American Talent Management

01/10/2024

🏆💃🛼 From Aaron Couch at The Hollywood Reporter: More than five years after the Academy Awards introduced (and eventually pulled) a new category recognizing blockbuster films in an attempt to combat falling ratings, the Golden Globes have handed out its own award honoring high-grossing movies.

Star Wars star Mark Hamill, who was at the center of one of the first blockbusters nearly 50 years ago, presented the award to Barbie, the top-grossing film of 2023.

“Thank you so much for the Golden Globes for creating an award that celebrates movie fans,” said star and producer Margot Robbie, standing next to director and co-writer Greta Gerwig.

Barbie was the top-grossing film of 2023, topping $1.44 billion globally. Robbie thanked “every single person on the planet who dressed up and went to the greatest place on Earth: the movie theater.”

Other films in contention for the award were Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, John Wick: Chapter 4, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Oppenheimer, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.

To qualify for the award, a feature needed to top $150 million at the global box office, with at least $100 million coming domestically. Alternatively, a streaming movie could be considered if it obtained “commensurate digital streaming viewership recognized by trusted industry sources,” the Globes said when it announced the category in the fall. Films released after Nov. 22 that had not yet met those thresholds could be considered if they were projected to do so.

01/09/2024

⚽️🪧☕️Even in life's lowest moments, we can bare so much as long as we can bare it together.

01/02/2024

🥳 🧧🎆 Happy New Year's Day, everyone! We hope everyone had a safe and fun evening with family and friends last night. Here's to a prosperous 2024 to all your endeavors! (P.S. - What was your New Year's resolution?)

12/26/2023

Merry Christmas, everyone!🎄🕯️ 🎅🏻

12/21/2023

🎄🕯️ 🎅🏻We at ATM hope you find deep peace, restoration, and cheer during this Christmas!

12/20/2023

🚂✨🎄 The love we share with others is our greatest legacy. Those cherished by their family and friends have truly lead a successful life.

12/18/2023

🎶🎶🎶From JACKIE STRAUSE at The Hollywood Reporter: The time has come to say goodbye to Curb Your Enthusiasm.

After eight seasons, a six-year hiatus and three-season revival — with one more season still to come — Larry David is officially ending his run as TV’s Larry David, a version of himself that he will have played for nearly a span of 25 years on the hit Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning HBO comedy.

HBO and the star-creator on Thursday announced that Curb Your Enthusiasm will end with its previously announced 12th season, which will premiere Feb. 4. The final season will consist of 10 episodes, releasing weekly on Sundays at 10 p.m.

Curb is created by David; executive producers are David, Garlin and Schaffer; co-executive producers are Laura Streicher and Jennifer Corey. At a press event in November attended by THR, Bloys was asked about Curb‘s future. “We generally leave that up to Larry, and I think he’s thinking about what he wants to do,” he said. “He knows it’s kind of been an open invitation. So I think he’s going to decide whether he wants to continue doing more or make this the final season. So I guess before it airs, he’ll decide what he wants to do.”

The end of Curb comes after HBO in 2023 said farewell to awards darlings Succession and Barry and canceled Winning Time, Perry Mason and The Idol. The cabler’s scripted roster still boasts hits including the Game of Thrones franchise, Euphoria and breakouts The Last of Us and The Gilded Age as well as comedies like Somebody Somewhere, The Righteous Gemstones and The White Lotus.

12/17/2023

🎄🧝🍭👙 Our abounding childlike enthusiasm for Christmas can be contagious to those around us that need holiday cheer the most! 💚 ❤️💚 ❤️💚 ❤️

12/16/2023

🎥🎬🥋 Merry Christmas! American Talent Management would like to shoutout our amazing director Robert Samuels for his 6 film festival awards for the latest films he directed, including ‘BLACKOUT’ (Best feature film at the New York Movie Awards) and ‘SHADOW FIST 3: THE FINAL CHAPTER’ (Best U.S. short in Milan Italy, Best action for Milan Silver, Best short film for Malaysia, Best international film, Best action film at Florence International, Best short film at the New York Movie Awards, and Best action at the New York Movie Awards). We are beyond proud of these accomplishments!

