Thursday, December 18, 2025
Donate
Home Blog Page 1435

Rupert Murdoch Made a Stealth Appearance at Premiere of Ex Wife’s Film About Chinese Artist

Roger Friedman
-
0
Rupert Murdoch Made a Stealth Appearance at Premiere of Ex Wife’s Film About Chinese Artist

Well, here’s a headscratcher.

Back on November 21st, Rupert Murdoch– mostly unseen now in public age 85– was photographed at a private screening of a film produced by his most recent ex wife, Wendi Deng.

The screening took place at Dolby 88 on West 55th St. Murdoch is dressed casually, I’d say, to put it mildly, in jeans and boat shoes. His current wife, Jerry Hall, is not with him and doesn’t look from the other photos of the event like she was even there. Murdoch seems, uh, unfocused.

On Wire Image, the photos of the divorced Murdochs comes with special instructions: “Contact your local office for all commercial or promotional uses. New York Daily News OUT”

The New York Post, owned by Murdoch but no longer run by him, ran a brief item in Page Six but didn’t mention the presence of their retired leader.

Directors Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher) and Fisher Stevens (Before the Flood) were among the people who produced the movie with Deng. It’s called “Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang” and it’s available on Netflix, directed by Kevin MacDonald.

Murdoch and Hall were last seen photographed together in September, for a “Vogue” party in New York, and prior to that in June in London.

It’s unclear how Murdoch, solo, wound up at the small event, or why, considering his divorce from Deng wasn’t that friendly. Maybe he’s forgotten the whole episode. Murdoch has not been heard from publicly in any substantial way since last March 4th, the day he married Hall and was yanked off of Twitter for good. Prior to that he’d been very active on social media. Shortly after that, the Roger Ailes-Megyn Kelly- Gretchen Carlson scandals all broke. Murdoch has never commented on any of that, on Brexit, or the US elections. Very, very strange, all of it.

52 Years Later, The Rolling Stones Come Full Circle with “Blue and Lonesome,” Show Why We Love Them

Roger Friedman
-
0
52 Years Later, The Rolling Stones Come Full Circle with “Blue and Lonesome,” Show Why We Love Them

Fifty two years ago the Rolling Stones debuted with their self-titled album. It was full of blues covers (there was just one original song) and gave a preview of what was to come.

Now, 11 years after their last studio album, they’re releasing what may be their last album. “Blue and Lonesome” is a genius idea: a dozen covers of blues standards that hearken back to the Stones’ origins. The songs are by the same heroes they had in 1964: Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Memphis Slim, Little Walter.  And Eric Clapton, their comrade in arms, is featured on two of the tracks.

If this is the end, then it’s the best ending anyone could have dreamed. Mick Jagger sounds as fresh as he did in 1964, and the band is just as tight. You kind of know Keith Richards curated this collection. He was smart to ditch another album of Rolling Stones soundalike songs and just go back to the roots. No one appreciated American blues like the Stones, the sound informs their best records. So on “Blue and Lonesome,” it’s like wiping away the layers of dust and finding that original burnished wood.

Will kids understand this now? Probably not. Fans of modern pop only know the processed cheese they’re fed on the radio. “Blue and Lonesome” is a gift to the adults. I’m loving Willie Dixon’s “Just Like I Treat You” and Magic Sam’s “All of Your Love.” I am reveling in Clapton’s solos on “Everybody Knows About My Good Thing” and digging the harmonicas, the rolling piano solos. Clapton is also featured on the big finale, Willie Dixon’s “I Can’t Quit You Baby,” the longest track on the album that showcases everyone. Is this the end? The last track sums up the 52 years.

So here’s what you do: after “Tattoo You” skip to the live album “Stripped,” and then to “Blue and Lonesome.” Those other albums– Steel Wheels, et al– they aren’t necessary. We finally have a meaningful end to the story.

