Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Donate
Home Blog Page 1748

Star Wars 7 Cast Announced: Princess Leia now “Leia Solo” on IMDB

Roger Friedman
-
1
Star Wars 7 Cast Announced: Princess Leia now “Leia Solo” on IMDB

Star Wars 7 cast has been announced: Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher will reprise their classic roles along with the actors who played or voiced R2D2, C3PO, and Chewbacca. New to the cast will be Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow. Maybe Andy Serkis is Yoda.

Anyway, I told you quite a long time ago Ford, Fisher and Hamill would be back. Episode 7 takes place long after “Return of the Jedi,” so our three main characters will be appropriately aged. Keep refreshing for more news…

Princess Leia now listed on IMDB as “Leia Solo.” Just FYI. I guess the marriage lasted.

Warren Beatty Starts Shooting His First Feature Film Since 2001

Roger Friedman
-
13
Warren Beatty Starts Shooting His First Feature Film Since 2001

Warren Beatty’s Howard Hughes movie starts shooting today.It’s his first feature film since “Town & Country” in 2001 (really made and remade for the two years prior.)

How do we know? Alec Baldwin has Tweeted that he’s starting with Beatty today.

 

I told you several weeks ago that Beatty had gone into pre-production and was ready to begin. I also told you exclusively that Candice Bergen would play Hughes’s secretary.
http://www.showbiz411.com/2014/02/12/warren-beattys-untitled-howard-hughes-film-moving-forward-at-last
Other members of the cast include Annette Bening (Mrs Beatty). Matthew Broderick, Lily Collins, Brooklyn Decker, and Martin Sheen. Baldwin had not been previously been mentioned as a cast member.

click here for today’s headlines on Showbiz411.com

NBA Clippers Press Conference: Sterling Banned for Life, Recording Made by Sterling, “Hateful Opinions” Are His, “Deeply Offensive”

Roger Friedman
-
1
NBA Clippers Press Conference: Sterling Banned for Life, Recording Made by Sterling, “Hateful Opinions” Are His, “Deeply Offensive”

Donald Sterling has been banned entirely from the NBA and ordered to sell the LA Clippers by Adam Silver, NBA Commissioner. He’s also being fined $2.5 million, the maximum amount allowed. The  money will be donated to charity. Sterling is banned from everything– attending, owning, thinking about the Clippers or the NBA.

In a press conference happening now, Silver expressed his outrage and disgust over the Sterling tapes. He said the NBA had determined it is Sterling on the tapes with his girlfriend. If Sterling doesn’t sell the Clippers, the NBA could force him to do it or kick the Clippers out of the NBA. Silver says an NBA committee will form and move forward immediately.

Sterling did admit to Silver that it was his voice on the tapes, but didn’t express any other sentiment– including remorse.

 

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones Make a Low Key Appearance at Rob Reiner Tribute

Roger Friedman
-
0
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones Make a Low Key Appearance at Rob Reiner Tribute

Director-actor Rob Reiner wasn’t quite sure why the Film Society of Lincoln Center gave him the Chaplin Award at their annual gala last night. He told a high school reporter on the red carpet: Maybe it’s a typo,” a punch line he riffed on later, on stage when accepting the award.

Martin Scorsese, Michael Douglas, James Caan, Michael McKean, Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, and a few others came and paid their respects, introduced some clips, but were kind of stiff at a 90 minute presentation. Rob’s legendary dad, Carl Reiner, and Tom Cruise, who looked older than Carl Reiner, sent video messages.

Missing from the event were people who might have livened it up, like Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer. Whoever put the show together didn’t seem to get that “This is Spinal Tap” launched the world of mock-u-mentaries.

But making a rare public appearance, and looking happy but low key, were Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones. Catherine looked lovely, and was very approachable. This is the celebrity couple everyone roots for.

Reiner has a spectacular list of films from 1982 to 1994– “This Spinal Tap,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “Stand by Me,” “The Princess Bride,” “A Few Good Men,” “Misery,” and “The American President” are movies all directors would give their eye teeth for on an imdb list.

