At the Cannes jury press conference today, Steven Spielberg let it be known he’s happy about one thing here. No campaigning. Spielberg just came through a brutal Oscar campaign for “Lincoln” and lost. “I think the great thing is that there’s no campaigning,” Spielberg said. “We’re going to be caucus-ing and deliberating and meeting. As you know, awards season in America is like a political cycle. We had the campaign for president of the United States of America. And the campaign for the Academy Award. There’s no campaigning here and that is like a breath of fresh air for me.”
Cannes Opening Will Toast Spielberg, Color Purple
It’s going to be quite the opening night for the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Lana dek Rey was reportedly going to sing, but instead there will be a tribute to “The Color Purple” for Steven Spielberg. She will be part of a big presentation with French actress Audrey Tatou, as well as a mini tribute to Steven Spielberg and the presentation of his jury including Nicole Kidman, Ang Lee, and Christoph Waltz.
At the afternoon press conference for the jury, Ang Lee– who won the Oscar in February for Best Director–said of head juror Spielberg: “I worship him. He’s my hero.” It was heartfelt. Spielberg blushed. “I worship ‘Life of Pi’,” he said. “So I worship Ang Lee.”
Nicole Kidman said she did not get any advice from hubby Keith Urban about being a judge– he’s finishing a rocky year as a jurist on “American Idol.” Kidman did say Urban would be joining her here as soon as “Idol” is over. He sorely needs a vacation, that’s for sure.
Waltz likened negotiating with the other jurors to a type of psychotherapy, and mentioned the name of Freud. Waltz, whose international career began here with “Inglourious Basterds” just three years ago, said he still can’t believe he’s a juror.
“Coming up the stairs today I forgot what I was doing here,” he laughed.
Gatsby Cannes: Director Baz Luhrmann Says He Never Got Good Reviews
The Cannes press conference for The Great Gatsby was more interesting for what wasn’t said than what was going on: beefy bodyguards for Leonardo DiCaprio stood at the edge of the stage. One of them filmed the audience of reporters and photogs with his iPhone. DiCaprio, center on the dais among the cast, drank espresso and some kind of fizzy water. The press, which did not applaud at all after this morning’s screening, seemed as muted as their reaction to the actors as they did to the movie.
Director Baz Luhrmann said he didn’t really worry about the mixed reviews. “I’ve never had great reviews,” he said. He said that he and DiCaprio had not totally given up the idea of making the epic
Alexander. “We even have a studio built for it, by Dino DeLaurentiis.” It was a film that never came to fruition.
DiCaprio looked a little bored. The one time he lit up was when he mentioned the great US box office from this past weekend. He must be tired of doing press for this movie already.
The one real highlight of the press conference was the appearance of Chaz Ebert, widow of Roger Ebert. Several of us jumped up when she walked in, and there were a lot of hugs.
“Don’t make me cry,” she said.
Anne Hathaway New Film Latest to be Financed by New Cannes Stars
I told you exclusively about Anne Hathaway‘s next movie, “Song One,” which starts shooting in June in New York. Hathaway won’t sing, but there will be music. Her character is involved with a rocker played by real life Brit star Johnny Flynn. Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley has written the music. The film is co-produced by Jonathan Demme and Hathaway’s husband Adam Shulman. Kate Barker Froyland wrote the screenplay and directs.
Now comes word that the new stars of Cannes, Worldview Entertainment, will handle the money end. Worldview is the brain child of a brother and sister who are finance whizkids, and the actual kids of another financial wizard. Sarah Johnson Redlich, 53, and Bill Johnson, 50, are the adult children of Charles B. Johnson, famed founder of Franklin Templeton Investments.
Worldview — with CEO and chairman Christopher Woodrow– is suddenly becoming a major player here in Cannes. They’ve already got a bunch of films either finished or in production, many playing here or being presented including Guillame Canet’s “Blood Ties,” James Gray’s “The Immigrants,” and Arnaud Desplechin’s “Jimmy P.” all in competition.
Over the weekend, Worldview will introduce themselves with a party on a yacht put together by New York nightlife queen Amy Sacco. And then, watch out for more deals.
Justin Long’s “A Case of You” Gets IFC to Release
Exclusive: It does look like IFC is closing a deal to distribute the Justin Long-written and acted indie rom com “A Case of You.” Kat Coiro directed this very amusing and charming film which was debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in April. Justin wrote the film with his brother and co-star Keir O’Donnell. Long and Evan Rachel Wood star as the main duo who, of course, are thrown together by odd circumstances.
