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Clint Eastwood’s “J Edgar” Doesn’t Leave Hoover in a Vaccuum

Roger Friedman
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Clint Eastwood’s “J Edgar” Doesn’t Leave Hoover in a Vaccuum

There’s mostly good news about Clint Eastwood’s “J. Edgar,” despite the mixed trade reviews from late last week. Eastwood’s biopic, written by Dustin Lance Black, is fine filmmaking. Hoover was a cipher, a man who left behind a lot of secrets and mysteries. Was he gay? Was Clyde Tolson his lover? Eastwood describes his movie as a love story, and he’s right. No, it’s not “Reds.” And it’s not even “Brokeback Mountain.” Very little is consummated. But Leonardo DiCaprio really hits a home run. His performance holds up the whole film, and he carries it without flinching from beginning to end. It’s an Oscar turn, but maybe something more than that. It’s DiCaprio growing and stretching as an actor.

Leo’s going to surprise a lot of people. He veers away from impersonation, and goes deeper. Alternating between the young Edgar and old, DiCaprio is confident with each step. The rest of the cast is superb. Judi Dench has a full on supporting role as Hoover’s mother, sure to earn her another nomination. Armie Hammer is very good, again, as Clyde Tolson. Naomi Watts is just lovely as Hoover’s lifelong secretary.

The film is full of welcome cameos, from Lea Thompson as Ginger Rogers’ mother to Dermot Mulroney, Geoff Pierson, Josh Hamilton, Jeffrey Donovan (from Eastwood’s “Changeling,” excellent as Robert Kennedy), Stephen Root, Ed Westwick (from “Gossip Girl”) and so on. It’s as if Eastwood combed through the Players Guide and picked the best team he could find.

And the gay love story? It’s extremely chaste. You saw more in “Will & Grace.” What Eastwood does is simply suggest the obvious: the two men were inseparable. On the other hand, “J. Edgar” is really about the abuse of power at its highest level. Hoover never once shies from suggesting that he investigate an enemy or start a file on a foe. He’s J.R. Ewing writ large. Only Richard Nixon could truly appreciate his Machiavellian ways.

I can’t imagine the review chaos on Friday, when “J. Edgar” finally is seen. DiCaprio fans are going to drive this film, and they can rejoice. Their boy from “Titanic,” who never fails to try new things, has really risen to the occasion this time.

And Eastwood: “J. Edgar” sometimes hums like “Unforgiven.” It has an operatic quality–maybe horse opera–as Hoover sees himself as a gunslinger come to clean up the town. Eastwood, when he’s on, and has a good script, makes movie move. The pieces fall into place.

Dr. Murray Convicted–Michael Jackson Vindicated

Roger Friedman
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Dr. Murray Convicted–Michael Jackson Vindicated

Dr. Conrad Murray has been found guilty on involuntary manslaughter. A jury has found that he killed Michael Jackson. Murray. who’s walked around scot-free since June 25, 2009, will now spend 22 days in jail until his sentencing. At that time he should receive four years in prison. He will likely lose his medical license. He can spend the time trying to remember why didn’t he call 911, didn’t properly perform CPR, and why he let Michael take propofol unsupervised, while Murray made calls to his girlfriends. If he has any assets he’d better hide them, too. Because Jackson’s estate, as well as his family, will be filing civil suits against him. It’s an ignominious end to a less than stellar career. And it should be a lesson for everyone who wants to get involved with a get rich quick scheme. Jackson told AEG Live to pay Murray $150,000 a month for his services. The doctor, so in debt, happily agreed, and lost all his reason. It’s not much consolation to Michael’s kids, but at least justice has been served.

