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“Captain Phillips” Scores a Solid Number 2 this Weekend with $25 Million

Leah Sydney
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“Captain Phillips” Scores a Solid Number 2 this Weekend with $25 Million

Tom Hanks as “Captain Phillips” is a hit. The Paul Greengrass thriller will finish at number 2 this weekend with around $25 million. Oscar noms are forthcoming. Our LEAH SYDNEY loved it. Here’s her glowing review:

Sony’s “Captain Phillip” is heart throbbing, heart pounding and heart stopping from beginning to end.  Director Paul Greengrass, (‘United 93,’) is true to his genius kinetic filmmaking.  We all know the story by now:  Tom Hanks stars as Richard Phillips, the Captain of an American cargo ship, who was taken hostage for five days in the isolated waters of Somalia.

No one does thrilling better than Greengrass, he could film the yellow pages and make it exciting, and the movie is expertly engrossing from beginning to end.  And no one does ordinary man faced with extraordinary challenges better than Hanks.  The scene where he is rescued and being examined by an army medic, so not a spoiler we all how it ends, will be etched in moviegoers’ memories forever. His delayed reaction of what he just endured is acting gold and the impact is shattering.

Kudos to noted casting director Francine Maisler for finding the unknown actors who play the Somali pirates, Barkhad Abdi and Faysal Ahmed; they are just terrific.  The intense, tight screenplay by Billy Ray is just right. And the score by Henry Jackman keeps you riveted as well.

‘Captain Phillips,’ with its perfect craftsmanship in every facet of it’s making, is a true American hero story for the ages.

True Blood Star Rutina Wesley Headed to Important Off Broadway Play

Roger Friedman
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True Blood Star Rutina Wesley Headed to Important Off Broadway Play

EXCLUSIVE She’s been playing Tara Thornton on “True Blood” since day one. Now I’m told that the intensely talented Rutina Wesley is coming to off Broadway this fall. Wesley has signed on for Charles Fuller’s new play at the Cherry Lane Theater. She will co-star with Grantham Coleman in “One Night,” the much anticipated play from the author of “A Soldier’s Play”– known to movie fans as “A Soldier’s Story.”

Initially another actress signed to play opposite Coleman. But when Fuller’s son unexpectedly passed away, the play’s schedule changed. The actress dropped out. Enter Coleman’s intrepid manager Jason Spire. He suggested Wesley, another client. And the play was saved.

Wesley first cut her teeth on Broadway in The Vertical Hour opposite Julianne Moore and then wowed audiences with her performance at the Public Theatre in “In Darfur.”

She won raves two seasons ago at MCC during “The Submission” directed by Walter Bobbie.

Last year during her hiatus Wesley starred in two films—one called “Last Weekend” starring Patricia Clarkson and the other- “Angry Little Gods” is opposite Mark Webber and supposed to be released by The Weinstein Company next year.

This seems like a great move considering “True Blood” is entering into its final season  on HBO.

Paul McCartney Exclusive: New Song Criticizes Those Who Try to Rewrite His Past

Roger Friedman
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Paul McCartney Exclusive: New Song Criticizes Those Who Try to Rewrite His Past

Paul McCartney has an excellent new album hitting stores and downloading systems on Tuesday. “New” is a lame title for a solidly constructed album produced by Giles Martin (son of George), Ethan Johns (son of Glyn) and Mark Ronson (stepson of Mick Jones). The album hasn’t been written about much because review copies really just arrived at the end of last week.

There are lots of good songs on “New” including a very catchy potential single called “Looking to Her.” But the song that jumps out the most is called “Early Days.” In it, McCartney seems actually angry that journalists and other experts are trying to rewrite his Beatles history.

He sings:

Now everybody seems to have their own opinion/Who did this and who did that

But as for me I don’t see how they can remember/When they weren’t where it was at

 And they can’t take it from me if they try/I lived through those early days

Maybe at 71 years old, McCartney is going to write a memoir–something he needs to do. Much has been written about him but there’s a lot to set straight about his collaborations with John Lennon, and his tussles with Yoko Ono. If McCartney were honest in a book, it would cause a sensation. Certainly in this song for once we get an idea of his feelings about reading all kinds of stuff about the Beatles propagated by friends and enemies.