There are very humorous performances by Busy Phillips, Peter Dinklage, Vince Vaughn, and Sam Rockwell. Holly Wiersma, Logan Levy and Cassian Elwes lead a list of producers who heard from several suitors after Tribeca. Long and co. are still hopeful they can get Joni Mitchell to help them with rights to her song. But even without it, they’ve got a gem of a film.
Cannes Gears Up For “Gatsby” Opening as Soundtrack CD Scores
The Cannes Film Festival is gearing up for Wednesday night’s red carpet premiere of “The Great Gatsby.” The film, with $55 million banked since Friday in the U.S., will launch worldwide from here.
Posters and adverts adorn the front of the famous Carlton Hotel. Tonight– Tuesday– the cast and their guests are getting a private dinner party at the Cap D’Antibes villa of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovitch.
On Thursday they’ll be treated to a private dinner at the famed Michelangelo restaurant.
In between, “Gatsby” opens the film festival on Wednesday with a black tie screening at the Palais on the Croisette. The whole gang– DiCaprio, Maguire, Mulligan, Luhrmann– will attend the festival dinner immediately following the screening. But by midnight they’ll be at yet another private party that will rage on until they retreat to the Hotel du Cap in Antibes.
Meantime, the “Gatsby” soundtrack surprised just about everyone this past week It finished at number 2 on the charts, selling around 135,000 copies. The CD collection is propelled by Beyonce, Jay Z, Emeli Sande, and will.i.am, among others.
Elsewhere in Cannes: the jury had a private dinner at the Hotel Martinez. Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, Nicole Kidman, and Christoph Waltz were all in attendance. They’ll be introduced to the public on Wednesday at an afternoon press conference, and then at the evening’s formal presentation.
“Bling Ring” director Sofia Coppola was seen in the Martinez lobby around cocktail time. She and her cast were going out to dinner. “Bling Ring” screens on Thursday.
Super producer and director Irwin Winkler and his wife were strolling up the Croisette on Tuesday afternoon. On Saturday Winkler will present Martin Scorsese’s “Silence,” to be shot next year in Taiwan starring Andrew Garfield. Scorsese wil be here, and their whole unveiling is set for a big yacht.
But rain and cold weather are coming– three days of it. Already some parties have been rescheduled until next week. Everyone is hunkering down. And poor mobile tele-communicating can be a drag on top of it. (Thanks to TMobile for making life extra difficult while on the road.)
And at home, look for a tense couple of days wrapping up “American Idol” on Wednesday and Thursday. My sources say the judges have had it. These are two “live” shows. But if they get to the end of it without a murder mystery everyone will be relieved.
Broadway: $75 Mil “Spider Man” Box Office Fade As New Shows Arrive
Is it curtains for “Spider Man” on Broadway? Not yet, but things are looking a little scary for Peter Parker and Mary Jane. For the last several weeks, the Broadway box office for “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” has been in slow decline. This past week the show’s gross was a little over $1 million– and that’s the way it’s been recently. Compare this week to four weeks ago, and the number is trending down by the tens of thousands.
But that’s not good news. “Spider Man,” as we all know, cost $75 million. Its official opening was June 14, 2011–not quite two years ago. And that was after previews started in November 2010. The show had several missed openings, and even shut down for three weeks in May 2011 while it was retooled.
Initially, the Julie Taymor show with songs by Bono and The Edge was taking in $1.5 to $1.7 million. All the heralded accidents in the theater drew curiosity seekers The flying and the costumes were also draws, especially for tourists who enjoyed the action and didn’t read the bad reviews.
Even that has petered out, apparently. “Spider Man” used to be the new kid on the block. But this past week it finished 9th of all Broadway shows, including the play “Lucky Guy” with Tom Hanks.
New musicals like “Kinky Boots,” “Matilda,” “Motown,” and the revived “Pippin” are now out drawing “Spider Man.” Then there are the standbys have built return audiences into their draws, like “The Book of Mormon,” “Wicked,” “The Lion King,” “Mamma Mia,” and “Jersey Boys.”
It’s not only the totals at the box office that look worrisome for “Spider Man.” The show is only playing at around 72% capacity. The average ticket price is $89 which means it can be found at TKTS on discount. Even an enjoyable, middling show like “Newsies” filled 98% of its seats last week. “Chicago” somehow did 89.2%.
And then of course there are ancillary issues. There’s still no “Spider Man” national tour. There’s no spin off show in Las Vegas. No doubt the idea of starting anew somewhere else, and having new accidents etc, is keeping the show from expanding. But you can already imagine “Kinky Boots” in other cities. “Spider Man”? Not so easy to get all those hydraulics working elsewhere.
