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Rupert Murdoch Doesn’t Want Mitt Romney, Slags off Gawker Over Drunk Tweeting Allegation

Roger Friedman
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Rupert Murdoch Doesn’t Want Mitt Romney, Slags off Gawker Over Drunk Tweeting Allegation

Rupert Murdoch very busy Tweeting. He just told Mitt Romney to forget it for 2016:

Murdoch also slagged off Gawker for suggesting he drunk-tweets. Murdoch had left an enigmatic Tweet up that read just “Po.” No one knows what it means. It’s possible he doesn’t realize he can delete a tweet. Or Po could be a plug for a restaurant that is/was on Cornelia Street. It’s not likely he’s drinking and Tweeting.

New 16 Year Old Bieber-Like Pop Star Will Offer $40 Special Edition of 1st Album

Roger Friedman
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New 16 Year Old Bieber-Like Pop Star Will Offer $40 Special Edition of 1st Album

This is our youth: Shawn Mendes is 16 and his first album is being released in April. Today he announced the release of the album, called “Handwritten,” on the Today show. On his website, you can pre-order a $40 special edition with a 60 page book and three bonus tracks.

I guess it would one thing if “Handwritten” had already come out, been a hit, and there was some clamor for a souvenir. But isn’t a little avaricious to offer this before anything’s actually happened? I guess parents will buy this thing for their daughters the same way they get them $200 Beats headphones and $400 iPhones. Shawn’s people are probably smart in their marketing.

I’ve seen Shawn Mendes live, twice– once at his own show at the Best Buy Theater, and then again at the Jingle Ball. He has the potential to be a break out star. Tall and good looking, with a lot of acoustic songs and an earnest demeanor, Mendes is the anti-Bieber. Plus, the girls love him. He also has smart parents from Toronto who aren’t going to wind up with a kid constantly settling criminal complaints.

Music Exclusive: Jamie Foxx’s Return Single Will Feature Chris Brown, Album Due in Spring

Roger Friedman
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Music Exclusive: Jamie Foxx’s Return Single Will Feature Chris Brown, Album Due in Spring

Jamie Foxx is almost back on the radio. I am told that sometime in the next week a surprise single will drop featuring Chris Brown. A new Foxx album is due this spring from RCA. The Oscar winning actor surprised everyone a few years ago when it turned out he was a proficient musician, pianist, and singer. Of course, Johnny Depp may not like him now that he’s declared all actors off limits from second careers in music.

Foxx scored a number of hit after being signed by Clive Davis and his team to J Records after Jamie stole the show at Clive’s 2005 pre Grammy show at the Beverly Hills Hotel. He released three albums with J, the last in 2010, all debuting in the top 3 on the charts.

I’m told that the new Foxx album, like the others, was exec produced by Breyon Prescott, the hot-as-a-pistol new chief of urban music at Epic Records under L.A. Reid. Prescott is also said to be nurturing a soon to be released comeback album for 90s supergroup Jodeci.

Alan Ladd Jr’s Wife Says Bill Cosby Raped Her, She Doesn’t Want Money, Fame, Press Conference

Roger Friedman
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Alan Ladd Jr’s Wife Says Bill Cosby Raped Her, She Doesn’t Want Money, Fame, Press Conference

Cindra Ladd is the wife of Alan Ladd, Jr., respected movie exec and producer, son of the great star who also bore that name. Cindra says in the Huffington Post that Bill Cosby drugged and raped her 45 years ago. She wants nothing– no money, trial, press conference or fame. She says she was 21, and Cosby was 32. She was working for famed producer Ray Stark. It was 1969. This is pretty devastating news. Even with 15 or 20 women, Cosby still could cling to all kinds of defenses– the women were crazy, money motivated, etc. But this is from the Hollywood Establishment itself. Very very bad.

Ladd writes: “One night we were going out to a movie. We agreed to meet at an apartment that he said belonged to a friend of his. I had a terrible headache but didn’t want to cancel the evening. He told me he had a miracle cure his doctor had given him that would get rid of the headache. He went into another room and came back with a capsule. I asked a couple of times what it was. Each time he reassured me, asking, “Don’t you trust me?” Of course I did. This was Bill Cosby.

“For more than 45 years I have tried to recall exactly what happened that night. To this day it remains a blur. I have a vague recollection of feeling like I was floating while walking through Times Square and watching some kind of Japanese samurai movie with him. I don’t remember where the theater was nor very much of the evening.

What I do recall, vividly and clearly, is waking up the next morning nude in the bed of his friend’s apartment and seeing Cosby wearing a white terrycloth bathrobe and acting as if there was nothing unusual. It was obvious to me that he had had sex with me. I was horrified, embarrassed and ashamed. There was a mirror above the bed, which shocked me further.”

Ladd says this is it, the one and only time she will speak on the subject. (No doubt every TV Booker in the world is outside her door right now. Barbara Walters is probably making pancakes in the Ladd kitchen.)

