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Tom Hanks, Robert Zemeckis Circling “Forrest Gump”-“Cast Away” Reunion in “News of the World”

Roger Friedman
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Tom Hanks, Robert Zemeckis Circling “Forrest Gump”-“Cast Away” Reunion in “News of the World”

EXCLUSIVE
Tom Hanks has made three pretty good, fairly successful films with director Robert Zemeckis: “Forrest Gump,” “Cast Away,” and “Polar Express.” (This is called an understatement– they were HUGE.)

Now I’m told Zemeckis is circling (and may have signed) for Hanks’s latest project, “News of the World.”

The screenplay is from Luke Davies, who wrote the great (and last Weinstein hit) “Lion” based on Paulette Gilles’s book. Fox 2000 is the studio home for this idea.

Hanks would play a late 1870s sort of town crier who goes from Western locale to locale spreading news of the passing of the 15th amendment (voting rights– as it was then, for men only, but of all colors and races). Woven into this story, his character is transporting a 10 year old girl to her aunt and uncle after her parents are killed by American Indians. (If they don’t have the girl yet, I’d suggest Alyvia Alyn Lind if she’s not already booked.)

Hanks just starred in Steven Spielberg’s “The Post” as Ben Bradlee, but for some reason he bailed on the PR and didn’t get an Oscar nomination. His work was A plus, and he is in need of a third Oscar after killing it in movie after movie (like “Bridge of Spies”). Maybe this is the one. He and Zemeckis make magic together.

Sounds like this new character is a bit of a gossip columnist– Tom, you can call me for pointers!

Kanye West’s New “Songs”: One Features the Four Tops, the Other is Based on 1973 Soul Hit That Was A Lot Better

Roger Friedman
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Kanye West’s New “Songs”: One Features the Four Tops, the Other is Based on 1973 Soul Hit That Was A Lot Better

Kanye West’s “music” is all sampled. He doesn’t write music, you know. He samples it from existing sources. His new release this weekend, “Lift Yourself,” is a cover of a 1973 soul hit called “Liberty” by the group Amnesty. Their music is 100 % better than anything Kanye has ever cobbled onto a digital file. Let’s hope Kanye paid them handsomely for their sample. If he didn’t, let’s hear about it at showbiz411@gmail.com

The other song references the Sunken Place from “Get Out” which as Jordan Peele’s idea, Not Kanye’s. In the background you can hear the great Levi Stubbs from the Four Tops singing a sample of “Seven Rooms of Gloom.”

This is all LAME.

“Liberty” by Amnesty

“Avengers: Infinity War” UPDATE: Weekend Total Was More Than Thought: $258.2 US, $640.8 Mil Worldwide

Roger Friedman
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“Avengers: Infinity War” UPDATE: Weekend Total Was More Than Thought: $258.2 US, $640.8 Mil Worldwide

It was a really MARVEL-ous weekend more than anyone thought.

Not only did “Infinity War” break records and have the biggest opening weekend ever…

The Marvel super hero extravaganza took in $8.2 million more than estimated.

The total US was $258.2 million, with a total worldwide of $640.8 million. Yowza!

Now all Marvel has to figure out is how to un-dead all those franchise characters. Maybe they can make it like Bobby Ewing’s dream on “Dallas.” Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye– not in this movie– will wake up, turn to Scarlett Johansson, and tell her last night’s pepperoni pizza didn’t agree with him! Nightmare!

 

Daytime Emmys: “Days of Our Lives” Wins Best Drama, Writing, Directing, and Actor for James Reynolds

Roger Friedman
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Daytime Emmys: “Days of Our Lives” Wins Best Drama, Writing, Directing, and Actor for James Reynolds

It was a big night for “Days of Our Lives,” the last NBC soap opera. After years of decline the show won Best Drama at the Daytime Emmys. This was thanks to new headwriter Ron Carlivati, whose team picked up Best Writing. The “Days” directing team also won, and so did actor Greg Vaughn for Best Supporting Actor.

But the nicest news is that James Reynolds won Best Actor. He’s 71 and has been playing Abe Carver on that show since 1981. That’s a whopping 37 years. He was on that show when I was still in college. Amazing. He’s also likely the only African American actor on the lily white soaps who can boast any of that.

Susan Seaforth Hayes and husband Bill Hayes, also of “Days of Our Lives,” won the Lifetime Achievement Award. They were on the cover of TIME in 1976.

