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Kanye West Official News: “Jesus is King” Album (After Many Delays) and Movie Coming Tomorrow with Free Tickets in Los Angeles

Roger Friedman
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Kanye West Official News: “Jesus is King” Album (After Many Delays) and Movie Coming Tomorrow with Free Tickets in Los Angeles

Kanye West will unveil his “Jesus is King” film tomorrow in Los Angeles. The tickets are free for the first performance, and they’ll be given away via Ticketmaster at 10am Pacific Time.

Then the movie will open Friday, and the album, after many delays, will be available. At least this is the official word from DefJam. It seems like they may finally have this project under control.

No word yet about platforms for streaming the album. And it looks like there might be a blue vinyl version from the evidence of the logo, or maybe not.

The movie seems to be about a gospel choir singing in something called the Roden Crater, an art project in Arizona. Kanye didn’t direct the film or the choir, but he instigated the project so it’s a “Kanye West film.” Let’s hope it doesn’t crater!

Nothing in New York set for tomorrow so far.

 

The Final Trailer for “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” is Here, All Signs Point to the Biggest Hit of all Time

Roger Friedman
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The Final Trailer for “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” is Here, All Signs Point to the Biggest Hit of all Time

Here is the final trailer for the final “Star Wars” movie, “The Rise of Skywalker.” All signs point to the biggest movie of all time, bigger than “Endgame.” This is the END, people. Forty three years of filmmaking and merchandising and legend all lead to this moment. It looks damn good. Interesting– no Luke or Leia in this trailer. I still wonder if we won’t see Han Solo one more time…

Jackie Onassis Explained to Carly Simon Why She Married Aristotle Onassis After JFK Assassination: “I had to make such a grand left turn so as not to be reminded of my former life”

Roger Friedman
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Jackie Onassis Explained to Carly Simon Why She Married Aristotle Onassis After JFK Assassination: “I had to make such a grand left turn so as not to be reminded of my former life”

Like Elton John’s new “Me,” Carly Simon’s “Touched by the Sun,” is a surprisingly fresh and candid memoir. It’s a great read I’d always wanted from the confessional singer-songwriter whose life has included a pageant of famous names. It’s almost like a coda to her autobiography, “Boys in the Trees,” which was pretty juicy and insightful. (And I hope she follows this volume with a couple more.) She’ll make a rare appearance Tuesday night at Barnes & Noble in Union Square to sign books.

Way back in the mid 1980s Carly showed me some prose writing she had done that was exceptional, and told me Jackie Onassis wanted to publish it at Doubleday. They’d become great friends on Martha’s Vineyard. That book didn’t happen, but now Carly has written a lovely, endearing tome about their relationship, and associated pals of the era. It reminds me of Elizabeth Hardwick’s “Sleepless Nights” or Joyce Johnson’s “Minor Characters.” You can’t get enough of this opening to a private portal to history.

The book is almost as much about Carly as it is about Jackie, which is just about right. Jackie was a private, shy person. So is Carly. That they bonded makes perfect sense.  They were each married to famous men, whom they still loved even after they’d left, whether dead (JFK) or alive (James Taylor). Simon writes: “We both had had husbands who were “gone” for us, yet whose voices remained.”

Simon weaves in a lot complex people, not just Onassis, through “Touched by the Sun,” including her own family, her formidable mother, her children and so on. But what readers will eat up is her humanizing of Jackie, who kept herself walled off from the public after becoming the most famous and chased celebrity of all time. I always wondered how she went on living after JFK’s assassination, and how she navigated living with the memories.

She tells Simon: “One is overwhelmed by the necessity to cover up the sentiments that are needed in order to go forward with one’s life. I had to make such a grand left turn so as not to be reminded of my former life,” Jackie explained.

Simon offers:  “The life would have to be so completely different,” I offered, “like landing on the surface of a different planet.”

So Jackie Kennedy surprised the world and married older billionaire shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.

Jackie continued, “I wondered if I went to the trouble of removing signs, newspapers, photographs, mementos . . .
never mind. He wouldn’t have seen it clearly, but the reminders were walking every day with me in the bodies of my children.
Their walks, their mannerisms, the memories of their births. First words, skating, riding, greetings, nightmares, Christmases, birthdays . . . worries that A.O. [this was how Jackie sometimes referred to Ari] could never erase.”

Simon– who, believe me. has enough to deal with in her own life– becomes witness to history. Over the course of a decade, Jackie drops little hints of her personal life. Of sister Lee Radziwill (recently deceased) she tells Carly: “With my sister,
there was always the one-upmanship. It was predictable and inevitable. I made her so mad she used to try to outdo me. And she did!”

