The news about the death of Andy Griffith is sweeping the internet and trending high on Twitter. It’s possible that Griffith, star of his own self titled show, was the most beloved actor left in “Hollywood.” He died in his native North Carolina. But from Mayberry to “Matlock” to all his movies–including “A Face in the Crowd”–Griffith had a long and distinguished career. Director Ron Howard, who played Andy’s son Opie on “The Andy Griffith Show,” Tweeted: “Andy Griffith His pursuit of excellence and the joy he took in creating served generations & shaped my life I’m forever grateful RIP Andy.” Everyone else is gone from that show now. But its small town lessons and genial stories remain fresh as ever. RIP Andy.
Tom Cruise: Talking Teddy Bear and Male Strippers Make More at Box Office in One Week
Just reading the New York Times take on Tom Cruise’s career. They’re missing the point. Cruise last had a non tentpole, non franchise hit in 2004 with “Collateral.” If you separate out the last two “Mission Impossible” movies and “War of the Worlds” (a Steven Spielberg movie, thanks), Cruise has not been a big ticket seller in the last eight years. In domestic ticket sales, Cruise failed to get near $100 million with “Valkyrie” ($83 million), “Knight & Day ($76.4 million) and “Lions for Lambs” ($15 million). “Rock of Ages” is a stiff.
This past weekend both “Ted,” a movie about a talking teddy bear, and “Magic Mike,” about male strippers, made significantly more respectively–$54 million and $39 million– than “Rock of Ages” has in three weeks–just $35 million.
In December Cruise launches a new movie that he hopes will become a continuing franchise, called “Jack Reacher.” But that may be a ‘reach’– in order to market and explain an entirely new character and franchise, Cruise is going to have do a lot of press. That means magazine and newspaper interviews, etc–all the stuff required to sell a Christmas movie. Just doing it in Europe, or running along lines of autograph hounds, will not suffice. So this is going to get interesting, because questions are going to come up.
Irony: Paramount’s Sumner Redstone “fired” Tom, then took him back for “MI4.” Now it’s Paramount that will have to deal with Tom’s latest mess.
Justin Bieber “Believe” Falls More than 70% While Fellow Canadian Becomes Summer Phenom
Fame is fleeting, and teenagers do grow out of things so quickly. Last week, Justin Bieber debuted at number 1 and sold 373,000 copies of his “Believe” album to his core fans. The big problem though is no hit single. “Boyfriend” just hasn’t cut it. When the counting is finished today for Week 2, “Believe” will come in at number 3 with 115,000 copies sold. That’s a steep drop–almost 70%–from the opening week. Linkin Park’s new album is number 1–which should make Warner Music’s new owner Len Blavatnik weep with joy–and Maroon 5 is number 2.
Of the the three, Maroon 5 has the staying power because it has a hit single, “Payphone.” This is a rich summer for pop singles, almost like (dare I say it?) 1969. There’s a bunch of classically hummable songs on the radio, from Gotye’s “Somebody I Used to Know” to OneDirection’s “What Makes You Beautiful” to Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.” The latter carries it with the great irony. Jepsen, 26, eight years older than Bieber, is also Canadian. After her music started to take off, she was signed by Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun, to his label, Schoolboy Records, at UMG’s Interscope.
“Call Me Maybe” is HUGE–it’s the big number 1 song of the year. It may be a one off hit, the “Bette Davis Eyes” of 2012. But it’s a hit. It’s a phenom. There are HUNDREDS of covers of it on YouTube by everyone from Jimmy Fallon and the Roots with Jepsen herself to the Abercrombie & Fitch models. Jepsen’s runaway train cannot be lost on Braun or Bieber as “Believe” — also on Interscope– tumbles down the charts.