Steven Mnuchin May Be A Problem as Treasury Secretary: He Funds TimeWarner Movies, Trump Opposes Company’s Merger with AT&T

Roger Friedman
-
0
Steven Mnuchin May Be A Problem as Treasury Secretary: He Funds TimeWarner Movies, Trump Opposes Company’s Merger with AT&T

Donald Trump wants to appoint Steve Mnuchin as Secretary of the Treasury. But Mnuchin’s real job is being one third of RatPac, the company that funds a lot of Warner Bros. movies. His partners are director Brett Ratner and ex Mariah Carey fiance (and sometime Aussie Scientologist) James Packer. Warner Bros. is as in Time Warner, which wants to merge with AT&T. Does Trump remember he opposes the merger? He said so rather vehemently just last month:

Of course Trump can go back on his word. He does that a lot. He’s the president of the contradiction. Or he can just pretend this never happened.
But he did say “Deals like this destroy democracy.”
In 2013 RatPac Dune Entertainment entered into an agreement to fund 75 Warner Bros. movies. At least. Just this year they funded Warner Bros’ “The Accountant,” “Sully,” “Suicide Squad,” and so on. RatPac and WB are now inextricably tied to each other. But WB is a major part of Time Warner, and they want to merge with AT&T. How does the Treasury Secretary resolve that with his position in the company?
It’s going to be a long winter of discontent. My guess is, the merger goes through.

Oscar Winner’s “Long Lost” Julian Assange Movie, Previewed in Cannes, Aiming at Spring Release

Roger Friedman
-
0
Oscar Winner’s “Long Lost” Julian Assange Movie, Previewed in Cannes, Aiming at Spring Release

I was starting to wonder what happened to Laura Poitras’s movie about Julian Assange. Considering all the crappy stuff Assange dredged up this fall during our election,  I thought “Risk”– which was previewed in Cannes– would come out and cause a ruckus.

As it happens, I am told that Poitras, the Oscar winning filmmaker of “Citizenfour,” is still working on “Risk” and hoping to have it out in spring 2017. It won’t make Sundance, but could be ready for South by Southwest or the Tribeca Film Festival.

The hold up? Poitras is busy adding all the mishegos from the fall, adding and shaping, so that the amazing elements from “Risk” make sense. In the Cannes version, we saw how Assange slipped out of custody and came to live in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. We also saw Lady Gaga’s extraordinary interview with the scoundrel of leaking. Plus we learned that Wikileaks warned Apple about iTunes being used as a backdoor for infiltration by spies.

Now, of course, Poitras has much to add– like Pamela Anderson visiting Assange at the embassy, the Ecuadorians turning off Assange’s WiFi during the US election, and so on. Plus there were all the document dumps, and Assange’s war on Hillary Clinton. When Poitras is done, “Risk” will be even hotter stuff than it already was.

So we wait til spring. And Assange continues to marinate in his own juices, learning Ecuadorian recipes.

“Manchester by the Sea” Named Best Film by National Board of Review, Nothing for Clint Eastwood First Time in Years

Roger Friedman
-
0
“Manchester by the Sea” Named Best Film by National Board of Review, Nothing for Clint Eastwood First Time in Years

The much maligned National Board of Review chose Amazon’s “Manchester by the Sea” for Best Film, Screenplay, Actor (Casey Affleck) and Breakthrough Performance – Male (Lucas Hedges).

For the first time in more than a decade, the NBR skipped over their favorite person, Clint Eastwood, his movie “Sully,” or anything else from Warner Bros., their longtime favored studio. That may be because Annie Schulhof’s pal, Dan Fellman, retired this year from the studio. So no “Sully,” nothing for Clint or even “Fantastic Beasts.”

Instead, Schulhof concentrated on Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight,” from her new favorite studio, A24. “Moonlight” earned Best Director and Best Supporting Actress (Naomie Harris). That’s interesting in and of itself because the NBR rarely gives full acting honors to black actors. In the past they’ve either tied for an award (Morgan Freeman, in a Clint Eastwood movie) or been thrown the “breakthrough performance” bone.

This year, as usual, a breakthrough performance award went to black actress Royalty Hightower for her work in “The Fits.” They gave Best Ensemble to “Hidden Figures,” about three black women who were the mathematicians for NASA. 

The NBR totally ignored a potential Oscar nominee in “Lion” but threw The Weinstein Company a bone by putting “Sing Street” on their list of Best Independent Films.

The NBR is a fan based, membership fee group made up of people who like movies and can afford annual membership of $600 and tickets to the gala dinner in January that cost that much as well. One woman, Annie Schulhof, calls the shots based on relationships with the studios, and who will buy tables for the dinner. “Manchester” deserves the kudos, but also Schulhof knows Amazon will buy those tables. “Moonlight” comes from A24. which has grown in favor with Schulhof because a board member, David Laub, started A24 before jumping ship to another company.