Ladd concludes: “Having come of age in the late 1960s and early 1970s before marrying in the mid 1980s at 37, I certainly have a history. The difference is that any other relationships were consensual … my encounter with Bill Cosby was most certainly not.

In the years since that night I have crossed paths with Cosby only once, when my husband, a highly successful Oscar-winning film executive and producer, introduced me to him. I was shaking, wondering if he would recognize me by my unusual first name. His reaction spoke volumes. To Bill Cosby, I was just another stranger.”

Sam Smith Grammy Chances Nullified: Concedes Royalty and Credit to Tom Petty Over “Stay with Me”

Roger Friedman
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Sam Smith Grammy Chances Nullified: Concedes Royalty and Credit to Tom Petty Over “Stay with Me”

“Stay with Me” was such a great summer single. Sam Smith wrote it with two pals, and the song had a gospel feel. Smith’s soulful rendition was solo, and he also offered a cool duet with Mary J. Blige. The song felt like a throwback.

Indeed, it was. Smith has just settled, according to reports, with Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne over a copyright protest. “Stay with Me” sounded so great because we already knew it: it’s very similar to Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.” Whoops!

Reports say that Smith et al conceded that it was a coincidence– a lot like George Harrison grafting “My Sweet Lord”
from “He’s so Fine.” It was in his head. Michael McDonald (of Doobie Brothers fame) did the same thing once. He wrote and recorded a whole song called “I Keep Forgettin’.” After it was done, someone had the presence of mind to tell him it was Chuck Jackson’s old hit of the same name. He’d just forgotten.

Smith agrees that it’s a “coincidence.”

So now, “Stay with Me” is credited on ASCAP’s website to Smith and co., as well as to Petty and Lynne. No word on retroactive financial arrangements, but going forward, Petty and Lynne will probably get the lion’s share of the dough.

As for the song’s Grammy chances, I’d say they are over. And it’s too bad, because everyone likes the record so much. But Petty and Lynne wouldn’t back down, and Grammy voters probably won’t either.

Some people pursue these things. Sting–who’s been ripped off at least three times in the last couple of years– has declined. And of course, a lot of contemporary songs that we all love– like Alicia Keys’s “Empire State of Mind”– are sampled from other material (in that case, “Love on a Two Way Street”).

I do remember when Mariah Carey took the Emotions song “Best of My Love” and made it into a note for note version of s a new song called “Emotions.” Maurice White of Earth Wind & Fire, who wrote “Best of My Love,” told me: “I’ve heard of sampling, but this was the whole buffet!”

A more recent example would be Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready” lurking inside John Mayer’s “Waiting for the World to Change.” I don’t think the Mayfield estate has ever been paid.

Birdman Wins SAG: Redmayne, Moore, Arquette, Simmons Take Acting Awards

Roger Friedman
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Birdman Wins SAG: Redmayne, Moore, Arquette, Simmons Take Acting Awards

“Birdman” has won the SAG Best Ensemble Award. The acting awards went to Eddie Redmayne, Julianne Moore, Patricia Arquette, and JK Simmons. Redmayne was the surprise, beating Michael Keaton for Best Actor. “Birdman” has now won the Golden Globe for drama, and the Producers Guild Award. The Alejando Inniritu directed dramedy had the edge for the Oscars. But “Boyhood” is still looming large. The TV Awards went to Downton Abbey, and Orange is the New Black, meaning the broadcast networks were shut out again. Only Viola Davis from ABC’s “How to Get Away with Murder” was a network winner.

Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars” wins PGA, So Does “Birdman”

Roger Friedman
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Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars” wins PGA, So Does “Birdman”

This is a late posting but just in case you missed it: “Birdman” won the Producers Guild Award last night in L.A. I don’t know why. It all took place either in the St. James Theater on Broadway or on a sound stage. Maybe it was the flying. “Boyhood” was all about the producing– that Josh Sapan and Jonathan Sehring had the imagination and foresight over 12 years to make it.

Anyway: Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” won the digital award. Nice.

LIST OF 2015 PRODUCERS GUILD AWARD WINNERS

The 2015 Producers Guild nominated films and television programs are listed below in alphabetical order by category, along with producers. The producers’ names for each nominated production are listed in alphabetical order and are not necessarily the proper order of credits. The winners are indicated in bold and with an asterisk (*).

The theatrical motion picture winners are:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:

Ø Birdman (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Producers: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, James W. Skotchdopole

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:

Ø The LEGO Movie (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Producer: Dan Lin, p.g.a.

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:

Ø Life Itself (Magnolia Pictures)

Producers: Garrett Basch, Steve James, Zak Piper

The television winners are:

The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television:

The Long-Form Television category encompasses both movies of the week and mini-series.

