As AI looms over Hollywood, Oscar hopefuls make the case for human craft

This week, we’re looking at Universal’s “Odyssey” Oscar push, Skydance’s big week and Sofia Franklyn’s “Daddy Issues.”

CRAFTY CAMPAIGNING

As awards season heats up, senior Hollywood reporter Rebecca Keegan delivers a dispatch from a massive special event for “The Odyssey” on the Universal lot this week.

When Willie Burton needed to capture the sounds of creaking oars and lapping waves for the many seafaring scenes in “The Odyssey,” the veteran sound mixer planted microphones around a 115-foot wooden Viking ship, grabbed his gear and raincoat, and climbed into the hold.

And before shooting aboard the ship, the Swedish captain issued a warning to the actors and production workers sailing with his crew.

“He said that everything on this ship would kill you,” Burton said, addressing a packed theater on Tuesday at the premiere of the documentary “Behind the Scenes of The Odyssey.” “The crew said, ’No one survives the hold.’”

There are plenty of less dramatic ways to supply sound to a movie. But Burton was one of 10 craftspersons from “The Odyssey,” along with star Matt Damon and producer Emma Thomas, on hand to explain how they made an ancient Greek epic for 2026 audiences under the defiantly analog direction of Christopher Nolan.

At a moment when much of the movie industry is adopting AI tools, the awards campaign for “The Odyssey” is leaning into the film’s handcrafted nature.

But it’s not just Nolan’s old-school habits that are animating this year’s Oscars race. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have also talked up their use of practical sets over green screens on “Project Hail Mary.” Actress and director Olivia Wilde has explained why she paid out of her own pocket to shoot “The Invite” on 35 mm film instead of digitally. Travis Knight, CEO of Laika, has shared how the stop-motion animation techniques in “Wildwood” are antithetical to AI, and director Denis Villeneuve has described the “artisanal” way he shot “Dune: Part III,” relying on natural light and custom-made IMAX lenses.

Awards season is always a time for touting craft and technique, but this year’s focus on handmade films has an air of wistfulness, as it comes amid the studio consolidation and cost-cutting that has made adoption of AI tools feel virtually inevitable to many in the industry.

The 75-minute “Odyssey” documentary, which arrives alongside the home entertainment release of the film on Nov. 17, highlights just how hard the $250 million movie was to make, showcasing remote locations in Italy, Greece, Morocco and Iceland.

An exhibit that accompanied the documentary premiere also highlighted the painstaking quality of the work, with some of the 5,300 handmade costumes from costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, antique swords, bows and axes used by the actors and stunt performers, and the bronze gong and ancient lyre that musicians play on composer Ludwig Göransson’s score.

As Damon says in the documentary, “I don’t know how long we’re gonna get to make movies this way.”

SKYDANCE IN THE SPOTLIGHT

ICYMI: There’s been a lot going on at Skydance. Culture and trends editor Saba Hamedy gives you a recap.

It was a whirlwind week for Skydance, marked by a major leadership shake-up and its first post-merger earnings report.

First came the ousting of DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran, who will be replaced by former Marvel Studios executive Jeremy Latcham.

Then came the earnings. Though the company has already slashed jobs, it still has to streamline costs to help pay off its more than $80 billion debt. During the call, chief David Ellison doubled down on AI and revealed the company would launch a Paramount+ and HBO Max bundle in early 2027. But investors and Wall Street analysts didn’t appear enthusiastic: Shares of the company dropped about 2% to $8.50 on Tuesday.

By Wednesday, however, corporate headlines took a backseat as Hollywood moguls and stars — including Ellison, Jeffrey Katzenberg, actress Gal Gadot, actor Vin Diesel, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and HBO chief Casey Bloys — gathered at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel to celebrate Skydance co-CEO Ynon Kreiz.

The former Mattel chief received the 2026 Humanitarian Award from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an L.A.-based human rights organization dedicated to combating antisemitism, which recognized him for his “leadership, generosity, and commitment to helping us educate against hate and inspire people to stand up for others.”

It was the same award bestowed upon former Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav last year, when merger speculation was top of mind for most in the ballroom.

Speaking at this year’s event, Katzenberg expressed confidence in Kreiz and Ellison as the company — which brings together the studios behind “Mission: Impossible,” “Harry Potter” and DC Studios alongside major television and streaming networks such as CBS, CNN, Paramount+ and HBO Max — enters its next chapter.

