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Exclusive: “Walking Dead” Stuntman Broke His Knee in 2012 on Movie Set, “Cushion Was Moved” For 120 Foot Fall

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: “Walking Dead” Stuntman Broke His Knee in 2012 on Movie Set, “Cushion Was Moved” For 120 Foot Fall

EXCLUSIVE

I’ve spoken with a doctor who saw stuntman John Bernecker back in 2012 when he took a much longer — 120 feet- -dive on a movie set and broke his knee cap. The fall — on the set of “The Walking Dead”– that killed him yesterday was 22 feet, but he hit his head.

The doctor, William Garth, tells me that Bernecker’s accident, according to Bernecker, was because “someone moved the cushion” he was supposed to land on. Bernecker was working as a stunt double for actor James Marsden on a movie called “The Loft.”

“His line– maybe like a bungee line– was too long and he told me someone had moved the cushion,” Garth told me. “It was taken out from underneath him. He broke his knee cap. He was very upset about it. I think it gave him trouble for a year.  He was out of work. There was a lot of controversy.”

In the fall that killed him yesterday there are several reports that he missed the fall cushion by several inches.

Garth had nothing but nice things to say about Bernecker, who was 33, and remembered his mother as well.  What a shame. But also, how bizarre. Perhaps an investigation into what happened will shed some light.

 

EXCLUSIVE Stunt Man Who Died from Fall on Set of “The Walking Dead” Sued Another Production Company in 2012

Roger Friedman
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EXCLUSIVE Stunt Man Who Died from Fall on Set of “The Walking Dead” Sued Another Production Company in 2012

john-breneckerEXCLUSIVE Accomplished movie stunt man John Bernecker has died after a 20 foot fall that went wrong on the set of “The Walking Dead” in Georgia.

I can tell you that Bernecker, whose resume is long, had had trouble before with another movie. In 2012 he sued the producers of a movie called “The Loft” starring James Marsden. According to court records, the case was dismissed without prejudice a year ago. This indicates there was a settlement.

According to a report in the Louisiana Record, Bernecker “was suspended in the air by a safety harness and was to be dropped 100-110 feet in a controlled descent. However, he claims a descender spool — built, owned and operated by the Jensen’s — and a backup brake operated by Fanguy both malfunctioned. The plaintiff claims he suffered a free fall from approximately 100 feet and received serious injuries when he struck the ground.  Bernecker claims the stunt was successfully rehearsed with a dummy several times, but before he was to do the stunt the parameters were changed due to a safety pad being removed and rain being added to the scene.”

Bernecker sued for damages “for pain and suffering, mental suffering, disability, disfigurement and scarring, loss of wages and earning capacity, medical expenses and loss of enjoyment of life.”

Bernecker seems like he was brutally damaged instantly from the Walking Dead fall. His girlfriend, stunt woman Jennifer Crocker, immediately posted a distraught notice on Facebook indicating that his situation was dire.

Bernecker’s accident comes after several other deaths and injires on film sets including the death of Sarah Jones in 2014 on the Georgia set of the Gregg Allman movie, “Midnight Rider.”

UPDATE A friend of Bernecker says the stunt man was very popular and “a great guy.” He says that as far as he knows there was a settlement in the 2012 case and that “you can see from the case that there were injuries.”

 

 

Prince’s Music Stays with Warner as Judge Nullifies $31 Mil Universal Music Contract

Roger Friedman
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Prince’s Music Stays with Warner as Judge Nullifies $31 Mil Universal Music Contract

Prince’s estate gained some clarity today. A judge has nullified Universal Music Group’s $31 million contract to issue non Warner Music albums and releases. Universal wanted out and so did the controlling part of the Prince estate. The Universal deal had been conducted by former Prince lawyer Londell McMillan and former Michael Jackson lawyer Charles Koppelman.

Prince’s music will stay with Warner Music via a deal Prince oversaw in 2014. That deal was a surprise since Prince had dislodged himself from the old Warner Music Group back in 1996, took a glyph symbol as a name and wrote the word “Slave” on his cheek.

