Wind, rain, sudden autumn, cold weather–nothing kept people away from Andrea Bocelli’s big Central Park concert last night. But in the confusion of seating celebs, Ivana Trump and a pal were put in the front row. Imagine the surprise of Donald Trump and latest wife, Melania. Those seats were meant for them! Two more chairs were rustled up immediately, and the foursome now sat together. The tension could be cut with an 18 karat gold knife. Also in the celeb section right up front, Alec Baldwin with yoga instructor gf Hilaria, Katie Couric with youngish boyfriend Brooks Perlin, comic Caroline Rhea, and Sting with buddy Richard Sachs and singer Lisa Fisher. On stage, Bocelli was joined by guest artists Tony Bennett, Celine Dion, David Foster, and Chris Botti. Out in the VIP tent we were startled to see Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries–they are real, after all, and kind of a mismatched looking couple. They must not have known what Bocelli did, because they split at the intermission. It’s opera, you know. Barilla pasta catered the VIP tent and got an onstage plug from Bocelli. After the show, I was told The Donald has some kind of party. We treated to Neary’s on East 57th St. where some of the Elaine’s crowd has migrated recently. The steaks are to die for, and not expensive. Plus Duffy is there from Elaine’s and he’s brought his Steely Dan CDs. What more can you ask for?
Nikki Finke’s Parent Company Has Nerve to Sue Hollywood Reporter
Nikki Finke–attention seeker, corrosive personality–is suing, or rather her parent company is suing, the embattled Hollywood Reporter’s parent company over copyright infringement. It’s a joke, really. Nikki keeps complaining THR is stealing stories from her website. Most of the stories Nikki publishes come from press releases that she reprints or repurposes with swiftness. Then she calls them “exclusives” or “breaking news.” Her site lifts from everywhere. Her London writer reads the British papers and then uses the info, calling it his own. I’ve cited them on many occasions for all of this. The Reporter does the same thing. So now tow entities that do the same thing are in a lawsuit. Call it “Breaking News.”
Finke complains THR tries to poach her employees. Well, the publisher of THR was poached by Finke, then returned to THR. Nellie Andreeva, who is also known for repurposing existing material and calling it “exclusive” was at THR and left for Finke. You need Advil to follow these stories. Today, Keith Kelly reports in the New York Post that THR’s newish parent, Promothesus Global, formerly e5, is trying to find a buyer. Michael Wolff, who no one likes, is said to be on the outs from AdWeek. Everyone knows Billboard is a mess. Publisher Richard Beckman, who came to PG with a lot of baggage from Conde Nast, is also said to be out or removed from his daily functions by Jimmy Finkelstein–a kind of comic character who has no business running The Hollywood Reporter. Breaking news! Toldya! Oy vey.
Each entity puts out a daily, hourly recitation of stuff that will never happen. My favorite stories are the ones about TV actors, writers and producers no one has ever heard of. They’ve just signed a deal to make a pilot that will never air for a show you don’t want to see. These tidbits are presented with the same urgency as downed fighter pilots in Pakistan. You’ve never heard of any of these people! Right now the lede story on Deadline is “Shelley Lewis to Run Programming for Current TV.” Who is Shelley Lewis? What is Current TV? Who cares? I’m sure Shelley is great, and someone must be watching Current TV. And Deadline doesn’t report the story. They just reprint the press release.
Really, if you’re interested in entertainment industry news, read Variety. Supplement it with this column. And Entertainment Weekly.
Sean Penn’s Haiti Relief Group Chosen to Lead Recovery by World Bank
Sean Penn’s J/P HRO group has been chosen by the Haitian government–via the World Bank — to receive a $2.25 million grant. The project, called “Helping People Home,” is part of a $95 million larger project to get displaced Haitians back into their own homes. The project is “designed to help provide homes through rental subsidies and new permanent housing construction, as well as provide home repair for existing houses.” Sean Penn should be very proud of what he’s accomplished–now he has the recognition of the World Bank. No mention, though, of his former partner, Diana Jenkins, who got J/P started but seems to have fallen out with the group subsequently.
”We believe this grant marks an important step in the rebuilding of Haiti,” Penn said in a press release. “To have the Haitian Government, with the finance from the IDA grant, select J/P HRO to participate in this program is a testament to the determination of our staff, our volunteers, and supporters. Together, we will persist until the hundreds of thousands still displaced are safely home.”
