Well, I certainly had a good laugh today at Universal's expense. How in the world can the studio expect truthfulness from a just greenlighted Kurt Cobain biopic when Courtney Love will exec produce with attorney Howard Weitzman? 
You know, and I know, but they don't seem to care, that this movie is gonna get crucified by critics, audiences and Nirvana fans just by involving Courtney, who owns her dead hubbie's life rights. The very idea that Weitzman has weaseled his way onto this project to "protect" his client Courtney's interests is a guffaw. It's really rare for a lawyer to snag such a credit. Then again, he's a good pal of Ron Meyer and was his exec vp after Meyer took over at MCA/Universal Studios in 1995. But my opinion of Weitzman is that wherever he goes, a foul odor follows (worse than teen spirit or studio flopsweat). That is certainly how Nirvana devotees view Love as well. The film is ostensibly based on the biography Heavier Than Heaven, and conspiracy theorists have had a field day speculating about the conditions under which Courtney gave author Charles Cross extensive interviews as well as exclusive access to Kurt's unpublished diaries. What I hate seeing here is yet another minefield of a biopic likely to blow up in everyone's faces (attached is screenwriter David Benioff of the Oscar-touted The Kite Runner). Tonight, a studio source told me: "I understand that it's a messy and complicated ... Read More »
Maybe screenwriter/director Craig Mazin (Scary Movie 3 & 4) of the WGA-bashing website ArtfulWriter.com 
has seen one too many horror pics. He's claiming today that the guild members' strike authorization votes are not private, and the way the voting is taking place is not kosher, either. These are quite explosive allegations, and I don't believe he substantiates them (see why I say that below). I'd say Marin is doing himself a lot of harm with his jejune blog. What made Marin so paranoid began with an email from his WGA “strike captain” yesterday:
"And she told me that the Guild had informed her that I had not yet voted, and she urged me to vote. What…the…hell???? For as long as I’ve been a member of this union (12 years and counting now), every single vote we’ve ever taken has been a secret ballot. No one knows who votes or who doesn’t vote, and no one shares that information with other members. Furthermore, there was absolutely no indication in the voting materials that this ballot would be handled in any different way than any ballots before it... If the staff is tallying who voted, then what’s stopping them from seeing who voted how? Will they make a list of the “no” voters? And if they do, any guesses as to how long that list gets leaked? Are you now, or have you ever been against the strike?
"What they’re doing isn’t illegal. It’s just unethical and immoral
... Read More »
So MySpace founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson have agreed to a new contract with News Corp after waging a very aggressive (some would term it rather fanciful) compensation proposal to owner News Corp. I reported back in June they were asking Peter Chernin and Rupert Murdoch for a 2-year deal worth $50 million total. That comes out to $25 million each, or $12.5 million a year. Plus, the pair want a development fund of $15 million to invest in internet companies. Even though MySpace is probably the most integral part of News Corp's overall corporate strategy, no one had obviously told DeWolfe or Anderson that News Corp is also one of the cheapest companies on earth when it comes to executive compensation. They know it now. I'm not yet privy to the particulars of the new contract, 
but I was told by News Corp insiders back then that the chances of DeWolfe and Anderson getting what they wanted pay-wise was "slim to none" and "highly unlikely". I understood News Corp countered with an offer of $15 million each spread over 2 years --- still more than every suit at News Corp except Ailes. Rupe also gave the duo equity in MySpace China, so they already got a deal unlike anyone else's. See my previous, MySpace Pair Looking To Loot News Corp.
Is there anything more hypocritical than a judgmental Francis Ford Coppola?
GQ: You’ve personally known Pacino, De Niro, and Nicholson, and watched them work for 30-plus years. Do you think their success has harmed them artistically? Pacino has never been as contained and intense as he was for you; De Niro returns again and again to playing this near-parody of a charming, menacing sociopath; and Nicholson’s often inseparable from stand-up comedians’ impressions of him. What has happened to these guys?
Francis Ford Coppola: I met both Pacino and De Niro when they were really on the come. They were young and insecure. Now Pacino is very rich, maybe because he never spends any money; he just puts it in his mattress. De Niro was deeply inspired by Zoetrope and created an empire and is wealthy and powerful. Nicholson was—when I met him and worked with him, he was always kind of a joker. He’s got a little bit of a mean streak. He’s intelligent, always wired in with the big guys and the big bosses of the studios.
