Warren Beatty’s “Rules Don’t Apply” is here with its first trailer. I’ve got to say, it looks great. Warren especially looks like he’s having a ball. The big band music does a lot to peg the movie as a comedy, and a jolly one. Alden Ehrenreich and Lily Collins leap off the screen. Fox will have a hit, and Oscar nominations are coming. I am told by those who’ve seen the film that Warren is very, very good. Well, why not? He’s had a 15 year rest. Annette Bening co-stars. “Rules Don’t Apply” looks smart, which is a relief.
Emmy Nominations Coming at 11:30AM EST: Watch Here
Downton Abbey, The People vs. OJ Simpson, Game of Thrones, Veep, The Americans– watch at 11:30am and see which shows get the most Emmy nominations. Sarah Paulson is the presumptive winner of Best Actress in a Limited Series for playing Marcia Clark better than Clark played herself.
Alicia Keys, Rihanna, Celebs In Video: 23 Ways You Could Be Killed If You’re Black in America”
Alicia Keys and Mic.com have posted a video called “23 Ways You Could Be Killed If You’re Black in America.”
The video matches 23 celebrities with 23 cases in which black people have died questionably and reached a national forum.
In the video: Alicia, Rihanna, Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson as well as Bono, Adam Levine, Chris Rock and Pink. “Add your name to tell President Obama and Congress that the time for change is now. We must right our historic wrongs and heal the wounds of systemic racism so that all Americans have the equal right to pursue happiness.”
Exclusive: Kristen Stewart Talks About Directing Her First Film, Steals Woody Allen’s New One
It’s no secret that Woody Allen films actresses better than anyone. Maybe that’s why his actresses have scored so many Oscar wins and nominations. From Diane Keaton to Dianne Wiest to Mira Sorvino to Cate Blanchett, with many others in between, Woody is the go to guy if the ladies want a gold statue.
So it should come as no surprise that Kristen Stewart hijacks Woody’s excellent, funny and profound “Cafe Society.” She steals out from under Jessie Eisenberg, Steve Carell, Parker Posey and a whole cast of talented folks.
Kristen came to Woody’s premiere last night at the Paris Theater, followed by the overcrowded and hot as a sauna reception at the famed Hotel Carlyle. Woody came in for a few minutes, sensed the heat, noise and general unpleasantness, and scrammed tout suite.
But Kristen hung in there, chatting with legendary rocker Patti Smith and her daughter, taking pictures with young girls who are really “Twilight” fans, and even with Woody and Soon Yi’s very poised 16 year old daughter, Manzie, who brought two school pals.
Kristen told me about the short film she’s going to direct this summer called “Water.” “It’s about heartbreak,” she said, “what it looks like what we’re going through it and what’s it like when you realize you’ve recovered.” She’s cast a non actor friend named Josh as the lead.
Kristen was completely psyched as she described this to me. She confirmed that she has bigger aspirations to become a feature director. “Since I’m 9 I’ve wanted to be a director,” she said. I’ll tell you–she can do it. Why? She already knew what I was going to say. “Because I want it,” she said. I think we’re just at the beginning of a learning curve with Kristen Stewart. She has a most unusual career ahead of her.
In Cannes, Kristen starred in both “Cafe Society” and “Personal Shopper.” She left an indelible impression as a serious actress. She’s also a knock out in both films. Her “Twilight” time is behind her. “You don’t know how much that means to me when you say it,” she told me.
Madonna Documentary UPDATE: Director Casts Unknown Girl from Donut Shop to Play Singer
I had a great talk this morning with Guy Guido, director of the unauthorized Madonna documentary I wrote about exclusively yesterday. He’s really making this film, full steam ahead.
The doc, Guido says, covers the years 1978-82, chronicling Madonna’s rise to fame in New York. Guido is using actors to re-enact scenes from that period. He’s chosen a young woman named Jamie Auld he found working in a donut shop in Chelsea to play Madonna. “She was a fashion student,” Guido tells me. “She doesn’t sing or dance, but she’s taking lessons.”
Guido’s partners in the film are the key– they are Madonna’s original bandmates from the Breakfast Club, brothers Dan and Ed Gilroy. (This is not the director Dan Gilroy.) Dan was Madonna’s boyfriend briefly, he let her play drums in the Breakfast Club. Guido says, “He has hours and hours of the two of them just talking and hanging in the studio, all video no one’s seen before.”
The Gilroys have music too as they own their masters. “We’re using all original real recordings,” Guido says, “but nothing written by Madonna. Just the Gilroys’ songs.”
Guido tells me the doc is a “passion project” and “pretty positive.” He says, “There’s nothing tabloidy. We hope Madonna will see what we’re doing and endorse it.”
