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Review: Penelope Cruz, Robert Benigni Make Woody Allen’s “Rome” Movie

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After “Midnight in Paris,” you’re not getting–we’re not getting –a sequel, so forget it. Woody Allen’s “To Rome with Love” opens June 22nd after having already been a hit in Italy. It stars Penelope Cruz, Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Greta Gerwig, and Roberto Benigni, as well as Woody himself and Judy Davis. Plus there are a lot of Italian actors. Much of the movie is in Italian with subtitles.

You won’t mind. “To Rome with Love” is like a throw back to old fashioned omnibus movies that tell a lot of interlocking stories with many, many characters. To his credit, Woody keeps them very distinct. Even the Italian actors–unknown to us–are so specific that you don’t miss a thing.

Mainly, though, “To Rome with Love” –besides being funny–is an interesting take on Woody’s thoughts about fame. Each member of the cast is looking, they think, to elevate themselves from the humdrum. It’s either through the heightened sense of impractical love, or — in Benigni’s case–of a regular Roman who suddenly cannot walk the streets because he’s so famous.

Penelope Cruz is a stand out, of course, as a professional call girl. Hot, sexy? Yes. But also a practical business woman with a large following among Rome’s corporate leaders. Her entire performance is spoken in Italian, which makes her even hotter.

But even with attractive young people, “To Rome with Love” is pointed at just the same audience as “Midnight in Paris.” Meaning: upscale, educated, a little older. Sony Pictures Classics would do well to remember that in the marketing. This is the antidote to a summer full of cartoon action films. More on “To Rome” next week when it’s about to open.

PS What about Woody’s character? He’s the clueless director of avant garde operas, and come to Rome to stage one with a very unusual premise: the main character performs his whole part in a stall shower while a conventional opera surrounds him. It is very funny.

Meryl Streep-Viola Davis Love Fest at Women in Film Awards

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It’s only been three months since Meryl Streep and Viola Davis alternated winning acting awards for “The Iron Lady” and “The Help.” Streep finally won the Oscar for her film, but the two are still big pals. On Tuesday night in LA at the Beverly Hilton, Streep presented Davis with Women in Film’s the Crystal Award for Excellence in film.  Meryl remarked, “My friend Viola was born poor with big dreams and she aimed high, she is a veteran of the battle of the black actor in show business. ”

Davis said, “I believe that the privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.  I’ve spent far too long apologizing for my age, my color and my lack of classical beauty,” to which Meryl, who was standing on the side, chimed in, “your gorgeous Viola!”  Viola then went on to say, “The higher purpose of my life is not to the song and dance or the acclaim,but to rise up, to pull up others and leave the world and industry a better place.”

Women In Film  Crystal + Lucy Awards are always a big deal.  The group’s president Cathy Schulman (producer of “Crash”) told our LEAH SYDNEY :“Women working in Hollywood still have a huge mountain to climb.  One of the things I’m most excited about is that we’ve decided to face the hard statistics about women working in Hollywood.  The hard truth is that we only make up 18 percent of the work force.  WIF is going all out to bring women to 50 percent of the work force.”

Oscar winning guest Marcia Gay Harden told Keah: “I just finished a film at CBS called ‘Get A Job,’ and I may be doing a film with the working title, ‘Librarian’ in Costa Rica by a young director named Juan Feldman.” Would she ever want to work with James Gandolfini again; she did the play ‘God Of Carnage’ with him.  “From your mouth to God’s ear. I just love him.  He’s truly the sweetest man.”

The event featured some of showbiz’s funniest ladies.  Christina Applegate, who was presented with the Norma Zarky Humanitarian Award by her ‘Married With Children,’ screen Dad Ed O’Neill said, “I want to thank Meryl Streep because without her I wouldn’t be here.”  Christina took a beat then said, “Not really, but I just really always wanted to say that.” Christina then went on to recount her struggle with breast cancer which she beat, and about her new organization ‘Right Action for Women.’

