Donald Sutherland, the prolific Canadian actor who roared to fame in the irreverent antiwar classic “MASH” and captivated audiences with his dramatic performances in films such as “Ordinary People” and “Don’t Look Now,” has died.

A mainstay of Hollywood for more than six decades, Sutherland died Thursday in Miami after a long illness, his agency confirmed in a statement. He was 88.

Son Kiefer Sutherland also confirmed his father’s death “with a heavy heart” in a statement Thursday morning on social media. “I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film. Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that. A life well lived.”

Donald Sutherland’s body of work showcased his transformative range, shifting comfortably from drama to comedy and bouncing between heavier and lighter roles with ease. Tall at 6-foot-4 with shock white hair and piercing blue eyes, he was difficult to miss whether he was playing a zany oddball, an icy tyrant or a sadistic villain. In all, he had nearly 200 film or television roles.

“It’s characters who make pictures,” he told The Times in 1995. “Essentially my job is to provide information about them.”

Deep in his career, as he shifted between leading and character parts, Sutherland thrived in smaller roles that ordinarily called for an older actor who’d long ago been typecast as a villain or a kooky sidekick. But Sutherland had the winning ability to transform those small roles into complex characters who often helped elevate the film.

On the small screen, Sutherland also appeared in “Human Trafficking,” “Commander in Chief,” “Dirty Sexy Money,” “Pillars of the Earth” and “Trust.” Though he originally intended to be a theatrical actor, his only Broadway appearance was in Edward Albee’s short-lived adaptation of “Lolita” in 1981.

Donald McNichol Sutherland was born in St. John, a small fishing village in New Brunswick, Canada, on July 17, 1935. The town had only 5,000 residents, he said, and “that was when the train rolled into town.” One of four children, his mother was a mathematician and his father a salesman.

Initially, he planned to be an engineer and attended Victoria College in Toronto, where he earned a degree in engineering and drama. It was also where he met his first wife, Lois Hardwick. His love of acting began in a Nova Scotia movie theater when he was a teen, but movie-acting seemed too lofty a pursuit, so he tried his luck in theater instead.

“It’s not that theater was my first love. My first love was just to be an actor,” he told The Times. “I was kind of dumb and cowish, and I didn’t think movies were something I could ever be part of. I don’t know why I presumed that the theater would be. It was more ordinary, I suppose.”

He moved to England in 1956 to study acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art but dropped out after nine months because he disliked its psychological approach to acting. He went on to tour with various repertory companies and appeared in several BBC television productions, including bit parts in “The Saint” and “The Avengers.”

Rejection became all-too familiar. When he tried to break onto the big screen in 1962, he came away thinking his audition had gone well. The next morning the director phoned him. “The role we’re casting is that of a guy who lives next door,” the director said. “You don’t look like you’ve ever lived next door to anyone.”

He finally made his first movie, “The Castle of the Living Dead,” in 1964 and followed it with a series of undistinguished films such as “Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors” and “Die! Die! My Darling!” His break came when he arrived in Hollywood in 1967, a year after his first marriage ended, to co-star in the 1968 thriller “The Split.”

“We had no money,” said Sutherland, who by then was married to his second wife, actress Shirley Douglas. (They divorced in 1970.) So he called his “Oedipus the King” co-star Christopher Plummer of “Sound of Music” fame, who was working in Stratford, Canada, to get his input.

“I woke him up,” Sutherland told The Times in 2011. “He loaned me $1,500. Incredible. We were on a Boeing 707 — Shirley, her son Tom. Kiefer and [his twin] Rachel were probably 3 or 4 months old. I had a raincoat on and I was holding Kiefer, and when we landed in Los Angeles, he threw up all over me.”

The actor used a clip of his appearance on “The Saint” to land a role in his first major American film, “The Dirty Dozen,” in 1967. Sutherland credited legendary producer Ingo Preminger and director Robert Aldrich, who oversaw the 1967 World War II flick, for landing his later role in the film “MASH.”

“I was a glorified extra” in “The Dirty Dozen,” Sutherland said. “They hired legitimate actors to play the bottom six of the dozen.”

But he quickly rose to fame in 1970 as the cocky surgeon Capt. Hawkeye Pierce in “MASH” and then as the neurotic platoon commander Oddball in “Kelly’s Heroes.” He went on to appear in such seminal films as Alan J. Pakula’s mystery “Klute,” Bernardo Bertolucci’s epic “1900” and Federico Fellini’s “Casanova.”

The plum roles continued to roll in with “The Eagle Has Landed,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “The Day of the Locust,” and the 1973 occult thriller “Don’t Look Now,” which stirred controversy for a sex scene with Sutherland and Julie Christie that was unusually graphic for its time.

After being a leading man through most of the 1970s, Sutherland began alternating between leading roles in films such as “A Dry White Season” with Marlon Brando and Robert Redford’s Oscar-winning “Ordinary People” and character roles in films such as “JFK” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

He also appeared in lesser films that, nonetheless, became cult favorites, such as National Lampoon’s “Animal House,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

Despite his lengthy resume, Sutherland had a dearth of accolades, winning but a few major acting awards for his performances — an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the 1995 miniseries “Citizen X” and another Globe for 2002’s “Path to War.” But the lack of award season hardware didn’t seem to trouble him.

“My career has been all downhill since the age of 11. I did my first play, ‘The Male Animal,’ at Toronto University’s Hart House theater. The audience laughed and applauded when I came on, they applauded when I went off, and they applauded when I came on again. I’ve never had it as good since,” he said.

