The new trailer for Martin Scorsese’s “Wolf of Wall Street” looks pretty good, and that’s an understatement. Leonardo DiCaprio narrates in a very Henry Hill-“Goodfellas” meets “Wall Street” way. Jonah Hill and Matthew McConnaughey are also tantalizing. Is “Wolf” an Oscar spoiler? May be. PS The white beach house looks like Sean Combs’s sort of reverse. Take a look:
Oscar Winner Mary Steenburgen: How She Became a Hit Singer, Songwriter Overnight
Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen (Best Supporting Actress, 1981, for “Melvin and Howard”) is pretty well known for doing drama and light comedy. She’s 60, she’s married to Ted Danson, she’s worked for about 40 years in movies and I still have a crush on her from “Ragtime.”
And here’s something no one knew: She’s recently signed a contract with Universal Music Publishing as a songwriter. She has 46 songwriting credits already registered with ASCAP.
But until last year, no one knew she could sing or write songs. Not even Mary herself knew it. She sings like a bird in “Last Vegas,” even one of her own songs, as she’s busy stealing the movie from four other Oscar winners: Michael Douglas, Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Kline. Not easy to do.
Turns out, Mary says, she’s had a phenomenon. She didn’t even realize that “Last Vegas” director Jon Turtletaub directed John Travolta in a great movie called “Phenomenon” much along the same lines. I reminded her about it last night at the 21 Club dinner for “Last Vegas,” a home run of a studio comedy– very funny, smart, likeable, and a real romp.
In 2007 she had surgery on her forearm. She was under anesthesia. Soon after, music started playing in her head day and night. “I couldn’t turn it off,” she said. She took music lessons. “I figured I’d better do something.” She likened it to what Dr. Oliver Sacks described in a recent book as “Musicophilia.” It just came pouring out of her.
This explains why Steenburgen and Danson moved to Nashville. She’s been writing and recording songs for the last five years. Her guests last night at the premiere included Oscar nominated hit songwriter Troy Verges, with whom she’s been collaborating on new material.
In “Last Vegas,” she’s the only woman, really, in a movie that might be called a “Hangover” for the older set. But it’s a really a hilarious film about friendship. Director Turtletaub has done a wonderful job. And the screenplay — while contemporarily smutty– is smart. The characters like each other, the audience likes them.
At last night’s premiere: all of the cast except for Kline, who’s shooting a movie. DeNiro with wife Grace, Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, the latter coming off a terrific career year with this film and “Beyond the Candelabra” for HBO. The director of that film, Steven Soderbergh, put in an appearance, and I had a long talk with Douglas’s college roommate from UC Santa Barbara, now an art teacher at Brooklyn College. They are still great pals after 50 years, just like the guys in “Last Vegas.” Nice.
Frank Sinatra Leaves Reprise Records, Which He Started, After 53 Years
Fifty three years after he left Capitol EMI to start Reprise Records, Frank Sinatra is coming home. Capitol EMI is now part of powerhouse Universal Music Group. And UMG has offered Frank’s heirs– Frank Sinatra Enterprises– a bundle to leave Reprise and all that history. This will unite Sinatra’s two main catalogs under one roof. UMG will start a Sinatra Signature series.
Warner Music Group, which owns Reprise, is a big loser in this deal. They’ve always relied on the Sinatra catalog. But Warner Music was hobbled under Edgar Bronfman and Lyor Cohen. With very few resources left, they simply couldn’t expect the Sinatra family to stick around. Now Frank joins the Beatles, Katy Perry, and the massive UMG enterprise.
Sinatra — who is not the father of Ronan Farrow– started Reprise in 1960 to give himself and other artists more freedom of expression. In the 1970s Neil Young became a force at Reprise and the label had lots of hits including T. Rex’s “Bang a Gong.” During the 90s Reprise foundered, and under the Bronfman-Cohen regime it died.
Does Sinatra still sell? The answer is that Sinatra, like the Beatles, is forever. A new issuing of box sets and other material will refresh sales quickly. There’s supposedly a remastered Sinatra Duets album coming soon.