There’s more, a lot more, about everyone, and how Carly– certainly a big star in her own right– deals with the biggest star of all. In “Touched by the Sun,” she’s just like us. There’s the whole issue of being public vs. private and being recognized. When they go out together “Jackie would always pretend people were staring at me,” Simon says, knowing better. Did she think for one second I would ever fall for that? Still, the deflection was charming and for the briefest of seconds flattering, before I reminded myself of the absurdity of it all. As the world knows by now, Jackie disliked being the center of attention. In her presence, I never remembered or accepted the fact that I was a well-known person in my own right. In my own field. But compared to hers, my field was a small garden of roses in the middle of the Amazon rain forest.”

A great read, and PS the audio book is read aloud by actress Elizabeth McGovern, currently of “Downton Abbey” fame.

 

Report: Rupert Murdoch Planning a Tabloid US “Sun” Website to Compete with the Daily Mail Online

Roger Friedman
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Report: Rupert Murdoch Planning a Tabloid US “Sun” Website to Compete with the Daily Mail Online

Since Rupert Murdoch (Don Corleone to you) is already running the State News Network (Fox News) and working with Donald Trump (see meeting with Attorney General William Barr) so why not double down?

Murdoch, according to Vanity Fair, is going to bring his UK Sun tabloid to the US. He already owns the New York Post, but why not spread his salacious wings? And the person who’s going to run the US Sun? Why, Rebekah Brooks, the key person in the UK hacking scandal that also involved son James Murdoch. now chief investor in the Tribeca Film Festival. (This is also like Franz Liekind in “The Producers” saying about the Nazis–War, what war? We were in the back.)

Brooks managed to escape going to prison when she was acquitted in the hacking trial. Just as Puff Daddy didn’t go to jail after his nightclub shoot out, but rapper Shyne did, News of the World editor Andy Coulson took the rap and went behind bars. Brooks skipped out of the courtroom and went back to work for News Corp. She’s been in the US for some time, doing something, and this is it.

The Sun has been advertising for a Head of Audience-US on the News Corp site all month. So this is happening. The US Sun will compete, says Joe Pompeo, with the US Daily Mail, a wild hit that just aggregates and steals from everywhere, mocks everyone famous, turns small potatoes into large mashed ones. Where does that leave the Post, and Page Six? They will seem tame by comparison.

Will it work? As Pompeo points out, and those of us who recall will tell you, Murdoch tried to create The Daily, an app-based paper with Apple years ago. That was a stunning failure. Page Six TV has also come and gone. The Post loses millions despite all efforts to excite the masses with semi-truthful news. The online reader is already inundated with so much fake gossip that it hurts. It will be interesting to see if The US Sun is some kind of stalking horse for Trump, now that the National Enquirer can no longer carry his invective and fiction (Hillary is dying! etc.)

Meantime, wait til Murdoch and friends get a load of the movie “Bombshell.” Malcolm McDowell plays Rupe beautifully. And listening to Ailes call James Murdoch names is the sound of music.

“Bombshell,” About Roger Ailes’ Misbehavior at Fox News Throws a Monkey Wrench into 2020 Oscar Predictions

Roger Friedman
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“Bombshell,” About Roger Ailes’ Misbehavior at Fox News Throws a Monkey Wrench into 2020 Oscar Predictions

As the Oscar season narrows down, many nominations are coming into focus. I see a lot of lists on Gold Derby and other places, some with spot-on choices and others with longshots longer than Donald Trump asking Nancy Pelosi to replace him in the White House.

Now comes a big monkey wrench into the mix: Jay Roach’s “Bombshell,” all about Roger Ailes’s reign of terror against the women of Fox News. It was screened last week in Los Angeles, and last night in New York for SAG and some press. (The moderator, Lynn Hirschberg, of W Magazine, was a lively relief. Let’s have her some more!) “Bombshell,” from Lions Gate, doesn’t open until December 20th. There’s a review embargo. So this isn’t a review, just an observation.

And another cliche: “Bombshell” upsets the apple cart for the women’s acting categories. Charlize Theron is absolutely going to be Renee Zellweger’s main competition for Best Actress. Theron’s performance as Megyn Kelly is as immersive as Zellweger’s as Judy Garland. If I were Kelly, I’d look in the mirror and make sure I’m still there. Theron is inhabiting her.

“Bombshell” really clouds up the Best Supporting Actress and Actor categories. Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie, respectively, as Gretchen Carlson and a fictional Fox employee (a composite of Ailes’ victims) will take two of the five supporting slots. Lithgow, as Ailes, has to be nominated in supporting.