But after the 1996 “Ghosts of Mississippi” went way off track, Reiner did, too. “North” had already shown the situation was tenuous. Then  “The Story of Us,” “Alex and Emma,” the grossly sentimental  “Bucket List”, something called “Flipped” and a Morgan Freeman movie no one knows, “Rumor Has It” and a documentary about Prop 8 constitute the last two decades.

A clip was shown from his upcoming “And So It Goes” with Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton that looks like a remake of “Something’s Gotta Give.” (Also, it’s the first time I can recall a Castle Rock film not distributed by Warner Bros. Something called Clarius Entertainment has it.)

Last night’s show was heavily scripted, but some of the speakers brought a little life to the room. Michael Douglas is always in good form. It was fun to see Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan together again after 25 years. “You wanted a sequel to “When Harry Met Sally”? he said. “This is it.” Cute.

Scorsese noted that Reiner was playing a send up of him as the documentary director in “Spinal Tap.” Apparently, the parody was of “The Last Waltz.” Even though I was around for all those movies, I’d forgotten that. It made for a funny bit.

Reiner riffed a little bit, and was sardonically amusing. But he had no real prepared speech. It’s interesting: his movies, with the exception of “Spinal Tap,” are not at all in the same realm of humor as his dad or Mel Brooks, his obvious idols. I wish he’d said something about what draws him to material, or what mattered most in the making of the seven or eight really really good films.

Reiner did joke about Scorsese casting him as Leonardo DiCaprio’s father in “Wolf of Wall Street.” He said, “I wondered which was more preposterous: Leonard DiCaprio being Jewish, or me looking like him. I thought, I must be better looking than I am!”

A dinner followed in the upstairs lobby of Avery Fisher Hall.

Tony Nominations 2014: After Midnight, Aladdin, Beautiful, Gentleman’s Guide– Movie Stars Snubbed

Roger Friedman
-
1
Tony Nominations 2014: After Midnight, Aladdin, Beautiful, Gentleman’s Guide– Movie Stars Snubbed

The Tony nominations are out. And putting “Lady Day” in the play category didn’t help it at all. The move simply put Audra McDonald in Best Actress in a Play, rather than a musical. But the show lost out completely. So did most of the Hollywood stars on Broadway, from Denzel Washington to James Franco, Michelle Williams and Daniel Radcliffe. A nice surprise through is Chris O’Dowd nominated for “Of Mice and Men” as Best Actor and LaTanya Richardson as Best Actress in “A Raisin in the Sun.”

Similarly, Idina Menzel was nominated in “If/Then” but the show was largely ignored. Woody Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway” received 6 nominations but not Best Musical.

No nominations for “The Bridges of Madison County” other than Kelli O’Hara means that show will close quickly. The weak box office can’t be saved. “If/Then” producers will have to keep Idina Menzel there because when she leaves, that show closes too.

But the noms are a boon to “Rocky” certainly, and to “Bullets,” each of which can tout their total numbers if not Best Musical.

“A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” got 10 nominations. It will win Best Musical.

The Tony Award “seers” on all the websites got most everything wrong, missed key elements and didn’t understand what was going on. I know it’s a game, but it’s a lot of wasted blathering isn’t it?

Best Play

 Act One

Author:  James Lapine

Producers:  Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Adam Siegel, Hattie K. Jutagir

All The Way

Author:  Robert Schenkkan

Producers:  Jeffrey Richards, Louise Gund, Jerry Frankel, Stephanie P. McClelland, Double Gemini Productions, Rebecca Gold, Scott M. Delman, Barbara H. Freitag, Harvey Weinstein, Gene Korf, William Berlind, Caiola Productions, Gutterman Chernoff, Jam Theatricals, Gabrielle Palitz, Cheryl Wiesenfeld, Will Trice, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival,

American Repertory Theater

Casa Valentina

Author:  Harvey Fierstein

Producers:  Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Barry Grove, Colin Callender, Robert Cole, Frederick Zollo, The Shubert Organization