Celebrities have been very involved in raising money for Haiti relief. Ben Stiller has a fundraiser next week in New York withBill Clinton and Paul Farmer. Check it out at www.artistsforhaiti.com
More from the Penn release: “In addition to providing rent subsidies to safe and safely repaired homes, repairing homes still damaged by the
earthquake and building brand new homes in the neighborhoods around camp, J/P HRO will also be providing
new infrastructures and services including 2 new medical facilities, repairing condemned schools, installing 5
solar-powered water filtration stations and 1 plastic recycling kiosk, as well as providing new job opportunities
and support for local entrepreneurs. Additionally, the students of J/P HRO’s school, Ecole de L’Espoir (School
of Hope), will benefit from tuition waivers and feeding programs through the IDA financed program, Ecole Pour
Tous (School for All) implemented by the Government of Haiti,
Over the past 18 months, J/P HRO has helped facilitate nearly 2/3 of their initial 55,000 camp residents’ return
home. J/P HRO has managed this tremendous accomplishment through safe and proactive camp
management combined with recovery work in the neighborhoods including rubble removal, demolition of
condemned houses and partnerships to provide transitional homes. The remaining 22,300 people still living in
camp are those most in need. These families require significantly more support in order to exit camp and begin
to rebuild their lives.”
PS Just an observation, but Penn’s ex, Madonna, might take an interest how her former husband has made a vital contribution to an impoverished country. Her Raising Malawi organization has done nothing but cause disappointment and lawsuits in that African nation.
Greta Gerwig: Damsel Gets Support from Old Director for New Film
Greta Gerwig is hot as a pistol right now. After making a splash in Noah Baumbach‘s terrific comedy, “Greenberg,” she’s gotten roles with Woody Allen and Whit Stillman. At Tuesday night’s premiere of Stillman’s wonderful “Damsels in Distress,” Greta was accompanied by Baumbach–pretty nice since he’s already directed her. Greta and her pals play college chums in the very stylised “Damsels”–an arch, tongue in cheek send up of fast talking kids who just a little “off.” At one point they all perform a very preppy, peppy musical number of “Things Are Looking Up.” Greta’s character runs the college’s Suicide Prevention Center, but of course soon she becomes depressed over the loss of a bonehead boyfriend. I loved this movie. Adam Brody–ex of “The O.C.” and due to break out big time is just great as a student posing as a young businessman–with plenty of secrets and lies. The whole cast is delightful, and the movie is charming, light, fun, engaging, smart. Like Stillman’s famous “Metropolitan,” it’s a real New York movie, too, even though it’s set in the country. Gerwig is luminous. I also really liked Megalyn Echikunwoke as a poseur faux British accented co-ed– she almost steals the movie. And Billy Magnussen is a hoot as a kid learning his colors. Randall Poster did his usual great job with the music selection.
PS Taylor Nichols from “Metropolitan” and “Barcelona” makes a cameo. Where is Chris Eigemann? He acts and directs all the time. But Ed Clements, who played Tom–the outsider from the Upper West Side in “Metropolitan”–is involved in Youth ministries in Toronto and retired from show biz. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6uBlj1OBZg&feature=related
Notes: Mary Fickett, Steven Tyler, Fattening Film Fest
Just a few notes from all over: the lovely Mary Fickett, the wonderful veteran actress who played Ruth Martin on “All My Children,” died this week at age 83. She’d been with the show since day 1, in 1970, until Alzheimer’s forced her to retire about ten years ago. She won the first daytime Emmy award. As Ruth Martin, she was a stand in for the show’s creator, Agnes Nixon. Ruth was the conscience of the show, especially when her son went to fight in Vietnam. Ironically, “All My Children” ends its run next Friday after 41 years. Last year, a similar thing happened with Helen Wagner, the matriarch of “As the World Turns,” died right before that show concluded after 54 years. She was 93. I remember Ruth Martin from when I was in high school; Fickett was direct and never wavering in her delivery. She’s been missed the last few years…
…Rocker Steven Tyler lost his dad last week. Victor Tallarico was 95. I met him two years ago when Tyler performed at the Boston Symphony Hall as part of a show put together by Chris Botti for PBS. Steven sang Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” for his dad, it was his favorite song. Everyone was charmed by the World War II vet. Condolences to Liv Tyler, his granddaughter, and the whole family…
…Is there room for another film festival? Apparently so. This one is set for March 22nd in Perugia, Italy. Sounds good to me. Karen Arikian, who does such a good job with the Hamptons Film Festival, will be consulting. On October 1st and 2nd, 2011–Arikian will do a preview over in Perugia to get the locals excited. She’s bringing over legendary DA Pennebaker and his filmmaker wife Chris Hegedus, as well as Bruce Weber, to show documentaries. They will all need to go on diets upon return! Maybe they can go on Kirstie Alley‘s dance-away-the-pasta regimen! (Wink, wink.) William Morris Endeavor and Stratus Media Group are also advising and consulting.
