A Few Good Men?

Its Friday, and I intend to let movies be a balm at the end of this ugly, fractious week.

Hello from Los Angeles, where were recovering from Washingtons drama with the return of a lovable outlaw, a new look at a cardigan-clad icon of kindness, and a swoon-worthy big-screen melody.

TARGET AUDIENCE

There are rare moments of national interest and alarm where we gather around our glowing screens to watch history unfold together—O.J. Simpson and his white Bronco, 9/11, election night 2016, and on Thursday, the riveting Senate testimonies of Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. As Sonia Saraiya writes, this strange, two-act, Washington-set play “began as a foray into a new understanding of trauma” but devolved into a “cluttered, showy, three-ring spectacle, where the paramount issue became not ascertaining what really happened between Kavanaugh and Ford, but which party knew what and when.” How many Americans watched this testimony, in workplaces and airports, on laptops and smartphones, we dont yet know. It is likely most have taken away their own messages from the day of political theater, divided in many cases by gender, political party, network watched, and lived experience. But in terms of Kavanaughs fate, how many Americans watched doesnt really matter. As The New York Times James Poniewozik writes, “However large the viewing audience, the hearing may have been aimed toward a much smaller one. A few Republican senators hold the balance on the confirmation. And Mr. Kavanaughs future as a nominee depends on one avid TV watcher, President Trump.”

ALL ABOUT BOB

The movie Robert Redford has said will be his swan song as an actor, David Lowerys breezy crime caper The Old Man & the Gun, begins its rollout in theaters today after a buoyant reception at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals. At Telluride, I spoke with Redford about his performance as real-life bank robber Forrest Tucker, a part that deliberately hearkens back to Redfords earlier work as an amiable lawbreaker in films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting. The film includes a clip from his 1966 prison-break drama, The Chase, that is such a visceral reminder of the mans enduring screen allure that it inspired the woman seated behind me at a Telluride screening to moan audibly. “I shouldnt have said anything about [retiring],” Redford told me. “I said, Never say never. But on the other hand, I think Ive done it long enough. I want to move on now into directing and producing. You dont want to overstay your time. The last film Id done [Our Souls at Night] was a pretty heavy lift. It was a very dramatic love story. It was pretty sad. So the idea of this probably being the last thing Im acting in just felt very right, because I could have fun, enjoy myself.” You can read my interview with Redford, including his reflections on career longevity and how he convinced Sidney Lumet he was more than just a “beach bum from California,” here.

HEY, NEIGHBOR!

Praise the marketing gods at Sony, for on Thursday afternoon, when we were in the deepest, darkest hours of the Kavanaugh testimony, they gave us something pure: a picture of Tom Hanks playing Fred Rogers, with the Oscar winner wearing the kindly public-television hosts trademark cardigan. Directed by Marielle Heller and inspired by Tom Junods 1998 Esquire article “Can You Say . . . Hero?”, the yet-untitled film co-stars Matthew Rhys as a jaded magazine writer (can you even imagine such a person?!) who learns about empathy, kindness, and decency while profiling Rogers. As the surprising box-office success of Morgan Nevilles recent documentary about Rogers, Wont You Be My Neighbor?, proves, there is a real hunger to see this particular kind of good guy on screen right now. Joanna Robinson tells us more about the Heller film, which is coming to a neighborhood near you in October of 2019.

THE RETURN OF SERIAL

Serial, Sarah Koenigs game-changing investigative journalism podcast, helped kickstart both the true-crime and podcasting trends when it premiered in 2014. Now the series is back for its third season, this one an analysis of the American criminal-justice system set in a courthouse in Cleveland, Ohio. In his review, K. Austin Collins seems underwhelmed by the new seasons fragmented, narration-heavy format, a contrast to the addictive, if sometimes troubling, first season, which was built around a single murder. “Without a proper narrative through-line, the show feels like any other interconnected series of episodes aired by its parent series, This American Life—another ritualistically easygoing set of stories about good-for-radio Americans,” Collins writes. “Without the gruesome horror of a murder, it also lacks the sensationalistic pull of most true crime and, frankly, the fun-if-icky ethical questions inevitably raised by such a project.”

AWARDS SEASON: THE SYLLABUS

As an Angeleno with a soul-crushing commute over the Santa Monica Mountains, I devour audiobooks, and have to recommend the one that got me home this week: Lee Israels Can You Ever Forgive Me?, read by a witty, withering, and pitch-perfect Jane Curtin. In the film adaptation of the book, which is also directed by a busy Heller and due in October, Melissa McCarthy plays Israel, a forger of literary letters, and Curtin her agent. Can You Ever Forgive Me? is one of this years many awards-season films that started as a terrific read. From memoirs to histories to a rollicking Western, Katey Rich delivers your complete pre-Oscars reading list here.

WALLOWING IN THE SHALLOW

A Star Is Born opens next week, and if youre like me, youve had the same seven notes from “Shallow,” the infectious Lady Gaga-Bradley Cooper duet, stuck in your head since Warner Bros. released the trailer in June. On Thursday, in another sweet respite from our national drama, Gaga shared the music video for the song in its entirety. Julie Miller breaks down the tune and accompanying footage. What are you waiting for? Dive in!

Thats the news for this week on the Hollywood and awards beat. Tell me what youre seeing out there. Send tips, comments, and Bradley Coopers dog, Charlie, to [email protected]. Follow me on Twitter @thatrebecca. If you received this e-mail from a friend and would like to subscribe to the newsletter, head on over here.

Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Rebecca KeeganRebecca Keegan is a Hollywood Correspondent for Vanity Fair.