Dan Gilroy was interviewed for a UK doc — check him out at 5:20
Virginia Republican Delegate: “The Storm is Coming for Donald Trump” in Cleveland
Last night I told you that Donald Trump’s social media re-interpreted the win by Virginia delegate Beau Correll as a defeat. It was in fact a triumph for Republican delegates in Virginia, and– Correll says– 20 other jurisdictions. They are free to go to Cleveland and vote for whomever they please.
I spoke to Correll today. He says, “The storm is coming for Donald Trump” in Cleveland with the Dump Trump movement. “The battle is coming right now.” Correll calls it Free the Delegates. He says 60% of all delegates don’t want to vote for Trump at the convention. It remains to be seen how many of the “freed” delegates from all over the country will have the chutzpah to go against the presumptive Republican nominee but Correll’s gang is coming to Cleveland all juiced up and ready for a fight.
“We have people in every state who was whipping the votes right now,” he says.
One thing he says they may do is force the RNC to let them select Trump’s Vice Presidential candidate. “We’re going to ask for a counterweight,” he says, “to balance the nuttiness.”
Correll was surprised– as I was– that the Trump campaign told their followers that the court ruling kept the delegates bound to him. “It’s fiction,” he said. “Trump spent $50,000 on an expert and it failed. And no one else bothered to show up in court.” He added: “He’s created this false narrative that he won.” He calls Trump’s followers “Trump-bots who regurgitate everything that comes out of his mouth.”
Correll– lawyer from Winchester, Virginia– Correll is no crackpot. He’s a serious guy who feels he represents the mainstream of Republicans. He did offer this explanation for Trump’s rise: “I think it’s a reflection about the lack of civics education and how people just slurp this up.”
Correll posted this letter to RNC chief Rance Preibus on his website. It reads in part:
Many of our country’s greatest leaders were, and are, members of the GOP — we are the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower, and Reagan.
But today, we are saddled with a presidential candidate who holds none of the qualities of our party’s greatest leaders.
He lacks common decency, respect of the Constitution, and the temperament of someone fit to be Commander-in-Chief.
That is why we cannot, in good conscience, support Donald Trump for President of the United States. We are standing firm for the core Republican principles we cherish and that Trump in no way represents.
Mr. Chairman, we are calling on you to support us in reaffirming the longstanding principle that delegates to the GOP Convention can vote their conscience in the name of preserving the legacy of our party and our nation.
I asked Correll if he didn’t think he was upsetting the Republican conservative agenda? He replied: “I actually think this is for the conservative agenda. A Trump nomination ensures a Hillary win. He will go down as the one of the largest defeats in history.”
to be continued…
Review: Bryan Cranston Has “It” in “The Infiltrator,” About Colombian Drug Deals
Bryan Cranston just has ‘it’. This now iconic character actor commands attention in whatever role he plays. In Broad Green Picture’s “The Infiltrator,” written by Ellen Brown Furman and directed by her son, Brad Furman, Cranston is first rate. Based on a true story about U.S. Customs agent Robert, “Bob” Mazur, who was the key Federal agent to go undercover and hit the Colombian drug cartel in the 1980’s, with the infamous Pablo Escobar being one of the main targets, and striking them where it hurt most, tracking their money laundering operation and busting it and all the players involved.
Ultimately it didn’t directly take Escobar down, but it did put a major stop to his operation and shut down the less then pristine, BCCI, then the world’s seventh largest privately held bank. Cranston takes us along for the ride of the Operation C-Chase, the federal fight against money laundering and cocaine smuggling, along with the worldwide criminal conspiracy.
Mazur and his loyal partner, Emir Abreu, played by John Leguizamo, who is equal to Cranston’s talent, spent five treacherous years pretending to be financial wizard/fixers who showed that they were able to move money across international lines without the interference of the pesky US government. Ironically they were conning and at the same time earning the confidence of the nefarious drug dealers and the crooked bankers, all the while secretly recording them and gathering mounds of evidence.
The men live a roller coaster ride, living large in order to impress the criminals, while perpetually being put in dangerous and oftentimes life threatening situations. Cranston shows you every step of the way, his love for what he does, how it feeds a part of him that he’s not necessarily accepting of.
Married in real life, and his wife is played sweetly by Juliet Aubrey with two children, Mazur lives a double life by being engaged, which he had to be as he did not want to have sex with a hooker with his druggie pals, so he told them he was engaged. Enter his agent fiancé, a luminous Diane Kruger, who is a “virgin” undercover agent. The chemistry between them is complicated and close, and both are excellent at showing their feelings while navigating their chaste, but intimate relationship. Benjamin Bratt turns in a wonderful performance as Roberto Alcaino, a drug dealer with a heart whom Mazur literally feels guilty betraying. Amy Adams as Mazur’s prickly boss Bonnie and the shining Olympia Dukakis eating up the scenery as Mazur’s fake over the top Auntie, are all terrific as well.
