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    Which Sundance 2024 Movies Will Make It to Next Year’s Oscars?

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    A Jesse Eisenberg-Kieran Culkin film, along with performances by Saoirse Ronan and André Holland, may be on the ballot next year.We’ve only just gotten this year’s Oscar nominations, but is it already time to begin looking ahead to next season?I can sense you bristling, and I understand. “Kyle, no,” you’ve just muttered, because we’re on a first-name basis now and you’re still mired in dinner-party discourse over whether the snub of Greta Gerwig in the best-director race is an extinction-level event.I hear your concerns, and I share them. But even as we continue to sift through the wreckage and tea leaves following this season’s Oscar nominations, I’ve just come back from snowy Park City, Utah, where the 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival debuted a full slate of new movies that could give shape to next year’s awards race. Make no mistake, trophy-related considerations can affect these films’ fortunes even at this early date: I’ve already heard that one terrific Sundance indie has had trouble selling because of concerns that its lead would be unavailable for a full-blown press tour next awards season.Could any of these films follow best-picture nominee “Past Lives,” which premiered at Sundance last January, or even “CODA” (2021), the first Sundance movie to win the top Oscar?The likeliest film to factor into next year’s race is “A Real Pain,” a dramedy starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin as mismatched cousins who embark on a road trip through Poland to better understand the personal history of their late grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. Eisenberg, who also wrote and directed the film, plays the by-the-book cousin and generously hands the flashy, sure-to-be-nominated role to Culkin: His cousin is a charismatic hot mess, and the Emmy-winning “Succession” actor zigs and zags through every scene like a freewheeling live wire.Searchlight bought “A Real Pain” for $10 million, and I could see it making a deep run into awards season. Pronounced a “knockout” by our critic Manohla Dargis, it’s the kind of thematically resonant, culturally specific comedy that voters often respond to. Most of all, I think movie folks will be eager to welcome Culkin into their club: They were just as obsessed with “Succession” as their TV brethren, and it’s finally their turn to shower the 41-year-old with awards attention.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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      The Emmys Signal the End of the Peak TV Era

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      The Emmys on Monday night felt in many ways like a bookend to one of the defining features of the streaming era: a never-ending supply of new programming.As “Succession” cast members marched up to the Emmy stage on Monday night to grab their statues for the show’s final season, they used it as one last opportunity to say goodbye.Kieran Culkin, after kissing his co-star Brian Cox on the lips, gave a tearful speech while accepting the award for best actor in a drama. Matthew Macfadyen and Sarah Snook, who each won acting awards as well, gave loving tributes to fellow cast members. And Jesse Armstrong, the creator of “Succession,” capped off the night by accepting the best-drama award for the third and final time and noting: “We can now depart the stage.”It all punctuated an end-of-era feeling at the Emmy Awards on Monday night. “Succession” was one of many nominated shows that had farewell seasons, joined by a list that included “Ted Lasso,” “Better Call Saul,” “Barry,” “Atlanta” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”But that was not the only reason that there was an elegiac theme to Monday night. The ceremony felt in many ways like a bookend to the so-called Peak TV era itself.Nearly every year from 2010 through 2023, the number of TV programs rose in the United States, reaching 599 scripted television shows last year.It may never hit those heights again.For more than a year now, studios and networks — including streaming giants like Netflix, cable stalwarts like HBO and FX, and the broadcast channels — have hit the brakes on ordering new series. Executives, worried about hemorrhaging cash from their streaming services, customers cutting the cable cord and a soft advertising market, have instead placed more emphasis on profitability. The monthslong screenwriter and actor strikes last year also contributed to the slowdown.With a more frugal approach, there is widespread fear throughout the industry about the fallout from a contraction.The Emmy nomination submission list gives a snapshot. The number of dramas that the networks and studios submitted for Emmy consideration dropped 5 percent, according to the Television Academy, which organizes the awards. Entries for limited series fell by 16 percent, and comedies by 19 percent.At after-parties on Monday night, there was considerable angst at just how much thinner the lineup would probably be for the next Emmys.Some television genres seem to be in some degree of peril. Limited series — six to 10 episodes shows that became a sensation over the past decade, particularly after the 2014 debut of “True Detective,” the 2016 premiere of “American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson” and the 2017 start of “Big Little Lies” — have been a hallmark of the Peak TV era. The shows stood out in part because of the big stars and lavish budgets involved.At the 2021 Emmys, the statue for best limited series was the final award presented. This had long been a designation for best drama, and it signaled an admission by organizers that the category had become television’s most prestigious prize.Not anymore.As part of programming budget cuts, executives now see significantly less benefit to deploying lavish resources to a show that ends after a matter of weeks.Once again, investing in series with lots of seasons is a much bigger priority. And there is a good chance that television may start to look a lot like television from a couple of decades ago.Executives at Max, the Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service formerly known as HBO Max, are looking for a medical drama. “Suits,” a 2010s legal procedural from the USA Network, became an unexpected streaming hit last summer, after millions of people began watching reruns of the show on Netflix. “Next year, you’ll probably see a bunch of lawyer shows,” Netflix’s co-chief executive, Ted Sarandos, said at an investor conference last month.To wit, Hulu recently ordered a project from the star producer Ryan Murphy that will chronicle an all-female divorce legal firm.Of course, Peak TV-era quality television is not going away. “The Bear,” the best-comedy winner and already the runaway favorite for the next Emmys, will return. Also coming back are “Abbott Elementary,” the beloved ABC sitcom, and “The Last of Us,” HBO’s hit adaptation of a video game, which won a haul of Emmys.Even the origin story of “Succession” seems tailor-made for the new television era. When HBO executives ordered the series, they wanted to put their spin on a classic television genre — a family drama — but had low expectations. The show did not command “Game of Thrones” or “Stranger Things” budgets. It was light on stars. Armstrong was not a brand name yet. And yet, it became a hit.Less than an hour after the Emmys ceremony ended, when Armstrong was asked at a news conference what he would turn to next, he demurred.Instead, he reflected on the past.“This group of people, I don’t expect to ever be repeated,” he said, of “Succession.” “I hope I do interesting work the rest of my life. But I’m quite comfortable with the feeling that I might not ever be involved with something quite as good.” More

