Speaker 1: Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
Speaker 1: analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Wednesday, February eighteenth, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am co
Speaker 1: editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Situta. I'm in
Speaker 1: LA He's in New York, and Variety has reporters around
Speaker 1: the world covering the business of entertainment. On today's episode,
Speaker 1: we'll hear from Ridy's Todd Spangler on the latest developments
Speaker 1: in the Three way Na Love triangle between Warner Brothers, Discovery, Netflix,
Speaker 1: and Paramount's Guidance. And then Owen Gliberman joins us to
Speaker 1: pay tribute to what he calls the symphonic talent of
Speaker 1: Robert Duval. But before we get to that, here are
Speaker 1: a few headlines just in this morning that you need
Speaker 1: to know. Stephen Colbert's epic tussle with CBS over the
Speaker 1: Late show's interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talerico took
Speaker 1: another weird time when CBS released a statement late Monday
Speaker 1: denying that it had forbidden Colbert to run the segment.
Speaker 1: As Colbert told his audience on Monday night, which prompted
Speaker 1: him to put the segment on the show's YouTube page.
Speaker 1: CBS came back and said it was merely providing legal
Speaker 1: guidance on equal time rules. Colbert came out in his
Speaker 1: monolog on Tuesday Night and said the network didn't bother
Speaker 1: to tell him that it would release that statement. This
Speaker 1: is getting as ugly and tense as it was during
Speaker 1: David Letterman's last days on NBC Late Night in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety three before he jumped shipped to CBS. U two
Speaker 1: has released a new six song EP titled Days of Ash.
Speaker 1: It has a song that pays tribute to Renee Good.
Speaker 1: It feels like February when you see this headline On Variety.
Speaker 1: Emily Deschanel is back in the Pilot Mix. She'll play
Speaker 1: a renowned criminal profiler on the untitled Universal TV drama
Speaker 1: pilot from Dean Gorgaris and John Fox. All of these
Speaker 1: stories and so much more can be found.
Speaker 2: On right now.
Speaker 1: And now it's time for conversations with Friday journalists about
Speaker 1: news and trends in show business. Todd Spangler, Variety's business editor,
Speaker 1: helps us unpack what is happening with Netflix and Warner
Speaker 1: Brothers Discovery and what is happening with Warner Brothers, Discovery
Speaker 1: and Paramount. The next seven days are sure to be
Speaker 1: an eventful period in this saga. Todd Spangler, thank you
Speaker 1: for joining me at the end of your day to
Speaker 1: sort out all that had transpired between Warner Brothers, Discovery
Speaker 1: and Netflix and Paramount's guidance. This is a love triangle
Speaker 1: that has been playing out now for going on six months.
Speaker 1: So they have initiated, i think to a lot of
Speaker 1: people's surprised with Netflix's blessing. They have initiated a seven
Speaker 1: day period for negotiations to see what Paramount really has
Speaker 1: to offer. Paramount has been being a little bit coy, well,
Speaker 1: we might have a better offer in us, and now
Speaker 1: they really this is seven days and Ted Sarandos in
Speaker 1: an interview earlier today on CNBC that it is time
Speaker 1: for Paramount to put their money where their mouth is. Todd,
Speaker 1: this was the first thing you dealt with this morning.
Speaker 1: Help us sort out what's going on here.
Speaker 3: So Warner Brothers did a couple things right. They said, look,
Speaker 3: we will hear you out, David Ellison and company, come
Speaker 3: give us your best offer. By the way, one of
Speaker 3: your representatives told us, you'd be willing to go hire
Speaker 3: thirty one bucks a share or hire. It wasn't in writing.
Speaker 3: It was just mentioned on a phone call to an
Speaker 3: unidentified Warner Brothers board member. So they wanted, like, if
Speaker 3: you have something to really beat the Netflix deal, show
Speaker 3: it to us, put in writing, and we will definitely
Speaker 3: consider it. I mean they have to write. They're obligated
Speaker 3: to do that.
Speaker 1: That's probably the first order of business in fiduciary duty.
Speaker 1: Make as much money as you possibly can exactly.
Speaker 3: But they're giving them a short leash seven calendar days.
Speaker 3: Note it's not seven business days. And they also said, oh,
Speaker 3: by the way, we are setting mark twentieth as this
Speaker 3: special shareholder vote to vote on the Netflix deal. And
Speaker 3: by the way, Paramount's guide ants or peace Guy has
Speaker 3: they refer to them, to their by their stock symbol.
Speaker 3: You know, we're still fully recommending Netflix, and we're telling
Speaker 3: our shareholders to vote against your offer as it stood
Speaker 3: as of last week. So they're putting deadlines in place
Speaker 3: and saying, hey, Paramount, if you really want this, you
Speaker 3: got to have a clearly superior financial offer.
