Dozens and dozens of Paramount Pictures stars from the past gathered on the famous lot today for a once in a lifetime group photograph. The occasion was the 100th anniversary of the studio. Stars from The Godfather–like Robert DeNiro, James Caan, and Al Pacino, as well as director Francis Ford Coppola–were joined by famous types like Barbra Streisand, Shirley Maclaine, director Peter Bodganovich, Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Nicole Kidman, plus Martin Scorsese, Gore Verbinski, Tom Cruise, and Charlize Theron. Martin Scorsese told me last night at Paramount’s swellegant bash on the studio lot that he had Jane Fonda on one side of him, Ernest Borgnine on the other. “He’s 95 and amazing! Marty exclaimed. More stars mentioned included Eddie Murphy, and former Paramount chief Robert Evans was the only executive included in the photo. “The kid stays in the picture,” quipped our own Leah Sydney, referring to the famous Evans documentary. There were no press people there, I’m told. A full list isn’t yet available. All in all, it’s a coup for studio chief Brad Grey, who’s reshaped Paramount for the 21st century.
Jamie Foxx Says Tarantino Movie Will Be “Historic”
Jamie Foxx, fresh from painful disc surgery, was the last and arguably best guest to arrive at Harvey Weinstein’s pre-Critics Choice Award party at the Chateau Marmont. The shindig, designed to celebrate The Weinstein Company’s many nominees for the Critics Choice and Golden Globe Awards, was the kind where famous faces kept pouring in and out of the Chateau.
Inside: Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh, the cast and director of “The Artist,” and so on. Just at the door I ran into Hollywood vets like Joe Bologna and Renee Taylor. Then in the same breath came young Leven Rambin, who’s in the upcoming “Hunger Games,” past Oscar nominee Sally Kirkland, Andy Serkis of “Hobbit” and “Apes” fame, and a cascade of names like Bradley Cooper, Lindsay Lohan, Guy Pearce, Andie McDowell, Jane Lynch, Jennifer Coolidge, Kyle Machlachlan, Rose McGowan– well you get the idea. Elizabeth McGovern even brought in a group from “Downton Abbey.”
Jamie- sporting a scraggly goatee– told me all about his recent surgery on the C5 disc–yikes. He said, “My arm didn’t even move, it was dangling.” He demonstrated his pre-surgery condition. Luckily, doctors have repaired him. Foxx is shooting Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.” He told me, “This movie will be historic. People will be talking about in 20 years.” We also reminisced about his first ever music appearance years ago to Clive Davis’s famous pre Grammy dinner. Foxx was so awesome that Davis signed him. Foxx became a music star soon after.
“That was my favorite thing to do,” he said, and added he’d return if Davis asked him. (Clive, that’s a hint.)
And believe it or not–the crowd started heading home around midnight. Most everyone will be at the Critics Choice Awards tonight, which you can see on VH-1 live–with Bob Dylan performing a tribute to Martin Scorsese.
First “Mad Men” Clue: Some Kind of Accident in Episode 5?
The fifth season of “Mad Men” begins on March 25th on AMC. And yes, everyone’s waiting with baited breath. But what will happen? Here’s a possible clue. The fifth episode is called “Signal 30.” According to the Museum of the Moving Image, “Signal 30” was a “shocking” 1959 film about fatalities resulting from traffic accidents.
Here’s the description: Legendary “shock” driving safety film featuring numerous scenes of mutilated cars and injured/dead people and a voiceover lacking in compassion. Produced in cooperation with the Ohio State Highway Patrol and shown to millions of young drivers for over 40 years. CONTENT ADVISORY: Many disturbing scenes of violent deaths and accident scenes; cries of crash victims on soundtrack.
