Showbiz411 » Books

Flashback Exclusive: Candice Bergen Memoir Headed to Silver Screen

Roger Friedman — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:36:22 +0000

Candice Bergen’s 1983 autobiography, “Knock on Wood,” is coming to the big screen. I reported this exclusively on February 14th– ten weeks ago. Today, Deadline.com says it’s their exclusive. There’s nothing I can do but call them out on it. Nikki Finke was suing The Hollywood Reporter over stolen stories. And yet this just goes on and on. All it takes is a quick Google search to see if a story you’re working on has already been written. Then you just say, first reported in….It’s so easy. Anyway, “Knock on Wood” will make a great film. I wish Bergen would write a Part 2 and take us through the rest of her life. http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/02/14/candice-bergen-bringing-her-memoir-knock-wood-to-the-big-screen

Categories:

Books
Movies

(Read more...)

2012 Wrap Up: John Goodman Leads A Dozen (Or So) Winners from This Year’s Movie Season

Roger Friedman — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 05:37:21 +0000

Oscar season is over! So what is the net-net? Besides the nominees and winners, there were plenty of other winners from this season. Not everyone gets a statue, but some people get our applause and thanks. Also, their careers move up several notches whether they’re newcomers or vets. I was going to put Nicole Kidman on here for “The Paperboy,” but she got some nominations and I wrote a whole tribute to her some time ago. PS Special mention to, like, everyone from “Lincoln” from Walt Goggins to Gloria Reuben and Michael Stuhlbarg and Boris McGiver. 12. Rosemarie DeWitt- I really think there is an Oscar coming to Rosemarie DeWitt. She’s being under-utilized. She was in a bunch of films this year including “Your Sister’s Sister” with the equally good Emily Blunt. Every director should be knocking down this woman’s door. 11. John Krasinski- He co-wrote and starred in “The Promised Land” with Matt Damon. He was biding his time in “The Office” for years. But Krasinksi reminds me of Karl Malden. There’s a lot untapped there. 10. Oscar Isaac–is [...]

Categories:

(Read more...)

Tommy Mottola: “If You Want to Get Married at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Be Prepared to Write A Check”

Roger Friedman — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 19:18:50 +0000

Some years ago, I wrote a story — probably on Foxnews.com–about how Tommy Mottola got married to singer Thalia in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Because he had converted to Judaism for his first marriage, and because Mariah Carey wouldn’t give him an annulment, Mottola was in a bind. To married in the Catholic Church, he needed a “get” from wife number 1, and an annulment from wife no. 2. Neither was forthcoming. So he went to Cardinal Egan at St. Patrick’s, listened to him play the piano, and wrote him a check for $500,000 for an album advance– that’s right, an album. Check amazon.com. We have never heard “Cardinal Egan Plays the Best of Elton John and Rachmaninoff.” Now, reading Esquire, I see that Mottola tells the writer of his new book, “Hitmaker,” an important lesson: “If you want to get married at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, be prepared to write a check.” http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/tommy-mottola-interview-15033392?click=main_sr “Hitmaker” is part fact and part fiction. I’m assuming some of it is fact. It’s a good read, anyway, as reimagined by writer Cal Fussman (the Esquire guy). [...]

Categories:

(Read more...)

New Scientology Book Identifies Who Named L. Ron Hubbard “The Master”

Roger Friedman — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 06:14:37 +0000

A lot of people leave Paul Thomas Anderson‘s movie “The Master” scratching their heads. It does feel as though some explanations are missing. And that feeling has translated into the movie not doing so well at the box office, while the main actors–Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams– have all been nominated for Oscars. Did Anderson leave something out, especially after showing the movie to Scientology enthusiast Tom Cruise? We just don’t know, for example, why the movie is called “The Master.” But in the new exhaustive (and yet curiously incomplete) study of Scientology called “Going Clear” by Lawrence Wright, there’s finally at least some kind of actual tie in between the term “The Master” and Scientology–which is veiled as The Cause in “The Master.” Wright cites Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s chief associate Peggy Conway as the person who dubbed Hubbard “The Master.” Wright writes that Hubbard, back in his early days in the 1950s, was pursuing actress Gloria Swanson to join Scientology. Wright says Conway, a South African who died in 1957, left behind papers describing [...]

Categories:

Tags: scientology the master

(Read more...)

Confirmed: Paul Thomas Anderson Making Thomas Pynchon Novel into a Film–with Robert Downey Jr.

Roger Friedman — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 05:17:17 +0000

There were a lot of internet rumors and some clues over the last week. Now I can confirm that Paul Thomas Anderson’s next film will be an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel “Inherent Vice.” And also, it does like Robert Downey, Jr. and perhaps Charlize Theron will be the stars, with more names coming. After disappointing box office on “The Master,” PTA is said to be interested in having a moneymaker. I can tell you that the brilliant and relatively young Megan Ellison is going to produce via her Annapurna Productions. Ellison is also busy prepping David O. Russell’s next one, “American Bullshit,” with Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale and, obviously, a new title. Pynchon is notoriously reclusive. The legendary author of “Gravity’s Rainbow” and “V” has lived for years right here in New York, married to literary agent Melanie Jackson. He’s our J.D. Salinger, meaning no one ever sees him. (Other writers like this include Thomas Harris, the creator of Hannibal Lecter, who lives in Sag Harbor, and Harper Lee, who used to be in New York and is [...]

Categories:

(Read more...)

