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EXCLUSIVE: Mel Gibson Was ‘Really On The Verge Of Suicide’ Before His DUI Arrest; ‘This Was A Death Wish’

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday July 31, 2006 @ 10:04pm PDTTags: Actors, Directors, Religion, Scandal

I’m told by a source intimate with his situation tonight that Mel Gibson “was really on the verge of suicide because he felt he was helpless to alcohol and didn’t know what to do about it.” Sure, my reaction was: sounds like spin. … Read More »

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ABC Cancels Mel Gibson’s Holocaust TV Mini-Series Because Of His DUI Anti-Semitic Slurs

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday July 31, 2006 @ 8:21pm PDTTags: Actors, Directors, Networks, Religion, Scandal, Studios, TV

I have learned that, because of his DUI anti-Semitic slurs, ABC canceled development with Mel Gibson’s television production company on a non-fiction TV mini-series about the Holocaust that was still in the early pre-script stage. The deal had been announced late … Read More »

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APR’s Marketplace on Mel Gibson

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday July 31, 2006 @ 4:26pm PDTTags: Actors, Other Media, Radio, Religion, Scandal

Today, American Public Radio’s Marketplace business show, heard by an audience of over 8.1 million unique listeners in the course of a week, on more than 330 public radio stations nationwide, interviewed several journalists including myself and aired a piece about the Mel Gibson slur scandal. Listen to this story

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Arianna: Hollywood Must Make Mel ‘Pay The Price For His Bigotry & Intolerance’

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday July 31, 2006 @ 4:08pm PDTTags: Actors, Agents, Directors, Religion, Studios

Arianna Huffington, political activist and friend to many Hollywood heavies, wrote on her Huffington Post today a strongly worded challenge to the entertainment business re the Mel Gibson slur scandal. Here are excerpts: … Read More »

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Disney’s Oren Aviv Supports Mel Gibson

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday July 31, 2006 @ 3:22pm PDTTags: Actors, Movies, Scandal, Studios, Trades

Aviv1.jpgHere’s an update to my Hollywood Reacts To Gibson Slur Scandal posting: newly promoted president of production for Walt Disney Pictures Oren Aviv … Read More »

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EXCLUSIVE: My Interview With Rabbi Hier Of Simon Wiesenthal Center About Mel Gibson: DUI Arrest ‘Shows He Has A Problem With Jews… It’s Not Just His Father That Is A Problem.’

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday July 31, 2006 @ 10:26am PDTTags: Actors, Agents, Directors, Movies, Religion, Scandal

Here is my exclusive interview this morning with Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center — an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust by fostering tolerance and … Read More »

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UPDATED: Hollywood Reacts To Gibson

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Sunday July 30, 2006 @ 9:26pm PDTTags: Actors, Agents, Directors, Media, Religion, Scandal

2ND UPDATE:  *More Hollywood Reaction to Mel Gibson*

UPDATE: *Newly promoted president of production for Walt Disney Pictures Oren Aviv and Endeavor agency partner Ari Emanuel have both stepped forward and publicly expressed their opinion about Mel Gibson in light of his … Read More »

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EXCLUSIVE OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION! Cover-Up Denied: LA County Sheriff’s Malibu/Lost Hills Station DUI Arrest Reports Contain Anti-Semitic Slurs Allegedly Made By Mel Gibson; He Apologizes For ‘Despicable’ ‘Out of Control’ ‘Not True’ Drunk Statements

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Saturday July 29, 2006 @ 10:45am PDTTags: Actors, Courts, Directors, Movies, Religion, Scandal

UPDATE: No TV Interviews ‘Anytime Soon’ For Mel

UPDATE: … Read More »

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Miami Vice Mann-Handles #1 From P2 For Director’s Best Opener; Ant Can’t Bully As Warner Bros. Bombs Away This Summer

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Friday July 28, 2006 @ 5:40pm PDTTags: Box Office, Movies


SUNDAY: Nostalgia for Crockett and Tubbs, plus a grittier look and story, made Universal’s Miami Vice the No. 1 movie at the box office, knocking off month-long Disney blockbuster, Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest. This was Michael Mann’s biggest movie opening of his … Read More »

