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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!

Ricky Gervais, Regis Stories Lifted by Other Web Sites

Roger Friedman
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In my interview with Ricky Gervais that ran on Monday morning after the Golden Globes, Ricky told us to watch “The Office” on January 27th. He implied he would make a guest appearance as his British character David Brent, the UK influence of Michael Scott.

Of course, a new website under the Deadline Yesterday banner is counting this as their scoop today. Something about the Deadline bunch: stealing infects each new hire.

In that interview, Ricky also told us that his visit would somehow give a tip as to who might replace Michael Scott as the manager of “The Office.” Who did Ricky want? “Will Arnett,” he told me.

Deadline also lifted an entire story out of this column yesterday, about Regis Philbin not retiring from his career but simply leaving his show. This Nellie Andreeva is really a piece of work.

The Deadline steal is the second this week for Showbiz411.com. People magazine put together a lame cover story on Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban’s new baby. There is no interview. There are no pictures. The one nugget of info in People was divined right here also on Monday: why the baby is named Faith Margaret.

Maybe  I should just start lifting material from these other sites without credit. It’s so much easier than doing original reporting. Of course, if I stole from them, I’d be stealing from myself and who knows who else. Too confusing!

Steely Dan’s Recording Engineer Needs Our Help

Roger Friedman
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Roger Nichols, the genius who engineered and mixed all of the Steely Dan albums, needs our help. He’s been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. The costs are draining him. He’s set up part of his website–www.rogernichols.com–to accept donations.

I don’t know if I can stress this enough–producers, engineers, and mixers are the people behind great rock and jazz albums we all consider “classic.” In Nichols’ case, this means “Aja,” the pop music high water mark of the 1970s, as well as the entire remarkable Steely Dan canon. He won Grammy Awards for “Aja” and for Steely Dan’s 2000 return, “Two Against Nature.”

Nichols also counts in discography albums by Placido Domingo and John Denver.

I am sure Nichols is in touch with MusiCares, but an illness likes this costs a staggering amount. For his sublime work on “Deacon Blues,” on “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” on “Pretzel Logic,” every music fan owes him a debt. Let’s help Roger Nichols fight pancreatic cancer.

RIP Don Kirshner, Pop Music’s Brill Building Superstar

Roger Friedman
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Sad news: Don Kirshner, the man behind the Brill Building sound, died on Monday at age 76 of heart failure. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame four years ago. But the Rock Hall never did anything for him, and it broke his heart. We owe a huge debt to Kirshner, who gave us Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Ellie Greenwich, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Neil Sedaka and Howie Greenfield, The Monkees, The Archies and so much more.

Neil Sedaka sent this message: “I am shocked and saddened by the death of the great Don Kirshner, who discovered me at 18 years old. I walked into his office at 1650 Broadway, played a few songs for him, and he signed me to Aldon Music becoming my first music publisher and manager. It was Don’s introduction to Connie Francis, who would go on to record “Stupid Cupid” and propel my songwriter career. Donny worked for many years promoting my songs. He was a great friend, a pioneer, and a father figure for many of us young songwriters. He will be missed. My heart felt condolences and love to his wonderful wife of 50 years, Sheila, his children, and his grandchildren.”

Here’s the story I wrote in 2007 from the Songwriters ceremony. Donnie, we salute you.

Don Kirshner is back.

The man who invented the Brill Building and published all the hits written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, helped invent Phil Spector and the Monkees and even created music television before MTV is not in Jann Wenner’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

But last night, Kirshner, 73, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for giving birth to a substantial part of what we now know as contemporary pop, rock and soul music.

It was vindication a long time in coming for Kirshner, whom Letterman bandleader Paul Shaffer once parodied on the early “Saturday Night Live” with a memorable imitation. It made Kirshner a household name.

Somewhere along the way he lost his stature as the man who nurtured hundreds of hit records from “The Locomotion” to “You’ve Lost That Feeling.”

It wasn’t lost on his friends who came to support him last night, including Tony Orlando, Ron Dante and Toni Wine. The latter pair were the voices for the animated group Kirshner created called The Archies. They had the No. 1 song in 1969, “Sugar Sugar.”

