M.B.S. Diplomacy, Hollywood’s A.I. Doomsday, Roe’s Trojan Horse

Happy Friday and welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon compilation of Puck’s latest reporting.

Today, we lead with Matt Belloni’s roundup of the vital Hollywood plotlines percolating through Beverly Hills and Burbank: Iger’s desperation, the Barbie effect, strike neogtiation fears, and more.

Plus, below the fold: Lauren Sherman penetrates the inner sanctum sanctorum of the fashion-entertainment complex. Tara Palmeri foreshadows the Roeification of the sputtering DeSantis campaign. On The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby and Julia Ioffe consider M.B.S.’s cynically effective diplomacy, while Ben Landy and Teddy Schleifer document Tim Scott’s Ellison-fueled dead cat bounce. And on The Town, Matt and Justine Bateman consider the A.I. doomsday scenario in Hollywood.

MATTHEW BELLONI

News and notes on the biggest Hollywood stories of the week: Disney earnings, ‘Oppenheimer’ in China, a Globes deadline, and more.

LAUREN SHERMAN

Todd Shemarya essentially created what we now know as the Hollywood-fashion industrial complex—matching celebrities like Jennifer Aniston with brands, and eventually helping them take equity stakes in businesses and then even build their own companies. Herewith, a candid conversation on his view from the glamourous salt mines…

TARA PALMERI

The mega-consultant, currently ensconced at DeSantis’ super PAC, will now have a loyal and telekinetic deputy acting as de facto campaign manager and Tallahassee daycare operator. Is this just the first step before Roe starts calling all the shots, himself?

PETER HAMBY, JULIA IOFFE, BEN LANDY and TEDDY SCHLEIFER

Julia Ioffe joins Peter Hamby to discuss Saudi Arabia’s surprising emergence as a Russia-Ukraine mediator. Then Teddy Schleifer and Ben Landy document Larry Ellison’s ability to manipulate a Tim Scott dead cat bounce.