“Sparkle” and “Superfly” Composer Curtis Mayfield Will Get All Star Lincoln Center Tribute
“Sparkle” — the movie billed as Whitney Houston’s last recording, last appearance, etc– came from the music of Curtis Mayfield. The 1976 film featured five Mayfield songs. One of them became a huge hit for Aretha Franklin–“Giving Him Something He Can Feel.” Twenty years later, it was a hit again for En Vogue. Now “Sparkle” is back, opening August 17th, from Tri-Star/Sony. Jordin Sparks and Houston are the stars, with Derek Luke. On Monday the Hollywood Reporter screwed up the announcement of the soundtrack. They said, “seven songs by Jordin Sparks.” She didn’t write them, my friends. She’s a very good singer, but she didn’t write them.
Four of the songs in the new movie come from the old movie–they were written by Curtis Mayfield, who died in 1999 at the age of 57. He’d been paralyzed for years after a terrible accident: a lighting rig fell on him during an outdoor show in Brooklyn. Sometimes people forget, when an artist is dead, that they were actual people, and left behind families. Curtis Mayfield had a wonderful wife, Altheida, and a brood of lovely kids.
I’m told they haven’t heard a word from Tri Star about the “Sparkle” remake. So I will do the introductions. The Mayfields live in Atlanta. The movie premiere is August 16th in Los Angeles. It’s time for someone from the studio to pick up the phone and make “Sparkle” a good experience for the family of the man who wrote those memorable songs. No one seems to know if there’s a credit in the film that says “Original songs by Curtis Mayfield.” There should be one.
On a similar note, Mayfield wrote all the songs that became another movie: “Superfly.” The title song, “Freddie’s Dead,” and “Pusherman” were big hits on the radio. Now a Broadway show is allegedly coming together based on the movie, which was directed by Gordon Parks. The Mayfields are still waiting for a call from former Sony music Tommy Mottola– listed as a producer–or the Dodger Group, which also produced “Jersey Boys.” How completely odd. If you, dear reader, were behind “Sparkle” or “Superfly,” wouldn’t you pick up the phone and call the composer’s widow? Hmmmm…
Meantime, some people are respecting Curtis Mayfield, who also created The Impressions, and wrote dozens of hits including “People Get Ready,” “Gypsy Woman,” “Monkey Time,” “Um Um Um Um Um,” “He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You),” “Move on Up” and “It’s All Right (to Have a Good Time).”
Lincoln Center is putting together a one night only superstar 70th birthday tribute to Curtis on July 20th. (That’s right–Curtis Mayfield would now be the age of contemporary classic songwriters Paul McCartney and Carole King.)
It’s going to be amazing. Among the performers: Sinéad O’Connor, The Roots, Meshell Ndegeocello, William Bell, The Impressions, Mavis Staples, and a 14-piece house band led by music director Binky Griptite of the Dap-Kings. The concert takes place at Avery Fisher Hall. The Mayfields will be sitting right up front. Tickets start at $35.00. For more information about the Curtis Mayfield 70th Birthday Tribute, call 212-721-6500 or visit the Avery Fisher Hall box office or http://lincolncenterfestival.org/index.php/2012-curtis-mayfield
Watch these great videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAh_4s_-tas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1dRiLxO950
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpD8FpGpBjE
Rosie O’Donnell’s Beautiful Tribute to Nora Ephron
Rosie O’Donnell has written a beautiful tribute to Nora Ephron on her site, www.rosie.com. Nora put Rosie in “Sleepless in Seattle” as Meg Ryan’s pal. They remained good friends, and when Ephron opened “Love, Loss, and What I Wore” off Broadway to acclaim, Rosie was in the original cast. In fact, she wrote her own monologue that Ephron incorporated into the play. PS It seems like Rosie is getting married imminently from postings on the site. Congrats, Rosie!
