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Sundance ’11 Sunday: Ellen Barkin Comes Full Circle with Her First Director

Roger Friedman
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Twenty nine years ago, four years before Sam Levinson was born, his father Barry Levinson directed Ellen Barkin in her debut feature, “Diner.” Remember Beth, who was married to Daniel Stern? She wouldn’t put his record albums back on the shelf in the right order.

Now Sam Levinson is 25 and has written and directed his first feature–starring and produced by Ellen Barkin. “Another Happy Day” is a wedding dramedy along the lines of “Rachel Getting Married.” It also comes with a CAA packaged cast of strong players–thanks to Barkin’s agent Bryan Lourd. Among them: Ellen Burstyn, George Kennedy, Demi Moore, Thomas Haden Church, Kate Bosworth, Ezra Miller, and Jeffrey DeMunn, who may be the unsung star of the piece.

The Baker-Hellman clan is gathering for a wedding in Annapolis, Maryland–yes, Barry’s famously from Baltimore, so not that much has changed in Levinson land. The highly autobiographical story revolves around Barkin and Haden-Church’s disastrous first marriage. They produced two children, then married others and had more kids. All the kids have problems, ranging from mild Aspergers to serious drugs, drinking, etc.

Burstyn is the formidable matriarch, cold and unyielding. And, of course, she’s great. Barkin is her needy, drama creating daughter, who is also mother of the Sam Levinson stand in character, played so well by Ezra Miller. Moore is Haden-Church’s second wife, brassy, demanding, spiteful, but maybe not so wrong in her efforts to be recognized.

“Another Happy Day” is better written than directed, although that’s not a criticism. Levinson says he wrote the script at 22. He’s bitten off a lot, with many, many characters. Not all of it works, and the mix of levity and drama is often wildly uneven. But the script finds a lot of real, identifiable relationships that hit home. When the film builds momentum, Levinson is on a roll. For a while.

The main character, Lynn, is clearly written for Barkin. It’s the kind of role every actress of her age dreams of–the whole movie revolves around her. All the actors are top notch. Burstyn, of course, is superb. But I was surprised how likeable and sympathetic Demi Moore was–and that she truly is age-defying.

At the Q&A Levinson said the shoot took just 23 days. Barkin — I will bet–is a strict producer. The movie looks lavish, so potential distributors will have to take all that in account.

Sundance ’11: Saddam’s Crazy Kid, and Crazy Love

Roger Friedman
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If you want to win an Oscar, play a crazy ol’ despot. Forest Whitaker did it with “The Last King of Scotland.” Christoph Waltz did it with “Inglourious Basterds.”

Now Dominic Cooper, the up and coming young British actor, knocked the Sundance crowd out last night playing Uday Hussein, the now dead (thank god) son of Saddam in “The Devil’s Double.”

The Lee Tamahori film is like “Scarface” in the desert. Cooper plays not only Uday, but Latif Yahia, the man who was forced to be Uday’s double during the wild days of the Saddam reign of terror leading up to the Gulf War.

This is no “Patty Duke” show. Cooper is mesmerizing in both roles, often on screen together. Latif–at least in this film–is thoughtful, has a conscious, even realizes early on that Uday is, as he says, “a psychotic.”

Uday is a delicious character. He rapes, pillages, and tortures. He is amoral sort of beyond the pale. Cooper never turns him into a cartoon, although by the time we see Uday and his  mother watching TV in bed together, we’ve almost jumped the shark. Luckily, the Americans arrive in 1991. Uday is maimed–great scene –and eventually dies in 2003 when Saddam is finally deposed.

Whoever gets “Devil’s Double” will have an Oscar nominee in Cooper. And a wild ride. Let the bidding begin!