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ICM: Behind-The-Scenes of ‘Project Beta’

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Friday July 28, 2006 @ 1:59pm PDTTags: Agents, DH update, Hollywood, Studios, TV

Back around Christmas 2005, I was tipped that ICM’s Jeff Berg wanted to close two big deals for boutique agencies. Flush with his month-old $100 million private equity infusion from Rizvi Traverse Management, the agency chief was looking closely at Broder Webb Chervin … Read More »

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ICM: Post-Broder Casualty List, So Far

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Friday July 28, 2006 @ 11:52am PDTTags: Agents, Hollywood

UPDATE: ICM: Behind-The-Scenes of ‘Project Beta’

The newly freed agents:

SCOTT ARNOVITZ

NANCY ETZ

TANYA LOPEZ

STEVE SIMONS

BABBETTE PERRY

STACEY LUBLINER

JILL GILLETTE

PATTY DETROIT

NANCY JOSEPHSON

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‘World Trade Center’ Tracking OK; ‘Talladega Nights’ Tracking Bigger

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Friday July 28, 2006 @ 11:15am PDTTags: Box Office, Movies, Summer Movies

There’s still plenty of summer left for the movie biz. I’m told Paramount’s World Trade Center is on track for a $25 million-to-$30 million opening weekend starting August 9th. Gotta say, that’s more than I ever expected. Sony’s Talladega Nights; The Ballad of … Read More »

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…Did I Miss Anything?

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday July 27, 2006 @ 11:22pm PDTTags: Agents, DH update

I’ve been out and about from midday to almost midnight today, and in the meantime ICM finally announced it’s acquired that TV powerhouse, Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann Agency. (I’d been tipped this was happening months and months ago.) It’s late, I’ve got a lot to say about the deal, so check out … Read More »

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Will Saudi Prince Turki Screen ‘WTC’?

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday July 27, 2006 @ 11:19am PDTTags: Actors, Foreign, Hollywood, Movies, Politics

princeturki.jpgI’m told that the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Turki al-Faisal, left Washington D.C. on Saturday and is cocooning with his family at their Beverly Hills estate for the rest of … Read More »

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Kevin Smith Responds Angrily to Me

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Wednesday July 26, 2006 @ 8:02pm PDTTags: Directors, Internet, Journalism, Movies, P.R.

I’ve edited out the jejune personal attacks. But because I’m always in favor of a dialogue based on the merits or demerits of my editorializing, I’m honored to give director Kevin Smith his say. He didn’t take kindly to my recent post … Read More »

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Hollywood Guilds Ain’t Gonna Be Thrilled

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday July 25, 2006 @ 10:24am PDTTags: Guilds, Internet, Movies, P.R., Studios

This may set a new low in the scandal of credits gone wild in the movie biz. The Weinstein Company is boasting about creating a unique partnership between Clerks 2 and MySpace whereby the first … Read More »

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WSJ’s Camp Allen Fashion Critique: Bad

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday July 25, 2006 @ 7:21am PDTTags: Big Media, Fashions, Hollyweird, Moguls, Studios

How did I miss this? The venerable Wall Street Journal, which has just decided to start an official fashion and design bureau, takes a serious look at “media-mogul fashion” from Herbert Allen’s Sun Valley investment confab earlier this month. Sheesh, this is pretty thin stuff. And good thing … Read More »

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4 Murdoch Oldest To Control News Corp.

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday July 24, 2006 @ 12:41pm PDTTags: Big Media, Finance, Studios

Click here for the free Google video of Rupert Murdoch’s recent interview with Charlie Rose. It’s important because Rupe announces his final succession plan: that his four children from his first marriage — Lachlan (middle left), James (near left), Elisabeth (below), … Read More »

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Ari-Watch In — Huh? — Watch Hill, R.I.

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday July 24, 2006 @ 9:29am PDTTags: Agents, Hollyweird

There goes the neighborhood. From today’s Lloyd Grove of the New York Daily News: “Hollywood superagent Ari Emanuel – the brash, crass, fast-talking model for the brash, crass, fast-talking character in the HBO hit Entourage … Read More »

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