Dave Carr, a friend and a colleague, died tonight at age 58. He was found in the New York Times newsroom around 9pm, a couple of hours after he hosted a TimesTalk with the “Citizen Four” filmmakers. I don’t think I’d seen Dave since December, and he does not look well in this video. It’s just so sad and tragic that this happened tonight. He was a great writer and reporter, and, like Bob Simon, the real deal. He was a good pal who had a great, wry sense of humor. His Times video pieces when he covered the Oscar were exceptional and memorable. I will really miss him, just like all his extended circle of friends. Condolences to his family.
“Dirty Dancing” May Finally Be Back on Reboot Track with TV Movie
EXCLUSIVE “Dirty Dancing” — first the movie, then there was a short lived TV series followed by a touring musical. In 2011 there were reports that a remake of the movie was on the way, followed by more reports in 2012 that Lions Gate had put the whole thing on hold.
Now I’m told that “Dirty Dancing” lives– this time as a Lions Gate movie made for television, with possibly a new series attached to it. This version comes from Lions Gate TV, with executive producer Allison Shearmur, former head of productions for Lions Gate, and writer Jessica Sharzer, who worked on “The L Word” and “American Horror Story”– two projects that are similar to the feel of “Dirty Dancing” (not).
The one person I didn’t hear mentioned was Eleanor Bergstein, who wrote the original “Dirty Dancing” based on her own life. It’s very important in Hollywood not ever to go back to the original writer or source material when reviving a beloved project. That way, you ensure disaster. Witness the remake of “The Heartbreak Kid” in which new people ignored Elaine May and Neil Simon, and turned one of the great comic films ever into garbage. Or how about “Get Smart,” in which those new people never bothered to speak to Mel Books or Buck Henry.
I digress. Maybe it will all work out. But something tells me the whole thing will be updated to the 90s with hip hop music and so on. Lions Gate is the home of “Twilight” and “The Hunger Games.” No one will put Baby in a corner if she’s carrying a cross now and Johnny is a vampire. The search will be on for some terrible song to replace “I’ve Had the Time of My Life” — I’m sure all the top teams of music producers and writers who clog the radio now are working night and day to figure that out.
CBS Newsman Bob Simon of “60 Minutes,” One of the Greats, Dead at 73
One of the great newsman in TV history, Bob Simon of “60 Minutes” fame, died tonight in a car accident on the West Side Highway. He was 73. Simon was going downtown in a livery car when another car t-boned the vehicle he was in.
Well, it’s just tragic that while all this hideous crap is going on with Brian Williams and people saying they don’t believe the news, an actual great journalist dies this way. Bob Simon was the real thing, a war correspondent who really did risk life and limb around the world. He and his crew were even captured in Iraq in 1991 at the start of the first Gulf War. He spent 40 days in Iraqi prisons.
Bob– who I knew enough that I was in awe of him– won 27 Emmy Awards. According to Wikipedia, from 1964 to 1967, Simon served as an American Foreign Service officer and was a Fulbright Scholar in France and a Woodrow Wilson scholar. He then went to a stellar career at CBS, his only employer for the last 40 plus years. He was among the last of the real newsmen that carried on the tradition of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite.
Bob’s butterscotch voice will forever resound. He was a gracious, lovely man. This is a real tragedy and loss.
Condolences to his wife Francoise, his family and friends around the world.
Hugh Grant: “Since ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral,’ I’ve never done a job just for the money”
“I’ve cleaned a lot of lavatories” Hugh Grant made the startling admission at a press conference yesterday at the London Hotel in Manhattan to promote his new film, “The Rewrite” co-starring Marisa Tomei.
Grant teams up for the fourth time with writer-director Marc Lawrence (“Music and Lyrics,” Two Weeks Notice,” “Did You Hear About the Morgans?”) who was present at the press event along with co-star Chris Elliott. (Allison Janney and J.K. Simmons also appear in the film.)
“Get out of here,” a journalist scoffed. The question was in response to a question about the craziest job Grant ever took to survive before he became an actor.