I don’t know what any of them want anymore. I don’t know that they want the same things. Pacino always wanted to do theater. He wanted to do Peer Gynt. He wanted to do Shakespeare. Pacino will say, “Oh, I was raised next to a furnace in New York, and I’m never going to go to L.A.,” but they all live off the fat of the land.
I think if there was a role that De Niro was hungry
... Read More »
Not just at the Writers Guild of America but all over Hollywood today a deep sigh of relief resounded when the news broke that the movie studios and TV networks withdrew the proposal to let them recoup certain costs before making residual payments. This huge concession occurred one day after the trades were filled with pessimism because the WGA's new hardline strike rules had resulted in a declaration of war from the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers president Nick Counter.
This is exactly why I have been delaying any posting of strike news until today. Because there's been so much huffing, and puffing, and most of all bluffing going on that it's been near impossible to get a real sense of where things stood. You can't believe the posturing from the WGA side, just as you can't believe anything said by Counter. The truth lies in the executive suites and palatial homes of the top Hollywood moguls, who have been letting their labor lackeys keep track of the negotiations to date and don't even have a meeting planned amongst themselves for another week. Let's not mince words: They're the ones who are really going to decide if this strike gets averted, and we all know it. And today's news means that's increasingly likely.
Jeez, I'm sick to death of hearing the ... Read More »
Normally, I wouldn't bother to delve into this. But I feel it's important for my readers to know that Warner president of production Jeff Robinov had many opportunities to deny my Friday posting that he'd articulated a new decree to three different producers that "We are no longer doing movies with women in the lead", that a male has to be the lead of every pic made, and that he doesn't even want to see a script with a woman in the primary position. I stand by my story, Warner's Robinov Bitchslaps Film Women. Now here's what happened behind the scenes.
I heard nothing from anyone at Warner Bros on Friday, Saturday or Sunday despite my emails because the studio, I later heard, decided on a strategy of no comment regarding my posting. Early Monday AM, I was awakened by a phoner from a studio head telling me he'd received a call from Robinov asking for advice on "how to have a better relationship with Nikki Finke". (The studio head, who works for a rival to Warner Bros, advised: "Don't lie to her.") 
The mogul said Robinov wanted a go-between to find out whether I would be willing to talk to him off the record. I was puzzled by this, since Hollywood people just pick up the phone and talk to me directly, but I said of course. I phoned Robinov's office. Since our conversation was off the record, I cannot divulge what Robinov ... Read More »
"'I've always thought that if I wrote a novel about Hollywood,' says Nikki Finke, 'it would start, 'That bitch!' the studio mogul cried, but the secretary didn't know which woman journalist he was talking about.'" So begins my interview with the latest issue of Elle magazine timed to its annual "Women In Hollywood" celebration. (The editors are holding a dinner and awards October 15th at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills.) Read my entire Q-&-A here about power, putzes ("There are a lot of Jewish mothers whom I blame for these people's behavior"), why I watch The Discovery Channel's Shark Week to get agent behavioral pointers, and whether women will ever get ahead in the movie biz. Some snippets:
ELLE: You are a powerful woman in Hollywood, Nikki. A lot of moguls there are scared of you.
Nikki Finke: Look, I'm not powerful, and no one is scared of me. But here's why I think women make the best reporters in Hollywood. It's such a testosterone-fest out here, such the preserve of alpha males, that when you have a male reporter interviewing a male mogul, it's basically swinging dicks aimed at each other.
---
ELLE: Moron. I've seen you call them morons.
NF: Well, that's a given. All moguls are morons. I can't believe what they do on an almost daily basis. I approach this town from the point of view of "You're all making terrible mistakes." The content is terrible. The process is tainted. It's an accident, almost, when a
... Read More »
So now it's official: the Friars Club of New York did score that legal victory over the Friars of Beverly Hills I reported way back on September 7th. (See my previous, Bicoastal Friars Club War Ends: NY Wins?) The court order was officially signed last week instructing the Friars of Beverly Hills to stop using the Friars’s name. Of course, it took the flacks at Rubenstein 17 days to get back to me on this. Here's the PR:
THE FRIARS CLUB WINS WITH SUMMARY JUDGMENT AGAINST THE FRIARS OF BEVERLY HILLS: Attorneys from Pryor Cashman Prove the Friars of Beverly Hills Violated Trademark Law in Using the Friars’ Name
Los Angeles, CA -- Attorneys for The Friars Club at Pryor Cashman have officially obtained a summary judgment against the Friars of Beverly Hills in a Lanham Act and Anti-Dilution lawsuit, which they filed in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California. The Friars Club, renowned for its legendary Friars “Roasts” and whose members have included entertainment luminaries such as George Burns, Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor, claimed that the defendants infringed and diluted The Friars Club’s trademark by operating “Friars of Beverly Hills” and by falsely claiming that it was the successor to the Friars Club of California, a now-defunct former licensee of The Friars Club.
