Speedy recovery to Elton John!
Our beloved rock star of stars has been suffering from a severe eye infection. Ouch!
We still hope that Elton will be at his documentary premiere in Toronto this Friday. If not, we will stand and applaud wildly.
UPDATE Exclusive: Anti-Trump Film “The Apprentice” Will Get 2,000 Screen Launch on October 11th with Full Hollywood Ballyhoo
“The Apprentice” is a hot button film coming in October. Sebastian Stan plays Donald Trump as a callous young billionaire. Jeremy Strong plays Roy Cohn, aka the Devil, Trump’s mentor in hate.
It’s a real story.
I’ve confirmed exclusively that The Apprentice” is set for release October 11th by Briarcliff Entertainment. It’s going into 2,000 theaters. It will have all the ballyhoo of a major release, with a big premiere and lots of publicity for the stars.
Separate from the release, a Kickstarter campaign. went live today to raise $100,000 to help get the film promoted. I’m told this is unnecessary, but in the indie film world, no one’s going to turn it down.
Topical movies are hard to promote because the news is constantly changing.
In 2008 there was a hub bub about a docudrama called “Death of a President,” about a fictitious assassination of George W. Bush. Plenty of publicity, but in the end it fizzled. I can think of several more “outrageous” films that carried buzz but no bite. Hopefully, “The Apprentice” will carry enough weight to overcome that situation.
PS The title is clever. It’s a reference to Trump being Cohn’s apprentice, and then having a TV show called “The Apprentice.”
to be continued…
RIP James Darren, 88, Matinee Idol, Starred as Moondoggie in Original “Gidget,” Went Through the “Time Tunnel”
So sorry to hear that James Darren has died at age 88.
A matinee idol from the 1960s, Darren starred as Moondoggie in the “Gidget” beach blanket movies. His first Gidget was Sandra Dee (who, ironically, married singer Bobby Darin). Cliff Robertson was also featured. They became overnight stars.
James Darren also starred in a neat TV show of the mid 60s called “The Time Tunnel.” It was remade in subsequent years in many forms including “Quantum Leap.” As kids were glued to the set as Darren, Lee Merriwether, and Robert Colbert raced up a tunnel that looked like the TWA Airlines terminal at JFK and turned up in the 1890s or wherever.
Darren also starred in “TJ Hooker” with William Shatner in the 1980s. He appeared in a lot of TV series through the 80s. His last big job was 8 episodes of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” in the late 90s.
But he was a pop icon of the the pre Beatles 60s. He was not only a movie star but a pop star, too. He had a hit single with the theme to “Gidget.”
Condolences to my old friend, Jim Moret, of “Inside Edition” on the loss of his father.
There were a lot of different beach party movies in the late 50s and the early 60s. They were from an innocent time, before the Kennedy assassination or anyone knowing about the Vietnam war, or the Beatles. Kids surfed and did the Twist on the beach. Oh to go back in time!
Trump MIA, Barron AWOL, Melania Book Quietly Delayed by 1 Week: Connect the Dots
Where is Donald Trump?
Where is Barron Trump?
Why has Melania’s book been delayed by a week?
Are all these things connected?
Today is Labor Day. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz were out campaigning like crazy. Harris had a rally with Joe Biden.
Donald Trump, however, is absent from the campaign trail. He was unseen or heard all day. His last post on Truth Social was around noon. It’s been crickets all day.
Barron, 18, should be starting college tomorrow. But no one’s seen him, there’s been nary a peep. If he were on a college campus it would be hard not to notice him between his height and the Secret Service.
Are these two absences connected?
And then there’s Melania Trump, who is rarely seen anyway. She’s never by Trump’s side, and has no part in the campaign. She indicated on Twitter X recently that she’s moving to New York. Trump said Barron would go to school in New York.
UPDATE Exclusive: Melania’s memoir was originally set for publication on October 1st. But now Amazon is listing it for October 8. That’s three days before the damning, controversial movie, “The Apprentice,” comes to theaters. Barron will hear his classmates discussing the scene in which his father allegedly rapes his first wife, Ivana.
