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Channing Tatum, Rosario Dawson, Oscar Isaac Reunite Again

Roger Friedman
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Channing Tatum, Rosario Dawson, Oscar Isaac Reunite Again

It was just like a 10 year high school reunion Sunday on the rooftop of the non-residential Hotel Chanterelle on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. That’s where the hot cast of the new movie “10 Years,” reunited for a brunch so the press could chat with them and they could catch up with each other. Had anyone changed?

For one thing, the group as inspired a real life romance: nice kids Max Minghella and Kate Mara held hands and gazed into each other’s eyes all morning. His father was the beloved director Anthony Minghella; her family owns the New York Giants. And they’re not in their “Twilight” years. A relief.

Channing Tatum was there with wife Jenna Dewan; again, too nice for words. Also too good looking for their own good. It’s ridiculous.

Anthony Mackie, a superstar in the making, already well known from “The Hurt Locker” and “Half Nelson,”  talked about his just signed role in the next “Captain America.”

Also chowing down from the cast: Brian Geraghty, another “Hurt Locker” alumnus.

And then there was my old friend Rosario Dawson, the great beauty and talented actress. She’s living part time in London, and having a ball. She’s also working out of Los Angeles to organize young voters at www.votolatino.com. Go there and register if you haven’t already. I am waiting for Rosario to break through–I still think there’s an awards season in her future. She’s one of the most underrated actors in so called Hollywood.

And everyone was excited to hear a live, impromptu performance by Oscar Isaac on guitar (see our video player on the home page). Oscar, who’s the star of the new Coen Bros. movie next year about the
Greenwich Village folk movement of the early 1960s, played his hit, “Never Had.” He sings it in the movie–he plays a rock star like John Mayer returning home for the first time. The “10 years” soundtrack is available for download on iTunes. Watch out for Oscar: he could easily have a music career to go along with the acting.

And big news from Anthony Mackie: while he does all his award winning acting, he’s got a bar out in Brooklyn. It’s so successful he’s about to open one a little closer to Manhattan, in thriving Williamsburg.

 

Goodbye Edward Quartermaine; John Ingle Dies at 84

Roger Friedman
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Goodbye Edward Quartermaine; John Ingle Dies at 84

For many years, David Lewis played curmudgeonly corporate billionaire and patriarch Edward Quartermaine as a wily clown on “General Hospital”; he retired in the early 1990s. Edward was de-aged then and John Ingle, retired and popular acting teacher from Beverly Hills High School, took over. That was in 1994. Ingle passed away today at age 84, less than a week after his final appearance. In his last scene, Edward, who barely said a word, gave a thumbs up. We give a thumbs up to John Ingle.

You can laugh about the outrageous plots on soap operas, and the occasional brutal scene chewing. But John Ingle was the real deal. He took Lewis’s Edward and made him a little less clownish, and more conniving–but always with a wicked sense of humor. When the battling rich-as-sin Quartermaines were front and center on “General Hospital,” they were the heart of the show. They were funny, and not melodramatic. They were like a drawing room comedy, too sophisticated for soap shenanigans.

Ingle was tossed aside a few years by executive producer Jill Farren Phelps (the worst producer in the history of soaps, now positioned to do damage at The Young and the Restless.) He was replaced by a younger man. Ingle went to “Days of Our Lives,” but soon returned. The show flourished when he was on, he was antidote to the craziness around him. He will be sorely missed. And so will Edward Quartermaine. In less than a year, “General Hospital” will probably be replaced by someone chopping an eggplant.

Ingle, meantime, had quite a coterie of fans, and former students who became famous under his tutelage. Last week when he appeared on the show–he’d been AWOL a long time after his wife’s death–his fellow actors Tweeted that it was last episode. Thanks to YouTube, he will live on long after the eggplants have come and gone.