Additional information about Robert from FILM COMBAT SYNDICATE MAGAZINE: https://filmcombatsyndicate.com/robert-samuels-fights-to-stay-on-his-toes-in-blackout-watch-the-new-action-packed-short-thriller-now-online/

12/16/2023

💃 🤵‍♂️ 🏆 ✨ From Chris Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter: During an appearance on The Tonight Show in 2022, Sterling K. Brown relayed an anecdote to Jimmy Fallon about one of the three times he’d found himself in the presence of none other than Meryl Streep.

“She’s just talking, being regular old Streep, and I’m like, ‘No, I can’t, I don’t know.’ I couldn’t talk. I just lurked. I was weird. I was a creeper,” admitted Brown. When The Hollywood Reporter came face to face with the actor on Dec. 5 at the premiere of his latest film, Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction, he had a new story to tell. Brown was fresh from the Academy Museum’s annual gala where he’d met his icon.

“F**king fantastic,” he said of the night. “To be in the presence of one of your heroes, oftentimes you’re disappointed, but she exceeded expectations. She told me she was a fan which almost made me p*e on myself. I was like, ‘You don’t know who I am!’ And she said, ‘Of course I do.’ Then, she touched me and held my hand, and I was like, ‘Oh my God — Meryl actually knows who I am.'”

He also loved being in the room where it happened on a night that saw honors go to Streep, Oprah Winfrey and Michael B. Jordan. “Meryl gave an incredible sp*ech, man, and had everybody eating out of the palm of her hand. It’s like 20 minutes long, but she’s Meryl. It was really cool. Sometimes, in this industry, you feel like you have to put on a little show and dance for everybody, but when you get a chance to be amongst your p*ers and authentically celebrate and root for one another, it’s such a good night.”

12/14/2023

🏠👦❄️🦷🧨🕷️ We would do anything for family, especially to see them at Christmas time!

12/12/2023

🕵️ 😷 🦠 From ETAN VLESSING at The Hollywood Reporter: Adrian Monk is back with Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie.

The TV movie, now streaming on Peacock, reunites the cast and creative team behind the former USA series Monk. And making the 90-minute revival felt like a homecoming for star Tony Shalhoub — who reprises his role as the crime-solving detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder — since they filmed in Toronto.

“This is going to sound insane, but we shot the first season in Toronto,” Shalhoub recently told The Hollywood Reporter, speaking 14 years after Monk wrapped an eight-season run for USA Network. The series, which ran from 2002-09, was set in San Francisco. The original pilot, however, was mostly shot in Vancouver, and all seasons after the first were made mainly in Los Angeles.

The series finale in 2009 drew more than 9 million viewers — at the time, a record for a scripted program on ad-supported cable. And Shalhoub became an awards season fixture for his work on Monk, as he was nominated eight times for lead comedy actor at the Emmys — winning three — and received seven nominations for the SAG Awards, which he won twice. His first SAG win came in 2004.

But what changed for the procedural getting a movie treatment on Peacock is that, this time, the crime investigation led by a compulsively hand-wiping detective takes place in new world mightily changed by the COVID-19 pandemic, where most everybody has come to fear germs or crowds as much as Monk always did.

“COVID has been a great equalizer, really. Many people see the world now the way Monk does, and that became a launchpad,” Shalhoub recalls as the grounds for Peacock finally ordering a TV movie after earlier false starts.

He adds that the pandemic hardly justified Monk for his many anxieties: “It’s really not a matter of vindication. It’s more a matter of: Misery loves company.” But he thinks fans of Monk are more likely to be able to relate to the central character this time around, given the impact on mental health and elevated levels of anxiety from pandemic-era lockdowns. “It makes Monk ultimately seem less neurotic and more like a canary in the coal mine,” Shalhoub says.

12/12/2023

We’ve been filming for a couple of weeks a documentary about Allen Smith who is the real life inspiration behind our feature film “Saint Nick”! We cannot wait to share both of these films the next few Christmas seasons.

12/10/2023

☃️❄️🏂🎄 There is nothing as beautiful as Christmas snow, and the childhood magic it represents to so many!

12/09/2023

👩‍⚖️💥🤠 From Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter: Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons has joined Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette in Juror No. 2, the legal thriller Clint Eastwood is directing for Warner Bros.

