Doug Wright Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Ten years ago, actor Sean Hayes and playwright David Adjmi were working together to develop a play based on the life of Oscar Levant, the actor, pianist and notorious wit of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Now Hayes is preparing to bring Good Night, Oscar to Broadway next spring. The play is written by Doug Wright.

EXCLUSIVE: The Sundance Institute has named the participants and projects set for its 2024 Screenwriters Lab and Intensive, programs providing emerging artists with a creative and nurturing space to develop their first and second indie features.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic While it’s easy to imagine lawyers screaming “objection, your honor!” to the exaggerated courtroom theatrics of “The Burial,” good luck convincing audiences that this David v. Goliath legal showdown between a small-time Southern funeral home operator and an unethical Canadian billionaire should have played out any other way.

The Burial is a not-so-great title; it sounds like a horror film. I hope it doesn’t keep people away from this highly entertaining, crowd-pleasing movie that otherwise is an example of what good old fashioned Hollywood filmmaking can still be all about in the right hands. It feels bigger than life, but it is based on some pretty big lives indeed.

Sophia Scorziello editor Jamie Foxx suits up for the latest trial – er, trailer – of Prime Video’s “The Burial.” The court room dramedy, which also stars Tommy Lee Jones, Jurnee Smollett and Alan Ruck, is set to premiere Sept. 11 at the Toronto International Film Festival.

An unlikely pair are taking on big business.

“This fella tried to bully me out of business,” Jeremiah O’Keefe says. “I don’t think I should be expected to stand for it.” His wife reminds him, “You’ve never sued anybody before in your whole life.”

Christian Lewis Today’s audiences are unlikely to know the name Oscar Levant, the once-famed pianist, composer, comedian and actor at the center of Doug Wright’s new Broadway play “Good Night, Oscar.”Despite that, many aspects of the story, which takes place over the filming of a single episode of “The Tonight Show with Jack Paar”in 1958, might feel familiar: a high-stress taping of a late-night show, big celebrity personalities, exploitation in the name of good television.  Any fan of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” will feel familiar with Paar and generally at home in this world. In some ways, “Good Night, Oscar”even feels like an episode of “Mrs. Maisel” — zany, fast-paced and smartly humorous, with references flying a mile a minute, some battle-of-the-sexes content, sumptuous dresses, well-tailored suits and occasional moments of sincere emotion. Instead of Midge, here we have Oscar, played by Sean Hayes, a one-man show in his own right. 

Good Night, Oscar,” there is no doubt. Whether the end result is a human being or a bag of tricks depends on your taste for ham.One hour and 40 minutes with no intermission.

If ever a play had good reason to front-load itself with exposition, Good Night, Oscar is it. Once among America’s premiere wits and raconteurs, Oscar Levant has gone the way of many another once-famous wits and raconteurs. Which is to say, he needs lots of exposition.

Sean Hayes will return to Broadway this spring starring in Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright’s new play Good Night, Oscar, in which Hayes will play Hollywood Golden Age actor, pianist and wit Oscar Levant.

EXCLUSIVE: Patrick Herold, who served as Partner and Head of Theater at ICM Partners for nearly two decades, has moved to UTA as an agent in the Theatre division. He will be based in New York and report to Partner & Head of Theatre, Mark Subias. Herold is the latest ICM agent to leave following the agency’s acquisition by CAA.

EXCLUSIVE: Billy Slaughter (The Card Counter) has boarded Amazon Studios’ film The Burial, which is currently in production in New Orleans.

EXCLUSIVE: Succession‘s Alan Ruck is the latest addition to the cast of Amazon Studios’ film The Burial, which is currently in production. He joins an ensemble that also includes Jamie Foxx, Tommy Lee Jones, Jurnee Smollett, Mamoudou Athie, Bill Camp, Dorian Missick, Pamela Reed, Amanda Warren and Jim Klock.

EXCLUSIVE: Dorian Missick (Shirley), Pamela Reed (Outside In), Amanda Warren (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) and Jim Klock (The Underground Railroad) will round out the cast of Prime Video’s The Burial, which is currently in production.

EXCLUSIVE: Bill Camp (The Queen’s Gambit, The Night Of) is the latest addition to the cast of Amazon Studios’ film The Burial, based on the New Yorker article by Jonathan Harr.

EXCLUSIVE:  Black Box actor Mamoudou Athie is reteaming with Amazon Studios for their feature The Burial, based on the New Yorker article by Jonathan Harr.

EXCLUSIVE: The Many Saints of Newark star Alessandro Nivola continues to stay busy as he is in talks to star opposite Michelle Williams in Todd Haynes’s Peggy Lee biopic Fever. Nivola will play Dave Barbour in pic. Set up at MGM the feature is written by Doug Wright and produced by Marc Platt, Christine Vachon, Pamela Koffler and Reese Witherspoon.

EXCLUSIVE: Tommy Lee Jones is being set to star alongside Jamie Foxx in Amazon’s The Burial, with Maggie Betts directing. Jones plays a lead role that was going to be filled by Harrison Ford, until he had to drop out. Doug Wright penned the screenplay.

Justin Kroll Senior Film ReporterEXCLUSIVE: Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx is set to produce and star in Amazon’s The Burial with Maggie Betts on board to direct, in this two-handed drama where Foxx will star opposite a legendary role currently being casted. Pulitzer Prize-winner Doug Wright penned the screenplay.Amazon Studios, Bobby Shriver Inc.