Orlando, who worked for Clive Davis at Columbia Records before becoming a star in 1971 with the group Dawn — Wine wrote their first hit, “Candida” — gave a speech about Kirshner last night fit for a royal eulogy.

Carole King had to beg off because of appearances she’s making in China, but Sedaka came and sang “Breaking Up is Hard to Do,” Kirshner’s first hit, from 1957.

What I loved about meeting Kirshner is that he doesn’t care anymore. He doesn’t need Jann Wenner or the Rock Hall of Fame. He is own living Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In the next couple of years, there’s going to be a Broadway musical about him. A famous director is piloting the project (it’s still hush-hush, but trust me, it’s good). And entire genre of music, “the Brill Building sound,” is named for his contribution to pop culture.

Does he still have his copyrights? “I sold a lot of them a few years ago,” he told me. But don’t worry about Don. “I kept a few,” he said, with a wink.

In 1963, he sold his Aldon Music to Screen Gems for, are you ready, $2 million.

“Today it would be worth $100 million,” Kirshner said.

All of those hits, like “Up on the Roof” and “Calendar Girl,” gone. But Kirshner wasn’t finished. Within three years he had “The Monkees” on TV and selling millions of records. Many of the songwriters from Aldon supplied the music. Neil Diamond gave them “I’m a Believer,” Carole King wrote “Pleasant Valley Sunday.” Don Kirshner was back in business.

In the ’70s, he brought the rock concert to TV. His droll Brooklyn accent was so hilarious as he introduced every rock act of the age that Shaffer had to do an impersonation of him. Don Kirshner became even more famous. Last night, he recalled finding Bobby Darin and Connie Francis, among others. The audience went wild. So much for the Rock Hall.

Nicole Kidman Disappears from Sandler-Aniston Trailer, Ads

Roger Friedman
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Have you seen the commercials and the trailer for Adam Sandler’s “Just Go With It”?

The film, due next month, stars Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, who is prominently featured in all the clips. Brooklyn Decker, a beauteous young blond, is also featured prominently.

But co-star Nicole Kidman? The Oscar winner is nowhere to be found. Not in the trailer or poster or any other materials. Yet she is listed in the cast, and did film at least a couple of scenes. You’d just never know it unless well, you knew it.

So what gives? Timing. Nicole is in the Oscar race with an important performance in “Rabbit Hole.” She’s great, and is considered a contender for Best Actress.

But “Just Go With It” could be her “Norbit” as we discussed recently. Oscar nominees don’t need terrible movies dogging them during the voting period. Natalie Portman may learn that lesson with the awful “No Strings Attached.” It’s no “Black Swan.”

Nicole isn’t the only “missing person” in a movie these days. Most people don’t realize that “True Grit” is narrated by Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden, who’s supposed to be Mattie Ross’s adult voice. And James Franco makes a cameo in “The Green Hornet” with his “Pineapple Express” co-star Seth Rogen.

UPDATE: Regis Philbin Is Leaving His Show, Not Retiring

Roger Friedman
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UPDATE Regis Philbin announced this morning he’s leaving “Live with Regis and Kelly.” He’ll be 80 years old in August.

He is not retiring, friends tell me. Not at all. He will continue to perform live at clubs and casinos around the country. Regis will likely wind up hosting a nighttime game show like his very successful ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

This also has nothing to do with health issues. “He’s never been better,” says a source.

I am told there was some sort of negotiation with Disney and ABC. It may be that Philbin decided enough was enough after 28 years.

“I can’t imagine what’s going on at Disney and WABC,” a source observed this morning. “They’re losing Regis in the morning and Oprah in the afternoon.”

I’m told the decision to leave was “organic.” It may also have to do with Regis and Joy’s daughters living in Los Angeles. They could be contemplating a move or a lifestyle change.

Regis is one of a kind. He invented the format that’s been so successful–the host chat that takes place in the first 15 to 20 minutes of his live–not taped–show. The great charm of the host chat came from Regis’s wonderful off the cuff monologues, not jokes, but rambling stories of what he’d been up to in the 24 hours since we’d last seen him on TV. Often the anecdotes involved misadventures concerning Regis and his bw (beautiful wife) Joy, their daughters JJ and Joanna, their cats, and — in the early years of the show–Joy’s mother and sister, who were nicknamed, wickedly, The Winds of War and “Hello, let’s eat!”

