Spielberg's HBO Max thoughts / Roku sports hub / Aubrey on HBO 2023 slate / "The Sympathizer" cast announced

Plus today's calendar, "GBBO Holiday Special," Del Toro's "Pinocchio" trailer, Burton returns to "Days," and more

Inside.com Part of   Network November 10, 2022

During a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times promoting his new autobiographical film "The Fabelmans," director Steven Spielberg accused HBO Max of throwing his colleagues "under the bus." Spielberg complained about Warner Bros. "unceremoniously" releasing its entire 2021 film slate simultaneously in theaters and on the streaming service. More: Spielberg said the filmmakers were "paid off" and then "everything started to change" in the industry. While noting that superhero fare and horror films "still have a place in society," Spielberg yearned for large-scale crowd-pleasing movies that could bring audiences of all ages back to theaters; he cited Baz Luhrmann's "Elvis" as a recent example. Spielberg also notes that the pandemic caused him to reconsider his attitude toward streaming-only releases. "The Fabelmans" hits select theaters on November 11, and expands nationwide on November 23. VARIETY

Roku introduced a new streaming interface that helps fans find sports broadcasts more easily. A new centralized hub allows for quick browsing and navigation between different sports, events, and games. More: The new hub includes pro and college football, pro and college basketball, along with hockey, baseball, and soccer. It can integrate streams and broadcasts from DirecTV, Fox Sports, FuboTV, Paramount+, Peacock, Prime Video, Sling, Roku Channel, the Turner networks, and any channels connected to a Roku device via smart TV. Roku will also highlight its original series "The Rich Eisen Show" and "Emeril Tailgates," featuring celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, in the hub. DEADLINE

DAILY CALENDAR THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10 FALLING FOR CHRISTMAS: Holiday romantic comedy feature starring Lindsay Lohan as a spoiled hotel heiress who suffers amnesia following a skiing accident, and must rely on the help of a blue-collar lodge owner (Chord Overstreet) and his precocious daughter (Olivia Perez). This marks Lohan's first lead role in a film since "The Canyons" in 2013. [Netflix] WARRIOR NUN: The fantasy drama series, based on the comic book by Ben Dunn, returns today for a second season. Alba Baptista stars as Ava Silva, a 19-year-old orphan who's enlisted in the ancient Order of the Cruciform Sword, and charged with destroying powerful demons. [Netflix] STATE OF ALABAMA VS. BRITTANY SMITH: Documentary short from filmmaker Ryan White ("Visible: Out on Television"), examining the harrowing story of a woman who killed a man she claimed was brutally attacking her, and used Alabama's "stand your ground law" as a defense. [Netflix] LOST BULLET 2 (BALLE PERDUE 2): French action thriller, following up on 2020's "Lost Bullet," in which police mechanic Lino (Alban Lenoir) joins a new narcotics unit and pursues the men who killed his brother. Guillaume Pierret returns as director. [Netflix] LOVE NEVER LIES: DESTINATION SARDINIA (AMOR CON FIANZA: DESTINO CERDEÑA): Reality dating series from Spain in which six couples move into a villa in Sardinia together to put their relationships to the test. All secrets will be revealed with the subjects have to submit to a lie detector test in front of their significant others. Mónica Naranjo hosts. [Netflix] THE CALLING: Debut crime drama series from producer David E. Kelley ("Big Little Lies") and director Barry Levinson ("Dopesick"). Jeff Wilbusch stars as NYPD Detective Avraham Avraham, who's guided by his strong belief in mankind and his deeply-held religious principles. Juliana Canfield, Karen Robinson, and Michael Mosley co-star. [Peacock] THE BIG BRUNCH: Debut cooking competition series in which 10 chefs collaboratively create a series of themed brunches -- including both meals and drinks -- for a shot at a $300,000 grand prize. "Schitt's Creek" vet Dan Levy hosts and serves as a judge, alongside chef Sohla El-Waylly and restauranteur Will Guidara. [HBO Max] THE CRITIC (EL CRÍTICO): Documentary from TCM Spain profiling controversial and divisive Spanish film critic Carlos Boyero, with a particular focus on his outsized role in shaping the country's cinema and film culture. [HBO Max] THE FIRST NOELLE: Romantic comedy feature starring Novi Brown as Noelle, a single woman who's determined to win back her ex-boyfriend Terrance (Todd Anthony) while he's in town for the holidays. Her plans are complicated by the fact that Terrence has brought his new girlfriend (Lala Milan), also named Noelle, along for the trip. [BET+] MANDRAKE: 2022 folk horror film from Northern Ireland starring Deirdre Mullins as a probation officer who's tasked with rehabilitating a notorious killer, and helping her re-enter society, following a 20-year prison sentence. The film is the directorial debut of Lynne Davison. [Shudder] GOING FROM BROKE: Reality series in which Chegg CEO and financial planner Dan Rosensweig helps millennials get out of debt, so they can begin chasing their dreams. Season 3 debuts today on Crackle. [Crackle]  AUTUMN BEAT: Drama feature from Italy following the multi-decade journey of two Milan-born brothers (Hamed Seydou and Abby 6ix) who both dream of careers in the music industry, but find their bond tested when they fall in love with the same woman. Antonio Dikele Distefano ("Zero") co-wrote and directed. [Amazon]