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      See Golden Globes Winners Celebrate Their Big Moment

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      What Winning a Golden Globe Looks LikeLily Gladstone, Paul Giamatti, Billie Eilish and stars from “Succession,” “Beef” and “The Bear” are captured in their moments of glory.The Los Angeles-based photographer Erik Carter was backstage at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, where he photographed Golden Globes winners for The Times.Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion PictureDa’Vine Joy Randolph, ‘The Holdovers’“I hope I’ve helped you all find your inner Mary. Because there’s a little bit of her in all of us.” — Da’Vine Joy Randolph, in her acceptance speech. She played Mary, the mourning mother, in Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers.”Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy‘The Bear’From left: Abby Elliott, Jeremy Allen White, Lionel Boyce, Ayo Edebiri, Liza Colón-Zayas (foreground), Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Matty Matheson and Edwin Lee Gibson.“There are so many people I probably forgot to thank. Oh, my God, all of my agents’ and managers’ assistants! To the people who answer my emails. Y’all are real ones. Thank you for answering my crazy, crazy emails.” — Ayo Edebiri, in her acceptance speech for best actress in a TV comedy.Best Original Song, Motion PictureBillie Eilish and Finneas, ‘What Was I Made For?,’ from ‘Barbie’“It was exactly a year ago, almost, that we were shown the movie and I was very, very miserable and depressed at the time. Writing that song kind of saved me a little bit. A year later and here we are, and it’s really surreal. I feel incredibly, incredibly lucky and grateful.” — Billie Eilish, in her acceptance speech.Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, DramaLily Gladstone, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’“This is for every little rez kid, every little urban kid, every little Native kid who has a dream, who is seeing themselves represented.” — Lily Gladstone, in her acceptance speech.Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for TelevisionSteven Yeun, ‘Beef’Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy‘Poor Things’From left, the director Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef and Mark Ruffalo.Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or ComedyPaul Giamatti, ‘The Holdovers’Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for TelevisionAli Wong, ‘Beef’“I really need to thank the father of my children and my best friend, Justin, for all of your love and support. It’s because of you that I’m able to be a working mother.” — Ali Wong, in her acceptance speech.Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Supporting RoleElizabeth Debicki, ‘The Crown’Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, DramaKieran Culkin, ‘Succession’“Thanks to ‘Succession,’ I’ve been in here a couple of times. It’s nice, but I sort of accepted I’m never going to be onstage, so this is a nice moment.” — Kieran Culkin, in his acceptance speech. More

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      Best and Worst Moments From the 2024 Golden Globes