…Last night, Wednesday, The French Consulate of Los Angeles honored mega French Star Comedian/Filmmaker Dany Boon for his Sept 15th US release on iTunes two of his films, the all-time biggest French Box Office hit “Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis” (Welcome to the Sticks) and the 2010 success “Rien a déclarer” (Nothing to Declare.)
Our Leah Sydney asked him if there was a difference between French and American Cinema.
Boon: “There is a big difference between French and American Cinema. In France, the directors and writers are more powerful. Here the producers and the studios are. For 18 years I’ve been a French comedian, I started to write and direct movies eight years ago. Its complicated here because the American market is very well protected. In Europe, we are open to other movies, American, Indian, Asian and African. Here it is more insulated, not so much.”
We told Dany that Jerry Lewis was fired from the telethon. Dany didn’t know. We asked him his thoughts.
]“I’m a huge Jerry Lewis fan. We love him in France. That is terrible that they fired him, it’s sad. Why would they do that? Not respectful at all. We would have never done that in France. We honor him as he should be honored. Very sad.”
Sting Performs in Poignant 9/11 Tribute to Old Friend
Sting will turn up in the most unusual places if it’s for a friend. And so it was on Wednesday night. The occasion was a 9-11 tribute to the late Herman Sandler, who died in the World Trade Center. Sandler, a philanthropist and patron of the arts, was also a good friend of Sting and Trudie Styler and to the Rainforest Foundation. Stanley Silverman, the respected composer and father of television exec Ben Silverman, wrote a special piece for the evening which was performed by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. The wonderful Christy Ferer, who lost her husband at the World Trade Center, introduced the program.
Sting first sang a lute song with the trio, then performed his classic “Fragile” with them. It was a moving tribute to an unforgotten friend. Sandler was only 57 when he was killed. Also on hand, in the audience, was Paul Simon, with whom Stanley Silverman has played in the past. Silverman’s original piece, “Les Folies d’Al,” is a riff on Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al.” Another Al–Alan Alda–was in the audience; he’s a friend of the trio. But like almost everyone, Alda was rebuffed by the 92nd St. Y’s uneducated security team and couldn’t get back stage to see his friends.
Niche Media’s Jason Binn and the Wall Street Journal’s Marshall Heymann also just gave up. That 92nd St. Y had better give their staff some of those ‘personal growth’ classes they always brag about!
Alec Baldwin and James Toback Planning Secret Film
Alec Baldwin is certainly plotting his post-“30 Rock” life. Not running for mayor of New York, and having feuds with Starbucks and the New York Post, Baldwin is heading back to the movies. I’m told he and writer-director James Toback are planning to shoot an indie film this spring. The plot is under wraps, but it should include filming during the Cannes Film Festival. That certainly sounds like fun. Toback had just finished a rewrite of the “Gotti” movie–which I will have more about later this week–and is still working on the umpteenth draft of a movie about John DeLorean. Baldwin popped up this week, regrettably, in an atrocious indie called “Hick” here at the Toronto Film Festival. (The whole thing should have been retitled “Ick.”) The voluble actor is hosting the Tony Bennett 85th birthday gala at the Metropolitan Opera this Sunday and skipping the Emmy Awards. Six days later he hosts “Saturday Night Live.”
Jane Fonda Gets Hippie in “Peace, Love, & Misunderstanding”
Jane Fonda was sorry to miss the Toronto Film Festival premiere of her new movie, “Peace, Love and Misunderstanding.” She’s been suffering from a “persistent bug” for a few days and couldn’t fly to Toronto from Los Angeles. Too bad because Jane also missed the great reception the Bruce Beresford directed comedy had at Roy Thomson Hall. It’s nice when all the laughs are in the right place.