Stay tuned…
Exclusive: Barron Trump College Mystery Solved, He May Already Be Stashed at Cornell’s Dyson School
amfAR Venice Gala Scrapes for Celebs: No Brad Pitt, No George Clooney, No Julianne Moore, No Angelina Jolie
Sunday brought the amFAR travesty to the Venice Film Festival.
amFAR, whose purpose and finances have been questioned over and over, had trouble getting celebrities.
None of the A listers who have attended the filmbu fest came to amFAR. Not George Clooney, not Brad Pitt, or Julianne Moore, or Angelina Jolie or anyone.
amFAR honored Richard Gere, which was nice. But the best musical guest they could get was Rumer Willis, who’s not exactly Cher or Kylie Minoqgue. (Rumer is a good singer, but she’s not A or B List.)
Eva Longoria, Kate Beckinsale and Zac Efron made the scene. They are probably unaware or don’t care that amFAR has been taken over by Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival.
Red Sea says they have nothing to do with the Saudi royal family or government, but to believe that exhibits a level of naivete left to small third world tribes. The Red Sea Film Festival is using the royal family’s money to sink its claws wherever it can.
This is the same Saudi family that chopped Jamal Khashoggi into little pieces, that hates gays and women and curtails most civil rights.
Publicists for the celebrities that didn’t go to amFAR will tell you it was “scheduling.” But they know what’s up. Gere and Longoria, at least, should be smarter than that. Gere, especially, considering his heroic efforts for Tibet.
amFAR has sunk lower than Venice itself.
Adele Exits Stage After 100 Performances, Live Album Inevitable, New Album in 2025? 2026?
Adele proved everyone wrong. And made everyone happy.
Remember when Adele announced her weekends in Vegas? Thirteen weeks, twenty six shows. And then she canceled the whole deal right before it was meant to start.
But Adele came roaring back. She played 100 shows in Las Vegas, all sold out and beyond. Fans paid thousands for tickets. She could have stayed the rest of her life and not satisfied the demand.
Total take: around $52 million.
Then she just finished 10 shows in Munich. Why Munich? Because they offered the money.
Now Adele says she’s taking “a long break” from music. She may get married to sports agent Rich Paul. She’s raising her son, Angelo.
What else? There will likely be a Live at Caesar’s Palace album. And a video special. And a DVD, if they still make them.
A new album? My guess: November 2026. If it’s 2025, that would be great. But Adele is slow recording albums. Her last one came six years after the previous one.
Will she ever go on a tour? Doubtful. Moving from city to city is no longer necessary. Why not let the fans just come to her?
Who’s a big fan? Michael Rapino of Live Nation fame. Congrats to him!
Hats off to @Adele for bringing this magic to 730,000 fans over 10 nights – driving €540 million to the Munich economy along the way. Our @LiveNation team honored to support pic.twitter.com/gCFlzZXjJ0
— Michael Rapino (@Michael_Rapino) September 1, 2024
George Clooney-Brad Pitt “Ocean’s 2” aka “Wolfs”: Reviews Better Than Expected, But No Theatrical Release
Brad Pitt and George Clooney took the Venice Film Festival by storm today.
Their buddy movie, “Wolfs,” scored decent reviews in its premiere, and audiences loved seeing the two movie stars with their beautiful partners storm the festival.
Cal it “Ocean’s 2.”
Maybe the reviews will give Apple and Sony enough confidence to give the Jon Watts directed comedy a real theatrical release.
There’s some confusion now about whether “Wolfs” will get a release at all, or just one week before it heads to Apple TV Plus.
Right now it’s impossible to purchase advance tickets on Fandango or anywhere else. It’s possible the companies were waiting to see public reaction in Venice before committing to the one week plan.
“Wolfs” is not an Oscar movie. But it does sound like a lot of fun, with critics saying the banter between the stars makes the film hum. If you’re looking for an epiphany, the only one is that Clooney denied at a press conference that he and Pitt each received $35 million in salaries.
“Wolfs” does have a sequel in the words, by the way.