Speaker 1: But let's remember that Netflix sealed a deal on December fifth,
Speaker 1: and so it has been a long walk to getting
Speaker 1: to the shareholder approval that will then really kickstart the
Speaker 1: regulatory review. But Netflix does have the bird in the hand,
Speaker 1: and of course, as listeners know, it gets complicated because
Speaker 1: Netflix isn't buying all of Warner Brothers Discovery. But this hurdle,
Speaker 1: this uncertainty has kind of hamstrong Warner Brothers Discovery from
Speaker 1: moving forward with its plan to spin off most of
Speaker 1: its linear cable channels. You can feel the frustration coming
Speaker 1: out of Burbank.
Speaker 3: It's always, you know, a bit of kabookie. Right to
Speaker 3: do this type of negotiation, which does need to be
Speaker 3: in public for significant parts of it, right, you do
Speaker 3: need to be transparent with shareholders, So there's a lot
Speaker 3: of posturing that goes on. And keep in mind, this
Speaker 3: is the first time that the Warner Brothers Discovery board
Speaker 3: is going to engage with Paralance Guidance in a discussion. Previously,
Speaker 3: they've just waved them away. So when I see people saying, oh,
Speaker 3: this is then reopening talks with Perland now they have
Speaker 3: never had a serious negotiation with David Ellis.
Speaker 1: It will be interesting to see if Ellison's really have
Speaker 1: been playing poker and they pump it up by two bucks,
Speaker 1: and then that really would take it off the tables.
Speaker 1: And then if we know that Netflix has a matching right,
Speaker 1: what is your read from Netflix on their willingness to
Speaker 1: go up significantly from where they are?
Speaker 3: I don't have that kind of crystal ball, but I
Speaker 3: think they you know, they have their ceiling, and I
Speaker 3: don't know what that is. I assume that they've reached
Speaker 3: that ceiling now and if it goes any higher, they
Speaker 3: they're prepared to walk away and take the two point
Speaker 3: eight billion breakup fee. Why not? You know, that's a
Speaker 3: little pocket change for them. I go back to this
Speaker 3: notion that for Netflix, Warner Brothers Discovery is a nice
Speaker 3: to have. It's a creative to earnings. You know, it
Speaker 3: gives them a production footprint, It gives them a prestigious
Speaker 3: streaming service and cable network, you know, the gold standard
Speaker 3: of premium content HBO. So this is all nice to have.
Speaker 3: David Allison is in a different spot. He really needs
Speaker 3: to get synergies, not just in the studio business, which
Speaker 3: would be a good thing for them, but on the
Speaker 3: TV side as well. That's why he wants to buy
Speaker 3: the whole thing. So you know, there's a lot of
Speaker 3: debt at Warner Brothers. That's why they're in this spot
Speaker 3: in the first place right now. And by the way,
Speaker 3: David Zaslav and the rest of their investors at Warners Discovery,
Speaker 3: they are the real winners out of all of this,
Speaker 3: because they're going to walk away with a nice little
Speaker 3: bump from whatever they put into this project from where
Speaker 3: it was a year ago, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Right, And David Ellison, by his own admission telling everybody
Speaker 1: last summer and fall who would listen, that he absolutely
Speaker 1: had to get Warner Brothers. It was part of the
Speaker 1: plan from the get go, and so he certainly if
Speaker 1: he does wind up with this at the end, he
Speaker 1: will certainly have dug himself out of a hole in
Speaker 1: a huge way. Well, we have two big dates on
Speaker 1: the calendar now to watch the end of this seven
Speaker 1: day calendar day period, so they'll probably be working over
Speaker 1: the weekend and also March twentieth if that date still holds.
Speaker 1: So again, this will not be our last conversation about this.
Speaker 1: Thank you as always for helping us interpret all that
Speaker 1: is going on here. All right, good to talk, and
Speaker 1: now we turn to Owen Gleiberman, Variety's chief film critic,
Speaker 1: brings us incredible perspective and a fountain of adjectives to
Speaker 1: pay tribute to the greatness of Robert Duval. Owen Glyberman,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining me.
Speaker 2: Good to be here, Cynthia.
Speaker 1: As happens too often these days, you were summoned on Monday,
Speaker 1: on a holiday, to pay tribute and really just help
Speaker 1: us interpret the career of truly one of the greats,
Speaker 1: one of the true originals, an idiosyncratic character who was
Speaker 1: a very unlikely movie star according to people that worked
Speaker 1: with him and knew him best. Robert Duval left us
Speaker 1: over the long weekend at the age of ninety five.
Speaker 1: When you saw the headline, what did you think of
Speaker 1: when you thought, what were some of those first immediate
Speaker 1: impressions that came to mind as you thought about Robert Duval.