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      Lily Gladstone made history, Jo Koy did not. And dressing on a theme proved a hit. These were just some of the highs and lows.The Golden Globes had a lot to prove Sunday night. It was the award show’s return to a primo broadcast time slot after a series of scandals over finances and lack of diversity upended what used to be known as the biggest party of the year in Hollywood. Now privately owned with a greatly expanded pool of voters, the Globes were making a bid for relevance. Did that bid succeed? Well, it helped that this was the first major televised ceremony since the writers’ and actors’ strike brought Hollywood to a halt, and stars and studios looking to goose their Oscar chances turned out after some skipped last year’s event. Then again, this wasn’t the liveliest show. Here are the highs and lows as we saw them.Most Historic Win: Lily GladstoneIn a momentous triumph, Lily Gladstone became the first Indigenous person to win a Golden Globe for best actress, for her turn in “Killers of the Flower Moon” as an Osage woman whose family members are killed in a plot to take their fortune. Gladstone, whose background is Blackfeet and Nez Perce, was only the second Native actress to receive recognition from the Globes: Irene Bedard was nominated in 1995 for “Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee,” a television movie.After receiving a standing ovation, an overcome Gladstone spoke a few lines in the Blackfeet language, “the beautiful community nation that raised me, that encouraged me to keep going, keep doing this,” she explained in English.“I’m so grateful that I can speak even a little bit of my language,” she added later, “because in this business, Native actors used to speak their lines in English, and then the sound mixers would run them backwards to accomplish Native languages on camera.” She dedicated the award to “every little rez kid” who had a dream. — Esther ZuckermanLeast Suspenseful Rivalry: ‘Oppenheimer’ vs. ‘Barbie’The presenter Oprah Winfrey, far right, watches as the “Oppenheimer” team accepts best drama. From left, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Emma Thomas, Ludwig Goransson, Florence Pugh, Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy. Sonja Flemming/CBSIn the end, the great “Barbenheimer” face-off was a complete fizzle. “Oppenheimer,” with eight nominations, won five trophies — best drama, director, actor, supporting actor and score. After sitting on the sidelines for most of the night, “Barbie,” the ceremony’s most-nominated film, with nine nods, finally got in the game with a win in the rather meaningless category of best blockbuster (“cinematic and box office achievement”). “Barbie” got a second prize in the form of best song, which was kind of a no-brainer because the film’s tunes filled three of the category’s six slots. Time to rev up that Oscar campaign, Babs! — Brooks BarnesBest Looks: Stars Dressing on a ThemeFrom left, Oprah Winfrey, Margot Robbie and Taylor Swift.Getty ImagesJust in case anyone forgot about the “Barbie” effect of last year, which turned entire crowds pink, Margot Robbie managed to out-“Barbie” her own red carpets past in a sequined slither of hot pink Armani paired with a bristling pink tulle boa, all of it inspired by the 1977 Superstar Barbie.As it turned out, however, that was just the beginning of the on-theme dressing. Oprah Winfrey wore Louis Vuitton in the color purple, in honor of — you guessed it — “The Color Purple,” for which she served as a producer. And Taylor Swift wore glimmering Gucci in the sort of bright leafy shade that evoked nothing so much as the color of money and made it impossible to forget just how much green her Eras Tour has generated.Together they made for a more interesting trend than the traditional strapless frocks that also proliferated. (The best of those being Elle Fanning’s vintage Balmain and Rosamund Pike’s not-quite-vintage 2019 Dior: if you’re going to go with the classics, might as all go back to the source). And the theme dressing added a new dimension to the brand-marketing machine that the red carpet has become. — Vanessa FriedmanFlattest Monologue: Jo KoyThe host, Jo Koy, onstage at the Beverly Hilton ceremony.Sonja Flemming/CBSI had high hopes for Jo Koy, the 52-year-old Filipino American comedian who is only the second Asian American to host the Golden Globes. (Sandra Oh was the first, in 2019.) But Koy’s opening monologue felt like a highlight reel of mortifying moments. From a weird joke about being attracted to a plastic Barbie to one about the “Killers of the Flower Moon” filmmakers stealing the plot, Koy’s jokes met an icy reception from the audience. To be fair, he had barely any time to prepare. “I got the gig 10 days ago!” he said from the stage. “You want a perfect monologue?” It’s a shame, but Koy’s jokes will probably end up being best remembered for the memes they inspire on social media. — Christopher KuoFlattest Joke: Koy Riffing on Taylor SwiftWhy you gotta be so mean? The host’s jokes did not really improve as the night went on.“We came on after a football doubleheader,” Koy said as the ceremony returned from its first commercial break. “The big difference between the Golden Globes and the N.F.L.? On the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.”Koy seemed to swallow the word “camera” as he said it. And when the actual camera, on cue, panned to Swift, she appeared deeply unamused, her lips pursed, her eyes stern as she sipped a drink.It is true that Swift has been shown many, many times on N.F.L. telecasts since she began showing up at Kansas City Chiefs games to cheer on the team’s tight end, Travis Kelce.But Koy’s joke, at the expense of perhaps the most famous person in a room full of famous people, fell flat again. So flat, that he muttered, “Sorry about that.” — Matt StevensMost Historic Double Win: Steven Yeun and Ali Wong of ‘Beef’Steve Yeun and Ali Wong with their trophies for “Beef.”Robyn Beck/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThey may have gone head-to-head in a bitter feud that crossed 10 episodes of “Beef,” the Netflix road rage comedy that gained a huge online fandom last year, but Ali Wong and Steven Yeun both left the Globes on Sunday with statuettes in hand, as the first actors of Asian descent to win honors for a limited series or TV movie. First, Wong won best actress in the category and delivered an emotional acceptance speech, thanking her ex-husband and children for making it possible for her to be a working mother in Hollywood. A few minutes later, Steven Yeun won best actor in the same category. How do we order up a sophomore outing for Amy and Danny? — Sarah BahrBest Speech With a Twist: YeunThe most entertaining speeches take us on a ride. That’s what Yeun did when he won for actor in a limited series. He started out with a serious and vulnerable tone, saying, “The story I usually tell of myself to myself is one of isolation and, like, separateness.” But then he threw in a twist, saying that