It does seem strange that “Wolfs” won’t be in theaters, or just for 7 days. This is the kind of film that would get fans and fannies off their couches, something men and women would enjoy. Maybe a change will be implemented ASAP. “Wolfs” either opens September 20th or 27th.
Also PS Amy Ryan is in “Wolfs,” so it must be good!Trump Remains Silent on 6 Israeli Hostages Dead, Biden Says “Devastated and Outraged” Over American Loss
Overnight it was reported that six October 7th hostages have been found dead. They were murdered by Hamas at a music festival. They were found in a tunnel.
Donald Trump has nothing to say about this on his social media. In fact none of the posters to Truth Social have said a word about it. They just continue with their sewer-based garbage postings full of hate. No wonder the stock is dead!
President Joe Biden immediately issued the statement below.
You can find bios of the innocent victims and their pictures on the New York Times site. But caution: the Times would make you believe Israel is responsible for these deaths. They’ve become a treacherous newspaper.
I’ve worked tirelessly to bring Hersh home, and Jill and I could not be more heartbroken by the news of his death.
— President Biden (@POTUS) September 1, 2024
It is tragic and reprehensible.
Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we’ll continue working towards a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages. pic.twitter.com/SKL99gGjOP
Telluride: “Saturday Night,” “The Apprentice” Screen for Captive Audiences to “Raves”
Sounds like a buzzy Saturday night in Telluride.
Both Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night” and Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice” were screened and, of course, there were raves.
There’s no doubt each is good film, but the response sounds like the cheers from a prison audience.
The air is thin in Telluride, so you have to remember that when reading their reviews. If you’d paid $10,000 for four days, you’d love everything you saw too.
Bill Murray graciously came to the “Saturday Night” screening, which was an ironic moment. Murray wasn’t part of “SNL” for this story — first season — but he did get his start there. More importantly, he’s had a long relationship with Reitman, and his father Ivan Reitman. So that was lovely.
“The Apprentice” has overcome its legal obstacles and will premiere October 11th. Will it damage the Trump campaign? Probably not since a laundry list of horrors committed by Donald Trump hasn’t dissuaded his addle brained base from following him into the abyss. Still, Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan are said to be top notch as Roy Cohn and young Donald. There will be awards action for them.
Two big actresses are also headed into the awards scene from the response in Venice. Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie have each won Oscars in the past. Kidman stars in “Babygirl,” and Jolie is Maria Callas in “Maria.” I just hope no one forgets June Squibb in “Thelma,” already leads the pack!
Exclusive: Barron Trump College Mystery Solved, He May Already Be Stashed at Cornell’s Dyson School
I’ve spoken to a Trump insider who now confirms that Barron Trump is attending the Dyson School of Business at Cornell University. I reported on the Trump-Dyson connection this week and you can read it here.
The source I spoke to says this is the only way Barron could be attending college. “He’s very challenged,” they reported. I was told by this source, echoing one from 2016, that Barron used to have a “heavy Slovenian” accent, which he has subsequently lost. I told you back then that Barron had lived with his Slovenian grandparents on a separate floor of Trump Tower.
The source here told me quite a few other things about Barron’s educational process, but I’m going to omit all of that. But I did ask if the 18 year old was aware of news reports and what’s going on with the election. The answer was, “No.”
Barron, his father announced earlier this summer, would be a Florida delegate to the Republican National Convention. That was withdrawn, and Barron didn’t attend the convention at all. The only time he’s been seen in public since then was sitting in a golf cart when Donald Trump called Kamala Harris a “f***in bitch.”
How will Barron function at Cornell without his mother? There’s some idea that he will have a monitor or friend in tow to keep him out of trouble.
The other big question now is, why hasn’t Barron, who’s six foot seven, been seen anywhere? Classes are beginning following orientation. It would be hard to avoid a picture being taken somewhere.
My source said, “Barron’s level of learning is about what Donald’s was. He always says he finished at the top of his class at Wharton but it’s a lie like everything else. He didn’t get any honors. Look at the Wharton program.”
So I did and it’s below.
This is a sad story, at best.
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