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Exclusive: Chris Christie as Oprah? Dr. Phil? Former NJ Governor and Wife Mary Pat Pitching a Syndicated Talk Show from Controversial Producer Garth Ancier

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Chris Christie as Oprah? Dr. Phil? Former NJ Governor and Wife Mary Pat Pitching a Syndicated Talk Show from Controversial Producer Garth Ancier

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie sees himself as the next Oprah. Or even Dr. Phil.

I’m hearing that Christie and wife Mary Pat are pitching a syndicated TV Talk show. The producer is Garth Ancier, former network executive at five different networks.

More recently, Ancier was caught up in accusations of sexual misconduct in a lawsuit filed by Michael Egan, who also named director Bryan Singer. In the end, the case was thrown out. Egan had to pay Ancier a seven figure settlement, and went to jail.

Christie is infamous for his Bridgegate episode in New Jersey. He walked away clean, although his lackeys– who swear they took his orders– are in jail. Maybe they could be his first guests.

Christie has tried like crazy to get a job with the Trump Administration. But Trump has proven disloyal. Christie currently has a contract with ABC News as a pundit, which is just as ridiculous as it sounds.

Could the Christies actually get a talk show? Look, Maury Povich was a serious guy until he realized he could make millions debasing himself as a DNA expert. Jerry Springer is out there somewhere. The answer is: yes. Pretty much anyone who rejects dignity can do it. And frankly, I’d like to see this, just for sport. Bring it on!

Exclusive: Hollywood PR Firm 42 West Will NOT Defend Botswana’s Proposal to Allow Elephant Hunting, Will Exit “Misunderstood” Agreement ASAP

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Hollywood PR Firm 42 West Will NOT Defend Botswana’s Proposal to Allow Elephant Hunting, Will Exit “Misunderstood” Agreement ASAP

No one can figure this out. Reports circulated starting almost a week ago that Hollywood PR firm 42 West had taken on the country of Botswana as a client specifically to defend their new law allowing elephant hunting. According to reports, they were being paid a pittance to do this dirty work: $125,000.

But now I am told exclusively by sources that 42 West did not sign on to do any such thing. And they will exit an agreement that was called “misunderstood” by those I spoke to.

Indeed, I can’t imagine 42 West’s Leslee Dart agreeing to do such a thing. She’s an animal activist. So are are clients like Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman. They would have cows (just an expression) if such a thing happened. In 2014 Streep called the sale of ivory a “product of horrific cruelty to elephants, who could very well become extinct within decades if we don’t act now.”

Ironically, Streep and Kidman will be on a red carpet tonight for HBO’s “Big Little Lies.” The timing couldn’t be worse.

According to the Associated Press five days ago, 42 West had filed as a foreign agent to represent Botswana for developing talking points and a communications plan that “articulates Botswana’s policy on elephant hunting” that will be delivered to “key U.S. and other Western audiences.”

But my sources say the almost instantaneous blowback made the firm realize it could not fulfill the agreement. I’m told it will be nullified within a day or so.

Botswana is home to the largest elephant population of any country– about 130,000. Elephant hunting was prohibited. It was literally a safe place for this endangered, beloved species.

But recently the country gave in and proposed a change to the law that would elephants to be prey to big game hunters. Their goal is not just in the sick glee of murdering a defenseless animal. They’re after the ivory tusks, which are worth millions.

I’ve visited Botswana twice. When they announced this new plan I wrote on Twitter, to them, that I was horrified. Any thinking person would be. And I say this also in the memory of Mark Shand, the late brother of Camilla Parker Bowles, who devoted his life to rescuing elephants. All sport hunting should be banned, in my opinion, especially in Africa where all species– including ours– are endangered.

Exclusive: Sansa Stark Wedding in 2 French Castles Next Month! Details: Sophie Turner, Joe Jonas Headed for Provence Wedding (As We Said Before)

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Sansa Stark Wedding in 2 French Castles Next Month! Details: Sophie Turner, Joe Jonas Headed for Provence Wedding (As We Said Before)

Sansa Stark is going to get the royal wedding she deserves. But it won’t be in the North, where she rules.

