Thursday, December 18, 2025
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At BAFTA Britannia Awards, Oscar Nominated Ava Duvernay Advises Crowd: “Until we are all safe, no one is safe”

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Oscar nominated director (Selma, 13) Ava DuVernay made clear her message to Hollywood Saturday night at the British Academy Britannia Awards at the Beverly Hilton. She spoke bluntly about what is currently going on about the abuse of power in Hollywood. This awards season will probably follow suit.  

Funny Brit comedian Jack Whitehall started the night with a lighter touch.  He noted, “the Brits in this room love England so much that they moved here.”  He continued about his life in LA, “I always forget that sobriety is something to be proud of.  A friend told me that she thought I should go to a sober camp. I asked what that was.  She answered, ‘a place to go to work out your issues.  Oh yeah, I replied, we have that in England; it’s called a pub.” He went on to talk about honoree Claire Foy who plays Queen Elizabeth in Netflix’s mega hit “The Crown. “I’ve read that the Queen herself has actually seen “The Crown.”  What’s more amazing that that?  The Queen has a Netflix account. “ 

John Lithgow then presented his co-star Claire Foy with the British Artist of the Year. Claire quipped, “The problem is that I really am British, so I just want to say this is completely ridiculous and run off the stage. “  Kate Mara then presented her “Martian” co-star Matt Damon with the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film.  Matt appeared on tape as he had to go back to Boston to tend to his gravely ill father.  Kevin Spacey took his turn giving the Brittania Award for Excellence in Television, presented by Swarovski, to his long time friendvDick Van Dyke.  “Dick can tell a story and make us laugh with no dialogue at all. The 158 episodes of ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show,’ will run forever,” Kevin noted.  Dick came up and immediately melted the crowd’s collective heart. Commenting on his most famous British accent, that of his character Bert the street sweeper in “Mary Poppins,” Dick offered a mea culpa. “After 60 years of bad jokes I am off the hook.  I am sorry for that excoriating Cockney accent. But you know at the time it as an all-British crew and they all said nothing.  I blame Julie Andrews as much as anyone.” He continued as the audience cracked up, “I had one hour with a voice coach at my house, and it was an Irishman named Pat Mahoney.” Director  “Baby Driver’s” Edgar Wright then gave the Charlie Chaplin Brittania Award for Excellence in Comedy to his longtime pal Aziz Ansari.  Aziz joked that being up after Dick Van Dyke was not easy. “Hey thank you Bafta for making me follow the most charming adorable shit I’ve ever seen.” 

Aziz told the crowd that he was actually over the pond and had to fly back to his hometown to accept this award. “I was in London and had to fly back to LA to accept a fucking British award, that is not cool.”

The most meaningful speech of the night though belonged to the next honoree, filmmaker Ava Duvernay, who received from Disney boss Alan Horn the John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing.   She had much to say about the power that directors in Hollywood yield.“ I regard the bond between a director and an actor as sacred because if we do it right, we’re in a union, a creative marriage, creating life together.  So to imagine what’s been in the news this week, the harmful manipulation and harassment and emotional violence towards actors in my view is sinful. Sinful because I’ve held the innermost feelings of an actor in my hand. Actors give more of themselves than anyone else in the process of telling stories on film. So how dare someone enter into that sacred space with an aim to do harm? It’s an abuse of a very singular kind. It should be entirely unacceptable in our industry. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: We don’t have time to work on these dark behaviors, these ‘isms’ one by one…we should be outraged by all of it, all of the time. Until we are all safe, no one is safe. 

 

Kenneth Branagh then ended the night with his Albert R. Broccoli Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Entertainment, which was given to him by his “Dunkirk” director Christopher Nolan. the ceremony was presented by American Airlines and Jaguar Land Rover.

 

Kevin Spacey’s Strange Charitable Foundation: His On Screen Lover from “House of Cards” on Board of Directors

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A few years ago, Kevin Spacey started a charitable foundation. As with most celebrities, that was probably a mistake. The financial filings are a little strange.

Let’s start with the board of directors. The latest filing shows Kevin, his accountant, and actor Nathan Darrow. “House of Cards” fans will recognize Darrow’s name. He played Spacey’s secret service agent, Edward Meechum, lover of both Spacey’s Frank Underwood and his wife Claire (Robin Wright) for three seasons until he was killed off.

