It’s an event. And it’s already number 1 on iTunes.
Film Review: The Slightly Unvarnished Truth of 70s Pop Singer Helen Reddy, How She Gave the Women’s Movement Its Anthem and Survived a Coked Up Husband
Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” came out in 1971. I was 14 and didn’t care about it one minute. But “I Am Woman” fast became the anthem for the women’s movement, and Helen Reddy, like Olivia Newton John, became a hitmaking machine right through the decade. On the surface she was bland, white bread, and perfect.
But in real life, Reddy was a mess. She was married to her manager, Jeff Wald, who quickly became a coke addict and a monster. He also started producing movies. By 1980 he was neck and neck with Donnie Simpson in the debauchery and self abuse department. The only difference is Donnie died. Jeff Wald lived. While Helen kept having hits and selling out Las Vegas showrooms.
Helen Reddy was never cool. But she sort of gets that way in Unjoo Moon’s feature film, “I Am Woman,” that positions Helen as a feminist who woke up and got control of her life after her crazy, brilliant, domineering husband just about destroyed it. Reddy’s story is a lot like that of Debbie Reynolds or Doris Day, stars who trusted husbands who emptied their bank accounts and wrecked their self esteem.
The difference is that Reddy and Wald are still very much alive, and so are their children. So Moon had to win their trust to make this movie. Luckily her husband is Oscar winning cinematographer Dion Beebe (“Memoirs of a Geisha”), which probably kept the already low budget in place. Beebe’s involvement means the movie looks good, far better than it should. The screenplay by Emma Jensen economically tells Helen and Jeff’s story, keeping some of the gore but not all of it. For that you have to read their competing memoirs. The movie is inspired by Helen’s.
Australian actress Tilda Cobham-Hervey, a beauty, does Reddy justice even if she doesn’t sing. (A separate singer was used because, as Moon told me, “Helen’s voice didn’t look right coming out of Tilda’s mouth.”) It works, whatever they did, and Cobham-Hervey is a find on a major scale. Ryan Murphy favorite Evan Peters plays Jeff, even though he looks nothing like him he captures Wald’s insane hubris. Peters’ TV fans will be impressed.
The other player here is Danielle McDonald as 70s rock writer Lillian Roxon, author of the seminal “Rock Encyclopedia.” Lillian died suddenly in 1973 at age 40 from an asthma related illness. (She’d be 87 now. It’s hard to believe.) The book was like the Magna Carta of rock. (Is it still in print? I have the original paperback.) No one who wrote about music subsequently didn’t read this book like it was from the Temple Mount. I didn’t know that Reddy and Roxon were BFF’s because they were each Aussie’s in New York, that white bread Helen went with Lillian to Max’s Kansas City, and so on.
Helen was a Bad Girl underneath all the G rated songs. Maybe that’s what attracted her to Wald. That much you don’t get in this movie. There’s kind of a disconnect between the Helen the Star and Real Helen. I also don’t know why she retired in 2002. There are plenty of active 78 year olds out there rocking and rolling. But Reddy called it a day early, which means she has lower name recognition than some of her peers.
“I Am Woman” is better than a Lifetime movie. It’s certainly timely, as Helen did fight for her rights as Wald was limiting them. Moon’s movie deserves a decent theatrical release, and a promotional push on Hulu, Netflix, wherever. It’s of a piece with 70s rock biopics “Rocketman” and “Bohemian Rhapsody.” (What’s next, the Anne Murray story?)
Thanks to the Athena Film Festival, currently running at Barnard College (Columbia University), and showing some pretty interesting films this weekend. They gave “I Am Woman” life tonight, months after its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
PS If you see the movie, Helen had a daughter before she met Jeff Wald, named Traci, who obviously got used to show biz life. She married Lucas Donat, son of “Waltons” actress Michael Learned and the late great actor Peter Donat, whose uncle, Robert, was also a famous actor.