Mothers and Sons

Author:  Terrence McNally

Producers:  Tom Kirdahy, Roy Furman, Paula Wagner & Debbie Bisno, Barbara Freitag & Loraine Alterman Boyle, Hunter Arnold, Paul Boskind, Ken Davenport, Lams Productions, Mark Lee & Ed Filipowski, Roberta Pereira/Brunish-Trinchero, Sanford Robertson, Tom Smedes & Peter Stern, Jack Thomas/Susan Dietz

Outside Mullingar

Author:  John Patrick Shanley

Producers:  Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Barry Grove

Best Musical

After Midnight

Producers:  Scott Sanders Productions, Wynton Marsalis, Roy Furman, Candy Spelling, Starry Night Entertainment, Hal Newman, Allan S. Gordon/Adam S. Gordon, James L. Nederlander, Robert K. Kraft, Catherine and Fred Adler, Robert Appel, Jeffrey Bolton, Scott M. Delman, James Fantaci, Ted Liebowitz, Stephanie P. McClelland, Sandy Block, Carol Fineman, Marks-Moore-Turnbull Group, Stephen & Ruth Hendel, Tom Kirdahy

Aladdin

Producers:  Disney Theatrical Productions, Thomas Schumacher

Beautiful – The Carole King Musical

Producers:  Paul Blake, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Jeffrey A. Sine, Richard A. Smith, Mike Bosner, Harriet N. Leve/Elaine Krauss, Terry Schnuck, Orin Wolf, Patty Baker/Good Productions, Roger Faxon, Larry Magid, Kit Seidel, Lawrence S. Toppall, Fakston Productions/Mary Solomon, William Court Cohen, John Gore, BarLor Productions, Matthew C. Blank, Tim Hogue, Joel Hyatt, Marianne Mills, Michael J. Moritz, Jr., StylesFour Productions, Brunish & Trinchero, Jeremiah J. Harris

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder

Producers:  Joey Parnes, S.D. Wagner, John Johnson, 50 Church Street Productions, Joan Raffe & Jhett Tolentino, Jay Alix & Una Jackman, Catherine & Fred Adler, Rhoda Herrick, Kathleen K. Johnson, Megan Savage, ShadowCatcher Entertainment, Ron Simons, True Love Productions, Jamie deRoy, Four Ladies & One Gent, John Arthur Pinckard, Greg Nobile, Stewart Lane & Bonnie Comley, Exeter Capital/Ted Snowdon, Ryan Hugh Mackey, Cricket-CTM Media/Mano-Horn Productions, Dennis Grimaldi/Margot Astrachan, Hello Entertainment/Jamie Bendell, Michael T. Cohen/Joe Sirola, Joseph & Carson Gleberman/William Megevick, Green State Productions, The Hartford Stage, The Old Globe

Best Revival of a Play

The Cripple of Inishmaan

Producers:  Michael Grandage Company, Arielle Tepper Madover, L.T.D. Productions, Stacey Mindich, Starry Night Entertainment, Scott M. Delman, Martin McCallum, Stephanie P. McClelland, Zeilinger Productions, The Shubert Organization

The Glass Menagerie

Producers:  Jeffrey Richards, John N. Hart Jr.,  Jerry Frankel, Lou Spisto/Lucky VIII, INFINITY Stages, Scott M. Delman, Jam Theatricals, Mauro Taylor, Rebecca Gold, Michael Palitz, Charles E. Stone, Will Trice, GFour Productions, American Repertory Theater

 

A Raisin in the Sun

Producers:  Scott Rudin, Roger Berlind, Eli Bush, Jon B. Platt, Scott M. Delman, Roy Furman, Stephanie P. McClelland, Ruth Hendel, Sonia Friedman/Tulchin Bartner, The Araca Group, Heni Koenigsberg, Daryl Roth, Joan Raffe & Jhett Tolentino, Joey Parnes, S.D. Wagner, John Johnson

Twelfth Night

Producers:  Sonia Friedman Productions, Scott Landis, Roger Berlind, Glass Half Full Productions/Just for Laughs Theatricals, 1001 Nights Productions, Tulchin Bartner Productions, Jane Bergère, Paula Marie Black, Rupert Gavin, Stephanie P. McClelland, Shakespeare’s Globe Centre USA, Max Cooper, Tanya Link Productions, Shakespeare Road, Shakespeare’s Globe