Hey, it’s all good! Last year, the 501 c 3 foundation NBR claimed its revenue was up to $490,000 from $428,000 in 2014. Salaries were $211,250. Grants to places like NYU Film school and the Ringling clown school came to a total of $61,500. student scholarships were $17,500. They have total assets of $850,000. It’s a nice little operation to rub shoulders with celebrities. No film critics allowed! (Very Trumpian.)

 

Best Film:  Manchester by the Sea

Best Director:  Barry Jenkins, Moonlight

Best Actor:  Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea

Best Actress:Amy Adams, Arrival

Best Supporting Actor: Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water

Best Supporting Actress:  Naomie Harris, Moonlight

Best Original Screenplay:  Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea

Best Adapted Screenplay:  Jay Cocks and Martin Scorsese, Silence

Best Animated Feature:  Kubo and the Two Strings
Breakthrough Performance (Male): Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea

Breakthrough Performance (Female):Royalty Hightower, The Fits

Best Directorial Debut:  Trey Edward Shults, Krisha

Best Foreign Language Film:  The Salesman

Best Documentary:  O.J.: Made in America

Best Ensemble:  Hidden Figures

Spotlight Award: Creative Collaboration of Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg

NBR Freedom of Expression Award:  Cameraperson

Top Films

Arrival

Hacksaw Ridge

Hail, Caesar!

Hell or High Water

Hidden Figures

La La Land

Moonlight

Patriot’s Day

Silence

Sully

Top 5 Foreign Language Films

Elle

The Handmaiden

Julieta

Land of Mine

Neruda

Top 5 Documentaries

De Palma

The Eagle Huntress

Gleason

Life, Animated

Miss Sharon Jones!

Top 10 Independent Films

20th Century Women

Captain Fantastic

Creative Control

Eye in the Sky

The Fits

Green Room

Hello, My Name is Doris

Krisha

Morris from America

Sing Street

Broadway: “Hamilton” Box Office Skyrockets in Week After Brouahaha with Pence, Trump

Roger Friedman
-
0
Broadway: “Hamilton” Box Office Skyrockets in Week After Brouahaha with Pence, Trump

In the public scuffle between “Hamilton” and Mike Pence/Donald Trump. the winner is clear. The “Hamilton” box office soared to new heights last week, posting $3.26 million in grosses. The week before, “Hamilton” posted $2.45 million. That’s an increase of over $800,000– which is the average total weekly take of all Broadway shows.

This was after Mike Pence attended the show, was booed by the audience and lectured by the cast. This was also after Donald Trump demanded the show apologize to Pence. But the show and actor Brandon Victor Dixon stood their ground, their was no apology, and a ton of publicity.

I can’t remember any show ever having a $3 million week, not “The Lion King,” “Wicked,” or “The Book of Mormon.” (If anyone has the stats, send ’em to showbiz411@gmail.com). This is quite an accomplishment, and a rebuke to the president and vice president elect. Now all the shows will want them to come, and bring their families!

“Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins’ Tale of a Young Black Gay Man’s Coming of Age, Takes Gotham Awards

Roger Friedman
-
0
“Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins’ Tale of a Young Black Gay Man’s Coming of Age, Takes Gotham Awards

Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight” swept the Gotham Awards tonight. it won best feature, director and screenplay. The film’s Oscar chances have skyrocketed tonight.

Big surprise for famed French actress Isabelle Huppert. She won Best Actress for Paul Verhoeven’s “Elle.” She just arrived from Europe, was jet lagged, had no idea what award this was, and really almost cried. She had no prepared speech. She has a much better chance now to join likely contenders Annette Bening, Emma Stone, Natalie Portman, and Amy Adams– if Viola Davis stays in supporting.

Bening and Portman, each of whom probably thought they would win– with good reason– must have been just as shocked.

Casey Affleck easily walked away with Best Actor for “Manchester by the Sea.” But that movie took a hit tonight from “Moonlight.” I don’t know how this will be interpreted, but “Manchester” hasn’t got one black actor, and “Moonlight” doesn’t have one white actor. Still, they are each Best Picture contenders, probably facing “La La Land,” “Lion,” and maybe Martin Scorsese’s “Silence.”

The Gotham Awards are for independent films, they’re the Spirit Awards of the East Coast. This year they seemed especially upbeat, with lots of great presenters, some socko speeches (Judith Light, Cate Blanchett, and Amy Adams were the winners of oratory), some odd heartfelt ones (Winona Ryder, praising Ethan Hawke, who saved the day with his acknowledgment of his lifetime award).