Sarah Aubrey HBO Max's head of originals, Sarah Aubrey, previewed the streamer's upcoming slate during a chat with Variety. Aubrey, the former producing partner of filmmaker Peter Berg, originally joined what was then Time Warner as a development executive for TNT; she now serves as a key lieutenant for HBO content chairman and CEO Casey Bloys. More: Aubrey helped to steer the development of popular HBO Max series "Hacks," "The Flight Attendant," and "The Sex Lives of College Girls," and will work closely with new DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran on the HBO Max series "Peacemaker" and "The Penguin." Regarding the future of so-called producer "mega-deals," like HBO Max's long-term pact with J.J. Abrams, Aubrey said the best agreements focus on "a show that's already on deck or up and running" rather than speculative future plans. Despite some creative hiccups, Aubrey continues to look forward to the redeveloped "Green Lantern" series, which she calls "a big four-quadrant space opera." When pressed, Aubrey is cagey about the future of the "Harry Potter" franchise, but notes "we don't have a series in active development right now." VARIETY

Xuande, Khan, Toan Le, Vy Le, and Trong HBO announced the main cast for its post-Vietnam War drama series "The Sympathizer," based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning debut novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen. Producers put out an open casting call worldwide for the series, and extensively searched for fresh faces from North America, Europe, Vietnam, and Australia. More: HBO is co-producing the series along with the A24 film and TV studio. "Cowboy Bebop" vet Hoa Xuande will lead the ensemble as the Captain, a Communist spy in the waning days of the Vietnam War who moves to Southern California after the fall of Saigon. The Captain later serves as an advisor to a Hollywood film about the war, then returns to Vietnam to continue the fight against communists. Other actors who signed on for major roles in the series include Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Vy Le, and Alan Trong. HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Roku posted a trailer for an American "Great British Baking Show" holiday special. The "Celebrity Holiday" competition will feature guest hosts Ellie Kemper ("The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt") and Zach Cherry ("Severance") alongside familiar judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Lieth. More: The competitors will all be American celebrities and TV personalities, including Marshawn Lynch, Chloe Fineman, D'Arcy Carden, Liza Koshy, Joel Kim Booster, and Nat Faxon. A spinoff series "The Great American Baking Show" aired for five seasons on ABC; both Hollywood and Leith made numerous appearances. "Great American Baking Show" is expected to return for a sixth season to Roku Channel, but no release date has been set. The "Celebrity Holiday" special arrives on December 2. AV CLUB

Netflix released a final trailer for director Guillermo del Toro's stop-motion animated take on the classic children's novel "Pinocchio." The film is currently playing in a limited theatrical run and makes its Netflix debut on December 9. More: Del Toro co-directed the film along with Mark Gustafson, and sticks more closely to the original Italian book by Carlo Collodi than most other American adaptations. The voice cast includes Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, Finn Wolfhard, and Cate Blanchett. GIZMODO

QUICK HITS $250 for International Acct. Day? Demo Divvy by Nov. 10 so you can stop wasting time on expense reports and start wasting it at the beach.* "Days of Our Lives" actor Steve Burton will reprise his classic role as Harris Michaels on Peacock's continuation of the long-running soap opera; Burton also appeared on "General Hospital," but departed in 2021 over his refusal to comply with the production's COVID vaccine mandate. Producer Seth Rogen shared some insights into the current state of Amazon's "The Boys" franchise with Collider -- including that "Diabolical" Season 2 scripts are in the works -- while promoting the new Steven Spielberg film "The Fabelmans." No official Disney+ release date for the upcoming "Black Panther" sequel "Wakanda Forever" has been announced, but CNET guesses it will be sometime around late December or early January. Momona Tamada ("The Baby-Sitters Club") and Alyvia Alyn Lind ("Chucky") joined the cast of Disney+'s live-action "Spiderwick Chronicles" series in recurring roles. *This is sponsored content

Lon Harris is the writer and editor of Inside Streaming and was the very first person to ever write an Inside newsletter. He lives in Los Angeles, California, and also writes about TV and film for Fandom, Screen Junkies, Rotten Tomatoes, Gamma Ray and others. Plus he has a Game of Thrones podcast called "Casterly Talk" and competes on The Movie Trivia Schmoedown as "The Professor." Editor Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade.

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