I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, host of The Envelope’s Friday newsletter and the guy trying to wrap my head around any talk of a “Fall Classic” when, as my old friend Randy Newman would note, the Santa Ana winds are blowing hot from the north. (Hopefully, we’ll be hearing that song play post-game a couple of times at the Stadium in the coming days.) Let’s take a look at what’s a very light week for awards-related news.

Watch out for that ‘Halloween’ hedge

When The Times’ office was downtown, we were right around the corner from the Bradbury Building. If I ever was stuck on a story (pretty much always) and wanted to clear my head (or wanted a quick beer at Grand Central Market), I’d wander over to the beautiful Bradbury Building and ride up the elevator to daydream and latch onto some “Blade Runner” vibes.

Being a pushover for movie locations, I was interested to see my colleague Adam Tschorn laying out a driving tour to some of the local spots that have been featured in scary movies and TV shows over the years. Was he a little too … excessive … in the description of his encounter with the hedge from “Halloween”? Perhaps. Not everyone loves horror films. Me? I don’t scare easy. (Love live Mudcrutch.)

“Halloween” (hedge) house located in South Pasadena.

(Adam Tschorn / Los Angeles Times)

‘The Royal Hotel’ refuses to play by the rules of horror

Moving from the Bates Motel to “The Royal Hotel,” my pal Mark Olsen sat down with the talented filmmaker Kitty Green (“The Assistant”) to talk about how her new movie, a thriller about a couple of Canadian backpackers (played by Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick) who encounter a little trouble taking on their new jobs at a rural Australian bar.

Green’s movie was inspired by the 2016 documentary “Hotel Coolgardie,” which followed two Scandinavian women who found themselves in similar dire circumstances in the Australian Outback.

“I hadn’t seen the Australian Outback through that lens: Not only just two women, but two foreign women who didn’t understand the culture, who were trying to make sense of some of the antics of the patrons of the pub,” Green told Mark. “And it felt exciting to me as a jumping-off point for a screenplay.”

For Green, who co-wrote “The Royal Hotel” with Oscar Redding, that starting point was a means to subvert horror movie tropes.

“As soon as you see the girls in the backpacks, you assume they’re going to be attacked or assaulted or killed because historically in cinema, two girls in the outback by themselves, that’s what happens,” Green says. “So to me, it was interesting to subvert that and go, ‘Well, what if we took these two women and we made a film about strength and about them trying to figure themselves out versus something where they’re attacked or raped or some horrifically heinous thing happens to them?’”

“The Royal Hotel” opens in theaters Friday. Jessica Kiang reviewed it for The Times.

Julia Garner in “The Royal Hotel.”

(See-Saw Films)

Julia Ormond sues Harvey Weinstein for sexual battery

In our final monster-related item of the week, actor Julia Ormond filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court against Harvey Weinstein for sexual battery, also naming as defendants Creative Artists Agency, Ormond’s former agency, alleging negligence and breach of fiduciary duty, as well as Walt Disney Co. and Miramax, accusing them of negligent supervision and retention.

Ormond, whose star ascended in the ‘90s in such films as “Legends of the Fall” and the remake of “Sabrina,” alleges that Weinstein sexually assaulted her in December 1995 after a business dinner in New York City, where the two were to discuss a project.

Ormond also contends that after she informed her agents Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane, currently CAA’s co-chairmen, they did nothing to help her and instead cautioned her about speaking out.

Weinstein and CAA deny Ormond’s claims. The disgraced former producer is currently residing in a New York prison facility, serving a 23-year sentence after a 2020 conviction by a New York jury on charges of rape and criminal sexual assault. Weinstein was later convicted on a rape charge in Los Angeles and sentenced to 16 years, to be served after his New York term.

Actor Julia Ormond at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

(Taylor Jewell / Invision via AP)