I don’t want this to sound like a eulogy for Regis. He’s very much alive. I’ve been lucky to to have enjoyed a nice friendship with Regis and Joy over the years. They are true mensches, the nicest people imaginable, landmark New Yorkers who’ve enriched our lives personally and professionally. I think at 80 Regis will deserve a break; who needs to get up every morning at 7am and plug all those movies, TV shows, Broadway fare, and blatant celebrity?

Can anyone replace Regis? Not really. He’s a storyteller from another era, pre computers and Facebook. For Regis “Social networking” means going out and doing things. When he is out, he and Joy are always asking questions. They are not wallflowers. They aren’t texting anyone. They’re people who engage. ABC has tried a bunch of substitutes over the years including Howie Mandel, Anderson Cooper, and so on. None of then have Regis’s joie de vivre, his complete surprise at the world around him, and his ebullience. So let’s enjoy him for the next seven months like never before!

British Academy Announces Nominees–King’s (14!), Social, Grit, Inception, Swan

Roger Friedman
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British Academy Announces Nominees–King’s (14!), Social, Grit, Inception, Swan

BAFTA, the British Academy Awards, have announced their nominees for their annual awards. “The King’s Speech” got 14 nominations–staggering.

Here’s the list. Some films that we’ll have in our Academy Awards, like actors from “Rabbit Hole” and “Blue Valentine,” havent’ been released in the UK yet so they’re not eligible. An interesting note: the Coen Brothers were not nominated in the Best Director category even though “True Grit” made the Best Film list. Danny Boyle, of “127 Hours,” took their slot. Who knows what that’s about?

BEST FILM 
BLACK SWAN – Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver, Scott Franklin
 
INCEPTION – Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan
 
THE KING’S SPEECH – Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin
 
THE SOCIAL NETWORK – Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Céan Chaffin
 

TRUE GRIT – Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
 

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
127 HOURS – Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy, Christian Colson, John Smithson
 
ANOTHER YEAR – Mike Leigh, Georgina Lowe
 
FOUR LIONS – Chris Morris, Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Mark Herbert, Derrin Schlesinger
 
THE KING’S SPEECH – Tom Hooper, David Seidler, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin
 

MADE IN DAGENHAM – Nigel Cole, William Ivory, Elizabeth Karlsen, Stephen Woolley
 

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
THE ARBOR – Director, Producer – Clio Barnard, Tracy O’Riordan
 
EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP – Director, Producer – Banksy, Jaimie D’Cruz
 
FOUR LIONS – Director/Writer – Chris Morris
 
MONSTERS – Director/Writer – Gareth Edwards
 
SKELETONS – Director/Writer – Nick Whitfield
 

BEST DIRECTOR
127 HOURS – Danny Boyle
 
BLACK SWAN – Darren Aronofsky
 
INCEPTION – Christopher Nolan
 
THE KING’S SPEECH – Tom Hooper
 
THE SOCIAL NETWORK – David Fincher

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
BLACK SWAN – Mark Heyman, Andrés Heinz, John McLaughlin
 
THE FIGHTER – Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson
 
INCEPTION – Christopher Nolan
 
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT – Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg
 
THE KING’S SPEECH – David Seidler
 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 HOURS – Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy
 
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO – Rasmus Heisterberg, Nikolaj Arcel
 
THE SOCIAL NETWORK – Aaron Sorkin
 
TOY STORY 3 – Michael Arndt
 
TRUE GRIT – Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
 

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
BIUTIFUL – Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jon Kilik, Fernando Bovaira
 
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO – Søren Stærmose, Niels Arden Oplev
 
I AM LOVE – Luca Guadagnino, Francesco Melzi D’Eril, Marco Morabito, Massimiliano Violante
 
OF GODS AND MEN – Xavier Beauvois
 
THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES – Mariela Besuievsky, Juan José Campanella
 
ANIMATED FILM
DESPICABLE ME – Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
 
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON – Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois
 