Actress Sophie Turner will have her official wedding to pop star Joe Jonas in two romantic French castles the weekend of June 29th.

With all that food, it could be a Game of Scones!

I told you this was all going to happen on March 21st. Yes, March 21st.

I can tell you exclusively the castles are the castle of Tourreau in Sarrians dans le Vaucluse. That’s where rooms rent for $5,000 a night, and who knows what it costs to take the whole place over. But the future Mr. and Mrs. Jonas will have their wedding party on the premises.

On the day before the wedding, Friday, June 28th, the guests will party in nearby Carpentras at Chateau Martinet.

By that time, it’s hoped, Turner’s “Game of Thrones” co-star Kit Harrington will be feeling better and out of his spa rehab for exhaustion and drinking. The one and only Jon Snow actor apparently felt emotionally crushed when the show ended, and checked in for some peace and quiet. Harrington is a great guy. I can’t imagine the pressure of having that constant media attention.

It couldn’t have been easy to settle on a date for this wedding, which may be why Turner and Jonas got married last month in Las Vegas.  The Jonas Brothers are going out on tour for the first two weeks in June, then take a break until August. Turner opens in the movie “Dark Phoenix” on June 7th. And who knows when Bran Stark, Sansa’s brother, can get away from his own royal duties?

PS the two chateaux have a total of 21 rooms. There are 9 in Castle Tourreau and 12 in Chateau Martinet. The Jonases alone (at least four couples) will take up a lot of space. But the area is filled with beautiful homes. Even if all the Starks, Lannisters, and assorted friends come, there will be plenty of room for them!

 

Mary Wilson Shows She’s More Supreme Than Ever As Motown Legend Opens 2 Weeks at Cafe Carlyle

Roger Friedman
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Mary Wilson Shows She’s More Supreme Than Ever As Motown Legend Opens 2 Weeks at Cafe Carlyle

What a day was yesterday!

First a surprise performance by Jennifer Hudson, just super, who won her Oscar for “Dreamgirls,” the sort based on story of the Supremes.

Then, cross town to the Cafe Carlyle where the real Supreme, Mary Wilson, opened a two week stint to a sold out room. And she even mentioned Jennifer Hudson.

Wilson is 75 years old, and will forever be of the original Supremes, the girl group that have the Beatles a run for their money from 1964-70. Mary had a lead singer’s voice but she relegated to being Diana Ross’s back up singer thanks to Berry Gordy’s infatuation with the latter.

It’s only been in recent years that Wilson has been able to shine on her own. Now all of her hard work, gigging around the world, singing pop and jazz and learning to be the lead, has paid off. Her opening show at the Carlyle was a resounding success.

First of all, she remains gorgeous and vital despite set backs in her personal life over the years. I’ve never known anyone who’s persevered the way Mary Wilson has. Nothing knocks her down for long. She picks right up and gets back to business.

Second, her voice has become deeper and more agile over the years. I think it took her a while to find that voice not, as she says, doing oohs and aahs, but singing the words. She’s not a drinker, but Mary’s voice sounds like a fine brandy. It’s not raspy. but textured. She is full of surprises as she takes on the American songbook old and new, from “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered” to Norah Jones’s “I Don’t Know Why.” She makes Lena Horne’s “Stormy Weather” swing disarmingly.

Of course, there’s an irony when it comes to singing Supremes songs. She stopped a quarter of the way into “My World Is Empty Without You” as she forgot the first verse. The background parts are ingrained in her memory. But when she picked it up, and made a medley with “Fever,” there was a sensuousness that Diana Ross could not convey. She had the audience eating out of her hand. When she sings the “Dreamgirls” song, “I Am Changing,” you get chills as she dedicates it to the Supremes’ Florence Ballard. Mary nails it, a meta memory.

I think Mary Wilson’s run at Cafe Carlyle is going to be something people will talk about a for a long time. Her authenticity also sells the show. Here is a woman who’s been through it all and lived to sing about it. The honesty clicked with the audience in a big way. I heard a lot of the first nighter making plans to come back again next week. They will not be alone.