I hope I’ll have some audio clips soon from “New.” But like Elton John’s new “Diving Board,” McCartney’s new recording presents a veteran star at the top of his game. McCartney still rocks like no one else even half his age.

WATCH PAUL MCCARTNEY’S JIMMY KIMMEL SHOW CONCERT IN OUR HOME PAGE VIDEO VIEWER

Early Days

They can’t take it from me if they try

I lived through those early days

So many times I had to change the pain to laughter

Just to keep from getting crazed

 

Dressed in black from head to toe

Two guitars across our backs

We would walk the city roads

Seeking someone who would listen to the music

That we were writing down at home

 

But they can’t take it from me if they try

I lived through those early days

So many times I had to change the pain to laughter

Just to keep from getting crazy

 

Hair slicked back with Vaseline

Like the pictures on the wall

Of the local record shop

Hearing noises we were destined to remember

We willed the thrill to never stop

 

May sweet memories of friends from the past

Always come to you, when you look for them

And your inspiration, long may it last

May it come to you, time and time again

 

Now everybody seems to have their own opinion

Who did this and who did that

But as for me I don’t see how they can remember

When they weren’t where it was at

 

And they can’t take it from me if they try

I lived through those early days

So many times I had to change the pain to laughter

Just to keep from getting crazed

I lived through those early days

I lived through those early days

 

 

Mel Gibson’s Personal Recession: Private Church Hit Hard by Record Breaking Divorce

Roger Friedman
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Mel Gibson’s Personal Recession: Private Church Hit Hard by Record Breaking Divorce

Times are tough in Mel Gibson‘s personal recession: For years and years Mel Gibson kept parking tax free millions in his private Malibu church. By 2011, the Holy Family church–which is not part of the arch diocese and doesn’t acknowledge the Pope as the leader of the Catholic Church– was claiming over $68 million in total assets. All of it came from Gibson’s AP Reilly Foundation, according to federal tax filings.

But times have changed. In 2011, Gibson had to give half of everything he had in the world to his ex-wife Robyn. The total was reported at $425 million. That included two Malibu properties. Robyn’s name was removed from A P Reilly as an officer.

Today I received the church’s 2012 tax filing. Gibson’s donation to AP Reilly — he’s always the only donor to the foundation — is significantly smaller than ever before. Gibson put only $146,269 into A P Reilly last year. It’s clear that his finances have changed. He no longer has the flexibility of hiding his money in the tax free foundation.

And it’s not just the divorce: Gibson has not starred in a regular Hollywood blockbuster

But Holy Family still claims total assets overall at almost $70 million– not bad for a church that has few families. AP Reilly did claim a massive depreciation however– $1,606,579. For the first time, also, they list no salaries, and only $60,000 for miscellaneous expenses like legal fees and insurance. There’s no mention for the first of  landscaping. It’s not clear if anyone is mowing the lawn !

 

Tony Bennett Dedicates Song to Lady Gaga at Sold Out Radio City Show

Roger Friedman
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Tony Bennett Dedicates Song to Lady Gaga at Sold Out Radio City Show

Tony Bennett keeps it short and to the point. He performed a stellar one hour and ten minute show at Radio City Music Hall on Friday to a totally sold out crowd. And I do mean sold out: even the rafters, all the balconies, were full.  Bennett, 87, did not disappoint. He has no physical set, per se. Just his four piece jazz combo– including Harold Jones on drums and Lee Musiker on piano.

Bennett stands in the spotlight at the center of this clutch. He does not turn on the video screens hanging to the left and right. You are listening to Tony Bennett, so you better pay attention. The entire ensemble is just about dwarfed by Radio City’s enormous stage. They took up maybe a third of the length. And it didn’t matter. They filled the room.

There were a couple of celebrities who came to see Tony: Cicely Tyson, Dr. Westheimer, Patrick Stewart. Writer Gay Talese and wife Nan, publisher extraordinaire, were also in the audience. Otherwise, it was just fans. They gave Bennett a standing ovation after every song. He clapped back at them. Sometimes he danced, did a little jig or a bossa nova during an instrumental interlude. The place went crazy.

Tony dedicated a song to Lady Gaga and mentioned their duets jazz album would be out “right after the first of the year.” He dedicated “The Way You Look Tonight” to his wife, Susan. He said, “I’ve been singing for 50 years,” then added, “60 to tell the truth” and cradled his face in his hands and shook his head.