Monica Lewinsky Is Just Fine; James Franco Has Art in His Genes

Roger Friedman
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Monica Lewinsky Is Just Fine; James Franco Has Art in His Genes

Monica Lewinsky? Like a lot of people (including my mother) I saw in a recent newspaper item that insisted Monica was a ruined girl with no life and no prospects. So imagine my surprise when Ms. Lewinsky turned up on Saturday evening at the IFC Center for a special showing of two films by D.A. Pennebaker and Richard Leacock (with Bob Drew and Al Maysles), “Crisis” and “Primary.” The screenings were part of a Doc Fest tribute to Leacock, and Pennebaker, now an amazingly youthful eighty six, took questions from the audience.

Monica came as the guest of Leacock’s daughter, Victoria. Everyone should look so “bad.” Indeed, was great–vivacious and fun. She told Pennebaker how much she admired the films, which are rare, historic up close glimpses of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Nicholas Katzenbach and Alabama governor George Wallace. “Crisis,” records with fly on the wall verisimilitude Bobby Kennedy’s successful effort to integrate the University of Alabama in March 1963. (Bigot Wallace didn’t want “negroes” attending the school.) It’s an eye opening, amazing historical document.

But back to Monica: she’s not designing handbags anymore. She told me she’s living in Los Angeles, and has a lot of plans for 2012. She did not tell me this, but you know, Lewinsky never wrote a book. She let Andrew Morton write one for her. But we’ve never actually heard her story from her side. She is not precluded in any way from writing one. Her scandal with Bill Clinton occurred in 1998, almost fourteen years ago. I would imagine her memoir would be an automatic bestseller….

…You think the weekend is dull? Not in NYC. James Franco‘s grandmother and uncle bring their Verne Art Gallery to the International Print Fair at the Park Avenue Armory every November. This year was no exception. Michael Verne, James’s uncle, and spitfire grandma Mitzie, are respected experts in Japanese art. Their booth is always popular, even though the Franco connection is unknown to most art lovers.

On Sunday the Vernes (www.verneartgallery.com) were visited by at least two people in showbiz who had no idea of all this: “Sopranos” creator David Chase, and separately, publishing giant Sunny Mehta with his wife, author Gita Mehta. The Mehtas were fascinated by a stark black and white print of a man in silhouette in the process of hanging himself. (Let’s not read too much into that.)

PS Mitzie, who was in a sketch at last season’s Oscars (she and Anne Hathaway’s mom each spoke from the audience) tells me she just visited James on the Detroit set of “Oz, the Great and Powerful.” She even got a small walk on role–complete with costume!

Michael Jackson Case: Dr. Arnold Klein and His 51 Demerol Shots

Roger Friedman
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1
Michael Jackson Case: Dr. Arnold Klein and His 51 Demerol Shots

I haven’t really gotten into the day to day stuff of the Dr. Conrad Murray-Michael Jackson murder trial, mainly because it’s on TV and we’ve heard most of it already. On Monday morning, the jury resumes deliberations.

I was surprised that over the weekend Dr. Arnold Klein, Michael Jackson’s long time dermatologist, gave a TV interview. He’s counting on viewers having short memories.

Last August Klein was lucky. The judge in the Murray case ruled that Klein’s treatment of Jackson right before he died couldn’t be introduced in the trial. Murray’s defense team wanted it in. The judge said it would confuse the jury.

Maybe. Personally, and this has nothing to do with anything: I do think that Dr. Murray was responsible for Michael Jackson’s death thanks to his negligence. But I also think that Klein’s treatment warrants examination. Klein sued the Michael Jackson estate in October 2009 for $48,000 in unpaid medical bills. The bills were from March through June, 2009. I first reported that Klein had sent AEG Live a bill for that amount just a few days after he died.

Dr. Klein’s bill refutes just about everything he’s said or done regarding Michael Jackson. What’s interesting is that in time, details of his lawsuit–which hasn’t been settled or adjudicated as far as I can tell–have vanished into the ether of time. Over at TMZ, they’ve actually removed the papers and replaced them with a statement from Klein’s lawyers. But I have those bills, and they remain a damning document.