Jennifer Hudson Drove 14 Hours Last Night from Chicago to NY So She Could Sing a Tribute for Aretha Franklin at Pulitzer Prize Ceremony

Roger Friedman
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Jennifer Hudson Drove 14 Hours Last Night from Chicago to NY So She Could Sing a Tribute for Aretha Franklin at Pulitzer Prize Ceremony

Jennifer Hudson– this is who she is. She drove 14 hours last night from Chicago to New York so she could sing for Aretha Franklin at the Pulitzer Prize ceremony this afternoon.

JHud literally peeled the paint off the walls with a stunning version of “Amazing Grace.” She told me afterwards: “What could I do? They cancelled all the flights. I said, We have to get there, Let’s go!”

Jennifer and her team piled into an SUV and said, “Driver, New York, please!” It was well worth the trip.

She sang in front of all the 2019 Pulitzer winners including fiction winner Richard Powers (“The Overstory”), and all the journalists who’d either investigated Donald Trump last year or reported on mass shootings. Also present were the two Reuters reporters detained in Myanmar for over 500 days.

There were also staff members from the school newspaper at Parkland, Florida’s Marjorie Stoneman High School. They had to write their friends’ obituaries.

Dana Canedy, who has single-handedly revolutionized the Pulitzers in two years, pulled together an afternoon at Columbia University that celebrated courage and freedom of the press, as well as significant achievements in the arts.

Aretha’s award was accepted by Clive Davis, and Aretha’s publicist, Gwendolyn Quinn. The Aretha guests included yours truly, two of her cousins from Washington, DC, famed songwriter Valerie Simpson, and a panoply of the Queen of Soul’s friends. She would have been very proud.

Hudson’s performance was preceded by even more musical entertainment: magnificent classical singer Brandie Inez Sutton and pianist/Musical director Damien L. Sneed. The buttoned up Pulitzer crowd is going to want four star entertainment from now on, I think!

What a sensational afternoon. And guests received the newly remastered vinyl recording of Aretha’s famous “Amazing Grace” album from Atlantic Records.

 

 

Is Miley Cyrus Done with Her G-Rated Country Image Again? Singer Releases Lascivious Teasers for New Song Called “She is Coming”

Roger Friedman
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Is Miley Cyrus Done with Her G-Rated Country Image Again? Singer Releases Lascivious Teasers for New Song Called “She is Coming”

Miley Cyrus jettisoned her good girl Hannah Montana image several years ago when she got on her wrecking ball. Naked. Miley went through a period of Twerking that took her through a major pot phase, posing nude for Terry Richardson, and selling millions of records. The whole thing culminated in her free Dead Petz project. She was as far from being nice little girl pop singer as possible.

But then cooler heads prevailed. Miley did another 180, or a full 360, and released a country album rated PG called “Younger Now.” It was a bomb. Then, over the past Christmas holiday, she put out a new single. “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart,” with producer Mark Ronson. It was a minor hit but suggested that Miley, now married to Liam Hemsworth, was going to go MOR (Middle of the Road) for a kind of Reba career. It wasn’t a bad idea.

However: today Miley has announced a new single release for Friday called “She is Coming.” Her tongue is hanging out of her mouth, she’s released clips that signal she’s gone lascivious again including the one below that shows a peeled banana, dripping in syrup and sprinkles. Is it schizophrenia? Or commercially aware of her?

If the title of the new song is “She is Coming,” ya know, we get it. Will radio? Back in 1967, Sam & Dave’s “Hold on, I’m Coming” had to retitled “Hold On, I’m-a Coming” lest people get the wrong idea. (It was actually Isaac Hayes yelling to the band from the bathroom.)

Miley has to decide on an image for herself. Is she the new Dolly Parton or is she Sylvia Robinson singing “Pillow Talk”? Just a thought, but the former is still here 40 years later.