once he climbed onto the stage he realized that — wait, that inner monologue “feels a lot like the plot to ‘Frozen.’” It was unexpected yet heartfelt, a joke for his daughter. — Brooks BarnesBest Speeches With a Dose of Honesty: Kieran Culkin and Robert Downey Jr.Kieran Culkin accepting his “Succession” trophy.Sonja Flemming/CBSRobert Downey Jr. accepting his best supporting actor award.Sonja Flemming/CBSAwards show speeches tend to be mash-ups of gushing adjectives meant to communicate maximum gratitude — “amazings” and “incredibles” aplenty — but a couple of actors were refreshingly measured in their delight. This isn’t the Oscars, after all. Winning for his role as Roman Roy in “Succession,” Kieran Culkin told the audience, simply, “This is a nice moment for me.” And when Robert Downey Jr. stepped up to the microphone, he deflected applause for his supporting performance in “Oppenheimer” by addressing the prescription medication powering his nonchalance onstage: “Yeah, yeah, I took a beta blocker,” he said, “so this is going to be a breeze.” — Julia JacobsBiggest Upset: Best Screenplay for ‘Anatomy of a Fall’The previous group of Golden Globe voters could always be counted on to give us a few unpredictable wins, and though they weren’t always welcome swerves, they at least lent the night a charge of anything-could-happen frisson. That feeling was hard to come by this year, thanks to a series of respectable, safe choices, though the unexpected triumph of “Anatomy of a Fall” in the screenplay category certainly woke up the ballroom: In years past, Globe voters almost certainly would have chosen a starrier pick like “Barbie” or “Oppenheimer,” and it was fun to get a worthy upset. — Kyle BuchananWorst Award: The Cinematic and Box Office Achievement GlobeGreta Gerwig, left, and Margot Robbie enjoy their “Barbie” win.Sonja Flemming/CBSThe Globes added a new box-office trophy this year, with nominees required to have earned at least $150 million (or, as the guidelines put it, “commensurate digital streaming viewership”). The whole thing is a little silly, especially in a year in which two huge hits — “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — were also popular with critics and nominated for many awards. Is it an effort to revive the academy’s widely derided attempt to add a best popular film category to the Oscars? Or just to get more A-listers in the room (including, yes, Taylor Swift)?Entertainment plaudits are basically made up of vibes and campaigning, meant to create heated discussions. But if there’s anything in movies that’s impossible to argue with, it’s box office receipts and clicks. So what was the undisputed biggest box office achievement in 2023? “Barbie.” Who won this new Globe? “Barbie.” Who else could it have been? — Alissa WilkinsonBest Writers’ Revenge: A Script ‘Written’ by Studio ExecutivesDaniel Kaluuya, left, Hailee Steinfeld and Shameik Moore at the Globes.Sonja Flemming/CBSPerhaps as an ode to the recently settled Hollywood writers’ strike, the presenters Daniel Kaluuya, Hailee Steinfeld and Shameik Moore announced they would introduce the best screenplay nominees with words written by studio executives — although given the dry, stilted language, the script may well have been generated by ChatGPT.“I am relatable,” Steinfeld intoned. “I am enjoy the Golden Globes.”“I do agree,” Moore said.“As do I,” Kaluuya agreed.At least the “executives” generated a few laughs.— Jonathan AbramsLeast Satisfying Reunion: ‘Suits’What is a “Suits” reunion without Meghan Markle? The law-firm drama that has found unprecedented success on Netflix more than a decade after its debut deserved a moment in the sun just for the sheer number of viewers it accrued in recent months. And I’m sure actors Gabriel Macht, Patrick J. Adams, Gina Torres and Sarah Rafferty were thrilled to present the award for best drama series. But where was Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, who was a star of the show and played a key character? She doesn’t live very far from the Beverly Hilton, where the ceremony was held. “Suits” fans had to be thrilled that their beloved cast was alive and well, but without Meghan, can you really call it a reunion? — Nicole SperlingMost Improved Angle: Shots of the Audience Behind the PresentersAmerica Ferrera and Kevin Costner were among the presenters shot from different angles.Sonja Flemming/CBSKeeping things interesting visually during an awards show can be a challenging task. Talking heads. Nominees. Award. Speech. Rinse. Repeat. But on Sunday night, the producers mixed it up by pulling a simple reversal and shooting some of the presenters with the audience in the background. It changed the feel while allowing us at home to peek behind some of the presenters during the more boring banter to check out the celebrities behind them. Who’s paying attention? Who can’t be bothered? One drawback was that the lighting didn’t always favor the presenters at these varying angles. But overall, it felt fun and gave a little jolt to the proceedings. — Mekado MurphyMost Surprising (Apparent) Spoiler: ‘Anatomy of a Fall’“Anatomy of a Fall” took home two Globes for its taut dissection of the frictions in a marriage, exposed when a wife is put on trial and accused of pushing her husband to his death at their home in the French Alps. Under the scrutiny of a court and the couple’s preteen son, Sandra (Sandra Hüller), defends herself as viewers are left to plumb the evidence for signs of whether her husband’s death resulted from an assault, an accidental fall or his own leaping.But as she accepted the award for best screenplay for the film, written with her husband, Arthur Harari, Justine Triet maybe revealed what her script did not. Describing their thinking when they completed the script, she said: “OK we are having a lot of fun but it’s radical and dark, nobody’s going to see this movie. It’s too long, they talk all the time, there’s no score — a couple fighting, suicide, a dog vomiting. I mean, come on.” The (accidental?) disclosure of the manner of death seemed out of step for one of the creators of a film so meticulously built to leave audiences guessing. — Elena BergeronBest and Worst Reinvention: The Globes ThemselvesWith the Globes trying to claw their way to semi-legitimacy, this was a perfectly reasonable attempt, but it all felt perfunctory.High: Intro segments tend toward the cringey at every awards show, and there were plenty of awkward moments here, too, but there were some bright spots: Keri Russell and Ray Romano’s fun repartee, Andra Day and Jon Batiste’s giggly banter and especially Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell’s goofy dance bit. Ferrell’s signature outburst — “The Golden Globes have not changed!” — was probably the biggest laugh of the night.Low: Kind of everything? The whole ceremony had sort of a blah energy. The speeches were all fine, but none was especially wild. The biggest shock came when the broadcast included what sounded like glasses clattering to the floor. — Margaret Lyons More