As far as I can tell, Darrow has no experience with running charities. He has since appeared on “Billions” and a few other shows.

In 2015, the fourth director of the Kevin Spacey Foundation was Todd Rosen, who was paid $114,583 to be fundraising director. Rosen is now the managing director of the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey. But it’s unclear what funds Rosen raised. According to the Form 990, the one event sponsored by the charity ended up in the red. There is no listing of donors to the charity.

The expenses of the Kevin Spacey Foundation are very non specific. In 2015, they wired $615,388 to Europe and Iceland for “general support,” whatever that is. Pace University received $50,000.

The foundation’s mission statement is “establishing and supporting programs that discover, train, mentor and fund emerging artists…”

Flashback: Kevin Spacey’s Family Secrets Included a Neo-Nazi Father, Porn and Sexual Molestation

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Flashback to April 28, 2004: I wrote this column about Kevin Spacey’s tortured family background. Every single press person knew Spacey was also gay back in 2004, but it was open secret. Spacey was also just creepy, which didn’t make things any easier.

Here’s the 13 year old column:

Years ago I was told by a confidant of two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey that his father, Thomas Geoffrey Fowler, had been a member of the American Nazi party.

“He had Nazi memorabilia everywhere, and was completely devoted to the party,” said the source.

Spacey, the source said, had made this shocking revelation during his early years on Broadway when he appeared in “Lost in Yonkers.”

It was fascinating because close-mouthed, secretive Spacey — whose premiere party for “American Beauty” was composed of dozens of angular young men in dark, expensive suits — never discussed his father or his personal life in interviews.

Now my old friend, journalist Sharon Churcher, has published an interview with Spacey’s older brother Randy Fowler about their father in the British newspaper the Mail on Sunday.

I have to give her credit for handling the story with sensitivity, because it is quite awful and a definite betrayal of family secrets. But there is also a shocking bit buried at the end: Spacey’s mother, Kathleen, whom he regularly took to the Oscars and premieres as his “date,” apparently died last year. Spacey has never spoken a word about this monumental event.

Indeed, the last time Kathleen Fowler was in public, as far as I know, was at the premiere of “The Shipping News” in December 2001 at the Museum of Natural History. She was wearing a large wig, glasses and a bulky sweater.

When I spoke to her, Spacey freaked out. He refused to give any interviews with any press and carried on in a very unpleasant way.

According to Randy’s interview, his mother died in March 2003. There is nary a mention of it on the Internet, either, with the exception of a short obituary on Variety’s Web site that was put up three weeks after her death.

In that write-up, Spacey’s father is said to have passed away in 1993. According to Randy’s interview, Thomas Fowler died on Christmas Eve, 1992.

Of course the big scandal in London concerning Spacey’s “mugging” in a park two weeks ago no doubt inspired all parties to this commerce. But what a story it turned out to be.

Randy, shockingly, tells Churcher that he was regularly raped by his own father, whom he also recalls as a pornographer. It sounds like living torture from the descriptions.

Randy insists, however, that his father never touched Spacey, who nevertheless shut down emotionally. When he became an actor, Spacey took his mother’s maiden name and dropped all connections to his father. You can see why.

According to Randy, Thomas Fowler — or Geoff, as he calls him — was a Holocaust denier who railed against Jews at the dinner table and never held a full-time job. He collected Nazi memorabilia, was a full-time member of the American Nazi Party, and even made Randy quit Cub Scouts because the troop leader was Jewish.

“He began to abuse a teenage girl who was a relative,” Churcher writes of Thomas Fowler.

There is also a graphic description of the first time Thomas Fowler raped his eldest son. Spacey and Randy nicknamed their father The Creature.

I’ve no doubt money was exchanged between the Daily Mail and Randy. He and his wife Trish live in Boise, Idaho, where he is a Rod Stewart impersonator. I guess he decided to finally trade off his family misery while Spacey is in London getting ready to run the Old Vic theatre.

When I called the Fowlers for comment the other day, Randy’s wife said, “We have no comment.” Randy told me last night he’s precluded in his deal with Churcher from speaking any further until next week. And of course he’s writing a book.

How all this will affect Spacey’s acting career is hard to say. He has no need to worry about his status in Hollywood. After all, he has two Oscars and a Tony award. His next film is the Bobby Darin story, which doesn’t seem promising — but you never know.

Of course, Spacey was never much of a leading man; his real business is as an outstanding character actor. In a way, these revelations may actually be a relief to him. The secrets are all out at last.