The bills show that Dr. Klein gave Michael Jackson 51 injections over a two month period. Often it was twice or three times in a single visit. The last one was on June 22, 2009–three days before Michael died. Demerol passes through the body quickly, though. It’s very possible that by the morning of June 25th, the Demerol had evaporated from Michael’s body without a trace.

The bills also show thousands of dollars in miscellaneous charges. Klein says these exorbitant fees were those cost of him renting helicopters and the like to fly to Michael’s side on the weekends. There’s a charge, for example, of $7,500 for ” weekend office call” on April 25, 2009. Was there a yacht involved? I assume Dr. Klein has those receipts.

But the disturbing part of the Dr. Klein bills isn’t the Botox or Restalyne or Latisse–the cosmetic stuff. It’s the Demerol. And even if Demerol wasn’t found in Michael’s body, and wasn’t a contributing factor to his death, it’s still extremely troubling. The DEA “raided” or inspected and took files from Dr. Klein’s offices in June, 2010. We haven’t heard what they found or why they did that.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2010/06/30/dea-inspected-michael-jacksons-dr-klein-last-week

 

 

Box Office Madness: “Puss” Beats “Heist,” Main Reporting Sites in Conflict

Roger Friedman
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1
Box Office Madness: “Puss” Beats “Heist,” Main Reporting Sites in Conflict

Movie box office reporting has become quite the game. Nikki Finke regularly puts up the wrong numbers every Saturday in order to “beat” everyone. Then the real numbers come in and she just erases her earlier post. The real story this morning is that “Tower Heist” with its all star cast was beaten soundly by “Puss in Boots”– a big surprise. But even weirder is what else is happening in Box Office land. BoxOfficeMojo.com, now owned by the IMDB (itself owned by Amazon) has gone haywire. First of all, it seems like the founder, Brandon Gray, is mysteriously gone. He started the site in 1999 and sold it to IMDB in 2008. I’m told he left about two months ago. The site no longer updates properly– which the current operator attributes to computer problems. But last weekend and this weekend. BoxOfficeMojo isn’t posting its numbers. They say Gray’s departure is just a coincidence. Meanwhile, showbizdata.com. which also posts box office numbers and has full site, hasn’t updated since October 16th. I’m posting the three different sets of numbers you could find today on the internet. And you wonder why there are so many lawsuits later by filmmakers.

Here are Box Office Mojo’s numbers for this weekend:

1.       Puss – $33 – $75.5

2.       Tower Heist – $25.1 – $25.1

3.       H&K3 – $13.07 – $13.07

4.       PA3 – $8.53 – $95.3

5.       In Time – $7.7 – $24.2

6.       Footloose – $4.55 – $44.8

7.       Real Steel – $3.4 – $78.8

8.       Rum Diary – $2.99 – $10.4

9.       Ides of march – $2 – $36.8

10.   Moneyball – $1.9 – $70.3

Here are the Hollywood Reporter’s numbers:

Top 10 Actual Domestic Box Office Nov. 4-Nov. 6

Title/Weeks in Release/Studio/Theater Count/Weekend Total/Cume

1. Puss in Boots (2), Paramount/DreamWorks Animation/3,963, $32.1 million, $75.5 million

2. Tower Heist (1), Universal/3,367, $25.1 million

3. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (1), Warner Bros./New Line/2,875, $13.1 million

4. Paranormal Activity 3 (3), Paramount/,3,286, $8.5 million, $95.3 million

5. In Time (2), Fox/New Regency/3,127, $7.7 million, $24.2 million

6. Footloose (4), Paramount/2,41, $4.6 milion, $44.8 million

7. Real Steel (5), Disney/DreamWorks/2,438, /$3.4 million, $78.8 million

8. The Rum Diary (2), FilmDistrict/GK Films/2,292, $3 million, $10.4 million

9. The Ides of March (5) Sony/Cold Creek/1,391, $2 million, $36.8 million

10. Moneyball (7), Sony/1,276, $1.9 million, $70.3 million

Here are Deadline Hollywood’s numbers:

SATURDAY PM, 4TH UPDATE:

1. Puss In Boots 3D (DreamWorks Anim/Paramount) Week 2 [3,963 Theaters]
Friday $7.8M, Saturday $15.3M, Weekend $34M (-10%), Cume $76.5M

2. Tower Heist (Universal) NEW [3,367 Theaters]
Friday $8.1M, Saturday $10.5M, Weekend $24.6M

3. Harold And Kumar 3D Christmas (NL/Warner Bros) NEW [2,875 theaters]
Friday $5.5M, Saturday $4.7M, Weekend $13M

4. Paranormal Activity 3 (Paramount) Week 3 [3,286 Theaters]
Friday $2.9M, Saturday $3.7M, Weekend $8.5M, Cume $95.3M

5. In Time (Twentieth Century Fox) Week 2 [3,127 Theaters]
Friday $2.5M, Saturday $3.2M, Weekend $7.8M, Cume $24.3M

6. Footloose (Paramount) Week 4 [2,811 Theaters]
Friday $1.4M, Saturday $2.1M, Weekend $4.8M, Cume $45M

7. Real Steel (DreamWorks/Disney) Week 5 [2,438 Theaters]
Friday $925K, Saturday $1.6M, Weekend $3.5M, Cume $78.8M

8. The Rum Diary (FilmDistrict) Week 2 [2,292 Theaters]
Friday $980K, Saturday $1.1M, Weekend $2.9M, Cume $10.3M

9. Ides Of March (Sony) Week 5 [1,391 Theaters]
Friday $600K, Saturday $925K, Weekend $2M, Cume $36.8M

10. Moneyball (Sony) Week 7 [1,278 Theaters]

 

Andy Rooney, 92, Goes Out The Right Way

Roger Friedman
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Andy Rooney, 92, Goes Out The Right Way

Everyone should go the way Andy Rooney did yesterday. He was 92, and actually “retired” just a month ago. He certainly must have known in his heart back in September that that was it. But what a way to have lived: dozens of books based on his thousands of “60 Minutes” essays, as well as his memoirs about the early days of CBS news, television journalism and World War II. If you only know Andy Rooney from the last few years, he was worse when he was younger. A curmudgeon? Yes. He railed against authority. If he’d been of another generation, he probably would have joined Occupy Wall Street. He made some mistakes along the way, but not many. In a wire piece today there’s a report that 20,000 people complained to CBS a few years ago when he called Mel Gibson a nut on “60 Minutes.” Good for him. A great era dies with Andy Rooney. With Walter Cronkite gone, and Mike Wallace quietly serving out his retirement, the grand era of Edward R. Murrow’s CBS News is completely over. Rest in peace, Andy.

Sid Melton, Famous as Danny Thomas’s Pal, Dies At 94

Roger Friedman
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0
Sid Melton, Famous as Danny Thomas’s Pal, Dies At 94

Comic actor Sid Melton, who played Danny Thomas’s fictional pal, club owner and manager Charley Halper on “Make Room for Daddy,” has died at age 94. It was Charley was constantly, and humorously, schlepping for Danny through his several TV shows from 1959 to 1971. He was just great, and terribly underrated. Melton had a ton of other credits including Green Acres, The Golden Girls,  Peter Gunn, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., The Munsters, Love American Style, Hunter, Empty Nest and Dave’s World.

Here’s a clip from Green Acres. Sid comes in at around 8:10. If anyone has a clip from the Danny Thomas shows, let me know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NsQh2ryVLY

Oscars: Spielberg, Streep, Daldry, Fincher Films Now Become the Focus

Roger Friedman
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0

With Clint Eastwood’s “J. Edgar” not getting big Oscar type raves from its premiere, the Oscar focus for Best Picture now changes. The films no one’s seen that could be contenders include two from Steven Spielberg and one each from Stephen Daldry and David Fincher. They are respectively, “War Horse,” “The Adventures of Tin Tin,” “Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud,” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” Everyone involved in the Oscar game is eager to see those four films. A fifth but maybe outside contender is Jason Reitman’s “Young Adult,” which screens tonight and said to be very funny. Also a complete question mark: Phylidia Lloyd’s “Iron Lady,” starring Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher. And then there’s the short list of possible Best Picture nominees: “Midnight in Paris,” “The Artist.” “Moneyball,” “Ides of March,” “My Week with Marilyn,” “Hugo,” and “The Help.”