Also, as someone whispered to me last night, “Bombshell” has quite the ensemble. They will be recognized for that.

“Bombshell” will also be occupying slots for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay. The weird thing here is that the movie will beat the Showtime series, “Loudest Voice in the Room,” to awards activity. The Oscars will precede the Emmys by six months.

“Loudest Voice,” which starred Russell Crowe and Naomi Watts, was excellent. But it aired in summer, when viewership is low. A lot of people didn’t see it. The six episodes are wonderful but have a different tone and temperament than a two hour movie. They are different animals.

I’ll tell you more about “Bombshell” when the embargo ends. But as a former Fox victim, I can say I was totally caught up in it. And you will be too. My only question is, how do we feel about these actors playing really awful people? Because the women — despite being sexually harassed — were not forced to deliver, day after day, crazy right wing opinions, Fake News, and so on. That’s something that will be debated. Much as they are all impeccably portrayed, these are real people you cannot congratulate or honor.

 

Sequels: “Maleficent” 5 Years Later Opens 50 Percent Down, “Zombieland” 10 Years Later Better than Ever, “Gemini Man” Collapses

Roger Friedman
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Sequels: “Maleficent” 5 Years Later Opens 50 Percent Down, “Zombieland” 10 Years Later Better than Ever, “Gemini Man” Collapses

In October 2009, the original “Zombieland” had an opening weekend of $24.7 million. Ten years later, its sequel has landed with numbers as good: $26.7 million. Zombies never get old!

By contrast, this weekend we had “Maleficent 2,” five years after the original. The first one had a $70 million weekend. The new one? Just $36 million. Not evil enough for the US. Will still do very well around the globe. But Angelina Jolie might give some thought to doing serious movies in which she has to interact like an actual human with other characters.

Maybe they should have titled it “Femaleficent.” That might have increased audience.

“Downton Abbey” hits $88 million today. I’d love to see the screenplay for number 2. And to hear the conversations with Maggie Smith. The Dowager Countess’s cancer is moving slowly. Or misdiagnosed.

At the same time, “Gemini Man” doubled its problems, taking in just $8.5 million this weekend, two million LESS than predicted. The whole thing is over. Total now is $36 million. Say goodbye at $45 million if lucky. That’s a LOT of money lost. A big write down.

Also news-worthy: Jennifer Lopez has now starred in her first $100 million film as “Hustlers” crosses the mark today. JL0 is headed to the Golden Globes, certainly, in the supporting actress category. But Oscars look like a slim chance now that Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie are filling two spots from “Bombshell.” Annette Bening takes the third for “The Report.” Laura Dern is IN for “Marriage Story.” It’s likely we’ll get two more choices from “Little Women.” But Lopez should be happy with the Globes, which is not exactly chopped liver.

My “Bombshell” review is coming, but in the meantime, Kidman’s subtle work as Gretchen Carlson is really a knockout, and so central to the movie. It was really cool and brave of her to take a supporting role in a movie. But she is a risk taker and a good gambler. Robbie could tip the other way to “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” But this work is the best of her very strong career. Wait for the big review to hear about Charlize and John Lithgow.

Box Office: Angelina Jolie’s “Maleficent 2” Has $12.5 Mil Open, Will Smith’s “Gemini Man” Dies Again, “Zombieland” Tap Dances Up A Storm

Roger Friedman
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Box Office: Angelina Jolie’s “Maleficent 2” Has $12.5 Mil Open, Will Smith’s “Gemini Man” Dies Again, “Zombieland” Tap Dances Up A Storm

Friday box office: Angelina Jolie’s “Maleficent 2” or “Mistress of Evil” scared up $12.5 million Friday including the $2.5 mil from Thursday. It’s not a record breaker but people went, and more will flood into today and tomorrow at matinees. Critics hated it, but “M2” is candy corn, it’s not a movie (see Scorsese comments). Angelina has 6 kids and bills to pay, so let’s be kind. She’s got her Oscar, and she’s an ambassador to everything.

Will Smith’s “Gemini Man” is dead again. Someone thought  that this weekend’s total would be $10.5 million, which the very reliable boxofficemojo.com put into their projections. Well, last night Gemini Man took in just $2.3 million, so I don’t know how that’s going to work out unless a sudden mob scene occurs in theaters. “Gemini Man” will be lucky to stir up $7 million, and even then I can’t imagine why–the word of mouth is worse than the reviews.

“Zombieland: Double Tap” actually made a very healthy $10.5 million last night including Thursday previews. The sequel to “Adventures in Zombieland” did a lot better than you might imagine, but zombies are always popular. (Look at the red states for more on that.) So we’ve got a modest hit, and a good airplane movie, or rental when the time comes. I’m psyched. Don’t denigrate this sort of film. It’s what keeps us going!

