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“Glee” Continues, Of Course: Lea Michele Not Making the Decision

Roger Friedman
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“Glee” Continues, Of Course: Lea Michele Not Making the Decision

It’s all very dramatic and glamorous, but Lea Michele did not make the decision that “Glee” should go on after the death of Cory Monteith. It’s laugh out loud funny to read these interviews out of Comic Con with show creator Ryan Murphy. I know he wants to put a good face on all this, and I know it’s well-intentioned. But when he says that Lea Michele is the star of the show, and that he left it up to her to decide if the show should continue…Really.

First of all, much as they are popular, Michele and Monteith are part of a large ensemble. Jane Lynch and Matthew Morrison might take exception to the notion of someone being “the” star of “Glee.” Chris Colfer has already published two books and had a screenplay turned into a good film. Darren Cris has been on Broadway and is in “Girl Most Likely” right now.

Second: “Glee” is a business. It’s a television show with contracts. No one, not even Murphy, can say it’s over. The network will say when it’s over. Frankly, a whole cast could die and most TV execs would vote to keep going in order to make syndication numbers. “Glee” is going into fifth season. They have only 88 episodes so far, and need 100 for decent syndication. While the show is not the major attraction it was at the beginning, it certainly should last a full seven seasons.

Will Lea Michele stay? Now, that’s the good question. When everything settles down, my guess is that she will stick it out til the end of her contract. But “Glee” isn’t going anywhere.

Flashback: Jackson Family Met in April to Discuss Their Share of AEG Billions

Roger Friedman
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Flashback: Jackson Family Met in April to Discuss Their Share of AEG Billions

Back on April 25th I told you that Katherine Jackson had been taken to a family meeting at Janet’s secret Beverly Hills apartment. It was to discuss how the avaricious Jacksons would divide up their spoils after winning the AEG case. Yesterday there was a similar story in the New York Post. But just to refresh our memories:

Oh, the Jacksons. Their game has not changed. I am told by an insider that while Paris and Prince were at school back on April 18th, their grandmother was summoned to a family meeting in Beverly Hills. According to sources, Mrs. Jackson went to daughter Janet’s house where she was met by Jermaine, Randy, Rebbie, Janet and several other family members.

The topic of this 1pm pow-wow: how to divvy up the billions the Jacksons expect to make reap from the wrongful death suit against AEG Live. “Jermaine is already talking about how he’s getting a new Ferrari and a Bentley,” says a source.

And strangely enough: LaToya Jackson wasn’t there. No one told her about the meeting.

It was only ten months ago that the same Jacksons– Randy, Jermaine, Janet and Rebbie– “kidnapped” Mrs Jackson to Arizona, hoping to get access to her money from Michael Jackson’s estate.

The 1 pm meeting, it’s believed, was designed to take place while Prince and Paris were in school. According to my sources, Michael Jackson’s kids do not know this meeting took place. This might be of note to Prince, especially, who has lately been listening to Jermaine and Randy, according to insiders.

The AEG case is going to hinge on whether the Jackson lawyers can prove AEG knew Michael was ill, and somehow encouraged Dr. Conrad Murray to ignore the facts. It’s also going to depend on how much Murray reported to AEG at all. This may prove difficult since Murray was never paid, and was “hired” by Michael. The AEG side is going to say Michael insisted on Murray, and they simply acquiesced.

In any case, the Jacksons shouldn’t be buying anything expensive before a verdict is reached.

Travolta-DeNiro “Killing Season” Goes Straight to DVD After Making Just $27K

Roger Friedman
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Travolta-DeNiro “Killing Season” Goes Straight to DVD After Making Just $27K

Well, so much for that. The awful John Travolta- Robert DeNiro thriller “The Killing Season” goes straight to DVD on August 20th. I don’t know what happened to the 90 day window for DVD releases. “Killing Season” just opened. But Millennium must have planned this from the beginning. “The Killing Season” made $27,713 in its one week of release. That should be all time low for both actors. Yikes….