The best line of the night– Ethan Hawke: “I was already washed up in the business when I was 14.” He recalled a scathing negative review he received at that age for his debut in a movie called  “Explorers.” He had nowhere to go but up.

Many of the presenters were surprises, including Cate Blanchett, Katie Holmes, and Neve Campbell. I got to meet the whole “Moonlight” cast and the writer-director Barry Jenkins. They are close knit group, and definitely in a good position now. In addition to all those awards, they received an Ensemble award. They’ve also been a special ensemble award by the Indie Spirits. Is “Moonlight” the film to beat? We’ll see…

 

Movies: Carrie Fisher Was Supposed to be in ’78 Classic “Days of Heaven” But Had “No Compatibility” with Richard Gere

Roger Friedman
-
0
Movies: Carrie Fisher Was Supposed to be in ’78 Classic “Days of Heaven” But Had “No Compatibility” with Richard Gere

Carrie Fisher’s “The Princess Diarist” is out, and everyone’s talking about her 1976 affair with Harrison Ford on set on “Star Wars.”

There’s lots more in Carrie’s book, though. I downloaded it today after waiting for a copy from the publisher. (If you wait for a book publicist to send you a book, you’d die a lonely death. And I even announced this book!)

Any, Carrie reveals a few things– she was almost in Terence Malick’s now classic Days of Heaven, in the Brooke Adams role. Seems originally John Travolta was set to star, and Carrie says she and Travolta “had great chemistry. Like two beakers containing flammable liquid, we bubbled along together comfortably.”

But then Travolta bowed out, and was replaced with Richard Gere. “I read with Richard Gere. Let’s just say our beakers didn’t bubble with compatibility. So now I was out and Brooke Adams was in.”

This was after “Star Wars,” and Princess Leia was already famous/ But before “Star Wars,” Fisher made her debut in Warren Beatty’s– er, Hal Ashby’s– “Shampoo” playing Lee Grant’s daughter. (They each sleep with Warren’s hairdresser character, George.)

Carrie writes:
The other big question you’re probably not asking yourself is, did I wear a bra under my tennis outfit (and if I didn’t, why didn’t I)? Simple. Warren, the star, cowriter, and producer of Shampoo, was asked by the costume department if he wanted me to wear a bra under my tennis clothes or not. Warren squinted in the general direction of my breasts.

“Is she wearing one now?” I stood there as if my breasts and I were somewhere else. “Yes,” responded Aggie, the costume designer. Warren pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Let’s see it without.” I followed Aggie to my hamster-cage trailer and removed my bra. Whereupon I was returned to Warren’s scrutiny forthwith. Once again he squinted at my chest impassively. “And this is without?” he asked. “Yes,” Aggie groaned. “Let’s go without,” he pronounced, directed, charged, commanded. My breasts and I followed Aggie back to my dressing zone and the subject was closed. My braless Shampoo breasts can be ogled on YouTube (or LubeTube), as can my no-underwear-in-space look in the first Star Wars and the metal bikini (or Jabba Killer) in the third (now confusingly known as Episodes IV and VI).

As with all of Carrie Fisher’s books, you can’t put “The Princess Diarist” down. A very funny and worthwhile Christmas or Chanukah present!

Gay Talese’s “Voyeur” Movie Can Still Happen Even if Director Sam Mendes Is Unhappy About Documentary

Roger Friedman
-
0
Gay Talese’s “Voyeur” Movie Can Still Happen Even if Director Sam Mendes Is Unhappy About Documentary

There’s nothing normal about Gay Talese’s “The Voyeur.” When Talese published an except about his book in The New Yorker last spring, Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment scooped it up to make a movie. Right away, “American Beauty” director Sam Mendes was on the case.

Then as the book itself was getting ready for publication, the Washington Post attacked it (Talese is a Hall of Famer for their rival, the New York Times) claiming there all kinds of mistakes and inaccuracies. They ambushed Talese in a phone call. Startled, he disavowed the book. The next day, cooler heads prevailed as Talese reclaimed the book. It was published and did very well.

In August, it was reported that two filmmakers– Myles Kane and Josh Koury– had wrapped a documentary about Talese called “Gay Talese and the Voyeur.” It seemed that Kane, who does video work for the New Yorker (where Talese writes now), had been following the writer around for three years filming him for a documentary about his life and career. Kane followed Talese through his latest adventures with Gerald Foos, owner of the motel in question. Without telling Talese, Kane shifted his focus to that story more than anything else. He just didn’t bother to tell Talese.

