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“Mad Men” Creator’s Contract Expires Today–No Renewal in Sight

Roger Friedman
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If — or when– “Mad Men” wins a Golden Globe tonight for Best Drama on TV, it may be an uncomfortable moment. Creator and visionary Matthew Weiner’s contract with AMC network expires today, sources confirmed.

Weiner could be taking the stage and possibly remarking that his brilliant show–winner of many awards, and highly regarded–is in peril.

I am told by insiders that life with AMC has been hell.

If you recall, “Mad Men” was passed on by HBO, where Weiner was a major writer on “The Sopranos” for years. Since then HBO has been kicking itself, as have Showtime and all other normal outlets for cable drama.

“For some reason, AMC has just never gotten it,” a source tells me. “They certainly never thought their shows would be hits.”

Weiner has not heard from AMC since “Mad Men” ended its fourth season in November. They recently announced that they renewed the show for a fifth season. But not a word has been uttered about Weiner, without whom the show cannot go on.

Weird.

For fans and viewers, the hard part here is that no scripts have been written–or can be–until Weiner’s deal is done. Last year the new season began on July 15th. That would seem impossible for 2011 even if Weiner signed a deal tomorrow.

Any scoops, I asked my source? Earlier in the week, actor Bobby Morse–who plays Bert Cooper–told me “my lips are sealed.” In fact, until Weiner starts to write, no one knows anything except this–Don Draper’s engagement to his secretary, Megan, will proceed into a wedding and marriage.

“Don was not a happy single guy,” my source said. “He didn’t have a swinging bachelor pad. He had a grim apartment. He’s a guy who has to be married”– even if that means a lot of cheating.

Meanwhile–star Jon Hamm goes off to shoot a new film written and directed by girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt. Thi column announced the film, Friends with Kids, exclusively back in September.

Natalie and Colin Win, Cameron and A-Rod Bat A Thousand As Hollywood Parties Up

Roger Friedman
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What a night for parties after the terrific Critics Choice Awards. Les Moonves, if you’re listening: it’s time to take this legitimate, slickly produced, well written awards show and move it from VH-1 to CBS.

Just about everyone who could show up did. The only exceptions: director David Fincher, who’s gone back to shooting “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” James Franco, who had a class at Yale, and Mark Wahlberg, who also is shooting a film.

Otherwise, all the big stars came, along with legacy stars like Warren Beatty, with nominee wife Annette Bening. And Jane Fonda rocked the house with her Best Picture presentation, stunning in a white gown and funny with her cougar joke.

David Seidler, who won the Best Original Screenplay for “The King’s Speech,” was literally in tears even after winning, and during the commercial break. Christian Bale was grinning from ear to ear; he’s still got a bit of his character’s patois mixed in with his own British accent. I sat with the producers and writers of “The Fighter,” right near “The Social Network” and “Easy A” tables. There was lots of toasting. Eva Mendes and Emma Stone — drinking fizzy water–still had a ball!

The Critics Choices: Colin Firth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, “The Social Network,” and David Fincher.

The awards started at the Hollywood Palladium at 6pm Pacific Time but the night wasn’t over even at 2am at veteran producer Mike Medavoy’s annual get together at Ron Burkle’s estate. Dancing to disco and dining on Chinese dim sum and desserts were Cameron Diaz with Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, Leonardo DiCaprio, Nia Vardalos, Darren Aronofsky, Tara Subkoff, Zachary Levi, among others.

The talk, of course, was of Barbra Streisand’s appearance at the party earlier in the evening with husband James Brolin. Vardalos was enthralled. “She knew who I was!” said the writer of Tom Hanks’s next movie, “Larry Crowne.”

Meanwhile, at least two other cool, private soirees were making the parking valets all over town very happy last night. While Creative Artists Agency held an early celebration at Soho House, W Magazine and writer Lynn Hirschberg held forth in the penthouse suites of Chateau Marmont.

The Chateau is where we found Warren and Annette, the night’s Best Actor winner Colin Firth, Quentin Tarantino, Jon Hamm, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Hooper. the great Robert Forster with Oscar doyenne Dani Janssen, Troy Garity and Simone Bent, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes (looking very Boris and Natasha), Diane Kruger, Armie Hammer, Paul Giamatti, Danny Huston, Marisa Tomei, and of course, Chateau owner Andre Balazs, who turned the once creepy hotel into Hollywood’s mecca. Did I mention that Dom Perignon sponsored the night? Classy.

PS Great job at the CCMAs from Maroon 5 and Adam Levine. When I saw Adam at the Chateau later, we talked about his solo on the late Gerry Rafferty’s “Stuck in the Middle with You.” His mom was in the audience, he told me, so he was a little nervous.

