Hollywood’s Christmas Corridor, Thompson’s Digital Muse, Biden vs. Bibi

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon index of Puck’s best new reporting.

Today, we lead with Bill Cohan’s exclusive chat with Peter Orszag, Lazard’s newish C.E.O. and the former Obama budget czar, about his grand strategy for defibrillating one of the premier boutique Wall Street private advisory firms after an underwhelming couple of years.

Plus, below the fold: Dylan Byers scoops the centerpiece hire of Mark Thompson’s CNN digital makeover. Julia Ioffe reveals the Biden administration’s internal calculus after the latest horrors in Israel. On The Town, Matt Belloni and Justin Kroll evaluate the star potential of the youngest celebs in Hollywood. And then Matt swings by The Powers That Be to talk shop with Peter Hamby about the biggest box office surprises of the holiday season, and what to expect for the theatrical industry in ’24.

WILLIAM D. COHAN

Peter Orszag, the new Lazard C.E.O., has an ambitious plan to double revenue by 2030. But can the former Obama aide transform an eccentric culture by emphasizing productivity, recalibrating fee structures, culling underperformers, and bringing in some rainmakers? He thinks so…

DYLAN BYERS

The newish CNN C.E.O. has his eye on Alex MacCallum, the Washington Post C.R.O. and his former Times disciple, to help him enact his drastic digital transformation effort.

JULIA IOFFE

After a strategic assassination, is Bibi’s government finally heeding Biden’s warnings to wrap up the most intense phase of fighting and pursue a more targeted approach?

MATTHEW BELLONI

Matt is joined by Deadline senior reporter Justin Kroll to discuss the young movie stars on the rise and fall after a chaotic movie year in Hollywood. They highlight the movies that catapulted young actors into stardom, as well as some of the more puzzling casting decisions that potentially hurt someone's career.