In 2017 he was given an honorary Oscar, which recognizes extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement and exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences.

The actor’s short-lived romance with Jane Fonda after making “Klute” in 1971 introduced him to left-wing politics and a second career as a hard-charging activist. The two had met at a Black Panther Party benefit in Los Angeles where he voiced his opposition of the Vietnam War. Sutherland, Fonda and other antiwar activists went on to form the Free Theatre Associates as an alternative to Bob Hope’s USO tours in Vietnam. Documents declassified in 2017 revealed the CIA had placed him on a watch list because of his antiwar activities.

Watching his father’s seminal films was a revelation for Kiefer Sutherland, who came to appreciate his father’s body of work as a teenager. “I knew he was a famous actor, but I didn’t know how prolific he was. I didn’t know how diverse all of those characters were.”

The younger Sutherland, best known for his leading role in the television drama “24,” said he even called his father to apologize for not knowing the magnitude of his career.

The two Sutherlands both appeared in Joel Schumacher’s 1996 thriller “A Time to Kill,” but they did not share any scenes. That changed when they played an estranged father and son in the western “Forsaken” in 2015.

Sutherland said he generally didn’t watch his films after they were released, but when he did, he said he noticed room for improvement.

“I have to be truthful — I am still looking forward when I look back. All I see are mistakes,” he told The Times. “When you are working on a picture, all of your concentration, all of your intensity is directed toward the heart of it, to such a degree it burns inside of you. Then after it’s over, it’s gone.”

Sutherland is survived by wife Francine Racette; sons Roeg, Rossif, Angus and Kiefer; daughter Rachel, and four grandchildren, including “Veep” actress Sarah Sutherland.

Back in January, Jason Statham starred in the action thriller “The Beekeeper” as a former special-ops assassin who seeks revenge on a group of people targeting the elderly in phone scams. But in Josh Margolin’s directorial debut, “Thelma,” it’s the elderly themselves who fight back against the phone scammers. Ninety-three-year-old grandmother Thelma (June Squibb) doesn’t need no stinkin’ Jason Statham. All she needs is a ride.

Set over the course of one day, “Thelma” is a love letter to tough grandmas and Tom Cruise, and a celebration of California’s San Fernando Valley, from Encino to Van Nuys. And while “Thelma” is notable for being the very first lead film role for the now-94-year-old Squibb, who has been performing for more than six decades, the film is also a calling card for writer-director-editor Margolin, who demonstrates his skill with screen style and suspense in this high-stakes dramedy.

Margolin does a lot with a little in “Thelma,” which is inspired by his own relationship with his grandmother, also named Thelma. While the setting may be humble, Margolin captures the unlikely beauty of the Valley, and injects thrilling suspense into this yarn, one that transforms quotidian dramas — like making an unprotected left turn, or closing pop-up ads on a webpage — into nail-biting action sequences.

His surrogate in “Thelma” is Daniel (Fred Hechinger), a 24-year-old sensitive ne’er-do-well whose best friend is his grandmother Thelma. They spend time in her comfortable home, which is haunted by the absence of her recently deceased husband. Together, they watch “Mission: Impossible” movies, Daniel helping Thelma with her computer and fretting over her safety. When Thelma receives a frantic call with the news that Daniel’s been in an accident and she needs to send $10,000 in cash, she doesn’t hesitate to book over to the Encino post office to drop the money in the mailbox.

It’s when she finds out she’s been the victim of a scam that the plot kicks into gear. With Daniel safe and unharmed, the police aren’t much help, and her family (Parker Posey as her daughter, Clark Gregg as her son-in-law) throw up their hands in defeat. But Thelma isn’t about to take this lying down. She will, however, take it sitting down, behind the wheel of a two-seater scooter she “borrows” from an old friend, Ben (Richard Roundtree, in his final role), whom she visits at an assisted living home. The two set off on an odyssey to retrieve Thelma’s cash, while Thelma’s family worries about her whereabouts.

Their journey takes them to some unlikely places, specifically an antique lamp shop manned by a menacing Malcolm McDowell, as well as to some unexpected realizations, about accepting that it’s OK to ask for help, but that independence is a rare, complicated gift to those who are later in life. It’s refreshing to see a film where someone in their 90s is able to have new revelations and learning experiences, retaining the capacity to surprise themselves and others.

Squibb is a delightful presence, capably handling the humor and the heart of the story, and demonstrating true grit too, while the late, great Roundtree offers a warm, steadying presence. Posey and Gregg bring the comedic elements as the frazzled parents of Daniel, while Hechinger is charmingly stressed about losing his grandma and trying to figure out what he’s going to do with his life.

The cast is fantastic, but it’s the cinematic style that makes “Thelma” a proper big-screen movie experience. Nick Chuba’s percussive score brings a jazzy beat that’s “Ocean’s 11” by way of “Mission: Impossible,” and David Bolen’s cinematography is richly saturated with color and creative practical lighting. Margolin’s inspired direction elevates “Thelma,” imbuing each moment with a thoughtful eye toward craft.

“Elderly female action star” is a cute premise, but Margolin makes the most of it without infantilizing his heroine or otherwise resorting to lowest common denominator humor. Instead, he delivers a film that suggests there’s always an opportunity to experience something new in life, from the smallest observations to the most dramatic showdowns.

The most important lesson of all? Underestimate a determined older woman at your own risk.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

Apparently, this town is big enough for two Costners.