Lawyer for Stan Lee’s Ex-Business Manager, Arrested for “Elder Abuse” and Fraud, Says Client Will Be Exonerated: “We have the accounting”

Roger Friedman
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Lawyer for Stan Lee’s Ex-Business Manager, Arrested for “Elder Abuse” and Fraud, Says Client Will Be Exonerated: “We have the accounting”

Memorabilia dealer and filmmaker Keya Morgan is sitting in a Phoenix jail tonight. He was arrested yesterday in Phoenix after making a deal to turn himself in to Los Angeles police for a warrant on elder abuse and fraud in the case of late Marvel creator Stan Lee.

Morgan’s lawyer, Antonio Castillo, tells me the charges are nonsense, and that Morgan will be exonerated. “We have the accounting,” he says referring to claim that Morgan somehow took almost $300,000 from Lee, his long time friend, in 2018 before the Marvel legend died.

Castillo tells me that Morgan’s arrest was designed to get publicity. “We had an agreement with the LAPD for a timely surrender in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Keya was visiting his mother in Arizona. The whole thing is crazy. They put his mother in handcuffs!”

I’ve been following the story of Morgan and Lee, as well as Stan Lee’s daughter, JC, for some time. Months before there were claims of “elder abuse,” Morgan– whom I’ve known for years as an LA “character”– told me what was going in Lee’s life, how his daughter, JC– who has lived off her parents, spent frivolous amounts of money, and treated her parents shabbily– was trying to wrest control of her father’s fortune.

Indeed, a close reading of reporter Gary Baum’s excellent original piece in The Hollywood Reporter describes all of that. Morgan is a minor player. JC Lee is the villain.  In the piece, an anecdote about JC Lee would suggest that she might be guilty of elder abuse: J.C. then roughly grabbed her mother by one arm, shoving her against a window. Joanie fell to the carpeted floor. Lee, seated in a nearby chair and looking stunned, told J.C. he was cutting her off: “I’m going to stick you in a little apartment and take away all your credit cards!” Herman recalls Lee shouting. “I’ve had it, you ungrateful bitch!” In “a rage,” J.C. took hold of Lee’s neck, slamming his head against the chair’s wooden backing. Joanie suffered a large bruise on her arm and burst blood vessels on her legs; Lee had a contusion on the rear of his skull. (J.C. has previously denied the incident.)

Nothing about Morgan’s friendship with Stan Lee suggests any violence. When he and I talked about Stan Lee’s situation in February 2018, he invited me to come meet Stan at his home. (As it was Oscar week, there was no time. I’m sorry I didn’t take him up on his offer.) Morgan claimed then he was trying to protect Lee from predators including JC. I’ll be curious to see how this plays out now. Not everything in this story is as it seems.

 

Box Office: “Aladdin” Magic Carpet to $105 Mil, “Booksmart” Goes Unread with $6.5 Mil Weekend, Frank Sinatra-Ava Gardner Movie Makes $17K Since December

Roger Friedman
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Box Office: “Aladdin” Magic Carpet to $105 Mil, “Booksmart” Goes Unread with $6.5 Mil Weekend, Frank Sinatra-Ava Gardner Movie Makes $17K Since December

“Aladdin” was number 1 at the box office this weekend with over $105 million. It was the default movie on a slow weekend. The three day total was $86 mil. Not bad considering the reviews were tepid.

Olivia Wilde’s “Booksmart,” very well reviewed, suffered from no PR or marketing. It died with $6.5 million. One solution might be to relaunch it in the fall with some awards buzz. But then again, it just might be over.

Keanu Reeves’s “John Wick 3” hit $100 million in its 2nd weekend. “John Wick 4” and more are being prepared now. Does Keanu still live at the Chateau Marmont? Did he ever buy a house?

Stranger still, there seems to be a movie called “Frank and Ava” about Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner, in release since December from something called Hannover House (misspelled intentionally) based in Arkansas. It’s now made around $17,000. The writer and producer, Rico Simonini, who is a cardiologist at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles (real name Dr. Americo Simonini), also plays Sinatra. Whatever this vanity endeavor cost, it’s money down the drain.