But that was when the old WMG people he knew had departed for Dreamworks Records, and Edgar Bronfman, Jr. bought the company. Prince– maybe sensing the chaos to come– bailed. He issued records on his own label, on Arista, Universal, and miscellaneous venues.

But the only non Warner Music record Prince ever had a hit with was “The Most Beautiful Girl.” After that, his sales slowly sank. His main catalog, from 1977-94, would always be identified with some form of Warner Music.

When Prince died in 2016, suddenly everything that wasn’t signed up looked valuable. So McMillan and Koppelman were able to cut a deal with Universal for all that miscellany. But when the smoke cleared, even UMG knew they had overpaid for material no one wanted. What Prince fans desire is the main catalog. Witness the “Purple Rain” 25th anniversary reissue currently on the charts. Few fans want that other stuff.

So now UMG is off the hook and presumably gets back whatever they paid out from the $31 million. With the deal unwound it’s unclear how much McMillan and Koppelman get to keep. The canceling of the UMG contract solidifies the Prince estate’s representation by Troy Carter and Comerica Bank.

Kellyanne Conway Returns to TV Looking More Refreshed Than a Gambling Website: Men at Work

Roger Friedman
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Kellyanne Conway Returns to TV Looking More Refreshed Than a Gambling Website: Men at Work

kellyanne preop

Kellyanne Conway, one of the most deplorable people on the planet, I’m calling your doctor. Kellyanne returned to TV last night looking more refreshed than a gambling website. Let’s say she’s got a whole new browser. Crime pays, baby! Where are all her bags? In the overhead compartment? They are clearly checked. Kellyanne is ready for a new round of lying. Good work!

kellyanne post op

Emmys: Lorne Michaels’ Good and Bad Day as “SNL” Scores Most Nominations Ever, But Fallon, Meyers Shut Out

Roger Friedman
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Emmys: Lorne Michaels’ Good and Bad Day as “SNL” Scores Most Nominations Ever, But Fallon, Meyers Shut Out

Whoa!

What happened with NBC Late Night and the Emmys?

Both Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight show and Seth Meyers’ “Late Night” were shut out of the competition for Best Talk/Variety shows.

Yet “Saturday Night Live” got the most nominations ever in its 900 year run. They even scored three Best Supporting Actress nominations (Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Vanessa Bayer), one Best Supporting Actor (Alec Baldwin) as well as guest star Melissa McCarthy (sure to win).

All three shows are exec produced by Lorne Michaels. So this was a good and bad day for him. Something went wrong. Both Fallon and Meyers deserved nominations. Meyers’ political commentary in “A Closer Look” segments is outstanding almost every night.

Either the voters thought it was too much for Michaels, or somehow the clips didn’t click.

Emmy Nominees: CBS Hosts Show But Gets No Love from the Emmys, NBC, ABC Nearly Shut Out as Well

Roger Friedman
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Emmy Nominees: CBS Hosts Show But Gets No Love from the Emmys, NBC, ABC Nearly Shut Out as Well

Here’s a partial list. Keep refreshing for full list….

The big three networks produced only 2 shows worthy of Emmy noms: “This is Us” and “Black-ish.” CBS shows garnered not one nominee, but the Tiffany network will host the Emmys anyway.

Congrats to Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, each nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy for “Grace and Frankie.” Some snubs, but most of the nominees were as expected…

Drama
Better Call Saul
This Is Us (NBC)
The Crown (Netflix)
Stranger Things (Netflix)
The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)
Westworld (HBO)
House of Cards (Showtime)

Comedy
Veep (HBO)
Master of None (Netflix)
Black-ish (ABC)
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
Atlanta (FX)
Modern Family
Silicon Valley

Best Limited Series
Big Little Lies (HBO)
Feud (FX)
The Night Of (HBO)
Fargo (FX)
Genius (National Geographic)

Best Actor, Drama

Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul)
Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us)
Matthew Rhys (The Americans)
Kevin Spacey (House of Cards)
Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan)
Milo Ventimiglia (This is Us)

Best Actor, Comedy
Jeffrey Tambor (Transparent)
Aziz Ansari (Master of None)
Donald Glover (Atlanta)
Anthony Anderson (Black-ish)
William H. Macy (Shameless)
Zach Galifinakis (Baskets)