“Yes, I have,” Grant replied. “And I was rather good at it. But I did hate it. And I remember I was cleaning lavatories at I.B.M. in London and I was on my way to work on day and I thought, ‘I really can’t stand this another day. I wish the place would just burn down.’ As I turned the corner it was burning down. And I didn’t know I had that power,” he said. “I try not to use it too much since.” The twenty or so journalists in the room cracked up.
His next job was a step up. “I delivered new cars. In those days it was important that you had to run them in slowly, so we were told to drive them at 29 miles an hour and we drove them at 120 miles an hour. I crashed one and was fired from that job.”
“Then I was a very good waiter in a gay restaurant in the King’s Road. I got a lot of tips because I was very flirty,” he said. “It happened to have a large gay clientele and I wiggled my bottom.”
The question was in line with the theme of “The Rewrite,” in which Grant plays a washed up Hollywood screenwriter, Keith Michaels, looking for a job. After winning an Academy Award for “Paradise Misplaced,” he’s lost his creative mojo. His movie pitches are out of date and his bank account running on empty. The only gig his agent can find him is a job teaching screenwriting at Binghamton University on the opposite coast. Grant’s character wants this job about as much as Grant seems to want to keep acting.
When asked how he found the balance in the comedy and dramatic tones of the role, the “Notting Hill” actor, who at age 54 still looks boyish, said he didn’t.
“I can only really vaguely perform in a sort of light comedy tone. I’ve tried other tones and it’s a disaster. So I’m sort of more or less stuck there. Having said that, I did attempt to render some emotions in this film. At least I tried. I tried,” he sighed.
Asked by a male journalist if he was aware that he also had a large male fan base and if men ever told him they liked his films, Grant replied dryly, “Never. No. Never. You are actually the first.”
As for the current state of rom-coms, Grant mused, “I wonder if one could anymore make a romantic comedy because I don’t think people under 25 or under 30 talk much. I mean, how would you do it? Every shot would be a close up of the phone.”
Grant added that when he meets young people they never want to talk; they just want selfies. “They frequently say, ‘Can I get a picture? Can I get a selfie?’ And sometimes I’m not in the mood. I say, ‘Well I don’t really want to do a selfie but I’ll have a chat with you.’ And they go, ‘What about a selfie?’ I’ll ask where are you from? All they say is, ‘How about a selfie?’ with a desperate look in their eye. It’s a strange sort of interaction.”
Asked if he related personally to the movie’s subtext about creative freedom versus creative control in Hollywood, and was the reason he took the role, Grant replied, “I’ve never had any standards in particular. And I’ve just thought does this thing make me laugh? Did I get bored reading the script? And if I didn’t get bored and if I did laugh, and I thought it came into that narrow little area where I might be able to perform it, I’ve always just said yes.”
“I tell you what I am quite proud of actually,” Grant added. “Since ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral,’ I’ve never done a job just for the money. I’ve always thought I liked it. Whereas, before ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ I only did jobs for the money.”
Grant said he did like his character’s gradual awareness that self-worth was defined by more than money or celebrity.
“I like the way that my character learns that there are other metrics by which to judge yourself than money and how much you’re wanted in one particular trade. Suddenly he realizes that he’s wanted by his students, he’s valued by them, and the university, and I think that’s rather touching.”
Grant added, “It’s been a huge surprise that my children value me despite the fact that I don’t make many films anymore and waste my time doing politics and stuff. They still like me anyway, that’s rather like what happens to Keith.”
Asked to comment about working with Marisa Tomei, Grant replied,
“I was frightened of her. I’m still frightened of her because she’s so good and so much the opposite of me in terms of how she comes at a role. She’s a proper New York method actress so she knew exactly why she said every line she said. I don’t have the faintest idea why I say them except they sounded right and they might get a laugh.” He added, “And one sometimes does roll one’s eyes when it’s four in the morning and you’re very cold and she’s saying, ‘Why do I say this line?’ And you want to go, ‘So we can all go home.”
