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Exclusive: Natasha Lyonne Keeps a “Poker Face” at Lorne Michaels Movie Premiere, Explains What Happened on Flight Yesterday

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In the middle of many A listers and celebs last night, there was actress Natasha Lyonne bright eyed to Lorne Michaels’ documentary premiere.

I was a little surprised to see her since I’d just read — maybe like you — that she’d been escorted off a plane this week.

The New York Post said she was removed from overnight flight from Los Angeles to New York. The Post said Lyonne was “out of it.”

Earlier that night she’d been at the premiere of “Euphoria” in Hollywood. (She’s in 8 episodes of Season 3.)

“Are you all right?” I asked the star of “Poker Face.”

“Am I all right? Do I look all right? ICE threw me off a plane after I took a sleeping pill! It was an overnight flight. I wanted to sleep!”

ICE, as we know, is not nice.

Anyway, she made the next flight and there she was at Lincoln Center, no problem, with that red hair and smokey voice.

What happened to “Poker Face,” I asked? “It’s over,” Natasha said. Too bad it was unique.

We ran into the great Steve Buscemi and the two actors hugged. “We’re in five movies together!” Natasha said, which Steve confirmed. Her next big release is “Roomates,” produced by Adam Sandler for Netflix.

As for the NY Post, seems like they’re a little “Out of it.”

Exclusive: Famed “SNL” Creator Lorne Michaels Says After 52 Years He Has No Plan to Retire, Stars in Revealing New Documentary

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A lot of speculation can stop now.

Lorne Michaels, creator and Executive Producer of “Saturday Night Live,” is not going anywhere.

The famed 79 year old has been with “SNL” since he created it in 1974.

Last night at the star studded premiere of a documentary about him called “Lorne,” directed by Morgan Neville, he has no intention of retiring any time soon.

Every year there is speculation that Michaels will step down and hand the reins over to one of his favorite performers, like Seth Meyers or Tina Fey.

“I don’t see it,” he told me at dinner at the swanky Lincoln Ristorante in Lincoln Center — across West 65th St from Alice Tully Hall, where celebs from David Letterman, Natasha Lyonne, Diane Lane, Candace Bushnell, Amy Schumer, and Steve Buscemi filled the fabled theater to the brim.

They were joined by members of the “SNL” family like Seth Meyers, Kenan Thompson, Colin Jost, Mikey Day the guys from Please Don’t Destroy, Marcello Hernandez, Chloe Fineman, James Austin Johnson, Andrew Dismukes, Ashley Padilla, Kam Patterson, Tommy Brennan, Robert Smigel.

“Lorne” is a surprising documentary because Michaels really didn’t want to do it in the first place, and is very elusive on camera. But Neville spent two years wearing him down and filming him to the point where Michaels really opens up for the first time. You learn a lot about his interaction with five decades of cast members, and his total immersion in the production of every episode. (Now we know what it looks like in the control room when a sketch is bombing.)

The subject of retirement comes up in the film, in which Michaels suggests that “SNL”‘s time will end one day, like everything else. He told me later, “I love everyone I’m working with, and I can’t imagine not doing it.”

The film is well constructed because we know so much about “SNL” at this point from other films and articles. Neville makes it fresh, alternating between Michaels producing a run of shows, and telling some of his back story — from Toronto, Michaels had a disagreement with his father when he was a teen. His father had a heart attack and died shortly thereafter.

Michaels had his own comedy show in Toronto when he was starting out, which is how he met a lot of the soon to be Not Ready for Prime Time Players. He pitched a sketch show about comedy and politics to NBC in 1974, and the rest is history.

A running gag throughout the film — which appears to be true still — is that Michaels is largely unknowable. He keeps his own counsel, even with very close friends like Paul Simon, who’s interviewed along with Conan O’Brien, ex wife Rosie Shuster, plus Chevy Chase, and groups of actors from the show.

Neville hits most beats in “SNL” history, including the five years Michaels was gone (1981-86) and a moment when he brought it back from the brink. There’s also quite a sharp slap at late NBC overlord Don Ohlmeyer, who fired popular stars like Adam Sandler and Norm MacDonald.

“Lorne” opens next Friday in theaters. I’ve always said, through all of NBC’s ups and downs in late night, the one person who knows everything and always comes out on top is Lorne Michaels. Neville’s movie explains in some ways why keeping your nose down and doing the job is the secret of success. More on it later today…

PS There was a surprise guest out of left field who everyone at the party wanted to talk to — Al Jardine of the Beach Boys! He’s on tour right now with the Pet Sounds Band. Click here to find out more. Very Very cool.