So what will happen? Will there be a pile up? Will Don Draper’s presumed new wife, Megan, bite the dust? Or it will be Betty, his ex? Here’s the link: http://www.archive.org/details/Signal301959. Of course, “Signal 30” was released in 1959, and “Mad Men” should be returning to us circa 1967. We’ll have to wait and see…
George Lucas Premieres First Non Star Wars-Raiders Movie in 35 Years
I think it’s safe to say George Lucas has not produced a movie outside the “Star Wars” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” series since the late 80s. He certainly wasn’t as fully invested emotionally as he is in “Red Tails,” which premiered last night at the Ziegfeld. Or financially. Lacking funding from a studio, he put $60 million of his own money into the project. Fox, his “Star Wars” studio, is distributing it. Jon Bon Jovi, Spike and Tonya Lee, Mayor Mike Bloomberg, former senator and famed basketball player Bill Bradley were just some of the luminaries who turned out to support this effort, the story of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Lucas reportedly had to re-cut and re-shoot a lot of the film after it didn’t quite work out with first time director Anthony Hemingway. This may be why it took so long to get the film onto screens. It’s been in production since at least 2008. The film stars Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., Nate Parker, and David Oyelowo who head a mostly African American cast. (Bryan Cranston and Lee Tergesen are sort of in cameos.)
In the end, Lucas was driven to tell the story of the forgotten courageous black World War II pilots who have had to for recognition and to keep their places in history. It’s hard to say how the movie will do when it reaches the public next Friday, the 20th; it’s a history lesson mixed with terrific computer generated graphics of air born dogfights.
But last night’s audience, composed largely of the Airmen families and friends, and their extended network, absolutely loved it. Several of the living Airmen were on hand, as well, and got a standing ovation at the end of the screening. And that was extremely moving, to see them rewarded after almost 70 years.
Lucas not only produced (and wrote and sort of directed) “Red Tails,” but he also made a documentary about the Airmen called “Double Victory.” which airs on cable TV beginning January 15th.
More on “Red Tails” next week…
George Clooney Gets 3rd Best Actor Award Tonight From Million Dollar Fan Group
George Clooney–everyone loves him, especially the fan group National Board of Review. At their $600 a ticket dinner tonight they’re giving Clooney his third award in five years, this time for “The Descendants.” The NBR is a cabal run by a woman named Annie Schulhof, who essentially wrested it from its former cabalists (not Kabbalah-ists) a few years ago. Now, with the membership fees and gala tickets, they claim over $1 million in assets on their tax form as a charity. According to their 2010 Form 990, they spent more on salaries ($159,000) and production of the annual event ($117,500) than they did on “student grants” ($64,500) or their miscellaneous donations like $6,000 to the Children’s Aid Society and $14,500, as usual, to Wesleyan University, where NBR board member Jeanine Basinger teaches and maintains some kind of Clint Eastwood archive. Eastwood’s “J Edgar” is included in this year’s top 10 films, of course. It’s all good! Tonight, the NBR gives pretty much every studio an award. And they even created awards–like one for the “Harry Potter” series– to make sure Warner Bros. would pony up. All this money and intrigue to do the exact same thing that the New York Film Critics did basically on a shoestring last and the Critics Choice Awards will do on Thursday night in Los Angeles. But the NBR members get their pix taken with the stars, and everyone goes home a winner.
Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep, Robert DeNiro Rock New York Film Critics Dinner
Brad Pitt was hilarious and touching last night accepting his Best Actor award from the New York Film Critics Circle. Joining other honorees Meryl Streep, Albert Brooks, Jessica Chastain and the folks from “The Artist,” Pitt was a little nervous and actually spoke softly from the podium at restaurant. Angelina Jolie was with him, looking more gorgeous than ever, accepting kudos for her underrated film “In the Land of Blood and Honey.” Viola Davis, herself a nominee for “The Help” from many different groups, presented Best Actress to Streep. Davis joked: “I popped a lot of Stress Tabs when we made ‘Doubt’.” Streep was philosophical, having won the same award two years ago: “We do this for love, and for as long as we can.”
Surprise presenters were Robert DeNiro –who had trouble with “Artist” director Michel Hazanavicius‘s name–and Francis Ford Coppola, who came for “Artist” producer Thomas Langmann. The Coppolas, it turns out, have been long time friends of the Langmann family. Famed late French film director Claude Berri (“Jean de Florette”) was Langmann’s father–his real name was Claude Berel Langmann. And Thomas told me something stunning: when Claude Berri won an Oscar in 1966 for a short film, “Le Poulet” but he didn’t have the money to go to Hollywood and claim it. The Academy mailed it to him instead! Sacre bleu!