Box Office Surprise: Madoff-Like “Arbitrage” is a Hit

Roger Friedman
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Box Office Surprise: Madoff-Like “Arbitrage” is a Hit

Surprise, surprise. While we’re all getting misty eyed over “The Master” selling out all its seats this weekend, there was another hit. “Arbitrage,” directed by Nick Jarecki, starring Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon, really did very very well. The Madoff like saga of a Wall Street guy who seems to have it all but is way in over his head did just over $2 million at the box office. It finished 12th for the weekend. And those were pretty big accomplishments considering “Arbitrage” is only playing on 197 screens.

Director Jarecki is very excited, sending out emails to friends to help in his cause. I think he’s as surprised as anyone else. Some thing about “Arbitrage”: it’s a very well made film, very entertaining, and of course, very well acted. Gere does his best work since my last favorite film of his, “Hoax.” Susan Sarandon is top notch and very fetching, as usual.

The Madoff angle has not been publicized too much, but I think the audience gets it. Gere’s character is rich, and his family benefits from his largesse. But his daughter (played by Brit Marling) works for him and sees that something is terribly wrong. The whole enterprise of Gere’s hedge fund is based on a lie. If he can’t maintain his high wire act, he will be exposed, and the whole carnival over which he’s presiding will collapse. He will go right to jail.

“Arbitrage” may be the sleeper hit of the fall, just the way “Margin Call” was last year. I think it’s a little early for Oscar prognostications. But Gere and Sarandon are magic. “Arbitrage” should turn out to be a nice little hit. Kudos to producer Laura Bickford, who really championed this project and brought it to fruition.

Randy Jackson, As We Always Said, Remains “American Idol” Judge

Roger Friedman
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How many times did you read this summer, particularly on TMZ, that Randy Jackson was out at “American Idol”?  http://www.tmz.com/2012/08/31/american-idol-randy-jackson-judge-nicki-minaj-mariah-carey/ Why, you wonder, do regular news outlets like the New York Post and countless websites, just pick up TMZ’s half baked news and report it like it’s the truth? I don’t get it.

I told you at the beginning of the summer when Mariah Carey signed on–she’s managed by Randy–that Jackson was not only staying but that he had to, he was the heart and sould of “Idol.” Rock stars could come and go as temporary judges, but Randy was the mainstay of the show. http://www.showbiz411.com/2012/07/13/american-idol-update-randy-jackson-will-bring-mariah-carey-jlo-out

Yesterday–surprise–Randy joined Mariah and newcomers Keith Urban and Nicki Minaj at Lincoln Center for show auditions. He’s still there, and in charge. These three new judges will be looking to him for advice about how to play this season.

So now what for everyone who reported “Randy Jackson is OUT!” Like a lot of junk that came out of tabloid reporting this summer, it was all wrong. But hey–it doesn’t matter. And not one of those other sites–including the Post, which is owned by the same company as Fox, the network of “Idol”–bothered to pick up the phone and make an independent sourcing call. Oh well.

Will Ferrell-Vince Vaughn-Owen Wilson Comedy Shooting on Google Campus

Roger Friedman
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Will Ferrell-Vince Vaughn-Owen Wilson Comedy Shooting on Google Campus

Exclusive: Google is often accused of being highly secretive. Its campus is heavily guarded and secured so the general public can’t go roaming around. But I am told that a Hollywood movie is about to shoot there on the campus. “The Internship,” directed by Shawn Levy, starring Will Ferrell, with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in their first duet since “Wedding Crashers”– is scheduled to film at Google shortly.

The film is supposed to shoot exteriors and interiors. We’ll see some of the offices at the mysterious internet giant. Maybe we’ll see what really goes in Eric Schmidt’s office! And who knows: maybe the characters will stumble into the Google X labs–now there’s a plotline we can offer to Vaughn and company!

The movie is set at a large internet company, where an intern may be the undoing of Wilson and Vaughn’s characters–laid off guys who are trying to make it as interns and are forced to answer to 20 year old managers. Vaughn wrote the script. Yes, it’s a comedy, for 20th Century Fox. Levy is best known for the “Night at the Museum” movies.

