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Exclusive: Robert Wagner to be New Charlie in “Charlie’s Angels” TV Series

Roger Friedman
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7
Exclusive: Robert Wagner to be New Charlie in “Charlie’s Angels” TV Series

You may have heard: “Charlie’s Angels” is coming back to TV.

Spun off this time from the hit movies of the early 90s, “Charlie’s Angels” is being readied to follow “Hawaii Five-O” back to the small screen. (If you’re young, “Charlie’s Angels” is about three sexy spies, and has nothing to do with Charlie Sheen’s private life.)

And guess who’s going to be the voice of Charlie? None other than Robert J. Wagner, one of our favorite all time Hollywood legends.

Wagner follows in the footsteps of the late John Forsythe. He’ll be explaining the new cases to an all new set of beautiful spies, as well as a new Bosley. According to my sources, no one else has been cast yet for this Charlie’s Redux.

Wagner’s participation in the new “Charlie’s” is no coincidence. In the real world, Wagner and the late Natalie Wood owned 50% of the original TV series through a deal with Spelling-Goldberg TV. A couple of years ago, Wagner sued over rights to the movies, too, but lost on appeal. It’s presumed his first deal, the for the TV series, still stands.

And who should play Bosley, Charlie’s right hand man? In the movies first it was Bill Murray, then the late Bernie Mac. I hope the producers stick with a little multi-culturalism. It would be nice to see a black Bosley and a black Angel. How about Mos Def for the former, and Gabrielle Union for the latter? A:so, she may not want to do TV, but I’d pick Michelle Monaghan for lead Angel.

As for Wagner, he’s “in” all the time!

Bono, The Edge Will Monitor “Spider Man” from Tour ‘Til January

Roger Friedman
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0
Bono, The Edge Will Monitor “Spider Man” from Tour ‘Til January

Bono and The Edge won’t be able to see “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” before January.

They’re in Australia right now, and continue on a world tour with U2 until then.

But “Spider Man” producer Michael Cohl says it doesn’t matter. He filmed last night’s first show, and he says they’ll see it on the internet sometime today.

After that, Teese Gohl, the show’s musical supervisor, will work them if adjustments are needed to their songs.

U2 fans will be happy to know there are 19 new Bono/Edge songs in “Spider Man” including “The Boy Falls from the Sky,” “Rise Above,” and “If the World Should End,” as well as a new “Spider Man” theme song–there is no mention of the old TV show theme. And–surprise!–Peter and Mary Jane dance at a disco to “Vertigo,” the only prior U2 hit in the show. I’m sure it was chosen for its title–Vertigo, heights, flying, etc. Get it?

There is also a little joke about the U2 song, “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”

Everyone in the music biz should take notice of this: “If the World Should End,” as sung by Jennifer Damiano in the show, is a Celine Dion like hit waiting to happen big time.

“Spider Man” 1st Performance: High Flying, with Speed Bumps

Roger Friedman
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21
“Spider Man” 1st Performance: High Flying, with Speed Bumps

Everyone may relax. The naysayers were quelled tonight. “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark,” a 60 million musical, had its first performance tonight after many delays. No one was harmed, many were charmed. There was a lot of inspired flying and other spectacular aerial acts.  Director Julie Taymor has pulled off a coup.

Not to say “Spider Man,” which played its show with stars like Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, Sony Pictures chief Michael Lynton, and CBS’s Lesley Stahl in the audience is perfect. Rather, in preview it’s more like a set of beautiful, ornate tiles that still lack grouting. Over the next few weeks, Taymor–who by sheer chance I wound up sitting next to last night–will fill in the spaces, smooth everything out, and add a much needed power packed ending to replace the show’s current soft landing.

But saying all that, “Spider Man” is still already quite an amazing achievement. It combines the best of Broadway musicals with a touch of Cirque du Soleil, the Big Apple Circus, and Taymor’s own identifiable genius with puppets and imagery. Add to that the music of U2, and several potential hit songs. They have not gone wrong, but gone very right.

Even if the show cost $60 million, no one will  complain that they don’t see it on the stage. The sets, costumes and lighting are overwhelmingly cool and original. The scenes are one show stopper after another, culminating in Spider Man–Peter Parker, rather–racing through New York singing “The Boy Falls From the Sky.” It’s the keynote song of the show, but there others that popped on this first night: “Rise Above,” “Picture This,” and “If the World Should End” in particular. Frankly, in U2’s repertoire of anthems, “Rise Above” has the potential to equal “One.”

