Final voting for the 78th Emmys is now underway, which means The Envelope is bidding adieu to the TV awards season — and already gearing up for the film one.
This year, I’ll be in Venice while columnist Glenn Whipp heads to Telluride and movies editor Joshua Rothkopf leads our team at the Toronto International Film Festival. You can catch a daily roundup of our TIFF coverage, including exclusive photo and video highlights from our studio activation, right here in the Envelope Sept. 11-14.
Until then, enjoy highlights from this week’s issue below, and Glenn’s last newsletter of Emmy season on Friday.
Digital cover: Dakota Fanning
(David Urbanke / For The Times)
This week’s digital coverline is inspired by Dakota Fanning’s busy, busy schedule — with two Emmy-nominated shows, a film with sister Elle in the can, an Apple TV thriller in production and more — and, among her many credits, the one fans still bring up to her the most: “Man on Fire.”
“When people ask, ‘Do you even remember doing “Man on Fire”?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, of course I do. What do you mean?’” she tells contributor Kara Warner of Tony Scott’s 2004 thriller, starring Denzel Washington as the bodyguard to Fanning’s 9-year-old kidnapping target. “I think about the memories with Denzel and with Tony, and getting to live in Mexico City for six months when you’re 9 years old is pretty spectacular.”
‘The Comeback’
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
For those of us who’ve been following the peaks and valleys of Valerie Cherish’s career since 2005, the end of “The Comeback” is bittersweet at best: While the series has achieved greatness by adhering to the old showbiz adage “always leave them wanting more,” I’d be happy to visit with the fictional actress for another two decades (or more).
There’s some solace, I suppose, in knowing creators Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King feel the same way. In a moving essay for The Envelope, the pair share how the spirit of Robert Michael Morris, who played Valerie’s friend and hairdresser Mickey in Seasons 1 and 2, aided them during a crucial moment in production on Season 3. RIP, Mickey — and “The Comeback.” You are, and will be, sorely missed.
Viva Las Vegas!
Perhaps even more than Hollywood — and thanks in large part to Hollywood — Las Vegas is subject to cliched depictions in popular culture. But a new wave of Emmy-nominated series are showing a different side of Sin City,” writes contributor Whitney Friedlander.
“The Vegas we wanted to show and explore was Shyanne’s Vegas, which is so specific to her,” “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” director of photography Tari Segal tells Friedlander, referring to Michelle Pfeiffer’s character. “It would have that more aged, timeless quality of downtown Vegas, [and] it would have the income bracket of a Vegas that she would be comfortable in.”