Kevin Costner’s upcoming western drama “Horizon: An American Saga” will star the Oscar-winning actor and director — and his 15-year-old son, Hayes Costner, in a minor role. But don’t call Hayes a nepo baby, quite yet. In a recent interview with “Today,” Kevin Costner said casting his son wasn’t about jump-starting his acting career.

“I realized there’s so many young actors out there that would kill to be in this movie,” he told “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie in a conversation published Monday. “I don’t want to take those parts away just ‘cause I can place my own children in [them].”

The former “Yellowstone” star defended casting his teen, noting that he plays a “smaller part” in the film and that hiring his son was part of his efforts to spend more time with him. The “Dances With Wolves” director-actor shares Hayes with ex-wife Christine Baumgartner, who filed for divorce in May 2023.

Baumgartner filed her petition after 18 years of marriage with Costner. The now-exes settled their divorce in September 2023 after a months-long court battle. Costner and Baumgartner also share 17-year-old Cayden and 14-year-old Grace.

“I selfishly wanted him with me for the week, two weeks he was with me,” Costner continued. “We would drive to the set every day… he didn’t have a lot of experience, but he’s really beautiful in the movie.”

Costner kept his lips sealed about the details of his son’s “Horizon” scene but teased that it’s “complicated” and has a “nobility” and “an absolute fatalness” about it.

“Horizon: An America Saga” makes its theatrical bow June 28 but premiered in May at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Costner’s film was met with an 11-minute standing ovation, according to Deadline. The western epic, the first of a promised four-film saga, comes a year after Costner unexpectedly departed “Yellowstone” amid speculation of tensions with show creator Taylor Sheridan and negotiation troubles.

“Yellowstone” debuted in 2018 and starred the two-time Oscar winner as John Dutton, the family patriarch who owns Montana’s largest ranch. Costner left the series to work on his “Horizon” saga, which has been in the works for 35 years, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

“His movie seems to be a great priority to him and he wants to shift focus,” Sheridan told THR last June. “I sure hope [the movie is] worth it — and that it’s a good one.”

As Costner prepares to share “Horizon” with audiences and “Yellowstone” ramps up for its final episodes in November, the actor is leaving the door back to the Dutton ranch open. On Monday, he told Guthrie, “I would love to go back under the right circumstances.”

Until then, Costner is committed to promoting “Horizon,” which he hopes will stand the test of time. During his film’s Cannes opening, Costner urged viewers to think of a film’s worth beyond its opening weekend success. Movies, he said in May, are “about their life.”

“About how many times you’re willing to share it. And I hope that you do share this movie with your sweethearts, with your children,” he continued. “I feel so lucky. I feel so blessed. And there’s three more.”

Ian McKellen is on the mend after falling off the stage during a performance at London’s Noël Coward Theatre. The 85-year-old actor was taken to a hospital after the fall.

“Following a scan, the brilliant [National Health Service] team have assured us that he will make a speedy and full recovery and Ian is in good spirits,” according to a statement to The Times by the theater. There were no details on any injuries he may have suffered.

The “Lord of the Rings” and “X-Men” actor fell after losing his footing during a battle scene between two other actors in “Player Kings,” in which he portrays John Falstaff, according to BBC News.

After toppling from the front of the stage, McKellen reportedly cried out as the lights came up in the venue. The actor appeared conscious as he was assisted by staff, attendee Sandro Trapani told BBC News.

Audience members, who were ushered out of the theater, were rattled by the incident, according to broadcaster Paul Nero. The night’s performance was canceled.

The production also canceled Tuesday’s performance so McKellen could rest, the theater told The Times. Ticket holders will be contacted as soon as possible.

“Thank you to our audience and the general public for their well wishes following Ian’s fall during this evening’s performance of Player Kings,” the statement read. “Thank you to doctors Rachel and Lee who were on hand in the audience and to all the venue staff for their support.”

“Players Kings,” an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Henry IV, Part 1” and “Henry IV, Part 2,” kicked off in April and was expected to run for 12 weeks.

Lionsgate on Monday said it has picked up the rights to Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” for the U.S. and Canada, ending months of speculation over which studio might distribute the famed director’s epic passion project. The film will hit domestic theaters, including Imax screens, on Sept. 27.

“Megalopolis” is the first new film from the five-time Oscar winner since 2011’s “Twixt” and Coppola is reported to have invested some $120 million of his own money, raised from the sale of part of his wine business, to pay for the ambitious tale.

With a cast that includes Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Chloe Fineman, Jon Voight, Shia LaBeouf and Laurence Fishburne, the film is a sweeping fable surveying power struggles set against a fictionalized New York, refashioned to seem like New Rome.

When the film premiered last month at the Cannes film festival, The Times’ Josh Rothkopf wrote that if “Megalopolis” becomes the last effort from the 85-year-old “Godfather” filmmaker, then “he’s going out not with something tame and manicured but with an overstuffed, vigorous, seething story about the roots of fascism that only an uncharitable viewer would call a catastrophe.”

“It may be the most radical film he’s ever done,” Rothkopf wrote.

Lionsgate has a longstanding relationship with Coppola and his American Zoetrope banner, having previously handled home entertainment releases of his “Apocalypse Now Final Cut,” “The Conversation,” “The Cotton Club Encore,” “Tucker: The Man and His Dream” and “One From the Heart: Reprise.”

While speaking at the film’s Cannes press conference, Coppola referred to the bold, stylistic leap of “Megalopolis” by saying, “I knew the film was not like other films that are out. It’s how I felt the film should be, and since I was paying for it I thought I was entitled [to do it my way].”

