• Deadline Stephen Daldry is leaving Wicked. Universal wanted to work faster than Daldry was willing but losing a director will slow them down anyway so why not meet his schedule?
• Variety The Avengers acting heroes want you to Vote Blue this election
• EW Jennifer Hudson fires up her second Oscar campaign (for Aretha Franklin biopic Respect) with an EW Cover and profile
Jeff Bridges cancer reveal, Disney news, Noah Jupe confession, Dirty Dancing tribute, Sigourney's Avatar training, and more after the jump...
• Guardian Jeff Bridges being treated for lymphoma but thankfully the prognosis is good!
• EW Michelle Pfeiffer loved getting "weird" for French Exit
• Coming Soon Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon gets a poster but it won't be out until March 2021
• Out lesbian romcom Happiest Season is going straight to Hulu
• AV Club getting very sassy about Disney+ rebooting 80s fantasy Willow
• Towleroad Tyler Posey continues to be throw caution to the wind about his own privacy and tells his fans everything including sexual practices
• /Film Netflix's Hilary Swank astronaut drama cancelled after one season
• Coming Soon supposedly Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 are almost through post production so Sigourney Weaver, who is now in her 70s, is discussing her underwater training
• IndieWire Netflix claims they've had a blockbuster year (but they count 2 minutes as a movie view so who knows how many viewers their films actually have?)
• Deadline Denis Villeneuve and Jake Gyllenhaal both seem to have a lot of projects brewing. Somehow they'll squeeze in a reteam for an HBO Miniseries called The Son
• Guardian fun interview with François Ozon on Summer of '85
Quote of the Day
So as we found out on Variety not only is teen star Noah Jupe (Honey Boy, Wonder) a great little actor but he has taste too. In a new interview he makes it clear that he has no desire to be in Star Wars or Marvel movies. Just wants to ACT
Neither. Neither. I want, like, “Fargo.” I want “Magnolia.” I want “The Deer Hunter.” I want that s—. I love Marvel. I love “Star Wars.” Great movies, but not for me as an actor. I always say if I’m going to be in a movie like that, I have to be a villain and I have to die. I’ll be in a Marvel movie if that’s the case.
and links we meant to share over the last week or two but we hadn't done a link roundup and they might still be new to you!
• Cartoon Brew you've surely heard by now that Disney is putting Pixar's Soul straight to Disney+. (They've totally given up on the theatrical model which is a bit odd considering that Mulan flopped on a PPV model and they still have the Star Wars and Marvel Cinematic Universe which make billions every time out of the gate.
• Guardian RIP Rhonda Fleming, a redheaded beauty of classic Hollywood who has passed away at age 97
• LAT RIP actress Conchata Ferrell (Two and a Half Men, Mystic Pizza, Erin Brockovich) who has died at age 77
• Women and Hollywood the number of women directors keeps rising, especially at film festivals
• Slant the 75 best horror movies of the 21st Century
• AV Club's romcom series revisits the beloved Dirty Dancing
• NYT Justine Machado profiled with both Dancing with the Stars and One Day at a Time (which we loooove) on broadcast TV
• NYT 20 Essential films for the Latino American experience
• Vox Why Saturday Night Live's satire is too toothless for the T***p era.