 

Best Revival of a Musical

 

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Producers:  David Binder, Jayne Baron Sherman, Barbara Whitman, Latitude Link, Patrick Catullo, Raise the Roof, Paula Marie Black, Colin Callender, Ruth Hendel, Sharon Karmazin, Martian Entertainment, Stacey Mindich, Eric Schnall, The Shubert Organization

Les Misérables

Producer:  Cameron Mackintosh

 

Violet

Producers:  Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Harold Wolpert, Julia C. Levy, Sydney Beers, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, David Mirvish, Barry and Fran Weissler, Elizabeth Armstrong, Mary Jo and Ted Shen

Best Book of a Musical

Aladdin

Chad Beguelin

Beautiful – The Carole King Musical

Douglas McGrath

Bullets Over Broadway

Woody Allen

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder

Robert L. Freedman

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

Aladdin

Music: Alan Menken
Lyrics: Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin

The Bridges of Madison County

Music & Lyrics: Jason Robert Brown

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder

Music: Steven Lutvak
Lyrics: Robert L. Freedman & Steven Lutvak

If/Then

Music: Tom Kitt
Lyrics: Brian Yorkey

 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

Samuel Barnett, Twelfth Night
Bryan Cranston, All The Way
Chris O’Dowd, Of Mice and Men
Mark Rylance, Richard III
Tony Shalhoub, Act One


Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

Tyne Daly, Mothers and Sons
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, A Raisin in the Sun
Cherry Jones, The Glass Menagerie
Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill
Estelle Parsons, The Velocity of Autumn


Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Ramin Karimloo, Les Misérables
Andy Karl, Rocky
Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder


Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

Mary Bridget Davies, A Night with Janis Joplin
Sutton Foster, Violet
Idina Menzel, If/Then
Jessie Mueller, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Kelli O’Hara, The Bridges of Madison County


Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play

Reed Birney, Casa Valentina
Paul Chahidi, Twelfth Night
Stephen Fry, Twelfth Night
Mark Rylance, Twelfth Night
Brian J. Smith, The Glass Menagerie


Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play

Sarah Greene, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Celia Keenan-Bolger, The Glass Menagerie
Sophie Okonedo, A Raisin in the Sun
Anika Noni Rose, A Raisin in the Sun
Mare Winningham, Casa Valentina

 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

 

Danny Burstein, Cabaret
Nick Cordero, Bullets Over Broadway
Joshua Henry, Violet
James Monroe Iglehart, Aladdin
Jarrod Spector, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical


Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical

Linda Emond, Cabaret
Lena Hall, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Anika Larsen, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Adriane Lenox, After Midnight
Lauren Worsham, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder


Best Scenic Design of a Play

Beowulf Boritt, Act One
Bob Crowley, The Glass Menagerie
Es Devlin, Machinal
Christopher Oram, The Cripple of Inishmaan


Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Christopher Barreca, Rocky
Julian Crouch, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Alexander Dodge, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Santo Loquasto, Bullets Over Broadway


Best Costume Design of a Play

Jane Greenwood, Act One
Michael Krass, Machinal
Rita Ryack, Casa Valentina
Jenny Tiramani, Twelfth Night


Best Costume Design of a Musical

Linda Cho, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
William Ivey Long, Bullets Over Broadway
Arianne Phillips, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Isabel Toledo, After Midnight


Best Lighting Design of a Play

Paule Constable, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Jane Cox, Machinal
Natasha Katz, The Glass Menagerie
Japhy Weideman, Of Mice and Men


Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Kevin Adams, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Christopher Akerlind, Rocky
Howell Binkley, After Midnight
Donald Holder, The Bridges of Madison County


Best Sound Design of a Play

Alex Baranowski, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Steve Canyon Kennedy, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill
Dan Moses Schreier, Act One
Matt Tierney, Machinal


Best Sound Design of a Musical

Peter Hylenski, After Midnight
Tim O’Heir, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Mick Potter, Les Misérables
Brian Ronan, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical

 

Best Direction of a Play

Tim Carroll, Twelfth Night
Michael Grandage, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Kenny Leon, A Raisin in the Sun
John Tiffany, The Glass Menagerie


Best Direction of a Musical

Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Michael Mayer, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Leigh Silverman, Violet
Darko Tresnjak, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder


Best Choreography

Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Steven Hoggett & Kelly Devine, Rocky
Casey Nicholaw, Aladdin

Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway

 

Best Orchestrations

Doug Besterman, Bullets Over Broadway
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
Steve Sidwell, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Jonathan Tunick, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder

* * *

Recipients of Awards and Honors in Non-competitive Categories

 

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre

Jane Greenwood

Regional Theatre Award

Signature Theatre, New York, N.Y.

Isabelle Stevenson Award

Rosie O’Donnell

Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre

Joseph P. Benincasa

Joan Marcus

Charlotte Wilcox

* * *

Tony Nominations by Production

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder – 10

Hedwig and the Angry Inch – 8

After Midnight – 7

Beautiful – The Carole King Musical – 7

The Glass Menagerie – 7

Twelfth Night – 7

Bullets Over Broadway – 6

The Cripple of Inishmaan – 6

Act One – 5

Aladdin – 5

A Raisin in the Sun – 5

The Bridges of Madison County – 4

Casa Valentina – 4

Machinal – 4

Rocky – 4

Violet – 4

Les Misérables – 3

All The Way – 2

Cabaret – 2

If/Then – 2

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill – 2

Mothers and Sons – 2

Of Mice and Men – 2

A Night with Janis Joplin – 1

Outside Mullingar – 1

Richard III – 1

The Velocity of Autumn – 1

#TonyAwards
www.TonyAwards.com

 

Clippers Scandal: Sterling Donates Yearly to Black Charities, GF’s Name is Not “V Stiviano”

Roger Friedman
-
6
Clippers Scandal: Sterling Donates Yearly to Black Charities, GF’s Name is Not “V Stiviano”

UPDATE: This doesn’t excuse Donald Sterling from anything he’s done or said. But it’s interesting to note that he’s donated money annually to at least two black charities a year, sometimes three.

Also his girlfriend’s name is not “V. Stiviano.” No one’s name is “V. Stiviano” in the United States. In fact no one with the last name of Stiviano is any phone book. It seems like that’s a corporate name this woman took for a t shirt and cap company. Her real name is either Monica Gallegos or Maria Perez.

As for Sterling: in 2010, 2011, and 2012 at least, he donated $10,000 to both the Black Business Association and the United Negro College Fund. In 2011, at least, he donated $5,000 to the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP. Does that not make him a racist? I have no idea. But that’s what’s in the filings, for better or worse.

By the way, his wife Rochelle must have a full time legal staff. She’s constantly in L.A. Superior Court about something.

Exclusive: Clippers Owner Reneged on Tuition Payment at L.A. Catholic School– Made them Pay Him Back

Roger Friedman
-
1
Exclusive: Clippers Owner Reneged on Tuition Payment at L.A. Catholic School– Made them Pay Him Back

Donald Sterling, now the subject of much scorn, not only owns the L.A. Clippers and lots of real estate, but he also has a charitable foundation. According to the 2011-12 Form 990 for the Donald Sterling Foundation, Sterling reneged on a tuition to payment to St. Bernardine’s School in Woodland Hills for $10,000. According to the filing, “the disbursement was unintentionally made by the founder of the foundation.”  Sterling demanded his $10,000 returned, and the school sent it back.

Since Sterling isn’t Catholic, and his two living children are grown (a son committed suicide last year), it may be the child for whom the tuition was reneged had something to do with his mistress, V. Stiviano.

But who is this Stiviano? In public records all over the U.S. no such person exists. However, in a lawsuit filed against her on March 7th by Sterling’s wife Rochelle, Stiviano may actually be named Monica Gallegos. The lawsuit doesn’t mention the tuition or a child. But Rochelle Sterling does claim “Stiviano” is a gold digger who managed to get Rolls Royces and $1.8 million from Donald Sterling, as well as a condo.