 

Broadway: Scott Rudin is Back Tonight with His Second Play Post-Cancellation — The First One Flopped, Attention Must Be Paid!

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Scott Rudin is back tonight on Broadway.

“Death of Salesman” is the second play he’s producing in his post-cancellation phase. The first one, “Little Bear Ridge Road,” starred Laurie Metcalf. It was a new play, no one wanted to see it, and it closed prematurely.

Try, try, again. Now Metcalf stars in yet another revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” last seen four years ago with Wendell Pierce. Before that, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Dustin Hoffman, and so on.

Rudin was exiled from Broadway in 2021 for being nasty, mean, vindictive, and just an all around bully. The brother of a deceased former assistant blamed him for his suicide. Actors who’d worked for Rudin declared him a monster. It wasn’t pretty.

Rudin was irrational most of the time. If you got on his bad side, he wouldn’t let you have press tickets to his shows. He once called me a “mooch” in an email. For some time, I had to buy tickets to his shows just to review them. He was also cheap. He wouldn’t donate performances to the Actors Fund — now called the Entertainment Industry Fund — something all producers did. He’d put them on at midnight, and charge nothing so the fund would get little money.

Nice, right?

Rudin is back thanks to Barry Diller, who’s paying for these shows. “Salesman” has been making about a million bucks every week in previews, although last week it dipped down to $928,000. On social media people seem to like it. Rudin’s put it in the cavernous Winter Garden Theater, which is made for musicals. The sight lines aren’t great unless you’re sitting dead center.

The producer is famous for charging a bundle for plays, forget musicals. If you want a good seat tomorrow night, it will run you 400 clams. It seems like every show has available tickets up front but obstructed (you’d need periscope) and the upper balcony is always empty, but it’s in the Bronx. Last row center is $196 plus a $17 service charge. The good news is, a cherry picker will bring you back and forth to your seat.

Movie Stars Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney All Came Back for a Last Season of “Euphoria” — Critics Hate It

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On paper, this seems incredible.

Sam Levinson’s “Euphoria” was such a hit with its two seasons that many of the actors became stars.

The main ones were Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, and Sydney Sweeney. They’ve each developed major movie careers since “Euphoria” first aired.

Rounding all of them up for an affordable third and last season seemed impossible. But it happened. They’re all back for an adult version of the series, which previously was about teens getting into sex and drugs.

Alas, the reviews are in for “Euphoria” Season 3. They are terrible. On Rotten Tomatoes, the score is just 48%. Not good.

It won’t matter. The star power is enough to draw huge audiences, don’t worry. Expect “Euphoria” numbers to go through the roof when it debuts Sunday night. The fans won’t care if it doesn’t make sense.

Weird: Tony Awards Get Grammy’d — Choose Pop Star Pink as Host This Year, She’s Never Been on Broadway Or Acted in a Play

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Why not, I guess?

Singer PINK has been chosen to host the Tony Awards this year.

She’s never been on Broadway or acted in a production. She’s a pop star. (And also a trapeze artist.)

But Pink — real name Alecia Beth Moore — is here in New York and may wind up hosting a talk show soon. She’s in a pivot mode.

Frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t go for Drew Barrymore.

“When I was asked to host the Tonys,” Pink said in a statement, “I immediately thought, ‘I have to get permission from my daughter.’ I’ve never been on Broadway, and shouldn’t you have to have been on Broadway in order to host? That seems fair and right. But when I asked my daughter, she was really excited about being able to have a ticket to go to the Tonys, so I’m hosting the Tonys and I’m really, really, excited and very nervous because that girl is a tough crowd!”

Bizarre as this all sounds, there’s been a feeling at CBS for some time that Jack Sussman, former head of specials and now a producer of the Tonys, has wanted to turn these shows into the Grammy Awards. Now that CBS has lost the Grammys to ABC, Sussman seems to think putting a pop star into any special will get good ratings.

Strange.

The Tony Awards take place June 7th.

Cannes Not: Annual French Festival Very Light on American Films, Stars as Studios Shy Away from Croisette Red Carpet

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The Cannes Film Festival has announced its slate for next month.

American films are few and far between, and not very promising or from major filmmakers.

You know things are bad when the Festival is excited by movies directed by John Travolta, or Andy Garcia (great actor but really?).

Actually, Garcia’s movie — if they all come — will have the best red carpet with the director, Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray, and Brendan Fraser.

