Kind of a shock this morning, but maybe not: Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger are kaput after 25 years. Their announcement comes as Arnold moves back into the movie business and out of the governator’s office. This odd coupling always was the subject of gossip and speculation, especially several years ago when reports started to come out about Arnold’s roving eye. There were reported accusations of groping, etc. by different women. Shriver always looked the other way. But this separation may not necessarily be about that. Their life was much different as Governor and First Lady of California than as Maria and a movie star. It may be that Shriver, at 55, has no desire to revisit that scene again. Schwarzenegger clearly does, as he’s ramped up CAA to get him into movies pronto. Does he have a career left? Time and the kinds of movies he chooses will tell. For Shriver, though, this must be tough. Of all the Kennedy marriages, her parents’ was the longest and happiest. No worries: Maria will be a hot commodity on the singles market.
Charlie Sheen Releases a Single Tomorrow, Won’t Go Away
Charlie Sheen–jeez, that tour ended a week ago. And yet, he will not go away. With CBS about to announce a fall season without him, Sheen must do something. So tomorrow he’s releasing a single, yes, a recorded piece of music, called, natch, “Winning.” His pals Rob Patterson, late of Korn, and Snoop Dogg, are the authors and performers. It’s unclear what Sheen does on the track, maybe play some bad guitar or, oy, sing. Anyway, they say some proceeds will go to victims of the Alabama tornadoes–this is Sheen’s new obsession. What will he do about flood victims in Memphis? Anyway, the single will be released by Rob Christie, whose Robo Records is small yet feisty. Christie has a long association with EMI/Capitol so you never know. “Winning” might turn into a novelty hit.
Janet Jackson and Joe Jackson: Will They Meet in Cannes?
We’re about to see how much of a foundation exists in the Jackson Family Foundation. I told you earlier today that Joseph Jackson, the estranged father of the Jackson family, is coming to Cannes next week. He’s planning a ticketed VIP party to raise money–ostensibly for himself. He’s also going to announce projects that won’t ever be discussed again. Jackson’s dates for Cannes are May 15, 16, 17. At the same time, and he may not know this, Janet Jackson is coming to Cannes. She’s performing at AmFAR’s “Cinema Against AIDS” on May 20th at the Hotel du Cap. May 16th also happens to be Janet’s birthday. Will father and daughter, who generally don’t speak, wind up in a reunion in the South of France? It’s unlikely. And it does make us wonder: did Joe Jackson set this appearance up just to dog Janet, who’s trying to do something that’s actually charitable and worthwhile? That’s not exactly a birthday present anyone would want.
Whitney Houston May Be Back with “The Cleaner”
At last, Whitney Houston is in an out patient rehab. The fact is, she’s needed this for some time. Last year, her Europe and Asia concert tour was a disaster. Her voice was shot, although to her credit she missed almost no dates. She was like Mark Wahlberg in “The Fighter.” She refused to give up.
But the trouble has been there for a while. Whitney arrived and performed seemingly stoned at Clive Davis’s pre Grammy party in February with her cousin, Dionne Warwick. On stage, it was obvious. Whitney wandered about and had little idea of what she was doing. Dionne was very upset. At the end of the aborted performance, Whitney just sort of fell into Clive Davis’s arms. It was terrible.
More recently I asked someone close to Whitney, who’d not been seen since Davis’s party, what was going on. The word was that Whitney’s family and friends were trying to bring her back to Warren Boyd, the drug counselor who’d worked with her before. Boyd is known as “The Cleaner,” the name of the TV show in which Benjamin Bratt played him. Boyd is famous for cleaning up Courtney Love. When he worked with Whitney a few years ago, he’d literally lived with her in Southern California. It saved her life.
But this is now a long time ago. Back then, we all blamed Bobby Brown for Houston’s problems. But Bobby is long gone, married to someone else. I am told that Whitney and her mother, the great singer Cissy Houston, have been on the outs for months because of Whitney’s drug addiction. Whitney’s story is tragic, because she had the greatest voice of her generation, and a future full of promise. All of it has been squandered by drugs.