In its decision, the Court found that the name “Friars” was not transferable from the
... Read More »
The Band's Visit has just swept Israel's Ophir Awards (the equivalent to that country's Oscars) so this means it should be Israel's submission for the Academy Award's Best Foreign Language Film. But even with the Kodak Theater ceremony still 5 months away, there's already controversy in this category. Rivals are claiming that the political movie, about an Egyptian police band that mistakenly ends up stranded overnight in a small Israeli town, has more than 50% English dialogue and therefore must be ruled ineligible for the nomination. 
Israeli film critic Yair Raveh has been following the scandal on his blog (alas, in Hebrew) and reports that The Band's Visit producers, backed by Sony Pictures Classics (who bought the Cannes award winning film's foreign rights) insist the English dialogue is less than 50%. The Israeli motion picture academy says it's the producers' call, not theirs. That has infuriated rivals who are calling on the local academy to check into the matter before the film is officially submitted. Sony Classics may also enter the pic's Israeli writer and director Eran Kolirin in the Best Original Screenplay category. The Band's Visit, of course, just had its North American premiere at Telluride and Toronto. "As someone who's been following Israeli cinema for the past 15 years," Raveh emails me, "I've yet to see a local film getting such glowing international reviews." If it does become one of Oscar's Foreign Language nominees this year, it will be the first Israeli film to do so since 1984's Beyond the Walls. To date, six ... Read More »
Hollywood is now indulging in a different kind of rehab substitute. It's intense and round the clock sober companionship, aka "The Sober Buddy". Rather than spending the standard 60 to 90 days in a clinic like Promises or Betty Ford, the actor or actress or exec hires a sober companion to keep on track. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, this coach by your side makes sure you stay clean. Such intense monitoring doesn't come cheap, as ABC News-- which claims Owen Wilson has a sober buddy -- found out from Douglas Caine, founder of Sober Champion with offices in LA, NYC and London. Caine says his prices range from $450 to $1,500 a day for care. as it happens, art is imitating life: Jim Carrey is supposedly still linked to a Universal project in development titled Sober Buddies to play a court appointed "sober buddy" to a hard-partying businessman needing an alcohol-free biz trip to Vegas. The glitch? The sober buddy falls off the wagon himself. Then again, Carrey's recent projects do have a habit of falling apart.
One of my fave film critics personally and professionally today launched a new blog named The Projectionist as "a place for second thoughts, third thoughts, musings both important and self-indulgent, and — I hope — a fluid exchange with readers". New York mag's David Edelstein plans to post several times each week, noting, “a blog is organic, and you never know if it will turn you into The Hulk or the Incredible Shrinking Man.” Edelstein joined New York as film critic in January 2006, coming from Slate. He is also film critic for NPR's Fresh Air and an occasional commentator on film for CBS Sunday Morning.
... is Andy Cohen, Bravo's senior v-p of production and programming. 
He has to be the most annoying host to be foisted upon TV viewers in a long, long time. Of course, there's the obvious conflict of interest issue. (Did he audition himself? Yes, but claims in interviews that he did so with "support and encouragement from my bosses. I don't have the power to say, 'OK, well, now I want a show at eight o'clock every night, so that's what I'm gonna do'.") 
But it's also never a good idea to put a showbiz suit in front of the camera anyway, unless that executive has the charm and charisma of a Brandon Tartikoff (and even he had the good sense to know that a little of himself went a long way). Cohen is uber-awful. He's Mr. Tries Too Hard because he must know he lacks the chops. Not only can't he referee a group, he's worse when attempting to interview: his questions are inchoate, he never asks follow-ups, and he's uncomfortable to watch. I'm certainly not the first person to think this, and I won't be the last. Enough already. Cohen's bosses needed to keep him confined to the Internet where he can't do any harm and leave on-air hosting to the pros.