David Adjmi’s “Stereophonic” scored five Tony Awards including best play, and “The Outsiders” took home four trophies including an upset win for best musical as Broadway honored its finest on Sunday night.

Jonathan Groff won lead actor in a musical and co-star Daniel Radcliffe won featured actor for “Merrily We Roll Along,” which took home four awards total including best revival of a musical. Heading into the ceremony, the Alicia Keys musical “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Stereophonic” led with 13 nominations each, and a starry list of contenders included Eddie Redmayne for “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club,” Jessica Lange and Jim Parsons for “Mother Play,” Rachel McAdams for “Mary Jane,” Leslie Odom Jr. for “Purlie Victorious,” and Sarah Paulson and Corey Stoll for “Appropriate.” The ceremony can now be streamed on demand; here’s how.

The complete winners list:

Best musical
“Hell’s Kitchen”
“Illinoise”
WINNER — “The Outsiders”
“Suffs”
“Water for Elephants”

Best play
“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”
“Mary Jane”
“Mother Play”
“Prayer for the French Republic”
WINNER — “Stereophonic”

Best revival of a musical
“Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”
“Gutenberg! The Musical!”
WINNER — “Merrily We Roll Along”
“The Who’s Tommy”

Best revival of a play
“An Enemy of the People”
WINNER — “Appropriate”
“Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch”

In the most moving speech of the night, Maleah Joi Moon accepts the Tony for lead actress in a musical for “Hell’s Kitchen.”

(Charles Sykes / Invision / AP)

Lead actress in a musical
Eden Espinosa, “Lempicka”
WINNER — Maleah Joi Moon, “Hell’s Kitchen”
Kelli O’Hara, “Days of Wine and Roses”
Maryann Plunkett, “The Notebook”
Gayle Rankin, “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”

An emotional Jonathan Groff accepts the award for lead actor in a musical for “Merrily We Roll Along.”

(Charles Sykes / Invision / AP)

Lead actor in a musical
Brody Grant, “The Outsiders”
WINNER — Jonathan Groff, “Merrily We Roll Along”
Dorian Harewood, “The Notebook”
Brian D’Arcy James, “Days of Wine and Roses”
Eddie Redmayne, “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”

Lead actress in a play
Betsy Aidem, “Prayer for the French Republic”
Jessica Lange, “Mother Play”
Rachel McAdams, “Mary Jane”
WINNER — Sarah Paulson, “Appropriate”
Amy Ryan, “Doubt: A Parable”

Lead actor in a play
William Jackson Harper, “Uncle Vanya”
Leslie Odom Jr., “Purlie Victorious”
Liev Schreiber, “Doubt: A Parable”
WINNER — Jeremy Strong, “An Enemy of the People”
Michael Stuhlbarg, “Patriots”

Features actress in a play
Quincy Tyler Bernstine, “Doubt: A Parable”
Juliana Canfield, “Stereophonic”
Celia Keenan-Bolger, “Mother Play”
Sarah Pidgeon, “Stereophonic”
WINNER — Kara Young, “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch”

Featured actor in a play
WINNER — Will Brill, “Stereophonic”
Eli Gelb, “Stereophonic”
Jim Parsons, “Mother Play”
Tom Pecinka, “Stereophonic”
Corey Stoll, “Appropriate”

Theater veteran Kecia Lewis, winner for featured actress in a musical for “Hell’s Kitchen.”

(Charles Sykes / Invision / AP)

Featured actress in a musical
Shoshana Bean, “Hell’s Kitchen”
Amber Iman, “Lempicka”
Nikki M. James, “Suffs”
Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, “Monty Python’s Spamalot”
WINNER — Kecia Lewis, “Hell’s Kitchen”
Lindsay Mendez, “Merrily We Roll Along”
Bebe Neuwirth, “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”

Daniel Radcliffe accepts the Tony Award for best actor in a featured role in a musical for “Merrily We Roll Along.”

(Charles Sykes / Invision / AP)

Featured actor in a musical
Roger Bart, “Back to the Future: The Musical”
Joshua Boone, “The Outsiders”
Brandon Victor Dixon, “Hell’s Kitchen”
Sky Lakota-Lynch, “The Outsiders”
WINNER — Daniel Radcliffe, “Merrily We Roll Along”
Steven Skybell, “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”

Direction of a play
WINNER — Daniel Aukin, “Stereophonic”
Anne Kauffman, “Mary Jane”
Kenny Leon, “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch”
Lila Neugebauer, “Appropriate”
Whitney White, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”

Direction of a musical
Maria Friedman, “Merrily We Roll Along”
Michael Greif, “Hell’s Kitchen”
Leigh Silverman, “Suffs”
Jessica Stone, “Water for Elephants”
WINNER — Danya Taymor, “The Outsiders”

Book of a musical
Kristoffer Diaz, “Hell’s Kitchen”
Bekah Brunstetter, “The Notebook”
Adam Rapp and Justin Levine, “The Outsiders”
WINNER — Shaina Taub, “Suffs”
Rick Elice, “Water for Elephants”

Orchestrations
Timo Andres, “Illinoise”
Will Butler and Justin Craig, “Stereophonic”
Justin Levine, Matt Hinkley and Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance), “The Outsiders”
Tom Kitt and Adam Blackstone, “Hell’s Kitchen”
WINNER — Jonathan Tunick, “Merrily We Roll Along”