Anna Wintour Plans Next Met Ball, But Expenses for 2017 Gala Exceeded Met’s Grants and Fellowship Program by Almost $2 Million
Time for another Met Ball! Anna Wintour announced it today. Has something to do with clocks.
The annual spring Halloween party at the Metropolitan Museum is costing more than ever, it seems. For the 2018 Ball, according to the Met’s Form 990, called “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination,” the direct expenses were $4.1 million– a $300,000 increase from 2017. And get this: the total amount the Met spent on grants and fellowships in 2018 came to just $2.7 million– down from $3.44 million the previous year.
Is there something wrong here? Shouldn’t the Met Ball be self-sufficient? What’s the point of having it?
Gross income from the 2018 Costume Institute gala was just $302,500. Total receipts came to $13.1 million. Revenue less contributions was $12.8 million. The Ball is a lot of effort that doesn’t produce much revenue and shows a loss on the Form 990 for Met fundraising projects of over $5.5 million.
Who knows? By the time May 4th rolls around, Anna’s guests may all be wearing Christian LaCroix face masks! The co-chairs for this year: actresses Emma Stone and Meryl Streep, “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Louis Vuitton’s creative director, Nicolas Ghesquière. I’m sure they’ll come up with something. But isn’t there some sponsor to pay off that $4 mil in expenses?
Gloria Steinem is Celebrated for Julie Taymor’s “The Glorias,” Beanie Feldstein Recalls a “Hello, Dolly!” 3rd Birthday Party
With an ebullient crowd cheering her on, Gloria Steinem took the stage at Barnard College at a special awards dinner celebrating the 10th Athena Film Festival. Steinem was especially proud that the idea for Athena was born in her living room, “I am going to put up a plaque,” she exuded, and went on to explain how Julie Taymor got her to agree to make “The Glorias,” a film about her life: “When Julie calls, she’s such a genius, you just say yes.”
While Taymor could not attend, we got a preview of “The Glorias,” so lively with Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, and others portraying the feminist icon, much the way several actors played Dylan in Todd Haynes’ “I’m Not There.” Bette Midler is boisterous as Bella Abzug. Lorraine Toussaint, the film’s “Flo Kennedy,” introduced the clip. The center of “The Glorias” is political activism, Steinem’s insistence on getting voters out, on changing the lives of women. We do get a glimpse of Vikander in a Playboy suit, as Steinem challenged “the male gaze.” Feels like that discourse has reached its moment.
If the evening’s mood was buoyed by the week’s victory for women, Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction, that was left out of the conversation, not to disrupt the real business at hand: honoring Beanie Feldstein, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, and Effie Brown for their work in the film industry. Greta Gerwig took a break from writing and caring for her toddler to sing Feldstein’s praises, “easy to do,” crowed Gerwig. At the “Lady Bird” audition, “I felt like an old-time producer, that kid’s gonna be a star.” And Feldstein came back with how she can brag she co-starred in Gerwig’s directorial debut. Her first love, though, was Barbra Streisand, and at three years old, she had a “Hello. Dolly!”-themed birthday party.
On video from a job in L.A. she was not at liberty to reveal, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson hailed the women at Athena “Superheroes.” And Effie Brown spoke about her biggest truth-sayer, Big Effie, her grandma, a Florida woman who had seen a thing or two. Uh-huh!
This warm, intimate night could have gone on longer.
I got a chance to speak to Steinem about getting onstage with Michael Moore for his Broadway show. He brought her onstage for a chat opening night, a surprise. “Good thing you knew your lines,” I joked. She replied, “Good thing he didn’t give me any.”
Update: Justin Bieber 2nd Week Album Sales Drop 90%, Arena Concert Tix Not Selling– Will Virus Become Excuse?
Exclusive: Justin Bieber’s sales numbers, which I’ve been writing about this week, are really, really in trouble.
His concert ticket sales are very poor, and some are wondering if promoters will be able to use the Coronavirus as an excuse if things really go south. Imagine arenas full of rock fans wearing masks.
