Behind the Scenes Buzz

SUPREME COURT DENIES REVIEW OF OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND’S FEUD SUIT: The 102-year-old Olivia de Havilland, known for her roles in Gone With the Wind and The Adventures of Robin Hood, was denied her petition to review the dismissal of her suit against FX’s Feud: Bette and Joan. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected her suit against Ryan Murpy over Catherine Zeta-Jones‘ portrayal of her. “Publishing a fictitious work about a real person cannot mean the author, by virtue of writing fiction, has acted with actual malice,” wrote the California appellate panel. “Recognizing this, in cases where the claimed highly offensive or defamatory aspect of the portrayal is implied, courts have required plaintiffs to show that the defendant ‘intended to convey the defamatory impression.’ De Havilland must demonstrate that FX either deliberately cast her statements in an equivocal fashion in the hope of insinuating a defamatory import to the reader, or that it knew or acted in reckless disregard of whether its words would be interpreted by the average reader as defamatory statements of fact.”

GOLDEN GLOBES RATINGS DOWN: Last night’s 76th Golden Globe Awards, co-hosted by Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg, was down 5% in ratings from last year’s ceremony. Year over year, last night’s ceremony was lowest in etered markets since the 2015 ceremony when Tina Fey and Amy Poehler co-hosted for the third time. The Globes brought in a 5.0 rating among adults 18-49, for a total of 19 million viewers. DId you tune in?

SAM ROCKWELL AND MICHELLE WILLIAMS’ FOSSE/VERDON DROPS TEASER: FX‘s limited series Fosse/Verdon has dropped its first trailer. In it, fans see Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams portraying (almost wordlessly) two of the greatest artists ever to grace Broadway (Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, respectively).

BUSTER SCRUGGS, BLACK PANTHER AMONG ART DIRECTORS GUILD NOMS: The Art Directors Guild has announced nominees for excellence in production design in feature film and television for 2018. Black Panther, Bohemian Rhapsody, Mission: Impossible-Fallout and The Ballad of Buster Scruggsare among the film noms. On the TV side, Netflix‘s The Haunting of Hill House, Hulu‘s Castle Rock, HBO’s Sharp Objects and FX‘s Atlanta and Teddy Perkins snag nods. As previously announced, Mary Poppins Returns director Rob Marshall will receive the ADG‘s cinematic imagery award. Winners will be announced at the 23^rd Annual Art Directors Guild Awards on February 2^nd.