Support independent journalism, free from the trades and other publications that are part of the tinsel town machine.
For 12 years, Showbiz411.com has been covering Hollywood, Broadway, the music business and the business of celebrity. Ads are our main source of funding, but contributions (not tax exempt) from readers who enjoy the scoops, exclusives, and fact based reports are always welcome and very appreciated. To inquire about ads, email us at showbiz411@gmail.com.
The trailer for Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day” is here, and it looks great.
Colin First, Emily Blunt, and Josh O’Connor star in what looks like the capper to “ET,” “Close Encounters,” and “AI.”
You can’t beat a trailer that ends with the almost-reveal of a space ship
Will “Disclosure Day” explain everything about UFOs and aliens? I actually thought David Lynch’s Season 3, episode of “Twin Peaks” might have done that. But Spielberg is a genius, and this may be his pièce de résistance.
This makes me think next year’s Oscars will really be worth it!
The struggle to make sense of the Oscars continues.
Sunday’s show promises to be nothing if not “interesting.”
I’ve confirmed that Barbra Streisand will make an appearance, likely in conjunction with the In Memoriam for Robert Redford.
But my sources warn “do not expect her to sing” on the show. There’s been a lot of anticipation that Streisnad might deliver “The Way We Were” live on stage. So far, I’m told, that’s not in the cards.
Indeed, Josh Groban has already been announced as a performer, with a gospel choir. That seems like the music for In Memoriam has been covered.
Separately, some press watched a nicely conducted Q&A zoom call with the Oscarcast’s producers and Conan O’Brien. There were not a lot of surprises. No one really answered the question of how political jokes or statements would be handled. There’s a lot of latitude on a live show.
What did come across from the panel was their overwhelming interest in featuring “Sinners.” Ryan Coogler’s nominated film is getting a massive production number featuring all the below the line artisans of the film. The best song nominee from the film will be highlighted with costumes, ballet, and so on.
The reason for this? Said producer Raj Kapoor, this is because “Sinners” reaped the most nominations in Oscar history. So, is the Academy already bestowing 16 statuettes on the film regardless? Do they know the voting totals? Would you spend that much time and money spotlighting a film that goes on to lose?
And no one explained why only the “Sinners” song and the one from “Demon Hunters” are getting any attention? Three Best Song nominees are getting the short straw. But none of the journalists chosen to ask questions of the panel asked a difficult question. It was a lost opportunity.
Still, Kapoor et al. promised surprises — indicating the Streisand rumor (which I later confirmed was true).
You don’t have to know much about the long running series to appreciate the film, called “The Immortal Man,” which opens Friday in theaters.
The next week it goes to Netflix but remains on the big screen, where I think you should watch it. It’s that good.
Oscar winner Cillian Murphy, Tim Roth, Rebecca Ferguson, and Barry Keoghan star in what is the final episode of what Murphy calls “this chapter” of the show, meaning it could go on without him.
Roth plays a villain added to the story, a British fascist sympathizer named Beckett, who was not in the series. When I told him I’d seen all the episodes, he exclaimed, “Would you believe I’ve never seen one!” To be fair, his character comes along years after the series’ finale.
But “The Immortal Man” stands alone as a film, and it’s very very good.
For the film, all the original creators returned including director Tom Harper, screenwriter Stephen Knight, within insanely rich cinematography from Ben Wilson and George Steel.
Netflix threw an old fashioned elegant premiere for “Immortal Man” last night with a private screening at the DGA Theater. Among the guests were Kathleen Turner, and Steve Buscemi. Later the crowd moved to an elegant dinner buffet at the Plaza Hotel where Murphy held court.
(As a total aside, I met WNBC’s Natalie Pasqarella, a rising media star and anchor of the Channel 4 News here in New York. She’s lovely.)
Keoghan and Ferguson never arrived, but Murphy spent a lot of time accepting congrats. (He did miss fellow Oscar winner Adrien Brody, however, who came to the party in a super Thom Browne black suit.)
Netflix loves this movie. Every guest at the DGA found a genuine tweed cap, the kind worn in the movie, on their seats. At the Plaza, the tables were adorned with replica pocket watches.
As you may know, the TV series follows the antics of the Peaky Blinders gang in Birmingham, England from 1880 to 1920. The gang is Irish but they’re mixed with Romani’s — gypsies — making the stories and cast extremely colorful. A mild warning — there’s a lot of gritty violence, including the disposal of enemy who is eaten alive. Pigs factor into it, and you don’t want to miss Murphy and Keoghan mud wrestling.
There are a lot of takeaways in “The Immortal Man.” Ferguson is great, this role is a big departure from her “Mission Impossible” role. She deserves to be a real leading lady. Keoghan, as usual, has his show stopping moments. Roth steals a lot of scenes with aplomb and gets what’s coming to him.
But it’s Murphy’s movie. I asked him if was possible that he could be old enough to be Keoghan’s on screen father? “Biologically, yes, I’m afraid so,” he replied drolly. “Tommy Shelby got busy at 16!” Murphy, now 49, has matured into being one of the world’s great stars, a lyrical Irish actor whose range is unlimited. You can’t take your eyes off him here.
