Exclusive: Sony's 'Guys and Dolls' Remake Finds Its Director

Happy Friday night, folks!

Before we get to tonight’s hot scoop, a quick word about why you’re getting this scoop at all.

Earlier today, I called Sony Pictures, as I’d heard that Chase Sui Wonders was going to be replacing Camila Mendes in the I Know What You Did Last Summer legacy sequel. I was told that her deal hadn’t closed, and I was asked to hold the story, seeing as how Mendes’ deal fell through when Amazon came calling about the female lead in its big-budget Masters of the Universe movie.

It would look bad if Wonders’ deal fell apart for some reason (don’t worry, it won’t), so I understood where Sony was coming from because I’ve been doing this for more than a decade.

I don’t even have the greatest relationship with Sony, but the studio invited me to its Saturday Night premiere at TIFF, so I figured I’d play nice this time.

An hour later, the story was on Deadline.

Had Deadline called about Wonders first? It’s very possible. They are Hollywood’s #1 trade, after all. But I’ve got a reporter’s instincts, and something tells me that’s not what happened here. Something tells me that I got fucked — either by Sony or by UTA, which reps Wonders along with Marla Farrell and Jenny Tversky at Shelter PR.

Sony likely would’ve emailed Team Wonders as soon as I called and let them know that an annoying independent journalist was onto the story but had agreed to hold it, so her reps could’ve known I was on it and leaked it to Deadline, which is where they (and everyone else) prefer all news to break.

You’ve gotta love the corporate communications executives and media strategists who earn their six-figure salaries by having brilliant ideas like, “Just leak it to Deadline… That’ll be $200,000 a year, please!”

Let me be clear — the agencies and studios don’t owe me jack shit. But if I get ahold of a story and ask for comment, and then (stupidly) agree to hold, I’m doing the studio, the reps, and everyone involved a big fucking favor by letting them wrap up their deal. So if everyone would like me to start reporting these things and not giving anyone a heads-up or checking on anything ever, and potentially jeopardizing these deals, just let me know. It’s no skin off my ass. I don’t want to be Nikki Finke, but I will stop communicating with agencies and studios if I can’t trust them with even the most minor, trivial casting stories.

Trust me, I can wreak absolute havoc before I go broke, so do not test me.

Meanwhile, anytime you see “The Dish” in the headline of a Deadline story, you can rest assured that someone, somewhere — and probably me — got fucked out of that story. It’s pretty frustrating to do the hard work and put yourself in the position to get these tips, go through the proper channels, and watch someone else break the news while making more money than you, all because of where they work.

It’s no wonder then that when Deadline’s Mike Fleming tried to hire me a few years ago, a group of people voted against hiring me. Was it simply because of my “character,” or were they just nervous that I’d make some of them look bad? Don’t get me wrong, some folks at the trades work really hard, but others just kick back, sit by the phone, and cash that check at the end of the week without ever having to break a sweat. They could never hack it in the cold, inhospitable world of independent journalism, for the cozy bosom of the trades is all they’ve ever known.

Or, maybe Deadline was on the story first. I guess I’ll never really know…

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