Tom Hanks to Sub for Brian Williams on Letterman Tomorrow Night: How NBC Anchor Became Forrest Gump
Remember Forrest Gump? He was everywhere in history. Now Brian Williams has become a real life Forest. And so the actor who played Forrest is going to substitute for Williams on David Letterman’s Late Show tomorrow night.
It will be interesting to see how Letterman and Hanks handle the Williams situation. Will they talk about it? And was Hanks selected to help polish up Williams’s tarnished image? It’s no secret that Williams and Hanks are friends. They’ve been photographed together at sporting events. The connection: Hanks’s actress wife, Rita Wilson, plays the mother of Williams’s daughter, Alison, on the HBO show “Girls.”
Back in May 2013, Wilson flew in from New York– where Hanks was on Broadway– to fill in for Williams at one of his many charity hosting duties. This one was for the Gracie Awards, where he was going to present his wife, Jane, with the Outstanding Interview Award for her Educational series on Bloomberg radio. Williams was called away to Oklahoma to report on tornadoes.
Wilson read a message from Williams, who called his wife of 27 years, “my only source of unvarnished truth.” Brian went on to say via Rita: “Jane originated the ‘Making A Difference,’ segment at the end of the Nightly News, no one knows that.”
Williams loves his celebrity connections. He emcees tons of celebrity charity events and often shows up at movie premieres. This is quite unlike the old standard for network anchors. Until they retired, you rarely saw Dan Rather or Tom Brokaw anywhere. Peter Jennings, before he became ill, was never seen at movie premieres. And certainly none of them ever participated in late night follies with Johnny Carson or Leno or Letterman the way Williams has carried on on the Jimmy Fallon shows.
Media Casualty Month: Brian Williams, Rosie, Jon Stewart, Steve Kroft– Who’s Next?
Now is the winter of our discontent. In short order, the New York media world has been rocked by changes and scandals that are churning the landscape.
The biggest is Brian Williams, suspended without pay from NBC for six months. You think you’ll see him again in August? I doubt it. Not on “Nightly News.” There’s no way to re-establish his position of trust. My guess: Lester Holt holds the show for as long as he can. This gives NBC and Comcast a chance to figure out who anchors at the desk starting right after Labor Day.
Here’s NBC News President Deborah Turness’s memo to the staff:
‘All,
We have decided today to suspend Brian Williams as Managing Editor and Anchor of NBC Nightly News for six months. The suspension will be without pay and is effective immediately. We let Brian know of our decision earlier today. Lester Holt will continue to substitute Anchor the NBC Nightly News.
Our review, which is being led by Richard Esposito working closely with NBCUniversal General Counsel Kim Harris, is ongoing, but I think it is important to take you through our thought process in coming to this decision.
While on Nightly News on Friday, January 30, 2015, Brian misrepresented events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003. It then became clear that on other occasions Brian had done the same while telling that story in other venues. This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian’s position.
In addition, we have concerns about comments that occurred outside NBC News while Brian was talking about his experiences in the field.
As Managing Editor and Anchor of Nightly News, Brian has a responsibility to be truthful and to uphold the high standards of the news division at all times.
Steve Burke, Pat Fili and I came to this decision together. We felt it would have been wrong to disregard the good work Brian has done and the special relationship he has forged with our viewers over 22 years. Millions of Americans have turned to him every day, and he has been an important and well-respected part of our organization.
As I’m sure you understand, this was a very hard decision. Certainly there will be those who disagree. But we believe this suspension is the appropriate and proportionate action.
This has been a difficult time. But NBC News is bigger than this moment. You work so hard and dedicate yourselves each and every day to the important work of bringing trusted, credible news to our audience. Because of you, your loyalty, your dedication, NBC News is an organization we can — and should — all be proud of. We will get through this together.
Steve Burke asked me to share the following message.
“This has been a painful period for all concerned and we appreciate your patience while we gathered the available facts. By his actions, Brian has jeopardized the trust millions of Americans place in NBC News. His actions are inexcusable and this suspension is severe and appropriate. Brian’s life’s work is delivering the news. I know Brian loves his country, NBC News and his colleagues. He deserves a second chance and we are rooting for him. Brian has shared his deep remorse with me and he is committed to winning back everyone’s trust.”