Anyway, back to Brad Pitt, who’s on track to win the Oscar for his work in “Moneyball.” He said the award was a big deal considering “I’d never been on ap plane til I was 25.” He talked about coming to New York to audition for a soap opera in 1989. “I had to put myself up in an apartment on Christopher Street,” Brad recalled. “My first impression of the city was There are a lot of guys around here. But they’re so nice!” That got big laughs.
He continued: “On set the clock’s ricking, the camera’ rolling. A lot of what we do comes out of instinct and intuition. I am continually surprised about how much I learn about storytelling and filmmaking from your reviews. We are complex, we are industries to ourselves, we are difficult to each other…we live in continual flux, Christians and Muslims, Democrat and Republican, Denby and Rudin…” — a reference to a recent feud between producer Scott Rudin and film critic David Denby. Again more laughs.
He said: “It never crossed my mind that I’d be here.” And then, almost as an afterthought as he was leaving the stage, Pitt said: “I love films, I absolutely love them. I consider it a great privilege, I thank you for this, it means so much to me, and I’m glad this wasn’t televised.”
Oscar Smear? Someone Tries to Attack “The Artist”
It sure is the silly season in Oscarland. Today, actress Kim Novak– a noted recluse so out of the Hollywood loop that I doubt most people under 50 know her name–took a full page ad in Variety. Her gripe was that the music for “The Artist,” the much loved silent film by Michel Hazanavicius, was taken from a movie she’d starred in over 50 years ago. Indeed, Hazanavicius credits Alfred Hitchcock’s composer, Bernard Herrmann. He’s discussed the fact that 20% of Ludovic Bource’s score comes from great movies of the past. The Academy knew it, and said that the 80% that was original was eligible for the Oscar.
Novak’s ad, so preposterous, makes it seem like she made the movie and wrote the music! (Well, it’s her one big claim to fame.) But this is a woman who shuns the spotlight. She might have written a letter or called someone. But take an ad out? Risk her Academy membership for maligning a film in public? What also concerns me is that her manager or pr or spokesperson is the dreadful Sue Cameron, a woman I tangled with last year when she hijacked singer Phoebe Snow’s funeral here in New York by giving a eulogy about herself. It was a travesty. Now Cameron is saying how “shocked” Novak was when she heard the music. Really? The woman hasn’t made a movie since 1991. Maybe she should listen to some others that quote Herrmann. How does she feel about all the films that riff on Hitchcock? Brian DePalma anyone?
Novak actually wrote: “I want to report a rape. I feel as if my body — or, at least my body of work — has been violated by the movie, The Artist.”
It’s hard to believe that Novak was so motivated by “The Artist” soundtrack–so full of original melodies and inventive work–that she called up Variety and read them a credit card number. Something smells fishy here. As for ‘body of work’–she acted in one movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Weird.
Directors Guild Picks Nominees, Greatest Oscar Indicator
The Directors Guild of America has chosen its nominees. And listen, this is the greatest indicator for the top 5 Best Picture nominees and the Best Director nominees. The five are Woody Allen for “Midnight in Paris,” Michel Hazanavicius for “The Artist,” David Fincher for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Martin Scorsese for “Hugo,” and Alexander Payne for “The Descendants.” Except for the omissions of Steven Spielberg for “War Horse” and Bennett Miller for “Moneyball,” I think the list is exactly right. If you add those two films, plus maybe “The Ides of March,” you’ll have the Best Picture nominees for 2011. It’s a solid list. There is simply no way that Terrence Malick’s incoherent yet daring “Tree of Life” is going to make it into the big final awards selections. Ditto Lars von Trier. And “Bridesmaids” is fun, but not a competitor. So that’s it. The DGA did a good job.
Sean Penn to Get Humanitarian Award from Critics Choice on Thursday
Are you getting ready for the Critics Choice Awards? That’s Thursday on VH-1 at 8pm Eastern. The group just announced it’s giving Sean Penn their Joel Siegel Humanitarian Award for his work in Haiti. As I reported earlier, George Clooney is presenting the award. Clooney is also nominated for a slew of awards that night, for “Ides of March” and “The Descendants.” Every big movie star of this season is coming to the Critics Choice, the first broadcast awards show of the season. Critics Choice is composed of actual working writers, reporters, and correspondents who cover the film industry, as opposed to this Wednesday’s National Board of Review–a self congratulatory group of fans who pay membership fees to see the movies and to put on a fancy dinner. As for Penn, he has worked hard in Haiti and made a difference with his organization.
