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Kristen Stewart’s Next Bite with Julianne Moore

Roger Friedman
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Kristen Stewart’s Next Bite with Julianne Moore

“Twilight” star Kristen Stewart–so good as Joan Jett in “The Runaways” and in “Welcome to the Rileys”– has her next project lined up.

Stewart will co-star with Julianne Moore in “Backwoods.” Sources say the film, directed by Moore’s husband, Bart Freundlich, concerns the end of the world.

“Backwoods,” still to be fully cast, should start sometime this summer. By then, Stewart will be starring in “Twilight:Eclipse.”

Freundlich has three features under his belt including a gem called “The Myth of Fingerprints.” He also recently directed four episodes of “Californication” for Showtime.

Moore, who was denied an Oscar nomination for her wonderful work in “A Single Man,” opens shortly in Atom Egoyan’s “Chloe,” with Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried.

The menschy Moore also pays a rare visit to her alma mater, the CBS soap “As the World Turns,” on April 5th, to help celebrate her fictional parents’ (Don Hastings, Kathryn Hays) anniversary and give a nod to the 54 year old soap’s scheduled end this fall.

Moore won a Daytime Emmy playing lookalike cousins on the show. She will only play one for the return. What happened to the other one? “I’m not in touch with her,” the four time Oscar nominee quipped at the “Chloe” premiere last night in New York.

She says she loved being reunited with her soap family, including 92 year old show matriarch Helen Wagner, who plays her grandmother. “She’s still giving us acting tips,” Moore recalls.

Shutter Island: Scorsese On Track for Biggest Hit Ever

Roger Friedman
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Shutter Island: Scorsese On Track for Biggest Hit Ever

It’s an amazing story with a happy ending: Martin Scorsese is on track to have his biggest hit ever with “Shutter Island.”

The Hitchockian like saga should finish this weekend with $106 million in domestic box office receipts. Scorsese’s Oscar winning “The Departed” made a total of $132 million in the US.’ Right now, “Shutter Island” is Scorsese’s second biggest hit ever in his long and illustrious career.

Everyone scoffed when “Shutter Island” was held out by Paramount from its fall 2009 release. But now the decision seems very wise. Some of the reasoning for the wait was to give Leonardo DiCaprio a chance at a Best Actor nomination and win. For this past season, with Jeff Bridges in the lead and George Clooney very hot in “Up in the Air,” DiCaprio would have struggled. But now he’s got a clear path and an early start.

Ditto Scorsese and the movie. They will wind up in the Winner’s Circle next fall, most definitely.

And no, “Shutter Island” isn’t in 3D, and no one is blue. It’s just good old fashioned movie making, with strong characters, a good plot, and a twist that knocks the audience out.

Meanwhile, Tim Burton’s having his biggest hit in a long time. “Alice in Wonderland” is up to $165 million already, with no end in sight. Will it surpass Burton’s “Batman” from 1989, which finished its run at $251 million? We’ll see. I still think the best Tim Burton movies were the ones that made the least money: “Beetlejuice,” “Big Fish,” and “Edward Scissorhands.”

Michael Jackson Death Anniversary Sell Off

Roger Friedman
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Michael Jackson Death Anniversary Sell Off

What better way to celebrate the first anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death than with an auction of his things!

And–even things he never saw or touched.

Julien’s Auctions of West Hollywood has just announced a three day auction beginning on June 25th in Las Vegas. Most of the items, they say, are furniture that was commissioned for the house when Jackson was supposed to live outside London while doing his “This Is It” shows at the O2 Arena.

However, Jackson didn’t live long enough to sit on the couches and chairs. So Julien’s will recreate, they say, what might have been. Julien says the furniture was never paid for. Jackson ordered it over the phone. The furniture designer didn’t want to pursue getting its money back from the estate.

There are also 200 other items including gloves, jackets, shoes, outfits, etc that are supposedly from Michael ’s estate. The jury’s still out on that one. Julien’s says two charities will get a percentage of the take. The objects come from friends like Corey Feldman who’ve decided to cash out of trinkets Jackson gave to them over the years.

Last year around this time, Jackson fought a Julien’s auction of his memorabilia and belongings that was set up his erstwhile manager, Tohme R. Tohme. That auction was aborted. Mr. Tohme has not been heard from since last summer, after Jackson died. But a warehouse of Jackson objects was supposedly returned to the Jackson estate by Tohme after his death.

