Fans: what do you think is going on here? Let me know.
Whoopi Goldberg Crosses Over to NBC Today Show: Message to ABC?
What the heck was Whoopi Goldberg doing on the Today show this morning? Whoopi hosts The View on ABC, a rival network. And a rival show. Whoopi was promoting her role in a new movie, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” But the movie is from Paramount, not Universal, NBC’s parent company. I love Whoopi, but she’s shrewd. The View is in flux. Was she sending a message to ABC? She didn’t respond at all when Savannah Guthrie asked if she was happy Rosie O’Donnell was returning to The View. She completely ignored the question.
Whoopi said: “When I come back in September, there could be six turtles sitting there.” She also said: “The View will always be Barbara Walters’s show.” Really? Barbara is supposedly retired. Something’s up. And this was Whoopi’s way of telling that to ABC. The ball is in their court.
By the way, I didn’t realize that Whoopi suddenly has four movies in the can. When she did make them, on the weekends? And let’s not forget, Whoopi is not only an EGOT– which Guthrie made a big deal of– but also a considerably talented Tony winning Broadway performer. She can do anything. As she telegraphed this morning, she doesn’t need The View.
Quentin Tarantino Confirms our May 24 Story: “Hateful Eight” is a ‘Go’
Word is coming out of Comic Con in San Diego: Quentin Tarantino has confirmed my May 24th scoop. “The Hateful Eight” will be shot. Tarantino says “in the next year.” But I was told in May — and reported it here– that actors were told to be in Wyoming by the end of November for principal photography. That’s everyone from Bruce Dern to Michael Madsen and all the Tarantino regulars except for Christoph Waltz. After winning two Oscars back to back in Tarantino films, Waltz, I guess is being rested. Sort of like a big league pitcher.
Here’s the original link: http://www.showbiz411.com/2014/05/24/exclusive-tarantino-movie-hateful-eight-has-november-start-date
I’m sure Harvey Weinstein will be encouraging Tarantino to make that November start. That way there’s a good chance of a December 2015 release. He’d even be able to show footage in Cannes by May.
By coincidence, I just happened to catch “Django Unchained” on Showtime this weekend. It really holds up. What a great movie.
Jerry Lewis Screwed Again by MDA: They’re Using His Old Clips With A List Stars to Promote Themselves
Get this: the creeps at MDA– Muscular Dystrophy Association– have found a new way to exploit Jerry Lewis. They’re currently holding a vote on their website for most popular performance ever on the Labor Day Telethon. It’s called “Vote for Your Favorite MDA Telethon Moments.”
Many of the clips are of Jerry himself. Those that aren’t are of A list celebrities who only did the show because of Jerry– like fellow Rat Packers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr.
Only one problem: MDA famously kicked Jerry to the curb in 2010 after 50 years of dedicated service. They killed off the Labor Day telethon, too. Now it’s just a sad little prerecorded show on the Sunday night of Labor Day weekend on ABC. No one watches it, and no one cares.
MDA has gone to great lengths to scrub Lewis from its history. Without him, their fundraising has slowly diminished. Indeed, MDA customarily lies about how much money is taken in via their new show, including pre-arranged corporate donation.
At this point, I doubt Jerry cares. But it’s pretty tacky of MDA to promote all his clips– and just his clips. There’s nothing to vote on since he left save for one clip with will.i.am from 2012. Sad.
Box Office: Scarlett Johansson Fans Say “I Love Lucy,” Hercules Suffers
Scarlett Johansson, nine months pregnant and unable to do any promotion, outwitted The Rock last night. Scarlett’s
fans said a definitive “I Love Lucy” to her new movie, which took in $17 million. The movie is about how to use more than 10% of your brain power. “Lucy” did just that, beating Brett Ratner’s “Hercules,” featuring The Rock aka Dwayne Johnson.
“Lucy” is heading to a $46 million weekend. “Hercules” will take a beating at $30 million. Of course, “Hercules” should do well abroad, where action speaks louder than words. It’s interesting, too, because even “Hercules” got some pretty good reviews. Maybe movie goers are just tired of “300” and “Game of Thrones” type product. Or maybe they’re getting bunions from wearing sandals.
On the indie circuit, Woody Allen’s “Magic in the Moonlight” had a great first night. “Boyhood,” a certain Oscar nominee, continues to boom. “Begin Again” is also doing well, benefiting now from a hit soundtrack.