Hit Her with Your Best Shot: Pat Benatar Leads the Public Vote for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction

Roger Friedman
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Hit Her with Your Best Shot: Pat Benatar Leads the Public Vote for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction

Well, well.

Just a few days after 16 new possible inductees’ nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, we have a leading candidate.

On the RRHOF site, votes have poured in from the public. These votes will be weighed against the nominating committee’s ideas. Then a real ballot will go out to all the members.

So far the highest number of votes has been garnered by 80s rocker Pat Benatar. She’s got 127,695 votes early in the game. Hot on her heels are the Doobie Brothers, Soundgarden, Depeche Mode, and Judas Priest. (If the latter gets in yikes.)

Not doing so well in the vote so far is the late rapper, Notorious BIG. I’m not surprised. He has nothing to do with rock. I can’t imagine why he’s on the list. He has 60,000 votes.

People who do have a lot to do with rock, the MC5, are at the bottom of the voting. Here’s an idea for new RRHall Foundation chairman John Sykes: just wave in a bunch of actual influential rockers and players who will never get in. MC5, J Geils, Chubby Checker, et al. Open the door and let ’em in. Wipe the slate clean. (T. Rex, too.)

Aretha vs Aretha: A Big Mess Looms as MGM Announces Cast for “Respect,” Imagine Readies Genius Mini-Series

Roger Friedman
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Aretha vs Aretha: A Big Mess Looms as MGM Announces Cast for “Respect,” Imagine Readies Genius Mini-Series

Yes, there are two Aretha movie projects. One of them is for the big screen, one of them for the TV. They are happening simultaneously. Why not? This mess is so Aretha, it’s just about perfect.

Today MGM announced the cast for “Respect,” directed by theater director Liesl Tommy and written not by Oscar winner Callie Khouri. Back in May, at the Pulitzer Prize lunch, I was seated next to Tommy and a woman named Tracey Scott Wilson. Tommy introduced her as the writer of “Respect.” This was a surprise since Khouri, famous for “Thelma and Louise,” has always been the credited writer. But Wilson and Tommy have worked before together off Broadway. Wilson’s screen credits are 1 episode of “Fosse/Verson” and 7 of “The Americans.”

Then there’s the “Genius” mini-series from Ron Howard’s Imagine for the History/Discovery channels. Clive Davis is an executive producer of that project, and he said in this space a couple of weeks ago that the scripts are in, and the show is moving forward.

There’s a big irony here about casting Aretha. Cynthia Erivo, Tony winner for “The Color Purple,” is playing the great singer in the mini series. Erivo’s Oscar winner (“Dreamgirls”) co-star from “The Color Purple,” Jennifer Hudson, was hand-picked by Aretha for “Respect.” Hudson has been an artist of Davis’s at J Records, and now at RCA, for years and years.

Aretha, of course, caused this problem. She refused to sign the papers for the movie before she died. How do I know? I asked her. As with her will or lack of one, she left the whole situation to chaos. “Respect” has been set for next August, on what is considered the “black film” release weekend. “Genius” will have to wait now unless they rush it into production. But it will come, the train has left the station.

We don’t have  cast list yet for “Genius,” but we do for “Respect,” which commences shooting November 1st. It’s a little, uh, odd, although I kind of like the idea of Marc Maron as Jerry Wexler. Even though Titus Burgess is very entertaining, he’s an offbeat choice for James Cleveland.

The list provided today indicates some idea of what the screenplay is concentrating on, Aretha’s Atlantic years (there’s no Ahmet Ertegun yet but there will have to be). Having Dinah Washington, Clara Ward, and Revs. Franklin and Cleveland, sounds like this is going to concentrate on Aretha during her Atlantic chart years, with the “Amazing Grace” concert maybe at the end-ish (1972).

What will it be like? The only things certain in this life are death, taxes, and Jennifer Hudson’s voice. JHud will sing herself into the heavens. That part will be insanely good. The rest, we will wait and see.

PS I am imploring all press to stop using photos of Aretha from the last year of her life. She was gravely ill, and looks it. This is not the image she would prefer, I can tell you that.

Here it is, from the press release:

The Franklin family will be played by:

Forest Whitaker (Godfather of Harlem) stars as Reverend CL Franklin. Known as the man with the “Million-Dollar Voice,” Franklin served as the pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. Franklin was also the father of the American singer and songwriter Aretha Franklin and her manager early on in her career.

Marlon Wayans (On the Rocks, highly successful Sextuplets, Marlon), stars as Ted White, Aretha’s first husband.