Otherwise, it would be hard to justify the expense of five-to-ten thousand dollars for this trip. I don’t know how the trades will do it.

American films include Ira Sachs’ “The Man I Love” in Competition; Jane Schoenbrun’s “Teenage Sex and Death At Camp Miasma” and Jordan Firstman’s “Club Kid” in Un Certain Regard; Andy Garcia’s “Diamond” Out of Competition; John Travolta’s “Propeller One-Way Night Coach” in Cannes Premiere, and Special Screenings for Steven Soderbergh’s “John Lennon: The Last Interview” and Ron Howard’s “Avedon.”

Competition

“Minotaur,” Andrey Zvyagintsev

“The Beloved,” Rodrigo Sorogoyen

“The Man I Love,” Ira Sachs

“Fatherland,” Paweł Pawlikowski

“Moulin,” László Nemes

“Histoires de la Nuit,” Léa Mysius

“Fjord,” Cristian Mungiu

“Notre Salut,” Emmanuel Marre

“Gentle Monster,” Marie Kreutzer

“Nagi Notes,” Koji Fukada

“Hope,” Na Hong-Jin

“Sheep in the Box,” Hirokazu Kore-eda

“Garance,” Jeanne Herry

“The Unknown,” Arthur Harari

“All of a Sudden,” Ryusuke Hamaguchi

“The Dreamed Adventure,” Valeska Grisebach

“Coward,” Lukas Dhont

“La Bola Negra” (“The Black Ball”), Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo

“A Woman’s Life,” Charline Bourgeois-Taquet

“Parallel Tales,” Asghar Farhadi

“Bitter Christmas,” Pedro Almodóvar

Un Certain Regard

“La Más Dulce,” Laïla Marrakchi

“Club Kid,” Jordan Firstman

“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” Jane Schoenbrun

“Everytime,” Sandra Wollner

“I’ll Be Gone in June,” Katharina Rivilis

“Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep,” Rakan Mayasi

“The Meltdown,” Manuela Martelli

“Elephants in the Fog,” Abinash Bikram Shah

“Iron Boy,” Louis Clichy

“Ben’imana,” Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo

“Congo Boy,” Rafiki Fariala

“Ula,” Viesturs Kairišs

“Forever Your Eternal Animal,” Valentina Maurel

“Words of Love,” Rudi Rosenberg

“All the Lovers in the Night,” Sode Yukiko

Out of Competition

“Her Private Hell,” Nicolas Winding Refn

“Diamond,” Andy Garcia

“Objet du Deli,” Agnes Jaoui

“De Gaulle: L’Age de Fer,” Antonin Baudry

“L’abandon,” Vincent Garenq

“Karma,” Guillame Canet

Cannes Premiere

“Kokurojo: The Samurai and the Prisoner,” Kiyoshi Kurosawa

“Propeller One-Way Night Coach,” John Travolta

“The Third Night,” Daniel Auteil

“The Match,” Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco

“Visitation,” Volker Schlondorff

Special Screenings

“John Lennon: The Last Interview,” Steven Soderbergh

“Avedon,” Ron Howard

“Les Survivants du Che,” Christophe Réveille

“Les Matins Merveilleux,” Avril Besson

“Cantona,” David Tryhorn and Ben Nicholas

“Rehearsals for a Revolution,” Pegah Ahangarani

“L’affaire Marie-Claire,” Lauriane Escaffre and Yvo Muller

Midnight Screenings

“Roma Elastica,” Betrand Mandico

“Full Phil,” Quentin Dupieux

“Colony,” Yeon Sang-ho

“Jim Queen,” Nicolas Athane and Marco Nguyen

“Sanguine,” Marion Le Coroller

Opening Film

“The Electric Kiss,” Pierre Salvadori (previously announced)

Paul McCartney Set as Musical Guest at “Saturday Night Live” in Advance of His “Boys of Dungeon Lane” Album

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Here’s a huge score for Lorne Michaels (no surprise).

He’s signed Paul McCartney for the season finale of “Saturday Night Live” for May 16th.

Sir Paul has previously appeared on the show in 1980, 1993, 2010, and 2012. This is his first appearance in 14 years.

The reason? He’s promoting his new album, “The Boys of Dungeon Lane,” coming on May 29th.

We can only hope that Lorne will let Paul play three songs — two from the new album and at least one classic, maybe “Hey Jude” to end the show. Imagine those ratings!

It won’t hurt that Will Ferrell is the host that night. That’s A plus show!