What’s in Your Wallet? Alec Baldwin Has Given Away Almost $3Mil so Far this Year
What’s in Alex Baldwin’s wallet? Not the money he’s made from Capital One commercials. Baldwin has donated all of the proceeds to charity. He can be contentious, belligerent, pugnacious, and hard to take, but at least his (liberal) heart is in right place. Baldwin has posted a list of his 2013 donations to Facebook. He’s very loyal to the arts, and to his community in the Hamptons. He also does an excellent imitation of Tony Bennett. And he even paid for a pair of tickets to “Orphans,” the Broadway play he was in last spring. I don’t know if that’s a write off. But the rest of it is quite magnanimous.
01/08/13: Lincoln Center Theater – $5,000.00
01/08/13: Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation – $5,000.00
01/08/13: Southampton Cultural Center – $1,000.00
01/08/13: Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives – $500.00
01/08/13: KPCC Southern California Public Radio – $2,500.00
01/10/13: Guild Hall – $5,000.00
01/15/13: The Drama League – $650.00
01/17/13: NBC Studios (Autographed Wall) = $2,581.00
01/31/13: SAG Foundation – $100,000.00
02/01/13: Screen Actors Guild – $4,500.00
02/13/13: Arthur Ashe Learning Center – $50,000.00
02/13/13: GMHC – $2,500.00
02/13/13: The Writer’s Almanac – $500.00
02/19/13: Stony Brook Foundation – $2,500.00
02/21/13: Police Athletic League – $1,000.00
02/27/13: PAWS – $50,000.00
02/27/13: New York Public Radio – $25,000.00
03/04/13: Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, Inc. – $1,000.00
03/11/13: St. Monica Catholic Community – $10,250.00
03/12/13: Roundabout Theatre Company – $500,000.00
03/12/13: Roundabout Theatre Company – $25,000.00
03/12/13: New Dramatists Inc. – $2,000.00
03/15/13: WSHU Public Radio – $10,000.00
03/27/13: Leadership Rhode Island – $2,500.00
03/29/13: New York Philharmonic – $11,209.50
04/09/13: Roundabout Theatre Company – $50,000.00
04/10/13: Group For The East End – $5,000.00
04/11/13: PEN American Center – $2,500.00
04/12/13: The Hole In The Wall Gang Camp – $5,000.00
04/18/13: generationOn – $1,000.00
04/18/13: The Drama League – $1,700.00
04/18/13: Theatre World Awards, Inc. – $1,000.00
04/18/13: Central Park Conservancy – $2,500.00
04/22/13: Orphans Broadway Co., LLC – $264.00
04/22/13: Schoenfeld Theatre – $518.00
04/29/13: Canine Companions for Independence – $5,000.00
05/01/13: Death Penalty Focus – $2,500.00
05/09/13: The Metropolitan Museum of Art – $10,000.00
05/09/13: Maysles Documentary Center – $1,000.00
05/09/13: New York Public Radio – $75,000.00
05/16/13: Schoenfeld Theatre – $234.00
05/16/13: West 90th Street Park Block Association – $500.00
05/16/13: Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Inc. – $2,500.00
05/17/13: Group For The East End – $5,000.00
05/17/13: New York Philharmonic – $10,000.00
05/23/13: East Hampton Day Care Center – $2,500.00
05/23/13: Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS – $2,500.00
05/23/13: Southern Poverty Law Center – $2,500.00
05/23/13: Century Association Archives Foundation – $1,000.00
05/23/13: The Fresh Air Fund – $1,000.00
05/28/13: Two River Theater Company – $2,500.00
06/03/13: Long Island Pine Barrens Society – $5,000.00
06/03/13: Amagansett Village Improvement Society, Inc. – $1,000.00
06/03/13: Stony Brook Foundation – $2,500.00
06/10/13: Group For The East End – $5,000.00
06/11/13: WNET – $10,000.00