While distributors fight over “Devil’s Double,” one of them has nabbed Drake Doremus’s “Like Crazy.” A few wanted this sort of British “Blue Valentine”–what seems to be an auobiographical account of the American director’s ill fated romance and marriage to a beautiful youg Brit. Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones are the stars; I found the film ultimately a little tedious. It’s all improvised, too. So surprise! Paramount paid $4 million for worldwide rights. That’s like, crazy. You do learn a lot about immigration laws, however, concerning well-heeled Brits and Americans. Not the usual INS story.

King’s Speech Wins PGA in Oscar Race Upset

Roger Friedman
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Well, well: the Oscar race is shaping up into a little drama of its own.

Last night the Producers Guild of America gave it award to “The King’s Speech.” After everyone expected “The Social Network” to win, here comes Tom Hooper’s classic Best Picture to snatch a very important award.

It was so unexpected that Harvey Weinstein wasn’t even there. He’s here, at Sundance, checking out new fillms. I’m told he was ecstatic–and genuinely shocked–when he got the news.

Meanwhile, Scott Rudin, the producer of “The Social Network” was at the PGA, getting a lifetime achievement award. It couldn’t have been fun to lose that way. And Scott has two big movies this season: “Network” and “True Grit.”

Ironically, everyone from “The Social Network” was on hand–from Sony’s Amy Pascal to Justin Timberlake. Our pal, Leah Sydney, says there was a gasp in the room when the winner’s name was read. (More on the PGA later.)

The PGA is a pretty decent indicator of the Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Recent winners include “The Hurt Locker,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” and “No Country for Old Men.” It’s rare that the PGA winner doesn’t go on to win the Oscar. “Little Miss Sunshine” is one of those examples.

Harvey Weinstein has two recent PGA wins, for “Chicago” and “The Aviator”–the latter did not win the Oscar, the former did. “Shakespeare in Love,” which won the Oscar, didn’t take the PGA. “Saving Private Ryan” did.

“The Social Network” won the Golden Globe, which, I think, will also contribute to its losing the Oscar. The voters of the Academy are smart, and disregard choices made by the laughable Hollywood Foreign Press.

“Three’s Company” Reborn as Slightly Risque Drama

Roger Friedman
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It’s unclear if anyone outside of Sundance will ever see it, but James Franco debuted his “Three’s Company: The Drama” last night at the New Frontiers exhibition playing at the former Miners Hospital on Park Avenue in Park City.

This isn’t a film, but more of a video. Franco and friends got the rights to remake the first three episodes of the Seventies sitcom. Franco takes the Jack-John Ritter part. A female friend plays Janet, and a male friend with a dark beard and mustache not quite covered by a blond wig is Chrissie-Suzanne Somers.

Neighbor Larry is played by Franco’s pal Vince Jolivet with a wig. The real Larry–actor Richard Kline–was flown in and shown episode 1 in the art installation. He and his wife were a little taken aback at a few of the modern dialogue changes.

But most of the dialogue was right from the original show. It’s just spoken seriously, without a laugh track. “Suddenly you see how desperate the characters were,” Kline said later. The original Larry, of course, never let his genitalia become exposed, even if briefly. 

The videos were projected on all four white walls of a room that was barely 12 feet square. Viewers were invited to sit on the floor. Once the campy shlock value of the whole thing subsided, “Three’s Company-The Drama” actually settled down into something weirdly interesting. It was not a goof or even an homage. It was actually the freshest thing I’d seen all day after four features in a row of varying effect.

All photos c2011 Showbiz411

Mary Kate and Ashley Have a Serious Actress Sister

Roger Friedman
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Sundance 2011 opened with a lot of interesting moments, if not the best films.

Friday’s biggest revelation: that those annoying publicity hounds Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, aka the Olsen twins, have a serious actress sister.

Elizabeth Olsen, 21, debuted here on Friday with Sean Durkin’s “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” the story of a young woman who gets sucked into cult in rural upstate New York. She’s raped, abused, brainwashed, and made witness to a murder. Olsen is amazing. She also resembles more Maggie Gyllenhaal than her nightclubhopping sisters.

