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Rob Reiner Will Reunite with “American President” Star Michael Douglas in Close-to-Real-Life Comedy

Roger Friedman
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Rob Reiner Will Reunite with “American President” Star Michael Douglas in Close-to-Real-Life Comedy

Exclusive: PJ Hogan is out, and Rob Reiner is in. Reiner is now the director of “And So It Goes,” starring Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton. For Douglas, the story is a little true-to-life: the character’s son goes to jail. The twist is that he leaves Michael and Diane with a black granddaughter they didn’t know about. Reiner’s Castle Rock was always the producer, but Hogan was long attached to direct the comedy.

It’s a toss up to say which of them, Reiner or Hogan, has had a recent hit. Each of them has been stale for some time. Hogan’s hits were in the 90s–“My Best Friend’s Wedding” and “Muriel’s Weddding.” Reiner sued to be Mr. Smart and Funny. Think of “Spinal Tap,” “Stand by Me,” etc. Somewhere in the late 90s he lost it completely. He’s produced a string of awful films starting with “The Ghosts of Mississippi” and “The Story of Us.” His last two films, “Magic of Belle Isle”and “Flipped” were barely released and made no money at all– $102,000 and $1.7 million respectively. And the first one starred Morgan Freeman.

“And So it Goes” reunites Reiner with Douglas. They made a great movie together with “The American President” twenty years ago. Here’s hoping lightning strikes twice.

Only in NY: Professional Party Crasher Expresses Outrage Over Being Pointed Out–In Front of Police Commish

Roger Friedman
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Only in NY: Professional Party Crasher Expresses Outrage Over Being Pointed Out–In Front of Police Commish

You know, New Yorkers have the most chutzpah of anyone in the world. And so it is that at all Broadway openings and many movie premieres, there are professional crashers. They are not invited to the event, know no one, are not press, media, guests, relatives of guests, or have any association with anyone on the premises.

There is a group, and they are known, although not by name except for a couple–Shaggy, a like able guy who looks like Big Bird and manages to get into places. And Doreen, an elderly lady, well dressed, with short gray hair. She carries a cane. The others include a tall, older, scary looking dude with a rock star gray shag hair cut, lanky– I call him Lurch. He wears mostly black clothes and runs like a panther on the African plain if anyone tries to photograph him.

There’s a cherubic lady, also with a cane, and blonde hair, heavy set. There’s a light skinned black man who looks like he’s trying out to the be the older version of the Will Smith character in “Six Degrees of Separation.” He wears a suit and usually has some kind of scarf tied around his neck. There’s another guy, white, who also wears a suit, and a hat or bandana, and sneakers. There’s a younger guy who looks like the son of Professor Irwin Corey. He has a bony head and wild flying, stringy hair. And oh yes–two guys who travel together. One looks like a walrus, heavy set. The other reminds me of a character actor or cartoon character from TV– sort of a comic face.

And so our story from Sunday night’s premiere of “Cinderella” concerns Doreen, who made it into the show and then into the party at Gotham Hall. How does she do it? How do they do all do it? They stand outside and ask everyone who comes by if they have an extra ticket. It’s like a game. Someone always takes pity on them. There’s always one in a hundred whose friend got sick, couldn’t make it, missed a train, something. The comic faced guy also got into “Cinderella” and held up his ticket. It’s a game show called “Survivor: Crashing NYC.”

I spotted Doreen in the Gotham and pointed her out to a major Broadway producer. We were admiring her tenacity. Seated at table by us, mind you, was Polie Commissioner Ray Kelly and his wife. This didn’t stop Doreen. Seeing that we were talking about her, she was not ashamed or embarrassed. Or feeling guilty. Quite the contrary. Doreen came right up to us. “How dare you single me out,” she said loudly.

My producer friend, whose parents were landlords to thousands of nutty New Yorkers over the years, was bemused. “We were complimenting you,” she said to Doreen. The old lady wouldn’t have it. “I have every right to be here!” she said. “What’s it to you?”

