Thursday, December 18, 2025
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Exclusive: Lindsay Lohan Circling Great New Movie Role in Ben Affleck Film

Exclusive: Lindsay Lohan is getting out of rehab on Saturday, kids. It’s been 90 days, she’s fresh as a daisy, and determined to turn over a new leaf. One thing is for sure: we know she can act. Paul Schrader’s “The Canyons” screened here last night in New York and Lindsay got kudos (in absentia) from everyone. Indeed, as Schrader said, she’s grown out of the ingenue stage and into a new chapter as a tough cookie, a broad. Think Annette Bening in “The Grifters.”

And so: it does seem as though Lindsay is going to be in Ben Affleck’s next directing project. Ben is putting together “Live by Night,” based on the novel by Dennis Lehane. Lindsay is thisclose to signing on– possibly as Emma, the tough waitress with a heart of gold who gets involved with the two male leads. “Live By Night” is a crime noir period piece, and Lindsay would be perfect for it.

In the meantime, Lindsay has agreed to be followed around by Oprah’s documentary crew for the first 45 days of her return home to New York. She’s going to be living “The Truman Show.” What better way to keep her on the straight and narrow?

“The Canyons” is going to be remembered as a notorious movie, one that should become a cult classic overnight. There is graphic sex. Lindsay is naked, friends. Her breasts are her own and, as Elaine Benes once said, “spectacular.” She acts up a storm, is not campy but very controlled and quite riveting. Unfortunately most of her scenes are with real life adult porn star James Deen. His emotions run from A to Z. Deen speaks in a monotone that could hypnotize Edward Snowden’s interrogators. There’s just no way out for him. I’m not even sure he makes the minimum requirement for porn acting.

Schrader called Brett Eaton Ellis’s characters “Beautiful people doing bad things in nice rooms.” I like it! The whole movie cost $250,000 and they raised it on Kickstarter. The production was given a Malibu canyon house “and it’s the sixth main character in the film,” Schrader said last night. It’s owned by someone in the music business, he said.

“The Canyons” is rated NC-17, at the very least. You should know that going in. There are threesomes and foursomes, and I’m not talking bridge or golf. Deen has some sex with a guy which Lindsay’s Tara encourages. This is not “The Parent Trap.” But it’s Paul Schrader, and you know what? Even for $250K it looks good, the direction flows, and there’s a story.

Schrader’s next film stars Nicolas Cage, and is said to be under the aegis of Red Granite Productions.

Lea Michele Tweets 2 Lines About Cory Monteith, Stop the Presses

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Urggghhhh. Lea Michele has Tweeted two lines about Cory Monteith. Stop the presses. Everyone has picked this story up, so I’ll jump in. Michele has sent out a one liner and a picture. You know, two years ago Lea Michele was at the premiere of “Hair” on Broadway with a different boyfriend– Theo Stockman. She and Monteith weren’t dating at the time. Anyway, here’s the Tweet. It’s not enough sustenance for a bird. but it will do for now for the entertainment press:

 

Michael Jackson-Queen Duet Is Just One Song: The Real Story

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Reports today from London about a clutch of recordings made in 1983 between Michael Jackson Queen’s Freddie Mercury. Let’s straighten this out fast. There were just two recordings. One was a demo of “State of Shock,” which Michael later recorded and released with Mick Jagger. The other is a ballad, written by Mercury, called (approximately) “Is There More to Life?” According to the Jackson estate, the surviving members of Queen asked if they could fix it up for release. The estate says officially: “We are aware that Queen is working on the track. But no decision has been made about releasing it. We’ll consider it after we hear it.” As for “State of Shock,” that will never– so says the estate– come out from Queen. If it’s used as a rarity or an extra track on album of unreleased materials, it would come from Sony as a Michael Jackson release authorized by the estate. Anyway, one of the classic singles of all time is Queen with David Bowie on “Under Pressure.” Maybe the Michael collaboration will be cool, too. We’ll have to wait and see how they do, if the Jackson estate approves it.

Tom Hanks “Captain Phillips” Will Open New York Film Festival

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One of Tom Hanks’s two big fall movies will open the New York Film Festival. “Captain Phillips” directed by Paul Greengrass, is already getting buzz for Hanks as an Oscar nominee. The festival opens on September 27th. Sony opens the film on October 11th. The movie is based on a book by the real life captain Richard Phillips who commanded the Maerska Alabama in 2009 and saved it from Somali pirates. Catherine Keener co-stars. Hanks also has “Saving Mr. Banks” from Disney, in which he plays Walt Disney to Emma Thompson’s P.L. Travers. It’s the story of how “Mary Poppins” became a movie musical. Disney releases it on December 20th for children of all ages.

“Homeland” Season 3 Gets All T.S. Eliot: Episode Titles Revealed

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“Homeland” comes back to Showtime on September 29th– although who knows if Time Warner subscribers will get to see it since the cable carrier is having its usual fee war, this time with CBS/Showtime. Anyway, the first seven episodes of the Emmy award winning series are out. Episode 7 is titled “Gerontion” after the T.S. Eliot poem that precedes “The Waste Land.”

If the episode actually follows the poem– time shifts, religious observations, a look back over time by an old man (Mandy Patinkin?), then it will be something to behold. Right now I’m worried that the “Homeland” writers don’t have enough ways to keep working Brody (Damian Lewis) back into the story. He’s currently considered dead.

