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Downton Abbey’s Matthew, Dan Stevens, Still Alive, Shows off New Look at NY Observer Party

Roger Friedman
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Downton Abbey’s Matthew, Dan Stevens, Still Alive, Shows off New Look at NY Observer Party

Yes, Matthew Crawley is still alive. That is, actor Dan Stevens has survived his fatal car crash in the final episode of “Downton Abbey” season three. He would have been mobbed at the posh Four Seasons restaurant last night during the New York Observer’s 25th anniversary party. Would have, except Stevens– now living in Brooklyn and filming Scott Frank’s “A Walk Among the Tombstones” with Liam Neeson, arrived sporting an entirely new look. He’s lost maybe 10 or 15 pounds. His hair, dyed blonde for the hit British drama, is now dark, dark brown. And spiky. He seems a little gaunt compared to fleshy hail-fellow-well-met Matthew. But Matthew is no more.

“I asked for extra blood in that final scene,” the absolutely charming Stevens told me. “I wanted to make sure people knew Matthew was dead. There was no question.”

dan stevens as matthew crawleyStevens spent last fall and this winter on Broadway with Jessica Chastain in “The Heiress.” He knew when he arrived on Broadway he was not returning to the Crawley family. In the UK, fans found out on Christmas Day that Matthew was finito. Americans only learned the sad, shocking truth in the last few weeks. Stevens told me had to leave. “I knew I had to try and get into movies,” he told me. But he loved the cast and Julian Fellows. Did they joke around on set? “We did. Mostly it was with Allen Leech, who plays Branson. And Penelope Wilton– I was so lucky to have her as my mother.”

For most of the night at the Observer party, Stevens went unnoticed. He hung out with fellow Brits Tom Hooper (director of Les Miserables and The King’s Speech) and writer Amanda Foreman and her husband.

In the background, the famous and infamous came and went: Mike Bloomberg, Harvey Weinstein, Donald and Melania Trump– Donald is the father in law of Observer owner Jared Kushner who is the husband of lovely Ivanka, as well as Christine Baranski, Katie Holmes, Katie Couric, Dan Abrams, Alexa Ray Joel, Ken Auletta, longest Observer editor Peter Kaplan, original owner Arthur Carter, Spike Lee and Tonya Lee, Newark mayor Cory Booker, producer Linda Yellen, Hearst chief David Carey, and Facebook-Napster founder Sean Parker.

There was no sign of one time Observer editor Graydon Carter. Totally MIA after agreeing to be a co-host: Matt Lauer. But there was a troika of “broadcast chicks”– CNN’s hotter than hot Ashley Banfield, Fox News’s popular Jamie Colby and Kimberly Guilfoyle.broadcast chick troika

 

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Broadway Scoop: Carole King-Gerry Goffin-Mann & Weil Musical Is a Go

Roger Friedman
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Broadway Scoop: Carole King-Gerry Goffin-Mann & Weil Musical Is a Go

At long last here is the exclusive I am so happy to announce: “Beautiful” is the name of the absolutely much anticipated musical based largely on the music of Carole King. But that’s not all. “Beautiful” will have classics from the songbook of Carole King and Gerry Goffin, songs of Carole’s from the “Tapestry” era, and will also feature songs by that 60s songwriting couple’s friends, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. The Goffins and the Weils were the stars of the Brill Building, music publisher Donnie Kirschner’s two best teams.

And there’s more: the book for “Beautiful” is written by Doug McGrath, director of “Emma” and “Nicholas Nickleby,” writer with Woody Allen of several films including “Manhattan Murder Mystery.” The director, I am told, is Mark Bruni, most recently the man behind “Old Jews Telling Jokes.”

The main songs are from King, and I’m told that the normally exacting singer songwriter has been a pleasure to work with on the show. Songs like “The Loco Motion,” “Up on the Roof,” “It Might as Well Rain Until September,” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday” are said to be in the mix, eventually giving way to the mega selling “Tapestry” album collection including “It’s Too Late,” “Beautiful” and “I Feel the Earth Move.” King saved her Shirelles hit “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” from the 2011 show “Baby It’s You” so it would be fresh here.

The show will also pull from the Mann-Weil songbook– including, perhaps, “On Broadway” and “Uptown.” There’s also a nod to Neil Sedaka, who wrote “Oh Carol” about King before she added an ‘e’ to her name. Mann & Weil had had their own touring musical called “They Wrote That.”

An official announcement should come any day. But for now, it’s great news. From “Baby It’s You” to “Motown” as well as the long ago hit “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” Broadway is really getting a dose of great 60s music. If only Phil Spector would release the dramatic rights to his catalog so Ronnie Spector could move forward with her show, and then we’d have something. Meantime, you can hear the great songs of Sam (Moore) and the late Dave (Prater) in the new movie “The Sapphires.”

