one of many Geffen players who are also ensemble members of the Chicago theater.

“We want to celebrate that, and there’s no better way to do that than to laugh at ourselves and how wild it is that people pay us to get together, imagine things and try to connect to an audience. Sometimes we get things right, and sometimes we get things wrong, but it still takes great bravery to keep getting up to do it again.”

The season continues with the West Coast premiere of a.k. payne’s “Furlough’s Paradise” (April 16-May 18, 2025). Directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden, the play centers on estranged cousins — one on a three-day furlough from prison, another on a break from work — who reunite at a funeral and grapple with their conflicting memories of the past and their shared hopes for the future.

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“As a person whose family was greatly affected by incarceration, I want a place for families to be able to come into the theater and imagine what it’s like to work through incarceration to something else,” said McCraney.

“This play is poetic and funny, but it’s also charting what it means to try to find a utopia in a world that has a criminal justice system that is far from perfect.” And payne, also a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, “was one of my students, and probably one of the most powerful writers I’ve encountered in my time as a professor.”

Jake Brasch, in a green turtleneck sweater and red-framed glasses, smiles at the camera.

Playwright Jake Brasch’s “The Reservoir” follows a recent college graduate on the road to recovery.

(Thomas Brunot)

The season wraps up with the world premiere of Jake Brasch’s “The Reservoir” (June 18-July 20, 2025), a co-production with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre. Directed by Shelley Butler, the humorous play centers on a recent college graduate who depends on his four lovable grandparents amid his struggle to stay sober after rehab.

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“It’s a beautiful and arresting play, but I’m not gonna lie, I also want to have four or five actors of that age onstage at the same time, which is something that we so rarely get to do,” said McCraney. “I want younger and older generations to see themselves in this and see that there are ongoing conversations about our communities and our world that we can all be actively involved in.”

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