Choreography
Annie-B Parson, “Here Lies Love”
Camille A. Brown, “Hell’s Kitchen”
Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman, “The Outsiders”
WINNER — Justin Peck, “Illinoise”
Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll, “Water for Elephants”

Scenic design of a play
dots, “Appropriate”
dots, “An Enemy of the People”
Derek McLane, “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch”
David Zinn, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”
WINNER — David Zinn, “Stereophonic”

Scenic design of a musical
AMP featuring Tatiana Kahvegian, “The Outsiders”
Robert Brill and Peter Nigrini, “Hell’s Kitchen”
Takeshi Kata, “Water for Elephants”
David Korins, “Here Lies Love”
Riccardo Hernández and Peter Nigrini, “Lempicka”
Tim Hatley and Finn Ross, “Back to the Future: The Musical”
WINNER — Tom Scutt, “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”

Costume design of a play
Dede Ayite, “Appropriate”
WINNER — Dede Ayite, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”
Enver Chakartash, “Stereophonic”
Emilio Sosa, “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch”
David Zinn, “An Enemy of the People”

Costume design of a musical
Dede Ayite, “Hell’s Kitchen”
WINNER — Linda Cho, “The Great Gatsby”
David Israel Reynoso, “Water for Elephants”
Tom Scutt, “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”
Paul Tazewell, “Suffs”

Lighting design of a play
Isabella Byrd, “An Enemy of the People”
Amith Chandrashaker, “Prayer for the French Republic”
Jiyoun Chang, “Stereophonic”
WINNER — Jane Cox, “Appropriate”
Natasha Katz, “Grey House”

Lighting design of a musical
Brandon Stirling Baker, “Illinoise”
Isabella Byrd, “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”
Natasha Katz, “Hell’s Kitchen”
Bradley King and David Bengali, “Water for Elephants”
WINNER — Brian MacDevitt and Hana S. Kim, “The Outsiders”

Sound design of a play
Justin Ellington and Stefania Bulbarella, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”
Leah Gelpe, “Mary Jane”
Tom Gibbons, “Grey House”
Bray Poor and Will Pickens, “Appropriate”
WINNER — Ryan Rumery, “Stereophonic”

Sound design of a musical
M.L. Dogg and Cody Spencer, “Here Lies Love”
Kai Harada, “Merrily We Roll Along”
Nick Lidster for Autograph, “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”
Gareth Owen, “Hell’s Kitchen”
WINNER — Cody Spencer, “The Outsiders”

Original score (music and/or lyrics) written for the theater

“Days of Wine and Roses”
Music & Lyrics: Adam Guettel

“Here Lies Love”
Music: David Byrne and Fatboy Slim
Lyrics: David Byrne

“The Outsiders”
Music & Lyrics: Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance) and Justin Levine

“Stereophonic”
Music & Lyrics: Will Butler

WINNER
“Suffs”
Music & Lyrics: Shaina Taub

Hollywood’s summer movie anxieties gave way to joy this weekend with the massive debut of Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2.” The animated sequel earned $155 million in ticket sales from 4,440 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, according to studio estimates Sunday.

It’s the second-highest opening weekend in Pixar’s nearly 29 years of making films and the second-biggest animated opening ever (behind only the $182.7 million launch of “Incredibles 2” in 2018). It’s also the biggest of 2024, which had not had any films debut over $100 million. With an estimated $140 million from international showings, “Inside Out 2” had a staggering, and record-breaking, $295 million global debut.

The success is significant for Pixar, marking a much-needed return to form for a studio that has had a string of underwhelming launches including “Elemental,” which did eventually become a success, and “ Lightyear,” which didn’t. It’s also important for the greater Hollywood ecosystem and the health of theatrical exhibition, which had been running at a 26% deficit before this weekend. “Inside Out 2” marks the biggest opening since “Barbie” launched to $162 million last July.

“This is a monumental weekend for movie theaters,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore.

Kelsey Mann directed “Inside Out 2,” which picks up with Riley as she turns 13. That means the arrival of new emotions like Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), Envy ( Ayo Edebiri ) and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) to the mix. Amy Poehler once again lent her voice to Joy in a cast that includes Tony Hale, Lewis Black and Phyllis Smith as Fear, Anger and Sadness, respectively. It got glowing reviews from both critics (92% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences who gave it an A CinemaScore, suggesting that this won’t be a first-weekend wonder either. With kids out of school and an open market until “Despicable Me 4” enters the ring over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, “Inside Out 2” is just getting started.

The film is estimated to have cost $200 million to produce, which does not account for the millions spent on marketing. Going into the weekend, it was tracking for a debut in the $90 million range, which would have been in line with “Inside Out’s” first weekend in June 2019. Even that would have been considered a terrific achievement, and enough to claim the biggest opening of the year — finally unseating March releases like “ Dune: Part Two ” and “ Godzilla x Kong.”

It got off to a huge start with $13 million from Thursday preview showings, which started at 3 p.m. As the only major release of the weekend, its theatrical footprint was equally impressive — playing on 400 IMAX screens, more than 900 “premium large format” screens and over 2,500 3D screens.

“The family audience still loves going to the movies,” Dergarabedian said. “As an outside of the home experience, it’s still a relative bargain.”

This re-commitment to theatrical comes after Disney sent several Pixar films straight to its streaming service, Disney+, during the pandemic including “Soul,” “Luca” and “Turning Red.” Last month, the New York Times reported that Pixar had decided to return its focus to feature films (and not producing shows for Disney+) and that it had laid off 14% of its workforce (about 175 employees).