Is it possible? I go to see Tony Bennett because I love his voice and demeanor. But I also go the way people seek out magicians’ tricks. How does he do it? What’s really going on? His voice is maintained at the highest level. Raspy? A little. But he holds the melody and caresses it. If it tries to leave, he coaxes it back into something wonderful.

When he started “One for My Baby (And One for the Road)” I thought, hmmm, Sinatra. Then Tony gripped the melody the way a fisherman pulls a taut line, reeled in the fish and wrestled it to the ground. The changes he made were breathtaking and, of course, not the least bit showy. When he was done, the audience jumped to its feet. Bennett exclaimed, “That’s jazz.”

It sure was.

Ratings: “Glee” Tribute 8th Ranked for Night, “X Factor” Has Another Soft Thursday

Roger Friedman
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Ratings: “Glee” Tribute 8th Ranked for Night, “X Factor” Has Another Soft Thursday

I really thought the Cory Monteith tribute on “Glee” would do better. But it ranked 8th for the night among all shows last night in total audience. Fox is saying it “soared” and was their best night in a year. But that’s not a great distinction. “Glee” is in decline, and so the memorial show did well all things considered. They scored 7.8 million viewers.

“X Factor” has the same 6 to 7 million viewers for every installment. Almost every show except Sean Hayes’s dreadful NBC comedy does better. Unless something changes– maybe Simon Cowell’s baby is born live on the show– “X Factor” in the US doesn’t seem to be a candidate for renewal.

CBS had the night, of course. “Big Bang Theory” has turned into King Kong. The Robin Williams Show, called “The Crazy Ones,” is a solid big hit. “The Millers” is doing great.

Look, I love Michael J. Fox. Someone had better try and fix that show. It’s disappearing. Last night it had 3.6 million pairs of eyes. And the key demo was only 1.6 million.

Madonna: Writer of Her Songs Explains How “Like a Prayer,” Other Hits Were Composed

Roger Friedman
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Madonna: Writer of Her Songs Explains How “Like a Prayer,” Other Hits Were Composed

Does Madonna write her own songs? Yes, and no. She doesn’t write the music, that’s for sure. And now that Ms. Ciccone has been put up for induction in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, I thought it might be interesting to settle the question after all.

Last night I chatted with Patrick Leonard, the great composer of pop hits and sometimes even a ghost writer and ‘enabler’ for rock stars who need help getting their work onto paper. Leonard is a trained musician who can play anything at the drop of a hat. On the phone, from Amsterdam, where he’s working with Leonard Cohen, Patrick played “Like a Prayer” for me in different sections. He wrote the music for that hit, as he did for many of Madonna’s big hits during her top of the chart heyday.

Patrick Leonard wrote the music for, among others: “Like a Prayer,” “Cherish,” “True Blue,” “Live to Tell,” “La Isla Bonita,” “Frozen,” “Hanky Panky,” “Sky Fits Heaven,” “Nothing Really Matters,” “I’ll Remember,” and “Something to Remember.” He was a producer on “Open Your Heart.”

Madonna wrote the lyrics, Leonard says, with him, and helped create the melodies. He considers her a friend and mentor. “She put me on the map,” he says, “I’m grateful.”

“I’m one of those people behind the curtain.” Leonard says. “If she [Madonna] hadn’t sung those songs, no one would have heard them. She’s made it possible for me to do what I’m doing now.”

Their process was simple. He wrote the music, and brought it to Madonna. She would help supply lyrics and offer changes in the music to suit her. “She’d refine it,” he says. “You give her a track, she sings the melody. She’s very very talented.” Of their collaboration, he says, “One doesn’t exist without the other. She always showed up and she was always completely involved. I miss her, actually.”

They haven’t written together since 1997. Would he like to do it again? “Absolutely,” Leonard says. “She writes a lot with deejays now.”

Leonard is credited on all the songs he wrote with Madonna. They include the largest number of chart hits on which she is credited as co-writer. There are no songs that are credited just to Madonna. And a clutch of them were written solely by others including “Holiday,” “Like a Virgin,” “Material Girl,” and “Borderline.”