Best Actress, Comedy
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep)
Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish)
Allison Janney (Mom)
Lily Tomlin (Grace and Frankie)
Pamela Adlon
Jane Fonda (Grace and Frankie)
Ellie Kemper (Kimmy Schmidt)


Best Actress, Drama
Claire Foy (The Crown)
Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale)
Robin Wright (House of Cards)
Viola Davis (How to Get Away with Murder)
Keri Russell (The Americans)
Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld)

Best Actress in a Limited Series or a Television Movie
Nicole Kidman (Big Little Lies)
Jessica Lange (Feud)
Susan Sarandon (Feud)
Reese Witherspoon (Big Little Lies)
Carrie Coon (Fargo)
Felicity Huffman (American Crime)

Best Actor in a Limited Series or a Television Movie
Robert De Niro (The Wizard of Lies)
Riz Ahmed (The Night Of)
Ewan McGregor (Fargo)
Geoffrey Rush (Genius)
John Turturro (The Night Of)
Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock: The Lying Detective)

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale)
Samira Wiley (The Handmaid’s Tale)
Uzo Aduba (Orange Is the New Black)
Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things)
Chrissy Metz (This Is Us)
Thandie Newton (Westworld)

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
John Lithgow (The Crown)
Jonathan Banks (Better Call Saul)
Mandy Patinkin (Homeland)
Michael Kelly (House of Cards)
David Harbour (Stranger Things)
Ron Cephas Jones (This Is Us)
Jeffrey Wright (Westworld)

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live)
Vanessa Bayer (Saturday Night Live)
Leslie Jones (Saturday Night Live)
Anna Chlumsky (Veep)
Judith Light (Transparent)
Katheryn Hahn (Transparent)

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin (Saturday Night Live)
Louie Anderson (Baskets)
Ty Burrell (Modern Family)
Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)
Tony Hale (Veep)
Matt Walsh (Veep)

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live)
Vanessa Beyer (Saturday Night Live)
Leslie Jones (Saturday Night Live)
Anna Chlumsky (Veep)
Judith Light (Transparent)
Katheryn Hahn (Transparent)

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin (Saturday Night Live)
Louie Anderson (Baskets)
Ty Burrell (Modern Family)
Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)
Tony Hale (Veep)
Matt Walsh (Veep)

Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Television Movie
Regina King (American Crime)
Shailene Woodley (Big Little Lies)
Laura Dern (Big Little Lies)
Judy Davis (Feud)
Jackie Hoffman (Feud)
Michelle Pfeiffer (The Wizard of Lies)

Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Television Movie
Alexander Skarsgard (Big Little Lies)
David Thewlis (Fargo)
Alfred Molina (Feud)
Stanley Tucci (Feud)
Bill Camp (The Night Of)
Michael K. Williams (The Night Of)

Best TV Movie
The Wizard of Lies (HBO)
Black Mirror (Netflix)
Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love (NBC)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (HBO)
Sherlock: The Lying Detective (PBS)

Best Variety Talk Series
Last Week Tonight (HBO)
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS)
Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)
The Late Late Show with James Corden (CBS)
Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

Watch Emmy Nominations LIVE Here: Veep, The Crown, The Night Of, Black-ish All in the Mix

Roger Friedman
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Watch Emmy Nominations LIVE Here: Veep, The Crown, The Night Of, Black-ish All in the Mix

Michael Jackson “Cascio Songs” CD Offered for Auction for Millions, Then Mysteriously Removed

Roger Friedman
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Michael Jackson “Cascio Songs” CD Offered for Auction for Millions, Then Mysteriously Removed

For about a minute yesterday Michael Jackson’s unreleased songs from the “Cascio” album was up for auction for a million dollars.

Then it mysteriously disappeared.

An auction house called Gotta Have Rock and Roll announced it was selling a master tape quality CD of songs obtained from a close friend of Jackson who was his personal assistant and had traveled he world with him. The tracklist on the CD made it clear these were the songs recorded in New Jersey in the fall of 2007 by Eddie Cascio at his parents’ home. Cascio had already recorded the songs with another artist. But when Jackson, his kids, and nanny came to stay at the Cascio home– his personal friends and surrogate family for years and years– Eddie persuaded Michael to re-rec0rd the vocals and turn the whole thing into a Michael Jackson album.