“As important as this weekend is for the industry at large, for Pixar this is huge. They’ve been trying to get their groove back since the pandemic,” Dergarabedian said. “Pixar had for decades one of the most impressive box office track records ever. They’ve really come back big.”

Second place went to Sony’s “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” now in its second weekend with $33 million, down only 42% from its opening. In just 12 days, it’s already earned more than $112 million domestically and $214 million globally. As of Friday, the four-film franchise had crossed the $1 billion mark.

“Bad Boys’” success last weekend was the start of a higher-earning turnaround for the lagging summer movie season. For Hollywood, the summer season, which runs from the first weekend in May through Labor Day, usually represents about 40% of the yearly box office. The deficit is still significant, with ticket sales down 28% for the summer and 24% for the year (and this is still before “Barbenheimer”), but it’s progress in a more promising direction nonetheless.

“We’re not going to get there overnight,” Dergarabedian said. “But it’s good news for theaters. And we have some big movies on the way.”

Bahr writes for the Associated Press.

President Biden and former President Obama appeared on stage together Saturday night in Los Angeles with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel — a conversation that included poking fun at former President Trump, touting the Democratic incumbent’s policy achievements and trying to motivate voters to head to the polls in November.

“I could have done nothing and done better than him,” Biden replied when asked about the former GOP president, whom Kimmel referred to as “Orange Julius Caesar,” before touting the strength of the nation’s economy, the low unemployment rate and other accomplishments. “We’re trying to give ordinary people a chance, just a chance.”

Obama added that Biden had built upon their policies when he was president and Biden was vice president, such as expanding access to the Affordable Care Act and increasing funding for efforts to stop climate change.

“At its best, the presidency is a relay race. You take the baton and you run the race” and then hand it your successor, Obama said. “I take great pride in what the Biden administration has accomplished. And it’s a reminder that we don’t have to just vote against something in this election. … But we can take pride in affirming the extraordinary work that Joe has done.”

The star-studded fundraiser at the Peacock Theater in downtown L.A. is expected to raise at least $28 million — the largest cash haul from a one-night event in Democratic history.

Obama, George Clooney and Julia Roberts were among the headliners. Thousands of Biden supporters paid between $250, for a seat far from the stage, and $500,000 — for a ticket package that includes prime seats, photos with both presidents and a VIP after-party — to attend what is likely to be one of the president’s last major L.A. fundraisers before the November election.

“This Saturday, we are going to see an unprecedented and record-setting turnout from the media and entertainment world,” said media mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, a Democratic megadonor and the only nonelected official who is a co-chair of the president’s reelection campaign. “The enthusiasm and commitment for Biden-Harris couldn’t be stronger. We all understand this is the most important election of our lifetime.”

Trump spent Saturday campaigning in Detroit, where he accused Biden of weakening the economy and stoking inflation, the Associated Press reported. Biden was fundraising “with out-of-touch elitist Hollywood celebrities,” said Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

While much of Saturday evening’s comedic moments were provided by Kimmel and celebrities such as Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn, Jack Black and Barbra Streisand, the president and the former president also got in a few jokes.

“Remember the pandemic, [Trump] said, ‘Don’t worry, just inject a little bleach,’ ” Biden said. “It worked for him, the color of his hair.”

Biden then turned serious, noting that more than 1 million Americans have died from COVID-19.

“It has a profound negative impact on the economy. It had a profound negative impact on the attitudes of Americans,” Biden said. “One of the things I’m very proud that we did is we brought an end to pandemic.”

Kimmel recalled the toilet paper shortage in the initial weeks of the pandemic.

“He promised he would make America great again, and the next thing you know, we are wiping ourselves with envelopes,” Kimmel said, prompting Obama to laughingly interject, “Is that how you handled it Jimmy?”

Kimmel grew serious when discussing his young son Billy, who needed three open-heart surgeries because of a congenital birth defect, asking why Republicans would want to overturn the Affordable Care Act, known as “Obamacare.”

Biden said efforts to chip away at the healthcare policy enacted while Obama was president would significantly harm Americans, notably the millions who have preexisting conditions.

“Look, this guy started it. I expanded it,” he said. “Here’s the deal, the fact is these guys don’t seem to care. It’s saving the country money.”

He turned to Obama and noted, “It has your name on it.”

“I never minded that, I have to say. I am happy to call it Obamacare. Please do. I don’t really understand how that was an insult,” he said before adding that politics shouldn’t be about phony performative displays. “At its best, politics is how we come together to solve problems.”

Kimmel noted that after one of his son’s surgeries, Biden sent a card and a stuffed animal that looked like Biden’s German shepherd, Commander, who was moved out of the White House after repeatedly biting Secret Service agents.

“Unfortunately, little Commander bit Billy’s toe off, so he needs more healthcare,” Kimmel said, prompting Obama to say, “Fortunately, he’s covered!”

In a serious moment, Biden turned grave when he noted that the next president is likely to be able to nominate two Supreme Court justices.

“The idea that if he’s reelected he’s going to appoint two more flying flags upside down,” Biden said, referring to the recent controversy over an upside-down flag being flown outside of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.’s Virginia home.

The president added that the prospect of Trump picking new justices is among the “scariest parts” of the Republican winning in November, and recounted Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ comments about other rights that could be threatened in the aftermath of Roe vs. Wade being overturned.

An audience member shouted “gay rights,” and Biden responded, “Not on my watch.”

First Lady Jill Biden told a story about punching a neighborhood bully who had “tormented” her younger sister when she was 13.