Vernee Watson won a guest acting award. I know her name because she was a key witness in the defense of Michael Jackson in his 2005 trial. Good for her.

 

 

 

Outstanding Drama Series:
Days of Our Lives, NBC

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series:
Eileen Davidson, as Ashley Abbott, The Young and the Restless       

Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Hosts:
Adrienne Houghton, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai, Tamera Mowry-Housley, Co-Hosts, The Rea

Outstanding Entertainment News Program:
 Entertainment Tonight

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series:
James Reynolds, as Abe Carver, Days of Our Lives

Outstanding Culinary Program:
A Chef’s Life

Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host
Steve Harvey, Host, Steve Harvey

Outstanding Talk Show/Entertainment:
The Talk   
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series:
Greg Vaughan, as Eric Brady, Days of Our Lives

Outstanding Morning Program:
Good Morning America       

Outstanding Digital Daytime Drama Series
The Bay The Series

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series:
Camryn Grimes, as Mariah Copeland, The Young and the Restless

Outstanding Writing Team, Drama Series:
Days of Our Lives

 

Outstanding Game Show:
The Price Is Right
   

Outstanding Game Show Host:
Wayne Brady, Host, Let’s Make a Deal

Outstanding Daytime Talent in a Spanish Language Program
 Lili Estefan, Host, El Gordo y la Flaca

Outstanding Morning Program in Spanish
Despierta America


Outstanding Entertainment Program in Spanish:
*WINNER* Destinos

Outstanding Culinary Host
 Lidia Bastianich, Host, Lidia’s Kitchen

Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series:
Rome Flynn, as Zende Forrester, The Bold and the Beautiful

Outstanding Directing Team, Drama Series:
Days of Our Lives              
Outstanding Talk Show/Informative:
The Dr. Oz Show

Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series:
Vernee Watson, as Stella Henry, General Hospital       

Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program
Judge Mathis

Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series:
Chloe Lanier, as Nelle Benson, General Hospital 

Box Office UPDATE: “Avengers: Infinity War” Flies to BIGGEST Opening Weekend Ever with $258.2 Mil US, Total Worldwide $630 Million

Roger Friedman
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Box Office UPDATE: “Avengers: Infinity War” Flies to BIGGEST Opening Weekend Ever with $258.2 Mil US, Total Worldwide $630 Million

MONDAY UPDATE: The US total was $258.2 million, way higher than originally thought.

 

SUNDAY: Disney was once a company known for animated movies. No more. Thanks to acquisitions of Marvel and LucasFilms, Disney now holds 8 of the top 10 opening weekends of all time.

“Avengers: Infinity War,” from Marvel, is now the BIGGEST opening weekend ever, beating two  “Star Wars” films from LucasFilms. “Infinity War” took in $250 million and is now the all time opening weekend box office take for any movie.

Including all countries worldwide, including theaters in Wakanda, “Infinity War” stands at $630 million since Wednesday.

Only one actual Disney film — last year’s live action “Beauty and the Beast” — is part of that top 10 now.

“Infinity War”– which really should be titled Part 1 — topped “Black Panther”‘s opening weekend by about $42 million. “Black Panther,” which was only released 10 weeks ago, was considered to be a phenomenon as it made its way to number 3 on the all time box office list.

SPOILER ALERT STOP READING NOW

But now the Black Panther himself, T’Challa, is dust in the wind thanks to the shocking ending of “Infinity War” along with several other signature Marvel characters. A bunch of them are turned to gray soot at the end of the movie, with no redemption in sight. Before that even happens, a few others are simply killed the old fashioned way, including Tom Hiddleston’s Loki and Paul Bettany’s Vision.

Ironically, the one Avenger everyone assumed would die– Chris Evans’s Captain America– is just fine, thank you. But his buddy, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) isn’t so lucky.

The death toll is high in “Infinity War, Part 1.” After the credits, two more Marvel heroes become dust including Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury– and this years before he wore an eye patch. Some kind of time travel fix will have to retroactively reboot everyone or Disney-Marvel will suddenly lose its main revenue stream. It could be “Infinity War, Part 2” aka “Avengers 4,” will begin with Bob Iger and Alan Horn visiting a CGI young Stan Lee in the 1960s and breaking all his pencils!