Celeste Bartos, Longtime New York Philanthropist, Dies at Age 95 (Or Thereabouts)

Roger Friedman — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 05:23:56 +0000

I always thought Celeste Bartos was already dead. But apparently the woman whose name adorns a magnificent room at the New York Public Library, and a theater at the Museum of Modern Art, passed away on Saturday. No one mentions her age but this sort of amazing philanthropist and heiress to a huge pulp paper empire had to have been around 95. As yet there’s no official obit in the Times. In the little biography readily available, it’s stated that she married her first husband, John Altman, in 1935. Some time later she married her second husband, Armand Bartos. He was born in 1910 and died at the end of 2005; he himself was 95. Even though Bartos had money and was influential in the art world, it was Celeste’s fortune from her father, D. Samuel Gottesman, that propelled her. (Gottesman’s brother and his family made millions with Warren Buffet.) But in all the years that we heard about people like philanthropist Brooke Astor or social X-ray Nan Kempner, there was nary a word about Celeste Bartos in the press. [...]

Categories:

(Read more...)

“Les Miz” Soundtrack is Number 1, Anne Hathaway Has A Hit Single

Roger Friedman — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 05:09:59 +0000

So. While we were celebrating the holidays, some people bought or downloaded music. And the result is that the soundtrack to “Les Miserables” is number 1, on amazon.com and on iTunes. So it’s number 1 both in physical sales and in virtual ones. “Les Miz” is beating Taylor Swift and all the other little popsters on the charts. Not bad. It’s a rarity for a single release to dominate all the number 1 slots, too– usually the top album on iTunes is something younger, while amazon buyers are older and want the CD. But it does seem like everyone wants “Les Miz.” And to make it even sweeter, Anne Hathaway as a little bit of a hit with her version of “I Dreamed a Dream.” It’s number 25 on iTunes and 29 on amazon.com. Kudos to Republic Records/Universal Music for ‘getting’ it. Not every hit movie launches a hit CD– witness the “Twilight” movies, which should have sold bundles of CDs, but didn’t exactly. Meantime, my favorite current CD, Van Morrison’s “Born to Sing: No Plan B,” is number 40 [...]

Categories:

(Read more...)

Sidney Poitier, 85, Hollywood Legend, Publishing His First Novel

Roger Friedman — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 18:34:36 +0000

Sidney Poitier, real movie star, the legend, the Oscar winner, the author already, of two memoirs, is publishing his first novel next May. It’s called “Montaro Caine,” he and wife Joanna told me last night at the honorary Oscar gala at the Dolbt Theater in Los Angeles. Sidney Poitier is 85 years old, my friends. That should give us all hope. Poitier was the biggest star in a room that was like the entire galaxy last night. When he went on stage to present an honorary Oscar to George Stevens, Jr.–who runs the Kennedy Center honors, has directed and acted in many important films and comes from a dynastic Hollywood family–it was Poitier who got a standing ovation. So what’s “Montaro Caine” about? “It’s sci-fi,” Poitier told me. “Sort of like Indiana Jones, but better!” And the name Montaro Caine? The spelling of the last name should tell us everything–Poitier’s bff is Michael Caine, a bit of a swashbuckler in his time. Poitier was one of several speakers who made last night so memorable. Each person who spoke — from honorees [...]

Categories:

(Read more...)

Harvey Weinstein Producing All Star Concert Planned for 12-12-12 for Hurricane Sandy

Roger Friedman — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:40:36 +0000

Just as he did with the Concert for New York right after September 11th, 2001, Harvey Weinstein is putting on an all star concert for Hurricane Sandy relief. Set for December 12, 2012, “12-12-12″ will feature Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, the Who, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Bon Jovi, and tons more top rank artists. Weinstein is producing the show with John Sykes and with Jim Dolan of Cablevision. Proceeds will go to the Robin Hood Foundation. The show will likely feature some kind of participation from the Rolling Stones, although they are not part of today’s announcement. But this ’12-12’12″ comes the right in the middle of the Stones’ New York area shows on December 8 and 13th. And so far, the Stones have not announced any kind of charitable donation even though their ticket prices alone could raise enough money to support all the people who’ve been displaced and then some. They will be a natural addition. Don’t be surprised to hear also Paul Simon thrown into the mix. Maybe they can pipe in Sting, too. He’s [...]

Categories:

Tags: 12-12-12 alicia keys Billy Joel Bruce Springsteen cablevision harvey weinstein jim dolan john sykes jon bon jovi paul mccartney robin hood foundation the who

(Read more...)

Petraeus Book by Mistress Almost Completely Sold Out on Amazon

Roger Friedman — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 16:01:26 +0000

“All In,” the book written by General Petraeus’s mistress, Paula Broadwell, is now a hit. Thanks to revelations of their affair, “All In,” has only 16 copies left in stock at amazon.com. It’s up to number 108 on amazon on the list of all books–and this is the hardcover edition. (The paperback, not so much.) Amazon readers didn’t like “All In” a lot when they first read it. Most commenters accused Broadwell of “hero worship” and said the book had no revelations or insights except for evaluations of Petraeus as a good jogger. The book was co-written by Vernon Loeb, the Washington Post local editor, who is said to be in the running for higher rank at his newspaper. Alas, he didn’t break the story about Broadwell and Petraeus even though it was right under his nose. From what I gather, she did the “field work” and then phoned or emailed it into Loeb, who wrote it up. And no one ever questioned how this woman, who had not authored anything before, had such extraordinary access to the head of [...]

Categories:

Tags: broadwell john edwards petraeus rieller hunter

(Read more...)