06/11/13: The Springs Improvement Society – $60,000.00
06/15/13: Singers Forum Foundation – $1,000.00
06/15/13: New York Innovative Theatre Foundation – $2,500.00
06/19/13: RPHP – $10,000.00
06/19/13: Group For The East End – $10,000.00
06/19/13: Group For The East End – $5,050.00
06/26/13: Guild Hall – $117,000.00
06/26/13: Guild Hall – $25,000.00
07/02/13: The Perlman Music Program – $5,000.00
07/02/13: PCRM – $5,000.00
07/02/13: WCPE Radio – $1,000.00
07/10/13: East Hampton Historical Society – $500.00
07/10/13: East Hampton Library – $5,000.00
07/10/13: Guild Hall of East Hampton – $1,000.00
07/10/13: Hamptons International Film Festival – $1,200.00
07/10/13: Young Chicago Authors – $1,000.00
07/10/13: Amagansett Fire Department – $1,000.00
07/10/13: East Hampton Library – $20,000.00
07/16/13: New York Philharmonic – $500,000.00
07/16/13: Roundabout Theatre Company – $500,000.00
07/16/13: Coalition For The Homeless – $100,000.00
07/17/13: Hayground School – $2,000.00
07/18/13: Peconic Baykeeper – $2,500.00
07/18/13: East Hampton Town PBA – $2,500.00
07/18/13: Island Institute – $1,000.00
07/18/13: East End Hospice – $1,000.00
07/18/13: Avon Walk For Breast Cancer – $500.00
07/24/13: Hayground School – $3,000.00
07/24/13: Rosie’s Theater Kids – $10,000.00
07/29/13: Hampton Lifeguard Association – $1,000.00
07/29/13: Guild Hall of East Hampton – $2,500.00
07/29/13: Hamptons International Film Festival – $2,500.00
07/29/13: Baby Buggy – $10,000.00
07/29/13: New York Philharmonic – $50,000.00
07/29/13: Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund – $2,500.00
08/07/13: Peconic Land Trust – $5,000.00
08/12/13: East Hampton Library – $300.00
08/13/13: Amagansett Village Improvement Society, Inc. – $1,250.00
08/13/13: The Hole In The Wall Gang Camp – $100,000.00
08/15/13: Brennan Center For Jusitce – $5,000.00
08/15/13: Workers Defense Project, Inc. – $10,000.00
08/15/13: USTA Services – $5,000.00
08/15/13: NYU Tisch School of the Arts – $50,000.00
08/22/13: Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons – $2,500.00
08/22/13: NOFA – NY – $1,000.00
08/28/13: NRDC – $1,000.00
08/30/13: The Hamilton Partnership for Paterson – $2,500.00
08/30/13: Atlee High School – $500.00
08/30/13: Two River Theater Company – $5,000.00
09/03/13: Hamptons International Film Festival – $10,000.00
09/09/13: Fractured Atlas – $10,000.00
09/09/13: People for the American Way – $25,000.00
09/10/13: Arthur Ashe Learning Center – $10,000.00
09/19/13: Elton John AIDS Foundation – $10,000.00
09/19/13: Young Concert Artists, Inc. – $1,000.00
09/19/13: Bay Street Theatre – $15,000.00
09/19/13: Freer & Sackler Gallery – $50,000.00
09/19/13: The Harlem School of the Arts – $2,500.00
09/19/13: First Presbyterian Church of Amagansett – $1,000.00
09/19/13: The Doe Fund – $2,500.00
09/19/13: WCPE Radio – $500.00
09/19/13: Exploring The Arts – $10,000.00
ABF YTD Total Giving as of 9/30/13 = $2,835,706.50
“Entourage” The Movie Is a Go: And Here’s the Original Story
Gosh– to think I broke the news about an “Entourage” movie waaay back on December 3, 2009! And now finally the deals are done, and the big screen version of HBO’s popular comedy will be made starting this January. Let’s hope it’s supercharged and a lot of fun, and not incredibly misogynist or a big part of the audience will not show up. At least, unlike “Sex and the City,” there won’t be over the top consumerism.