LAPD Conclusion After Ten Months: Missing Fox Exec Gavin Smith “Likely Dead”

Roger Friedman
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You don’t ever want to be murdered or have anything bad happen to you in Los Angeles. That’s the conclusion I’ve drawn from years of watching the LAPD, Beverly Hills Police, all of them. Celebrities walk free. Investigations take forever and their conclusions never make sense. Ronni Chasen, for example. was murdered by a homeless man who bicycled from Hollywood to Beverly Hills in the middle of the night, managed to shoot her like a pro, then bike back to Hollywood and kill himself. I am still scratching my head over that one.

Last May 2012, Fox exec Gavin Smith disappeared. The report was that he’d stopped at a friend’s house, stayed overnight, and was never heard from again. His blonde, LA-perfect family put up a website– www.findgavinsmith.com– but almost immediately abandoned the search. It’s taken all this time, but now the LAPD have concluded what Miss Marple might have guessed on Day 2: he was murdered. He is not missing. Surprise!

The LA County Sheriff’s Department has just announced that they found Smith’s Mercedes on February 21 in a storage facility owned by John Creech, the incarcerated husband of Smith’s “friend” or lover or drug companion. It’s been 10 months since Smith vanished.

LAPD: “After locating Smith’s vehicle, homicide detectives served several search warrants in the San Fernando Valley in furtherance of the investigation. Based on the vehicle’s condition and information developed from persons cooperating in the investigation, homicide detectives are now investigating this case as a homicide. Gavin’s body has not yet been recovered.”

Smith’s college basketball star Evan son, a prolific Tweeter of nothing mostly, stopped Tweeting in mid January. That was the tip off that the Smiths knew something by then. But even then he rarely Tweeted about his father.

Of course, in New York we have a tabloid news world with the Daily News and the New York Post. Someone goes missing and they are found. Los Angeles  has the Times, whittled down to a brave few. Otherwise, Los Angeles lives in a news-free zone. It’s very sad.

PS The Hollywood Reporter’s first report was that Smith’s body had been found. They’ve corrected that.

https://local.nixle.com/alert/4972922/

 

Boston Phoenix Said to Be Closing, Alternative Weeklies Now a Thing of the Past

Roger Friedman
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Boston Phoenix Said to Be Closing, Alternative Weeklies Now a Thing of the Past

The Real Paper in Boston died a long time ago. Now Stephen Mindich, scourge of Boston publishing is finally shuttering the once beloved Boston Phoenix. Imagine that Boston, once the hippest college area in the U.S., now sustains no alternative weekly paper to the feeble Globe and the even sadder Herald. In New York, the Village Voice is a ghost wandering around the neighborhood making sounds that can only be heard in crazy people’s heads. Recently my cousin asked me if I could help find her daughter an internship in “journalism.” What’s that, I wondered aloud?

Back in my day (IBM Selectrics, pay phones, long nights in the library research room), papers like the Phoenix, Real Paper, VV, and Soho Weekly News were where you started out, learned the ropes, eventually got a piece published, networked. The “journalism” was real, it was reporting, is wasn’t “blogging,” snarking, opinionating, bloviating–and for free, no less. I don’t know how Mindich finally killed the Phoenix. But I do imagine that everyone’s on their mobile device, and that stopping to buy a paper at the– ahem– newsstand is out of fashion.

And good grief– there doesn’t seem to be even a www.bostonphoenix.com to say goodbye to. Is WBCN still up there? Charles Laquidara, a nation weeps.

 

“Veronica Mars” Clever Kickstarter Campaign Yields $2 Mil Plus–A Record–and a Movie

Roger Friedman
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“Veronica Mars” Clever Kickstarter Campaign Yields $2 Mil Plus–A Record–and a Movie

Rob Thomas–not the one from matchbox twenty– really wanted to make a movie of his long-cancelled TV series “Veronica Mars.” So he launched a Kickstarter campaign with Kristen Bell and other stars of the show that left the air 8 years ago.

Thomas writes on the Kickstarter site:  “Warner Bros. wasn’t convinced there was enough interest to warrant a major studio-sized movie about Veronica and the project never got off the ground. After that, I tried to tamp down expectations. I didn’t want to be guilty — at least not twice — of building up hope when the odds seemed so long. Still, without fail, in every interview I do or every place I speak, I get the “will there be a Veronica Mars movie?” question. Even after a couple of years of downplaying the chances, I’d still run across blog postings headlined, “will Rob Thomas shut up about the Veronica Mars movie, already!” I was trying to. I promise.”

As Bell says in the video below, if they get $2 mil, they’re on to shoot this summer. It’s great pr, a fun video, and it builds on viewer loyalty. So I guess by summer 2014 we will have “Veronica Mars: The Movie.” Why not?