I said, “This is something. You’re doing this in front of the police commissioner.”

She tilted her head and looked over. She didn’t care. So we are not at the point that the crashers are indignant about being pointed out.

Hey: it’s a career.

Disney’s $300 Million Gamble on “Oz” Will Pay Off–Whew!

Roger Friedman
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Disney’s $300 Million Gamble on “Oz” Will Pay Off–Whew!

The folks at Disney are sleeping soundly I think. “Oz: the Great and Powerful” lives up to its $300 million price tag. There will be no repeat of past hellacious failures like “John Carter” or Warner’s current “Jack the Giant Slayer.” Everyone who kept calling me up saying “James Franco is miscast” or “It’s terrible” will be eating their words on Saturday morning when the first box office returns come in. Snarky buzz is not going to carry the day. Sam Raimi’s made a hugely entertaining, very involving tribute to “The Wizard of Oz.” Especially effective, besides the actors, is the knockout 3D and gorgeous set design.

So Franco plays Oz, the would be Wizard, who comes in a hot air balloon from Kansas carried by a tornado. And there is the first grand touch: the Kansas scenes are in black and white. It’s not until Oz (that’s his name) lands in this fairy tale land, that the movie bursts into palettes of color. Nice. And of course, many of the people he meets in Oz are played by actors who also appeared in the Kansas scenes–it’s very much a parallel to the original film. One neat plot point is that Oz the magician has had some kind of fleeting romance with the woman who will be — in years to come–Dorothy Gale’s mother. Again, nice.

Raimi brings us a lot of familiar touch points– flying monkeys, the Yellow Brick Road, wicked witches, a nod to lions and scarecrows, the poppy field, and the munchkins. Audiences will feel very much at home as the story of how the Wicked Witches of East and West grew to hate Glinda the Good Witch and the Wizard. Oz is a frisky fellow, so we can just about attribute the inception of the Wicked Witch of the West to her being a scorned ex- of the Wiz. Think about that.

Franco heads a very attractive and highly capable cast, starting with Michelle Williams as Glinda, Rachel Weisz as the Witch of the East, and Mila Kunis as the Witch of the West. The women are shot beautifully and well drawn by David Lindsay-Abaire and Mitchell Kapner. Oz certainly has his hands full with all of them. Williams stunningly recalls the original Glinda, Billie Burke. There’s also some nice work by Zach Braff as Oz the magician’s right hand man in Kansas and the voice of Oz’s charming monkey assistant. Bill Cobbs and Tony Cox are the most notable of the character types, although everyone is well cast.

The one character I didn’t quite get is a miniature animated China doll–I guess she’s Disney’s marketing tool. We’ll look for her on store shelves soon. Remember– this is a Disney movie. We are not in Kansas anymore.

So what about James Franco? Oz is a carnival magician and con man, as he readily admits to Glinda. Before he comes to the Land of Oz, he’s always just getting away with something. As we know from Dorothy’s later story, he doesn’t change that much. Franco really grasps Oz’s charms–he’s got a twinkle in his eye as he pulls his little tricks. He’s got the character down, and I expect he will lead this whole group to one or two sequels. I had my doubts, but “Oz” is a winner.

FBI Releases Whitney Houston Files– Including Stalker and Possible Extortion by Ex Employees

Roger Friedman
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Before anyone gets too excited: the FBI released files they had on Whitney Houston today. The biggest news is that she had a stalker or crazed fan in 1988. And then in 1992, there was some attempt to extort money from her by former employees. It’s not clear whether they were the same people who Houston was sued for discrimination by 12 years later in 2004. Silvia Bejar and Rose Hunt threatened to go public with private information about Houston. Her lawyers sued them in advance. http://vault.fbi.gov/whitney-houston/whitney-houston-part-01-of-01/view

Here’s that story the Daily Record in Bergen county by Peggy Wright:

Ex-employees sue Houston, Brown for discrimination

Date: February 7, 2004

Two women who worked for Mendham Township superstar Whitney Houston have filed discrimination lawsuits against the pop diva and her husband, former pop star Bobby Brown, with one of the ex-employees alleging that Brown made unwelcome sexual advances.