Leonard told me he didn’t care if Madonna goes into the Songwriters Hall of Fame without him. He doesn’t believe in awards. He doesn’t even hang his gold records. “They’re all in a closet somewhere,” he said. He just believes in moving forward. This week he comes to New York to work with Roger Waters.

 

Oscars Will Pit Vets (Redford, Hanks, Dern, Whitaker) Against Newcomers (Isaac, Ejiofor, Elba)

Roger Friedman
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0
Oscars Will Pit Vets (Redford, Hanks, Dern, Whitaker) Against Newcomers (Isaac, Ejiofor, Elba)

Oh yes. In our little world, the betting on the Oscars is going on and on. The Oscars are on March 2, 2014. Do you have it in your book? Today is October 11, 2013.

But movies are being seen, a lot by critics and insiders, not so much yet by real people in the real world, nor by Academy voters. So it’s all supposition at this point.

Every day or so, someone calls me after seeing “Gravity” or “Captain Phillips” or “Nebraska” and they say: “That’s it. I’ve seen the Best Picture.” Or “I know who the Best Actor is.”

Well, no one does. No one knows anything. It’s soon, there’s a lot to come. But I will tell you what’s happening with Best Actor. It’s going to be a dogfight.

First there are the vets. Tom Hanks and Forest Whitaker should be nominated respectively for “Captain Phillips” and “The Butler.” But they already have Oscars. Hanks has two– and still another movie, “Saving Mr. Banks,” which is not “Saving Private Ryan” which also starred Tom Hanks.

Robert Redford and Bruce Dern do not have Best Actor Oscars, although Redford has two statues– one for directing “Ordinary People,” another for his humanitarian work. So what do you?

They are all outstanding. Redford is the only cast member of “All Is Lost.” He barely speaks. But he is riveting. It’s the best work of his career. Dern as the wide-eyed alkie dad in “Nebraska” gives the performance of a lifetime. Neither can be missed or dismissed.

Of course, George Clooney could be in the mix for Supporting in “Gravity” and Lead in “Monuments Men” and for directing “Monuments Men.” You don’t know yet.

Then there are the newcomers. Chiwetel Ejiofor. No one can spell his name. He’s incendiary in “12 Years a Slave.” Idris Elba is perfect as “Mandela.” Michael B. Jordan is unforgettable as Oscar Grant in “Fruitvale Station.”

But then there’s Oscar Isaac, singing and acting, utterly a knockout in “Inside Llewyn Davis.” If Oscar Isaac isn’t nominated for an Oscar, I’ll…I’ll…what?

Who have I liked the best so far? I can’t say. It’s too early. But I am thinking that Johnny Knoxville in “Bad Grandpa” is the dark horse. Just sayin’….

And by the way, aren’t we lucky to have so many choices? Can you imagine if “Wolf of Wall Street” arrives, and Leonardo DiCaprio is thrown into the equation?

Johnny Carson: FBI Agent Said He Had “Brass Balls” After Death Threat and Secret “Ransom” Drop

Roger Friedman
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Johnny Carson: FBI Agent Said He Had “Brass Balls” After Death Threat and Secret “Ransom” Drop

Johnny Carson: we’ve had a lot of revelations this week about his life and long run on the Tonight show. Now that I’ve got the whole manuscript of Henry Bushkin‘s eye opening memoir about his late friend and former client, there’s even more.

In the mid 1970s, Carson found a live hand grenade on his front lawn with a death threat and instructions. It did turn out the grenade was a fake, Bushkin reports, but “the threat was taken seriously” in light of recent episodes like Patty Hearst and the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III. Plus, Frank Sinatra Jr had been famously kidnapped in 1963.

Carson was told to deliver $250,000 in cash to a specific spot. The FBI didn’t want to let him go, but Carson finally convinced them to let him do it. The threat had said that if he didn’t deliver the money, harm would come to his family. “Don’t insult our intelligence by dismissing this matter,” the note read.

Bushkin recalls that Carson still had that .38 revolver I wrote about earlier this week. Bushkin says he had a license to carry the gun. Johnny had a bad with him that looked like it was filled with money, but it was just “cut up paper stacked and wrapped in 125 bill sized bundles.”

Bushkin says a helicopter hovered over Carson at 4,000 feet so it wouldn’t be noticed. Johnny drove the money to a nearby laundromat in Burbank, as instructed. Police immediately apprehended a 26 year German national named Richard Dziabacinski and his wife. They went to jail for a year, and got five years’ probation.