She said everyone was here tonight to show Trump “exactly how we deal with bullies. … We don’t cower, we don’t turn away. We show up. We speak up.”

She then presented the contrast of the election between her husband and Trump, as she sees it: “Joe, a man who has dedicated his life to serving his community. Who honors the rule of law instead of trying to bend it to his own will. And rallies the world to fight for democracy and freedom.”

Or, the first lady continued, “we can choose someone who wakes up every morning caring about one person and one person only. Himself.”

Other elected officials and celebrities who attended included Gov. Gavin Newsom; Reps. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-San Pedro), Grace F. Napolitano (D-Norwalk); and singer Paul Anka. Also spotted was Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León, whom Biden urged to resign in October 2022 after he was heard on a leaked audio with other council members that featured racist and derogatory remarks.

Public entrances to L.A. Live were fenced off throughout the afternoon with well-dressed attendees mixing with T-shirted tourists on the sidewalks. Private security and Los Angeles police officers stationed around the perimeter allowed diners to access the restaurants around the venue.

Around 5 p.m., a few hundred pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside Crypto.com Arena and the adjacent JW Marriott hotel. They waved Palestinian flags and chanted, “Biden, Biden can’t you see, Palestine will be free,” and other slogans.

A group blocked an entrance to the fundraiser near the hotel, sitting down in front of the gates. Confused attendees approached and wondered how they’d get inside. They were able to enter a gate near the arena as protesters screamed, “Shame on you!”

Protesters later blocked the street outside the hotel after they shut down the gate.

Jennifer Jajeh, a Palestinian and South L.A. resident, stood at the entrance to the fundraiser confronting those going inside.

“The people on the ground in Gaza are experiencing terror every moment of their lives,” Jajeh said. “I feel that the people who are supporting a candidate who is supporting a genocide should feel some discomfort. Kathy Griffin, you can be yelled at for two minutes.”

The crowd of protesters began to dissipate by 7 p.m. An LAPD spokesperson said there had been no arrests.

Law enforcement officers respond to protesters near the campaign event with President Biden outside the Peacock Theater.

(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

The event came at a critical time for Biden.

While the Democrat has outpaced Trump in dollars raised in California and nationally, the former president has seen a burst of donations since being convicted in late May of 34 felonies of falsifying business records about $130,000 in payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, who alleges they had sex in Lake Tahoe during a golf tournament, in an effort to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Trump’s first fundraising swing after the convictions was in California this month.

National and swing-state polls show a razor’s-edge tight race. And voters, some of whom are apathetic about Biden and Trump partly because of their age, are anxious about domestic economic concerns as well as global tumult — the extended wars between Russia and Ukraine and between Israel and Hamas.

Late Friday night, Biden left the Group of 7 summit — a gathering in Italy of leaders of Western nations focused on tackling global issues such as trade, the economy and security — as well as a private meeting with Pope Francis. After a refueling stop at an Air Force base in Maryland, the president landed in Los Angeles around dawn Saturday.

It’s unknown how Biden spent time after he landed; but his son Hunter, who was convicted of three felony gun charges this week, lives in Malibu. In February, Biden spent about 90 minutes with his son and his grandson at the Ivy restaurant on Hunter Biden’s 54th birthday. Hunter Biden was among the family members who attended Saturday’s fundraiser.

On the Peacock Theater stage, Kimmel asked what presidents have the power to do, noting that he had been making fun of Trump for years on television.

“Every hear of Delta Force? It’s not just a TV show,” Biden said, referring to an elite Army Special Forces unit. “The idea he’s threatening retribution. This is the United States of America. Did you ever think you would hear anything like this?”

Obama said this was among the reasons it was so important for Democrats to be active, from persuading young people to vote to having respectful discussions with family members and friends who have different political leanings.

“If those things happen, then Joe Biden will be reelected president of the United States, Kamala Harris will be reelected vice president of the United States and Jimmy Kimmel will be safe to do his show,” Obama said. “And I’ll be able to do what ex-presidents are supposed to do, which is not hang out with Jimmy Kimmel. Let’s get to work.”

For 28 years, the annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF) has served as a launchpad for aspiring and emerging Black talent across the TV and film industries. Fans from far and wide visit the festival to catch world premieres, indie screenings, contests and conversations and enjoy appearances from some of Hollywood’s most celebrated talent. Founded by Jeff and Nicole Friday in 1997, this year’s festival, held in Miami from June 12-16, was shepherded by longtime Angeleno and multihyphenate Issa Rae as the festival’s creative director.

For Rae, who has attended the ABFF in years past, one of her chief priorities for the role was “fostering a space of community.” In addition to the legendary white party, this year’s festival featured more events almost every night, as well as a chance for film contest winners to celebrate their achievements and network with other industry professionals.

“For me it was about centralizing it so that there were more spaces where we could meet each other and talk … [and] making sure the programming felt relevant to the needs of creators today,” Rae told The Times.

With the industry still recovering from last year’s strikes, festivals such as ABFF that spotlight Black talent prove all the more necessary. Even with successes that include the Peabody Award-winning series “Insecure” and recent roles in Oscar-nominated films such as “Barbie” and “American Fiction,” Rae said she’s not immune to the current industry slowdowns.