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      Golden Globe Awards Takeaways: ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Succession’ Win Big

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      The 81st Golden Globes kicked off Hollywood’s awards season on Sunday in a chaotic and sloppy manner, with the host, Jo Koy, delivering a train wreck of a monologue, winners alternately seeming to take the ceremony seriously and not at all, and prizes going to a wide array of films and television shows.“Oppenheimer,” which entered the ceremony with eight nominations, emerged as the movie to beat in the coming Oscar race, winning five Globes, including for best drama, Christopher Nolan’s directing and Cillian Murphy’s acting. “Barbie,” “The Holdovers” and “Poor Things” also won notable movie awards.Here are the other main takeaways:The most nominated film, “Barbie,” which received citations in nine categories, won two Globes, including the one for best cinematic and box office achievement, a newly created prize. Its other victory was for best song.HBO’s “Succession” was the top television winner, as expected. The show collected Globes for best drama, actress (Sarah Snook), actor (Kieran Culkin) and supporting actor (Matthew Macfadyen).“Poor Things,” a surreal science-fiction romance, won best movie, comedy or musical. Emma Stone, the film’s star, received the Globe for best comedic actress, while Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”) received the statuette for best comedic actor.Lily Gladstone won the Globe for best actress in a drama for her performance in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” becoming the first Indigenous person to win the award.Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers”) was honored as best supporting actress. Robert Downey Jr. (“Oppenheimer”) won best supporting actor.Netflix’s “Beef” and FX’s “The Bear” each won three Globes. “Beef” was named best limited series, and Ali Wong and Steven Yeun collected Globes for their acting in the show. “The Bear” won the trophy for best comedy and two of its stars, Ayo Edebiri and Jeremy Allen White, were honored for their performances.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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      ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ Reunites the Movie Cast, Now in Anime Form