Toronto: “Silver Linings Playbook” Wins People’s Choice Award

Roger Friedman
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Toronto: “Silver Linings Playbook” Wins People’s Choice Award

The Toronto International Film Festival is over, and the winner of the Audience Award–given by Blackberry–was David O. Russell’s “Silver Linings Playbook.” Runner up was Ben Affleck’s “Argo.” Each of these movies will be Oscar nominees for Best Picture. I do think “Silver Linings” could win, and bring awards to Russell. and actors Jennifer Lawrence and Robert DeNiro. Star Bradley Cooper will also be nominated. But he’s in a tougher crowd, with Daniel Day Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix, Tommy Lee Jones, and several others.

“Silver Linings Playbook” is simply going to win over everyone who sees it. It has that rare combination of heart, art, and soul. You root for everyone in the film, which is beautifully crafted throughout. There isn’t a false note to be heard, and it’s utterly original. Good for David O. Russell, who finally found his footing a couple of years ago with “The Fighter.” Now he’s in ‘the zone.’

The Toronto People’s Choice Award is a good indicator of the Oscar. Past winners  have included “The King’s Speech,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” and “American Beauty,” as well as “Precious,” as well as “Hotel Rwanda” and “Chariots of Fire.”

PS Chris Tucker is excellent and very funny in his first non “Rush Hour” movie. He’s confident as an actor. It’s time he made more movies!

Here’s the release from Toronto:

BLACKBERRY® PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS
The BlackBerry People’s Choice Award is voted on by Festival audiences. This year’s award goes to David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook. The film is an intense, loving, emotional and funny family story from the director of The Fighter, David O. Russell, in which Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence find themselves partners in a secret arrangement to rebuild their broken lives. Robert De Niro yearns to get closer to his son (Cooper), as he tries to keep the family afloat with his compulsive bookmaking. The award offers a $15,000 cash prize and custom award, sponsored by BlackBerry. First runner up is Ben Affleck’s Argo. The second runner up is Eran Riklis’ Zaytoun.
The Festival presents a free screening of the award-winning film Silver Linings Playbook tonight. The screening takes place at 6 p.m. at the Ryerson Theatre. Tickets will be available on a first-come, first served basis beginning at 4 p.m. at Ryerson Theatre.
The BlackBerry People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award goes to Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths. Seven Psychopaths follows a struggling screenwriter (Colin Farrell) who inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends (Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell) kidnap a gangster’s (Woody Harrelson) beloved Shih Tzu. Co-starring Abbie Cornish, Tom Waits, Olga Kurylenko and Zeljko Ivanek. First runner up is Barry Levinson’s The Bay and second runner up is Don Coscarelli’s John Dies at the End.
The BlackBerry People’s Choice Documentary Award goes to Bartholomew Cubbins for Artifact. Telling harsh truths about the modern music business, Artifact gives intimate access to singer/actor Jared Leto and his band Thirty Seconds to Mars as they battle their label in a brutal lawsuit and record their album This Is War. First runner up is Christopher Nelius and Justin McMillan’s Storm Surfers 3D. Second runner up is Rob Stewart’s Revolution.

 

Exclusive: The Real Story of Why the John Travolta “Gotti” Film Fell Apart

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: The Real Story of Why the John Travolta “Gotti” Film Fell Apart

Exclusive: It’s been about two years since the John Travolta “Gotti” movie fell apart. It was supposed to start in 2010, then again in 2011. It was at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2010 that director Barry Levinson and screenwriter James Toback showed up with producer Marc Fiore. They’d replaced Nick Cassavetes, and were all set to get new financing. Levinson was bringing Al Pacino to the film. Lindsay Lohan was still out there somewhere.

But then I reported this story, that Marc Fiore was actually Marco Fiore, who’d done a lot of time at Allenwood Prison for fraud (not a vacation, as New York Magazine suggests today) and had been the main defendant in the prosecution of a Boiler Room scheme. A book was even written about it in 2003, which no one who’d signed on to “Gotti” had read. Here’s my original story: http://www.showbiz411.com/2011/09/22/gotti-movie-one-year-since-it-was-announced-the-producers-mob-ties-are-real

The movie was not going to happen. Fiore responded by upping Toback to executive producer without telling him. He also announced another exec producer, a man named Salvatore Carpanzano. I then wrote a story revealing that Carpanzano had also done a stretch at Allenwood. Even for a Hollywood film, this was getting unusual. It was like “Get Shorty,” a Travolta movie about a gangster who wanted to make a movie.

