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Michael Jackson’s Brother Calls Executors of Pop Star’s Estate “The Three Stooges”

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Exclusive: Randy Jackson called Michael Jackson’s executors “the three stooges” this past weekend in a podcast interview with his former attorney Brian Oxman. He named them, too– John Branca, John McClain, and Howard Weitzman (who is not an executor but the attorney who represents the estate).

Oxman was a lawyer once until he was disbarred after several disciplinary actions by the California Bar Association. After representing Randy Jackson in his divorce, Oxman also claimed for years to be the Jackson family attorney. He was fired from Michael Jackson’s defense team in 2005 during the child molestation trial in Santa Maria by Thomas Mesereau.

In the podcast, which I’ve linked below, Randy says: “My family is not happy with McClain and Branca. We don’t believe the will is real. We don’t support [the estate]. We’re not happy.”

Randy also says that “this is the tip of the iceberg” in relation to the Michael Jackson Estate’s current problems with the Internal Revenue Service. He says, “I know something is wrong.” Neither Randy nor any of his siblings received any money from Michael Jackson’s will. One brother, Jackie, is on the estate payroll, however. Randy says in the interview: “A few of my brothers and sisters I’m not getting along with right now.”

Last year, in June 2012, Randy was part of a trio with Janet and Jermaine Jackson who spirited their mother, Katherine Jackson, away to Arizona. The trip turned into a full scale scandal when Paris Jackson tweeted that no one knew what had happened to her grandmother. Randy refers to the incident as “the kidnapping” and suggests that someone–the executors?– invented that to take the heat off his now famous letter to the executors demanding that they resign.

Randy also suggests that “someone” was giving Dr. Conrad Murray orders to drug Michael.

How Brian Oxman got an internet radio show is another question altogether.

http://brianoxman.com/brian-oxman-show-9-8-13-hour-2/

Tina Brown Leaves Journalism For the World of Event Production

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Tina Brown is leaving The Daily Beast after five years. But more importantly, she’s leaving journalism after runs with Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Talk magazine, and then the website she started to compete with the Huffington Post. Brown says she’s taking her conference, called Women in the World, and starting Tina Brown Media Live.

Essentially, she’s becoming an organizer of seminars, lunches and dinners, and conferences. She hosted one such conference last night in Toronto with Harvey Weinstein, her former partner in Talk, for bankers, actors, and who ever was still hanging around the film festival.

Tina Brown Media Live could be very successful. But Brown’s exit from the Daily Beast marks the second time a project post-Conde Nast hasn’t worked out for her. Talk magazine started with fireworks- for real, on Ellis Island– and ended with a whimper two years later. Brown wrote a bestseller about Princess Diana, and then convinced Barry Diller to invest $18 million in The Beast.

There was the whole debacle with Newsweek. And now the Beast has just a few employees left, still churning out the site. But without Tina Brown there’s no Daily Beast. It was her idea. It’s only a matter of time before it’s shuttered, or sold off.

Maybe Brown will write a book about Hillary Clinton. And she will certainly remain a talking head on TV. But it does seem that, with print slowly dying, it’s the end of an era.

Harvey Weinstein Buys All His Oscar Nominees for 2015– Yes, 2015

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This is too much: Harvey Weinstein has bought up four films at the Toronto Film Festival, all for release next year and certain to be Oscar nominees in some way for 2015. Kuh-razy!

At this year’s Toronto, Weinstein has picked up “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” “The Railway Man,” and “Can A Song Save Your Life?” Just before Toronto, right after Venice, The Weinstein Company bought “Tracks” with Mia Wasikowska and Adam Driver. The other films star respectively– James McEvoy and Jessica Chastain; Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth; and Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley.

All four films are top notch– I’ve seen them all. “Eleanor Rigby” is three hours long and very reminiscent of another TWC hit, “Blue Valentine.” It’s the story of a young couple told from each of their perspectives as they battle to save their marriage. McEvoy and Chastain are utterly fantastic. Ciaran Hinds is wonderful as McEvoy’s father, and William Hurt is very moving as Chastain’s. The whole thing runs three hours– very long by Weinstein standards– but exceptional in its own way.

I wrote about “The Railway Man” a few days ago. Firth and Kidman are very very good. Harvey will likely tweak the film, but it’s a big, proper Hollywood Oscar film.

“Tracks” you can read about here. There aren’t enough good things to say about it.

And “Can A Song Save Your Life” was probably my favorite new film of this year’s TIFF. Adam Levine plays a rock star named Dave Kroll (rhymes with Grohl) who is the boyfriend of Knightley. She and Mark Ruffalo, as the head of an indie record company, do the best work ever. And the songs by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois are superb.

So wow, let’s all go home. I don’t know what else to say. That’s quite a clutch of films for 2014.

Movie Mogul Too? Oprah Will Release First Film as Producer for Oscar Consideration

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Oprah Winfrey could be a double Oscar nominee next year. Her OWN network is going to release its first film for Oscar consideration in November. It’s first theatrical release from OWN.