Don Draper’s Ex-Squeeze Gets 3 Movies, TV Pilot

Roger Friedman
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Don Draper’s Ex-Squeeze Gets 3 Movies, TV Pilot

Remember the teacher who Don Draper abandoned in a car outside his house at the end of season three of “Mad Men”?

Well, charming young actress Abigail Spencer does: she’s gotten meaty roles in three movies and sold a pilot to ABC Family after Don left her Miss Farrell (Sally’s teacher) to fend for herself.

Spencer was originally discovered a decade ago by Kathie Lee Gifford in the audience of “Live with Regis and Kathie Lee.” From there she got a three year contract with “All My Children.” The rest is history.

Last night at the exclusive Bulgari fundraising dinner for Paul Haggis’s Artists for Peace and Justice–held at Ron Burkle’s magnificent Beverly Hills estate–Abigail told me that her “Mad Men” episodes led to lots of great things.

“Jon Favreau told me he loved me from Mad Men,” Spencer said, which helped get her into the upcoming “Cowboys and Aliens.” She’s also snagged roles in “This Means War” with Reese Witherspoon and “The Haunting in Georgia.” She’s also a pilot called “Teach” to ABC Family.

Spencer told me all this while Ricky Martin was on stage blasting out “La Vida Loca” for an all star audience that included Haggis, Josh Brolin, Maria Bello, Gerard Butler, Olivia Wilde, Jason Lewis, Ryan Kavanagh, Chace Crawford, Moby, Kyle Maclachlan, “King’s Speech” director Tom Hooper,  Sebastian Stan, Kevin McKidd, and Sharon Osbourne.

The evening –which honored Haggis and “American Idol” creator Simon Fuller–also benefited Save the Children, which was represented by Bill Haber and two Kennedy cousins–brothers Mark and Anthony Shriver. Fuller, who was toasted by Nigel Lythgoe, told the audience he was thrilled with the upcoming season of “AI”–“just to be in the presence of Jennifer Lopez.”

Exclusive Flashback: Robert Wagner is New Charlie to “Angels”

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive Flashback: Robert Wagner is New Charlie to “Angels”

Hello:

Back on November 29th, I told you that Robert Wagner would be the voice of Charlie in the new TV version of “Charlie’s Angels.”

http://www.showbiz411.com/2010/11/29/exclusive-robert-wagner-to-be-new-charlie-in-charlies-angels-tv-series

Wagner will succeed the late and beloved John Forsythe.

Wagner and his late wife Natalie Wood owned 50% of the original TV series, so it could be that getting the show back on the air and Wagner’s new job are no coincidence. A few years ago, Wagner sued for participation in the “Charlie’s Angels” movies but lost.

Producers on the new series are Nancy Juvonen, aka Mrs. Jimmy Fallon, and Drew Barrymore. They produced the movies. Juvonen knows what she’s doing, so expect the new series to be fun and hip.

Some other outlets reported this week that the series was a go, or that Wagner was Charlie’s voice. I guess they just missed our original column.

Colin Firth Gets Walk of Fame Star in Front of Pig ‘n’ Whistle

Roger Friedman
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Colin Firth Gets Walk of Fame Star in Front of Pig ‘n’ Whistle

You think Hollywood sounds glamorous.

But the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard, where Hollywood dignitaries have been getting bronze stars inlaid in the sidewalks for decades, is pleasantly seedy.

Yesterday, Colin Firth–possible Oscar winner this year for “The King’s Speech–received his star during a traditional ceremony. His star was embedded next to that of fellow Brit Emma Thompson, in the sidewalk in front of the Pig ‘n’ Whistle bar, one door down from Grauman’s Egyptian Theater. It was declared Colin Firth Day in Hollywood.

I thought it was a nice touch that as I walked a block from the parking garage, I stepped over a discarded bra and women’s underthings strewn about on the concrete.

Firth’s fellow “King’s Speech” actor Guy Pearce made the introductory remarks on the platform outside the Pig ‘n’ Whistle before Colin accepted his honors–which included a paper diploma and a loaf of bread from the monastery that sits below the Hollywood sign.

He was very gracious about the whole thing.

Later, a lunch thrown by New York philanthropist Jean Shafiroff at Delphine restaurant–just down the street in the new W Hotel and across Hollywood Boulevard from the Frolic Room–Firth, Pearce, and director Tom Hooper accepted kudos from real Hollywood cogniscenti including another castmate, Claire Bloom, as well as Cloris Leachman, Robert Morse, Robert Loggia, Jon Voight, Jacqueline Bisset, Salome Jens, Peter Mark Richman, Juliette Lewis, Peter Medak, K Callan, George Takei, Tony Shalhoub and Brooke Adams, Stuart Pankin, Dennis Christopher, John Singleton. Roseanna Arquette, Ellen Kuras, Haskell Wexler, Jane Seymour, and Danny Huston, among others.