Deborah’
Plus: Rosie O’Donnell leaves “The View” on Thursday. Funny, not a peep out of Barbara Walters.
Then there’s Jon Stewart exiting “The Daily Show.” It’s not because his movie did so well. Stewart is obviously pissed that Stephen Colbert, who used to work for him, was chosen to succeed David Letterman. Stewart should have gotten that job. He can write his own ticket, and he will.
And then Steve Kroft of “60 Minutes,” dragged through the tabloids with family problems. He’s the captain of the biggest news show on TV. Who’s next to fall? Stay tuned…
Rosie O’Donnell Explains Why She’s Leaving The View (See Video): “I’m Minimizing My Stress…Lots of Stuff Going on at Home”
Rosie O’Donnell will not be talking about leaving “The View” on the show. She says in a video posted to YouTube that her last day is Thursday “and then I’ll be watching at home.” She says she’s “minimizing my stress…”
Watch:
New TV Version of “Uncle Buck” Will Have a Different Spin: All African American Characters
EXCLUSIVE Somewhere in heaven I do think John Candy and John Hughes would approve. I am told that the new “Uncle Buck” TV pilot calls for something different– all African American actors to play the roles.
That’s right: Uncle Buck will be black. So will his family. Buck Russell is listed in casting notices that go out today as late 20s to early 30s, African American, “he’s a wild and free-wheeling force of nature who has managed to lose every job and every girlfriend he’s ever had, but who still flies through life by the seat of his pants, never knowing what tomorrow will bring.”
It’s the role of a lifetime for any actor, but especially at this moment when diversity is everything. Black or white, the new Uncle Buck will have a serious brother who has three kids. Buck, of course, corrupts them when he loses his latest job and becomes their manny.
Will Packer, Steven Cragg and Brian Bradley are exec producers for this Universal Television/ABC sitcom. The original “Uncle Buck” was a hit movie in 1989, and a failed TV series in 1990.
So who should play Uncle Buck? Kevin Hart? Hannibal Burress? Donald Glover? Doesn’t this sound like a JB Smoove character? Is Keenan Thompson too obvious?
REVIEW Fifty Shades of Grey: One Word Would Have Lifted it from C Movie to B Movie
One word could have lifted “Fifty Shades of Grey” from a C Movie to a B Movie. And the word is “red.” As fans of the book may know by now, author E.L. James refused to let director Sam Taylor-Johnson end the film version of her turgid prose with the word “red.” In the book and the movie, “red” is a safe word for the couple engaged in S&M antics. It means stop.
After two hours of a mostly witless endeavor in very lite S&M, this movie peters to an ellipsis. And when Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele puts her hand up to Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) she could have saved the whole thing with that word “red.” Instead, apparently, James insisted on having Dakota just say “Stop.” It was a huge mistake.
At the screening tonight at AMC Lincoln Center, most of the audience– fans of the book–shouted surprise when they realized the movie had indeed ended. It ends nowhere, without even a to be continued. I suppose people will see it one day on its own– no sequel is guaranteed– and wonder what all the fuss was about. I sure did. The book is largely unreadable, so I left it to the director (of “Nowhere Boy”) to make something scintillating. After all, the book is about a 27 year old billionaire who will only tie up and torture his dates. But “Fifty Shades of Grey” is mostly talk and not so much action.
Let’s leave alone the obvious plot holes and implausibilities. Well, wait: my favorite one is that Christian offers Anastasia a long detailed contract that will permit him to abuse her. It’s very well typed. And all I could think was, who typed it? His lawyer? His secretary? Christian himself? The third choice seems far fetched since, even though he’s a business magnate, he doesn’t seem to do anything other than preen or pull off his tee-shirt.
The best lines, I can’t reprint here. Suffice to say they each include the F word. There are three of them, and they are as good as Kevin Costner telling Jeanne Tripplehorn “I’ll breathe for you” in “Waterworld” or Ben Affleck’s “Gobble gobble” in “Gigli.” Okay, one is “I want to f— you into next week.” The other is “I am fifty shades of f—ed.” The third I actually can’t say, but you’ll hear it.