Legendary beauty and very astute Diahann Carroll, who got a rousing ovation from the crowd, presented The Lucy Award for Excellence in Television to Bonnie Hammer.  Bonnie said, “I am truly honored to be introduced by such an iconic legend.”

Meryl then went on to bolster Cathy Schulman’s remarks by saying, “We in this room all are familiar with these dreadful statistics.  This despite the fact that recently, 5 movies, all aimed at women, have made over a billion dollars at the box office.  ‘The Help,’ ‘Iron Lady,’ ‘Bridesmaids,’ ‘Mamma Mia,’ and ‘The Devil Wears Prada.’  These films were all profitable because they cost a fraction of all these tent pole failures.”

Other honorees included the executives at 20th Century Fox and Chloe Moretz for “Face of the Future.’  Powerhouse ladies that attended were Producer Ilene Kahn Power, who produces and chairs the WIF legacy series, Nia Vardalos, Cloris Leachman, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Lara San Giacomo, Holly Robinson Peete, Cobie Smulders and Jenna Elfman. who served as host.

The New “Dallas” Is Fine, But it’s Not Fun– Grade: B minus

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“Dallas” came back tonight after 22 years. And this is what we’ve got: lots and lots of double crosses and backstabbing. And very little fun. Cynthia Cidre got JR right, I thought. And I liked Brenda Strong as Ann, Bobby Ewing’s new wife. But the show felt like one long plot without any characters. Cidre writes in modern soap opera style– she’s good at putting the jigsaw pieces together even when they don’t fit.

The show now supposedly pits Bobby and Pam Ewing’s adopted son, Christopher, against JR and Sue Ellen’s son, John Ross. Surprisingly I liked Jesse Metcalfe as Christopher. He felt substantial. But John Ross, at least in these two episodes, was a mess. John Henderson made John Ross seem like a boor. This is the sole progeny of JR and Sue Ellen. Back in the day, when he was a pre-teen, John Ross saw it all. Cidre would have done better to make John Ross the good guy, and Christopher–once thought to be the illegitimate son of Sue Ellen’s sister, Kristen (the woman who famously shot J.R.)–the bad guy.

Henderson has none of Larry Hagman’s spark or Linda Gray’s spunk. He reminded me of that latter day JR Ewing son, James Beaumont, as played by the worst actor ever to grace Southfork, Sasha Mitchell. Everything about this John Ross spells punk. JR Ewing is all about panache. Cidre completely struck out there.

The beauty and fun of the original “Dallas” were the little things, the characters’ quirks, the sense of family, the Greek chorus of oil barons who were constantly trying to do deals with JR and Bobby. The show had flavor. This version is bland. The outside of Southfork looks the same, but inside a decorator has gotten his hands on Miss Ellie’s knickknacks and replaced them with granite counter tops.

The characters are a lot like that. The guy playing the two timing lawyer was forgettable until JR showed up and reminded him of a long ago blackmail. He was no Jordan Lee, or Marilee Stone, that’s for sure. Wasn’t the whole idea of “Dallas” to be about colorful characters? And now, with oil a hotter international commodity than ever, Cidre is drilling on Southfork. There are no Arabs in this “Dallas,” which is preposterous. And there was no Dallas, the city. Where are the skyscrapers, the malls? I got more Dallas out of Robert Altman’s movie “Dr. T and the Women.”

So the new “Dallas” will give us eight more episodes after tonight’s double opener. John Ross will do nothing to inspire ten different people wanting to kill him, that’s for sure. And way too many characters are involved in double-crosses. When Christopher’s new wife was revealed to be in cahoots with her brother to swindle the Ewings, really, it was like an old episode of “All My Children.” (And the actors were very undistinguished–no Victoria Principal and Ken Kercheval).

Some time ago there was a “Dallas” reunion movie. Cliff Barnes was in it, and it was suggested that he had a daughter by his old girlfriend, Afton. The table was set for a next generation rumble. But this looks like a stale surface fight. Maybe it will improve. We can only hope.