PS There’s no singing in the trailer, so I think probably no singing in the movie. Or music associated with Sinatra. And Dr. Simonini doesn’t look anything like Sinatra. This may be why cardiology issues should be dealt with UCLA Medical Center.

Frank & Ava movie trailer from Rico Simonini on Vimeo.

Cannes: Quentin Tarantino Loses Competition, Makes Classy Show at Awards; Antonio Banderas Best Actor, “Parasite” Gets Palme d’Or

Roger Friedman
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Cannes: Quentin Tarantino Loses Competition, Makes Classy Show at Awards; Antonio Banderas Best Actor, “Parasite” Gets Palme d’Or

The 2019 Cannes Film Festival is over, and no Americans won anything. But Quentin Tarantino did us proud. Knowing he was not winning anything for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” he came to the awards ceremony and dinner anyway. It was a classy move and showed how much he respects the Festival. “OUT” will be tweaked and readied for its late July opening.

Korean Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite,” highly regarded, won the top prize. The great Catherine Deneuve presented the award. Antonio Banderas won best actor for Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain and Glory,” which got glowing reviews and should be a big hit for Sony Pictures Classics.

Best Actress went to British actress Emily Beecham in “Little Joe.” The Dardenne brothers won Best Director for “The Young Ahmed.”

Thierry Fremaux must be exhausted but pleased. He pulled it off. Another Cannes is in the record books.

Meanwhile, “The Lighthouse” won the Directors Fortnight. A24 will release it this fall with Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson sure to get awards attention.

 

Palme d’Or: Parasite, Bong Joon-ho
Grand Prix: Atlantics, Mati Diop
Jury Prize (tie): Les Misérables, Ladj Ly, and Bacurau, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles
Best Actress: Emily Beecham, Little Joe
Best Actor: Antonio Banderas, Pain & Glory
Best Director: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, The Young Ahmed
Best Screenplay: Céline Sciamma, Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Special Mention of the Jury: It Must Be Heaven, Elia Suleiman
Camera d’Or: Our Mothers, César Díaz
Short Film Palme d’Or: The Distance Between Us And The Sky, Vasilis Kekatos
Special Mention of the Jury: Monstruo Dios, Agustina San
Queer Palm (Feature): Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Céline Sciamma
Queer Palm (Short): The Distance Between Us And The Sky, Vasilis Kekatos

Box Office: “Aladdin” Scores $31 Mil Friday, Heads to Possible $80 Mil Weekend, Well Reviewed “Booksmart” Crashes with Just $6.5 Mil Weekend

Roger Friedman
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Box Office: “Aladdin” Scores $31 Mil Friday, Heads to Possible $80 Mil Weekend, Well Reviewed “Booksmart” Crashes with Just $6.5 Mil Weekend

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: Will Smith turned blue for “Aladdin,” a movie few like with just a 58 on Rotten Tomatoes. What I heard was “it’s not as bad as Dumbo.” Disney is sure lucky it has Marvel since these two animation-to-live ideas are not working out so far.

“Aladdin” made $7 million on Thursday in previews. The total for Friday including previews is $31 million, more than anyone hoped or predicted. An $80 mil three weekend will be most welcome. Saturday and Sunday should be BIG for kids. So hold on. “Aladdin” may have the needed magic.

It doesn’t hurt that “Aladdin” opened on almost 5,000 screens– third widest release ever.

Olivia Wilde’s “Booksmart” needed some street smarts this weekend. Last night, the well reviewed–97%– comedy crashed and burned with just $2.5 million. Boxofficemojo had predicted at least $9 million for the three day weekend. Now it looks like $7.5 million is the goal. It’s too bad for Annapurna Pictures, which suffers from bad marketing and PR. I’m not the only press person who was never invited to a screening, and certainly not the NY tastemaker premiere this past Tuesday. Annapurna is a company with great taste and no common sense. They’re in some alliance now with the revived United Artists, which should make Barbara Broccoli nervous about next year’s James Bond movie (not that she isn’t nervous already).  PS, you know, it’s not funny. We want these quality movies to do well at the box office.

UPDATE: “Booksmart” made only $6.5 mil for the three day weekend.

 

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