Hollywood Mourns The Loss Of Michael Latt, A Force For Unity In An Increasingly Troubled World
The Hollywood community is in a state of shock and mourning for Michael Latt, the Lead With Love chief exec who was killed on his doorstep Monday night.
Latt’s life was devoted to selfless service spreading positivity and in particular creating opportunities for artists of color and women. Among those devastated by this senseless crime are the myriad artists who helped that cause. We often see good people taken before their time – you can read the specifics in my colleague Dominic Patten’s article on this tragedy – and the death of Latt is as devastating as any you will come across. He was just 33, with a fiancée, Hannah Lovingood, and a life was really just getting started, even though he had well established himself as a force for positive change.
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This weekend, Michael had been invited to be on the Artists Committee for the Kennedy Center Honors, and he was excited to take his support of artists to a new level of recognition, per his dad, David Latt.
His ability to get major names like Common, Ryan Coogler, Annette Bening, Barry Jenkins and Ava DuVernay to take part in his events was helped by growing up in and around the business. Latt’s brother is Franklin Latt, who is head of talent at CAA and the rep of many big stars. His mother is Michelle Satter, who is due to accept an honorary Oscar in January for her work on behalf of the Sundance Institute.
CAA co-chairman and managing partner Kevin Huvane has for a day and a half been mourning with a family he knows very well — Franklin trained on his desk — and he also knows the grief of losing a loved one so abruptly. His brother, the manager Chris Huvane, passed away last year. Each had so much more to give.
“I got to know Michael through Franklin, who was his big brother and reminded me of my relationship with Chris in many ways, including how close they were,” Huvane said. “What I loved about watching the two of them, and it came from how they were raised, they both have such a love of artists and artistry. But they both believe they need to be good citizens of the world, at the same time. They did their jobs with intelligence, purpose and compassion. That was their mission; they were going to help artists fulfill their needs, but also they were going to do good in the world. That’s why this feels like such a gigantic loss.
“I knew right away Franklin was going to be a leader here and a superstar agent, but what I loved was his moral compass,” Huvane said. “His mom Michelle, and Michael, the thread that runs through all of them is this love of discovering new artists, and a love of community. When Michael started Lead With Love, it was a perfect reflection of his whole family and my heart just breaks for them. So much of this brought back Chris to me. My relationship with him was as paternal as it was fraternal. Franklin was really Michael’s older brother, and he took that role seriously. You’d love seeing them together because these were two good people who had this bond. It gets you thinking, how can such bad things happen to such good people? There is no real answer.”
Franklin Latt said to Deadline: “Michael was my baby brother and best friend. We traveled the world together, spoke everyday and were always looking towards what our next adventure would be. To know Michael was to understand that he lived his life with intention. The outpouring of love and support from all those he touched has been gratifying for our family beyond words. He founded his company Lead With Love to champion artists and to affect positive change for the world at large. His legacy will live on eternally through all of us as we choose to lead our own lives with that very same intention.”
In moments of inexplicable tragedy like this, all you can do is reach for the nearest loved one and realize how fragile life is. Because there is no fair explanation for what happened to Michael, who was just warming up in his quest to bring unity to an increasingly troubled world. Deadline sends condolences to his family and friends.
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