…Now that “The Butler” title debate is over, Harvey Weinstein has issued a statement: “We are thrilled this has all come to an end and has been resolved.  The MPAA’s overturning of their original decision to now allow the use of ‘butler’ in the title is a victory for Lee Daniels, the film’s 28 investors who believed in it, America’s greatest attorney David Boies, and especially in the memory of my friend and the film’s producer Laura Ziskin.  Now we can focus on the importance of Lee Daniels’ film, the amazing performances by Forest, Oprah and the incredible cast who spent countless months bringing this story about American history and civil rights to screen.” “The Butler” opens August 12th, but will get a White House screening with the Obamas before that…

Beloved actress Rita Moreno is getting the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award in January. Moreno was the first actress to have an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony. She’s 82 and working all the time. Bravo!…

 

 

New Time Warner CEO Was Once Company Whistleblower and SEC Target

Roger Friedman
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Who says you can’t go home again? The new CEO of Time Warner is Joseph Ripp. Jeff Bewkes announced his appointment today. If his name sounds familiar, Ripp was once an AOL Time Warner whistleblower. Then as CFO of AOL he was indicted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, accused with other AOLTW execs of overstating ad revenue from the old AOL. In September 2011, Ripp reached a settlement with the SEC and paid fines totaling $150,000. http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2011/lr22109.htm

JosephRippPrior to Ripp’s SEC scandal, he made headlines in 2008 as a whistleblower at AOLTW: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/09/business/media/09aol.html?pagewanted=all

And now he’s CEO of the company. Ripp got the job after a long search process with many candidates including popular former Entertainment Weekly publisher Michael Klingensmith. Ripp succeeds Laura Lang, who made many enemies in a short time. Ripp looks like a prototypical, reassuring CEO for Time Warner: he’s 61, white haired, and lives in Connecticut. I feel better already.

 

Sam Shepard Joins Michael C. Hall in Indie Film “Cold in July”

Roger Friedman
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Sam Shepard Joins Michael C. Hall in Indie Film “Cold in July”

Now that “Dexter” is over for Michael C. Hall, he’s busy getting into films. His next one is an indie  called “Cold in July.” Based on a novel by Joe R. Landsale, “Cold In July” is sort of a “Cape Fear.” Hall plays a family man who shoots an intruder in his home. Then the dead intruder’s ex con father shows up. Sources say that playwright and popular actor Sam Shepard has signed on for the role of Ben Russell. Jim Mickle is directing from his own script with Nick Damici…NO word yet on who will play Hall’s wife…

…Stephen Dorff is in New York to film “Oliver’s Deal” for producer Christine Vachon and first time director Barney Elliot. His co-stars are Alberto Ammann and Carlos Bardem, older brother of Oscar winner Javier and brother in law of Penelope Cruz. The movie shoots briefly in New York before heading for Peru and Macchu Picchu. Carlos has a long resume in Spanish film and is also a well known poet. He was also in a 2011 movie called “Americano” which we all missed but maybe should review: Salma Hayek plays a very convincing stripper named Lola.

Dorff, by the way, just had a bunch of celeb friends up to his house in Malibu, I’m told, for a marathon viewing of “Breaking Bad.” They took in eight episodes in a row…Now, that’s binge viewing!…

 

Carl Reiner, 91 Year Old Legend: RIPD “Possibly Worst Movie Ever Made”

Roger Friedman
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Carl Reiner, 91 Year Old Legend: RIPD “Possibly Worst Movie Ever Made”

On Twitter, everyone’s got an opinion about the movies. But some have more weight than over. Carl Reiner, 91, is the legend behind “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” director of “The Jerk” with Steve Martin, writer of Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows”–well, you get the picture. He hated this weekend’s “RIPD” so much, he actually Tweeted: “RIPD”: R.I.P. Possibly the very worst movie ever made. I say possibly because I have not seen every movie made.”

Reiner had been looking forward to seeing the Ryan Reynolds-Jeff Bridges tweak of “Men in Black”– possibly because he read none of the bad buzz online. He’d said before going: “Against my better judgment I’m going to see RIPD tonite and hope to find my pre judging to be unnecessarily judgmental..Willl report.” After his review Tweet ran, Reiner responded: “Reaction to my RIPD comments will allow me to sleep well in the knowledge that today I have done a bit of Good Samaritanizing.”

“RIPD” was directed by Robert Schwentke.

Reiner has gained 33,000 followers on Twitter in a short time– which surprises him. He’s been touting the iBook reissue and updating of his memoir, “I Remember Me.” On the Twitter account he’s had other movie reviews. For example, he really like “The Way Way Back” and “The Heat.” He likes the classics: “Mel [Brooks] & I saw a film with Louise Reiner & wondered when she died. Google says: Born1910 & is now 103. Gives us codgers something to shoot for!”

He likes his own movies: “Man With Two Brains” with Steve Martin popped up on TV last nite & I laughed so hard, one would think I had nothing to do with it. And today, “The Jerk” popped on! I watched the first ten minutes and decided I’d tape it for later viewing….it was that promising.”