This Sunday’s Oscar presenters are mostly fifty or under.
Believe it or not, the biggest name on the list is Nicole Kidman, who I think of as a youngster.
No Sally Field, Michael Douglas, Dustin Hoffman, Jane Fonda, Shirley MacLaine, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, etc. In other words, no BIG stars and no one from the hierarchy.
Don’t get me wrong — these are all great people. But there’s no buzz here. Not even a mention of Tom Cruise, who received a Governors Award a few months ago. He and Nicole could have presented Best Picture!
New round of Oscar presenters this Sunday include: Rose Byrne, Nicole Kidman, Jimmy Kimmel, Delroy Lindo, Ewan McGregor, Wagner Moura, Pedro Pascal, Bill Pullman, Lewis Pullman, Channing Tatum and Sigourney Weaver.
They joined already announced: Will Arnett, Adrien Brody, Javier Bardem, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Kieran Culkin, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Anne Hathaway, Chase Infiniti, Mikey Madison, Paul Mescal, Demi Moore, Kumail Nanjiani, Gwyneth Paltrow, Maya Rudolph and Zoe Saldaña.
Is this really all that’s left of Hollywood? Couldn’t they bring in Sophia Loren or Catherine Deneuve? Pacino and DeNiro? Michael Caine? Julie Andrews? Goldie Hawn?
UPDATED 5PM: Oscar producers indicted at a press conference rather coyly that a big star expected to make a surprise appearance was true.
EARLIER: It’s kind of crazy this hasn’t already happened.
Barbra Streisand will receive the highest award from the Cannes Film Festival, the Palme d’or, in May.
This means she will be part of the closing ceremony on May 23, perhaps attend the opening of the festival, and maybe conduct a masterclass.
Streisand, one of the world’s biggest stars, has never attended the renowned film festival, not once in her almost 84 years.
For Festival chief Thierry Fremaux, this a coup. Barbra is not known for traveling, nor putting herself through intense press attention. Her appearances in Cannes will cause pandemonium!
Streisand is an Oscar winning actress, trailblazing female director, winner of 10 Grammy Awards, and 11 Golden Globes including Best Director for “Yentl” in 1983.
She may also be a surprise performer at Sunday’s Oscars during the memorial for Robert Redford.
“It is with a sense of pride and deep humility, that I’m honored to join the company of past Honorary Palme d’or recipients whose work has long inspired me,” Barbra Streisand said. “In these challenging times, movies have the ability to open our hearts and minds to stories that reflect our shared humanity, and to perspectives that remind us of both our fragility and our resilience. Cinema transcends borders and politics, and affirms the power of imagination to shape a more compassionate world.”
Iris Knobloch, President of the Festival de Cannes, says: “This year, we were keen to pay tribute to an artist who made her mark through the power of her art and her uncompromising pursuit of freedom. As a woman, I am delighted to be able to express our admiration for this consummate creator and courageous citizen, whose example stands the test of time and continues to inspire.”
Festival Director Thierry Frémaux remarks, “A global star, Barbra Streisand is above all an artist, initiating projects that reflect who she is, that are her own and that she shares with the whole world. She is the legendary synthesis between Broadway and Hollywood, between the music hall stage and the big screen. Hearing her sing and seeing her perform are part of our best years.”
He’s given his first real interview from prison since his bizarre talks with Candace Owens.
This one is with the Hollywood Reporter.
Much of what he discussed with Maer Roshan has been out there: all the sexual malfeasance was consensual. He misses his kids and his family. He’s lonely in prison.
He says he’s dying, which is terrible. In the accompanying photograph, he looks gaunt and shrunken.
The biggest revelation: that he still gets a pension from Disney. Comes to $60,000 a year, which he splits with his first wife.
So it’s $30,000 a year, less taxes. But handy for the prison canteen.
EVeryone hates Harvey now but he makes a good point about the Oscars. They were dreadfully boring in the 1980s after the gold rush of 70s movie making. He made them exciting again.
He says, rightly so: “Before I got there, a bunch of big studios ran the Oscars. They just passed the awards among them. I made it possible for smaller indie movies to finally get attention. They complained that I fought dirty or made them too expensive. Fuck them. I fought hard for great movies because I loved them. Is that a bad thing?”
Also, the two directors in contention this year — Ryan Coogler and Paul Thomas Anderson — made movies for Harvey. Coogler got his start with Harvey on “Fruitvale Station.” PTA released “The Master” with him.
He says: “It’s a two-man race — Paul Thomas Anderson and Ryan Coogler. I had the pleasure of working with both of them. I worked with Paul on The Master. I worked with Ryan on Fruitvale Station. These are two of the greats. I love Ryan — he’s the class of the field. When Paul Thomas Anderson and I made The Master, he came to me and said, “Is there somewhere we can cut? It’s long.” I watched it and said, “It’s a fucking masterpiece. I’m not cutting a frame.” He was the most gentlemanly of gentlemen. The Academy should declare a tie.”
The Oscars are not being shy about their investment in “Sinners.”