like a cyst that won’t pop
til u slice the top
i squeezed for weeks
nothing came
and now
hearing about nora
it burst
flowing over my everything
sadness i hold at bay
fears i pretend r not
love that runs deep
piercing me
my eyes r dead
i can see it in the way others see me
concern worry
i look sad – tired
depression is knocking
familiar thuds
thunder through
storm front warnings
we met in the Apthorp
the Dakota’s sister building
classic new york
just like Nora
the front room was all bookshelves
i waited on an antique bench
taking in which books
she felt worthy of keeping at hand
as i had
each one of hers
i was 21 when i read heartburn
and fell in love with her
she called me in the kitchen
black and white tiny checked floor tiles
she sat – folded her hands and smiled at me
we talked
it was 1992 – i was 30
League had been shot but not released
i was mostly a stand up comic
former VJ
i read the script
she laughed
she went into her office and handed me a new scene
she and delia had just finished writing
i did that one
she laughed again
sat back
folded her hands and smiled at me
out on the street i called my agent
i got the job – i said
no he said that was only a first audition
no – i said – i got the job
i did – and so much more
she took me inside her life
taught me so much
welcomed me
she knew about love
nora did
last night
back in her apartment
full of broken hearts
we remembered her
her brains
her beauty
her brilliance
her bravery
it feels impossible
that she is not around
unforgivable
absurd
and what now
we will gather on the 9th
and celebrate all
nora is
now
still
always
eternal
Tina Fey: Alec Baldwin Told “30 Rock” to “F” Themselves
Alec Baldwin’s on the cover of Vanity Fair this month and it’s a doozy. Anger-enhanced Alec doesn’t come off very well. One day after his wedding, his already harshly damaged image gets worse. Todd Purdum wrote the story and these are the extracts:
Baldwin’s friend and 30 Rock co-star Tina Fey describes what she’s dubbed his “Irish Negotiating Technique,” which, as she sees it, usually boils down to his saying, “They offered me more money and I told them to go fuck themselves.”
Lorne Michaels, a longtime friend and one of the producers of 30 Rock, puts it this way: “Most people find a way to get to do the thing that is better for them. He doesn’t.”
Baldwin, who recently got into an altercation with a Daily News photographer, is the first to admit he’s had a volatile past, acknowledging that he often “gave the Heisman” to people in Hollywood, sometimes “unreasonably” and “childishly.” When Purdum asks Baldwin where he thinks his anger comes from, the actor launches into a long description of the perversity of the industry he works in: “You know, Hollywood does draw some very strange characters, and then the power of Hollywood and what they can do with it becomes like a blood sport to them.”
Then he returned to the frustrations and injustices of his child-custody case. He outlined vivid fantasies of the gruesome ways in which he might have murdered his wife’s lawyer (“with a baseball bat”) or Harvey Levin, the TMZ producer who posted the embarrassing voice mail Baldwin left for his daughter: “I wanted to stick a knife in him and gut him and kill him and I wanted him to die breathing his last breath looking into my eyes..”
PS: You may think Baldwin’s anger is a new thing. But in 1990, he told writer Ryan Murph–yes, Ryan Murphy who now produces “Glee,” etc– for an article I commissioned, that Disney’s Jeffrey Katzenberg was “the eighth dwarf.” Baldwin was angry at Disney about the way he and Kim Basinger had been treated, he thought, on the movie “The Marrying Man.” Twenty two years later, not much has changed.
Tom Cruise Won’t Be Getting Any Help from Lisa Marie Presley
I wrote this on Forbes.com on May 26th. It seems appropriate to revisit it now. Tom Cruise won’t be able to get any help from former fellow Scientologist Lisa Marie Presley. Read why:
Lisa Marie Presley and her mother, Priscilla, have long been members of Scientology. But recently things have changed. It’s been signalled in the tabloids, but suddenly Lisa Marie has made a declaration at least in song that she’s disillusioned with the notorious sect.
On her new album, “Storm and Grace,” Presley makes several allusions to Scientology that are unmistakable. In the new single, “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,” she sings:
“You can think that I’m evil and I’m off the rails
You ain’t seen nothing yet
That I’m a bit transgressive and suppressive as well
You ain’t seen nothing yet
Am I a disruption to your corruption
You ain’t seen nothing yet”
She also sings:
“Lay down the truth don’t make a sound
Just a piece of fruit who has hit the ground
I don’t respond, I lost the plot
Unethical, not what I thought”
The song uses language from the Scientology lexicon. A “suppressive” is a Scientology outcast. Then she is more pointed as a “disruption to your corruption.”
