Welcome back to What I’m Hearing, still coming at you from my secret summer retreat. As everyone awaits word on a possible actors strike (or a more likely one-week extension to continue negotiating), a few shorter items tonight and a usual issue on Sunday, then I might take next Thursday off for the holiday.

As always, if you’ve been forwarded this email, become a Puck member here.

Let’s begin…

• Universal film boss poised for more: The long-rumored reshuffling at NBCUniversal is coming into clearer view, according to a couple well-placed sources. Under the scenario being discussed in New York and Philadelphia, Mike Cavanagh, Comcast’s acting head of NBCUniversal since C.E.O. Jeff Shell was ousted over an undisclosed affair, will reorganize NBCU into different verticals, with Universal film chief Donna Langley getting a promotion to lead a studio group (or whatever they end up calling it).

  That would mean an expanded portfolio for Langley, who has run the Uni film studio for a decade and has been agitating to do more. She would likely elevate someone to run the studio and report to her. Specifics are still being worked out, I’m told, so this could change, but that’s the C-suite thinking, and Donna will come out of this re-org well-positioned. (NBCU declined to comment.)

• A top film exhibition executive reached out today to note his amusement at Tom Cruise tweeting, “I love a double feature, and it doesn’t get more explosive (or more pink) than one with Oppenheimer and Barbie.” Yes, this is the same Tom Cruise who I reported was calling and meeting with theater execs to try to secure more large-format screens for his Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One, which opens July 12, at the expense of Barbie and especially Oppenheimer, which has the IMAX screens locked up on July 21. Maybe this is Cruise’s version of an apology to Chris Nolan.

• Netflix boosts its Oscar voting block: The annual perusal through the 398 people deemed worthy of Academy membership has really become an exercise in head-shaking. Executives who have nothing to do with movies? Welcome, Ynon Kreiz, C.E.O. of Mattel, who gets in because… he licensed Barbie?

  Are any Netflix execs not members yet? Its awards chief Lisa Taback has been aggressive in getting streaming-friendly execs and talent to become voters, and it’s working. In the executive and marketing branches alone, this year’s list includes Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria, film execs Racheline Benveniste, Sean Berney, and Peter Dodd, C.M.O. Marian Lee Dicus, publicity exec Emily Feingold, social media director Sungmi Choi, and talent relations person Kelly Dalton. Thankfully, Warner Discovery C.E.O. David Zaslav is also in, so he can vote for The Flash in all eligible categories, including best picture.

• CNN’s Chris Licht Saga: The TV Show!: According to two sources, CAA is shopping a limited series based on Tim Alberta’s already-legendary profile of former CNN chief Chris Licht in The Atlantic. No producers or stars are attached yet, and I’m guessing HBO and Warner Bros. Television will not be bidders, but a Licht show could offer a window into the corporate intrigue behind the cable news wars, à la Showtime’s Roger Ailes miniseries The Loudest Voice. Of course I asked my Puck colleagues for casting suggestions, and…

  Matt Damon… is… Chris Licht. (I also like Neil Patrick Harris, a dyed-hair Jesse Eisenberg, an aged-up Tom Holland, or Jesse Plemons if he slims down for those 6 a.m. workout scenes).

  Michael Keaton… is… David Zaslav. (Or how about Bradley Whitford, or even Christian Bale in Dick Cheney-style makeup?)

  Stanley Tucci… is… Jeff Zucker, and not just because it’s fun that Zucker turned Tucci into a CNN star with Searching for Italy.

  The Weeknd… is… Don Lemon. (I’ll also accept Blair Underwood or, if Don is really lucky, Regé-Jean Page.)

  With…

  Lily Collins… as Kaitlan Collins, and Jake Gyllenhaal… as Puck’s own Dylan Byers.

• Box office over/under: You don’t spend $250 million on an Indiana Jones movie to open at $65 million domestic. Yet here we are, and I’ll take the under, based on the middling reviews and older demo. I’m told Disney film chief Alan Bergman didn’t think a Cannes premiere was a good idea, but others disagreed, it happened, and Dial of Destiny then endured six weeks of underwhelming press. At least Bob Iger got to go to the festival for the first time… but that’s an expensive trip.

That’s why people in Hollywood were so shocked to read Buffett’s brutal defenestration of Kives in last week’s Times story when the paper revealed his close ties to disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried. The story broke open the news of the lawsuit seeking to recover S.B.F.’s $700 million investment in K5 Global, $125 million of which Kives apparently pocketed for himself. According to the piece:

In an interview, Mr. Buffett said Mr. Kives was a “name-dropper” who “might pitch that he has a connection to me, but he doesn’t.” Mr. Buffett said he had known Mr. Kives from his time at Creative Artists Agency. Since then, he said, Mr. Kives has contacted him about a few investment opportunities, which he declined.

So, what happened? After I discussed the suit and Kives’ reputation on Sunday, I was in touch this week with about 10 people in the orbits of both men, and a couple dynamics emerged. First, the obvious: Despite his cuddly curmudgeon of a public persona, Buffett is intensely protective about his image as a Coke-and-milkshake drinking, squeaky clean, generationally-revered investor, and anything associated with S.B.F., currently facing prison time on various financial fraud claims related to FTX, is not on brand for the Oracle of Omaha. Publicly distancing himself from Kives helps diffuse that situation, even if it drops a bomb on the reputation of his one-time friend. But, according to the people I talked to, there are also some other factors at play.

Most people in Hollywood know Kives is that guy, the type who leverages relationships with friends like Leo DiCaprio, Katy Perry, and Bill Clinton to do business and social-climb. S.B.F. himself noted that Kives was “probably, the most connected person I’ve ever met,” and those relationships were the reason he agreed to pay the outsized $700 million for the stake in K5 with “no meaningful due diligence,” the FTX bankruptcy suit alleges.

Kives and partner Bryan Baum perhaps can’t be faulted for seeking to extract money from an apparently benevolent and inexperienced crypto billionaire, but “each personally walked away with $125 million in their pockets at closing,” the suit claims, money the lawyers would very much like to claw back. As many talent reps and others in the representation business know, trading access to clients (or former clients) and friends to enrich yourself is a dangerous game that can blow up at any time. Here, it seems, with Kives and Buffett, it just did.

Correction: Sunday’s issue said showrunner Steven DeKnight is not a member of the DGA, but he definitely is. Apologies to DeKnight.

Got a question, comment, complaint, or a casting wish list for Wolf Blitzer? Email me at Matt@puck.news or call/text me at 310-804-3198.