Sunday’s show will not only feature a performance of their Best Song nominee, “I Lied to You.” but they’re also getting an all-star fashion segment.
The other news this morning is that it looks like Josh Groban will sing, backed by the the Los Angeles Master Chorale. It would seem like that’s the In Memoriam segment that Barbra Streisand was rumored to participate in.
The “Sinners” bit is interesting since the Oscars are only allowing two of the five Best Song nominees to be featured on the show.
The “Golden Girls” — EJAE, AUDREY NUNA and REI AMI, of Huntrix — will sing their hit song from “Demon Hunters.”
They say “Sinners” star Miles Caton will perform the Oscar-nominated original song “I Lied To You,” with the song’s composer, Raphael Saadiq, and they will be joined by Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey and Alice Smith in “an homage to the film’s singular visual style.”
Not being performed are the songs “Dear Me,” “Train Dreams,” and “Sweet Dreams of Joy,” will be showcased with brief video clips.
I guess they really think “Sinners” will win a lot of awards.
More announcements are promised every morning this week.
Taylor Swift’s wedding to Travis Kelce is coming up.
The question is, When?
Believe it or not, the date may have a lot to do with annual Songwriters Hall of Fame dinner.
This year the dinner is on Thursday, June 11th as usual at the Marriott Marquis Hotel.
My sources tell me Taylor has committed to being in the room, if not joining in for a bit of performance.
The SHOF is like Musicares: a bunch of singers will tackle Taylor’s greatest hits.
You can bet the Haim sisters will be on the docket as they may also be bridesmaids a few days later. Maybe Right Said Fred will show up for Taylor’s “Look What You Made Me Do.” It would be even more interesting to have Ryan Adams perform one of the Swift songs he’s covered.
But now the SHOF organizers are wondering if Taylor and Travis will enter into matrimony a few days later, or if they’ll wait ten days for the next weekend.
It does seem like pushing it to be in New York on Thursday night and then in — maybe — Rhode Island for a wedding on Saturday or Sunday.
At least dinner guests at the SHOF could bring Taylor and Travis wedding gifts at the Marriott Marquis!
The odds on favorite to win the Oscar for Best Actor in “Marty Supreme,” he’s done just about everything wrong.
First, he lost his mind with orange ping pong balls and expensive promotional jackets. At the time that started, I wrote here that the marketing campaign was a bad idea, it cheapened an exceptional movie. But no one could talk him out of it.
The campaign peaked when he and girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, came to the premiere wearing matching orange outfits.
Jenner didn’t help the situation. Hanging onto Chalamet, she cheapened him as well. She dressed very revealingly at events with him, and sucked all the air out of the room. Everyone around Chalamet begged him to leave her at home. By the time he listened — and brought his mother to the SAG Actors Awards — it was too late. He lost to Michael B. Jordan after months of pent-up negativity toward him.
Then Opera or Ballet-Gate occurred. For some bizarre reason, Chalamet participated in a live Town Hall on CNN with Matthew McConnaughey. It was self-serving and embarrassing. In the middle of in Chalamet now famous derided the fine arts. His hubris was so over the top, he was just talking to hear his own voice.
The Town Hall comments came on February 24th and at first no one paid attention to them. But then someone stirred the situation up — someone maybe in the Academy who was rooting against Chalamet. Just as Oscar voting was closing, reports of his comments started spreading like wildfire.
What did Chalamet say? “I don’t want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no one cares about this anymore.’ All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there.”
Since then, opera and ballet companies have been chastising Chalament on social media. Some have invited him to come visit. Many people pointed out Chalamet’s mother, sister and grandmother were ballet dancers. He’s said in the past that he grew up around the New York City Ballet.
Now Chalamet’s principal from La Guardia High School is coming to his defense, sort of. He says on Instagram, “We know your heart, and we know you know better.” (See below.)
All the Oscar prognosticators are warning that Chalamet has blown his Oscar chances. I’m not so sure. This scandal has happened after voting is over. I think there’s a very good chance he’ll win on Sunday night. The Best Actor race will certainly drive up the ratings to the bitter end of the night. If Chalamet does in, he’d better have the best speech of his life in hand.
I already told you that Apple is un-canceling Kanye West.
Despite Kanye’s campaign of hate against Jews and his well known admiration of Adolph Hitler, the Apple–funded Gamma Records is releasing his new album later this month.
Now, to celebrate, Kanye will have his first return concert at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. SoFi is owned by Stan Kroenke, whose wife, Ann Walton, is an heiress to the Wal-Mart fortune.
Stan and Ann also own the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Rams. How nice for them.
Kanye was dropped by Adidas, The Gap, Balenciaga and every other business he was involved in because of his deep seated, incredibly aggressive antisemitism.
Less than a year ago, Kanye released a “song” called “Heil Hitler.”
Ann Walton is a billionaire thanks to her uncle, Sam Walton. She’s funding husband Kroenke’s businesses. Their tacit approval of Kanye West should reflect on Wal-Mart, but it won’t, not in Trump’s MAGA America, where things like antisemitism are no big deal.