Shooting is currently underway in Atlanta.In addition to Hoult and Collette, Gabriel Basso, Zoey Deutch, Leslie Bibb, Chris Messina and Kiefer Sutherland are on the call sheet.

Per the studio’s official logline, the script by Jonathan Abrams follows family man Justin Kemp (Hoult) who, while serving as a juror in a high-profile murder trial, finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma, one he could use to sway the jury verdict to potentially convict — or free — the wrong killer. Simmons will play one of the jurors.

Collette is playing the prosecutor, Basso the accused, and Messina the public defender. Deutch is playing Hoult’s wife, while Sutherland is the lead’s AA sponsor.

On top of directing, Eastwood is producing via his production company Malpaso. Tim Moore and Jessica Meier of Malpaso and Dichotomy’s Adam Goodman and Matt Skiena are also producing.

Simmons won an Oscar for his portrayal of the hard-driving music professor in Damien Chazelle’s acclaimed drama Whiplash, one of the actor’s many accolades for the role. He earned an Oscar nomination for his work opposite Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem in 2021’s Being the Ricardos. He continues to lean into his audience-favorite role of Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson in various Spider-Man movies and voiced the character in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

The Gersh-repped actor next stars in You Can’t Run Forever, a thriller directed by his wife, Michelle Schumacher. He will also be seen in Netflix’s action thriller The Union alongside Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry.

12/06/2023

🎄📚🎅🏻👻✨Though life is full of hardship, there is so much to be grateful for.

12/04/2023

🐓 🐣🏃‍♀️💨 From Abbey White at The Hollywood Reporter: Rocky, Ginger and their family’s newest member Molly lead the charge in a fight to free their fellow chickens from a deadly nugget plot in the first full trailer for Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.

Hailing from the Academy and BAFTA award-winning Aardman animation studio and Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated director Sam Fell, it’s the long-awaited follow-up to the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film ever, Chicken Run.

After pulling off their escape from Tweedy’s farm, Ginger (Thandiwe Newton) and Rocky (Zachary Levi) have built a life on an island away from the human world — a sanctuary alongside the flock with their newest hatch, Molly (Bella Ramsey). “We’ve put the past behind us,” Ginger says in the two-and-a-half-minute trailer. “We have to think about Molly now.”

With a screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick, John O’Farrell and Rachel Tunnard, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget also stars Imelda Staunton (Bunty), Lynn Ferguson (Mac), David Bradley (Fowler), Jane Horrocks (Babs), Romesh Ranganathan (Nick), Daniel Mays (Fetcher), Josie Sedgwick-Davies (Frizzle), Peter Serafinowicz (Reginald Smith) and Nick Mohammed (Dr. Fry).

12/02/2023

✈️ 🚂🚙🦃Nothing is more important than family, both at the holidays and year round!

12/01/2023

American Talent Management would like to shoutout our newest actress on our roster, Sarah Forde!

Sarah Forde is an actor and writer based out of Los Angeles. Since moving to LA in 2019, Sarah has worked on over a dozen independently produced films and web series. This year, she celebrated the premier of her first self-produced short film, SOMETIME BEFORE MIDNIGHT, at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. In addition to her film work, Sarah has been featured in ad campaigns for Geico, Samsung, Camping World, and the MLB. She lives in Venice with her husband, Michalis, and trains at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. 🎭✨

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10805105/

12/01/2023

💥🦖💪🏙️ From PATRICK BRZESKI at The Hollywood Reporter: Godzilla Minus One, the 37th film in Japan’s long-running giant monster movie franchise, marches into U.S. theaters Friday — and the early reaction from critics is ecstatic.

“Godzilla Minus One isn’t just a good Godzilla movie,” writes ReelViews critic James Berardinelli in a characteristic take. “It’s an excellent Godzilla movie — arguably among the best ever to grace the screen.”

Written and directed by acclaimed CG animator and VFX artist Takashi Yamazaki, Godzilla Minus One is a period film that takes the giant kaiju back to his roots, showing the creature emerging just as Japan is struggling to recover from the ravages of World War II. It stars Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando and Kuranosuke Sasaki.

U.S. critics have unanimously praised the film for the remarkable visual mileage Yamazaki got out of the project’s relatively small budget, as well as the story’s moving human drama and canonical use of the kaiju as a metaphor for social critique.