Golden Globes Setbacks: Ricky Gervais and Lawsuits

Roger Friedman
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0
Golden Globes Setbacks: Ricky Gervais and Lawsuits

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is having a bad day, and a bad year. First of all, it does look like NBC is forcing them to take Ricky Gervais back as host. Gervais was spotted in Paris having lunch with NBC’s Doug Vaughn (we love Doug, who started out at Newsday on a gossip column), and the new president of the HFPA. Bringing Ricky back will mean high ratings. But the HFPA will have to endure the jokes he makes about them and about Hollywood stars. The public loves it. The HFPA does not. But NBC foots the bill, and it looks like they’re enforcing the rules. Good for them! At the same time, a judge has ruled that the lawsuits against the HFPA from their former publicist and from a charity can go forward. The suits are for breach of contract and for defamation. Discovery and depositions will now take place. It’s doubtful that the HFPA will do anything but settle the cases because, really, if their practices made it to deposition and trial, the whole thing would be over. All those years of letting Michael Russell do their dirty work means he has everything on them. (Their current publicist, Sunshine Sachs, should take note.) Circle January 15th, 2012–it’s going to be quite a night on NBC. Ricky, don’t lose that number! PS Also circle December 15th, 2011 for the Golden Globe nominations. Last year, the big gaffe was a nom for the awful movie “The Tourist” with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. Let’s see what they come up with this year…

Clint Eastwood’s “J. Edgar” Gay Love Story Premieres to Mixed Reviews

Roger Friedman
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1
Clint Eastwood’s “J. Edgar” Gay Love Story Premieres to Mixed Reviews

Clint Eastwood’s “J. Edgar,” a movie rapidly being labeled as a gay love story about J Edgar Hoover and Clyde Tolson (Leonardo DiCaprio and Armie Hammer playing them) premiered last night to mixed reviews. The premiere at the American Film Institute was supposed to be embargoed, and New York press won’t see the movie until Monday. But of course no one obeyed the rules, so Variety and other trades published their reviews. They aren’t so good. They do follow reaction from the New York critics’ screening on Tuesday. Awards wise, it does feel like with the right backstage touting the Golden Globes and National Board of Review will probably be all over it.

From Variety: “While not exactly coy, Eastwood’s classically styled look at Hoover’s life takes a long time to arrive at questions of the character’s proclivities. When it does get there, however, this new dimension of the character so enlivens what has been a mostly dry portrayal of one man’s crusade to reform law enforcement that it becomes the pic’s focus”

From Todd McCarthy: “DiCaprio projects this odd authority figure with energetic earnestness, a strong grip on the man’s mindset and purpose, and an attentiveness to Hoover’s power to prevail over others in matters big and small. It’s a vigorous, capable performance, one that carries the film and breathes new life into the old tradition of plain real folk achieving retroactive allure by being played by attractive stars. But the characterization remains external, one of solid technique blocked from going deep because Hoover remains a fixed figure closed to taking a personal journey.”

Screen International’s Mike Goodridge was also mixed on the subject. “Clint Eastwood’s latest film, a portrait of the controversial FBI founder and chieftain J Edgar Hoover, is both admirable and frustrating, a murky muddle of selective historical moments which comes alive when its compelling human story of sexual repression and dedicated love is at the forefront. Its biggest achievement is to look at recent US history through a personal and distinctively gay lens. In fact, Eastwood delivers the most un-self-conscious depiction of a gay relationship in a mainstream studio movie to date, although gay rights activists will hardly be looking to promote J Edgar Hoover as any sort of role model.”

 

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