Fonda’s Grace plays the hippie dippy artist mother of straight arrow Diane. They haven’t seen each other in 20 years–not since Diane had Grace arrested at her wedding for selling dope to the guests. Now Diane’s husband has left her, so she brings her two kids (Elizabeth Olsen, Nat Wolff) to Grace’s artist retreat in Woodstock, New York.
This is the kind of film where you expect cliches to abound. But Beresford and the screenwriters make all the right moves. The film has a light touch as conflicts unfold and are addressed but not necessarily resolved. While Diane’s position seems like a gross overreaction to her mother, the estrangement doesn’t seem so far fetched.
Fonda is the most economical of actors, which is why she has two Oscars. Grace could have been a broad joke. But Fonda imbues her warmth and dignity. She simply lives on her own track and means no one harm. She’s a pot smoking and growing embracer of free love. What’s wrong with that?
The movie has low key charms that sneak up on the audience. Whoever gets hold of it has a shot at a Best Supporting Actress nod for Fonda. Keener is her usual best, and there are nice turns by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chace Crawford, Kyle Maclachlan, Rosanna Arquette, Joyce van Patten. Beresford brings the understatement of classics like “Tender Mercies” to the table. And the movie, shot on location in Woodstock, features locals and music by resident Levon Helm.
The producers of this film also made the current “Higher Ground” with Vera Farmiga and are setting up shop fast as quality filmmakers. They have great taste. They’re already developing another film for Fonda, and are currently shooting “Bachelorette” with James Marsden, Isla Fisher, and Kirsten Dunst.
PS Talk about misunderstandings–the Hollywood Foreign Press aka Golden Globes security wouldn’t let Beresford bring any guests into their party last night, not even the film’s screenwriters–and he and his wife were staying in the Windsor Arms. Not only that–the people who work for publicist Ken Sunshine and the HFPA told Beresford that even though his daughter was staying in the hotel, too, and had a room key, they wouldn’t allow her in either. Sponsors InStyle and Tommy Hilfiger take note. And HFPA lackey Munawar Hosain — photographer to the stars, he tells me– scooted out of sight.
Harvey Weinstein Invites Michelle Bachmann to Co Host Movie Premiere
Actress Olivia Wilde read this statement tonight at the Toronto Film Festival premiere of “Butter,” a new comedy starring Jennifer Garner.
“Thank you everyone for coming out tonight. I want to start by thanking Jason Micallef who wrote the great script to BUTTER, I want to thank Jim Field Smith who did a wonderful job of directing, and I want to thank Mike DeLuca, Jennifer Garner, Alissa Phillips and Juliana Janes for producing a movie I’m so proud of. I must thank my own spectacular team, especially Kelly Carmichael and Matt Garner. But I also want to thank Jason Reitman. Jason was an inspiration and guiding light for this film. I love his movies and I love his dad’s movies. Jason is a great cinema lover and one of the smartest people I’ve met in this industry.
“In 20 years of coming to the Toronto Film Festival, I’ve never released a statement for a film. But I would like to take this moment to formally invite Republican Congresswoman from Minnesota and Republican presidential candidate, Michele Bachmann, to co-host with me the big premiere of BUTTER in Iowa in a few months from now. I know Michele will already be in Iowa for the caucus, so we can save some money on airfare and travel.
“I would of course be more than happy to fly in the other leading members of the Tea Party movement to make an entire day of it. We could take some math classes in the morning to help balance the budget, brush up on the Constitution in the afternoon, play some ping-pong and then maybe some verbal ping-pong on gay rights and women’s rights (especially the right to choose). But at night we can all go hand-in-hand to the premiere of BUTTER, a fun and important film where we’ll share some popcorn and laughs. These are the kind of bipartisan effort that makes America great.
I look forward to hearing from Michele and I’m particularly looking forward to those classes on the Constitution.”
All my best,
Harvey
Paul McCartney New MusiCares Person of the Year
Paul McCartney has finally agreed to accept the MusiCares Person of the Year award. The prestigious award entails the big gala on the Friday night of Grammy weekend in February. McCartney was offered the award long ago but finally has time on his schedule. He follows last year’s honoree, Barbra Streisand. For Person of the Year, the artist chooses a bunch of performers to sing his/her songs. The honoree also usually puts on his own show. So this year’s gala should be the biggest ever. MusiCares is in the middle of a big campaign to bring in music fans from all over. Go to www.musicares.org to read more about it.