He also gives helpful tips for Tweeting: “When typing, to relieve neck & back pain: Put 2 large books under computer base, which gets your chin up, eyes forward & shoulders back.”

He also likes fried quail eggs, braised short ribs, and a good tongue sandwich.

Reiner’s movie Tweets should only go on and on. And he can count me in his army of 33,000.

 

“The Newsroom” Gets Cranky About Bloggers, OWS, and Adds Grace Gummer

Roger Friedman
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“The Newsroom” Gets Cranky About Bloggers, OWS, and Adds Grace Gummer

“The Newsroom” plowed into his second episode of Season 2 with a couple of agendas. Mostly Aaron Sorkin, who did write “The Social Network,” wandered more fully into the internet. Blogging, to be specific. And I’ve just a great Twitter conversation with Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker.

This is what I came away with: Sorkin has put YouTube and blogging at the heart of Maggie  and Don’s breakup, and Maggies romantic problems. She was caught on video, and the video was posted. She found the blogger, tracked her down to a Queens laundromat, made a deal, and was screwed. The blogger, who writes fan fiction about “Sex and the City” (still, after all these years) was depicted as combative, dumb, and representative of her generation.

Meantime, Charlie insists that one of the news shows runs a Twitter feed on a zipper along the bottom of the screen during a news show. And Emily Mortimer’s MacKenzie mocks Neal (Dev Patel) for trying to cover Occupy Wall Street, which is growing exponentially thanks to YouTube and social media.

Meanwhile, Gerry and the Genoa story are proceeding, that’s the main story of the season. It’s unclear whether it holds water yet.

Nussbaum says on Twitter: “Newsroom’s Astoria scene is there to dramatize that classic Sorkin theme: icky not-famous pajama people are stupid, cruel nothing-burgers.”

That’s dead on. Last week, Jane Fonda’s Leona described bloggers as “pajama people.” maybe my favorite line of the summer. I regret that I agreed with all of this as it was spoken. It’s generational, as Aaron Sorkin are close in age. But Nussbaum has a point, and this is why “The Newsroom”  feels more like “Lou Grant” than something from 2013. I keep waiting for Mason Adams as editor Charlie Hume to walk in and have it out with Lou and his staff.

But the good news: Grace Gummer joined the show tonight as a correspondent for a rival network. She is sleekly wonderful. I hope she and Jim hook up, and we see a lot more of her. Also Chris Chalk is getting more to do. (his character’s name is Gary Cooper!) You know the Africa trip will be a tragic disaster. Olivia Munn is the breakout actor of the first two episodes. I’d like to see more of Tom Sadoski and Jane Fonda (crossed fingers).

Even if you hate the show (which was poked fun at tonight), Jeff Daniels is doing an amazing job. Will McAvoy is not easy. Daniels is superb.

Hollywood’s Real Horror Story: Big Budget Flops Echo Spielberg, Lucas Prediction

Roger Friedman
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Hollywood’s Real Horror Story: Big Budget Flops Echo Spielberg, Lucas Prediction

A few weeks ago, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas said this would happen: multiple big studio flops each costing $150 million and up. This weekend brought us “RIPD” tanking completely, with a three day take of $12.7 million. The movie cost at least $150 million. “Red 2” did $18.5 million. Bruce Willis does not come cheap, and Helen Mirren gets a nice payday since her Oscar. Plus a strong ‘B’ cast and lots of special effects. “Red 2” is a fizzle. “Only God Forgives” with Ryan Gosling only played in 78 theaters. Still, it made about half as much as indie “Fruitvale Station,” which was in half as many theaters (34).

Get the picture?

This is Hollywood’s horror story of summer 2013. And the irony is that an actual horror movie, “The Conjuring,” took in a whopping $41 million. It cost around $25 million. Warner Bros., smarting from big failures like “Gangster Squad,” “Jack the Giant Slayer” and “Pacific Rim” (each in the $200-$250 mil range), took a page from Paramount’s “Paranormal Activity” playbook, and it worked.

Of course, WB has “Man of Steel” to boast about. Superman saved them again.

But we can’t forget “The Lone Ranger” and “After Earth,” big big bombs. Next comes “Elysium,” much rooted for at this point, the last chance to save the summer. For Sony, the next “Spiderman” can’t come fast enough.

Spielberg and Lucas warned us about this in June. Speaking at the opening of a media center, they caused a firestorm by predicting that a handful of failures costing $250 million would cause major changes in Hollywood. Also, charging more for 3D when the actual number of audience goers is less is not going to save the bottom line. This brutal summer isn’t over yet. There will be reverberations well into the rest of the year.