As of this morning, they’ve raised $2.5 million– a record for an indie film on Kickstarter–and it keeps climbing.

 

American Idol PR Stunt? Nicki Minaj Misses Part of Live Show, Stuck in Traffic, Tweets “F U Malibu”

Roger Friedman
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American Idol PR Stunt? Nicki Minaj Misses Part of Live Show, Stuck in Traffic, Tweets “F U Malibu”

Okay come on. Really? I always thought Mariah Carey, who has never operated a clock properly, would some how miss a live edition of “American Idol.” But last night, Nicki Minaj was so late that she missed the first part of the show. She was stuck in traffic in the notorious 405 freeway. But what? The show airs at 5pm in Los Angeles. Why wasn’t she there and accounted for by 3pm? Hello? With “Idol” ratings in a decline, you’d think at least attendance was mandatory for the judges. Too crazy, no? Ryan Seacrest started the show in Minaj’s judge’s chair. Twenty minutes into the show, Minaj showed up, didn’t say a word about where she’d been. She sported huge black sunglasses and a black hoodie. Unprofessional? At the rate that she’s being paid: to say the least.

Classy Nicki did Tweet in about her ride down from the beach. I altered the first word, which was spelled out:

 

PS Was this a PR Stunt? You never, never know when it comes to “Idol.” But it did get everyone’s attention.
Two hours earlier, let’s say at about 7:20pm DST– 40 minutes before the show was set to start, Minaj Tweeted:

“Argo” Moment: Screenwriter Almost Meets Real Canadian Ambassador Who Saved Hostages

Roger Friedman
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“Argo” Moment: Screenwriter Almost Meets Real Canadian Ambassador Who Saved Hostages

The HBO “Phil Spector” premiere was pretty cool and lavish, with A list guests like Keith Richards and Patti Hansen mixing it up with star Al Pacino, producer Barry Levinson, Christine Baranski, “Game Change” screenwriter Danny Strong, “Sopranos” creator David Chase, Aida Turturro, “Girls” star Allison Williams, James Lipton, Regis and Joy Philbin, Joy Behar, RCA Records chief Tom Corson, both New York State film commissioner Pat Kaufman and City chief Katherine Oliver. Plus, hidden in the back of post-screening dinner at the delish Porter House restaurant were “Glee” man Ryan Murphy and Julia Roberts’s husband, Danny Moder.

The screening and the dinner were so booming that Oscar winning “Argo” screenwriter Chris Terrio only found out toward the end of dinner that NY Post gossipeuse Cindy Adams’s “date” for the evening was former Canadian ambassador to Iran Kenneth Taylor. Yes, that Ken Taylor, who was responsible for the American hostages stuck in the Canadian embassy to leave for the US undetected– the “Argo” story.

When we told Terrio that Taylor was in the room, some distance away, he demurred. “It might be a little weird, especially in a public place,” said Terrio, who didn’t want to cause a scene. Apparently Taylor and “Argo” author Tony Mendez have different takes on what went down in Iran in 1979. Terrio didn’t want to get in the middle of it. Ah, but a missed opportunity!

You know movies and reality don’t mix. When I asked Pacino if he thought Spector might see the movie in prison, he replied: “I hope not. I don’t think they get HBO.” But Spector should be happy. He’s never seemed more understandable, in a crazy way.

Meanwhile: David Mamet, who wrote and directed “Phil Spector,” has bronchitis and couldn’t make the premiere. But what a great film he and Levinson and the cast have made. Pacino is a triumph as Spector during his first trial for allegedly murdering actress Lana Clarkson. Even though I am personally convinced that Spector killed Clarkson– and a jury was too– Pacino brings a sympathy to Spector that sheds some light on his enigmatic, crazy life. This isn’t to say that it’s not sympathetic to Clarkson. But this movie tells the story of how the defense brought their case.

In that light, Helen Mirren is equally great as Linda Baden, the lawyer who got Spector a hung jury for his first trial. (Baden was there with husbamd Michael Baden, the famous medical examiner.) Originally Bette Midler was supposed to play Baden. But she dropped out. and Mirren stepped in. Midler looks more like Baden, but Mirren as usual inhabits the character. She and Pacino have an essential rapport that keeps the movie–described as an imagined drama about the lawyer-client friendship and the trial–in place. Mamet’s screenplay is also so rich and textured, it’s like a stage drama at times– in the best way.

PS Levinson spent a chunk of dinner chatting with Chase. Barry is getting ready to shoot his “Whitey Bulger” movie with Johnny Depp. He’s also looking forward to his delayed but getting in shape musical of “Diner” coming to Broadway for 2014.