I broke the story about this album in 2010, a year after Michael died.

The result was a scandal. Jackson super fans refused to believe Michael had done any of this. (It was, however, true.) The Jackson estate and Sony made a deal for the recordings. Three of them made it onto Michael’s posthumous “Michael” album. The rest drifted into obscurity.

The Cascio album was a surprise to everyone in the Jackson camp, which led to a discrediting of the material that killed the “Michael” album. Co-executor John McClain didn’t like it because he wasn’t involved in it. Jackson’s nephews, a group called 3T, was sore because they didn’t have a part in it. The Jacksons in general, post-Michael’s death, weren’t so happy about the Cascio family at all. They resented them because Michael had long ago chosen them as a surrogate family. He stayed with them, lavished gifts on them, and confided in them while excluding his actual brothers, sisters, parents, etc.

Before Michael died, I’d heard all the songs recorded with a different vocalist. They were very good. When I broke the story that Michael had stayed with the Cascios in 2007 I did not know that he’d recorded with Eddie. Indeed, everyone remained mum for a long time. When I broke the news about the recordings, the naysayers waged a campaign saying that it was a Michael Jackson imitator. This was ridiculous. Michael had left the recordings with the Cascios as a legacy.

So what happened to the for-auction CD? Even if someone had bought it for a million dollars, the winner could not have used it for anything other than personal listening pleasure. Something tells me though that the Jackson Estate and/or Sony intervened when they saw the listing.

The tracklist: 1. “Monster”
2. “Breaking News”
3. “Stay”
4. “Keep Your Head Up”
5. “Everything’s Just Fine”
6. “Black Widow”
7. “Burn Tonight”
8. “All I Need”
9. “Water”
10. “Let Me Fall in Love”
11. “Ready to Win”
12. “Soldier Boy”

Exclusive: Adam McKay-Christian Bale Dick Cheney Movie Has New Title– “Backseat”

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Adam McKay-Christian Bale Dick Cheney Movie Has New Title– “Backseat”

You do know that Adam McKay, who went from Will Ferrell comedies to “The Big Short,” is making a movie about Dick Cheney.

Now I’m told the movie has a title: “Backseat.” This was apparently one of Cheney’s code names with the Secret Service because he was known as a backseat driver– to George W. Bush’s presidency. Many felt Cheney told Bush what to do most of the time. Cheney, to me, was one of the more evil players in American history. He was a war monger who managed to benefit from the Gulf War through his interests in Halliburton. He was a schemer whose interests lay with corporate America.

But I digress. Christian Bale is set to play Cheney, Steve Carell is signed to be Donald Rumsfeld, and Amy Adams would play Lynn Cheney.

All of these people are talented, but this is a horror film in the end. There is literally no one to root for.

Cheney’s other Secret Service name was “Angler” because he was a fisherman. I think that’s a better title, but no one asked me.

Exclusive: Sandra Bullock Getting Apocalyptic with “Night Manager” Director Susanne Bier

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Sandra Bullock Getting Apocalyptic with “Night Manager” Director Susanne Bier

Where is Sandra Bullock? I feel like I haven’t heard the Oscar winner’s name in a while.

Well, the word is she’s agreed to star in “Bird Box,” directed by Susanne Bier of “The Night Manager” fame. (Funny, Bier was well known prior to the Tom Hiddleston series, but now she’s a star!)

“Bird Box” is based on an apocalyptic type thriller novel by Josh Malerman published in 2014. Bullock would play main character Malorie, mother of a pair of 4 year olds, trying to survive in the post-apocalyptic age.

The book received mixed reviews, so hopefully the screenplay by Eric Heisserer will come up with something more satisfying. Dylan Clark and Clayton Townsend are producing. Back in 2013, there were reports of a different director and producers, but the property was sold to Universal.

Oh yeah, so about Bullock: she’s been raising her kids, and making “Ocean’s Eight,” in which she plays the leader of the mostly female gang. “Bird Box” would be her first project since the disappointment of “Our Brand is Crisis,” a movie that apparently only I liked.

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