I met with Carpanzano last October and he laid out his issues with Fiore. It was the first and only time he’d spoken with a reporter. By then, a casting sheet had gone for 80 roles in “Gotti,” and was then rescinded. Here’s my story with Carpanzano: http://www.showbiz411.com/2011/10/17/gotti-movie-exec-producer-ive-never-encountered-anything-so-difficult-in-my-life

Carpanzano and Fiore then had a falling out. Not such a good plan for Fiore, who then drafted Marshall Field department store heir and Interscope Records founder Ted Field into the operation. Carpanzano told me that Fiore now owed him a bunch of money in interest after tying up his backers’ funds (Carpanzano claimed to have a heavy investor in Dubai). http://www.showbiz411.com/2011/12/08/gotti-movie-ted-field-close-to-deal-with-summit

“Gotti,” of course, has never been made. Travolta has since had a series of major scandals that put his whole career in jeopardy. Field had lawsuits over his own company. Carpanzano got into a huge legal entanglement with an entertainment law firm, resulting in the exit from the firm of one the lawyers. In our story, Carpanzano insisted that he had $250 million to fund movies, and would do it without Fiore. Reading this, a real Hollywood indie company contacted Carpanzano and almost made a deal with him.

Barry Levinson’s moved onto other projects in TV and with “The Bay,” and his Phil Spector movie for HBO with Pacino. Pacino is also going to play Joe Paterno, maybe, in a film about the Penn State-Sandusky scandal. Travolta is sidelined by lawsuits and tabloid stories of his sex life. Lindsay Lohan — well, she’s her own continuing soap opera.

Was the “Gotti” movie ever a good idea? Not really. “The Godfather” was fiction. “Goodfellas” had a remote reality, as does a new mob movie called “The Iceman,” which is excellent. But “Gotti” is about real people. There are no heroes, particularly not John Gotti, Jr. He’s no Michael Corleone, pulled into the business against his will. The Gottis’ victims are everywhere, haunting the movie.

But is there more to this story? You bet. Stay tuned. I do wonder why today’s New York magazine story, a year late, omits almost everything of interest in the background of this story including our reporting, the Carpanzano episodes, and the fact that as of last night, absolutely nothing has happened to advance the movie, that it’s still not happening, or ever going to happen. It’s as dead as a horse’s head in a bed.

Here’s a link to Fiore’s SEC indictment: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/34-48905.htm

“The Master” Sells Out Its First Night of Shows

Roger Friedman
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“The Master” Sells Out Its First Night of Shows

“The Master,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic three hour film not about Scientology, opened in five theaters last night divided among New York and Los Angeles. Not too surprisingly, all the shows were sold out. “The Master” did about $48,000 per screen. And that will be the story for the weekend. The total three day take should be around $750,000. Next Friday “The Master” slowly adds screens as it ramps up through October and November and waits for awards season. We’ll keep an eye on it. The Weinstein Company is already doing well with “Lawless,” has done very well with “The Intouchables,” and has a slew of good films coming shortly: “Silver Linings Playbook,” “Killing Them Softly,” “The Details,” “Quartet,” and “The Sapphires.” Then the biggie: Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.” They will yield an untold number of Oscar nominations, kids. The Academy could cut costs simply by having the ceremony in the Tribeca Grill! PS Home renovators: if you want to see how to get rid of an old toilet, pay special notice to Joaquin Phoenix’s method.

Broadway: “Chaplin” Needs a Chaplain

Roger Friedman
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Broadway: “Chaplin” Needs a Chaplain

You’d think after every bad thing this country did to Charlie Chaplin we could leave him alone. Apparently not. A version of his life story, poorly and inadequately told, is now on Broadway. I suppose if you have nothing else to do, or don’t know a thing about Charlie Chaplin, then you could see this musical. It’s a like a Cliff Notes version of a complex interesting story. Someone named Christopher Curtis has simply butchered the whole thing.