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      “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” revives the bassist who battles his romantic rivals. In an interview, the creators discuss the next chapter, for Netflix.Let’s get ready to rumble … again! Friday brings the premiere of “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” an anime series based on the comic book about a young, lollygagging amateur bass player battling seven of his new love’s exes.It is the second major screen adaptation of the six-volume “Scott Pilgrim” series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley, which were published from 2004-10. A live-action film by Edgar Wright titled “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” (2010), was a critical favorite, and the eight-episode anime reunites most of the movie cast including Michael Cera as Scott; Mary Elizabeth Winstead as his girlfriend, Ramona Flowers; Kieran Culkin as Scott’s pal Wallace Wells; and Chris Evans and Brandon Routh as two of the former flames.“Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” was written and developed by O’Malley and the writer-director BenDavid Grabinski (“Happily”), a longtime friend. It is produced by Netflix, Universal Content Productions and Science Saru, a Japanese animation studio. At a panel about the show at New York Comic Con last month, the creators said scheduling a cast of actors who have gotten much more famous since the film was one of the most difficult aspects of making the series.“You end up with this weird game of Tetris trying to get everybody,” Grabinski told the audience.From left, Kieran Culkin, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Michael Cera in “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.” They all signed on to voice the new series.Universal PicturesEven for those who have read the comic, seen the film or played the video game version, the anime will hold surprises. (There was a robust list of topics and guest voice actors that reporters were asked not to spoil.) O’Malley and Grabinski came to the New York Times offices last month to discuss the new series, reuniting the movie cast and what comes next for Scott Pilgrim. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.How did the anime come about?BENDAVID GRABINSKI Bryan found out that Netflix and Science Saru were interested. We went to dinner to talk about the pros and cons of doing a straight adaptation.BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY This was like a year after they asked. So I was a little reticent because I didn’t have a great idea. But then BenDavid had a series of great ideas at this dinner. He’s a traditional Hollywood screenwriter who will just walk into a room and make up a bunch of stuff.Were there specific characters you knew you wanted to focus on in this version?GRABINSKI I wanted to spend as much time as I could with the ensemble. The main appeal of the show to me was to dig deeper with the exes, with Scott’s friends, with Ramona.O’MALLEY People always ask, “What’s your one regret?” I wish I could have done more with the evil exes, partly because I didn’t fully understand them. The first thing I think of when I think of anime is villain scenes. That was my first way in, and then BenDavid blew the doors off after that.The idea for the show began with Netflix and the Japanese anime studio Science Saru. which jointly approached O’Malley about the concept.NetflixWhat’s new about the series?GRABINSKI We will say that there are some big twists and turns that no other adaptation of this story has done yet. The great thing about making this show and having Bryan sitting five feet away is I have the guy who can veto things and say, “I never would have written that joke,” or “I don’t think that guy would do that.” As much as I would like to feel like every single thing in there is my idea, there’s an equal amount of ideas that I pitched where Bryan would politely text me back and say, “That’s not ‘Scott Pilgrim.’”O’MALLEY And sometimes less politely.GRABINSKI Yeah, I’m just trying to be nice about it. That’s the benefit of knowing each other for so long: You can be a little bit more blunt. This would not have worked if we didn’t know each other very well, because we’re both incredibly opinionated people. We just had a rule from the beginning that nothing could go on the show that either of us hated.O’MALLEY You want it to be unpredictable, but the surprises have to be satisfying. That’s the goal every single time.Were there conflicts?GRABINSKI Our episodes are very different, as the audience will see once they watch it. We never want it to feel stale, but it does need to feel consistent.O’MALLEY We both love episodic TV, so we wanted to embrace that.GRABINSKI I didn’t want to have something like, “Oh, it’s a four-hour movie that’s split into chunks.” We wanted the episodes to feel like episodes, but the season is one story with a beginning, middle and end.What was it like getting the film cast back together?O’MALLEY They’ve all blown up.GRABINSKI I have to give thanks to Edgar Wright. One, he put together one of the best ensemble casts of all time. And two, they all loved the experience so much that we benefited from that. After we started making the show, he reached out to the cast. He sent them the scripts and they immediately all said yes. We can’t take credit for the returning cast members. Guest stars, yes.O’MALLEY I had some involvement casting back then. He showed me every casting tape. So it’s really cool to have seen all those people flower so much and to get a chance for them to come back and revisit that work with their newfound maturity. The same way I feel about it, looking back and revisiting and finding new shading, the way we were finding it in the writing, they found in the acting. There’s a profound feeling to it and I love that.The creators said the series diverges from previous “Scott Pilgrim” stories in multiple ways.NetflixIs it the art that makes it an anime? Or is it more about the sensibility?O’MALLEY For me it’s just because we’re working with Science Saru: They are an anime studio. There’s a certain method of production and we had to slot ourselves into that. We’re not telling them what to do, other than giving them scripts. They are very autonomous.GRABINSKI Our feedback is about emotion or plot points. We wanted it to feel specific to their sensibilities. A lot of the time it became like a feedback loop where we would rewrite our scripts to match the things they were doing.O’MALLEY Abel Góngora is the director, so we wanted to give him all the autonomy. Each episode is storyboarded by different artists. They’re all Japanese artists, other than him.GRABINSKI The music and the cast, we’re extremely involved with.O’MALLEY That was the one aspect we wanted to control, because it’s so crucial to the tone of “Scott Pilgrim” to get that music correct.Are any of the characters more fun to write than the others?GRABINSKI I love Lucas Lee [played by Chris Evans] just because I’m pretty obsessive about action movies. There’s a tone to that character that is so fun to me. But honestly, the great thing is that they’re all so different. I’ve worked with Brandon Routh a lot and I knew he could be really funny, and we got him to do a bunch of stuff that I think is unexpected and very silly, and he embraced it.O’MALLEY It’s like each of the exes has their own genre, and it lets you mix it up.GRABINSKI That was the thing that was most exciting to me: pairing up characters who had never been seen together. What if they fought or what if they became best friends?O’MALLEY But not making it feel like fan fiction. Really bringing weight to it.GRABINSKI The difficult thing is trying to make sure it all feels like an organic part of the story. As much as we think, “Oh it would be really fun to have these two characters fight,” we can’t do that unless there’s a real reason that they want to fight that comes from the story.“The main appeal of the show to me was to dig deeper with the exes, with Scott’s friends, with Ramona,” Grabinski said.NetflixWhat’s next? Will there be a Season 2?GRABINSKI I can’t think about anything beyond this. I’m glad that we told a story that has an ending for all the thematic things that we’re exploring. So if TV stopped existing on Nov. 18th, I’d feel really proud of what we did.O’MALLEY We wanted to be satisfied with what we get if we never get more. I don’t love it when a show feels like a setup for Season 2. We just wanted to have a complete dramatic and comedic arc to everything.How long did the entire production process take?GRABINSKI It was a few years to go from the beginning of doing outlines to the finish.O’MALLEY But it was also fast. We started writing in January 2022. We met Science Saru in June 2022. We were seeing episodes by spring of this year. We were pretty much done recording the voices before the strike started. So it was like 18 months. Saru is very fast, which is part of the appeal of this whole process. That’s what they pitched me: “We’ll do a season a year!” It took a little longer than that, but it’s pretty magical to get something this beautiful this quickly.Will you revisit “Scott Pilgrim” in comic book form?O’MALLEY Even if I was super inspired, I wouldn’t have time for it right now. But I think it’s definitely possible. And we’ve talked about other episodes. If those never got to fruition as TV, then I would definitely consider doing a comic and co-writing with BenDavid.GRABINSKI I hope that someone, someday, does a manga adaptation of the show.O’MALLEY If someone in Japan would want to do their own adaptation without any input from us, that would be really cool. More