As usual, Vanity Fair's James Wolcott elegantly sums up the issue at hand regarding that creepy blogger email I reported: read his commentary here.
Just when I think I've seen it all... comes this email from Hollywood-Elsewhere.com blogger Jeff Wells to 3:10 To Yuma director James Mangold. I've authenticated it, and I've shortened it (because so much of it is incomprehensible filmspeak). But I am truly sickened that Wells spends the 2nd paragraph begging Mangold to, well, see for yourself. I understand that the director was appalled by the email. As all of Hollywood should be:
From: Jeffrey Wells
August 9, 2007 9:54:59 AM PDT
To: James Mangold
Subject: 3:10 to Yuma notes
Jim,
I'm just gonna be upfront with you, pardner, and tell ya right straight I can't get on the 3:10 to Yuma train and ride shotgun this time. Not like I did with Walk the Line, I mean. Not 100% anyway. It's clearly above-average and sometimes way above average but that ending....hoowee. Crowe [edited out because of spoilers]. Christian Bale is superb -- one of his career best -- and Crowe is high-end exceptional as always, and I greatly respect Bale's angry older son. A very good actor. DiCaprio-strength emoting. What's his name again? Don't bother -- I'll figure it out.
I am on my knees, Mr. Mangold, saying thank you, thank you and thank you again for persuading Vinessa Shaw to do her first flat-out, boob-baring nude scene. I was in heaven as Crowe drew her on his notepad. Please tell me there's somebody on the Yuma team who can slip me some stills of the shooting that day... please. I'm serious. I know you think like I do
... Read More »
This is hilarious. A few hours after director Michael Bay declared "No Blu-Ray, No 'Transformers' 2!" (and nearly gave poor Paramount boss Brad Grey a panic attack), he has backtracked. By the way, to answer all your questions about my personal views, I honestly don't care which format takes over; I just want ONE format to win already. And the funniest email I've received these past few days has to be this: "The most upsetting part of your story is the possibility that the future of home entertainment might hinge in any way on what Michael Bay says or does. Horrifying, even." As for my own opinion, now I understand why his 'The Island' sucked so bad. Anyway, here's what the helmer just posted on his "Shoot For The Edit" website. Interesting how quickly and easily he became a new convert to HD DVD:
"Last night at dinner I was having dinner with three Blu-ray owners. They were pissed about no Transformers Blu-ray, and I drank the Kool-Aid hook, line and sinker. So at 1:30 in the morning I posted -- nothing good ever comes out of early AM posts, mind you -- I over reacted. I heard where Paramount is coming from and the future of HD and players that will be close to the $200 mark which is the magic number. I like what I heard.
As a director, I'm all about people seeing films in the best quality possible, and I saw and heard firsthand people upset about a corporate decision.
So today
... Read More »
UPDATE: Michael Bay Changes Mind
There's more fallout today from yesterday's announcement that Paramount has gone from supporting both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats to just the losing high-def format HD. An obviously vexed Michael Bay wrote in a forum posting on his "Shoot for the Edit" website that he will not make a Transformers sequel because of it. "I want people to see my movies in the best formats possible. For them to deny people who have Blu-ray sucks! They were progressive by having two formats. No Transformers 2 for me!" Bay's outburst is thought to be the first time a director has openly criticised a studio for its choice of high-def formats. And this'll come as a surprise to the studio bosses who have been salivating over the brand new franchise. My question to Paramount is: was the $50 million I reported for the deal really worth it?
Meanwhile, I hear that Paramount's decision could also cause problems with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas over the Indiana Jones franchise. I've got more clarification about the helmer's format fence-sitting position which was highlighted in that one line notation yesterday. Spielberg's Paramount movies like Saving Private Ryan and War of the Worlds are not included in that studio's HD DVD deal. Nor will the director give permission to Universal to include his titles (like Jaws, E.T., and Jurassic Park) in that studio's long-time exclusive support of the HD DVD format. Spielberg, ... Read More »
The Hollywood Reporter's newly named editor Elizabeth Guider was smack in the middle of today's controversy. Though she was out of town, 
she first informed TV writer Ray Richmond that his article on Merv Griffin's private life was taken down from his THR-branded blog and the trade paper's website. Then she informed him later that it had been restored. But I see the teaser has been removed from THR's home page. No longer front and center, it's under "TV" and then under "Columns".