Anyway, I digress: the first weekend of “Fifty Shades” will be enormous at the box office. The book’s fans want to see it, regardless. But most men will bridle, and none will return. There are more than a few unintentional laughs. There’s nothing campy enough on the level of “Showgirls.” This movie plays too earnestly, like a Jacqueline Susann romance with some Cinemax sex thrown in to make it contemporary.
None of the actors are at fault. In fact, I liked Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, although he seems too young for the role. We do see a lot of Dakota, the daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson. I don’t think Sonny Crockett will be too pleased that America is about to become well versed in his daughter’s nipples. (I doubt Mrs. Dornan will be too pleased either.) Neither actor eats in the movie in character, and you can see why. They are lean and mean.
In a big cast there are only two other name actors: Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden and the wonderful Jennifer Ehle. Otherwise, the rest of the cast looks like it was hired for minimum wage in Canada. You will not recognize a single face. Maybe for the sequel they can look in the Players Guide.
As for the S&M, there’s an inappropriate joke here you can attach to “12 Years a Slave.” In that movie, Patsy suffered much more and lived to tell about it. Anastasia is barely whisked when she cries “uncle.” It’s more ‘see my red room, look at all these devices.’ There’s some spanking but not much more than a 2 year old used to get for disobeying a parent.
Still there may be some who find the tepid sex and torture scenes too much. I asked Dornan, an affable guy quite unlike his character, why the movie was rated R for “unusual behavior.” He responded that whatever it was, he didn’t enjoy doing it. That much is obvious.
And then there’s the “red” issue. Two hours sludge by, and there’s nary a bit of wit. (The only glimmer of it is in the contract negotiation scene. You may hear some terms rarely heard in a legal office.) But the setup of the safety word is left hanging. (So is Dakota, but that’s a different story.) We finally wind to the end–although you wouldn’t know it because the arc of the screenplay is shapeless. But here’s this moment, and when it happens, you realize immediately that if the movie had ended the director’s way, you might have had a different opinion.
PS Excellent soundtrack. Beyonce will have a new hit with her slow version of “Crazy in Love.” It’s like her unplugged “Layla.” And Annie Lennox opens the film with her scary fine version of “I Put A Spell on You,” right off the Grammys.
Grammy Ratings Slide by 1.4 Million Young Viewers– Average Performers’ Age Was Over 40
The Grammy ratings were a bust in the key demo of 18-49. Last year they scored a 9.9 in the demo. This year it was 8.5. That’s a huge dip.Total viewers this year were 25 million. Last year: over 28 million. So three million people overall tuned out. Half of them were young people who want to see their pop stars.
Well, I’m an oldie, certainly. But even I noticed that most of the performers were over 40. Madonna, Paul McCartney, AC/DC, Annie Lennox, Tom Jones, Jeff Lynne. You had Smokey, Stevie, and Nile Rodgers, not to mention Jamie Foxx. And LLCoolJ, so unhip and so uncool, continues to host as if anyone in the world besides CBS execs want him to.
I enjoyed the show– but I’m from the generation that applauded those artists. I don’t know what I would think if I were 16 and saw Madonna. I give her credit, but her act seems like Ann Corio when she used to present burlesque 20 years after it was over.
A big problem is that with a few exceptions– Katy Perry, Taylor Swift– today’s artists are manufactured. Ken Ehrlich is trying to find the best performances. They come from an older, authentic group of stars.
Why didn’t Beyonce sing a pop song in the middle of the show? Why didn’t Rihanna, whose voice is real and just great? Why were Common and John Legend not at the opening, not close, of the show? And how did ancient rockers AC/DC merit the opening spot? They were atrocious, and old old old. If I’d been a kid, seeing them, I would have turned the show off. Why didn’t Maroon 5 and Gwen Stefani open?
I don’t blame Ken Ehrlich. He has network pressures to deal with. But with all those stars, and a loss of 3 million viewers, maybe some questions will be asked within CBS.