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      ‘Scott Pilgrim’ Is Back, Now in Anime Form

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      “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” revives the bassist who battles his romantic rivals. In an interview, the creators discuss the next chapter, for Netflix.Let’s get ready to rumble … again! Friday brings the premiere of “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” an anime series based on the comic book about a young, lollygagging amateur bass player battling seven of his new love’s exes.It is the second major screen adaptation of the six-volume “Scott Pilgrim” series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley, which were published from 2004-10. A live-action film by Edgar Wright titled “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” (2010), was a critical favorite, and the eight-episode anime reunites most of the movie cast including Michael Cera as Scott; Mary Elizabeth Winstead as his girlfriend, Ramona Flowers; Kieran Culkin as Scott’s pal Wallace Wells; and Chris Evans and Brandon Routh as two of the former flames.“Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” was written and developed by O’Malley and the writer-director BenDavid Grabinski (“Happily”), a longtime friend. It is produced by Netflix, Universal Content Productions and Science Saru, a Japanese animation studio. At a panel about the show at New York Comic Con last month, the creators said scheduling a cast of actors who have gotten much more famous since the film was one of the most difficult aspects of making the series.“You end up with this weird game of Tetris trying to get everybody,” Grabinski told the audience.From left, Kieran Culkin, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Michael Cera in “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.” They all signed on to voice the new series.Universal PicturesEven for those who have read the comic, seen the film or played the video game version, the anime will hold surprises. (There was a robust list of topics and guest voice actors that reporters were asked not to spoil.) O’Malley and Grabinski came to the New York Times offices last month to discuss the new series, reuniting the movie cast and what comes next for Scott Pilgrim. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.How did the anime come about?BENDAVID GRABINSKI Bryan found out that Netflix and Science Saru were interested. We went to dinner to talk about the pros and cons of doing a straight adaptation.BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY This was like a year after they asked. So I was a little reticent because I didn’t have a great idea. But then BenDavid had a series of great ideas at this dinner. He’s a traditional Hollywood screenwriter who will just walk into a room and make up a bunch of stuff.Were there specific characters you knew you wanted to focus on in this version?GRABINSKI I wanted to spend as much time as I could with the ensemble. The main appeal of the show to me was to dig deeper with the exes, with Scott’s friends, with Ramona.O’MALLEY People always ask, “What’s your one regret?” I wish I could have done more with the evil exes, partly because I didn’t fully understand them. The first thing I think of when I think of anime is villain scenes. That was my first way in, and then BenDavid blew the doors off after that.The idea for the show began with Netflix and the Japanese anime studio Science Saru. which jointly approached O’Malley about the concept.NetflixWhat’s new about the series?GRABINSKI We will say that there are some big twists and turns that no other adaptation of this story has done yet. The great thing about making this show and having Bryan sitting five feet away is I have the guy who can veto things and say, “I never would have written that joke,” or “I don’t think that guy would do that.” As much as I would like to feel like every single thing in there is my idea, there’s an equal amount of ideas that I pitched where Bryan would politely text me back and say, “That’s not ‘Scott Pilgrim.’”O’MALLEY And sometimes less politely.GRABINSKI Yeah, I’m just trying to be nice about it. That’s the benefit of knowing each other for so long: You can be a little bit more blunt. This would not have worked if we didn’t know each other very well, because we’re both incredibly opinionated people. We just had a rule from the beginning that nothing could go on the show that either of us hated.O’MALLEY You want it to be unpredictable, but the surprises have to be satisfying. That’s the goal every single time.Were there conflicts?GRABINSKI Our episodes are very different, as the audience will see once they watch it. We never want it to feel stale, but it does need to feel consistent.O’MALLEY We both love episodic TV, so we wanted to embrace that.GRABINSKI I didn’t want to have something like, “Oh, it’s a four-hour movie that’s split into chunks.” We wanted the episodes to feel like episodes, but the season is one story with a beginning, middle and end.What was it like getting the film cast back together?O’MALLEY They’ve all blown up.GRABINSKI I have to give thanks to Edgar Wright. One, he put together one of the best ensemble casts of all time. And two, they all loved the experience so much that we benefited from that. After we started making the show, he reached out to the cast. He sent them the scripts and they immediately all said yes. We can’t take credit for the returning cast members. Guest stars, yes.O’MALLEY I had some involvement casting back then. He showed me every casting tape. So it’s really cool to have seen all those people flower so much and to get a chance for them to come back and revisit that work with their newfound maturity. The same way I feel about it, looking back and revisiting and finding new shading, the way we were finding it in the writing, they found in the acting. There’s a profound feeling to it and I love that.The creators said the series diverges from previous “Scott Pilgrim” stories in multiple ways.NetflixIs it the art that makes it an anime? Or is it more about the sensibility?O’MALLEY For me it’s just because we’re working with Science Saru: They are an anime studio. There’s a certain method of production and we had to slot ourselves into that. We’re not telling them what to do, other than giving them scripts. They are very autonomous.GRABINSKI Our feedback is about emotion or plot points. We wanted it to feel specific to their sensibilities. A lot of the time it became like a feedback loop where we would rewrite our scripts to match the things they were doing.O’MALLEY Abel Góngora is the director, so we wanted to give him all the autonomy. Each episode is storyboarded by different artists. They’re all Japanese artists, other than him.GRABINSKI The music and the cast, we’re extremely involved with.O’MALLEY That was the one aspect we wanted to control, because it’s so crucial to the tone of “Scott Pilgrim” to get that music correct.Are any of the characters more fun to write than the others?GRABINSKI I love Lucas Lee [played by Chris Evans] just because I’m pretty obsessive about action movies. There’s a tone to that character that is so fun to me. But honestly, the great thing is that they’re all so different. I’ve worked with Brandon Routh a lot and I knew he could be really funny, and we got him to do a bunch of stuff that I think is unexpected and very silly, and he embraced it.O’MALLEY It’s like each of the exes has their own genre, and it lets you mix it up.GRABINSKI That was the thing that was most exciting to me: pairing up characters who had never been seen together. What if they fought or what if they became best friends?O’MALLEY But not making it feel like fan fiction. Really bringing weight to it.GRABINSKI The difficult thing is trying to make sure it all feels like an organic part of the story. As much as we think, “Oh it would be really fun to have these two characters fight,” we can’t do that unless there’s a real reason that they want to fight that comes from the story.“The main appeal of the show to me was to dig deeper with the exes, with Scott’s friends, with Ramona,” Grabinski said.NetflixWhat’s next? Will there be a Season 2?GRABINSKI I can’t think about anything beyond this. I’m glad that we told a story that has an ending for all the thematic things that we’re exploring. So if TV stopped existing on Nov. 18th, I’d feel really proud of what we did.O’MALLEY We wanted to be satisfied with what we get if we never get more. I don’t love it when a show feels like a setup for Season 2. We just wanted to have a complete dramatic and comedic arc to everything.How long did the entire production process take?GRABINSKI It was a few years to go from the beginning of doing outlines to the finish.O’MALLEY But it was also fast. We started writing in January 2022. We met Science Saru in June 2022. We were seeing episodes by spring of this year. We were pretty much done recording the voices before the strike started. So it was like 18 months. Saru is very fast, which is part of the appeal of this whole process. That’s what they pitched me: “We’ll do a season a year!” It took a little longer than that, but it’s pretty magical to get something this beautiful this quickly.Will you revisit “Scott Pilgrim” in comic book form?O’MALLEY Even if I was super inspired, I wouldn’t have time for it right now. But I think it’s definitely possible. And we’ve talked about other episodes. If those never got to fruition as TV, then I would definitely consider doing a comic and co-writing with BenDavid.GRABINSKI I hope that someone, someday, does a manga adaptation of the show.O’MALLEY If someone in Japan would want to do their own adaptation without any input from us, that would be really cool. More

