Exclusive: Comedian Stavros Halkias Joins Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons in Yorgos Lanthimos’ New Film 'Bugonia'

Happy Wednesday, everyone, and congrats on making it more than halfway through the week.

Yesterday, I really enjoyed Mike Fleming’s Deadline interview with Michael Crichton’s widow Sherri Crichton, who controls the late author’s estate and is suing Warner Bros. Discovery over the new Max series The Pitt, which it claims was born from a new ER series that never came to fruition due to Michael Crichton and Steven Spielberg’s producing fees as dictated by the terms of the original contract. Puck’s Eriq Gardner did a good follow-up story on the matter as well.

Elsewhere, Variety ran an interesting story about Joe Rogan being more powerful than any one legacy media outlet — which is kind of scary to think about. Indeed, it seems silly that Kamala Harris would turn down the opportunity to appear as a guest on Rogan’s show. If you want to reach that half of the country, you have to speak directly to them on their level/turf. A dumb mistake, in hindsight.

But Variety’s prescient piece made me think — my own suggestion from back in August that Joe Rogan should host the Oscars doesn’t look so foolish now, does it? If the Academy cares about the show’s ratings, and it should, then it needs to invest in chasing the audience that left, not holding on to the loyal audience that is going to watch no matter what.

I don’t listen to Rogan’s show, but the Academy should be looking at guys like him and fellow comedian Shane Gillis to bring a little danger to the show while remaining respectful and professional given the tension —and egos — in the room. But enough about that…

Tonight, you’ll read about the notable comedian tapped to join Emma Stone in Yorgos Lanthimos’ new movie Bugonia. There are also items about Lady Gaga joining the cast of a popular Netflix series and whether the streamer has a perception problem brewing within the industry, as hinted by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier writer Malcolm Spellman. Plus, my thoughts on the trailer for Rami Malek’s new action thriller The Amateur.

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