The new album, “Changes,” sold 200,000 copies last week including streaming. This week, through yesterday, the number is 30,000, or an 85% drop off.
Even worse: “Changes” sold 127,000 actual CDs and paid downloads last week. In its second week, so far, the number is 5,400. That’s a 95% drop, for an average of 90%.
This happens, as it did recently to Coldplay, which struck out in week 1 with its most recent release. But Coldplay, wisely, cancelled their tour, realizing that if no one wanted the album they weren’t going to buy tickets to hear the group play those songs.
Bieber, however, has a tour starting May 14th, and it’s in trouble. Tickets are not selling. In every venue, huge chunks of seats are just sitting there, unsold. Bieber’s “Intentions” may be good, but the reality is not. Increasing fear of the Coronavirus may be used as an excuse, even if it’s unfounded.
Also, the “Love” tour is all in arenas that have cut the seating in half at each theater. Arenas can do this; they drape off all the seats behind the stage, so as to cut down on lost sales. At the Meadlowlands in New Jersey, Bieber’s show in September has been cut way down.
But the cut downs don’t matter, as the remaining seats– except for floor seats– are not moving.
For the first show, in Seattle on May 14th, huge swaths of seats are still available. On Stubhub, the cheapest ticket is $41, and falling. See below. This is in contrast to Harry Styles’s tour, which is solidly sold out for most of its run, even if the secondary market is going crazy.
Things get even worse for Bieber a couple of weeks later in Las Vegas, on June 2nd, where the solid blue indicates hundreds of seats still waiting to be sold. It’s going to be a long, tough summer for Justin unless there’s some renewed interest in “Changes,” or the tour. Stay tuned. PS Hitsdailydouble must have seen my piece from last week, because they ran a “blind” item about faltering tours the other day.
Exclusive: Harvey Weinstein, Oscar Expert, Expected “Marriage Story” Would Win Best Picture Because “It Was Short, and Easy to Get”
Now that the Oscars are over, and Harvey Weinstein is cooling his heels, as it were, at Bellevue Hospital, here’s some news of interest.
Harvey thought “Marriage Story” would win Best Picture. He’d seen most of the Oscar nominated films before his trial began, and deemed “Marriage Story” a likely winner because, he told a friend, “it was short and easy to get.”
This was a conversation going on all through December. After all, who’s won more Oscars than Harvey? Best Picture winners included “The English Patient,” “Shakespeare in Love,” “Chicago,” “The King’s Speech,” and “The Artist.” All great films. Plus dozens of nominees, hundreds maybe, and acting winners as well.
Weinstein said that he’d loved “The Irishman” but it was too long and he knew that by watching it at home, the movie had lost steam. Plus, director Martin Scorsese had his Oscar, for “The Departed.” Harvey had tried to get it for him twice, with “Gangs of New York” and “The Aviator.” It just wasn’t meant to be.
Harvey knew Renee Zellweger was a shoo-in. He’d gotten her her first Oscar for “Cold Mountain.” I didn’t get info about Brad Pitt, whose Oscar was won for Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” Weinstein, I was told, loved the film. But maybe it was a sore point, too. Every one of Tarantino’s prior movies had been made with Harvey.
As for “Marriage Story”: it was one of those movies, like the indie hit, “In the Bedroom,” that Harvey could relate to. In the old days, he would have turned Noah Baumbach’s sterling dramedy into a Best Picture, and probably scored a win for Adam Driver as Best Actor. That’s what he excelled at. Everyone hates Weinstein now. But when he was in the driver seat, the Oscars had buzz. There was passion in the air about the movies. This year, it was like hanging laundry out to dry. Whatever died first, won.
Just a note: Weinstein was sentenced over this past weekend. In most previous years, this would have been Oscar weekend. No one realized that. It was if the Oscars had to get out of the way this year.
Surprising Move: Steven Spielberg Abdicates from “Indiana Jones 5,” Turns Beloved Franchise Over to New Director
This is a surprising move: Steven Spielberg is turning over the direction of “Indiana Jones 5” to James Mangold, most recently the man behind “Ford v Ferrari.”