Kevin Spacey Comes Out as Gay, But His Apology to Anthony Rapp Makes Everything Worse

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Overnight, Kevin Spacey issued a statement about Anthony Rapp’s recollection of being molested by the Oscar winner at age 14. Spacey also came out as gay– probably the worst kept secret in the history of Hollywood. But now Spacey has a bigger problem as his critics say he’s equating the attack with being gay. The internet is going crazy.

First, Spacey’s statement:

 

I’m filing this at 7am. Things are going to get worse very quickly this morning, I assure you. Twitter and Facebook are blazing with denouncements of Spacey not because he’s gay but because he used his announcement as a shield against Rapp’s story.

Meanwhile, Rapp has issued his own statement on Twitter, saying the BuzzFeed story contains everything he has to say.

“Rent” and “Star Trek” Star Anthony Rapp Levels Underage Sexual Misconduct Charge Against Kevin Spacey

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Kevin Spacey has a lot of explaining to do. Unfortunately, he’s not going to do it.

On Sunday night, actor Anthony Rapp– famous for “Rent” on Broadway, the “Rent” movie, and “Star Trek: Discovery”– told Buzz Feed that when he was 14 and appearing on Broadway, Spacey basically attacked him and tried to have sex with him. His accusations are alleged, and Spacey has not responded to them.

Rapp’s story comes on the heels of Boston broadcaster Heather Unruh stating on Twitter last week that Spacey had done something to a loved one. She declined to say who the victim was, or the gender. But Unruh posted a nice picture of Spacey and has not backed off.

Spacey has always created an air of edgy mystery about his personal life. For years he had a companion named Dianne Dreyer on his arm for awards ceremonies. (I’m told she eventually got married and out of the film “business.”) A tabloid photographed Spacey on vacation with a boyfriend several years ago. Spacey was notoriously “mugged” in a London park. In 2010, he told a journalist that he would never come clean about his personal life.

Unruh’s accusation last week was picked up by blogs but ignored by news organizations because it had no real details. Rapp’s story tonight is going to carry considerably more weight– and perhaps open the door for more revelations. Spacey is closely associated with his “Usual Suspects” director Bryan Singer, who name has come up many times in reported stories about Hollywood’s dark underbelly. But Singer has always denied all accusations, and has never been formally accused of anything.

But all of this means that things are about to get very rough as those who might have been scared off of telling Hollywood true stories will now feel emboldened.

Michael Moore Slams Donald Trump’s “Un-Presidential” Slag of His Broadway Show on Twitter

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Donald Trump slagged off “sloppy Michael Moore” and his just closed Broadway show as a “bomb.” Moore retaliated on Twitter. Trump did this just to gin up his base of crazy people, and distract them from the coming indictment tomorrow of one of his top people– either Paul “Russky” Manafort or Michael Flynn. Still, Moore’s 11 part Tweet was worth nothing, especially number 11 about Jared Kushner. Trump, of course, is wrong. Moore’s show was the high grossing play of the summer. It was so successful that Moore is taking it on the road. Trump is a funny one to criticize anything on Broadway. I doubt he’s seen a show other than “Cats” in the last 30 years.

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Clooney, Damon “Suburbicon” Scary $2.8 Mil Weekend, Beaten by “Failure” Army Film “Thank You for Your Service”

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George Clooney’s “Suburbicon” is deader than dead. It made $2.8 million over the weekend. “Suburbicon” was beaten by Jason Hall’s “Thank You for Your Service,” which had no star big stars (just Miles Teller) but was in the same number of theaters and made $3.7 million.

“Suburbicon,” basically, is a total write off.  It’s also a career low for both Clooney and Matt Damon. I remember years ago when Clooney produced Steven Soderbergh’s “Full Frontal” with Julia Roberts. It was a dismal failure. Clooney said to me, “We managed to make Julia Roberts’ lowest grossing film.” Well, now he’s outdone himself. I wish Clooney would just act and stop directing. He’s a damn good actor and he’s missing the boat now.

Think of it: $2.8 million is what Clooney pays for upkeep on a home. It’s his Tequila bill (just joking). And Paramount writes off another whole film.

Also completely written off this weekend is Warner Bros.’ “Geostorm.” No one went to it. With a $150 million expenditure, “Geostorm” has just $23 million from two weeks in release.