Audra McDonald—the winner of a record-breaking six Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards, and an Emmy—stars as Barbara Franklin, Aretha’s mother.

Saycon Sengbloh (Broadway’s Eclipsed, CW’s In the Dark, ABC’s Scandal) stars as Erma Franklin, Aretha’s eldest sister.

Hailey Kilgore (Broadway’s Once on This Island, NBC’s The Village, Amblin/Apple’s Amazing Stories) stars as Carolyn Franklin, Aretha’s sister.

After a worldwide casting search, the role of young Aretha Franklin will be played by Skye Dakota Turner (Broadway’s Young Anna Mae in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical).

Music legends will be played by:

Mary J. Blige (Mudbound) stars as famed recording artist Dinah Washington. APA reps the multiple Grammy winning, and Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated artist.

Heather Headley (Broadway’s Aida) will play Clara Ward, the famed gospel artist and leader of The Famous Ward Sisters.

Tituss Burgess (Dolemite Is My Name, Unbreakable KimmySchmidt) stars as Reverend Dr. James Cleveland, who was known as the “King of Gospel.”

Marc Maron (Joker, GLOW, Sword of Trust) stars as legendary Atlantic Records music producer Jerry Wexler.

Tate Donovan (Rocketman) stars as John Hammond, Columbia Records’ influential music producer.

Broadway Has a Major Hit in “The Sound Inside,” And an Early Tony Nominee for Best Actress in Mary Louise Parker

Roger Friedman
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Broadway Has a Major Hit in “The Sound Inside,” And an Early Tony Nominee for Best Actress in Mary Louise Parker

Sometimes the magic is there, everything works. The play is unexpectedly great, the star has a towering moment, the director bats a thousand with imaginative staging. We don’t get to feel this all the time, so let me blabber for a minute here about Mary Louise Parker in “The Sound Inside,” written by Adam Rapp and directed by David Cromer. There’s also a newcomer in this two-hander, Will Hochman, who suddenly has a theater career at the age of 22.

No one could really tell what was going on with extra long preview time over at Studio 54. Jeffrey Richards and Lincoln Center were renting the theater from the Roundabout to put on “The Sound Inside,” a new play really no one knew anything about. Just the idea of new play these days is like a gift from the heavens. Basically, we’re awash in revivals and non-revivals like “To Kill a Mockingbird.” I mean, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” is coming back again. And again.

But here’s Adam Rapp, with a resume of excellent off Broadway plays, making his debut. Here’s Mary Louise Parker, so good in “Proof” almost 20 years ago, known better for her TV work in “Weeds” and some Broadway shows that garnered good notices for her but just didn’t make it. And then you have David Cromer, acting in and directing 5 hits in a row over the last decade including the Tony winner, “The Band’s Visit.”

Who can say which ingredient was the winner? Mixed together, all the elements of “The Sound Inside” make for an evening in the theater we started to think wouldn’t happen again. Rapp told me his play draws on autobiographical material– his mother died of cancer in 1997. And so Parker’s Bella, a college professor without family but smart and funny, receives her diagnosis. And then she meets a new student, Christopher, also a loner, maybe troubled, but he has a spark. Bella and Christopher’s connection is not what you think it is. Rapp steers clear of every cliche. Their 90 minute saga, without intermission, just keeps taking unexpected and welcome turns.

Hochman reminded me of Jesse Eisenberg when he was starting out, or Alex Sharp (of “Curious Incident” fame). Super articulate and sensitive, he’s not naive, so he’s a good conversational match for Bella, who’s at a crossroads. I’m glad Christopher is there in person. But really Bella could just do the whole thing as a monologue. Parker just has her right in her palm. She’s in the zone, as they say. She gives a stunning spot on performance that will be remembered for a long time to come.

And here’s the real plot twist: this is a limited run. The Roundabout has to go back to its schedule. Parker has already signed on to star in another play this spring. She’ll co-star with David Morse in a revival of “How I Learned to Drive.” Everyone should have this dilemma! I hope she can come back in another run of “Sound Inside” after that. And she’ll have to decide which show to take to the Tony Awards. This one must absolutely be the one.

Note to Tony voters: much as with “Waverly Gallery,” and Elaine May, get in to see this before it closes.

In the audience tonight, lots of cool people including Susan Sarandon, Molly Ringwald, Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz (a former Parker boyfriend), plus BFF Kathy Najimy (who was kvelling), and “Rent” star Anthony Rapp, whose brother is the playwright. Plus Parker and Billy Crudup’s tall, good looking 15 year old son who told me he’s going to get into directing as well as acting. He’s got the genes!

 

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