“Everything we have comes from legit sources and has been verified,” says Darren Julien.

Madonna Charity Paper Trail Back to Cult

Roger Friedman
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Madonna Charity Paper Trail Back to Cult

Madonna’s Raising Malawi charity has a paper trail now that leads it right back to the Kabbalah Center cult in Los Angeles.

Kabbalah Centre is the “religion” that charges on its website $26 for a spiritual red string to be worn on the wrist, and $500 for a “special package” of materials to get started in the sect. Madonna actually wore the red string on Jerry Seinfeld’s “The Marriage Ref” last night. (More on that above.)

I’ve said since Raising Malawi first reared its ugly head that it was merely a front for Philip Berg’s Kabbalah Centre. Berg’s son Michael started it, drafted in Madonna, who then went to Malawi and adopted, with much controversy, two children. Malawi does seem like an odd place to bring Kabbalah since the country is very poor. But it’s also a great way to train thousands of new disciples who can go out in the world and sell more red strings.

In February 2008 Madonna got Gucci to help her stage a massive star-studded fundraiser in New York for Raising Malawi. Because the organization had not yet registered as a charity, Gucci had to start its own foundation to collect the $3 million that came in around that time.

Nearly everyone associated with Raising Malawi is also connected to the Kabbalah Center of Los Angeles. The Bergs actually brought Malawi teachers to Los Angeles to learn the expensive Kabbalah “teachings,” then sent them back to inculcate orphans with its Spirituality for Kids curriculum.

Now Raising Malawi has finally filed a form 990 tax filing for 2008, and guess what? The Kabbalah Center and Spirituality for Kids is all over it. Really all over it. Under the heading “Identification of Tax Related Organizations,” there are three groups listed: Spirituality for Kids, Kabbalah Center of the United States, and Kabblah Center International.

The three groups are identified as educational and religious. But under the heading “Identification of Related Organizations as a Partnership,” there is only something called KAF, LLC. Its primary purpose is listed as Real Estate, and KAF LLC has the same address as all the other Kabbalah groups mentioned. Under another heading, “Identification of Related Organizations Taxable as a Corporate Trust,” there is one listing: Kabbalah Enterprises, Inc.

Under Part 1, Section h: “Provide information about the organizations this organization supports” there is one listing only: “Kabbalah Center International, Inc.”

Even more organizations are listed as related: The Kabblah Centres of New York and of Florida; a group called Success for Kids; and the Research Center of Kabbalah. The tax return is signed by, as are all other Kabbalah Centre filings, chief financial officer Yael Avnet.

Phillipe van den Bossche, who ran Raising Malawi until recently, received a salary of approximately $132, 000 in 2008. Another $36.000 went to unspecified salaries.

At the same time, Raising Malawi says it gave $600,000 to groups in the U.S., and $2.4 million to groups outside the U.S. Another $120,000 went to travel expenses.

Madonna Did Not Have a Pre-Nup with Guy Ritchie

Roger Friedman
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Madonna Did Not Have a Pre-Nup with Guy Ritchie

Madonna: the popular entertainer appeared on Jerry Seinfeld’s “The Marriage Ref” last night, with Larry David and Ricky Gervais. The show was a classic, on the level, maybe, of David Susskind’s legendary Mother’s Day special a hundred years ago with Mel Brooks, George Segal and David Steinberg.

For whatever time is left for “The Marriage Ref,” this will be its classic episode.

Madonna revealed that she didn’t have a prenup with Guy Ritchie. That was enough payback for watching the entire episode. She brings it up at around 38 minutes in. And makes a face that gives away the whole story between her and Ritchie. If she’s acting, it’s the best job she’s ever done. But it seems too spontaneous.

What else? The Material Mom, now designing clothes with her teenage daughter, fiddled with her $26 red Kabbalah string. But she was also feisty, funny, and sarcastic. It was the most real she’s ever been on TV, and she was just herself. She hated Larry David and told him so. She indicated that she liked the idea of marriage. She doesn’t care for housepets but warned everyone not to be “Pet-Ist.” She conceded that when “you hook up with someone” you show your best side. The bad stuff comes later.

Larry David also showed off his well-known persona. He hates women and marriage. He’s self centered and wears ugly socks with sneakers. He’s also completely hilarious. He also didn’t care what Madonna thought about anything. And told her so. That must have been a first.