PS Linda Gray looked amazing. But again, Sue Ellen seemed to have lost all the energy she had in her last few original seasons.

Woody Harrelson Writes and Directs His First Off Broadway Play This Summer

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Woody Harrelson and his buddy Frankie Hyman have written their first off Broadway play. The comedy, called “Bullet for Adolf,” will open at New World Stages next month with Woody directing. It’s billed as an American premiere. Performances start July 19th and last 8 weeks.

Here’s the press release:

New York, NY – Bullet for Adolf, a new comedy by Woody Harrelson and Frankie Hyman, will receive its American premiere this summer, it was announced today.  Directed by Mr. Harrelson (Academy Award® nominee – The Messenger, The People vs. Larry Flynt), performances will begin Thursday, July 19, 2012 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street), with an official Opening Night set for Wednesday, August 8, 2012. The production is scheduled to play through Sunday, September 9, 2012.

During the summer of 1983, in the sweltering heat of Houston, an unlikely friendship is formed when a couple of mid-western rubes with uncertain futures meet up with a slick New Yorker on the run from his past. The disappearance of a WWII artifact sets off a chain of events that proves that nothing changes the present like a blast from the past.  The characters that populate this hysterical, rapid-fire new comedy by real-life friends Woody Harrelson and Frankie Hyman are based on real people, though the events depicted are fiction and the names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

“Frankie and I worked construction together in Houston in the summer of 1983,” Harrelson explained. “The people we got to know that summer had a profound effect on us and we knew we had to write a play about them. The only problem was our real lives didn’t have much of a plot, so we started embellishing.  Now it’s about seven-percent history and ninety-three-percent embroidery.”

Bullet for Adolf received its world premiere last spring at the Hart House Theatre in Toronto, Canada.

The cast includes: Marsha Stephanie Blake, Raul Casso, Brandon Coffey, David Coomber, Shamika Cotton, Shannon Garland, Chris Myers and Nick Wyman.

The creative team includes Dane Laffrey (sets), Kristy Leigh Hall (costumes), Jen Schriever (lights), Brett Jarvis (sound), and Imaginary Media (projections).  Bullet for Adolf is being presented by Children at Play.

Bullet for Adolf will play the following performance schedule:  Mondays at 8:00 p.m., Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m., Thursdays & Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. & 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Tickets are priced at $66.50 & $86.50 (premium tickets) and are available through Telecharge.com/ 212-239-6200. They can also be purchased at the New World Stages box office (340 West 50th Street). Box office hours are Monday, Tuesday & Thursday from 1:00-7:00 pm and Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to final curtain.   A limited number of rush tickets ($25) will be available at the box office.

BIOS___________________________________________________________

Woody Harrelson (Playwright/Director) first discovered his love of theatre while performing in high school.  His dedication continued through college where he appeared in 26 plays before moving to New York and landing an understudy role in Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues.  Theatre has since remained a passion throughout his career.  He starred in the Roundabout’s Broadway revival of The Rainmaker, Sam Shepherd’s The Late Henry Moss, Tennessee Williams’ Night of the Iguana and John Kolvenbach’s On An Average Day.   He directed the Toronto premiere of Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth and most recently directed the debut staging of Bullet for Adolf at Hart House Theatre in Toronto, a play he co-wrote with Frankie Hyman. In addition to his work in theatre, Harrelson is an accomplished actor in both film and television.   He received Academy Award nominations for The Messenger and The People vs. Larry Flynt. Upcoming films include Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths, Now You See Me for director Louis Leterrier and Scott Cooper’s Out of the Furnace.  Other film highlights are The Hunger Games, Game Change, Rampart, Zombieland, No Country for Old Men, Defendor, Transsiberian, Kingpin, Natural Born Killers, Indecent Proposal, and White Men Can’t Jump.  Harrelson’s television credits include his Emmy Award winning performance on “Cheers” and guest appearances on “Frasier” and “Will and Grace.”