Who Should Play Batman in the New Superman-Batman Movie?

Roger Friedman
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Who Should Play Batman in the New Superman-Batman Movie?

Warner Bros. announced at Comic Con tonight that the next “Man of Steel” movie won’t be a sequel. Instead, they’ve wisely decided — with “The Dark Knight” trilogy behind them– do a “Superman” meets “Batman” movie. Henry Cavill will continue as Superman. But Batman is another story. Christian Bale is done after the three Christopher Nolan movies. So who should play Batman aka Bruce Wayne? Remember, this film will come out in summer 2015, two years from now. Go to our poll and vote from those choices, or send me your ideas.

“Man of Steel” director Zack Snyder and writer David Goyer will repeat from “Man of Steel”— and this time maybe there will be a third act and not just a massive battle sequence. Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne, and Diane Lane have signed on. Adams and Fishburne played Lois Lane and Perry White in “Man of Steel.” Diane Lane may be Bruce Wayne’s new squeeze– correction– she will return as Ma Kent.

Two heroes require multiple villains and some shrewd plotting back and forth from Metropolis to Gotham City. I like the idea of Clark and Lois investigating Bruce Wayne’s businesses. That could be a neat starting off point.

When I was a kid, Superman, Batman, and Spider Man comics cost 12 cents. If anyone had suggested that four decades later multimillions hinged on these guys, I would have laughed my head off. They were just comic book characters! I just wish they hadn’t ruined the Green Lantern.

Meantime, Comic Con has really become Promo Weekend for almost all of TV and all the action, comic, thriller and miscellaneous movies, sequels, and merchandising for Hollywood. The interviews with TV stars about their characters and the story lines of TV shows are hilariously earnest. It’s sort of like the anti-Cannes Film Festival.

Here’s the press release from Warner Bros.:

On the heels of the worldwide success of Man of Steel, director Zack Snyder is bringing together the two greatest Super Heroes of all time — Batman and Superman — for the first time on the big screen. The announcement was made today by Greg Silverman, President, Creative Development and Worldwide Production, and Sue Kroll, President, Worldwide Marketing and International Distribution,Warner Bros. Pictures.

The current hit, Man of Steel, has taken in more than $630 million at the worldwide box office to date, and climbing. Along with its star, Henry Cavill, the upcoming film brings back Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne and Diane Lane. The new Batman has yet to be cast.

Snyder is co-writing the story with David S. Goyer, who will then pen the screenplay. Production is expected to begin in 2014, with an anticipated release date in Summer 2015.

Silverman stated, “Zack Snyder is an incredibly talented filmmaker, but beyond that, he’s a fan first and he utterly gets this genre. We could not think of anyone better suited to the task of bringing these iconic Super Heroes to the screen in his own way.” Kroll added, “We are thrilled to be back in business with Zack and his team on this next movie. The success of Man of Steel is a wonderful testament to the love and support that both fans and new audiences, worldwide, have for these characters. We are very excited to see what Zack has in store for all of us.”

“Glee”: Cory Monteith’s Finn Character Will Be Killed Off

Roger Friedman
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“Glee”: Cory Monteith’s Finn Character Will Be Killed Off

The word from Comic Con: Cory Monteith’s “Glee” character will be killed off in the third episode of the new season. Show creator Ryan Murphy will start the new season with a two part Beatles tribute (which must make the folks at Sony/ATV Music Publishing very happy as they enter the Beatles’ 50th anniversary year in America).

Monteith (and presumably Lea Michele) will be written out of those shows. Then in episode 3, Finn will die. There will be a tribute to him and to Monteith. Then the show will go on hiatus so Murphy can decide what to do without Finn, and what will happen to Lea Michele’s Rachel if she stays with the show.

Murphy gave a lot of interviews at Comic Con, and this much can be gleaned: he conducted an intervention with Murphy in March, which is what sent the actor to rehab. So everyone at “Glee” knew what was up, and Murphy, I think with unusual compassion, tried to get Monteith the help he needed.

When Monteith returned from rehab, he voiced fears to Murphy that his drug addiction and rehab would cause him to be fired. Murphy says he reassured him that he would not. The rest, we know.

Monteith’s death is a tragedy, but “Glee” would have gone on without him whether or not Murphy and Michele wanted it to or not. “Glee” is a business, and it supports hundreds of people. Fox needs it, the producers need more episodes for syndication, and all the other actors and crew have contracts.

I do expect Murphy will handle Finn’s — and Monteith’s — death with great sensitivity. And has he’s indicated in all his interviews, it may be a catharsis for the audience as well.

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