Ricky Gervais was really there to mediate between them. With his soothing British accent and good manners, Gervais always pretends to be shocked by everything weird or lascivious. It works. His favorite word is “lovely.” He likes to hide his head in his hands when he’s mock appalled. You can’t help but love him.

The actual host, Tom Papa, reminded me of Jerry’s old comic nemesis, Kenny Bania, from his sitcom. “The Marriage Ref” is a show created as if Bania finally made it in show business. Papa has a weird, childlike wave. He dismisses each contestant couple, “Let’s say good bye to the [fill in the blank].” The contestants aren’t stupid. By the time they’ve heard the panel (in this case, these three) dissect them, the people look angry. You almost hope they’re actors and not real life dupes.

But Madonna had no pre-nup? That’s the headline. Maybe that’s what Guy Ritchie was discussing last week at a pre-Oscar party at CAA agent Bryan Lourd’s house with none other than Sean Penn. I heard they had their heads together for some time. Oh, to be a fly on that wall. Maybe Sherlock Holmes can get to the bottom of that!

‘Wall Street 2′: Could Be Cannes Closing Night

Roger Friedman
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‘Wall Street 2′: Could Be Cannes Closing Night

20th Century Fox has suddenly sent Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps” to a Sept. 24 opening instead of its planned April 23th release.

There are two reasons for this: one is that they’ve submitted the film to the Cannes Film Festival and are awaiting word. It’s more than likely that Cannes will take it, especially with Michael Douglas, Susan Sarandon, Josh Brolin, Shia LaBeouf, Carey Mulligan, and Charlie Sheen in the Oliver Stone cast. What a group for the red carpet !

Second, Fox feels that Sept. 24th is a better bet for Oscar nominations. This may be true, but as long as I’ve been writing about Hollywood, September has been a toss off month. Last year these were the movies released during that week: “Capitalism A Love Story,” “Rage,” “Fame 2009,” “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell,” “The Boys Are Back,” “Coco Before Chanel,” and “Paranormal Activity.” Only the latter had a pulse, but it was a genre film. No Oscar touted film is released in September. Period.

This turn of events throws a monkey wrench into publicity already churning for “WS2.”. Michael Douglas is on the cover of Vanity Fair right now promoting both “Wall Street 2″ and his excellent indie film “Solitary Man” which also costars Sarandon and Danny DeVito. (This is a must-see film.)’ There’s also a Lincoln Center tribute scheduled for him on May 24th. The publicity and marketing are in place now for “Wall Street 2,” not next fall.

“Wall Street 2″ is indeed a perfect Cannes opening night ‘ the glamour quotient alone will have the place in an uproar. But to make a closing night film might be problematic since the Lincoln Center event would be the next day in New York. Sacre bleu!

Now that they’ve opted for September, Fox might just be better off and wait for the Toronto Film Festival (Sept. 9-18).

(P.S. Those Toronto planners did a great planning job ‘ Rosh Hoshanah is Sept. 9 and 10; Yom Kippur is Sept. 17-18. Whoops!)

Meanwhile: there’s now a rumor that Julian Schnabel may take his new film, “Miral,” to Cannes as well. His “Diving Bell and the Butterfly” started there, and the results were both Best Picture and Best Director nominations at the Academy Awards. Schnabel and Stone at one Cannes ‘ it’s too much to think about!

‘American Idol’ Producer: Elton Still Best Simon Replacement

Roger Friedman
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‘American Idol’ Producer: Elton Still Best Simon Replacement

This is a pretty good week for Sir Elton John.

On Monday night, former “American Idol” producer Nigel Lythgoe told me ‘ when I ran into him at the new Beverly Hills Soho House ‘ that he still thinks Sir Elton is the best choice to replace Simon Cowell. “He’s absolutely it,” said Lythgoe, who also said he thinks Ellen DeGeneres is still warming up and has yet to show her full potential. And he misses Paula Abdul. “She was the glue that held it together, wasn’t she?” he said wistfully.

On Sunday night Sir Elton hosted his annual Oscar dinner and party at the Pacific Design Center. Tons of A listers filled up the tents to hear Grace Jones and rub elbows with stars like Betty White, Jamie Foxx, Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Hudson, Salma Hayek, Will.i.am, Josh Groban, Malin Akerman, Slash, John Waters, the Osbournes, Hayden Panettiere, Victoria Beckham, Heidi Klum, Alan Cumming, Serena Williams, Nick Jonas, Kara DioGuardi, Simon Cowell ‘‘who was driven around in a $540,000 Rolls Royce Phantom ”Miley Cyrus, and even, as an oddity, Perez Hilton! Grace Jones was wild, outrageous, as good as ever. The party planners created an all red nightclub for her within Elton’s tents. It was quite a treat.

