Behind the Scenes Buzz

NETFLIX LEADS VENICE FILM FESTIVAL LINE-UP: The Venice Film Festival has shared its lineup for the 75th edition of the event, which is set to take place in Rome from August 29^th-September 8^th. The festival sets the stage for awards season, and offers a clue to the major titles we will all be hearing about for the next six months or so. A few notable entries, some of which were previously announced: the Coen Brothers‘ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Damien Chazelle‘s First Man, Bradley Cooper‘s A Star Is Born, Orson Welles‘ unfinished The Other Side of the Wind, Paul Greengrass‘ 22 July, Alfonso Cuaron‘s Roma, Yorgos Lanthimos‘ The Favourite, Julien Schabel‘s Vincent Van Gogh portrait At Eternity’s Gate. Six Netflix titles (including Roma, 22 July, The Ballad, The Other Side) will make their debuts, a record for the event.

MANDY MOORE TEASES THIS IS US ENDING: Mandy Moore knows how This Is Us is going to end, she shared on Jimmy Kimmel Live. And you know what? It’s all going to be okay. “There’s no predetermined end date, but…Dan [Fogelman], our boss, I think he has an idea in his mind of when he sort of sees the story ending, and he knows how it ends, which makes me feel good as an actor and as a viewer, he knows where the show is heading,” Moore said. She added that she thinks fans will be thrilled: “I think the ending will be very satisfying for people. I think it’s very true to sort of what the show evokes from all of us…Dan’s a master at that…People will feel their feelings.” This Is Us returns Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 9 p.m. on NBC.

MICHAEL GRANDAGE TO PRODUCE & DIRECT JACK AND LEM: The Tony Award-winning director Michael Grandage (Frozen, Red) will produce and direct Jack and Lem, a film that will follow the 30-year-friendship between John F. Kennedy and Kirk Lemoyne “Lem” Billings. Screenwriter David Scearce will adapt David Pitt‘s book of the same name. Casting has not been announced. The logline for Jack and Lem: “Despite growing up on opposite sides of the tracks, Kennedy and Billings met at prep school and remained best friends until the Dallas gunfire that ended Kennedy’s life. Remarkably, Lem was a gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal. Kennedy maintained their close bond despite warnings that it would derail his political career. Lem became a fixture in the Kennedy White House (he even had his own bedroom), and was the moral compass for the President during one of the most tumultuous times in American History.”

AMY POWELL PREPARING SUIT AGAINST PARAMOUNT: Amy Powell is gearing up for a gender bias lawsuit over her firing from Paramount TV, according to reports. Powell was ousted after returning from vacation (she landed in hot water over a conference call she participated in while traveling, during which she allegedly make racially insensitive comments). “Paramount‘s ready-fire-aim strategy has nothing to do with promoting diversity, fostering conversations in and out of the creative process, or Amy Powell’s actual conduct, which has always been impeccable,” her attorney Bryan Freedman tells The Hollywood Reporter. “In Amy’s 14 years at Paramount, the last five building Paramount Television from scratch, there has never been a question about her sensitivity, inclusivity, or treatment of others. The fact that they pushed her out the door after a spurious two-day ‘investigation’ raises serious questions about their real motives.”