Frankie Hyman (Playwright) was born and raised in Harlem, New York.  He left New York briefly in the early 1980’s to work construction in Houston, Texas where he met and became friends with Woody Harrelson.  After returning to New York, Hyman found a new interest in writing.  It wasn’t until the early 1990’s that he again connected with Harrelson.  Soon after, Hyman moved to Los Angeles where he has been pursuing a career in writing.  Hyman and Harrelson debuted their play Bullet for Adolf in May 2011 at Hart House theatre in Toronto.

Frances Preston, Beloved Long Time Head of BMI Music, Passes Away

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I can’t always say this, but I am trulyheartbroken to report the passing of Franees Preston, former head of BMI  the music licensing giant. Cause of death was congestive heart failure. I just found out Frances was 83– well it was 83 years young. She didn’t look it and she didn’t act it. And when I say beloved, I mean it. What a truly classy, elegant, beautiful, smart lady. She cared about music and musicians. She loved people. There will most certainly be a toast to her tomorrow night at the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  That makes three dynamic women and friends in the music business lost in the last year: Sunny Ralfini, Barbara Orbison, and now Frances. Too young, no matter how old. What a loss!

Linda Moran sent out this message today from the SHOF:

Dear Friends,

As I am sure you have all heard by now……..On the day before the penultimate salute to the songwriter, we lost one of the best friends a songwriter ever had …..the divine Frances W. Preston.

Frances was so very special to most of us on the board and in the songwriting community that I do not feel I have to go on to list all of her professional achievements, other than to say that we were all so fortunate to have had her in our lives, personally and professionally, and she will be missed more than words can say.

Her spirit will live on and I am sure we will feel it tomorrow night …….. Frances always did love a good time, especially when it meant spending time with good friends and celebrating songwriters!

Please take a moment to see the tribute to Frances on the BMI website: http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/557516

Warmest regards,

Linda

Here’s a remembrance from Hitsdailydouble.com:

Preston spent six decades at BMI, serving as the org’s President/CEO from 1986 until 2004. Hired in 1958 to open a Southern regional office for BMI in Nashville, Preston was appointed VP in 1964, making her the first female corporate executive in Tennessee, as well as the first fulltime PRO rep in the South. She helped build an economic infrastructure to support and connect the creative and commercial sectors in Nashville, helping to pave the way for the city’s future as a songwriting hub. In 1985, she rose to SVP Performing Rights, and the following year she was named President and CEO, bring her to BMI’s headquarters in New York. Kris Kristofferson dubbed Preston the “songwriter’s guardian angel,” and Fortune called her “one of the true powerhouses of the pop music business.” She’s survived by her three sons, Kirk, David and Donald, as well as six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. We’ll never forget her announcing an award for Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin'” at a BMI bash several years ago. She will be missed.

 

Paul McCartney Turns 70 on Monday; Win a Remastered Copy of “Ram”

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Paul McCartney, the “cute” Beatle, underrated for many reasons, turns 70 on Monday, June 18th. What are his 10 best songs? WHat your ten favorites? Please send lists and birthday greetings ASAP to roger@showbiz411.com. We’ll post them all starting on Sunday night. And don’t forget to pick up the new “Ram” box set on amazon and other locations. Happy Birthhday, Paul!

Here’s a top 10 list from Showbiz411: 1. Another Day 2. All My Loving 3. Band on the Run 4. Daytime Nighttime Suffering 5. Can’t Buy Me Love 6. For No One 7. Eleanor Rigby 8. Oh Darling 9. My Brave Face 10. Hey Jude.

The best three lists–chosen subjectively–will win a remastered copy of “Ram” courtesy of Concord Records. Cut off is Monday, June 18th at 5pm Eastern.

Best Musical “Once” Launching Projects for All Its Creators

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The new Best Musical on Broadway is already proving fruitful for its creators. John Carney, who directed the original film. has a new project starting imminently. Scarlett Johannson is out, but Mark Ruffalo, Kiera Knightly, and Hailee Steinfeld are in. Judd Apatow is producing Carney’s music film called “Can A Song Save Your Live?” with these two young women vying for the attention of a washed up music producer. The production just put out a casting call for supporting roles and expects to start shooting in June. It’s not clear what the original music will be like, or who’ll be writing it.