Spielberg has directed all four Indiana Jones movies starting with “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” The Indiana Jones serial was always the special project of Spielberg and George Lucas.
But Lucas is retired now, and Spielberg has obviously been persuaded to hand over “Indy 5” to a younger director. Of course, Spielberg– who was once known for making two or three movies at a time — is spending the year putting together his “West Side Story.” In the past, that wouldn’t have been enough to keep him busy.
Indeed, times have changed. “Indiana Jones” is now with Disney, having once been the jewel in the crown of Paramount. But Disney got the rights to those movies when it bought George Lucas’s LucasFilms and “Star Wars.” Who knows what they were telling Spielberg about “Indy 5”? Make it part of the Marvel Universe? Nothing would be a shock at this point.
Variety first reported the story, and added that “Harrison Ford is still a part of the project.” But again, who knows? Maybe in the new “Indiana Jones,” Indy’s bastard son comes and kills him, a la “The Force Awakens.” No wonder Shia LaBeouf isn’t part of it.
Disney also has a new head of the company, as Bob Iger is now officially gone. Another Bob, Bob Chapek, has taken over, from Disney Parks.
In any case, this is a strange turn of events. Spielberg doesn’t really have anything to follow “West Side Story” except for a long in development “The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara.” I can’t believe he wouldn’t want to finish the series he and Lucas started almost 40 years ago. Something’s up. I guess in time we’ll find out what it is.
Carly Simon Night at Carnegie Hall Adds Susannah Hoffs, Natasha Bedingfield, Deborah Cox, and… Tony Shalhoub? to All Star List
The Carly Simon tribute night at Carnegie Hall on March 19th has just grown again with more stars added!
Deborah Cox, Jimmy Webb, Julie Simon, Natasha Bedingfield, Susanna Hoffs, Tony Shalhoub, and the Romulus Hunt Quintet have been added to the already announced list of artists including Indigo Girls, Livingston Taylor, Michael McDonald, Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive, Darlene Love, and so on. Yes, Tony Shalhoub? Well, he can do anything.
They’ve even added a rehearsal show the night before, on March 18th, at the Cutting Room, which should be terrifyingly crowded!
All proceeds go to music education programs for underprivileged youth. Michael Dorf of City Winery puts together these tribute concerts every year, but this is the first time I can recall that an honoree– Carly– has gotten so involved.
(Watch) Justin Timberlake and SZA Sizzle on “The Other Side,” First Track from “Trolls” Sequel Soundtrack
Justin Timberlake has dropped the first single from his “Trolls World Tour” soundtrack, with SZA. “The Other Side” is a cool piece of pop disco, a la his masterwork in this area, “Can’t Stop the Feeling.” RCA was smart to drop the single today, well in advance of tomorrow night’s Lady Gaga premiere of a new single called “Stupid Love.”
Justin says on Instagram that he’s been working for a year on the soundtrack which will also include Kelly Clarkson, Mary J Blige, George Clinton, Anderson Paak, and others. The movie comes April 17th with the album just preceding it.
CBS Increased Ratings with Debate by 93% from Last Week, 83% Over Last Year: New Series with Brawling Candidates?
CBS should consider having a presidential debate once a week.
Last night’s brawl among potential Democratic presidential candidates scored very nicely for them. CBS was up 93% from last week, and 83% over last year, same week.
It didn’t help that last week’s “NCIS” was one of the lower rated episodes of its run.
But the debate had an average 13 million viewers from 8 to 10 pm. Contrast that with “The Conners” over on ABC, which had just 5.1 million fans.
NBC competed strongly with the debate. “The Voice” had 8.5 million viewers, followed by “This is Us” with over 7 million.
Still, among the debates over all, the South Carolina crush came in a lot lower than last week’s gang bang in Las Vegas, which almost hit 20 million.
How about a series? CBS could spin it off of “NCIS”! But next time, let Murphy Brown be the moderator, please.