 

Starless, Starless Night: Comedian Kathy Griffin is the Only Recognizable “Name” at the White House Correspondents Dinner

Roger Friedman
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Starless, Starless Night: Comedian Kathy Griffin is the Only Recognizable “Name” at the White House Correspondents Dinner

Once upon a time, the White House Correspondents Dinner was cheek by jowl filled with stars. Movie stars, TV stars, media stars, singing stars.

Tonight there is exactly one big star in the room– comedian Kathy Griffin, who less than a year was in scandal when she posted a picture of Donald Trump’s decapitated head.

Otherwise, the only two professional actors in the room went with the Creative Coalition. They are “Twin Peaks” star Madchen Amick, currently on “Riverdale,” and Steve Howey, from “Shameless.”

That’s it.

No star wants to be seen at the WHCD while Donald Trump is president. That’s not going to change even if Trump remains in office for 8 years. (Please, I’m wearing garlic to ward this off.) All the buzz is gone. All the glitz.

Just to compare: even in 2016, Obama’s final year, the guest list included Helen Mirren and Taylor Hackford, Aretha Franklin, Will and Jada Smith, Bryan Cranston, and Kerry Washington and Shonda Rhimes.

The last time yours truly went, in 2015, the place was full of stars, many of whom went on to the now-defunct Vanity Fair party.

Trump has certainly sucked the life out of Washington, if not the rest of the world.

PS I’m surprised no one invited Stormy Daniels. But maybe next year, after her case is heard.

Kanye West Wants to “Forgive” His Dead Mother’s Final Surgeon by Putting His Picture on the Cover of His New Album

Roger Friedman
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Kanye West Wants to “Forgive” His Dead Mother’s Final Surgeon by Putting His Picture on the Cover of His New Album

Kanye West’s lovely mother, a college professor named Donda West, died after complications from plastic surgery on November 10, 2007. She was 58. It was only after that that Kanye really went off the rails. He’s never been the same since then.

Now, in his latest barrage of Tweets, Kanye has sent out a copy of a Text he sent to someone declaring that he will put a picture of his mother’s plastic surgeon, Jan Adams, on the cover of his new album.

“I want to forgive and stop hating,” Kanye writes. But is that true? Putting Adams’s picture on the cover may not be legal, first of all. But if he did it, is Kanye really trying to achieve closure and peace? Or is he provoking a fight?

Kanye’s mom died of heart disease a day after Adams performed liposuction and breast reduction surgery. She walked out of the clinic where the surgery was performed when it was over, and was prescribed Vicodin.

The next day she suffered a heart attack and 911 was called.

“The final manner of death could not be determined,” the coroner said in a statement. “Multiple post-operative factors could have played a role in the death. The exact contribution of each factor could not be determined. There was no evidence of a surgical or anesthetic misadventure.”

According to a 2015 interview, Donda West went home against doctor’s advice to go to a rehab clinic. At home she took 20 Vicodins, vomited and choked to death on her own vomit. Also, she was five foot two, weighed a whopping 188 lbs. and suffered from high blood pressure and blood sugar.

Kanye may say he wants to forgive and forget — whatever, this week he was all about sending Hallmark type messages of love. But really, putting Dr. Adams on the cover his album will make the doctor a target. And West is not stupid enough not to know that.

Later today, Kanye decided that Parkland student Emma Gonzales was his “hero” and that he was “inspired” by her. She’d do well to ignore this and stay away from him until Kanye’s meds have been adjusted.

 

Books: Mark Strausman’s Been Feeding the Elite at Barneys For Years, Comfort Food at the Highest Level

Roger Friedman
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Books: Mark Strausman’s Been Feeding the Elite at Barneys For Years, Comfort Food at the Highest Level

It’s Saturday morning in Manhattan. For many that means preparing for brunch or a late lunch at Fred’s at Barney’s, the hottest spot in town for eons.

We owe Fred’s to the late Fred Pressman, the man who launched the real Barneys dozens of years ago downtown. The restaurant is named after him. But the rest of it– the food, the look, the buzz– belongs to Mark Strausman.

Once the chef at Pino Luongo’s celebrity haunts like Sapore di Mare (in the Hamptons) and Coco Pazzo, Mark left in the 90s and started his famous restaurant on East 21st St. and Broadway called Campagna. Sleek, comfortable and beige, Campagna quickly caught on as the favorite of tons of A listers and was a particular favorite of record biz chieftains. This was when there was a record biz. On most nights, you had to fight your way into Campagna, where Tommy Mottola and Mariah Carey were regular customers.