Woody Allen: There’s Magic in the Moonlight, But the End of the World Is Inevitable
As “Magic in the Moonlight” opens today- go see it, it;’s very clever– Woody Allen ruminated recently on his favorite subject: the end of the world. Our PAULA SCHWARTZ reports highlights from Woody’s recent press conference:
Woody Allen was in fine form last week at the press conference for his new romantic comedy “Magic in the Moonlight” at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Joined by the film’s stars Colin Firth and Jackie Weaver, Allen was witty and hilarious even as he espouse his typically grim and bleak outlook on life. Here are some tidbits.
Woody Allen on movies as escapism:
“I’ve been escaping my whole life. Since I was a little child I escaped into the movies on the other side as an audience member. I escaped by going into the movies and sitting in the movies all day long. And then when I got older I escaped into the world of unreality by making movies, so I’ve spent the last – I don’t know – almost fifty years, not quite, but 45 years, something like that, escaping into movies but on the other side.
When I get up in the morning I go and I work with beautiful women and charming men, and funny comedians and dramatic artists and I’m presented with costumes and great music to choose from and sense and I travel a certain amount of places so my whole year for my whole life I’ve been living in a bubble and I like it. I’m like Blanche duBoise that way. I prefer the magic to reality and have since I was five years old. Hopefully I can continue to make films and constantly escape into them.”
On why his protagonists tend to be neurotic and find life meaningless:
“Why do I find life meaningless?… Because I firmly believe – and I don’t say this as a criticism – that life is meaningless. I’m not alone in thinking this. There have been many great minds far, far superior to mine that have come to that conclusion, both early in life and after years of living and unless somebody can come up with some proof or some example where it’s not, I think it is. I think it’s a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing and that’s just the way I feel about it.
“I’m not saying one should opt to kill oneself, but the truth of the matter is, when you think of it, let’s say, every hundred years, or certainly every 110 years, there’s a big flush and everybody in the world is gone. Everybody’s gone and there’s a new group of people. And then that gets flushed and there’s a new group of people. And this goes on and on interminably toward no particular – I don’t want to upset you – toward no end, no particular end, and no rhyme nor reason.
“And the universe as you know, from the best physicists, is coming apart and eventually there will be nothing, absolutely nothing. All the great works of Shakespeare and Beethoven and Da Vinci, all that will be gone. Now not for a long time but gone. And much shorter than you think really because the sun is going to burn out much earlier than the universe vanishes so you don’t have to wait for the universe to vanish. It will happen earlier than that. There will be nothing. So all this achievement, all these Shakespearian plays and symphonies, the height of human achievement, will be gone completely. There will be nothing, absolutely nothing! No time, no space. Nothing at all. Just zero.
So what does it really mean to get exercised over trivial problems? That’s why over the years I’ve never written or made movies about political themes cause while they do have current critical importance, in the large, large scheme of things, you know, only the big questions matter and the answers to those big questions are very, very depressing.
What I would recommend? This is the solution I’ve come up with, is distraction. That’s all you can do. You get up. You can be distracted by your love life, by the baseball game, movies, by the nonsense, can I get my kid into this private school? Can I get this girl to go out with me Saturday night? Can I think of an ending for the third act of my play? Am I going to get the promotion in my office? You know, all this stuff, but in the end the universe burns out. So I think it’s completely meaningless and to be honest my characters portray this feeling.
On being an artist:
“I think it’s the artist’s job, I think it’s my job or the artist’s job, to try and find some solution or some reason to accept things, but given the grimmest reality, I feel the grimmest facts are the real facts, the true facts, that you’re born, you die, you suffer. It’s to no purpose and you’re gone forever, ever, ever, and that’s it and facing that, that massive, massive overwhelming bleak reality, to find a reason to cope with that, a good way to cope with that, and I feel it’s the artist’s job to do that.
“I’ve never found a good solution to it and the best that I can offer is distraction. So I’ve thought to myself at times, there’s a story in two filmmakers; one filmmaker makes films that are deep, intellectual, profound and confrontational, and the other one makes purely vacuous, escapist films, and I’m not sure if the one who makes the escapist films is not making a bigger contribution than the one who makes the deeper films that finally you’re in the world and it’s so terrible and all these things are going on and you go into a dark room, the movie theater, and you’re there for an hour and a half and Fred Astaire is dancing and it’s like drinking a cold drink , a lemonade, on a hot day and you’re refreshed and you walk down into the terrible heat and can take it for another few hours or more and that is the only thing that I can think of the artist doing.
“The artist can’t give you an answer that’s satisfying to the dreadful reality of your existence so the best you can do is maybe entertain people and refresh them for an hour and a half and then can go on and meet the onslaught until they are sunken and crushed and then somebody else comes along and picks them up a little bit.”