There are other references to her dissatisfaction with Scientology throughout the abum produced by T Bone Burnett. In “Storm of Nails” she sings:
“It’s been a long highway
Where do I get off and drive away
I’m looking for a sign that should say
When you’ve had enough, exit this way
If only I were a gopher now
I’d dig a hole and I’d not come out”
There’s another song, too, called “So Long” that alludes to the end of her road with Scientology.
On her website, www.lisamariepresley.com, the daughter of legendary rock pioneer Elvis Presley has also wiped out almost all reference to Scientology. Where she once promoted the group’s causes, she’s now down to just one. Otherwise, her emphasis is on her own foundation and one named for her father. They are each dedicated to people and causes in Memphis.Presley said in interviews with Billboard, USA Today and “Access Hollywood” recenntly that she’d cleaned house and gotten rid of a lot of people whom she’d trusted. It does seem like it’s all associated with Scientology. If the group has lost Lisa Marie, then it’s a blow. She was one of their chief celebrities to whom they pointed, and from whom they were guaranteed some sizable coin.
Here’s the video for “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,” in which the singer puts a lot of objects in a trunk then throws the objects in a lake before rowing away. There’s a teddy bear–does that represent her mother, who’s still with the group? There’s also a trumpet and a wooden doll of a man. And don’t miss the rattlesnake–that’s some imagery.
I’ve met LMP about a half dozen times over the years. She always seemed like a straight shooter, not mysterious at all, and quite straightforward. It also seemed like the one thing that separated her from the music career that eluded her so long was her connection to Scientology. Now, that may be over.
Katie vs. Tom on Scientology: She Could Spill Beans About the Other Kids, Etc.
It seems like most of the media has turned the Katie Holmes-Tom Cruise story into one of Scientology being the cause of the divorce, particularly as the cult–as it now called by Rupert Murdoch–affects six year old Suri. But if Cruise insists publicly that Suri be raised as Scientologist, and Katie objects, the group’s leader David Miscavige may tell Cruise to let it go. Why? Holmes, more than anyone, could shine a glaring light on the inner workings of the sect. Once the divorce really gets going, and affidavits are filed, depositions are taken, things could get nasty for the secretive group.
For one thing, Holmes could finally describe what happened when she met Cruise in April 2005, where she was for an unexplained 16 days before surfacing in Rome with him and announcing she was in love. That was on April 27, 2005. Prior to approximately April 12th, Holmes didn’t know Cruise. Her reps sent her to L.A. for a meeting with him about “Mission Impossible 3” that may have taken place at the Scientology Centre in Hollywood.
From then on, Holmes cut off her family and friends. When she finally spoke, she was– as I reported then exclusively–monitored closely by Scientologist Jessica Feshbach Rodriguez, whose family are heavy Scientology donors. Feshbach even spoke for Holmes during a magazine interview that summer. For most of the time until they married in November 2006, Holmes was never alone without someone from Scientology. But all of her prior friends–including actress Rebecca Gayheart, and her ex castmates from “Dawson’s Creek”–were banished.
Inside the world of Tom Cruise, Holmes presumably saw everything there is to know about Scientology. One movie director told me in 2006 how Cruise’s Beverly Hills house–in which his sister, her three children, and Cruise’s mother all lived–was filled with people working through the night on various Scientology projects. “At midnight,” the director said, ” the house was lit up.”
Holmes would also have vital information about Cruise’s two older children, Connor and Isabella, and how they were raised apart from their mother, Nicole Kidman. Years ago, there was a public outcry when Bella Cruise’s name turned up on a list of Scientology “completions” when she was very young. It was obvious she was being indoctrinated. The children were home schooled by Cruise’s sisters, who joined the group, as well as his mother, who left her husband and her life in Marco Island, Florida when Suri was born, at Cruise’s demand, to come watch his new wife and daughter.