Barbara Kopple’s documentary “Running from Crazy” chronicles Mariel Hemingway‘s exploration of suicide and depression in her family, from grandfather Ernest to her own sisters. In the film Mariel comes to the conclusion that her late father, John, sexually abused both of her sisters. One of them, Margaux, who became an internationally known model and actress, committed suicide.

OWN will release “Running from Crazy” for Oscar eligibility– which basically means “four walling” or just renting a theater in New York and Los Angeles for one week runs before the end of the year before it’s shown on TV. The movie is fascinating. And of course Kopple is an Oscar winning, important filmmaker.

Oprah is already the leading contender for Best Supporting Actress in “The Butler.” So it will be interesting to see what support she puts behind “Running from Crazy” to get it nominated in the doc category. We could be seeing her twice on the Dolby Theater stage on March 2, 2014.

Taylor Swift Parties in Toronto, Says She’s Sad US Tour Is Over

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Taylor Swift up close: I haven’t seen her since her first year at the Grammys. She was a gangly teenager with a mother and family who stuck to her like glue. It seems like eons have passed.

On Sunday night Taylor, labeled a maneater in the press, came to Soho House in Toronto. She contributed a song to the movie “One Chance” about British singer Paul Potts. Her date? A bodyguard who growled whenever anyone approached. Her tablemate? Young Australian actor Brenton Thwaites, who will make his American debut in The Weinstein Company’s “The Giver” starring Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges.

I slid into a seat at their table. The bodyguard bared his teeth. Taylor said, “He’s okay.” I was approved for an audience– mostly because I told the truth. In my recent entrapment in my car, Swift’s duet with Ed Sheeran– called “Everything Has Changed”– has become a favorite. It’s her best offering in a long time because it’s not about knifing a celebrity ex boyfriend.

What did we talk about? Her tour, which I caught with my nieces last winter at the Prudential Center in Newark. “I’m very sad. We only have a couple of dates left in the U.S.” Does she like performing live? “I love it,” she said. But it’s not over. The tour goes international next. Swift’s highly constructed show still has countries to conquer.

And what about the man-eating thing? I must tell you, Swift and Thwaites sat perpendicular to each other. They could not have been more chaste. They looked like characters from “Downton Abbey.” There was no hand holding, smooching, or anything else. They actually looked like they’d been put at the table like a flower arrangement. And Taylor couldn’t have been nicer or more composed.

Maybe everything has changed.

Toronto: “Crash” Director Paul Haggis Presents Best Work Yet

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You may recall I wrote about Paul Haggis’ “Third Person” back in May after I saw an early cut. Yesterday Haggis presented his final version in Toronto and it is even better, a sort of magnificent jigsaw puzzle that combines “Crash” and “Memento.” I can’t wait to see who buys it. “Third Person” is a big winner.

Like “Crash,” “Third Person” is a group of stories interlinked. Like Chris Nolan’s “Memento,” it’s also about clues. You will want to see this movie a couple of times to figure out what you missed.

Basically, Liam Neeson plays a writer who’s moved to Italy or is at least workin there. His wife, played by Kim Basinger, is in the U.S. They are grieving the loss of a child. Olivia Wilde arrives at Neeson’s hotel; she’s his mistress and she has a lot of secrets. That’s the main story and these actors are terrific. It’s Liam Neeson’s best work in years.

But then there are other stories that include Adrien Brody and (stunning) newcomer Moran Atias, Mila Kunis and James Franco, and Maria Bello. How the stories link up, the relationships, all of it is really fascinating. I don’t want to give away the story (if I’ve even cracked it) for now. Suffice to say, “Third Person” is the most clever film of this festival. If it’s marketed correctly, I expect it will take off like crazy.

And just to praise Haggis: not just Neeson but everyone seems like they’re on their game here. Adrien Brody is sensational. And Mila Kunis has never been better. Franco benefits from letting someone else tell him what to do. And it’s a pleasure to see Kim Basinger. Maria Bello– I can’t be objective, I think she’s great.

So good news from a totally independent project.

 

Toronto: Good News (“Tracks”) and Bad (“The F Word”)

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Toronto: on a long day, the good news was that my final Toronto film was John Curran’s “Tracks.” The Weinstein Company, in an effort secure 2015 Oscars, bought this before the Venice Film Festival. Produced by the guys who brought us “The King’s Speech”– Iain Canning and Emile Sherman– “Tracks” is absolutely stunning. Mia Wasikowska stars as real life adventurer Robyn Davidson.

In 1977, Davidson trekked across the Australian desert with her dog and four camels. National Geographic sent photographer Rick Smolan, who dropped in and out of the two year, 1700 mile journey. They had a little fling, but mostly it was professional. The result was an award winning report that turned into a bestselling book and now this movie.