If you catch her appearance with Chaka Khan at a recent Prince show,(on YouTube) Â you can see Whitney barely singing, handing the microphone to Chaka. She looks terrible. Maybe if Warren Boyd is back with her, there will be improvement. I’m not kidding when I say that everyone roots for Whitney Houston.
Woody Allen Heads for Midnight Madness in Cannes
Woody Allen, long a favorite of the French, is heading to a big success this week. His “Cannes-opener” so to speak, “Midnight in Paris,” opens the Festival on Wednesday with a bang. This highly anticipated film has great buzz, with my sources telling me from advance screenings that “Midnight” is Woody back in form a la “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and his classics from “Match Point” reaching back to “”Hannah and her Sisters,” “Annie Hall,” “Alice,” “Zelig,” and so on. “Midnight” has an all star cast featuring a cameo by Carla Bruni, first lady of France, as well as star turns by French sensation Marion Cottillard, Michael Sheen, Rachel McAdams, and two current Broadway stars–Nina Arianda and Allison Pill. I’m also looking forward to seeing Mimi Kennedy, who should have been in a Woody Allen movie years ago. Adrien Brody and Owen Wilson also co-star. PS There’s talk that Woody will be on screen again in his next film, to be shot in Rome, along with Roberto Benigni. Woody also turns up in a French film going to Cannes, called “Paris Manhattan,” in which he plays himself.
Brad Pitt, Sean Penn vs. Kanye West, Quincy Jones
The Cannes Film Festival remains a olly schedule nightmare. Why for example are there three films — “We Must Talk About Kevin,” “Restless,” and “Sleeping Beauty,” all on for the first Thursday? And virtually nothing on Friday and Saturday? There are other crazy conflicts. The premiere of Pedro Almodovar’s “The Skin I Live In” spills up the red carpet at the Palais just as AmFAR lures celebrities to the Hotel duCap for “Cinema Against AIDS.” Now comes word that Terrence Malick’s highly anticipated “Tree of Life” will be scheduled against Quincy Jones and Kanye West’s mega show for the Maybach Foundation. This is a good charity, matching young people with mentors in their fields. But really: Brad Pitt and Sean Penn vs Kanye and Q? Sacre bleu! The Maybachs, by the way, are very nice people who happen to make those super luxury cars with drapes along the back windows. Charlie Sheen has one. He bought it with Tiger Blood.
Showbiz411 Scoops: Kabbalah, Madonna, Paula Abdul
It’s Sunday night, and time to take stock of the week.
First: I told you last August that Paula Abdul would be a judge on Simon Cowell’s “X Factor.” It was known then, but this latest contract stuff was contrived for publicity. A lot is going into “X Factor.” Sony Music is counting on lots of hits from as yet undiscovered talent. That helped Paula when it came to her contract with CBS for her failed dance show. The reunion of Simon and Paula is the only real publicity hook for “X Factor.” When the show starts airing, get ready for lots of stories about Simon and Paula fighting, and no one getting along with host Steve Jones. It’s all a PT Barnum like machine, designed to stoke tabloid headlines. And the public falls for it more often than Charlie Brown reaches in vain for Lucy’s football.
Second: So nice that the L.A. Times acknowledges a grand jury investigation of the Kabbalah Center. I told you this three weeks ago. I’ve been writing about malfesance at Kabbalah for years, about the Raising Malawi fundraising and Madonna’s role as the group’s patsy. The IRS and grand jury will do well to look into the vast real estate holdings of the Centre, and into an explanation for how the Berg family lives if they don’t have earned income.
One explanation will be that as leaders of Kabbalah, they’re entitled to parish houses. That argument has been tested in the past, mostly with failure as a result. Soon Hollywood will be owned by Kabbalah and Scientology–sort of wall to wall cults in a real estate monopoly. Only in Hollywood kids, only in Hollywood.
Mel Gibson Film Makes Scant $104K in Limited Release
“The Beaver” is dead. No matter of life saving technique will revive cinema’s first and last hand puppet psychiatrist. Jodie Foster’s movie about a suicidal man, played by a man who’s already committed career suicide and a kind of personal Hari Kari, earned just $104,000 over three days at 22 theatres.