Also — across the street at the Hudson Hotel, the great indie movie “The Sapphires” got a splendid kick off. More on that…

Exclusive: Rolling Stones Will Play 2 Nights in Hyde Park, plus Glastonbury

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Rolling Stones Will Play 2 Nights in Hyde Park, plus Glastonbury

The Rolling Stones did so well with their New York shows, you can expect them back to work shortly. I can tell you exclusively that the Stones will play two shows in London’s Hyde Park. The likely dates are July 6th and July 13th. (I guess it will take one week to clean up between shows.) The Stones are also confirmed for 18 U.S. arenas. The tour is supposed to start on the West Coast, maybe in Vancouver.

And: the rumors about Glastonbury are apparently true as well. My sources say it’s a go. The festival runs June 26 to the 30th.

In the East, Philadelphia has been set. The big question mark is New York: whether to wrap it all up in Madison Square Garden or at MetLife (formerly Giants) Stadium. It would seem appropriate for the final US Rolling Stones shows to be at MSG. It’s just all about the money. Australian Paul Dainty is promoting the arenas for Richard Branson and Virgin Live. AEG Live has the London shows.

The next questions will be guest stars, opening acts, etc. And ticket prices should be absolutely off the wall.

Bette Davis Is Back, Drinking and Smoking Off Broadway, in “The Lying Lesson”

Roger Friedman
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Bette Davis Is Back, Drinking and Smoking Off Broadway, in “The Lying Lesson”

Tonight Craig Lucas’s “The Lying Lesson” opens off Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company on West 20th St.– and Bette Davis is back. In this play, it’s the early 1980s, Ronald Reagan is president, and Bette Davis has come to Maine to buy a house. This is imagined history because Davis and husband Gary Merrill did own a house in Maine from 1953 to 1960. And Bette was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. But in “The Lying Lesson” it seems like she’s returning to the place of nostalgic summers. And she runs across a young girl who may or may not be telling her the truth while Bette awaits closing on the house.

Carol Kane, who was once Miss Davis’s New York neighbor, plays the great Hollywood star. Making what constitutes an official stage debut above the title is Mickey Sumner as Minnie, the local girl who is hiding a lot. The play is two hours and at times a little uneven, although Lucas has fun with Davis’s past rivalries, especially the one with Joan Crawford.

But this is not an exaggerated impersonation. Carol Kane — Oscar nominee, Emmy winner– is too smart to walk around declaiming “What a dump” or “fasten your seatbelts.” There’s none of that. I always think of Carol Kane is a wacky, wicked comic actress. But she plays Bette Davis as a human being, very nuanced, and altogether likeable. She’s no monster here. Of course, she’s older, too. But Kane gives her three dimensions, and it’s very refreshing. Even if you’re too young to know Bette Davis (and some in the audience were last night) Kane invests enough to make Davis a new character.

Sumner will quickly shake her back story–she’s the daughter of Sting and Trudie Styler. But there’s no nepotism here or whatever. I’ve been watching her grow off Broadway into an accomplished actress. Everyone will see how good she is come April in Noah Baumbach’s “Frances Ha.” With her Maine accent and shlubby clothes, Sumner melts right into Minnie. There’s no awkwardness or self-consciousness. It’s very edifying to watch her. I do think Mickey Sumner is following in the wake of Lily Rabe. We’re going to see more and more of her very quickly. She’s got ‘it.’ And she holds her own with Kane. For a first timer, that’s no small feat.

Last night Anjelica Huston and Amy Irving were each in the audience. “The Lying Lesson” isn’t perfect but it’s going to be one of those hard to get tickets after its official opening tonight.

Steven Spielberg Turned Down TWICE as Director of James Bond Films: “They Wouldn’t Let Me in the Front Door”

Roger Friedman
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Steven Spielberg Turned Down TWICE as Director of James Bond Films: “They Wouldn’t Let Me in the Front Door”

Steven Spielberg was turned down twice by Albert “Cubby” Broccoli as a director for the James Bond series. The first was right after “Jaws,” and the second time was after “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”  Basically, Spielberg recounts in the video below, Broccoli told him he wasn’t good enough. “No matter how successful I was, he wouldn’t let me in the front door,” Spielberg tells famed Indian interview Amitabh Bachchan,

Spielberg is in India promoting “Lincoln.” He sat for an interview with Amitabh Bachchan in which he discussed future plans including a movie to be shot on the Pakistan border, plus news about the next “Tintin” movie. He also talks about the making of his first film, “Duel.” Spielberg still has to make “Robopocalypse” when the script is ready. A fascinating interview with one of our best directors. It’s a funny coincidence that Spielberg lost Best Director this year to Ang Lee, who directed the Indian “Life of Pi.” And now he’s the talk of India. Small world!

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