IGN Movies critic Katie Rife was filled with praise for the film’s action aesthetic. “Although it was produced for a mere $15 million — less than 10 percent of the budget for Legendary’s last Monsterverse entry, Godzilla vs. Kong — Godzilla Minus One looks expensive, making intelligent use of period sets and drone shots whooshing over wide stretches of ocean. Scenes of kaiju-fueled destruction similarly impress: A shot of a gigantic warship flying across the screen like a piece of kindling is worth seeing in Imax all by itself.”

As of Thursday night, the film’s Rotten Tomatoes score clocked in at 98 percent from 48 reviews, with the consensus summed up as: “With engaging human stories anchoring the action, Godzilla Minus One is one kaiju movie that remains truly compelling between the scenes of mass destruction.”

The new film’s release coincides with the 70th anniversary of the iconic monster franchise, which began with Toho Studio’s Godzilla in 1954. The first fully Japanese-made title in the series since 2016, Godzilla Minus One was released at home on Nov. 3 and already has earned over $20 million there.

In a consistent thread among critics, Godzilla Minus One seems to be earning especially favorable comparisons to Hollywood’s recent output of franchise sequels — including both superhero bombs, as well as actual hits.

Adds Rolling Stone‘s Christopher Cruz: “Godzilla Minus One offers an alternative to shared universe syndrome. It’s an artfully made throwback to kaiju classics and likely the first Godzilla movie that dares to make you cry. See it on the biggest screen possible.”

11/30/2023

The Christmas season is officially here!!! 👀 🎄🎅🏻 ✨

11/29/2023

Happy Birthday to our very own, Cathy Moriarty!

When Cathy Moriarty was 18 years old, her friends urged her to enter a bathing-beauty contest at a bar: "So, I go in there, and my knees are shaking, and I'm breaking out in goose bumps 'cause I'm embarrassed and cold. All these guys are whistling and stuff. Then all of a sudden the emcee announces I won first prize, and I say, 'Hey, this is really funny.' So this Italian guy comes up and asks if he can take my picture and I say, 'Sure, go ahead', 'cause he's gonna take it anyway. And whad'd'ya know, this same guy calls me three weeks later, says his name is Joe Pesci and asks if I'd like to test for a part in this movie about a boxer named Jake LaMotta."

The role of Jake LaMotta's wife in "Raging Bull" (1980) was the last to be cast. Moriarty was working as a desk girl and waitress in a burger restaurant, with only a few high school stage plays on her resume, but it was felt that she had the right amount of attitude for the part. Moriarty's performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

"Robert De Niro taught me how to listen, and how to be part of the conversation. It's not just about reading your lines and saying what's in the script, you have to understand your character, along with the other characters so that you can always respond."

The scene where Vicki LaMotta is first introduced to Jake LaMotta by the chain-linked fence was completely improvised by Moriarty and De Niro.

Moriarty's hair was set with corn syrup, which caused problems in the exterior scenes, because bees were attracted to it.

"Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese were so exceptionally loving to me and so concerned and so caring that I will always be grateful to them." (Wikipedia/IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Cathy Moriarty!

11/27/2023

💜💜💜💜 From NEKESA MUMBI MOODY at The Hollywood Reporter: An emotional Oprah Winfrey and the cast of The Color Purple spoke about the transformative power of the upcoming film at its first public screening, getting spiritual as they cited its divine effect on their lives.

“For every one of us up here, it is a story of, ‘look at what God has done,'” said Winfrey, who wore a lilac sequined outfit in a nod to the musical, on the panel after the showing at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills on Thursday night.

Winfrey, a producer on the musical with Scott Sanders and an Oscar nominee for her role as Sophia in Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film adaptation, said the Alice Walker book the films are based on helped her comprehend the sexual abuse she endured as a child.

“Until that time, I didn’t know there was language for what had happened to me,” she told the audience in a conversation moderated by Variety’s Angelique Jackson. “I had been r***d and had a child who later died, and I did not have any language to explain what that was. And that book was the first time there was a story about me.” Winfrey said starring in the movie was a dream come true “that changed everything for me,” and spoke of the joy in being able to return to the material as the film’s producer. “It’s a full-circle moment,” she added.