This summer will really tell the tale of “Spider Man.” If tourist audiences don’t fill up the Foxwoods Theater, the Green Goblin may be the least of this super hero’s problems.
Exclusive: Five Years Later, Hyatt Hotels Heir Will Re-Shoot Large Chunks of Unreleased Jazz Film with New Actors
A year ago I told you about Hyatt Hotels heir Dan Pritzker and his devotion to a feature film he started shooting in 2008 but never released. It’s called “Bolden!” about obscure jazz performer Buddy Bolden (1877-1931). Anthony Mackie played the lead in a cast that included Jackie Earle Haley and Wendell Pierce.
Pritzker shot the film in North Carolina, brought it home to Chicago, and let it sit. In May 2012– a year after “Bolden” wrapped– he told me he’d release it when it was ready. Another year passed and I wondered what had happened.
Now I can tell you that Pritzker, who has unlimited deep pockets– is planning to go back and re-shoot large chunks of the film this September. That’s over five years since he wrapped. The sets are in storage in North Carolina.
But he won’t have the same Buddy Bolden. Pritzker’s producer, Jon Cornick, tells me that Mackie–who went on to make “The Hurt Locker” and has turned into a sought after leading man–isn’t available. So, says Cornick, they are now casting to replace him.
Yes, you read that right. Pritzker will reshoot all the scenes with the main character now played by a new actor.
A rep for Mackie says he loved making the movie five years ago and wishes everyone well. He has “two or three projects” and at least one of them will be shooting in the fall.
Mackie is currently on screen in “Pain and Gain.” Among his new films is “Captain America” and a movie about WikiLeaks.
http://www.showbiz411.com/2012/05/14/hyatt-hotel-heir-denies-hes-spent-100-mil-on-jazz-film
“He wants to make the film he wants to make,” Cornick told me about Pritzker. “He wants to finish the film.” It’s unclear yet whether more actors will have to be recast. Cornick says they have “plenty” of footage of other characters in scenes that didn’t feature Mackie.
“But he plays Buddy Bolden, and that’s what the movie is about.” Indeed.
Sources say a new script exists that changes about a third of the movie as it now exists.
When I interviewed Pritzker last year he denied that he’d invested $100 million in the project. Cornick also laughed at that number. But that was a number I’d heard from reliable sources. And Pritzker did manage to produce a short black and white silent film about Louis Armstrong, taken from the shot film. He staged it in a few cities in theaters using live musicians.
Now Cornick says they are casting for a new Buddy Bolden. Does it have to be a star or someone of Mackie’s stature? “No,” he told me. “Just a great Buddy Bolden.”
Angelina Jolie Writes That She Had Double Mastectomy
Oscar winner and activist Angelina Jolie is always up for a fight. And so she writes in Tuesday’s New York Times that during the winter she had a double mastectomy. The reason was that doctors discovered she carried what she calls a “faulty” gene called BRCA1. She had an 87 percent chance of breast cancer and a 50% chance of ovarian cancer. The mother of six had lost her own mother several years earlier at the age of 56.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/opinion/my-medical-choice.html?ref=opinion
Jolie writes: “I am fortunate to have a partner, Brad Pitt, who is so loving and supportive. So to anyone who has a wife or girlfriend going through this, know that you are a very important part of the transition. Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center, where I was treated, for every minute of the surgeries. We managed to find moments to laugh together. We knew this was the right thing to do for our family and that it would bring us closer. And it has.”
Jolie underwent reconstructive surgery. Now she’s told her story so that women everywhere will been encouraged to see their doctors and weigh their options. It’s a brave move, but no surprise from a woman who is considered a sex symbol but takes everything about life seriously. Bravo for her courage.
HBO Gets Toback-Baldwin Film About Cannes Festival
I told you all about James Toback‘s “Seduced and Abandoned” last week. I actually saw the film in the HBO screening room and knew they were buying it, but now it’s official: HBO will be the U.S. home to what is really a very cool document about Cannes and filmmaking in general. It’s also historically important because “S&A” has interviews with people we don’t get to see often, like Bertolucci and Polanski. The film is also very funny, and very personal.
Now that I’ve just arrived in Cannes, and “S&A” will be shown here next week, I’m thinking how much the audience here is going to enjoy it. By the way, I did tell you that Alec Baldwin takes it on the chin in this film, as film financiers express reluctance to spend money a movie that he’s set to top line. One of them calls him “a TV actor.” Turns out Baldwin didn’t even know that was in the film until he saw the final cut. Kudos to him for not taking it personally.