Silvia Vejar of Fort Lee, a former personal assistant to Houston, and Rose Hunt of East Orange, an assistant and dressmaker for Houston, filed suit on Friday in Superior Court, Morristown. The complaints, filed by Morristown attorney William Koy, demand compensatory and punitive damages from Houston, Brown and Houston’s corporation, Nippy Inc., based in Newark.

Aware that the lawsuits were imminent, Houston’s attorneys, Jed Marcus and Ivan Novich, two weeks ago attempted to launch a pre-emptive strike designed to stop the ex-employees from publicly airing their grievances against the celebrity couple.

They sued Vejar and Hunt to block them from disclosing information about Houston and Brown, saying that the women, both fired in the spring, violated employment confidentiality agreements.

But Houston’s suit was filed using fictitious, generic names and initials. Superior Court Judge Kenneth MacKenzie, sitting in Morristown, refused to seal the singer’s request for an injunction against her two former employees and ordered that the document be filed with true identities disclosed. Marcus and Novich said they would appeal, but some of the information that Houston apparently sought to keep confidential now has been made public in the lawsuits filed by Vejar and Hunt.

Neither Marcus nor Novich could be reached for comment on Friday. Koy also said he had no further comment.

In her lawsuit, Vejar said she worked for Nippy Inc. for 17 years, most recently as a personal assistant to Houston at the singer’s home in Mendham Township. Vejar alleged that, beginning in 1997 and ending with her termination in May 2003, Brown engaged in a pattern of conduct that “included unwelcome sexual advances and verbal and physical conduct of an offensive nature.”

Brown’s conduct created a hostile working environment that interfered with Vejar’s job performance, the lawsuit said.

Vejar reported Brown’s conduct to Houston and unidentified others, but his alleged harassment did not end, the lawsuit said, adding that Vejar believes her firing was a direct result of rejecting Brown’s advances and reporting them to Houston.

Hunt, a 14-year employee who most recently worked as an assistant and dressmaker to Houston until she was fired in March, corroborated Vejar’s claims in her own lawsuit.

Hunt’s complaint also cites the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination — which protects employees against sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation — and said she believes that her dismissal was a consequence of reporting Brown’s harassment of her co-worker.

Both women allege that they were punished for speaking out about Brown’s behavior, and that they have suffered emotional and psychological distress, anguish and anxiety, and damage to their reputations and careers.

Lawyers for Houston have been in Superior Court, Morristown, numerous times over the last decade, usually seeking restraining orders against alleged stalkers or people falsely representing themselves as related to or connected to Houston.

Brown, who also has had numerous run-ins with the law.

Watch 20 Minutes of Deleted Material from “The Master”: They May Explain the Movie

Roger Friedman
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Watch 20 Minutes of Deleted Material from “The Master”: They May Explain the Movie

Here are twenty minutes of deleted scenes from Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master.” Some of it explains more about the characters. We even get to see a little more of Laura Dern. When you’re editing a film you never know if you’ve cut something important. But there will be a big argument that some of this would have helped explain this enigmatic, brilliant film. The last couple of minutes is an actual outtake, and very funny. But I should make it clear that this movie was under PTA’s control. He showed it to Scientology advocate Tom Cruise early on. Was this material that Cruise was uncomfortable with? Maybe.