Cruise and his lawyers will have to decide if the gamble is worth it–that anything could come out, that all of it could impact Cruise’s career, and is it worth it. It’s probably not. As it is, former Scientologists have written books, and several high profile members have left or openly criticized the group including Lisa Marie Presley, director Paul Haggis, and actor Jason Beghe.
Tom Cruise Has A Long History with Lawyers and Private Eyes
TMZ cooked up a whole story on Sunday about Katie Holmes possibly being under surveillance by Scientology. They denied it, of course, and I kind of believe them. The story of Tom Cruise, private eyes, and lawyers actually has more to do with Cruise and his personal team than with Scientology. Cruise’s two lawyers–Bert Fields and Dennis Wasser–had long histories with currently incarcerated private investigator Anthony Pellicano. The Pellicano stories should be legendary by now, and took in a lot of powerful people.
But when it concerns Cruise, Wasser, Fields and Pellicano the episodes concerned the last Cruise divorce, from Nicole Kidman. She and Cruise were each questioned by the FBI regarding Pellicano, which was reported widely. Pellicano’s in prison, but that doesn’t mean Wasser or Fields isn’t using an investigator in the Holmes case. Read this New York Times story: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/25/movies/MoviesFeatures/25fields.html?pagewanted=all or Google it yourself. http://tinyurl.com/85b6k57
Another lawyer who works for Cruise and with Fields, Ricardo Cestero, actually used to work for Pellicano.
As I wrote in 2006:
“But what most people don’t know is that before he went to law school and came to work for Fields, Cestero labored in the office of Anthony Pellicano as a private investigator. In fact, he was schooled at Pellicano’s very knee.
Ricardo P. Cestero graduated from Oberlin College in 1991. According to the Greenberg Glusker Web site, he got his law degree in 1997 from the University of California Los Angeles School of Law. This differs from the Martindale.com Web site, which has biographical info for all attorneys. Cestero graduated from law school there in 1999.
Either way, in the years between graduating college and getting his law degree, according to sources and reports, Cestero worked exclusively for Pellicano, who in turn worked for attorney Bert Fields. Fields has maintained throughout the Pellicano investigation that he knew nothing of the private detective’s activities and sanctioned nothing illegal.”
Rupert Murdoch Labels Scientology a “Cult,” “Creepy,” “Weird”
Is Rupert Murdoch really doing his own Tweeting? Today, spreading like wild fire, Murdoch Tweeted: “Watch Katie Holmes and Scientology story develop. Something creepy, maybe even evil, about these people.”
More: “Scientology back in news. Very weird cult, but big, big money involved with Tom Cruise either number two or three in hiearchy.”
And: “Scientology back in news. Very weird cult, but big, big money involved with Tom Cruise either number two or three in hiearchy.”
A little later, the 81 year old owner of News Corp and the owner of 20th Century Fox added: “Since Scientology tweet hundreds of attacks. Expect they will increase and get worse and maybe threatening. Still stick to my story.”
Oh really? It was Murdoch’s company that released Cruise’s “Knight and Day” a couple of years ago. They also took a strong position on “Valkyrie,” taking the international distribution. But that will be the end of that.
Of course, Fox was already responsible for the infamous “South Park” episode called “Trapped in the Closet.” It’s maybe a sign of how desperate Cruise was in his post-Oprah couch jumping free fall that he agreed to be in a Fox movie after that episode. But now the head of the company has called him “evil” and dismissed his “religion.”
And how ironic, considering how Roger Ailes trembled three years ago when Kelly Preston Travolta — the devout wife of another Scientologist, the now much scandalized John Travolta–complained about my reporting at Foxnews.com. That was only in the fall of 2008, after Preston attacked me verbally in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel before Isaac Hayes’s funeral. Then she and an associate came to see Ailes just to see if they could cause trouble. And now Murdoch is calling the whole gang “evil.” And standing by his story. Wow.