The book of the is what still needs tightening and clarifying, but that will come in the next couple of weeks. The “Spider Man” story isn’t “Merchant of Venice,” after all, and it shouldn’t be hard. Right now, Peter Parker’s Aunt May and Uncle Ben could use a little fleshing out. And some of the segues last night weren’t in place. A few times–all minor–the show had to be stopped to do fixes. This is to be expected at a preview, especially the first. Some woman yelled out in the darkness, “I feel like a guinea pig” when the second act fix went on for five minutes. She was roundly booed.

As for the flying: it’s terrific. It’s acrobatic, athletic, and ballet like. Incorporated into sets that feel like giant pop up books come alive, and you have the once in a lifetime kind of experience that Taymor always promised.

Expect lines around the block today at the Foxwoods Theater. No one who comes to New York will want to admit to missing “Spider Man.”

Spider Man on Broadway: Tonight’s the Night–Here’s the New Commercial

Roger Friedman
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1
Spider Man on Broadway: Tonight’s the Night–Here’s the New Commercial

Tonight’s the night.

At 6:30pm at the Foxwoods–yikes–Theater on West 42nd St., Julie Taymor unveils “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark.”

Clocking in around $60 million (who knows by now), “Spider Man” will play its first preview.

This is NOT opening night. And while theater wags will be circling the theater like vultures preparing to devour their prey, it’s not fair to actually review the show until it actually opens on January 11, 2011.

Still, expect Tweets and instant messages and live blogging from all over the theater. The vicious types (they rhyme with needle) will be lurking like comic book villains in the wings. It’s the kind of drama Broadway openings only elicit in movies.

Meantime, the first “Spider Man” commercial is up on YouTube. We can at last see a little of what’s been going on. More to come, of course, later tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-zWVtw7mVU&feature=player_embedded

2010 Oscars: Best Actress Race Tightens Up With Bening, Kidman, Williams

Roger Friedman
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5
2010 Oscars: Best Actress Race Tightens Up With Bening, Kidman, Williams

The Best Actress race for the Oscar is getting tighter, and more competitive.

So far, the best bets are on Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, each for “The Kids Are All Right.” Right along with these formidable women is Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole.” Even though “Rabbit Hole” doesn’t premiere until later this week, Kidman is getting raves from every advance screening. And Natalie Portman is certainly in the fourth position. While “Black Swan” is kind of wild and terrifying, Portman is what keeps it together.

Bening is said to be a foregone conclusion, not only because her work is so good but because she missed shots at Best Actress for “American Beauty” and “Being Julia.” Oscars are often a cumulative prize. So this argument does hold some water.

Julianne Moore was really screwed last year out of a Best Supporting Actress nomination for “A Single Man.” She’s done quality work for years and is a popular player in the field of indie movies. She missed on “Far From Heaven,” too.

So that takes four slots filled up. Only one spot, I think, is realistically open. Who will it go to?

In the running: Michelle Williams, with “Blue Valentine,” Tilda Swinton from “I Am Love,” Lesley Manville from “Another Year,” Hilary Swank from “Conviction,” Sally Hawkins from “Made in Dagenham” are all getting pushes of various sorts. As well, many of my readers know how much I liked Patricia Clarkson in “Cairo Time.”

Of course there’s one other question mark out there: former winner Halle Berry, for “Frankie and Alice.” The problem is that that movie has a small distributor and a low profile. And Berry, who is just making a return to serious filmmaking, has a lot of good material still to play and many more awards to win.

My guess at this point: Michelle Williams. “Blue Valentine” is an extraordinarily well crafted original drama; both Williams and Ryan Gosling are the upset nominees of 2010. I said it when I saw Derek Cianfrance’s first screening at Sundance last January. One Academy members sit with the “Blue Valentine” DVD, they will never forget those performances.

Of course, it’s all a toss up in the end. But as we come out of the starting gate on Monday, this is how the candidates are lining up. And isn’t it cool that there are so many choices?

“The King’s Speech”: Best Clip Can’t Be Shown On TV

Roger Friedman
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2
“The King’s Speech”: Best Clip Can’t Be Shown On TV

Friday — tomorrow–is opening day for Tom Hooper‘s “The King’s Speech.” It’s a Christmas present come early, but we’ll take it.

You’ve heard a lot about it, so I don’t want to overhype what is just a really good movie. But at a time when movies are not what they used to be, “The King’s Speech” recalls all the great things that used to make us love a Hollywood film.