Wow: I have to say, very cool.

Cloris and Bobby Morse reminisced about a national tour of “South Pacific” from four or five decades ago.

Bisset and Voight discussed a 1975 movie they made in which Donald Sutherland played a corpse.

“He was a very good corpse,” Jackie — a Hollywood great– remarked.

Claire Bloom threatened to leave unless she was seated next to Colin Firth. Several guests mouthed the words “I voted for him” to me, and winked.

And just as it had been declared in front of the Pig ‘n’ Whistle, it really was Colin Firth Day in Hollywood, California.

Golden Globes Under Fire: Lawsuit Alleges Fraud

Roger Friedman
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Golden Globes Under Fire: Lawsuit Alleges Fraud

The Golden Globes are under fire.

Just two days before the Hollywood Foreign Press Association stages its annual gala on NBC, the 80 member group has been sued by its former pr agency, Michael Russell Associates.

Russell is alleging fraud, makes accusations of payola, and seeks $2 million in damages. Russell is doing whatever it can to cause embarrassment to the Golden Globe proceedings. Maybe they have a case, but it should be pointed out that for 17 years Michael Russell carried out the HFPA’s wishes without much protest. Who the HFPA hated or banned, Russell did, too. They never once stood up against the HFPA until Russell was fired. Then, all of a sudden, Michael Russell Associates was above it all.

Ha ha.

And while these two groups fight it out, the HFPA is in the middle of a nasty lawsuit with Dick Clark Productions. It should be noted that Dick Clark has nothing to do with the company that bears his name. He sold it for a ton of money years ago to Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder.

Nevertheless, the Golden Globes go on the air in a contentious fight with their own production company.

At the same time, I am told that as usual, the HFPA has been weird about its ticketing in the Beverly Hilton ballroom. Yesterday they pulled all the tickets for US Weekly. I am told the HFPA also withheld a ticket from the Wall Street Journal.

Everyone I run into here in Hollywood is complaining about the Golden Globe nominations for “Burlesque” and “The Tourist,” as Best Comedy/Musical. Certainly the HFPA hoped these nominations would produce Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie for the former movie, and Cher for the latter, on their red carpet.

I am told that Cher will not attend the show. She’s working in Las Vegas. She’s asked Jane Fonda, a long time pal, to introduce the film on the Globes show. Fonda, who is of the stature to present Best Picture at the Academy Awards, agreed out of friendship at the last minute.

Jolie–and Brad Pitt, and Johnny Depp’s appearances seem questionable at this point.

More to the point are constant questions about how “Burlesque” and “The Tourist”–both Sony movies, each disasters critically and financially–wound up with nominations at all.

“Spider Man” on Bway Postpones Again, til 3/15: Beware the Ides of March?

Roger Friedman
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“Spider Man” on Bway Postpones Again, til 3/15: Beware the Ides of March?

“Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” won’t officially open until March 15th, set back from February 7th. And January 11th. And December 21st. At least. Who can remember?

The word came just a little while ago, as Bono and Edge, the show’s composers, finally saw the $65 million musical. They immediately imported their record producer, Steve Lillywhite, to work with the singers and the show’s soundsystem.

But Bono and Edge also saw that the show is not ready for official reviewing even though it’s been playing to sold out audiences at the Foxwoods Theater since November 28th. Now that all the injured actors are healing, the composers and Julie Taymor can address the show’s other problems.

This will be murder from a pr angle: wait for the NY Post to come out with aaxes grinding. The joke will be that one more postponement might make the show miss the Tony deadline of April 30th. And that actor Christopher Tierney will be completely healed by the time they do open!

Ian McKellen Explains “Hobbit” Return

Roger Friedman
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Sir Ian McKellen told this column twice last fall that he would reprise his role as Gandalf in “The Hobbit.” Each time he talked to us exclusively he problem, he said, was lawyers.
Now that the deal is done, Sir Ian explains himself on his website. Here’s what he has to say:

All I had to decide was what to do with the time that is given me.

“I’m 71 and fit: though at my age who knows what accident is ’round the next corner? For a year or more, I have been arranging my professional commitments around the possibility of The Hobbit films starting at almost anytime. We brought the Waiting for Godot tour of Australia to New Zealand early 2010, assuming I would stay on to start shooting soon after. Then there was yet another delay: but in Wellington I met with Guillermo del Toro and later read his script for Part One, written with the LOTR writing team. It was true to the style, the fun and the romance of the trilogy.

When Peter Jackson, already producing, resumed the director’s chair, he kept me in touch with developments. A second screenplay was sent over, on the understanding that I would not talk about what I read in it.