Paul McCartney Set for Grammy Performance, TV Special
Exclusive: Paul McCartney‘s upcoming album of standards, “Kisses on the Bottom,” is getting a big push for its February 7th release. “Kisses,” which I got to hear recently, will get a TV special taped in Hollywood during Grammy week. And McCartney, I can tell you exclusively, is set to sing his brilliant new song, “My Valentine,” on the Grammy Awards February 12th–two days before Valentine’s Day. Even better: I can also tell you that “Kisses”–a reference to the x’s at the bottom of love letters and not anything untoward–is an exquisite recording made by award winning, legendary producer Tommy LiPuma.
LiPuma–who McCartney has tapped as music director of his MusiCares tribute on February 10th–has used only the finest musicians in this effort–Diana Krall and her two bands (studio and touring), father and son guitarists Bucky and John Pizzarelli, and Andy Stein, virtuoso violinist from Commander Cody. Stevie Wonder plays a trademark harmonica solo on a McCartney original, “Only Our Hearts,” and Eric Clapton adds his bluesy guitar to a couple of tracks including a sensational cover of “Get Yourself Another Fool.”
Also exclusive: taking a page maybe from Sting, who sang it memorably in “Leaving Las Vegas,” McCartney will include a bonus track recording for download of the Frank Sinatra hit, “My One and Only Love.” It’s not on the album simply because Paul and LiPuma couldn’t physically fit another song on the CD. My guess is fans will buy the CD and then download the extra song.
What a treat this album is, simply because the recording is outstanding. McCartney sang a lot of it live with Krall; the spontaneity is evident throughout. Many of the musicians’ great moments were ad libbed, too. Krall, who doesn’t sing on the album. helps LiPuma give the project the feeling of a George Shearing recital at the Cafe Carlyle. Listened to on real speakers (forget those damned earbud things), “Kisses” has a warm, intimate glow. And listen, it is far from boring. McCartney is so energized, he sounds as if he’s had a “voice lift.” But there’s absolutely no trickery–it’s all him.
Everyone’s going to have favorites when “Kisses” is revealed (which should be soon). You should know that even though McCartney the businessman owns a lot of music catalogs, the songs he and LiPuma chose were from the heart, not the wallet. He only has the copyright on Frank Loesser’s “More I Cannot Wish You,” a little gem from “Guys and Dolls” — and “Inchworm,” from “Hans Christian Anderson.” But reviving Loesser’s overlooked classics for a mainstream audience is like missionary work. You only get rewarded for it. It’s not like he’s singing “Luck Be a Lady Tonight.”
I loved his inspired vocal on “We Three,” also an old Sinatra hit, which LiPuma could release as a focus track. (We used to call them singles.) As with all the songs, McCartney invests a lot of humor and personality in his reading. I think it’s going to surprise everyone how well he took to this genre.
At the same time, the McCartney originals–“My Valentine” and “Only Our Hearts”–are two of his best songs in years and years. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear a lot of singers like Tony Bennett cover them quickly. And all this from a man who turns 70 this June.
LiPuma–by the way–has produced everything from Barbra Streisand‘s famous “The Way We Were” album to Natalie Cole‘s “Unforgettable” and dozens of artists from Michael Buble to George Benson to Gladys Knight and Dave Mason.
tracklist:
1. I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter (Alhert/Young) 2:36
2. Home (When Shadows Fall) (Van Steeden/Clarkson/Clarkson) 4:04
3. Paper Moon (Arlen/Harburg/Rose) 2:35
4. More I Cannot Wish You (Loesser) 3:03
5. The Glory of Love (Hill) 3:45
6. We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me) (Dorsey/Robertson/Mysels) 3:22
7. Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive (Arlen/Mercer) 2:31
8. My Valentine (McCartney) 3:14
9. Always (Irving Berlin) 3:49
10. My Very Good Friend the Milkman (Burke/Spina) 3:04
11. Bye Bye Blackbird (Henderson/Dixon) 4:26
12. Get Yourself Another Fool (Forrest/Heywood) 4:42
13. The Inch Worm (Loesser) 3:42
14. Only Our Hearts (McCartney) 4:21