Here’s the original link:
http://www.showbiz411.com/2009/12/03/20091203wahlberg-entourage-lovely-bones
Nicole Kidman on Tom Cruise vs Husband Keith Urban: “I’ve Met My Great Love Now”
Nicole Kidman is on the cover of Vanity Fair and gives them a great interview. The big pull quote: “And you know, with no disrespect to what I had with Tom, I’ve met my great love now. And I really did not know if that was going to happen. I wanted it, but I didn’t want it for a while, because I didn’t want to jump from one relationship to another. I had a lot of time alone, which was really, really good, because I was a child, really, when I got married. And I needed to grow up.”
No disrespect, but that’s Nicole: honest and forthright. Good for her. She and Keith Urban seem like an exceptionally happy couple to me, proud parents of two beautiful little girls. Urban is one of the good guys, as normal as a rock star can be, and incredibly talented. She tells writer Sam Kashner: “My husband and I are in uncharted territory because we’re trying to find artistic expression but also we’re incredibly connected as a family—we’re very, very tight, very, very close, and I have a very, very primal protection of my family.”
The Vanity Fair interview was timed to the release of “Grace of Monaco.” The movie has since been moved to 2014. These things happen. But frankly, Nicole for any reason is welcome!
Apple Invades New Holocaust Film with Jarring iMac Product Placement
It’s a bit of a shock, but probably not so much to regular movie goers. Toward the end of Brian Percival’s adaptation of “The Book Thief,” there’s a jarring image. The camera sweeps over a group of framed family photos on a piano with vistas of Central Park West just beyond. The pictures are of people we’ve seen in the long period piece of a movie: the main character, her family, Holocaust survivors and victims.
And there, among the misty memories, is a sleek new iMac computer.
The black and silver of the computer, with the Apple logo, shine in the gauzy afternoon sun as the audience is asked to recall, sentimentally, all these people who suffered horrors at the hands of the Nazis.
Yes, I do believe it’s a 17″ inch screen. I didn’t get a chance to check the model and serial numbers. But I was thinking, as “The Book Thief” came to an end, I am ready for an upgrade.
Wipe away those tears. Apple has turned “The Book Thief” into iHolocaust.
The meaning of this is clear: Apple has paid a handsome amount for a prominent product placement. “The Book Thief” runs at least two hours, and for most of that time it takes place in Germany from 1940 to 1945. Based on the bestselling novel, it tells the implausible story of how a 12 girl survives the deaths of everyone around her.
In the last few minutes–this isn’t a spoiler since 10 million people have read the book–we learn that she became a great writer with a magnificent Fifth Avenue apartment. And placed prominently in that apartment is one well known high tech piece of equipment: an Apple computer.
Lots of movies have product placements. They are obvious. Papa John’s pizza, regularly sneaked into movies, is all over Ben Stiller’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” Apple and Dell are frequently seen logos on laptops that turn up in TV series and movies. But they’re usually in context of someone using a laptop. In certain kinds of projects, the product placement is begrudgingly accepted. In so-called serious movies, however, this is a no no.
In the case of “The Book Thief,” there is no context. The black and silver Apple logo is just dropped in. The iMac is like a spaceship among lavender and lace. Did I mention that the owner of this iMac was 90 years old? A manual Underwood typewriter might have been more believable as a prop. Or some lovely pens.
I rather doubt director Percival was trying to convey the message that a new iMac is the reward for surviving the Holocaust. But the crassness just explodes, especially at the end of a movie that requires total suspension of disbelief in order to buy the story.
I was just thinking, How would they have handled this in “The Reader”? Could Ralph Fiennes’s son have recounted the trial of Kate Winslet while showing pictures on his iPhone? Maybe in a revised “Schindler’s List” Oskar Schindler’s grandson could have listened to interviews with survivors on an iTouch. Even better: in “12 Years a Slave” Solomon Northrup’s great great daughter could have done research about his experiences on the iPad mini. Or better yet, asked Siri for advice.
Producer: John Belushi Movie with Emile Hirsch Will Be Actor’s “Raging Bull”
Yes, a new movie about John Belushi is coming. It is not a remake of “Wired” which starred a young Michael Chiklis as a bloated out of control, beer can smashing in the head drug addict. Rather, “Belushi,” written and directed by Steve Conrad, is meant to be more like “Lenny.”
