Wow. That was fast. Six days after it was announced, Courteney Cox’s directing debut gets a new title. “Hello I Must Be Going” is now called “Just Before I Go.” What sounds like a bit of a take off on “Silver Linings Playbook” stars Seann William Scott of “American Pie” fame as a guy who comes home to settle scores before he commits suicide. Olivia Thirlby, Garrett Dillahunt, and Rob Riggle co-star. The listed producers include Cox and ex husband David Arquette. “Just Before I Go” is a low budget feature that will give Cox a soft entry into directing without a lot of fanfare. Hopefully this title will stand as the production is now casting for a gay Hispanic male in his early 20s, named Romeo. Productions begins next week while Cox is on hiatus from her hit TV show “Cougar Town.”
Mid-East Peace: Jon Stewart Appears in Cairo on Egyptian Counterpart’s TV Show
Jon Stewart appeared last night on Bassem Youseff’s TV show in Cairo, Egypt. This may actually bring peace to the middle East. An American Jewish TV host on an Arab show. The audience, which clearly knows Stewart from cable and the internet, was ecstatic. The two discussed many political subjects and were also extremely funny. Bassem explained that Cairo’s extreme traffic is “our first line of defense.” It’s worth watching the whole show to the end because there’s a cute capper. Stewart is on his 12 week break from The Daily Show so can he direct his movie, “Rosewater” starring Gael Garcia Bernal as Maziar Bahari.
Brad Pitt Scores Biggest Opening Weekend Ever with “World War Z”
UPDATE SUNDAY MORNING 10:55AM: The weekend total looks like it will be somewhere between $65mil and $68mil, which is just amazing considering what struggles this movie had. But word of mouth must have been great, and deservedly so.
UPDATE SATURDAY 1:11AM-– “World War Z,” according to estimates, made $25 million on Friday, and is headed to a $57 million or better weekend. This is a major win for Pitt, director Marc Forster and Paramount after reshooting a quarter of the film, and getting a lot of grief in the process. But the movie is a hit, critically and financially. Rest assured there will be a sequel. Brad has worked tirelessly for the last two weeks promoting “WWZ” everywhere except Mars. And it’s paid off.
Friday night 9;50PM Eastern: Brad Pitt is one of the biggest movie stars in the world, but he’s never been associated with boffo box office. That may change this weekend. Pitt is eying his biggest opening weekend since “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” in 2005 with “World War Z.” If the new movie goes over $50.4 million by Sunday night, it will be his biggest opening weekend ever. Right now, fueled by good reviews and strong word of mouth, “WWZ” looks very promising. Keep refreshing for updates…
Interesting: Pitt has never made a movie that could be considered a franchise-launcher. Only the “Ocean’s Eleven” movies fit that bill, and he was part of a large ensemble. His choice of roles has been extremely electic. The result is two Oscar nominations, for “Twelve Monkeys” and more recently “Moneyball.” He takes character roles a lot, and specializes in off beat comedy– thinking “Burn After Reading” and “Inglorious Basterds.”
Even though Brad is considered a sex symbol, his best roles rarely involve romance. His “big” movies have been gambles like “Jesse James” or “Benjamin Button.” There are no light romantic comedies with Brad Pitt playing the befuddled boyfriend. “Devil’s Own” and “Sleepers” were deep. “Snatch” and “Fight Club” were heavy. “Tree of Life” was experimental. The one time he really went light, with Julia Roberts in “The Mexican,” it didn’t work out.
So stay tuned. “WWZ” looks like it will be cause for celebration.
TVLand Ratings Strike Out: “Cleveland” Very Low, “Soul Man” Vanishes
TVLand returned to its first run schedule on Wednesday night and it was bad news. Their linchpin show, “Hot in Cleveland,” scored low numbers. But that was good news compared to “The Soul Man.” That egregious slice of yuck failed to make the top 100 shows of the night on cable. Consider that the top 100 consists of mostly reruns. The number 1 show on Wednesday was a first run episode of “Royal Pains” with 3.67 million viewers. Number 2 was a syndicated rerun of “The Big Bang Theory.”
“Royal Pains” also had a decent 1.2 for the 18-49 age demo, top of the list.