After the ruckus over trade union expectations and unlikely rumours of filming outside New Zealand, suddenly crucial casting was announced, plus a start date in February 2011. Martin Freeman as Bilbo sounds perfect. As my agent continued to negotiate with Warner Brothers, I kept wondering was Gandalf what I most wanted to do, more than a new play for instance or indeed a new part? Sequels aren’t necessarily as rewarding to act in as their originals.

Could I let Gandalf go? Would anyone else care if I did? Elsewhere, does anyone care that Michael Gambon was not the first to play Dumbledore?

The deciding negotiation was not about money but about dates. Gandalf is needed on set over the next 18 months but with sizeable breaks when I can work on other projects. My worry that I could not easily escape from Middle Earth was lifted.

I am happy to say I start filming in Wellington on February 21 2011.”

–Ian McKellen, London, January 2011

AM News: RIP David Nelson, Margaret Whiting; Goodbye Jefferson Market

Roger Friedman
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AM News: RIP David Nelson, Margaret Whiting; Goodbye Jefferson Market

Two Hollywood deaths to report from yesterday.

David Nelson, Ricky Nelson‘s older brother and the eldest child of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, died at age 74.  Wow–just to think that Ricky Nelson would have turned 71 this spring is frightening.

David was the actor of the two Nelson brothers, not the rock star. He appeared in the family TV show–which may have been the first reality show with celebrities. But he also acted in several prime time shows of the era including “Peyton Place.” It’s sad to think all the original Nelsons are gone now. Rest in peace.

Margaret Whiting--I just mentioned her a couple of weeks ago. Her father, a famous composer, co-wrote “On the Good Ship Lollipop.” Margaret became a pop singer superstar of the 1950s. She was the Celine Dion, let’s say, of her generation. Margaret Whiting worked in to the 1980s, and was married for a long time to porn star Jack Wrangler. (Yes,. it was icky.) She was 86, and beloved by her fans.

JEFFERSON MARKET, GOODBYE AGAIN

The Jefferson Market came to this part of Greenwich Village in 1929. Eighteen months ago, when it was about to close, I asked John Catsimatidis, who owns Gristede’s and Red Apple supermarkets, if he’d come and take a look at it. He did, and bought the lease. John did a valiant job, and I thank him. But time has marched on, and the new store never was able to compete with Citarella and Whole Foods. It’s going to close on Friday, I think, for good.

Until just three years ago, Jefferson Market was a bustling place. Their blue pedal bike carts were staples of our neighborhood, and a throw back to a simpler New York. In the old days–until the mid 80s–the market had no cash registers. They used little manual adding machines to ring up the charges. There were no credit cards, either. John Montuori owned the market for years until his untimely death in 1985 at age 56. His son, Louis, moved the market from the west side of Sixth Avenue to the east, at 10th St., in 1995. The space was too big, and things went downhill from there.

It’s a shame. The fear, of course, is that the large space will become something awful and commercial in a neighborhood that barely has restaurants that deliver food. Even worse: that like so many spaces here, it will remain open and lacking any tenant.

So goodbye, Jefferson Market: the famous butcher, the cooked chickens, exotic fruits always in season, to all the white haired guys who are long gone now. Another part of New York history sinks into memory.

Unreleased Movie, “Beautiful Boy,” Has Eerie Echoes of Tucson Tragedy

Roger Friedman
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Unreleased Movie, “Beautiful Boy,” Has Eerie Echoes of Tucson Tragedy

Watching some TV reporters stalking the parents of alleged mass murderer Jared Lee Loughran last night I realized: I’ve seen this movie.

“Beautiful Boy” debuted at the Toronto Film Festival last September. The drama, directed by Shawn Ku, stars Maria Bello and Michael Sheen as parents of an 18 year old boy who kills 21 people on his college campus. Kyle Gallner plays the couple’s son, seen in flashbacks and in TV News scenes from the college campus.

The only difference is, in the movie, the boy then takes his own life.

Anchor Bay, the small film division of Starz Entertainment, picked up this very sad but insightful film at the Toronto International Film Festival for US distribution.

What’s interesting about “Beautiful Boy” is that it tries to get into the minds and lives of the parents, upscale, smart people who knew they had a troubled son but could never get hold of the situation. Their lives fall apart quickly as they’re forced by prying media to move out of their house. No one wants the husband to return to work. And the marriage, which was always shaky, is in peril.

Reading about the Loughrans this morning, and then seeing reporters trying, idiotically, to get comments from and their neighbors, is eerily so much like “Beautiful Boy.” The movie may be too sensitive now to release any time soon, though. It’s worth seeing for the terrific performances, but it’s also a film with no happy ending. It is what it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heAar1UC-UI

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