Carson was certainly a Nebraska cowboy in his heart. Earlier this week I told you that Henry Bushkin, Johnny Carson’s lawyer, noticed he was wearing .38 pistol on a holster under his coat. Now that I’ve been able to go through Bushkin’s book, coming out on Tuesday, I noticed another similar anecdote. Carson was dating Alexis Maas, who would be his fourth wife. He told Bushkin in 1985: “Look, I’m not going through this bullshit again. If I ever get married again, put a .38 to my head and if we don’t have a pre-nup, pull the trigger.”

Bushkin recalls that the police at the time covered up the whole incident and refused to admit that Carson himself was involved in the drop. One FBI agent told Bushkin of Johnny: “He has brass balls.”

PS I think this book is going to fly off the shelves next week. Bushkin knows everything about Carson and the whole time period from 1967-87. We are never going to have stories like this about Kimmel, Fallon, Meyers, Ferguson. Maybe Letterman. What a read!

 

Muscle Shoals, Where Everyone from Aretha to Mick Came to Record

Leah Sydney
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Muscle Shoals, Where Everyone from Aretha to Mick Came to Record

Actor Peter Fonda– still the hippest guy in town– and famed record producer Richard Perry (Carly Simon, Rod Stewart, Ringo Starr, etc) hosted  a special screening of the music doc “Muscle Shoals” in LA Tuesday night. Peter’s wife Pinky was also a host. Fonda’s sister, Jane, who is also Perry’s significant other, was listed as a host but stuck in New York at a charity event.

The VIP event at the Landmark Theater also had guests the film’s director Greg Camalier as well as  Tommy Chong with his talented screenwriter daughter Robbi Chong, Peter Asher, Film and Television Composer John Swihart, Ex-Dire Straits Guitarist and Composer Hal Lindes, Composer Nicholas Pike and his musician son Alexander Pike, Actors Edward James Olmos and Gina Gershon.

Muscle Shoals is a small town in Alabama which is unknown to most Americans but certainly not to music lovers.  Located alongside the Tennessee River, Muscle Shoals is the breeding ground for some of American and as it turns out, British, creatively inspired music.  The River is called “Singing River” by Native Americans, that river is supposedly the source of its’ musical inspiration.  Director Greg Camalier and Producer Stephen Badger brilliantly bring the story of this unlikely musical oasis town to life.  Cameos by Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Mick Jagger, Gregg Allman, Keith Richards, Bono (who didn’t record there but is a fan) and more, show what a vital part this tiny town had in shaping American music.

Richard Perry told me, “It’s a chronology of the story of the music business. It tells the story of a man, Rick Hall, who started from nothing in a little town in Alabama and turned it into one of the most important recording centers in the world.  It’s a story of triumph and tragedy. He had a lot of tragedy in his life and he prevailed. So it’s a very inspiring movie.”

Peter Fonda added, “Seeing how it all came together is a great history lesson.  While that lesson is being taught we’re being entertained by some of the greatest songs ever put down, all centered in the Blues.  All rock and roll comes from the Blues.  You wouldn’t get people like Keith Richards and Mick Jagger to come to Muscle Shoals to record without them knowing that there was heavy metal there, I’m talking heavy water meaning the Tennessee River which is  radioactive musically.

“I don’t mind getting radioactive burns from this kind of film.  I want the whole world to see this movie.  It’s a national treasure.  It’s so good and at its’ heart, really pure American.  With Keith and Mick and even Stevie Winwood, all doing their thing.  The fact that all this footage is still around is unreal.  I’ve seen this film six times.  I’m going to keep on touting this movie, it’s just not hard to do.  I really dig this music.”

Director Greg Camalier told me how the film came about.  “We stumbled on this town.  My best friend and I who made the film together, Stephen Badger, were driving through and we quickly learned about it and were blown away.  We started to research it and discovered the luminous contribution to American music this town has made.  We knew we had to tell this story.”

Tommy Chong said: “I just finished a film where I played God called, ‘It’s Gawd,’  When I’m not playing God I’m touring with Cheech, which is kind of the same.”

‘Muscle Shoals’ is available on VOD and opens in LA at the Nuart  on Oct 11th.

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