“Cleveland,” however, finished in the middle of the pack, with half as many actual viewers (1.69 mil) and a lackluster 0.5 in the demo. That means most “Cleveland” viewers are on respirators.
I’d compare that with “The Soul Man.” That this rotten show was renewed is mind boggling. Following “Cleveland” on Wednesday night, “The Soul Man” didn’t crack the top 100. The least viewed cable show of the night was a “Seinfeld” rerun with 780,000 people tuning in. That was number 100. Cedric the Entertainer’s poor rip off of the real Soul Man, Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave) couldn’t even be counted.
UPDATE Paula Deen Fired By Food Network: Posts Apology Video That Reeks of Disingenuity
Friday evening: Paula Deen was fired by the Food Network for using the ‘n’ word and admitting to social behavior that was never tolerable, but only explainable before the Civil War.
Earlier: Yikes. I am admittedly late to this Paula Deen story. I know she’s had a lot of problems in the last couple of years. But this latest is kind of stunning. She’s posted a video apology on YouTube which follows. I’ve also made a link for the infamous court transcript that started all of this. Here’s the thing: I know nothing about this woman. Zero. Is she drunk? Out of her mind? Or this just the same as with Helen Thomas? Is Paula Deen just voicing what she really believes? I guess so. It’s just completely unacceptable, all of it. But America rewards celebrities who say and do heinous things (hello, Mel Gibson). We make them rich and tolerate their atrociousness. Deen seems desperate now. She knows her business is wrecked.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/148813272/Transcript-of-the-Testimony-of-Paula-Deen-Date-May-17-2013
Here’s the video:
Meryl Streep Film “August: Osage County” Moved to Christmas Day for Oscar Blast
Getting ready for the Oscars? They’re a long way away, you know, an extra two weeks in the schedule because of the March 2, 2014 date. That means the Oscar buzzed movies are going to start pushing their release dates well into December. Those movies have to get through February, when the Olympics are going to be marketed through the roof.
Knowing this, The Weinstein Company, HQ of all Oscar activity, has picked its Academy Award front runner and moved it. “August: Osage County” has had such great reactions that it’s moving from October to Christmas Day. The John Wells-directed adaptation of the award winning play stars Meryl Streep, a natural for Best Actress consideration. Julia Roberts co-stars, and those who’ve seen it are impressed with her performance. (If she’s not strident and self-referential, this will be a comeback of major proportions.)
Others in the film include Juliette Lewis, Ewan McGregor, Dermot Mulroney, Benedict Cumberbatch, Margo Martindale, and Abigail Breslin. Come on! It’s already a Best Picture nominee. But seriously, it does look like “AOC” will get a serious push. The only problem– and everyone should have this problem– is that TWC has like four or five Best Actresses with Nicole Kidman, Oprah Winfrey, and Noemi Harris in the mix too for “Grace of Monaco,” “The Butler,” and “Mandela.”
Meantime, word on “The Butler” — due in August– is that tweaking and editing continue to make it perfect. One of the many actors who play a cameo may be getting cut out of the story. If so, I hope we’ll see them on the DVD.
The Sopranos: There Was a Reunion Movie, It Just Arrived on DVD
There will never be the hoped for “Sopranos” reunion movie now. Sadly, it can’t happen ever as the star, James Gandolfini, is gone. But there was a “Sopranos” reunion of a sort, and it’s just available on DVD. “Nicky Deuce” aired on Nickelodeon last month, based on a children’s book by one of the show’s stars, Steve Schirripa. The movie features Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli, Schirripa, Vincent Curatola and Tony Sirico as cute mobsters. A high school kid is sent to live with his uncle (Schirripa) who may be involved in mob activities. It’s like a light hearted version or a send up of “The Sopranos.” Curatola, who played Johnny Sack, told me yesterday that the gang got together at the end of May to promote the film. “We had a great time. Jimmy was in a great mood,” he said. “Nicky Deuce” is available on DVD now, although Nickolodeon hasn’t said a word about it. But it does mark the one and only “Sopranos” reunion on film, a nice footnote to the famed series.