Today’s Marvin Gaye Movie Announcement Was Made Six Years Ago, Thanks

Roger Friedman
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Today’s Marvin Gaye Movie Announcement Was Made Six Years Ago, Thanks

I’m sorry. Fool me once… Today, as happens biannually, someone announced that Jesse L. Martin would play Marvin Gaye in a movie called “Sexual Healing.” However, just to explain the b-s that goes on in ScoopVille, that same announcement was made on February 2, 2006. Here  it is: http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2006/02/06/Jesse-L-Martin-to-portray-Marvin-Gaye/UPI-30311139263622/

Fact is, I’ve written about this never going to happen, can’t be made, shouldn’t be made film for years, too. The producers only have the rights to Gaye’s music from 1982-1984, when he was on Columbia Records. There will be NO Motown recordings in this film. Got that? The movie is designed to cover only the last, and saddest part, of Marvin’s extraordinary career.

There will be nothing about his rise to fame at Motown, his duets with Tammi Terrell, his crazy marriage to Anna Gordy, or his brilliant moment of artistic achievement with “What’s Going On.” It will just be about Marvin taking drugs, losing his mind, and being shot to death by his father.

No one wants to see that, trust me.

But also: this business of constantly releasing the same “leaks” about a movie that won’t be made. It’s tiresome.

This “scoop” was also discussed in 2011 by Martin, who said making the movie was “impossible.” He was right. http://www.eurweb.com/2011/04/jesse-l-martin-less-optimistic-about-his-marvin-gaye-biopic/

‘Jack’ Slays Warner Bros. for $300 Million Loss As First Weekend Tanks

Roger Friedman
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‘Jack’ Slays Warner Bros. for $300 Million Loss As First Weekend Tanks

UPDATE: Weekend box office is worse than thought– only $27.2 million, not even $28 mil.

Earlier: Jack may have slain the Giant, but he also took down Warner Bros. over the weekend. “Jack the Giant Slayer,” directed by Bryan Singer and written by Christopher McQuarrie, cost $300 million all-in. But its first weekend was a bust: $28 million. Even if people who don’t understand English in remote corners of the world rally to this starless adventure, Jack is deader than the Giant.

That’s not great news for Warner Bros. But they do have three big movies coming this year: “The Hangover III,” “Man of Steel,” and “The Hobbit” Part 2. I’m not sure about “The Great Gatsby,” which was delayed. It could go either way (and everyone’s hoping it will be a hit.) But “Jack” is Warner’s “John Carter,” an enormous project with no stars, low awareness, and terrible reviews.

I don’t get the whole cult of Bryan Singer. “Valkyrie” was a miserable joke that failed at the box office. “Superman Returns” was considered the worst of all super hero movies and more or less ended the career of its star, soap opera actor Brandon Routh. Singer is now known for making “X Men” movies, although his last one was 10 years ago. (He’s got the next one.) The last two “X Men” were better than the first two, and he didn’t make them.

 

Exclusive: Spike Lee’s Wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, Producing Her First Film

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Spike Lee’s Wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, Producing Her First Film

Spike Lee’s house can now boast two movie producers. Spike is a famous director who’s exec producing an indie film this summer. Now wife Tonya Lewis Lee, a former corporate attorney and current powerhouse, is becoming a producer herself. Lewis-Lee is producer on a film adaptation of a novel called “The Watkins Go to Birmingham.” Her co-producer is Nikki Silver. And her director is the great Kenny Leon, of Broadway fame. “The Watkins” is said to begin shooting in early April. A casting call has gone out for the three young Watkins children as well as the parents, ages 35-40, all African American, as well as the Watkins grandmother, age 50 -65. I think Tonya Lee knows how to find Alfre Woodard on her own (hint, hint). Sounds like an interesting project. Can’t wait to see those Watkins move from Flint, Michigan to Alabama.

“Cinderella” Gets Sassy in Her Broadway Debut, But the Songs Still Soar

Roger Friedman
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“Cinderella” Gets Sassy in Her Broadway Debut, But the Songs Still Soar

Maybe you’ve seen the ads for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella.” They are everywhere, without fail. That’s because putting this show on Broadway is a first. “Cinderella” was written for TV in 1957, and then remade a couple of times. The most famous version was with Lesley Ann Warren. Now it comes to Broadway as a live show at last. I didn’t know what it would be: for children? moldy? something out of the 50s?