The titles of the first seven episodes are: “Tin Man is Down.” “Uh Oh Ah,” “Tower of David,” “Game On,” “Yoga Play,” “Still Positive,” and “Gerontion.”

Episode 9, still untitled, is being cast right now. The producers are looking for three Navy SEALS “of Middle Eastern descent” but who were raised in America.

Lady Gaga is Back! Reveals Title of New Single and Cover Art

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Lady Gaga is on her way back. Tonight she revealed the name of the first single from her ARTPop album. It’s called “Applause” and she says in Women’s Wear Daily that it’s all about how she craves the applause of her audience. I hope there’s better material than that coming because we know this about Ms. Germanotta all too well by now. She also released the art work for the single “cover.” It’s already being compared to artwork from the Madonna tour “The Girlie Show.” Again, I really hope “ARTPop” gets away from the Madonna issue. Lady Gaga turned up on Saturday night in the Hamptons at the Watermill show. She’s creeping back into public. In November comes ARTPop. In January, Tony Bennett will release his album of jazz duets with Gaga.

Exclusive: Paula Abdul Will Return as Judge for “Dance” Finals in September

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Exclusive: Just because Paula Abdul isn’t on “American Idol” doesn’t mean she isn’t very much in demand. Two weeks ago Abdul was a guest host on “So You Think You Can Dance” on Fox. Her appearance didn’t move the ratings up, but she gave the show a shot of adrenaline it badly needed. Not only that: she actually knows something about dancing since she is a respected choreographer. Let’s not forget that she taught Madonna and Janet Jackson’s dancers a lot of their moves.

Now I’m told that Paula will return for three weeks in September as a judge again on “Dance.” She’ll judge the semi finals and finals with Nigel Lythgoe. Of course, Lythgoe was her boss on “Idol” and the two have remained tight. Lythgoe himself was bounced off of “Idol” at the end of this past season. Now the show is scrambling for judges.

I am also told that Simon Cowell tried to reunite with Abdul and Randy Jackson on the upcoming season of “The X Factor.” Sources say Fox–which has all these shows– didn’t mind. But producer Freemantle Media and 19 Entertainment did indeed object to Cowell, Abdul, and Jackson trying to replicate Idol’s golden days as the show is now sinking and could be facing its final season.

Carly Simon Surprises Taylor Swift Stadium Crowd with “You’re So Vain” Duet

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Carly Simon surprised a crowd of 50,000 last night at Taylor Swift’s stadium show in Foxboro, Mass. Dressed ever so hip and chic, Simon– who rarely performs and certainly not in stadiums– sang her mega hit “You’re So Vain,” the 1972 classic, with Swift. Carly is a real rock star– and Swift was wise to invite her to the show. Swift’s confessional songs still have a long way to go to get this good.

“The Wolverine” Howls: $55Mil Weekend Far Lower Than Expected–Another Bust

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Fox’s “The Wolverine” took in $55 million over the weekend– $10 mil less than hoped for by the studio and $15 mil less than some prognosticators thought. “The Wolverine” cost between $150 mil and $200 mil at least, and had no competition this weekend. But something went wrong, just as it has for several big studio releases this summer. From “After Earth” to “The Lone Ranger” to “RIPD” and many others, the summer of 2013 will go down in history as the season when sequels bombed. The only true hit was “Man of Steel,” and it wasn’t even a very good movie.

“The Wolverine,” a sequel to “X Men Origins: Wolverine” and the sixth time Hugh Jackman has played the character, didn’t have good word of mouth. Even though it had an A- from Cinemascore, when audiences finally saw it they didn’t recommend it. On Friday it took in $21 million, but then declined on Saturday and Sunday. That’s a bad sign. The Saturday night audience dropped by 12 percent. It was only the movie on Saturday night that dropped from the previous night. Perplexing, to say the least.

On the flip side, “Fruitvale Station,” an indie movie that could find its way to the Oscars, expanded to over 1,000 theaters. And it’s a hit. “Fruitvale” now has over $6 million in the bank. The coincidence of the Trayvon Martin trial helped. But “Fruitvale” is a powerful, unforgettable film on its own. The family of Oscar Grant, the 22 year old who was killed in Oakland, California by a cop in 2009, should feel some vindication. The transit cop who shot unarmed Oscar in the back and then served only 11 months in jail is finally getting justice served. The whole world is seeing what he did.

Cannes: $53 Mil Jewel Heist at Carlton Hotel Is Third Since Festival

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The Carlton Hotel, part of the Intercontinental chain, was hit today by a $53 million jewel heist– in broad daylight. This time the jeweler Lev Leviev. This is the third blatant theft of a major jeweler since the film festival in May. Back then first Chopard got hit in a weird saga that involved thieves drilling through a wall safe at the off -the -track Novotel. Then a $2.6 million necklace was stolen at the Eden Rock in Antibes during the zoo-like De Grisogono fete. Cannes is obviously not the place to have expensive jewelry without guards. The Carlton often hosts jewelry displays in its much-trafficked lobby. Police reports say the theft took place at noon Sunday–6am New York time. This should give Woody Allen something to think about. He’s shooting his new movie right now in and around the hotel.