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“Bachelorette” Star Makes Acting Debut in Woody Allen Film

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It’s hard to believe, I know. But Woody Allen may secretly watch “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette.” He’s cast Ali Fedotowsky in her acting debut in “Blue Jasmine.” I know: the movie already has one curve ball with Andrew Dice Clay turning in an excellent performance as a smarter-than-you think blue collar guy married to Sally Hawkins.

But a contestant from reality TV who’s never acted before? Ali, who was on both ABC shows, even has a speaking role– she has lines. She plays Melanie, a trainer in the New York gym where Cate Blanchett’s Jasmine and Alec Baldwin’s Hal work out. Hal asks Jasmine, after she declines, if he should invite the trainer to a Yankee game. You can surmise what happens next. She’s only in one scene, but the audience will remember her late when Hal is caught doing a lot of different things.

Over the years, casting director Juliet Taylor has found a lot of unusual people for Woody’s movies. But this one is certainly very offbeat!

Kirstie Alley Advocates Violence Against Paparazzi

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Kirstie Alley is advocating violence against photographers and paparazzi on her Twitter account. Alley is an actress, member of the Scientology cult, and purveyor of diet products. She sent out two messages in the last few hours backing Kanye West’s recent altercation with photos in LAX, wishing he had done more, and basically promoting the idea.

 

2013 Toronto Film Fest: Meryl Streep, Mandela, Julian Assange, Mike Myers

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Meryl Streep, Nelson Mandela, Julian Assange, Mike Myers, Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman are names in the mix for the 2013 Toronto Film Festival. TIFF announced its big gala presentations this morning and here they are: “August: Osage County,” “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” “The Fifth Estate,” “The Railway Man,” Ron Howard’s “Rush,” “Kill Your Darlings,” Jennifer Aniston and Tim Robbins in “Life of Crime,” Mike Myers’ documentary about Alice Cooper manager Shep Gordon, and a new movie by Canadian whiz Don McKellar. Also included are “Parkland” and “Love Punch.”

The opening night film is Bill Condon’s “The Fifth Estate.” Benedict Cumberbatch — that’s Khan, to you Star Trek fans– plays Julian Assange, the real life antagonist of Wikileaks fame. Condon, a serious writer and director from “Gods and Monsters,” “Chicago,” and “Dreamgirls,” makes a comeback after a payday turn to “Twilight.” He is welcomed back most vociferously.

On the docket for special presentations: Jason Bateman’s directing debut with “Bad Words,” Steve McQueen’s highly anticipated “12 Years a Slave,” Paul Haggis’s excellent “Third Person,” Nicole Holofcener’s “Enough Said” with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and two Canadian favorites that should be big hits: Jason Reitman’s “Labor Day” and Atom Egoyan’s “Devil’s Knot.”

And two movies I am very excited about: Stephen Frears directing Judi Dench in “Philomena” and the feature film debut of “Mad Men” writer-director Matthew Weiner.

 

Cate Blanchett on Acting with Andrew Dice Clay: “I’m Sure He Was Nervous Too”

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Cate Blanchett arrived at the Museum of Modern Art last night for the premiere of Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine” with two young men. They’d flown in from Paris as representatives of design house Balenciaga with Cate’s gown for the evening. That’s right: the dress had assistants. And that was as it should be since Blanchett is not fooling around in “Blue Jasmine.” Her turn as Jasmine–er, Jeanette–French is going to be hard to be beat come Oscar time.

I said this a couple of weeks ago. But now the A list came and they are pretty critical. Charlie Rose and Norah O’Donnell from CBS The Morning, Al Roker and Deborah Roberts, Sopranos creator David Chase, Bob Balaban and wife Lynn, the writer, many “Girls” cast members including Adam Driver, Alex Karpovsky, and Zosia Mamet, Cuba Gooding Jr., Martha Stewart, Amy Poehler, Natasha Lyonne (looking pretty swell), Evan Jongkeit, plus Tony nominee Billy Magnussen, and so on were just mesmerized by Blanchett’s Jasmine.

And then there’s Andrew Dice Clay, fully revived, 55 years old, with dyed jet black hair and a cool black tough looking vest. He’s got an autobiography coming out in January called “The Dirty Truth.” Entourage creator Doug Ellin is making a documentary about him.

Blanchett has a few scenes with him and Alec Baldwin, and one with him and Peter Sarsgaard that’s integral to the movie. It’s a big reveal. “I think like all of us he was nervous,” Cate said of ADC, whom she praised. The Dice Man said, “When we did that scene, I pulled Cate aside and said I can’t believe I’m working with all of you.”

Did Cate know who he was in advance? After all, she’s Australian. “Oh yes,” she said, smiling. Clay is infamous now even 25 years after the controversial peak of his career.

Of the cast, Baldwin, Sarsgaard, Louis CK and Michael Stuhlbarg were present.  Stuhlbarg went to the after party at Harlow, as did Tammy Blanchard. Bobby Cannavale was unaccounted for, and Sally Hawkins is in England.

And Woody? His publicist Leslee Dart read a very brief text from Allen, who’s shooting his new film right now in Cannes and Nice with Colin Firth. “I am in the south of france filming and unable to be there tonight. I only wish i was in NY and unable to be there. My best to all, woody”

Allen is notorious for skipping his own premieres.

The premise of “Blue Jasmine” is sort of– I made this up- what if Blanche DuBois came to live with Stella because her husband was Bernie Madoff, and he’d lost everything. Jasmine’s husband. Hal (Baldwin) pulls a Madoff. But it has more far more dramatic results. Jasmine is destroyed. Woody so comprehended this character, and Blanchett so fully portrays her, that her tragedy is quite real on screen. And that means come Oscar time, Blanchett will have the lead in a tough, tough category.

 

 

What Will the Royals Name the New Baby?

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It’s a boy! Prince William and Kate Middleton have a baby boy. He’s eight pounds, six ounces. One day, when he’s around 170 pounds, he’ll be King of England. What will his parents name him? George? Phillip? Kanyei? What are your suggestions? And when do you think he will be King? In 50 years? That would be 2063, my friends. Given the genes in that family, this baby will be a Prince for a long, long time. Anyway, congrats to the people of England. They are very, very happy.

Dennis Farina, Popular TV and Film Actor, Dead at 69

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Really sad news today: “Law & Order” actor Dennis Farina has died at age 69. His publicist says it was from a blood clot in his lung. Farina was very well known to TV audiences from the Dick Wolf series, as well as countless other television and movie roles. His key films roles were in “Get Shorty,” with Bette Midler in “That Old Feeling,” in “Saving Private Ryan,” and in “Out of Sight.” Farina was a handsome, leading man type who worked better in character roles– he was always the fifth guy on the credits. But he was a welcome sight in any film, usually playing a smooth operator. His resume is huge because he was so talented. Most recently he starred in the ill fated HBO series “Luck.” According to the imdb, he’d just finished two new films. He’s the third big name actor after James Gandolfini and Cory Monteith to die this summer. I hope that’s it. Condolences to his family and friends.

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

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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

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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

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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

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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.