But… in a related story, Glen Hansard, who wrote the music for “Once” with Marketa Iglova, has a new album out on June 19th. I’m pleased to say that it’s top notch and quite fine, with hits aplenty especially if radio will make the connection between “Once” the Tony award winning show and Hansard. I’m crazy about “Maybe Not Tonight,” But there are lots of catchy tracks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjUXT8-3yxc. There’s more from “Rhythm and Repose” at www.glenhansardmusic.com The album is a winner. And meanwhile, Marketa is playing dates all over the place.

Now all we need is an album of new songs from star Steve Kazee. Don’t worry, it’s coming. If I were a record label (Decca?) I’d get right on it.

Keith Richards Produced New Album by Aaron Neville: Exclusive

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Exclusive from April 4, 2012: Everyone’s been wondering what Rolling Stone Keith Richards would do this year–a new Rolling Stones record? Nope. He’s just finished producing a new doo wop album for Aaron Neville on Blue Note Records. Don Was, who’s running A&R at Blue Note Records. “Keith had a great time,” says a source, making the album with the sweet toned New Orleans tenor. Neville is also a master chef, but no word yet on whether he cooked for Keith and Don.

Richards is otherwise engaged in preparing for the Rolling Stones’ 50th anniversary coming in 2013. A big documentary is scheduled to launch later this year directed by Brett Morgen (“The Kid Stays in the Picture”).

And the news is that Taschen Books is preparing a mega volume of Stones photographs set for a January release. You know Taschen–their books have to be read on pedestals because they’re oversized and magnificent. The Taschen editors have gone through every known archive, I’m told.

The Stones are also scheduled for some kind of greatest hits set for January, although what exactly what form it will take has yet to be determined.

In the meantime. the Stones’ bootleg series on Google is booming. Just released is the 1975 show from the LA Forum at http://tinyurl.com/cst65ph. There are three volumes of bootlegs, all downloadable for $4.99, with one free track per set and links to video interviews with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards from 1973. And yes, I am told that at least Keith is aware of the Stones’ inclusion on “Mad Men” last Sunday.

 

 

photo c2011 ann lawlor

Tom Cruise Friars Dinner “A Bust”: Katie Holmes MIA

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I don’t know what went wrong with the Friars Club dinner for Tom Cruise. But the red carpet, according to my spies and pictures from the photo agencies, show that was a non starter. One photographer simply said, “It was a bust.” The weather was bad, but that wouldn’t have stopped most celebs from being at a Tom Cruise event.  On the red carpet, Cruise would only have his picture taken with “Rock of Ages” co-star Alec Baldwin.

Otherwise, the A list stayed home and dry. Two of kids were there–little Suri, without mom Katie, and Connor, Tom’s adopted son with Nicole Kidman. The bold faced names included Bill Hader from”Saturday Night Live.” Cuba Gooding Jr., Matt Lauer, actor Kevin Pollack, and Baldwin. As a promo for “Rock of Ages,” the evening didn’t really do much. Why TV chef Bobby Flay and actress Stephanie March, or designer Betsey Johnson, were there is a mystery. No Cameron Crowe–odd. And no Jann Wenner–he and Cruise used to be thick as thieves. There are a lot of pics of a teen actor named Jake T. Schmidt, who has nothing at all to do with Cruise.

Even Philip Seymour Hoffman, the villain from “Mission Impossible 3” was absent–but he’s stlll probably sleeping off the Tony Awards. Where was the usually omnipresent Holmes? She’s shooting a movie in nearby Connecticut. It’s actually hard to think of a time when little Suri was anywhere without Katie. Anyway, I am told the Waldorf Astoria ballroom is filled with patrons whose ticket money from this evening will go to the Friars’ many charitable donations. (They are a very generous group.) Also absent: much publicized friends like Will Smith and David Beckham.