TOY STORY 3 – Lee Unkrich
 

LEADING ACTOR
JAVIER BARDEM – Biutiful
 
JEFF BRIDGES – True Grit
 
JESSE EISENBERG – The Social Network
 
COLIN FIRTH – The King’s Speech
 
JAMES FRANCO – 127 Hours
 

LEADING ACTRESS
ANNETTE BENING – The Kids Are All Right
 
JULIANNE MOORE – The Kids Are All Right
 
NATALIE PORTMAN – Black Swan
 
NOOMI RAPACE – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
 
HAILEE STEINFELD – True Grit
 

SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTIAN BALE – The Fighter
 
ANDREW GARFIELD – The Social Network
 
PETE POSTLETHWAITE – The Town
 
MARK RUFFALO – The Kids Are All Right
 
GEOFFREY RUSH – The King’s Speech
 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
AMY ADAMS – The Fighter
 
HELENA BONHAM CARTER – The King’s Speech
 
BARBARA HERSHEY – Black Swan
 
LESLEY MANVILLE – Another Year
 
MIRANDA RICHARDSON – Made in Dagenham
 

ORIGINAL MUSIC
127 HOURS – AR Rahman
 
ALICE IN WONDERLAND – Danny Elfman
 
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON – John Powell
 
INCEPTION – Hans Zimmer
 
THE KING’S SPEECH – Alexandre Desplat
 

CINEMATOGRAPHY
127 HOURS – Anthony Dod Mantle, Enrique Chediak
 
BLACK SWAN – Matthew Libatique
 
INCEPTION – Wally Pfister
 
THE KING’S SPEECH – Danny Cohen
 
TRUE GRIT – Roger Deakins
 

EDITING
127 HOURS – Jon Harris
 
BLACK SWAN – Andrew Weisblum
 
INCEPTION – Lee Smith
 
THE KING’S SPEECH – Tariq Anwar
 
THE SOCIAL NETWORK – Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter
 

PRODUCTION DESIGN
ALICE IN WONDERLAND – Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara
 
BLACK SWAN – Thérèse DePrez, Tora Peterson
 
INCEPTION – Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, Doug Mowat
 
THE KING’S SPEECH – Eve Stewart, Judy Farr
 
TRUE GRIT – Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh
 

COSTUME DESIGN
ALICE IN WONDERLAND – Colleen Atwood
 
BLACK SWAN – Amy Westcott
 
THE KING’S SPEECH – Jenny Beavan
 
MADE IN DAGENHAM – Louise Stjernsward
 
TRUE GRIT – Mary Zophres
 

SOUND
127 HOURS – Glenn Freemantle, Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Steven C Laneri, Douglas Cameron
 
BLACK SWAN – Ken Ishii, Craig Henighan, Dominick Tavella
 
INCEPTION – Richard King, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A Rizzo, Ed Novick
 
THE KING’S SPEECH – John Midgley, Lee Walpole, Paul Hamblin
 
TRUE GRIT – Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, Peter F Kurland, Douglas Axtell
 

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
ALICE IN WONDERLAND – Nominees TBC
 
BLACK SWAN – Dan Schrecker
 
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1 – _Tim Burke, John Richardson, Nicolas Ait’Hadi, Christian

Manz_
 
INCEPTION – Chris Corbould, Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Peter Bebb
 
TOY STORY 3 – Nominees TBC
 

MAKE UP & HAIR
ALICE IN WONDERLAND – Nominees TBC
 
BLACK SWAN – Judy Chin, Geordie Sheffer
 
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1 – Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin
 
THE KING’S SPEECH – Frances Hannon
 
MADE IN DAGENHAM – Lizzie Yianni Georgiou
 

SHORT ANIMATION
THE EAGLEMAN STAG – Michael Please
 
MATTER FISHER – David Prosser
 
THURSDAY – Matthias Hoegg
 

SHORT FILM
CONNECT – Samuel Abrahams, Beau Gordon
 
LIN – Piers Thompson, Simon Hessel
 
RITE – Michael Pearce, Ross McKenzie
 
TURNING – Karni Arieli, Saul Freed, Alison Sterling, Kat Armour-Brown
 
UNTIL THE RIVER RUNS RED – Paul Wright, Poss Kondeatis
 

ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING AWARD 
GEMMA ARTERTON
 
ANDREW GARFIELD
 
TOM HARDY
 
AARON JOHNSON
 
EMMA STONE

Paul Allen Cancer-Free; Facebook Founder’s Star Sister

Roger Friedman
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Paul Allen Cancer-Free; Facebook Founder’s Star Sister