The good news is that “The Florida Project” is an indie hit. I wish I could say the same for SPC’s “Novitiate,” which has an Oscar worthy performance from Melissa Leo.

 

Weinstein Scandal Claims First Film Victim as “Amityville” Horror Flick Scores Just $742 Weekend

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The scandals at the Weinstein Company claimed their first film victim: “Amityville; The Awakening.” The horror flick scored just $742 total in 10 theaters this weekend.

There so many bad sub-stories here. First of all, “Awakening” was from BlumHouse, owned by Jason Blum, who was educated at the original Miramax.

Second, “Awakening” was released by Bob Weinstein’s Dimension side of the company. Bob, by ratting out his brother (and not counting his own alleged bad behavior with women), burned the whole company to the ground. Now his Dimension– which he always claimed made the money that kept the company alive– is dead, dead, dead.

“Awakening” might have done better elsewhere. It has a good name cast starting with Jennifer Jason Leigh. Second, it’s Halloween weekend. All horror films do well this weekend.

The flick was not shown to reviewers, so there are just a few reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, all from bloggers. And the release was semi-limited, no money was put into it. “Awakening” will go straight to DVD.

There’s a lot of other bad box office news this weekend, but this is kind of the worst. Say so long to Bob Weinstein and Dimension. The joke is, when everything is over, Bob Weinstein will be lucky to be living in Amityville (yes, it’s a real place on Long Island).

Wham! George Michael’s “Listen without Prejudice” Back at Number 1 in the UK after 27 Years

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George Michael would be smiling from ear to ear this morning. His 1994 album, LIsten Without Prejudice, is back at number 1 after 27 years.

The album– tied to the documentary “Freedom”– sold 56,000 copies in the UK and beat contemporary artists like Pink and Niall Horan.

The reissue contains the original CD, outtakes, the remixed Nile Rodgers track “Fantasy,” and George’s MTV Unplugged album.

Interestingly, in the US there’s been nary a peep about the reissued album. “Listen” sold 11,122 including streaming this week and finished at number 44.  But that’s not a total surprise since the album is on Sony, the label George sued successfully back in the 90s. The lawsuit and its repercussions are discussed thoroughly in the film.

Sony/Epic could have taken more advantage of the reissue’s potential popularity. The whole company of Sony/Columbia/Epic has just 7 albums in the top 50 this week. Five are on Epic. “Listen” would have given them a boost. So would Michael Jackson’s “Scream”album from Sony, which has also disappeared from the charts a short time after its release.

PS If George had sold 56,000 copies in the US this week, he would have been number 2 or number 3. Instead he was number 44 (including streaming) and number 14 (without).

Box Office: Bracing for George Clooney Disaster with “Suburbicon,” Strike 2 for Paramount

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I take no pleasure in saying this, but Paramount is at DefCon 4. They are bracing for a box office disaster this weekend with George Clooney’s “Suburbicon.”

This should be labelled under When Bad Movies Happen to Good People. Matt Damon, Julianne Moore (in a dual role), the Coen Bros. What could go wrong?

Basically, everything.

There’s a reason why “Suburbicon” is down to a 28 on Rotten Tomatoes. Last night it made only $180,00o from 1,614 locations. Tonight, “Suburbicon” will die an ugly death.

We’ve known about this since the Toronto Film Festival, but no one wanted to admit. For Paramount, this is the second strike counting “Mother!” It’s very painful. And soon, inevitably, will come “Downsizing.”

As for “Suburbicon”: it’s two movies that have backed into each other. One is a warmed over “Fargo,” in which a man plots to kill his wife and then cover it up. Remember William H. Macy’s Jerry? That’s Matt Damon in this movie. Only Jerry didn’t have a little boy whom he threatened to kill. That’s right. Gardner toys with the idea of murdering his own child to get away with the original murder.

Then, add a total non sequitur: a movie about race relations in a small town neighborhood. A black family moves in and the white folks of Suburbicon lose their minds in such an irrational way you wonder about the sanity of the filmmakers. Even the Jeffersons found more love with Archie  Bunker.

And then the two movies collide. For god’s sake, I don’t know what anyone was thinking or if they were thinking. If you’re still in the theater it’s because you’re too lazy to get up and go get a drink. But really. “Suburbicon” is not for viewing. I’m so sorry. I wish it were otherwise. I do. People would learn more about the world by not seeing this movie.