Maybe they’re all coming later, or through the back door.

Robin Thicke, Megan Hilty, and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings were slated to perform.

More to come…maybe….

Looming “Dallas” Disaster: How Show’s Creator Was Cut Out of Reboot

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read: http://www.showbiz411.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=21240&action=edit

EXCLUSIVE: Tomorrow night’s reboot of “Dallas” is getting terrible reviews. Are we surprised? The people who tried to revive it simply snubbed the creator, David Jacobs. What a shame. I loved “Dallas.” But it took the right attitude and ingredients to make it work again. Read how it happened:

David Jacobs, creator of “Dallas” and “ Knots Landing,” tells me he’s been excluded entirely from the coming reboot of the famous series on TNT. He will get to keep his “created by” credit, but nothing else, no money, and no participation. “I’ll get the $714 Writers Guild fee for a sequel,” Jacobs says.  Jacobs tells me found out that “Dallas” was being restarted second hand. When he inquired about it, he says he told everyone — including new head writer Cynthia Cidre–that he was essentially retired and didn’t want to write the show. “I didn’t want any authority,” he told her at their one lunch. But he did think a consultancy wouldn’t be out of the question since basically, “Dallas” relies on all the characters he created in the 1970s–JR Ewing, Bobby Ewing, Sue Ellen, and their family, even the same Southfork Ranch set.

“All I said was that I’d like to be a presence. I told her if you need anything on the back story, I’m there. I never heard anything from her again until I heard TNT ordered a pilot.” Jacobs was involved with the failed John Travolta movie version, because the movie and TV rights had been separated in his original contract. “In the early 2000s, we took the movie to Warner Bros. They passed, and then New Regency bought the movie rights. But they didn’t make the movie.”

When Jacobs finally read Cidre’s script, he thought it wasn’t bad. “I said it wasn’t audacious enough. I made some notes.” But Jacob says after he submitted them to the network he was told they wouldn’t show them to Cidre. Why not? “I was told there were too many cooks. I was going to make a t shirt up that said, Too many cooks, get rid of the with the recipe.”

This year, when the producers put in for credits, they asked for “Developed by Cynthia Cidre, based on “Dallas”  created by David Jacobs.” But the Writers Guild denied that, and ruled that the only credit was “Created by David Jacobs.” It was his show, still, at least at the Writers Guild.

Once the WGA ruled for him, the production extended a tiny olive branch–but with a proviso. “They offered me some money and a consultancy, but made it clear they didn’t care whether I didn’t do any consulting. But they asked me to waive all my rights.” He refused, so negotiations came to an end. “I asked to see Cynthia, and I asked her to meet me for a drink or lunch. And she said no. She refused me three times. I wrote a memo to her and said, ‘I don’t want any authority.’ Their lawyer told my lawyer I was too aggressive.”

After Jacobs created “Dallas,” he went on to run “Family,” an Emmy winning ABC drama of the 70s. But he always kept in touch with (the now deceased) Leonard Katzman, who ran “Dallas” for years. “I was around, that’s all I wanted, to be around.” For the record, he told Katzman that the famous Bobby Ewing shower scene–when Pam’s dream wiped out an entire awful season– was a “dumb idea.”

Jacobs says now the producers have cut him out completely. “I will not waive my rights. The material isn’t bad. But I read the scripts and found they were very plot driven. I thought she was going to have trouble down the road. The original “Dallas” and “Knots Landing” ran five years too long because the audience was so engaged with the characters. You didn’t need to come  up with constant plot points. The scripts are good. But they should have been Bobby’s kid the bad one, and JR’s kld the good one. Bobby has a new wife, and she’s from Houston. She should have been from main line Philadelphia, or Boston or New York. Or very rich. But I never had the opportunity to express any of this.”

The revived “Dallas” launches on TNT on June 13th with a two hour premiere

Also read http://www.showbiz411.com/2012/06/13/frances-preston-beloved-long-time-head-of-bmi-music-passes-away