They were the kinds of theaters where depressed people might go. But they didn’t. They didn’t want to see an anti Semitic, Holocaust denying son of a neo Nazi, anti Pope essayist who threatened to harm his girlfriend and their baby–in a movie about a man who has no responsibility for his family, continually plots to off himself, has violent outbursts, and looks like he’s been sleeping on a park bench. Imagine that.
The movie got middling reviews but not enough, I hear, to bring Gibson to Cannes for an out of competition screening. Jodie Foster continues her tour as Joan of Arc, defending Gibson, the title of the movie, and the sullen tone of of the film she created. But if she comes to Cannes, she’ll be welcomed, even though she told our Q&A audience last week after the Lincoln Center screening, “I don’t care if the movie doesn’t make any money.”
Luckily, Summit Entertainment has made so much money on vampires that a mere beaver won’t get in their way.
Michael Jackson’s Father Coming to Cannes, Looking for $$$$
In death, as in life, Michael Jackson cannot get away from his father. Joseph Jackson, the same man who brought a Michael Jackson imitator to the BET Awards four days after his superstar son died in 2009, is coming to the Cannes Film Festival. Why? He’s bringing his “Jackson Family Foundation” to the Playboy Manson, known in Cannes as the Villa Oxygene. This not exactly hot ticket is designed to raise money–for what, exactly, it’s unclear. (There’s no record I can locate on GuideStar of such a 501 c 3 registered charitable organization.)
But Jackson and the promoter, named Richard Nilsson, are obviously hoping no one cares. The date is Tuesday, May 17th, and the tickets range from $1,500 euros (for a VIP pass) to 150 euros each for a Jackson Family Pool Party and/or Jackson Family Night. http://www.richard-nilsson.com/jacksonfamilynight.html The websiite promises “bikini bunny servers”–and I don’t think they mean mainframes when they say servers.
Sources also tell me that Jackson arrives on May 15th. “He’s selling some movie idea, and maybe a biography,” Jackson is also reportedly asking for money for interviews.
Yikes. It’s a good thing Michael perfected the dance spin because he must be doing it in his Forest Lawn vault every day.
I wish I could attend this event, but the real business of Cannes will be at hand. Still, there’s nothing like a Joe Jackson press conference for a business or event that will never take place. I have fond memories of the one he called on September 7, 2001, the morning of Michael’s 30 th anniversary show at Madison Square Garden. Joe wanted us to know he was starting an online video service to sell clips of Michael and the Jackson 5. Or how about at that BET event, when he announced he was starting a new record company? Or better yet, what about the restaurant he started on Sunset Boulevard in his family’s name back in 2004? It closed before the menus had stains on them.
As for the press conference, dig this advisory: “We reserve the right to accept or refuse any registration request. No legal action may be taken in this regard.”
You cannot make this stuff up.
“Spider Man” Returns to Broadway Next Week With a Face Lift
“Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” returns to Broadway next Thursday, May 12th after a three week break. It still hasn’t opened officially and won’t until June 14th. Still, the “reviews” will come on Thursday of the “new” version of Julie Taymor’s show.
What will be different? There are said to be three new songs from Bono and The Edge. Gone completely are the “dancing shoes.” Much diminished is the role of Arachne, the fabled “Spider woman” character. Also gone are the Geek chorus. The whole Act 2 battle among six other villains is completely changed, I am told. And: “There’re more of a romance between Peter and Mary Jane,” a source tells me.
Expanded: Patrick Page’s role as the Green Goblin. Page was the standout performer from Spider Man I.
 But much of “Turn off the Dark” is the same, just rearranged. It’s still Julie Taymor”s show, with her concepts, costumes, puppets, characters. The new songs, I am told, are still at the piano stage and haven’t been fully played. So far they sound “eh,” says a backstager. And the new choreographer, Chase Brock? “He’s not very good,” my source–who is impartial–reports. The entire production is scrambling to make the new advertised dates for preview and opening, however.
Bottom line: “It’s never not going to be Julie Taymor’s show. The question,” says my source, “is whether reviewers will see it as different or just more of the same.”