Winfrey also spoke of passing the torch to Danielle Brooks, who plays the role of Sophia in Blitz Bazawule’s musical adaptation. Brooks wept as she spoke about what the role meant to her and noted how Winfrey gave her the freedom to define Sophia as her own: “She held my hand and let me fly.”

Fantasia Barrino, who was nominated for a Tony Award for her portrayal of Celie in the Broadway musical adaptation of The Color Purple, said she was going to pass on the opportunity to reprise the role in the film until Bazawule convinced her.

“He allowed me to see…what women go through and how we sometimes need to imagine ourselves in a different place before we get there.” Taraji P. Henson, who plays Shug Avery, also needed convincing to take on the role in the musical film. “The funny thing about life, when something is destined for you, you cannot run away from it. I tried,” she said. “This is iconic. This is something that is going to live on forever.”

Brooks also took a moment to note the end of the SAG-AFTRA strike that allowed the actors to promote the film, saying, “one hundred and eighteen days, y’all. We were unsure if we would be here for this moment, and we’re here.”

Other castmembers attending the panel included Corey Hawkins, who plays Harpo, Halle Bailey, who plays a young Nettie, Oscar- and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter H.E.R., who plays Squeak, and Phylicia Pearl Mpasi, who is a young Celie.

The Color Purple hits theaters Christmas Day.

11/25/2023

🦃🍁🍂🥧🎃🍽️ We hope everyone had a fabulous and delicious Thanksgiving with family and friends!

11/25/2023

🥋🧎‍♂️🥷🚗 By BORYS KIT at The Hollywood Reporter:

Call it the Karate Kid Cinematic Universe. Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio, both of whom starred in Karate Kid movies decades apart, are set to reprise their popular characters in Sony Pictures’ latest installment of the iconic coming-of-age martial arts franchise.

Jonathan Entwistle, best known for his well-regarded and award-winning teen television dramas I’m Not Okay with This and The End of the F***ing World, is directing the untitled feature that the studio is positioning as the fusing and continuing the mythology of the original franchise.

A global search for an actor to play the erstwhile title character launched today, with Chan and Macchio kicking things off with an introductory video, seen below.

Rob Lieber, whose credits include Sony’s Peter Rabbit and Disney’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day, wrote the script. The plot line is hiding in the back of the dojo.

However, it is known that the latest iteration will bring the story to the East Coast and focus on a teen from China who finds strength and direction via martial arts and a tough but wise mentor.

Karen Rosenfelt is producing the feature, which Sony has penciled in for a Dec. 13, 2024, release date. A spring shoot is being eyed.

The Karate Kid launched in 1984, with the original movie being an unexpected hit. It starred Macchio as Daniel LaRusso, a Brooklyn kid who moves to California and finds himself an unlikely karate champion under the tutelage of Mr. Miyagi, an apartment handyman who is quite proficient in karate. Miyagi was played by the late Pat Morita, who earned a best supporting actor Oscar nomination his work.

The movie spawned three sequels — Macchio appeared in two of them, while Hilary Swank took on the titular mantle in a 1994 outing — with the franchise seeing a resurgence in the past several years thanks to Cobra Kai. The series became a tornado kick hit for YouTube and Netflix, bringing back many of the original characters, including LaRusso, as it introduced a new generation of butt-kicking teens. Fans have dubbed these stories the Miyagi-verse after Morita’s character; Morita passed away in 2011.

Sony revived the title in 2010 with a remake that updated the story for more modern and global times, focusing on an American kid, played by Jaden Smith, who moves to Beijing and is mentored by a handyman/martial arts master played by Chan, already a beloved international star at that point. The movie turned out be another unexpected hit, grossing $359 million on a budget of $40 million, and scored positive reviews.

In addition to his Karate Kid work, Machhio made hearts flutter with his breakout role in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders. He also starred in 1992 comedy My Cousin Vinny, and more recently, HBO series The Deuce.

Chan, a multihyphenate who also directs and produces, became an action star in his native China with movies such as Drunken Master and franchises Police Story and Project A, where his acrobatic stuntwork dazzled audiences. After his American breakthrough in 1995 with Rumble in the Bronx, he went on to star in the Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon action comedies. He has played a key voice part in the Kung Fu Panda movies and most recently voiced Splinter in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. In 2016, Chan became the first Chinese actor to be honored with an Academy Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the film industry.