“It’s impacted me in the sense that you have to be more cognizant about how they’re thinking things will sell,” said Rae, who founded Hoorae Media, an independent media production company, in 2020. “They’re trying to create projects that have the most broad appeal and since we’re a very adaptable company, we’re putting ourselves in that mind-set. I also have to consider: What do I want to make? And who do I want to collaborate with to make that possible? It’s just a constant game. It’s hard, it’s challenging, but we’ll make it through.”

In a candid panel discussion with Rae at ABFF, Kenya Barris, the producer behind the Netflix feature “You People” and popular series “Black-ish” and “Mixed-ish,” admitted that the current contraction in Hollywood feels different from past industry struggles.

Barris reminisced about the days when a potential series deal could be confirmed in a casual phone conversation. Now, he said, even in his current position as the producer of multiple award-winning shows on major networks and streaming platforms, studios want specific participating writers, actors, budgets and series length in order to move forward with a project.

“The industry at large is pulling back, and it makes it hard to create anything, so naturally creatives of color are going to be impacted by that,” said Rae. But she also sees the industry’s recession as a potential opportunity for a resurgence of independent films.

“Hollywood always needs a reminder that novel things can travel,” said Rae. “I would advise filmmakers, like I’ve said in the past, to pull resources together to collaborate and show on your own.”

She urged creators to use platforms such as TikTok and Instagram to bring awareness to the independent film scene, saying, “Finding new ways to showcase will only help the film industry at large.”

Jon Robin Baitz hit the big time as a playwright at a young age, earning acclaim and awards attention for such works as “The Film Society,” “The Substance of Fire” and “The End of the Day.” He went on to pen a string of other successful plays while also expanding into writing for film and television, most notably creating the long-running ABC series “Brothers & Sisters.”

More recently, he paired up with Ryan Murphy for “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans,” the second installment in the uber-producer’s FX anthology series, following 2017’s “Feud: Bette and Joan.”

Baitz, showrunner and sole writer on the new “Feud,” loosely based its eight episodes, which involve famed “In Cold Blood” author Truman Capote’s later years and fraught friendship with a circle of New York high-society women (his “swans”), on Laurence Leamer’s 2021 book “Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era.”

The series is marked by its sharp writing, directing and period re-creation, as well as by Tom Hollander’s indelible turn as the troubled Capote and the starry list of actresses (including Naomi Watts, Diane Lane and Chloë Sevigny) who vividly inhabit the “swans.”

Baitz, 61, phoned in from his Manhattan home (he splits his time between New York and California) for a leisurely and reflective chat with The Envelope about his latest project.

How did you choose to structure and tell this period of Capote’s life story? How much did you rely on your source material?

We were most interested in this particular time and theme, which is the last part of his life when the chickens came home to roost essentially and he was left in a kind of desperate situation muddled by pharmaceuticals and alcohol, terribly lonely and losing friends. There’s not an incredible amount of literal transposition of material from [Leamer’s] book to the screen. A lot of it is this meditation on friendship that lives between the lines of the book.

The book is very good with a broad spectrum of facts. What’s underneath the facts is a kind of parade of great pain, and I think what Ryan and I were interested in mostly were the consequences [of that]. We really felt this material was a way to explore aging and friendship and loss and the love of friends, yet also, at the same time, my continuing interest in what it means to be a writer who takes life and uses it.

Capote was a notoriously difficult and polarizing but also fascinating figure. How did you approach his portrayal?

With a kind of deep sorrow for him. Some of the people who knew him have commented that it’s a very unsympathetic portrait, but he had become a very unsympathetic man in many respects. Mike Nichols, who I was friends with, said to me that Truman Capote was the only man he’d ever met in his entire life who told lies simply to hurt people. I did think about that descriptor and how you get to be that and the pain it takes to get to be Truman. I thought it was multiplied several times by Tom Hollander’s infinite humanist capacity for empathy.

What a phenomenal performance.

It really is. It was a blessing even though there [have been] other sort of wonderful iterations of Truman. I do believe that Tom’s, even though it’s the least sympathetic in many respects, is the warmest, paradoxically.

Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill, and Tom Hollander as Truman Capote.

(FX Networks)

Did you discover any surprises about Capote along the way?

I think rather than that happening, I had a deeper sense of what you lose when you become desperate — and whether that desperation includes the self-annihilation of booze and pills, and trying to hold onto a kind of fame that doesn’t particularly exist in the world of the 1970s and ’80s and onwards anymore.

I saw it all as an avalanche of cautionary tales, in the negative space: Hold onto your friends dearly, cherish your friends, respect them and honor them, and try to be the guardian of your own talent — because if you’re blessed with some, the clock is always ticking.

Making it felt like working on a very long and kind of heartbreaking novel.

I loved the episode in which Capote spends the day with James Baldwin. But that never actually happened, did it?

No, I take great pains to sort of try and telegraph that because there was a lot of ambivalence or jealousy even from Truman toward Baldwin. A kind of strange energy from one gay man [and writer] to another. I think Baldwin was more generous and more involved in his nature but Truman was cruel about Baldwin on paper, which is simply another example of Truman’s uncalled-for lack of generosity.

What do you think you brought to writing this story now that you may not have during your “wunderkind” years?

I think maybe my youthful willingness to be judgmental about characters has been tempered. My instinct about the answer to that, I guess, lies in the depiction of Truman and [friend and ex-lover] Jack and how much love he has for Truman and how forgiving he is. I suppose I come down more adamantly now on the side of humanism rather than special dispensation for the talented. I don’t think genius gets a pass from being kind, and I try to live that way. I find brutal behavior now less exhilarating and more troubling to write about. I think my voice is maybe a little sadder, older, kinder.