Now Mendes tells Deadline.com that he’s so upset about the documentary that he’s junking the project. It seems Dreamworks is out, too, although I don’t know why. Plenty of great narrative films have been based on documentaries including this Oscar season’s “Loving.” Kane’s documentary will at best show on HBO but it wouldn’t have the power of a film starring, say, Kevin Spacey, as Foos spying on his customers’ sexual hijinks.

Talese is philosophical about this latest turn of events. He’s 85, he’s very famous, and has seen it all. He doesn’t hold Kane responsible, he tells me. “I don’t think he thought it would have any affect on the film,” he says.

Mendes is probably heading back to James Bond, anyway, after saying he wouldn’t make another one after “Skyfall” and “Spectre.” (Mendes and Daniel Craig like to play this game with the Bond movies– we’ll never make another one, oh, they paid us, we’re back!)

Frankly, “The Voyeur’s Motel” reads more like HBO’s “The Night Of” than a feature film. Because the lead character, Foos, is not much of a hero, it might be hard to get people into movie theaters. But it’s almost perfect for a limited series like “The Night Of,” with great twists and turns, and a murder mystery as well.  Talese, as he apparently is  in the documentary, could be the protagonist. Al Pacino could play Talese, and Barry Levinson could direct. They’d be perfect. Spacey could still be Foos.

Meanwhile, there’s another subplot here perfect for a Lifetime movie. Since Kane started filming Talese, he required a liver transplant. Kane has a whole other life as a DJ as “MC Kreacher,” so his friends in that world got together and raised $50,000 to pay his insurance deductible.

RIP Tony Martell, Beloved Record Industry Exec Who Raised Hundreds of Millions for Cancer Research

Roger Friedman
-
0
RIP Tony Martell, Beloved Record Industry Exec Who Raised Hundreds of Millions for Cancer Research

Tony Martell has died at age 90. This amazing person whose name you may not know raised hundreds of millions of dollars for cancer research from the time his son, TJ, died in the early 1970s from leukemia. That’s four decades. Just from 2010 to 2014, the TJ Martell Foundation has given $21 million away in grants and donations.

What a story: TJ died in 1975 at age 21. Most parents would simply be devastated. The Martells (Tony’s wife, Vicky, died last year) jumped into action. The TJ Martell Foundation has been the bulwark of the record industry ever since then. Their annual galas at the Hilton would each year honor the head of a record label. That man would then bring his recording artists to perform at the show, and the night would be historic.

Tony Martell was a sweet guy who everyone adored. His whole career was at Columbia, Epic or Sony as it was finally called. Wikipedia says he’s credited on 50 albums as Executive Producer. Artists included Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Isley Brothers, The O’Jays, George Benson, Gerry Mulligan, Jim Hall, Lalo Schifrin, Bill Withers, Patti Austin, George Duke, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Eumir Deodato, and Stanley Turrentine. Amazing.

Tony, it was an honor to know you. Your son is so proud of you. And all the people who your fundraising efforts helped– it boggles the mind. What a legacy! I hope Sony takes out a full page in your honor in the New York Times. You deserve it.

PS I put up a picture of Tony (he’s the guy with the white hair) surrounded by musicians (and record exec Jason Flom). They loved him.

Here’s Tony’s story, written by him, from the Foundation website:

It began with a promise I made to my dying son.

In 1973, my son, T.J. Martell, was a high school student battling leukemia. He asked me to raise a million dollars for cancer research so that “no one else will have to experience what I am going through.” Although I had no fundraising experience, I agreed.

Two years later, T.J. died at the age of nineteen, and that put my promise in cement. Soon after, I was joined by many of my friends in the music industry like Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, and Duke Ellington to hold a fundraiser at Buddy Rich’s nightclub in New York. We raised $50,000 and the T.J. Martell Foundation was born.

Over the years, we have kept the Foundation’s roots deep in the music industry and hundreds of volunteers have worked passionately with our staff to raise more than $270 million for leukemia, cancer and AIDS research which has been successfully leveraged into several billion dollars in additional funding from larger funding sources. We are proud of our long history and our reputation for innovation in fundraising and the research we support.

1...1,4341,4351,436...2,323Page 1,435 of 2,323

Hollywood to the Hudson

Company

Trending

Categories

© Showbiz411.com