Thursday, March 28, 2024

James Franco Attempted Hijack; Morgan Spurlock’s Advertising Doc Going to Sundance

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I told you exclusively back in July that Morgan Spurlock was making a documentary about the advertising world.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2010/07/12/spurlocks-secret-doc-elo-in-nyc-sting-symphonizes

Now his “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” is going to Sundance. It’s all paid for, he says, by big companies. And it’s all about how they engineer product placements, etc. Following “Super Size Me” and “Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?” this non fiction essay should be a hoot and a half. Don’t you love sitting through studio films and counting the ads?

FRANCO STORY HIJACKED...Thanks to Entertainment Weekly. So desperate for hits and attention, they actually tried to hijack our James Franco story yesterday. No credit, not a word. The funniest thing was one of those blogs picking up EW’s hijack, and then somewhow transposing Cormac McCarthy into “McCartney.” Yes, Faulkner was a big influence on the Beatles…I was going to get really nasty about another lame blog post somewhere on the internet that tried to question the item about Franco directing “Blood Meridian.” Then I realized the blog was so insignificant that it didn’t have readers. They were just trying to get attention. So, forget it. And thanks to everyone who picked up the story with attribution…

But why is that some wannabe movie bloggers want to go out of their way to cause trouble and start fights? I call them The Pajama Gang. They sit at home in their pj’s, writing for six people, hoping that someone will take them seriously…

…The musical version of “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” closed on Broadway on Sunday, a few weeks early. The show was in an incomprehensible mess despite big stars Patti Lupone, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Laura Benanti. Sheri Renee Scott was miscast, and the director, Bartlett Sher, never rethought the movie as a musical. All the scenes were out of order, and the scenes introducing the show didn’t come up until mid second act. What a disaster! And all that gazpacho, wasted! Dios mio!

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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