“This is a huge responsibility and one which can actually determine the very future and the vibrancy of Hollywood,” the former Dreamworks Animation CEO said. “In my opinion, David Ellison chose well when he selected Ynon and it reflects his belief in leaders who have both the expertise and the character to lead at such an important time.”

CALL HER CANDID

This week, culture and trends editor Saba Hamedy also binge-read Sofia Franklyn’s memoir so you didn’t have to. Here’s what to know about the tell-all.

Daddy gang, you may get a little mad at Alex Cooper after reading “Daddy Issues.” And perhaps that was part of Franklyn’s goal.

The memoir, released on Tuesday, is a tell-all from Franklyn’s side about the end of her business relationship and friendship with Cooper, who went on to helm their famous “Call Her Daddy” podcast solo.

The duo shot to viral fame in 2018, when the podcast was still under Barstool Sports. It became known for candid conversations about commonly taboo topics for women to discuss publicly, including raunchy sex stories. But the two professionally split up in 2020, news that initially shocked their listeners and led to speculation about what went down between the former besties and roomies.

Cooper’s star continued to rise — she landed lucrative Spotify and SiriusXM deals, launched her own brand, Unwell, with husband Matt Kaplan and became a household name among young Gen Z and millennial women.

Meanwhile, Franklyn launched her own podcast titled “Sofia with an F.” Behind the scenes, she was struggling with sobriety and the dissolution of her relationship with Cooper, she writes. Among the claims she makes in the book:

• The book opens with a scene in which Franklyn’s book agent calls her to say she had received an angry call from Kaplan, who told her that Cooper was threatening to sue. A representative for Unwell denied the claim in a statement to The New York Times.
• Cooper negotiated a $20,000 raise for herself behind Franklyn’s back while the podcast was at Barstool. She didn’t learn about this until later, when Muji — Cooper’s childhood friend who worked on the podcast before she fired him — told Franklyn, “She didn’t tell you because she didn’t want you to know she tried to get you fired.” Muji and Lauren, another one of Cooper’s childhood friends, had warned her that Cooper was quick to discard friends.
• When she and Cooper were negotiating their new contracts with Barstool, they decided their goal was to stay together. They even came up with a spinoff podcast in case the negotiations fell through, titling it “The Fathers.”
• These negotiations centered on the intellectual property for “Call Her Daddy,” which Barstool Sports owned and could technically continue without Franklyn or Cooper attached. But, Franklyn writes, Barstool’s Dave Portnoy called Franklyn one day to tell her that Cooper had hired her own lawyer and claimed that Franklyn had been “the one that’s been dragging this on,” and Cooper was ready to sign a new contract. “She came to me with a plan, and I needed an episode. There’s no clear favorite,” he told her, according to Franklyn’s memoir. “You could always have your own show, and we promote the s--- out of it like we did with ‘Call Her Daddy.’ I think it would be huge.”
• Franklyn also appeared to suggest in her memoir that Portnoy and Cooper’s relationship was not just professional.

Thus far, Cooper has not issued a public response — though she has been a little busy lately in her mom era (she and Kaplan announced the birth of their baby last month).

Portnoy, however, went on “The Toast” podcast after the book was released. He denied Franklyn’s implication that he hooked up with Cooper and told hosts Claudia and Jackie Oshry: “I have no relationship with Sofia. None. I hate her guts.”

THE DIALOGUE

“This is one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. Playing drums in this band has been the joy of my life, and I’ll never be able to properly thank the fans for the love they’ve shown us over the years. But the truth is that my tinnitus has been getting steadily worse, and I’ve reached the point where I must now listen to my body and my doctors.” — Roger Taylor, the founding drummer of Duran Duran, announcing his retirement in a post on the band’s Instagram page on Thursday.

“I know this sounds weird because it was so tumultuous and it was a crazy time in my life, but I look back at it as a bit of a blessing. I was in a contract negotiation with them.” — Host Chris Harrison in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter when asked about his split with ABC’s “The Bachelor” franchise.

“I’m really truly in the business of not giving Dominic advice. He’s got it. He doesn’t need any advice from me … He’s going to be amazing, and you know, I hope that I will, I think I will, get to meet him someday — and I’m very excited about that.” — Actor Daniel Radcliffe when asked by the Associated Press if he has any advice for Dominic McLaughlin, who takes on the Harry Potter role in HBO’s upcoming series.