So who will play Belushi? Jonah Hill? Someone thought of as having girth? No. Producer Bonnie Timmerman, who’s always associated with quality projects, is very high on actor Emile Hirsch playing Belushi. I was surprised. Hirsch is slight and short, not nearly measuring up to Belushi’s heft and pudginess. But Timmerman, who is also a top tier casting director, assured me: “This will be his Raging Bull. He will gain some weight. But we’re going for the look someone obese. This is a different kind of Belushi movie, about his genius.”
Dan Aykroyd is signing on as an executive producer, as is Belushi’s widow, Judy Pisano. The movie is based on Pisano’s 2005 memoir. Once Hirsch’s deal is closed (it’s not quite done yet, there’s no contract, but it’s almost there), producers will look for a young Aykroyd and a young Pisano. It’s unclear how many of the original Not for Prime Time Players will be depicted, or Lorne Michaels, for that matter.
PS Here’s a scary thought: John Belushi– who died in 1982 at age 33– would be 64 if he were alive.
Michael Jackson: Joe Jackson Documentary in Limbo “Distributors Despised Him”
As Conrad Murray is released from jail today, we thought we’d catch up and find out what ever happened to the memoir and documentary about Joseph Jackson, Michael’s father. There were several announcements in the past about the two projects, called “The Architect,” which were going to explain how the elder Jackson wrought what he did.
According to a former producer on the documentary, George Paige, the documentary is now called “Making Michael.” Paige got out of the project a while ago, he told me, when it became clear that no distributor wanted it. “It’s all told from Joe Jackson’s perspective, and no one was interested. The distributors despised him [when they saw the film].”
Paige says the filmmakers needed $750,000 to finish the film and there was no way to come up with it. “It went back to the original investors, whoever they were.”
The guiding light behind the film, Johnny West, says “Making Michael” will be released “sometime after the first of the year.” He says has a distributor, but doesn’t want to announce who they are yet. West also told me there might be interest from the South by Southwest Film Festival.
In the doc, Paige recalled, Jackson senior reiterated that he and his family felt there was a “conspiracy” to kill Michael. Other than that, “it’s a clip job,” said. West confirmed that none of Michael Jackson’s music is in the film.
Neither of them knew anything about the status of the book called “The Architect,” announced two years ago with Atria/Simon & Schuster. The book isn’t listed anywhere. The editor from Atria has not returned calls. We’ll wait for an update.
Lou Reed At 1986 Amnesty International Concert: Only Wanted to Meet Jimmy Breslin (Exclusive Video)
Martin Lewis has sent this video of Lou Reed, from 1986 at Giants Stadium “Conspiracy of Hope” concert for Amnesty International. Martin says that he was introduced to Lou, the only person the the rocker wanted to meet was New York Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin. “Everyone else wanted to cozy up to the movie stars. Lou was only interested in meeting Jimmy!”
Also: Ann Burroughs, chair of the Board of Directors, Amnesty International USA, made the following comments today about the death of artist Lou Reed:
“With the sad passing of Lou Reed, the human rights movement has lost a powerful voice for humanity and a strong ally in the defense of freedom and justice. Just as he inspired generations of rock fans with his indelible songs, he was also a passionate proponent for our cause. At his core, he bridled against repression in all its forms and he inspired others to speak up to protect human rights. One of his many admirers was the late Czech President and human rights activist Vaclav Havel, who famously smuggled a Velvet Underground album out of New York in the late 1960s. The two men later became friends. In 1986, Lou Reed joined with other leading musicians for the first of Amnesty International’s “Human Rights Concerts” series – performing at all six concerts on the “A Conspiracy Of Hope” U.S. tour. Recently, he very generously supported the release of his historic performances as part of Amnesty’s DVD box-set of those concerts. We send our deep condolences to his loved ones. He will be greatly missed by the human rights movement that he so strongly and eloquently supported.”