“Tracks” probably won’t get released until a year from now, which is too bad. Wasikowska is utterly brilliant as Davidson, and Adam Driver of “Girls” – who’s in a bunch of movies– is perfect as Smolan. He also looks just like him. The camels are outrageously charismatic, too. Davidson had a wonderful dog with her, too, who is so winning that the dog actor who plays him should get a Best Supporting Actor nomination. We were told, however, that there were two dog actors, and they were very difficult. They will not be doing press junkets.

Earlier in the day I walked right out of “The F Word” starring the very likeable  Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan as friends who keep denying a romance. Rafe Spall co-stars. All the actors were fine. But the language in this movie– the utter coarseness of it– was so inappropriate and grating that I actually said out loud, “Stop talking. Please stop talking” to the screen.

Why? WARNING There was extensive talk of blow jobs, dicks, and some other act that I can’t include here about pleasuring a woman expressed in the most vulgar way. Look, I can’t do it. I have too many years of higher education. I really don’t think twentysomethings speak this way to each other except in some idiot screenwriter’s fantasy. It’s the laziest sort of writing. It’s unacceptable in a romantic comedy for any generation.

This is what a screenwriter should say to himself: “If Woody Allen, Nora Ephron, Nancy Meyers, Jim Jarmusch, Ethan Coen, Jerry Seinfeld, etc won’t do it, than I won’t do it. Period.”

The F in The F Word is for fail. Plain and simple.

Paging Michael Shannon to Play Elvis in New Film

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It does seem like Michael Shannon can do just about anything. From “Boardwalk Empire” to one man shows off Broadway to General Zod in “Man of Steel,” Shannon has shown he a lot of range as an actor. His next  job, though may be his toughest assignment yet.

I am told that Shannon is circling the role of Elvis Presley for a new film about Elvis’s famous White House meeting with Richard Nixon. The photo of Elvis and Nixon is classic one and it’s already inspired a TV Movie from long ago in 1997. But a new film has been written, and Shannon is said to be signing on to play Presley.

elvis and nixonOf course, this Elvis is an older one. He met Nixon at the White House on December 21, 1970. He brought the president a gun, talked smack about the Beatles being anti-American, and in exchange received a sheriff’s badge. Nixon sent him a letter after the bizarre meeting. And bizarre it was because Elvis had literally run away from Graceland after a fight with his father over is overspending.

Shannon should be great at this. Who will play Nixon? Certainly not Frank Langella or John Cusack. But producers Holly Wiersma and Logan Levy, riding high on “Dallas Buyers Club,” will undoubtely find a star to match Shannon. Can’t wait!

Toronto: Miley May Have Problems If She Can’t Stop

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Hey, a little tabloid news from Toronto: I did run into Liam Hemsworth, “Hunger Games” star and brother of Liam Hemsworth at the party for “Rush,” Ron Howard’s totally great racing movie. Liam and Chris are like very handsome redwood trees. They are also taking Hollywood by storm, making women’s (and maybe men’s) hearts flutter. They are gracious, polite guys despite being unable to walk in public or be private at a party.

I did ask Liam a “tabloid” question. I mentioned how much I liked Miley Cyrus’s “We Can’t Stop” single, and that it’s extremely well produced. It sounds great on Z100. (It really does, I am not kidding.) I didn’t mention VMAs or X rated videos. His response would have spiked a zero on an EEG. He did say, “Thanks” but was it.  He looked a little dazed. I got the feeling he doesn’t want to hear about it.

Frankly, I think Miley’s whole “controversy” is a marketing plan. She is not stupid. Neither is her father. They’ve been in show biz a long time now. This is all a calculated move. The “shock” and “outrage” only works to their advantage. I’m getting a kick out of it. And also, let’s not forget, that girl can sing. That’s all that matters.  I hope Liam can weather the storm.

Michael Jackson Family: Huge Setback in AEG Live Trial

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Michael Jackson’s mother and his three children received a huge setback yesterday in their lawsuit with AEG Live. The judge ruled that AEG executives Randy Phillips and Paul Gongaware should be removed as defendants. The family had not proven that either exec was responsible for Jackson’s death. The jury can still consider whether or not AEG had hired Dr. Conrad Murray or if he was Jackson’s physician.

This is a major turning point in the trial and absolutely right. From the beginning I told you, right after Jackson’s death in June 2005, that the King of Pop had insisted on having Murray with him. I wrote then that AEG was simply funding Jackson’s request and hoping for the best. No one there had any idea of the scope of Jackson’s history with drugs, or the way he manipulated doctors to do his bidding.

In Murray Jackson saw a man who was in enough financial trouble that he would indeed carry out  the craziest instructions. The irony was that AEG never actually paid Murray and that he wound  up in jail for negligence in Jackson’s death. The most egregious part of that story is that Murray gets out of prison shortly and will probably try to peddle a book and go on TV to proclaim his innocence. He will be met by a frenzy of rabid Jackson fans out for his blood, however.

It does seem like Michael Jackson’s siblings should stop counting their winnings from this trial. With the execs removed, the jury has gotten the signal that AEG didn’t kill their brother. The one thing Michael didn’t want was his family– aside from his mother and children– to become rich off of him. He may get his way after all.