The rest of the cast is very good, of course: Hugh Dancy, Sarah Paulsen, John Hawkes, and Brady Corbet do a lot to support Olsen. But this young woman–who will appear later this year in Bruce Beresford’s “Peace, Love, and Understanding”–is going to be a big deal in 2011.

More from day 1: first, that Robert Redford narrates the opening animation for the premiere films does a lot to enhance the experience. Second: that every gift swagging, freebie guzzling, awful party person here should be made to watch the Susanne Rostock documentary of political activist, singer, and actor Harry Belafonte called “Sing Your Song.” The first 45 minutes recount an exceptional life of substance that should be a lesson to the crowd here. The great men and women of history didn’t waste their time trying to get free Oakley sunglasses.

Rostock literally just brought the finished film here. She may still do some work on it, especially in the second half. Belafonte’s recording career is rushed–his live Carnegie Hall album is considered a template for all such discs. Also, I don’t recall anything about his starring in Robert Altman’s “Kansas City.” But it was a pleasure to see his second wife Julie, and Diahann Carroll, another groundbreaker.

Warner Music Up for Sale: No Surprise Because No Hits

Roger Friedman
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Warner Music Group, disemboweled over the last six years by Edgar Bronfman, Jr. and Lyor Cohen, is up for sale. The report comes from The New York Times’s Dealbook column.

I once asked Thomas Lee, the main investor in the new WMG, if he was happy about the way things were going. I said, “You don’t have any hits.” He replied: “We don’t need any hits.”

In the end, it turns out, you do.

It’s a sad end to the saga of Warner Music, which was sold by Time Warner to Bronfman in 2005. Instead of developing talent, the new WMG kept slashing and cutting staff positions, eliminating all the people who would make a record become a hit. They stuck with veteran Warner acts like Kid Rock, Eric Clapton, and Faith Hill rather than make any move forward. He also let Madonna and other acts leave with a lot of drama.

Recently, WMG managed to blow new album releases by Josh Groban and Linkin Park, two of their franchise acts left over from the original company. With CD and download sales at an all time low, WMG has simply run for cover ran than fight back.

According to the Times, WMG is still saying that it’s looking into buying EMI. Well, that’s ridiculous. They’ve also told Goldman Sachs to find a buyer. They may at least sell Warner Chappell Music Publishing, the only successful part of the company. A revived BMG Music Publishing would jump at the chance to buy Warner Chappell. So would Sony ATV.

During the Bronfman reign of failure, WMG really lost money. Bronfman lost $20 million on a luxury concert company. But he and Cohen lived well, using WMG as a piggy bank. Cohen cashed out stock a few years ago, made millions to fund his divorce and the purchase of a Hamptons estate.

Who wins here? For one thing, Paul Simon, who took his whole Warner catalog and left for Sony last year.

The only album on the charts bearing the Warner Records. name this week is Linkin Park at number 46 with just under 10,000 copies sold. A few other WMG albums are scattered about, but considering all the press he’s gotten Cee Lo Green–whose album should be at the top of the charts–isn’t selling at all.

Orlando Bloom Making “Hobbit” Reunion

Roger Friedman
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New dad Orlando Bloom is going to join the “Hobbit” reunion.

Sources say that Bloom’s people are negotating for him now to hook up with Cate Blanchett, Elijah Wood, and Sir Ian McKellen in the prequel to the “Lord of the Rings” series.

However, reports of Bloom getting $1 million for two minutes on screen are wrong. “The Hobbit” is going to be two movies. Many of the beloved characters from “Lord of the Rings” may appear briefly in the first film, and at length in the second one.

Sources say that director Peter Jackson is creating a kind of story “bridge” between the second “Hobbit” film and the first “Lord of the Rings” installment, so the whole billion dollar deal can play as a five part, all day, all nigt extravaganza.

Are Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler next? And what of Sean Astin? My guess is we’ll see everyone once Jackson is done.

Michael Jackson Estate Sues Over Website, Mrs. Jackson’s Book, More

Roger Friedman
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It’s about freaking time.

