‘Winning Time’: Adam McKay’s Series With John C. Reilly Pops With “Showtime” Magic But Then Loses Its Edge [Review]

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterThe 2022 Producers Guild Awards are underway in Los Angeles, at Century City’s sparkling new Fairmont Hotel. Producers behind the year’s best in film and television will duke it out for the top guild honor, the last awards season stop before next Sunday’s Academy Awards.In the film category, Netflix leads the pack in nominations with Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up,“ Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Tick, Tick … Boom!” all vying for outstanding producer of theatrical motion pictures, named for legendary studio executive Darryl F.

One of the most accomplished directors today, Denis Villeneuve’s audacious visions make every frame a marvel to behold. Most of his films are dark and cerebral, featuring characters having an existential crisis in a complex world.

Clayton Davis The most shocking snub of this year’s Oscar nominations was Denis Villeneuve’s omission from the best directing category for his science-fiction epic “Dune.” “It’s better to be in that position than the opposite,” Villeneuve tells Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast. “I prefer people say you should have been there instead of ‘what the hell are you doing there?’ I’m not making movies to get awards recognition. If you do that, you’re not walking the right path.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeWhen DeVaughn Nixon and Norm Nixon Jr. both showed up in the casting offices of HBO’s “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” on the same day — at the same time — it could have been awkward. And at first, it was.“They both lovingly shit talked each other,” says exec producer Max Borenstein.

Adam Levine’s little ones! The Maroon 5 frontman shares two children with wife Behati Prinsloo, and the couple have been selective about sharing photos of the little ones over the years.

John Korty, who directed the Emmy-winning The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and the Oscar-winning documentary Who Are the DeBolts? and Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?, died March 9 at his home in Marin County, California. He was 85.

Oscar-winning directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin are shooting for the stars with their latest documentary, “Return To Space”.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s a hot one. Jodie Comer is to star in a series based on Jen Beagin’s upcoming book Big Swiss.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Killing Eve” star Jodie Comer is set to star in drama series “Big Swiss” from producer Adam McKay, which is currently in the development stage at HBO.The project is based on Jen Beagin’s upcoming book of the same name and will be produced by A24 and McKay’s Hyperobject Industries.Here’s the description for “Big Swiss”: After starting a new life anonymously transcribing sex therapy sessions in Hudson, NY, a woman becomes fixated with one of the patients, leading to an obsessive, explosive relationship between the two.Deadline first reported the news.More to come…

EXCLUSIVE: HBO sports drama Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty scored more viewers in its second week, rising from its debut.

Apple TV+ has set its first-ever all Spanish-language series Midnight Family from Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín. Cast includes Academy Award nominee Yalitza Aparicio (Roma), Joaquín Cosío (Narcos: Mexico, Suicide Squad 2), and Óscar Jaenada (The Losers, Luis Miguel: The Series).

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentOn top of being Netflix’s second most watched movie (according to Netflix) and racking up four Oscar nominations, Adam McKay’s star-studded political satire “Don’t Look Up” also inspired tens of thousands to march against climate change in France on Saturday.More than 80,000 people protested peacefully in multiple cities in France on Saturday, including 32,000 people in Paris. Many of whom were holding “Look Up” signs, according to France 24 news website, which attributed the participation figures to organizers.The annual protest for the climate was indeed named the “Look Up Day” by the non-profit org Alternatiba in reference to Adam McKay’s allegorical movie which stars two earnest astronomers (Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) on a mission to warn a narcissistic U.S.

Rustam Ibragimbekov, the renowned Soviet-era writer behind films including 1994 Oscar winner Burnt by the Sun and the 1970 classic White Sun of the Desert, died in Moscow on Friday, according to multiple reports. He was 83.

HBO ushered viewers back to the starting days of the Los Angeles Lakers with new series Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty making its premiere on Sunday. The series from co-creators Max Borenstein and Jim Hecht debuted to just shy of 1 million viewers.

Adam McKay is known for, among other things, his blistering satires, Vice and The Big Short among them. His latest, the four-time Oscar-nominated Don’t Look Up, takes aim at our ignorance of climate change, our politics and our obsession with tech.

Vanity Fair interview in November. Even more unimaginable than McKay’s disclosure that the superstar SNL alum was no longer on speaking terms with his former SNL head writer was Ferrell turning on McKay after being denied right of first refusal for the lead in a new dramedy McKay was developing about the Showtime-era Los Angeles Lakers.

“Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty”Sunday, March 6 at 9 p.m., HBOYour next based-on-a-true-story obsession is here. “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” is based on Jeff Pearlman’s nonfiction book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s,” which charted the immortal franchise during its heyday with Magic Johnson (who is currently very annoyed at this new show and mounting his own series documenting the era).

Scott Huver The scene at Wednesday’s premiere of HBO’s “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” at the Theatre at Ace Hotel was nearly as fast-paced and celebrity-packed as the 1980s Showtime era of the Los Angeles Lakers the series depicts — and even had a few gilded basketball hoops.Executive producers Adam McKay, Max Borenstein and Jim Hecht welcomed a deep-bench of the series’ performers, including both an all-star lineup of veteran pros — including John C. Reilly, Adrien Brody, Sally Field, Jason Clarke, Jason Segel and Michael Chiklis — and a slew of impressive newcomers. And despite playing roles that ultimately became godlike sports icons, the actors told Variety they were surprised by how much they related to their real-world humanity.

The premiere of HBO’s new series Winning Time featured so many members of the star-studded cast!

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticJohn C. Reilly first shows up in “Winning Time” post-coitally, musing about the ways in which his favorite activity has pleasures not unlike his second-favorite. “God damn,” he muses to his sleeping mistress, his gaze slightly tangent to the camera’s gaze.