After Campagna closed, Mark was lured to Barneys in 1996, and the rest is history. There’s a Fred’s here, downtown at the new old store (or the old new store) and Chicago and one in Beverly Hills. On Tuesday night, a gang of notables gathered on the 9th floor of the main store to celebrate Mark’s first cookbook, The Freds at Barneys New York Cookbook, co-written with Susan Littlefield.

It doesn’t seem possible that Mark will let other people try making his sensational french fries, mouth watering chicken soup, or any of the other staples that bring the fans. But the book is so beautiful I’m just going to look at the pictures, read the stories, and then grab a Via to 60th and Madison. On Tuesday night, just access to these recipes brought out Al Roker, Broadway producer Jean Doumanian, famed designer Vera Wang, Fox 5’s Rosanna Scotto, designer Lisa Perry and husband Richard Perry (who owns Barneys) and about a hundred other Upper East Siders who wanted to learn if they could make the bolognese sauce at home.

Will we get it? Study this book. Mark says his cooking his for a “neighborhood coffee shop” and I realize he’s right– and that’s why it’s so popular has lasted so long. It’s comfort food on the highest level.

“Avengers: Infinity War” Has Colossal $106 Mil Opening, Second Biggest Opening Day, Heads for $240 Mil Weekend

Roger Friedman
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“Avengers: Infinity War” Has Colossal $106 Mil Opening, Second Biggest Opening Day, Heads for $240 Mil Weekend

“Avengers: Infinity War” just went through the roof with Thursday previews and a Friday that was Marvel-ous. The total is $106 million so far, with a $240 million weekend looking likely.

Remember, $39 million was plunked down on Thursday, but that means Friday still did $71 mil last night.

It’s the second biggest opening day in history, behind “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

With a worldwide take outside the US of more than $100 million through Thursday night, “Infinity War” is poised for huge huge huge reports.  At this rate, “Infinity War” could possibly give “Black Panther” a run for its money as the biggest Marvel movie and maybe on the all time list as well.

The good news is that audiences are coming back, and spreading good word even after the film’s earth shaking ending.

 

Kanye West Posts Fragments of Crap and Scrap as Something, Not Music, Whatever, While Nile Rodgers, Roger Daltrey, LL Cool J Elevate, Contribute to the World

Roger Friedman
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Kanye West Posts Fragments of Crap and Scrap as Something, Not Music, Whatever, While Nile Rodgers, Roger Daltrey, LL Cool J Elevate, Contribute to the World

If you want to hear it, you can here.

Is he mocking us? Is he mocking himself? Is he serious?

Who cares, really?

Kanye is not a composer. He samples music from other people. So he all he can compose are lyrics, or raps, which he hasn’t done here anyway.

He’s wasted a lot of our time and a lot of his time, frankly. Tonight I went to hear Nile Rodgers and Chic, with Roger Daltrey of the Who and LLCool J for Nile’s We Are Family Foundation. With Nile’s band, Daltrey sang “Behind Blue Eyes.,” “Baba O’Riley,” and “Who Are You?” It was bliss. LL Cool J performed his hits “Mama Said Knock You Out” and “Rock the Bells.”

Nile Rodgers is in a league of his own. His new edition of Chic is better than ever, and they ran through the group’s many disco hits like “Le Freak” and “Good Times,” played Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” (which Nile helped write) and ended with a glorious “We Are Family” that had people of all kinds dancing and singing on stage. It was elevating.

All week Kanye West has been Tweeting aphoristic crap about love and hate and freedom, making stupid pronouncements to get attention. Then he ended the week with this three minute and twenty two second file of nonsense. All of this gets online traffic and makes fleeting headlines. But it’s garbage. And you realize  it when you’re in the presence of artists who make a difference in the world, have a huge library of material that moves and motivates.

Kanye’s week of hundreds of Tweets are mostly about making his clothing line HUGE. Who the f cares? The We Are Family Foundation is empowering youth all over the world, building schools, and doing good. LL Cool J is also running a foundation for kids, and Roger Daltrey is raising money for cancer research. They are actually doing something for the world. They are not wasting our time.

Come back in the morning, I’ll have some video from the show at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Bravo!

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