And it’s been a good year, too. We’ve had “127 Hours,” “The Social Network,” “Let Me In,” “Toy Story 3,” “Inception,” “The Town,” “Tamara Drewe” (which I adored), “Get Low,” “The Kids Are All Right,” “Please Give” (another sleeper), “Shutter Island,” “The Ghost Writer,” “Made in Dagenham,” and so on. I even loved the less-seen “Greenberg,” from Noah Baumbach. (Original screenplay nominee?) Still to come: “Black Swan” and “The Fighter,” each sensational, and two question marks–“True Grit” from the Coen Brothers and “How Do You Know?” from James L. Brooks.

And still, with all of that said, “The King’s Speech” is the standout. I remember when Colin Firth was screening “A Single Man” in Toronto, September 2009. He and Geoffrey Rush were talking about making a movie about King George VI, who stuttered, and his speech therapist. Tom Hooper was going to direct. “Sounds good,” I thought, not really thinking about it all.

A year later, it’s quite amazing to see what work went into this drama. On top of that, Helena Bonham Carter–currently looking witchy and acting happily insane in “Harry Potter 7.1”–does maybe the best turn of her career non Tim Burton as the Queen Mum. She gives this woman we only knew as an old, old lady life as a young–middle aged?–person who was quite forthright and purposeful. Queen Elizabeth didn’t just raise herself. HBC just shimmers.

Of course, it’s the guys’ movie. The best Oscar clip for Firth is one that can’t be shown on TV. It’s toward the end, when Bertie (nickname of the King), is practicing the speech that will plunge Britain into World War II. It’s a serious of “f bombs,” delivered with hilarity and sweetness. Just brilliant.

Rush– who has an Oscar (Firth doesn’t) makes everything seem easy. He is so accomplished that it’s all become sleight of hand. It’s really a wonder that “Shine” plucked him from the crowd in 1996. As Lionel Logue, the failed actor turned speech teacher, Rush pulls the movie forward, careful never to get in Firth’s way. He just guides him in for a landing as Bertie proceeds from insecure prince to King. Their scene together–in which Bertie tells his family story while gluing together model planes–is for the ages.

David Edelstein complained in New York magazine this week about some of director Hooper’s camera work. But I think Hooper’s done a terribly original job of staging this piece. After the multi part “John Adams” and “Elizabeth I” for HBO, Hooper knows how to give edginess to historical information. In a year when Danny Boyle is swooping in and around a canyon over a fixed subject, and David Fincher has reinvented the saga of moguls-in-the-making, Hooper surprises us all by making edge of the seat drama from what could have seemed stuffy and dusty.

Michael Jackson Breaking News: Oprah Interviews Singer’s Surrogate Family

Roger Friedman
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29
Michael Jackson Breaking News: Oprah Interviews Singer’s Surrogate Family

What to do when so many people question the truth? Go on “Oprah.”

I am told that the whole Cascio family appears on “Oprah” on December 6th to showcase Eddie Cascio’s tracks from Michael Jackson‘s new album.

Eddie is joined by his parents, Dominic and Connie, as well as brother Frank and sister Nicole.

The family talks with Oprah about their long relationship as Michael’s surrogate family, and the evolution of the music Michael made at their house in New Jersey in 2007.

Originally, the family didn’t want to go to the show, but Sony Music thought it best just to put the whole story out in the open. “Michael” the album is released on December 14th. The single, “Hold My Hand,” is already on the radio and on ITunes, featuring Akon.

Eddie Cascio has three tracks on the new “Michael” album–“Breaking News,” “Monster,” and “Keep Your Head Up.” There are nine more in the vault.

Also on the show is Michael’s long time producer Teddy Riley, who worked on the tracks and vouches for their veracity.

Fran Lebowitz Is Right…Most of the Time

Roger Friedman
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2
Fran Lebowitz Is Right…Most of the Time

I just caught up with Martin Scorsese‘s HBO film, “Public Speaking,” about humorist Fran Lebowitz.

Lebowitz came to fame in 1978 with her collection of essays called “Metropolitan Life.” The essays were drawn from columns she published in Andy Warhol’s Interview called “I Cover the Waterfront.” They caught the eye of my late friend, Laurie Colwin, herself a New Yorker short story writer and novelist (“Happy all the Time”) who worked for the late editorial legend, Henry Robbins, at E.P. Dutton. (He was John Irving‘s editor on his key books like “Garp.”)

I remember Laurie telling me a few years later how Fran came to them broke. “She had nothing. I said, ‘We have to publish her.’ And they did. Dutton also published the sequel, “Social Studies.” Fran stopped writing for Interview. And that was that, other than a children’s book.