And: “Aren’t you glad you came today?
Robert Downey Jr. Film “The Judge” will Open Toronto Film Festival
The film festival wars get more interesting. Toronto just announced that “The Judge,” starring Robert Downey Jr and Robert Duvall, will be their premiere on September 4th. The Warner Bros release co-stars Vera Farmiga, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jeremy Strong, Dax Shepard and Billy Bob Thornton. David Dobkin wrote and directed. WB’s Sue Kroll is going to get Downey an Oscar if this film is any good, mark my words. He’s overdue. Sue said in a release: “We are so proud to be taking The Judge to TIFF, and honored to be in the opening night slot. The film is truly deserving and we believe the always-discerning audience in Toronto will appreciate it as much as we do.”
Here’s a first look at #TheJudge. This is the kind of movie I grew up wanting to make. Only took 49 years. Enjoy.
https://t.co/gc4JwNLe72
— Robert Downey Jr (@RobertDowneyJr) June 19, 2014
Number 1 on iTunes: 19 Year Old YouTube Star Troye Sivan Could Be the Better Bieber
Troye Sivan. I never heard of him before this past Wednesday. My twin 14 year old nieces told me about him. He’s a huge star on YouTube, where the kids are all going for their music. Today his EP, which won’t be released until August 15th, is number 1 on the iTunes album chart. Are you kidding? I am not.
Sivan could be the next Justin Bieber. Let’s just pray he’s not, in so many ways. He has a hit song called “The Fault in Our Stars.” He wrote, produced and released it in 2013, inspired by John Green’s novel. It’s not on the movie’s soundtrack. That CD produced no breakout single. You wonder why Sivan’s song wasn’t on it. We’ll find out.
He’s a new breed of kid. Last year he released a YouTube video to his millions of fans– he’s HUGE in Australia and South Africa, his two homes– announcing he is gay. The kids don’t care. It’s 2014. If a pop star had said that in 1974, everyone would have fainted. Now, what the heck! I like this generation, but I don’t know what to call them. Generation ZZ?
Anyway, here’s Troye. I’m surprised Scooter Braun hasn’t adopted him yet. But he’s managed in America by Group III, and he’s signed to Universal Music.
Jessica Chastain: Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak Was So Tough She Turned Down Two Big Movies
Jessica Chastain is such a gifted actress, I thought she could handle anything. But she told me last night that Guillermo Del Toro’s new film, “Crimson Peak,” was incredible draining. It’s so dark, she told me, that Chastain is now on a big break, enjoying summer in New York.
Last night she was palling around with two friends at a swellegant rooftop party thrown by Harvey Weinstein and Dirk Ziff atop the James Hotel in Soho. The occasion was the launch of The World Surf League-ASP, with lots of famous surfers and good looking young people enjoying a crazy beautiful sunset facing the new, sparkling 1 World Trade Center.
Jessica’s friends were actress Jess Weixler and opera singer Danielle Pizzomi– they were all in the same class at Julliard. Plus Jessica’s youngest brother was visiting from California. They were all heading over to Graydon Carter’s still hot Waverly Inn for dinner.
“You remember in Zero Dark Thirty they said I showed no emotion?” Jessica recalled. “In this one, it’s all emotion, It wiped me out. I love Guillermo!”
I think what she liked was wearing a 19th century black velvet dress with a bustle. She showed me a picture on her iPhone. “Don’t tell Guillermo I’m showing you this,” she said with a twinkle in her eye. (Note to del Toro: your secrets are safe.)
Before “Crimson Peak,” Jessica filmed three big projects: Liv Ullmann’s “Miss Julie,” Chris Nolan’s “Interstellar,” and JC Chandor’s “A Most Violent Year.” She was so wiped from all four movies that she turned down a major movie with a major male lead. I can’t say what it was, but she turned down another one, as well. Now she’s kicking back before a heavy fall schedule of promotion. Somewhere in this mix, I believe, an Oscar is unavoidable.
Meanwhile, the Surf party was also graced by Katie Holmes, glowing in a white dress, but anxious to get home to daughter Suri. I told her I love it when I see pictures of them taking the subway. She laughed. “Well, it’s so fast! And I can leave my house at 7:40 and make an eight o’clock curtain on Broadway!”
Katie is a New Yorker now, certified and stamped.
Audra McDonald Sings Yahoo Answers in Lovely Tonight Show Bit
This is why Jimmy Fallon’s show is so great. Sophisticated, elegant, funny. Steve Allen is smiling in heaven.