‘

Then, last night: at the Helen Hayes Theater, Elton and David Furnish hosted a pre-opening night on Broadway for a wonderful new play they’ve put their names on as producers, called “Next Fall.” Whoopi Goldberg, Edie Falco, David Schwimmer, Donna Karan and Lorraine Bracco, director Doug Liman, and Oscar winning “Amadeus” director Milos Forman were in the audience to see this very funny and moving dramedy by Geoffrey Nauffts. Patrick Breen and Maddie Corman are standouts in this story of love and loss, but everyone in the cast is spot on ‘ especially Cotter Smith as a redneck dad who might be hipper than we think. Among Nauffts’ many laughs are several thought provoking conversations about religion and sex and death. Bravo to Elton and David for giving this play a leg up!

So that’s Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday. “Next Fall” has its real opening tonight, with more accolades. What will Elton do on Friday? Sleep?

Conan O’Brien Live Tour: Small Towns, Big Cities Will Roll Out Red Carpets

Roger Friedman
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Conan O’Brien Live Tour: Small Towns, Big Cities Will Roll Out Red Carpets

Conan O’Brien’s live tour has been announced officially. I told you about it on March 5.

The tour starts on April 12 — I was asked to say “mid-April” because the dates weren’t all booked — and in Eugene, Ore., of all places. (This column said it would be in Seattle or San Diego. At least we were on the right coast!)

Conan’s tour will be a hot, hot ticket. And the funniest thing about it will be charting the travel arrangements of all the guests who come and go. Some cities, like Eugene, are going to be quite busy rolling out the red carpets. That could be the most hilarious part of the tour!

Pink Floyd Wins Download Case: Who’s Next?

Roger Friedman
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Pink Floyd Wins Download Case: Who’s Next?

Pink Floyd has won what could be a landmark case today in the British courts. EMI can no longer sell its individual tracks piecemeal to iTunes and other downloading services. Floyd’s lawyers argued that the group’s contracts with EMI meant that albums like “Dark Side of the Moon” and “The Wall” were meant to be listened to and sold in their entirety.

Personally, I would have argued that the original singles released from those albums — like “Money,” “Us and Them,” and “Another Brick in the Wall” — were always singles and could be bought that way now. But no one asked me!

Anyway, the court case could be a precedent for groups like the Who and Led Zeppelin and any other act — say Marvin Gaye, with “What’s Going On?” — who could insist that those albums were made as whole pieces and not as singles. This could certainly be said for “Who’s Next,” “Tommy” and “Quadrophenia,” for example.

This would have affected the Beatles, of course, if their music were sold online at all. Alas, and luckily, it’s not. Indeed, by staying away from downloading services, the Beatles sold 17 million remastered CDs last year (this counts single CDs in the box sets).

This also marks another brick in the wall for Pink Floyd as they try to extricate themselves from EMI’s continuing soap opera. Just this week the record company appointed a new chief, from outside the record biz, and let go of the one they’d been touting for the last couple of years.

‘Cove’ Makers May Hook Up with Tarantino Producer

Roger Friedman
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‘Cove’ Makers May Hook Up with Tarantino Producer

Now that “The Cove” has won Best Documentary, the world is an oyster for director Louie Psihoyos.

I am told that Psihoyos and his team are in deep discussions with Quentin Tarantino’s long time producer, Lawrence Bender, to make their next film.

The new film is even deeper than “The Cove.” It’s about the extinction of species, and what we can do to stop it before it happens.

Currently there are hundreds of thousands of species that are vanishing all over the world, from small to huge. Psihoyos’s new project would follow the list of extinct-prone animals and organisms, and the battles to save them.

According to one report, nearly 17,000 different plant and animal species are currently in danger of extinction, along with the record business and investigative journalism. But Psihoyos will just address himself to the former.

Oddly enough, I’ve also heard that the latter ‘ investigative journalism and its gradual demise ‘ may be the subject of another doc by a nominated filmmaker, Robert Kenner (”Food Inc.”).

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