I’m not clear how she became court jester to people like Calvin Klein, Barry Diller, Toni Morrison and Graydon Carter other than the fact she’s amusing and fun. I knew her in the mid 80s because she was friendly with Paloma Picasso and her first husband, who were very close to her for a time. She’s also been bff’s with Lisa Robinson, who was the New York Post’s talented rock journalist (and for years since with Vanity Fair). The two women look very cute in their Studio 54 clip in “Public Speaking.”

My only real intersection with Lebowitz was in 1994. I’d interviewed her for New York Magazine about being a summer houseguest in the Hamptons. The snarky editors over me described her in the piece as a “freeloader.” She subsequently had me thrown out, physically, of a party at the Royalton Hotel courtesy of Brian McNally. Frank DiGiacomo, then with Page Six, walked out in solidarity with me. I’ve never spoken to her again.

Mostly I remember her circa 1979, standing in the drizzle at the corner of 11th St. and 6th Avenue, scowling, wearing a man’s raincoat, smoking a cigarette.

Scorsese obviously finds her funny. He captures that well. I can’t remember a time when I’ve seen Lebowitz smile in public. In “Public Speaking,” she smiles a lot, and laughs broadly. It’s a relief. Much of the charm from those two early books comes back here with a flash. It’s been missed. She says she’s right most of the time. She is right a lot of the time in “Public Speaking” about a lot of things– New York tourists, walking in the city, the decline of the sophisticated audience, large children in strollers. She’s also right that all we’ve done for thirty years is recycle the culture, waiting for something new. She really isn’t Dorothy Parker. She’s Mel Brooks. Which is just fine. When she hits a riff, Lebowitz is a hoot.

I also really liked her cufflinks.

Oscar Winner Jennifer Hudson Forgotten by Hollywood Trade Mag

Roger Friedman
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8
Oscar Winner Jennifer Hudson Forgotten by Hollywood Trade Mag

I know it’s hard converting from a trade magazine to a hybrid whatever.

But maybe The Hollywood Reporter could try and get its music coverage together a little.

In this week’s ‘big think piece’ about “American Idol” they managed to forget entirely Jennifer Hudson. Remember Jennifer, boys? She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in “Dreamgirls.” It was only a couple of years ago. She’s also had a hit album and two hit singles. She’s also starred in “The Secret Life of Bees” and just finished starring in “Winnie Mandela” with Terrence Howard. Hudson has a new album scheduled for early next year with songs by Alicia Keys included.

Hudson finished seventh in “American Idol” during season 3, 2004. Fantasia Barrino won the competition. But Hudson is now arguably the biggest star to come out of “AI,” eclipsing even Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.

If only The Hollywood Reporter had remembered her!

PS THR: Sony moved on to Simon Cowell’s “X Factor,” which makes sense: it’s the next big thing. Universal will have to do a lot to revive “American Idol,” although it’s quite likely that their very own L.A. Reid will head there as a judge or mentor.

Susan Boyle Makes Sony An Offer it Can’t Refuse

Roger Friedman
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2
Susan Boyle Makes Sony An Offer it Can’t Refuse

You know, I love to harpoon the record companies when they do something weird. Warner Music is a favorite subject because they can’t get anything right, don’t do much to market their new releases, and recently got rid of a slew of marketing people.

But sometimes, people get it together. Sony Music’s Columbia Records has the #1 and #2 albums this week: Susan Boyle‘s “The Gift’ sold over 330,000 copies, and Jackie Evancho‘s Christmas album did around 240,000.

Not only that: the “Glee” Christmas album came in around 160,000 copies. Wow.

This means that Rob Stringer has three big hits in the top 10. None of them are likely to go away, either. And then on December 14th, Stringer launches Michael Jackson’s “Michael.”

Columbia also has both Bruce Springsteen releases on the charts this week–his box set and the individual album, “The Promise”; plus Susan Boyle’s original album came back. Not bad!

And: stand back, because Columbia Records will be the home of “X Factor” next year.

Wait: did I mention Train, which had the most ubiquitous record of the year with “Hey Soul Sister”? (I bark when I hear it at this point.)

Even so, Stringer got strung up today when the NY Daily News, otherwise on the money, picked up some wacko story from a blog saying that Stringer was like the “Fredo Corleone” of Sony because he’s the brother of Sony chairman Sir Howard.

While not everything Stringer does is perfect–he didn’t get the new Paul Simon, for example–the numbers don’t lie. And contrary to a recent, misguided report, Sony’s Epic label was in trouble long before any of these people came along. The last time there was a sign of life at Epic was when Charlie Walk buzzed through there like Sammy Glick, making records like Shakira and Wyclef’s “Hips Don’t Lie” and Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls” sizzle on radio.

Fredo Corleone? Wrong brother. I’d say Michael Corleone. Pay attention, kids.

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