Paul Allen made a surprise appearance on Saturday night at the Paramount Pictures party at the Chateau Marmont. Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, has suffered from non-Hodgkins lymphoma for the last several years, resulting in changes to his several businesses and charities. What a pleasure, though: the amateur musician, owner of the world’s largest yacht, told me he just had a very positive doctor’s visit and is basically cancer free. Congratulations, Paul! The news comes just as Apple’s Steve Jobs announced a new medical leave from that company. He’s been battling pancreatic cancer. Last year Jobs had a liver transplant…

…Meanwhile, the Golden Globes red carpet had an unusual guest: Randi Zuckerberg, older sister (by two years of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. A cheerful and cherubic young woman, Randi is also pregnant. The Harvard grad works for Facebook as marketing director, and did a taped interview with one of the red carpet hostesses about Facebook. I just happened to catch it on the closed circuit TV system in the Beverly Hilton. No mention was made of her relationship to Mark, or of “The Social Network”…

Golden Globes, Ricky Gervais: What’s Really Going On?

Roger Friedman
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The entertainment biz is a buzz tonight about Sunday’s Golden Globes, the scandals, and Ricky Gervais. There are so many different versions of the story by now, who knows what’s going on?

I had two interactions with HFPA president Phil Berk last night. Before the show started, he came out in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton and asked me rhetorically, “Why don’t the people come in and eat the food? No one is eating!” After the show he came up to me and said, “Great show! We put on a great show!” It’s as if he’s Martin Landau playing Ed Wood playing Phil Berk. He loves being famous even if it means he’s a joke.

One Hollywood blog, called thewrap.com, is gung ho about the scandals of the Globes and the Hollywood Foreign Press. They’re writing about it constantly. Another, Deadline.com, has turned into such a suck up machine that they’ve abandoned the subject entirely. They’ve never reported on the lawsuit filed by Michael Russell against the HFPA. They do lob ad hominem, personal attacks against everyone else (so and so is an a-hole, etc).

Then there’s the new HFPA press rep, Ken Sunshine Associates. No one is better at spinning a story than Ken Sunshine, who I count as a friend. Thanks to Ken and his office, any of the following things are possible: the HFPA loved Ricky’s monologue or hated it. the dreadfully boring Phil Berk loved or hated it. Ricky will or will not be invited back. Ricky does or doesn”t care what people think. All of these things exist as true simultaneously now in reports. Ken is brilliant.

Also: does anyone aside from the real press care about the HFPA scandals? Conflict of interest? Bribery? Under the table deals? Fraud? In Hollywood, these things are considered admirable! Just the fact that the HFPA has gotten away with it all has made them seem cooler to this lunatic town.

For example: I found out that one of the more miserable members of the group went to Vegas an on all expense paid trip over New Year’s. Who paid? Possibly someone from a nominated film. When I asked Berk about it, he was eager to rat out the member. There’s no honor among thieves! As Robert DeNiro noted, they fight among themselves!

See the video of Ricky Gervais’s monologue below.

Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban: Reason for New Baby Daughter’s Name–Exclusive

Roger Friedman
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10

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have a new baby daughter.

Faith Margaret was born to a surrogate on December 28th at Nashville’s Centennial Women’s Hospital.

I can tell you this exclusively: according to a friend, they chose the name Faith “for what they needed to have during this process.” And Margaret: “was the name of Nicole’s grandmother, who had her last child at age 49. As an older mother, Nic wanted it to be  a tribute to her.”

But I am told the parents will not–absolutely not–be selling pictures or doing interviews about Faith Margaret. Unlike some recent pr stunts (hello John Travolta) the Urbans are staying private and classy.

The proud parents issued the following statement: “Our family is truly blessed, and just so thankful, to have been given the gift of baby Faith Margaret. No words can adequately convey the incredible gratitude that we
feel for everyone who was so supportive throughout this process, in particular our gestational carrier.”

We’re pretty sure gestational carrier was a female human and not a kangaroo!

Kidman has two children from her marriage to Tom Cruise, Isabella and Conor. She and Urban, of course, are the parents of Sunday Rose, age 2.

So much for reports from a few weeks ago that Nicole had a “baby bump!”

Congratulations to this exceptionally nice, loving couple on rounding out their happy family.

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