Chan is repped by CAA and Jessica Chen. Macchio is repped by Untitled Entertainment, Buchwald and Hansen Jacobson. Entwistle is repped by CAA, Grandview and Jackoway Tyerman, while Leiber is repped by Verve, Fourth Wall Management and Sloane Offer.

11/24/2023

🦃🍁🍂🥧🎃🍽️ Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We are so grateful for all of our talent and staff!

11/22/2023

🦖🦕🦟🌍✨ Anything in life is possible, if you put your mind to it! (except cloning dinosaurs, PLEASE don't do that)

11/20/2023

⛷️🌲❄️🌨️ From JAMES HIBBERD at The Hollywood Reporter: Gwyneth Paltrow may have lost half a day of skiing, but she’s gained a musical based on her recent courtroom adventure.

A London theatre has announced Gwyneth Goes Skiing, a satire musical based on the actress and wellness guru’s 2016 ski slope collision with a retired optometrist and subsequent 2023 courtroom battle, where she successfully defended herself against a lawsuit.

Reads the musical’s official description on the Pleasance Theatre site: “She’s the Goop-founding, Door-Sliding, Shakespeare-In-Loving, consciously-uncoupling Hollywood superstar. He’s a retired Optometrist from Utah. In 2016, they went skiing. On the slopes of Deer Valley, their worlds collided, and so did they – literally. Ouch. Seven years later in 2023, they went to court. Double ouch. This is their story. Kind of. Not really. But also, it’s at Christmas.” The audience will also get to serve as the jury and help decide Paltrow’s legal fate.

The show is from Awkward Productions, which previously staged Diana: The Untold & Untrue Story. Linus Karp plays Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Martin plays plaintiff Terry Sanderson, and there’s original music by Leland (RuPaul’s Drag Race). The musical runs from Dec. 13 to 23 with tickets starting at only $19.

Sanderson had accused Paltrow of a hit-and-run crash — slamming into him while skiing on a beginner’s run at Deer Valley Resort, causing ongoing injuries, and then quickly leaving the scene along with her instructor. But the jury found Paltrow to be “100 percent” not at fault in the collision and decided Sanderson was at fault. She was awarded the amount of compensation she was seeking in her countersuit: $1.

11/19/2023

🦇⚰️🌑✨ You have the power to be a light in this world!

11/18/2023

🛋️🏙️✨ From Carly Thomas at The Hollywood Reporter: Lauren Graham is opening up about the close bond she shared with Matthew Perry, who died unexpectedly last month at age 54.

“I am still in shock,” the Gilmore Girls alum said during an appearance on CBS Mornings Thursday. “I mean, it’s just a really tragic loss, and he leaves his beautiful work behind. And that’s something to be thankful for, and again, the book [Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing] really meant something to him, so it was a really happy year for him.”

Graham added, “No one made me laugh as hard. I mean, just tears, streaming. There was just such joy in being around him and being his friend.”

The Los Angeles Police Department found the Friends star unresponsive in the hot tub at his L.A. home on Oct. 28. His cause of death is still under investigation as the L.A. County Medical Examiner’s Office awaits toxicology results. The coroner’s office had listed the pending case as “deferred,” but later removed it from its website.

Last year, Perry released his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, where he reflected on his decades-long battle with addiction.

Graham noted that Perry was overjoyed with how well-received his book was. “This last year, he was so proud of the book he wrote, and of how many people it touched,” she said. “It was a success that gave him a level of happiness that I hadn’t seen in him for a really long time, so that’s a nice memory.”

The actress was also one of a few faces to be included in his 2022 memoir, in which he shared a photo of the pair, adding the caption, “Me and the beautiful Lauren Graham.”

Graham and Perry initially met while filming 2008’s Birds of America and remained friends afterward. She also made an appearance on one episode of Perry’s show The Odd Couple in 2015.

Perry previously called the actress “one of my favorite people” during a fan Q&A for The Odd Couple. He added at the time, “We have great chemistry when working together and it’s fun to work with a close friend.”