I'm told that Merv Griffin's people were shocked by Richmond's unsubstantiated claims and by THR's decision to publish them. And on today of all days when Merv's funeral mass is being held with 500 people expected to attend including Nancy Reagan and Governor Arnold Schwarzeenegger who is giving one of the eulogies. So a shitstorm ensued: they complained to The Hollywood Reporter and wanted to axe a planned tribute ad for Monday. In reaction, the trade removed the article without even an editor's note. Now it's restored. I've got to say, given the friendly relationship between the trades and Hollywood, this isn't exactly an unexpected development. I'm just surprised that a THR editor ran the commentary in the first place.
See my previous: Why'd The Hollywood Reporter Do That?
There are two things you may not know about Stardust, opening this weekend. 1) Good thing Brad Grey is vacationing in Europe with his family. Because he'll miss the pic's disastrous domestic opening this weekend. Even budgeted without marketing costs at $70 million (which sounds way low to me because of all the special effects excess), director Matthew Vaughn's adventure romance fantasy is tracking horribly for its Friday opening in 2,300 theaters. "The over/under this weekend is at $15 million," one of my box office gurus tells me. Yikes! Plus, the trailers starring Claire Danes, Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Sienna Miller have to be among the worst I've ever seen. (They remind me of the promos for that huge Terry Gilliam bomb, The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen, though Stardust's producers prefer to compare their pic to Princess Bride on steroids.) Anyway, though it'll do nil biz domestically, Paramount is still "very bullish" on the pic's chances overseas because of the international cast. But, seriously, look at all the Paramount-branded bombs this year: last weekend's Hot Rod, plus Next, Shooter and Zodiac (a leftover from the Sherry Lansing era). Yet the studio is now first place in market share only because of DreamWorks, which is about to cross the $1 billion mark at the domestic box office this year.
2) So here's the silver lining: I'm told Paramount is only into ... Read More »
I'm more than a little surprised at the interview which showbiz pitbull Marty Singer gave to The Hollywood Reporter Esq this week. Because it's my opinion that, from now on, his threatening letters to media outlets don't mean anything. The Lavely & Singer name partner admits that certain websites have defanged him: they simply publish the letters he writes "which make it a much better story". As a result, he says "we don't even bother" threatening them with missives anymore. So I can't understand why mainstream media outlets should fear him anymore, either. Is Singer going soft? Tell me it ain't so, Marty! (Which is why Portfolio's online Screed-o-Matic about Singer just looks old.) In the rest of the interview, I think Singer just embarrasses himself with his overt sliminess. Judge for yourself:
THR, ESQ.: Give us an example of your persuasiveness.Singer: A lot of people come to me and our firm to deal with the media. You have a potential article that's about to be published in four hours or 24 hours or somewhere in between, and you typically want to prevent an article from being published. At that point, you have to be persuasive because you can't simply say the article is false and "We'll sue you," because they don't really care. You have to be able to convince publications why they shouldn't publish the article notwithstanding the law in the U.S. that relates to defamation, which is a difficult.
... Read More »
That seems to be the word from Paul Haggis. The director and screenwriter gave an interview to Entertainment Weekly (not yet published) about his September 14th film, In The Valley Of Elah, and Clint Eastwood's name came up. Remember, the 77-year-old icon has not acted in anyone else's movie since 1993's In the Line of Fire and only his own films after that (and not in his last two). I know what you're thinking: there's a scoop in the official magazine of receptionists? (Well, even the reporter Gregory Kirschling admits on EW's blog that he "stumbled across the news" for the mag's upcoming Fall Movie Preview issue.) But Haggis appears to confirm Clint quietly joined the Paul Newman/Sean Connery retirees club:
EW: There was talk of Clint playing the Tommy Lee Jones part. Is that true?
Paul Haggis: Well, that was my idea, but it was never his. (Laughs.) [Eastwood] told me from the beginning he was never gonna act in anything else. He said, "Well, Paul, I was in retirement, I came out of it to do Million Dollar Baby. I don't think I can go out better, do you?" I went, "Oh, damn, how can I argue with that?"
EW: I didn't realize he'd retired from acting.
PH: Yeah! [Million Dollar Baby producer] Al Ruddy, who was his friend, sent him the script [for Baby] and talked him into considering it again.
EW: Is that widely known?
PH: No, I don't think so.
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