The estate of Michael Jackson, represented by Howard Weitzman, has filed suit against Howard Mann and all his pseudonyms and DBAs.

The suit is all about Mann’s alleged copyright infringement: his jacksonsecretvault website, the picture book by Katherine Jackson called “Never Can Say Goodbye,” a recently announced Michael Jackson lithograph collection, and even the release of a “new” song last fall that turned out to be a remix of the Jacksons record “Destiny.”

Mann, if you recall, bought the contents of a warehouse of Jackson family memorabilia after its owner, Henry Vaccaro, filed for bankruptcy. Mann, who runs gambling websites out of Canada, then made a deal with Katherine Jackson to exploit the contents of the website. That included publication of “Never Can Say Goodbye.”

Mann always took the position–especially in talks with this reporter–that because he owned the physical contents of the warehouse he also owned the intellectual property rights–despite the fact that both the Jackson estate and Sony probably superseded him.

Mann kept pushing the envelope, using his relationship with Katherine Jackson as a shield. But now the estate, run by John Branca, has finally responded. The lawsuit is 53 pages long and quite explicit. In other words: the party is over.

The Estate calls Mann’s actions “rampant misuse of Estate assets” that has caused “consumer confusion.” Indeed, Mann thanks the Estate on his website, which the suit says makes it seem as though they condone and endorse him.

In a way, the estate is now exhibiting a little muscle in the direction of Katherine Jackson, whom they’ve supported financially since the day Michael died. Mann has always stated–including to me–that Mrs. Jackson was in need of funds becausde the estate was shortchanging her. How Mann replies to this lawsuit will be interesting, certainly.

Sundance ’11: Franco Gets with Chrissie, Jack and Janet

Roger Friedman
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0

James Franco hits Sundance tomorrow night, but not in the usual way.

Last year, Franco was here with “Howl,” the opening night film in which he brilliantly played Alan Ginsberg.

This year he’s back with “Three’s Company,” a kind of psychedelic take on the late 70s sitcom that starred John Ritter, Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt.

Franco and pals have kind of reinvented and filmed the first three episodes of ‘Three’s Company.” The resulting video will unveil tomorrow night as part of Sundance’s New Frontiers as the main element of an art installation. There’s a rumor that Richard Kline, who played the main characters’ pal Larry, will attend. A “secret” party is set to follow on Main Street in Park City, up the hill from the former Miners Hospital.

Sadly, the Ropers–the late great Norman Fell and Audra Lindley–are unavailable. But I’m told that partygoers may be asked to don wigs and other paraphernalia to recreate the “Three’s Company” vibe.

Steven and Liv: A Tale of Two Tylers

Roger Friedman
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Father and daughter, Steven and Liv, are having big weeks.

Last night Steven Tyler debuted on “American Idol” as a judge after 152 years as lead singer of Aerosmith. Steven is naturally funny and sarcastic; he’s going to make a great judge if he can last through the season. So far, so good. “American Idol” may give him the structure even rehab hasn’t been able to provide.

Meanwhile, here at the Sundance Film Festival, Steven’s daughter with rocker-writer Bebe Buell, Liv Tyler, is about to make her indie film debut.

Eons ago, Liv was sensational in movies like “Stealing Beauty,” “Empire Records,” “Heavy,” and “Silent Fall.” Then she got involved with the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, was financially rewarding but not so good for building a critical base.

Now Liv comes to Sundance with “The Ledge,” Matthew Chapman’s directing debut. Produced by Michael Mailer and Mark Damon, “The Ledge” has a lot of good buzz. It also has a strong cast, with Charlie Hunnam, Patrick Wilson, and Terrence Howard.

Tyler–who’s been dating Jann Wenner’s son–is also getting a Spotlight Award  this weekend from the Creative Coalition. Suddenly, after almost 15 years, she’s an overnight sensation. Isn’t that the way it goes? And Steven Tyler, famous since Gerald Ford was president, is a big hit again, too. Crazy!

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