On the plus side: a talented cast, featuring Robert McClure as Chaplin, do their best to overcome the inanity. If they’d been given something to work with, like original songs, that would have helped. But the music is a generic mishmash of stuff plucked from Broadway wastebins. So many melodies from other shows, including quite a bit from “A Chorus Line.”

How could you make a musical about Charlie Chaplin and omit the key scene of his life–not being allowed to re-enter the United States because you’re accused of being a Communist? And Chaplin had been a fervent fundraiser for US War bonds. He was completely patriotic but he saw himself as a citizen of the world. The musical just fails to mention this episode. It was J Edgar Hoover who engineered his ouster in 1952, seven years after the end of World War II, during the Blacklist and Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s witch-hunts.

Also, through the whole show there’s a set that reads: Chaplin Studios. That’s fine, that’s where his films were shot. (The studio eventually became A&M Records, and Henson Studios. It’s the place where “We Are the World” was shot. It’s a popular recording studio now.) But Chaplin was the original partner with Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks in United Artists. That was their film studio. This is also omitted, a huge error. They were the first indie film studio.

And then you think of the missed opportunities: how about a musical number fashioned out of “Modern Times.” The feisty McClure would have been more than up to recreating the office-desk scene. But someone would have had to write a song. And no one with this show is capable of that.

Also missing from the show: Fatty Arbuckle (he’s in the background in an early scene) and Mabel Normand. No, you can’t make “Chaplin” into a mini series, and it’s hard to do a whole life in two hours with songs, but try to get some of it right, dammit, with a dash of wit and maybe some lyrics and songs that reflect this man’s genius. I guess the producers of this mess couldn’t license “Smile,” but maybe there could have been a reference to the song that Chaplin wrote and is now among the most known in the world.

“Chaplin” won’t be around for long. See it for McClure and the rest of the cast, and the one good scene–about “The Great Dictator.” It can’t hurt you, it’s September. and “Chaplin” could get a few people interested in reading Chaplin’s 1964 memoir and David Robinson’s 1994 biography.

 

Fox Film Chief Out; Blamed for 2012 Series of Clunkers?

Roger Friedman
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Fox Film Chief Out; Blamed for 2012 Series of Clunkers?

Tom Rothman has made a surprise announcement: he’s leaving his post running 20th Century Fox Filmed Entertainment with Jim Gianopolous. Was he forced out? You can read between the lines from the exit memo he sent around today, reprinted below. Fox has had a tough year with lots of clunkers including “The Watch” (aka Neighborhood Watch), “This Means War,” “We Bought a Zoo,” “Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter” and the distribution of George Lucas’s vanity film, “Red Tails.”

Their hits were “Prometheus” and “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” but they were no “Avatar.” (That seems so long ago.) Now Jim Gianopolous will be all on his own. Fox is currently ranked 6th on the studio list by boxofficemojo.com, behind Lions Gate. How did that happen?

This may not be a good sign for two big Oscar-centric movies Fox is about to release, Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” and Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi.” I was counting on each to be hits. Hmmm….PS how long before the talented Peter Rice is running that whole studio?

Here’s Rothman’s memo:

“I have been at Fox for over 18 years, the bulk of my adult working life,” Rothman said. “In that time we have accomplished more than I ever imagined, from the founding and nurturing of Fox Searchlight, to overseeing the two biggest films in box office history, to keeping us consistently at the highest levels of industry profits, including this most recent strong fiscal year, and, most of all, making dozens of films that I believe will stand the test of time.  I’m deeply proud of that run.  But even more, I am eternally grateful to have had the honor and opportunity to work with the marvelous people here at Fox. I will miss them hugely. Still, I have done the same job, at the same place, for a very long time, and it is time for me to write a new chapter.  I love 20th Century Fox and take great comfort knowing that we have an amazing slate of pictures in place for the next several years. I know that Jim and all my terrific colleagues at Fox, will continue our long tradition of winning ways, and I will help in the transition in any ways I can.”

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