Ø Fargo (FX)

Producers: Adam Bernstein, John Cameron, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Michael Frislev, Noah Hawley, Warren Littlefield, Chad Oakes, Kim Todd

The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama:

Ø Breaking Bad (AMC)

Producers: Melissa Bernstein, Sam Catlin, Bryan Cranston, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Mark Johnson, Stewart Lyons, Michelle MacLaren, George Mastras, Diane Mercer, Thomas Schnauz, Moira Walley-Beckett

The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy:

Ø Orange Is The New Black (Netflix)

Producers: Mark A. Burley, Sara Hess, Jenji Kohan, Gary Lennon, Neri Tannenbaum, Michael Trim, Lisa I. Vinnecour

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television:

Ø COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey (FOX/NatGeo)
Producers: Brannon Braga, Mitchell Cannold, Jason Clark, Ann Druyan, Livia Hanich, Steve Holtzman, Seth MacFarlane

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Competition Television:

Ø The Voice (NBC)

Producers: Stijn Bakkers, Mark Burnett, John De Mol, Chad Hines, Lee Metzger, Audrey Morrissey, Jim Roush, Kyra Thompson, Mike Yurchuk, Amanda Zucker

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television:

Ø The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC)

Producers: Rob Crabbe, Jamie Granet Bederman, Katie Hockmeyer, Jim Juvonen, Josh Lieb, Brian McDonald, Lorne Michaels, Gavin Purcell

The Award for Outstanding Sports Program:

Ø Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel (HBO)

The Award for Outstanding Children’s Program:

Ø Sesame Street (PBS)

The digital winner is:

The Award for Outstanding Digital Series:

Ø Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee (http://www.crackle.com/c/comedians-in-cars-getting-coffee)

Box Office: “American Sniper” Hits $200 Mil, Biggest of Eastwood’s Career

Roger Friedman
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Box Office: “American Sniper” Hits $200 Mil, Biggest of Eastwood’s Career

“American Sniper” is the biggest movie of Clint Eastwood’s long and storied career. The Bradley Cooper starrer hits $200 million today, far surpassing “Gran Torino” ($148 million). The movie based on the memoir of the late Navy SEAL Chris Kyle shows no signs of slowing down, either.

“Sniper” added $64 million in its second week of wide release. This is great news. I loved this movie, Eastwood and Cooper did a super job. “Sniper” has nothing to do with blue-red states, liberal or conservative. Eastwood is showing the effects of war. Kyle was no coward. He was a hero, and such a decent guy. He fought for his country. When his family beckoned him home, he returned and was a mentor. His death was a tragedy. Eastwood et al hit all those notes. Bravo.

The second biggest movie of the week is “Paddington,” an incredibly charming family film that was already a hit around the world. Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Ben Whishaw and Nicole Kidman all star. “Paddington” marks a huge success for The Weinstein Company, and a real score for them in a new direction. (No Tarantino type humor here.)

Elsewhere, Jennifer Lopez scored $15 million for a piece of junk called “The Boy Next Door.” I doubt this movie will have legs, and they won’t be nearly as nice as JLO’s.

New York TV Legend Joe Franklin Dead at 88, Pioneered the Celebrity Talk Show

Roger Friedman
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New York TV Legend Joe Franklin Dead at 88, Pioneered the Celebrity Talk Show

UPDATE: Confirmed, sadly.
EARLIER: There’s no confirmation yet, but it does seem from reports that New York TV legend Joe Franklin has died at age 88. Franklin pioneered the talk show, and had one on WOR TV in New York from 1962 to 1993. He was famous for having eclectic groups of people– like the current head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as well as Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme– on the same couch. His show was famously parodied by Billy Crystal on Saturday Night Live. Born Joseph Fortgang, Joe’s nasal voice was a New York landmark. Twitter accounts from the Friars Club and Mark Simone have each confirmed Franklin’s death. It’s really the end of an era.

Johnny Depp Scores Lowest Wide Release Opening Since 1999: A Measly $4.1 Mil

Roger Friedman
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Johnny Depp Scores Lowest Wide Release Opening Since 1999: A Measly $4.1 Mil

SUNDAY UPDATE: “Morty” did only $4.1 mil, it was much less than the low number previously predicted. This movie is a huge money loser for someone, namely Lion’s Gate, which I guess can hide it under The Hunger Games or Twilight accounting.

EARLIER: “Mortdecai” is loosely translated into “10 deaths.” That’s an understatement. Johnny Depp’s terrible comedy marks his lowest wide release opening since 1999’s “Astronaut’s Wife”– that’s excluding limited releases of smaller non tentpole movies like “Finding Neverland” (a hit ultimately), “The Libertine” (a disaster), and “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” (a daffodil in the wind, box office wise).

“Morty” made $1.6 million on Friday night by estimates, and looks to score just $4.4 million for the weekend– and that’s being nice since snow will impede box office traffic tonight (Saturday) and possibly tomorrow.

David Koepp, a very talented, highly successful screenwriter and nice guy, directed this romp that co-stars Ewan McGregor and Gwyneth Paltrow. That’s three big stars who are now saddled with some of the worst reviews ever posted. Koepp doesn’t have a great track record as a director. It’s one thing to try a small indie film, but this kind of thing, at over $70 million? Maybe not such a good idea. Why doesn’t Johnny Depp work with name directors? This remains a mystery.

Anyway, “Morty” has suffered 12 deaths this weekend. More on the box office later…

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