PS Last week’s show, with Jack Black and Jack White, scored 4.5 million viewers, middle of the pack.

Michael Jackson Movie Drops Final Trailer, Stirs Up Fans with Talks of a Sequel That Won’t Happen, Tales of Dropped Scenes

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The Michael Jackson movie, “Michael,” dropped its final trailer today.

The movie opens April 24th. The press sees it on April 20th. But there are rumors.

The biggest one is of a sequel. This is unlikely, however, because it would be a much different movie than this one.

“Michael” is a celebration of Jackson’s amazing rise in popularity in the 1980s. I told you when I saw the tracklist for the soundtrack– the movie ends with the “Bad” album and tour. That’s it.

The reason is that what happens next is very dark. A sequel would have to address two decades of accusations of child molestation.

Already the filmmakers had to re-film and erase any reference to the Jordie Chandler scandal. In Michael’s settlement with the Chandlers, it was agreed this would never be portrayed in a movie.

After the Chandler situation subsided, Michael went through a mysterious period that included his 30th anniversary concerts at Madison Square Garden. That was followed by his 2003 arrest, 2005 trial, and subsequent death.

There’s no upside to any of that. That movie would be a dark drama which ends in tragedy. And there’s also plenty of facts from those years that would open more wounds than heal them.

Still, “Michael” looks like great fun. Cross fingers.

Broadway B.O. Up $5 Mil from Last Week But Lags Behind Last Year, “Lion King” Sharp Rise, “Harry Potter,” “Hamilton” Still Rocking

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Broadway had a great week last week.

Box office receipts were up about $5 million from last week.

But they were also a notch behind last year on this date even though there were more shows.

For some reason, “The Lion King” zoomed up about $800,000 to $2.8 million. Easter and spring break probably had a lot to do with it.

The two shows really leading the pack are “Hamilton” and “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” There was surprise yesterday that Tom Felton extended his run in the latter for another six months. But the actor from the Potter movies has made the play go crazy. I hope he’s getting a taste of that action.

Down by $200,000 was “Dog Day Afternoon,” which sustained brutal reviews last week. I fear this is the beginning of a big decline.

Where we should see a huge uptick this week: “Becky Shaw.” Rave reviews from every reviewer. Hilariously funny and extremely accessible to all audiences.

Tomorrow night, Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf open in “Death of a Salesman.” Many questions here including Nathan Lane in a dramatic, non singing role. Scott Rudin trying to make a comeback as a producer. The public’s interest in seeing a new production of this pla after so many in recent years. Last week’s box office was $928,000 in the cavernous, sight lined impaired Winter Garden.

Kanye Lands A Shocking 16 Tracks on the Billboard Top 100: His Record Label Is Owned by Same Company as Music Magazine

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There are a shocking 16 titles from Kanye West’s new “Bully” album on the new Billboard Top 100.

How is that even possible?

In the rest of the music industry, “Bully” tracks are barely making a dent.

For example: On iTunes, there are two Kanye titles.

On the Apple Streaming Music chart: just 5, all in the lower half of the chart.

There also only five “BUlly” tracks on the daily US Spotify top 100.

And yet, there are SIXTEEN on the Billboard Top 100.

Of course Billboard is co–owned by Todd Boehly’s Eldridge Industries.

It’s probably just a coincidence that Eldridge is the primary investor in Gamma Records, the label for Kanye West’s “Bully.”

Valued two months ago at $420 million, Gamma Records’ continued existence is dependent on “Bully” being a hit. Gamma president Larry Jackson already gambled on Mariah Carey’s new album, “Here For it All,” and lost big time. It sold only 70,000 copies.

He did the same with Sexxy Red, featuring Bruno Mars. That single, “Fat Juicy & Wet,” was a bust, opening in 2025 with just 5,200 copies sold.

Usher’s album, “Coming Home,” sold only 70,000 copies since its 2024 release.

So the success of “Bully” is essential. That total, through its second release week, is about 210,000.

Sixteen tracks on the Billboard Hot 100?

You’re asking, Can the Billboard Top 100 be manipulated? The answer: it’s actually in their DNA. My late friend Seymour Stein, long before he created the wildly successful Sire Records, worked at the Billboard chart. He used to regale me with stories how songs got placement and “bullets,” why records went up and down the chart.

And of course, if you own the magazine, it would be so much easier.

Hey — if you owned the creative company and the trade magazine for that company’s industry, wouldn’t you do the same thing? It’s called making lemonade out of lemons, especially if you own the lemon trees.

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