The film is a mixture of the harrowing story of Operation DC and the drama of the real characters and what they went through to do their job. Well worth it to see this fascinating and fast moving tale of a real life crime saga.
The “Infiltrator” opens July 13. Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7_M4hjXW1I
Exclusive: Madonna Getting Unauthorized Documentary About Her Early NY Days
Desperately seeking actors: documentary filmmakers are looking for actors for a new documentary about Madonna.
It’s an unauthorized film about Madonna’s early days in New York. Director Guy Guido and producer Kent Moran are looking for people to play Madonna’s first manager, Camille Barbone, and songwriter Stephen Bray. Bray wrote a lot of Madonna’s early hits and even had his own top 10 group called The Breakfast Club.
Presumably, the filmmakers will be hiring someone to play Madonna, too.
Meanwhile, the singer has been posting like crazy on Instagram photos documenting her summer tour of Malawi with all of her kids. It looks like she’s patched things up with son Rocco after this past spring’s custody drama. The kid is smiling and happy. I think he’s just happy to have his family back in one piece after Madonna’s world tour.
Madonna is very busy in these photos promoting her Raising Malawi charity which was embroiled in scandal in 2011. The charity was then controlled by the Kabbalah Center and was promoting Kabbalah in the poor African country. A lot of the money donated went missing, as well.
Now Raising Malawi has an outside administrator. But there’s still no list of a board of directors. The charity’s tax form 990 still doesn’t really reflect anything of value. But PR wise, Madonna’s doing a great job. All the African politicians look bemused or shocked in the photos. Her kids look happy, though. So that’s something.
Ex-Fox News Anchor Gretchen Carlson Posts Video Thanking Supporters in Ailes Lawsuit (Watch)
Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson is very smartly using social media to reach her supporters. Carlson thanks them in this video. She’s suing Fox News chief Roger Ailes for sexual harassment that led to her leaving the network on June 23rd.
Ailes has denied the charges. Fox has put up no defense for him at all, but several current female employees are trickling in with endorsements rather than support their colleague. They close ranks at the Kremlin, too.
Thanks for your love and support, everyone. It means the world to me. #StandWithGretchen pic.twitter.com/vBFwdWYPmh
— Gretchen Carlson (@GretchenCarlson) July 11, 2016
Donald Trump Posts Fake News Story to Facebook, Website About Delegate Court Decision
Are Donald Trump’s followers being fed a fake version of the news? Something is very wrong about how actual news is being disseminated on his Facebook page and website.
Today a federal judge ruled that delegates who committed to Donald Trump can leave him and choose another candidate. It’s pretty much all over the news. The judge is Senior United States District Judge Robert E. Payne. It’s RNC Rule 16 and the delegate involved is attorney Carroll “Beau” Correll Jr., who vowed never to vote for Trump. Now he won’t have to.
But on Donald Trump’s Facebook page and website, the campaign has posted a completely fictitious version of what happened. The headline in both places is “Federal Court Sides With Grassroots Activists: RNC Delegates Are Bound to Follow Election Results.”
NBC called the ruling “a victory for Correll.”
But according to Trump sites, Correll lost and delegates must remain with Trump. In the Trump version, Correll “was soundly defeated.”
The court wrote: This matter is before the Court following a bench trial on
the merits of the FIRST AMENDED VERIFIED CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT
FOR INJUNCTIVE AND DECLARATORY RELIEF (the “Amended Complaint”)
(ECF No. 20) filed by Carroll Boston Correll, Jr. C’Correll”).
For the reasons, and to the extent, set forth below, judgment
including declaratory and injunctive relief will be entered for
Correll.”
For Correll, not against him. He was not soundly defeated at all. He won. Confusing, huh? What’s true? You can read the judge’s decision here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3174287/Correll.pdf
Look at the court decision: “For the foregoing reasons, judgment will be entered in Correll’s favor on Counts I and II and the Commonwealth will be permanently enjoined from enforcing Va. Code § 24.2-545(0).”
Correll is no longer bound to vote for Trump, neither are the rest of the Republican Virginia delegates.
The “story” posted to Trump’s pages is fiction, written by his staff and purposely picks out phrases from the judge’s decision to suit their concocted work. Some of it is true– but it’s all out of context and rearranged to suit the Trump campaign’s new version of events. Maybe they think their followers simply won’t read the actual news.
I am totally baffled.