Speaker 2: It's funny about Daval. People will say about a movie
Speaker 2: star when they're trying to pay him a compliment. He's
Speaker 2: a character actor in a leading man's body, And I
Speaker 2: think that Robert Duval was a leading man in the
Speaker 2: character actor's body. I mean, he could do anything. He
Speaker 2: was this extraordinary chameleon, just like Daniel day Lewis and
Speaker 2: Meryl Street. But he had a certain look to him,
Speaker 2: of this very ordinary quality. He was not glamorous, and
Speaker 2: when we first saw him playing characters like Bu Radley
Speaker 2: or the role that made him famous, Tom Hagen and
Speaker 2: The Godfather, he had this very quiet, recessive quality. And
Speaker 2: I think a lot of us watching his performance in
Speaker 2: The Godfather thought this is what Robert Duvall is like.
Speaker 2: We thought he's this brilliant, understated actor. But I think
Speaker 2: all of that really started to change around the time
Speaker 2: of Networth, where he's playing the corrupt prophet, hungry TV executive,
Speaker 2: and Duval just gave this wild performance, kind of unhinged.
Speaker 2: And that was the other side of Robert Deval, the
Speaker 2: one who was drawn to showing you men at their
Speaker 2: most extreme. And as that side of him came out
Speaker 2: more and more, what I think you saw is that
Speaker 2: there was this incredible duality to Robert Duvald. He knew
Speaker 2: how to play the perfect Southern gentleman. He could be
Speaker 2: the soul of decency, but he also showed you the
Speaker 2: dark side, not because he was drawn to playing villains,
Speaker 2: but because he wanted to understand and show you every
Speaker 2: dimension of humanity and he did that.
Speaker 1: Oh, and I want to read your words and the
Speaker 1: incredible tribute that you wrote to him. This is a
Speaker 1: roadmap for the movies to go find and this is
Speaker 1: kind of a fun, cryptic puzzle way to do it.
Speaker 1: In assessing Robert Duval's talent, you say quote he was
Speaker 1: a sly dog virtuoso whose roster of indelible whose roster
Speaker 1: of indelible characters included a broken down country singer, a
Speaker 1: mafia consiglieri, a charismatic pentecostal preacher, a psychotic army commander,
Speaker 1: a corrupt TV news executive, and a creepy neighbor who
Speaker 1: lives in the shadows, not to mention a whole lot
Speaker 1: of cowboys and also Dwight D. Eisenhower and Joseph Stalin.
Speaker 1: That a is truly a roadmap to Robert Duval and
Speaker 1: captures all of his multitudes. That I spoke Monday morning
Speaker 1: to Walter Hill, who directed Duval twice in two projects,
Speaker 1: the movie Geronimo and the AMC mini series Broken Trail,
Speaker 1: which really kind of boosted him back and won him Emmys.
Speaker 1: Hill told me that Duval had mentioned to him that
Speaker 1: he was very proud of having played Joseph Stalin.
Speaker 2: The first thing that struck me as soon as I
Speaker 2: heard that Duval had passed on was this incredible duality
Speaker 2: that he had playing kind of the light and dark
Speaker 2: sides of people at the same time. I mean, that,
Speaker 2: I think, is what is so great about his performance
Speaker 2: and tender mercies and why he won the Oscar for that.
Speaker 2: He's playing this broken down country singer Max Sledge who's
Speaker 2: hit bottom. The character is a recovering alcoholic, and we
Speaker 2: see him throughout the movie really working to recover. That's
Speaker 2: kind of before this became such a movie cliche, and
Speaker 2: we see that he's basically a good man because Duval
Speaker 2: could really just play this bone deep sense of decency,
Speaker 2: and I think watching that performance, just so many people
Speaker 2: could relate to what a flawed soul this man was,
Speaker 2: because that's what Duval did. He always touched the truth
Speaker 2: and even the dark truth. He really did start to
Speaker 2: do that in movies like The Great Santini, where he
Speaker 2: plays just this overwhelmingly bad father in ways, and yet
Speaker 2: the character's not a villain because he's trying to show
Speaker 2: you that everyone has his reasons and he wants to
Speaker 2: understand that character, and that, of course, is also what's
Speaker 2: there in his extraordinary performance in Apocalypse Now when he
Speaker 2: plays Colonel Kilgore. It's such a mythic performance because he's
Speaker 2: coloring in in a way, this whole dark side of America,
Speaker 2: our desire to conquer and our desire to surf. It's
Speaker 2: totally psychotic, but he's showing you the appeal of that.