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      Quiz: How Well Do You Know ‘Succession’

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      F-Off

      Photo credits: HBO (‘Succession’); Shannon Fagan/Getty Images; Ezra Bailey/Getty Images; vm/Getty Images; skynesher/Getty Images; Martin Barraud/Getty Images; Jennifer Smith/Getty Images (candle); E! (Kendall Jenner); Christof Stache/AFP, via Getty Images (Ken doll); Daniela White Images/Getty Images (mashed potatoes); Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times (turducken); Dorling Kindersley, William Reavell/Getty Images (curdled cream); Stockbyte/Getty Images (raisin); Fabrice Coffrini/AFP, via Getty Images; Simon Dawson/Bloomberg, via Getty Images; and Zheng Huansong/Xinhua, via Getty Images (Davos)
      A quiz by Tala Safie. Produced by Josephine Sedgwick, Sean Catangui and Amanda Webster. More

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      Unpacking the Roy Family in That Pivotal ‘Succession’ Episode

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      The Roy family has never felt more human than it has in this season’s third episode — or more alien.In her 1969 book “On Death and Dying,” the psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross described the five emotional stages of people at the end of life: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Kübler-Ross’s model has since been popularly applied to the grief process. The implication is that all of us who live, love and die are in this way the same.“Succession” appears to have done its psych homework. In the tour-de-force episode “Connor’s Wedding” — spoilers begin here — the Roy siblings learn by phone of their father Logan’s fatal collapse, while he is on a jet crossing the Atlantic, and begin racing through Kübler-Ross’s stages.One part of the show’s genius has always been its portrayal of the superwealthy Roys as both deeply human and alien. As it is in life, so it is in death. The Roys’ reactions are, broadly, familiar to anyone who’s ever gotten similar news. It’s in the particulars that this family is very different.Let’s start with denial. In one sense, Logan’s death may be the least surprising big surprise in HBO drama history. His health has always been shaky, and the show’s very title asks what or who will come after him. But when the inevitable suddenly happens, instinct still kicks in: This can’t be real.“Real,” as any viewer of “Succession” knows, is a key word for the Roy family. It’s a measure of worth, separating people who are “real” — important, worthy of concern — from those who are merely numbers on a ledger.It’s also a fraught term for characters who grew up in a, shall we say, low-trust environment. “Is this real?” Shiv (Sarah Snook) asks, with good reason, when Logan (Brian Cox) offers in Season 2 to let her take over his media empire. It’s the series’s refrain: This deal, this promise, this expression of love — can I take it to the bank?So when Roman (Kieran Culkin) manically refuses to accept the news — “What if it’s a big [expletive] test?” — yes, he is being irrational. But he is also operating by the logic of the only reality he has ever known. What isn’t a test with Logan? His last words to Roman were to order him to fire his lieutenant Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron), with whom Roman had a bond (and occasional rounds of masochistic sex chat). When Roman hesitates, Logan asks, “You are with me?”About Logan’s death, Roman keeps repeating, “We don’t know.” And the episode, written by the creator, Jesse Armstrong, and directed by Mark Mylod, cleverly puts the viewers in his position. We can see inside the plane, but we can’t see much of Logan, only the crew performing compressions on a body. Only when Shiv spills her frenzied last words into his cold ear do we finally see his face. I will admit to having wondered if Roman was right. Yes, it would be insane for Logan to fake his death. But a side effect of growing up Roy is learning to read your most intimate family moments as potential plot twists and fake-outs.Anger and bargaining, in Roy World, tend to operate as a team. There’s anger at Logan, of course. Each Roy child sputters a word salad of love and hurt and fury into the phone. But anger is also a reaction to helplessness. Kendall (Jeremy Strong) demands to have “the best airplane medicine expert in the world” brought onto the call, growing frustrated and incensed, as if he could cheat Death by demanding to speak to its manager.From the beginning of the phone call to when we cut to the corporate-response discussion aboard the plane is less than 20 minutes, and Armstrong packs a lifetime into it.Every line, every image, speaks to the moment and to decades of family trauma and relationships: Roman’s forcing himself to say that Logan was a good dad, then handing off the phone like it’s radioactive; Shiv’s becoming at once a terrified girl and a furious grown daughter; Kendall and Shiv’s holding hands as they go to break the news to their half brother, Connor (Alan Ruck), on his wedding day. (Ruck has done spectacular emotional work with comparatively little screen time, and he does it again here: “He never even liked me.”)By the time we return from the plane to the wedding yacht in New York, depression is creeping in. And acceptance — well, that too has a different meaning in this family.Logan (Brian Cox, left) as seen with Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) moments before Logan’s plane ride flies him into the Great Beyond.David Russell/HBOThe Roys live in an environment where everything is personal and nothing is entirely private. Your family is your family, but it’s also a business. Your father’s death is your father’s death — bound up with a lifetime of resentment and thwarted love — but it is also a “material event” that requires disclosure. (“Succession” is known for its clever, filthy dialogue, but it also has an ear for the bland brutality of business-speak.) Your emotions may be complicated and genuine, but their expression is inevitably tactical. As Kendall says, “What we do today will always be what we did the day our father died.”Your father is the man who loved you or hit you or molded you or disappointed you, but he is also an expensive corporate asset, an asset that has now failed. And its failure must be announced and adjusted to, even as you adjust to the fundamental reordering of the universe.The dialogue shifts seamlessly from shock to grieving to maneuvering. The firmament has shattered. God — or the devil, or both — is dead. That vacuum must be filled, and the deluge prepared for, whether you are family, staff or, like Shiv’s estranged husband, Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), an unhappy bit of both. “I have lost my protector,” he says, like a “Game of Thrones” bannerman realizing that his head may soon part company with his neck.It’s a bold and potent move for Armstrong, who has one of TV’s greatest actors in Cox, to give us none of this from Logan’s point of view. We don’t know what he was thinking at the end. We, like his children, don’t know what he felt or if he heard their last words. There is no closure, no satisfaction. He will forever be a question mark at the center of the universe.Instead, a scene from the season’s first episode amounts to his last testament. Restless and unsettled at a birthday celebration that Kendall, Roman and Shiv have chosen not to attend, Logan ends up at a diner with his body man, Colin (Scott Nicholson), whom — is it possible to pity Logan Roy? — he calls his “best pal.”To his wary companion, Logan launches into what now sounds like a deathbed monologue. “What are people?” he asks Colin, and then answers his own question: “What is a person? It has values and aims, but it operates in a market. Marriage market, job market, money market, market for ideas, et cetera.” And while he is a winner in the judgment of the market — “a hundred feet tall” where most people are “pygmies” — he doesn’t seem to feel like one.At last, he asks Colin whether he believes in the afterlife, and again, Logan supplies his own answer. “We don’t know,” he says. “We can’t know. But I’ve got my suspicions.”Those suspicions were confirmed or denied on an airplane floor thousands of feet above the Atlantic Ocean, a most appropriate choice for “Succession.” The series is about people untethered to place, who move from vehicle to vehicle, from one antiseptic luxury space to another.So this is a most fitting end for Logan Roy — to die in no country, in the expensive no-space of a corporate jet, his last moments relayed to a yacht docked off the financial district, where the market will weigh and digest his death as it does all human effort and sorrow. As Roman says, a plunging chart line on his phone indicating Waystar Royco’s share price: “There he is. That is Dad.”There is one vehicular transfer left for Logan Roy. We end the episode at Teterboro Airport, where his shrouded body is deplaned and loaded into an ambulance. Kendall looks on, taking a private, pensive moment before what comes next: The period when his father’s passing becomes a news event, and most likely, a contest.Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance belong to us all. But for a Roy, there is a sixth stage of grief: ambition. More