Indeed “V.  Stiviano” is a corporate name for Maria Perez with many aliases. Here’s her Instagram page: http://www.enjoygram.com/vstiviano

The lawsuit was reported at the time by local CBS in Los Angeles and other outlets, but didn’t become national. It may have been the catalyst for TMZ suddenly releasing the now worldwide known tape of Sterling and “Stiviano” discussing his feelings about blacks in basketball and in life in general. The result is a firestorm. “Stivano” says she didn’t give TMZ the tapes, but history shows that a woman scorned on TMZ used to be called Mel Gibson’s baby mama. And she had loads of tapes.

It should be of interest that Sterling gave away $340K to various charities in 2011-12 including $10,000 to the United Negro College Fund and $10,000 to the Black Business Owners Association. This by no means excuses his alleged comments on the TMZ tape, but it’s a fact nonetheless. He made the same contributions in 2009-10, and 2010-11, as well as $5,000 to the Los Angeles NAACP.

The St. Bernardine’s tuition isn’t the first charity money Sterling has reneged on. In 2008 he pledged $50 million for homeless shelters in L.A. According to the L.A. Weekly, they’ve never been built. No record of such a shelter turns up in his foundation’s records.

Good read: http://www.laweekly.com/2009-01-01/news/donald-t-sterling-39-s-fake-homeless-center/

“Mad Men” Takes a Field Trip, Everyone Comes Home Feeling Bad

Roger Friedman
-
1
“Mad Men” Takes a Field Trip, Everyone Comes Home Feeling Bad

“Mad Men” season 7, episode 3, “Field Trip”: Betty agrees to go on Bobby’s field trip. It’s a disaster. Henry seems like he may be running out of patience with her. Don takes a field trip to L.A. to see Megan. It’s a disaster. Megan is reported by her agent to be acting strangely, but it’s April 1969. I remind you that Sharon Tate was killed later in the year. That’s not going to happen. But their marriage, which might be considered a field trip, is over.

When Betty asked Henry if she was a good mother, I could hear the answer from Boston to Miami. How many couches were fallen off of?

In the office: you did get the feeling that if the characters weren’t under contract, and had to somehow be written into the next episodes, they would have kicked Don out. Why Don agreed to their demands and stayed at Sterling Cooper is beyond me. Raise your hand if you think it won’t last.Why Don didn’t let them buy him out and just go to Wells, Rich, Greene, or anywhere else including California, is a mystery. So he’ll come back and win the place over?

Plus, Lou is the most despicable character ever to be on the show. You know things will end badly with him.

What’s with Peggy telling Don he wasn’t missed? What’s with Peggy anyway?

Cultural references: the Algonquin Hotel, which has some kind of deal with “Mad Men.” They’ve been advertising it in their lobby for weeks. Also, Joey Heatherton. “My Favorite Martian” was heard in the background on a TV. Jimi Hendrix played out the show with “If 6 Was 9.”

And here’s a a clip from the movie Don was watching on TV, “Model Shop” from 1969. Listen to that last line Gary Lockwood says in the trailer. Don could have said it to Megan.

Keira Knightley Won’t Sing More After “Begin Again,” Even If She has a Hit Single

Roger Friedman
-
0
Keira Knightley Won’t Sing More After “Begin Again,” Even If She has a Hit Single

I told you last September from Toronto about John Carney’s movie “Can a Song Save Your Life?” Carney, who wrote and directed the beloved “Once,” has made sort of a New York version that’s a total winner, a real gem that could be the surprise release of 2014. (This is also Adam Levine’s movie debut, and he’s very, very good.)

Harvey Weinstein bought it, and changed the title to “Begin Again,” (Apparently focus groups really didn’t like the original title, and no one could remember it except me.)

Last night, the whole group had to “Begin Again” to close Tribeca: Carney, Keira Knightley, Hallie Steinfeld, and Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine (also from “The Voice,” tabloids, and a clothing line). Absent, sadly, were Mark Ruffalo, who’s dead on as a down and out loser drunk of an A&R record company guy, Mos Def as his disapproving partner, and Catherine Keener as his ex wife.