Well, the big surprise is that “Cinderella” has been refashioned for 2013. Douglas Carter Beane took a hacksaw to the old script and made the new one sassy, bouncy, and a little snarky. He’s still retained the romantic core. But let’s face it. We know this story by heart. And by now, to tell it straight would send adults to the sleeping bags. So Beane has inserted humor and twists, made everyone involved a little savvy, and wiser. By the time the second act finishes, you’re even feeling sympathetic toward the evil Stepmother (played to hilarious effect by the great Harriet Harris).

What this creative team did is to build a new structure of a romantic comedy around the Rodgers and Hammerstein score. The music is so lush and beautiful, the songs so catchy and sophisticated, you don’t want to do anything to them. So they stand, un-tweaked, like a great landmark building that now has a park some rides, and a fountain.

The cast is top notch. Harriet Harris and Peter Bartlett (Sebastian, who’s been running the Palace for dumb but lovable Prince Topher) are comic villains with exquisite timing. I do think Bartlett–known to TV viewers as the long suffering butler on “One Life to Live”–is playing his version of Maggic Smith as the Dowager Countess. Each of these actors tries to steal the show, and they come out to a tie.

The serious Broadway types are star Laura Osnes as Cinderella, Santino Fontana as Topher, and the amazing Victoria Clark who plays Crazy Marie and the Good Fairy. The other stars include director Mark Brokaw and costume designer William Ivey Long. “Cinderella” is worth seeing just for Long’s jaw dropping dresses, and for the sleight of hand he achieves in what can only be described as magical costume changes.

Of course, last night’s crowd loved the show–including Anjelica Huston, Cynthia Nixon and Christine Marinoni, Kyra Sedgwick, Megan Hilty and Cady Huffman. Producers Roy Furman and his daughter Jill made the opening curtain and accepted condolences for the untimely death of Roy’s wife and Jill’s beloved mother, Frieda, who passed away suddenly February 19th after battling pancreatic cancer. She was a great lady, much too young to leave us, and will be sorely missed by everyone in the theater community.

Listen– get your “Cinderella” tickets now. It’s going to be a massive hit. You know these people know what they’re doing: the curtain call included the understudies, the puppeteers, the writers, producers, director, crew and a large photo of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. You really felt like every i was dotted and every t was crossed. A really enjoyable, wonderfully entertaining night in the theater.

Late Night Wars, Part 3: This Time Jay Leno Is Out as NBC Sends Him a Message

Roger Friedman
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Late Night Wars, Part 3: This Time Jay Leno Is Out as NBC Sends Him a Message

Jay Leno has survived two late night wars. But this time, he can’t win. NBC let him know– via the excellent writer Kim Masters in The Hollywood Reporter–that his retirement is nigh. Leno will get a final year–I’m surprised he’s getting that long–and end his run on the Tonight show in May 2014. A month later, Jimmy Fallon will move into his slot at 11:35pm. It had to happen. Once ABC moved Jimmy Kimmel up to 11:35pm and replaced “Nightline,” the deal was done.

Leno, of course, survived the first war when Johnny Carson retired and NBC wanted David Letterman for The Tonight Show. That war was so crazy it became a book and an HBO movie. Then came the Conan O’Brien war, in which Conan was nearly killed and Leno moved to 10pm, almost died there, and then get to a reprieve back to Tonight.

But now the moment has come. Jimmy is great, and I enjoy watching him. But Fallon has the potential really to take over late night completely. He will certainly be a worthy competitor to Kimmel, who will have the advantage of 18 months in the time slot. Kimmel is also going to host the 2014 Oscars, which will give him a huge push.

Leno must be steaming, though. Instead of giving him a chance to say something or do something, NBC let the cat out of the bag. Masters’ piece was master-ful. It’s been picked up everywhere over the weekend. Jay–notably a great game player–has been outplayed by them. He can’t go back to 10pm doing specials. His next move will either be genius, or concession.

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