Kanye, Kim Take Wrong Direction with Baby Name: North West Could Have Twin Peaks
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian (only claim to fame: her father was OJ Simpson’ s lawyer and best friend) have taken the wrong direction with their baby’s name. It’s North West. No kidding. According to reports, and of course, how wrong can they be? Someone had suggested Kaidence, which would have been preferable. But this may be a pre-arranged tie in with Northwest Airlines for an endorsement since K’s mother is clever at getting those deals done. Southwest Airlines doesn’t even have seat reservations. And Northwest does fly to some key cities.
Of course they could have named the baby Honey West, after the TV series which starred the late great Anne Francis. I liked Wild West, but that would be emphasizing the obvious since the baby is already said to be guaranteed coverage in 12 years on TMZ and other tabloids.
One suggestion was Mid West, but that seemed too bland, and the K’s were afraid people would just fly over her.
Another choice was Sho West, because you know she’s going to be a movie star. Many get their starts at Sho West, where clips of new films are played for distributors.
But North West it is, which means many summer vacations in the Pacific Rim. And what if this young lady develops like her mother? North West could have Twin Peaks.
“White House Down” Screens, and Twitter Reacts Unfavorably
Roland Emmerich’s “White House Down” screened on both coasts tonight. It premieres next Tuesday but the damage may have been done. While critics are embargoed from writing about it now, the audience has taken to Twitter in droves. The consensus isn’t very good. One Tweeter called it “hillarible” and may have coined a new word.
One thing that surprised me about “WHD” is that after the initial set up, it plays like a comedy. The audience laughed a lot. Early on, a White House staffer refers to a room in the building as the one we saw in Emmerich’s “Independence Day.” That was a tip off that the tone was changing from dead serious attack on the nation’s capitol to something more like the recent “21 Jump Street.” The movie gets jokier as it goes along.
One thing to watch: 13 year old Joey King is a breakout star from this film. She looks so much like a young Patty Duke, I think they should remake Duke’s famous 1960s series immediately with Joey as twin cousins. No kidding.
I didn’t think Sony was marketing “WHD” as a comedy. But it surely isn’t at all as serious minded as their Oscar nominated drama, “Zero Dark Thirty.”So far the Twitters are calling it “dumb” and “silly.” But there’s obviously a high interest in seeing Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx in a movie together. And I am always happy to see James Woods. Michael Murphy, another favorite, plays the Vice President.
Emmerich has made some terrible movies like “2012” and “The Day After Tomorrow” and a great one in “Independence Day.” “White House Down” clocks in at two hours and twelve minutes. It cost well beyond $150 million.
PS Tatum plays a cop named John Cale. Is this a tribute to the great musician? And another character is named Ted Hope, which got laughs in the screening. Ted is a popular indie producer.
Here’s the real John Cale:
“All My Children,” “One Life to Live” Union Dispute Resolved
Just got back from screening of “White House Down” and learned the union dispute between Prospect Park and IATSE has been resolved. “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” will resume production on August 12th after all. The shows shut down more than a week early when IATSE complained the shows’ budgets were higher than expected.
Another announcement from Prospect Park today, too: their use of foul language in the shows will end beginning with June 24th episodes. This is great news. Gratuitous use of all sorts of four letter words (and others) was grating and offensive. The writers for these shows have enough problems. Thank goodness that will end.
Now that the union mess is done, Prospect Park can figure out how to get Susan Lucci back onto “All My Children” and how to straighten out some other problems. Right now they’ve got veteran actress Cady McClain, who’s maybe 40, grandmother to a guy who looks like he’s 20. And her “Son” is 30. It’s very weird. Something about “All My Children” feels inert and canned. I think it’s missing Lucci’s gift for stirring stuff up.
The better show is “One Life to Live.” You can see they’re doing the best they can with a limited budget. But the show moves better, has a focus and feels like it has a purpose.
Soaps get laughed at a lot, but they are launching pads still for lots of talented people (and home to those who stay too). Billy Magnussen is Tony nominated from “Vanya and Sonia” — he came from “As the World Turns.” Jesse Soffer from the same show just got an NBC series. Plenty of soap grads are on every show and in plenty of films and theater. Judith Light, who’s just won Tony Awards back to back, started on “One Life to Live.” If only the soap could her to come back for a cameo…