Speaker 2: It's a satirical performance, but it's also totally real. I mean,
Speaker 2: Leon screen in Apocalypse Now for ten minutes, and yet
Speaker 2: nobody could ever forget that performance. But there's also this
Speaker 2: quality that Dvall brought to playing Kilgore that I think
Speaker 2: almost no other actor could have done, which is that
Speaker 2: it is such a dark character. It is so much
Speaker 2: a character that embodies the sins of America that I
Speaker 2: think almost any other actor would have You would have
Speaker 2: felt that he was on the side of saying that
Speaker 2: that this was a performance that is in a way
Speaker 2: a critique of America. But the way Duval plays it,
Speaker 2: his identification with this character is so strong. You can
Speaker 2: tell that Duvall likes this character he's played. He's very charismatic,
Speaker 2: He's almost on his side during the performance that I
Speaker 2: think is the risk Duval took him playing that. He
Speaker 2: just goes all the way with me saying, yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: this kind of rogue cowboy, this is who America is.
Speaker 1: What are some more recent Duval performances that stand out
Speaker 1: to you.
Speaker 2: I just think the performance that I would like to
Speaker 2: draw people's attention to from Duval's canon is The Apostle
Speaker 2: eighteen ninety seven movie that he starred in and directed.
Speaker 2: I think it is his greatest performance, and I think
Speaker 2: it's absolutely one of the masterpieces that ever came out
Speaker 2: of the independent film era. I mean, I would just
Speaker 2: put it up there with Boogie Knight's pulpic fiction you
Speaker 2: name it. Duval plays this charismatic Pentecostal preacher named Sonny
Speaker 2: who is totally It's like the ultimate of all performance.
Speaker 2: He's playing this guy who's totally a man of God,
Speaker 2: but he's also a narcissist devoted to his own gratification.
Speaker 2: I think Duvall probably drew on a lot of himself
Speaker 2: to play this character. He's both at once, and that's
Speaker 2: the duality that Daval could play like no one else.
Speaker 2: Duval shows you how this man he's playing could be
Speaker 2: totally religious and at the same time may be homicidal,
Speaker 2: and as a preacher, he is like nothing you have
Speaker 2: ever seen. The word that I used for his performance
Speaker 2: when I wrote about it yesterday is symphonic. It is
Speaker 2: just one of the greatest pieces of screen acting you
Speaker 2: will ever see.
Speaker 1: Definitely high praise. A lot of people have said he
Speaker 1: was one of those actors that just raised the performance
Speaker 1: of everyone because of his stature, because of his commanding presence.
Speaker 2: Completely. I think Duval's legacy is really a lesson for
Speaker 2: us in terms of what movies and television are or
Speaker 2: should be, and that's that no matter how small the role,
Speaker 2: no matter how formulaic the movie, Duval always hit the
Speaker 2: true note. And he did it over and over again.
Speaker 2: You just felt that when you were watching a Robert
Speaker 2: Duvall performance, you were seeing just a total human being
Speaker 2: in front of you. He touched the depths, he touched
Speaker 2: our hidden sides, and that's what made him one of
Speaker 2: the greats.
Speaker 1: Owen, thank you so much for writing so beautifully and
Speaker 1: taking the time to pay tribute to absolutely one of
Speaker 1: the greats.
Speaker 2: Thanks.
Speaker 1: As we close out today's episode, here's a few things
Speaker 1: we're watching for on February tw third, Variety will produce
Speaker 1: the first of three digital dailies out of the London
Speaker 1: TV screenings. It's going to be a busy event based
Speaker 1: on the volume of releases that are hitting my inbox.
Speaker 1: It's almost time for Zach Braff, Sarah Chalk, and Donald
Speaker 1: Faison to scrub Back in Scrubbs, the hospital comedy that
Speaker 1: aired on NBC and ABC is back for more starting
Speaker 1: February twenty fifth on ABC and Hulu, and in scenes
Speaker 1: we never thought we'd see, there were picket signs out
Speaker 1: in front of the Writers Guild of America West building
Speaker 1: on Fairfax Avenue on Tuesday, Will Wonders Never cease. Variety's
Speaker 1: labor reporter, Gene Mattis will be closely watching this strike
Speaker 1: by employees of the Writers Guild of America West. We
Speaker 1: love to hear from our listeners, so please send thoughts,
Speaker 1: scripes and other feedback about Daily Variety to podcasts at
Speaker 1: Variety dot com before we go. Congrats to Peter Trogett.
Speaker 1: He's been named head of Television for fifth season, reporting
Speaker 1: to CEO Graham Taylor. Trogett has been an executive with
Speaker 1: Cashette Studios as well as with NBC Universal fifth season,
Speaker 1: is a neighbor of Variety here in West LA. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening. This episode was written and reported by me
Speaker 1: Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from Todd Spangler and Owen Gleiberman
Speaker 1: stick Snick's hick Picks. Please leave us a review at
Speaker 1: the podcast platform of your choice, and please tune in
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