“Begin Again,” which rolls out July 4th, will be the most charming movie of the year. When the film started, my actual first thought was, My old friends, I missed these people. How often can you say that about a movie? Plus, the songs by the New Radicals’ Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois (with a couple by Carney and one by “Once”‘s Glen Hansard) are all hits. Everyone one of them.

The story is about Ruffalo’s Dan, who hasn’t had a hit in years, drinks heavily, is in bad shape with his wife and daughter. He discovers unknown Gretta (Knightley) in a small club in New York playing one of her songs. She’s just left her boyfriend Dave Kohl (not Dave Grohl), who’s on the verge of becoming a rock star. Gretta wants to go home to the UK, but Dan convinces her to stay and record an album al fresco, in the streets of New York. The city has never looked better or more romantic. And while Dan and Gretta make their album outside, Carney makes his movie the same way.

And guess what? The beautiful, funny Keira Knightley, who has her breakthrough American movie at last, sings the songs Adam Levine doesn’t. In fact, it’s a weird twist: Knightley the actress sings, Levine the singer acts. For real.

Has Keira sung since the movie? “No!” she replied with a big smile when I caught up with her at the Tribeca Film Festival’s smashing closing dinner at the Tribeca Grill, sponsored by Chanel. “It was torture, and they were so nice about it. But never again!” No album coming? Sounds like Anna Kendrick after her “Cups” was a big hit from the “Pitch Perfect” soundtrack. “I’ve never met her,” Keira said, “Now we have something in common, definitely!”

Don’t be surprised if there’s a lot of awards action on “Begin Again” later in the fall. More on this terrific movie in June as the fun begins…

PS We’re waiting for a clip of Keira singing. Meantime, here’s a great one of the New Radicals’ classic 1998 hit. I’m a big fan of theirs, and I just realized why– they remind me a little of Todd Rundgren. Anyway, Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois are going to have a hot year:

 

Tribeca: Grace Kaufman, 11, Is the New Dakota Fanning in “Sister”

Roger Friedman
-
1
Tribeca: Grace Kaufman, 11, Is the New Dakota Fanning in “Sister”

You’d be hard pressed to find as engaging a kid as Grace Kaufman in David Lascher’s “Sister.” She’s the kind of little knockout that Dakota and Elle Fanning, Abigail Breslin, and Shirley Temple were in their day. When “Sister” played at the Tribeca Film Festival on Friday night, it was Kaufman who busy stealing the spotlight from “Veep” star Reid Scott and the always exceptional Barbara Hershey.

David Lascher co-wrote (with Todd Camhe) and directed this first feature about a mildly successful actor, 30ish, in L.A. who suddenly has to care for a child (Kaufman) his parents adopted late in life. The story is a little autobiographical. Lascher, 40, appeared in a lot of teen TV series like “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” and “Hey Dude” in the mid 90s. He knows the layout of the land pretty well, which makes the inside Hollywood stuff all too real. His “Sabrina” co-star,  Caroline Rhea, the comedian, showed up to lend support on Friday night.

You’d think “Sister” would be formulaic, but it rises above the usual with some complications: Scott, who plays the sarcastically venal wannabe campaign manager Dan on “Veep” so well brings a real edge to the Peter Pan-ish Billy. He has almost no use for his widowed, manic depressive mother (Hershey, in a really nice turn). She wasn’t much of a mother to him and she hasn’t been so good for the late in life adopted child.

There’s nothing wrong with what is called, sometimes disparagingly, a “Lifetime movie,” if it’s surprisingly good. Is there such a thing as an “indie Lifetime” movie? Yes. “Sister” is certainly that, which means I could see it on IFC or Sundance, and on video on demand. Scott jumps out of “Veep” a notch with “Sister” and Kaufman should be working around the clock once casting directors see her.

 

 

1...1,7471,7481,749...2,322Page 1,748 of 2,322

Hollywood to the Hudson

Company

Trending

Categories

© Showbiz411.com