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Batman 3: Chris Nolan Doesn’t Have a Director’s Contract

Roger Friedman
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Batman 3: Chris Nolan Doesn’t Have a Director’s Contract

As we await the Friday opening of Christopher Nolan‘s “Inception,” here’s some news: Nolan has no actual directing contract for “Batman 3.”

You’d have thought after “The Dark Knight” that Warner Brothers would have sewn all that legal stuff up. Indeed, Nolan’s brother Jonathan and David Goyer are working on a “Batman 3” script right now. Presumably, they have a contract–but you never know.

In any case, Chris Nolan is not signed to direct “Batman 3” despite the fact that he’s talked about it in “Inception” interviews. A Nolan insider says, “One movie at a time. He’s focused on Inception right now.”

It’s hard to imagine what Nolan’s contract would look like after “The Dark Knight” was such a stunning success. But if “Inception” hits big time, Warner’s will be giving Nolan anything he wants and then some to direct “Batman 3.” Maybe Warner’s can strap him down, knock him out and get into his subconscious, and plant the idea to sign a “B3” contract!

This also could go on for some time, because in interviews this week Michael Caine let it slip–perhaps intentionally–that “B3” should start production next April. Also, as confirmed everywhere, The Joker will not be a character in the new movie. Expect instead The Riddler or Catwoman or maybe even The Penguin to rattle Gotham City.

But Nolan could wait out signing an actual contract for a number of reasons. One would be to pressure Warner’s to really push an Oscar campaign for him on “Inception.” Nolan was not happy in 2008 when he was overlooked for “The Dark Knight.” He listened patiently to a lot of people who explained that the Academy doesn’t really reward comic book movie adaptations.

So with the serious and original “Inception,” Nolan is looking for artistic acknowledgment this time around. He’ll be looking to the strong Warner’s marketing and pr team to make that happen.

And frankly, with ten nominees again (!), “Inception” is a lock for a Best Picture nomination. And Nolan has to be seriously considered for a Best Director nomination as well. Even with flaws, “Inception” is a stunning work. Nolan should be nominated just for the anti-gravity sequences with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Brilliant.

Anyway, for my money, here’s the real “Batman”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpsKkHVUlgk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzpP8pw7wrs&feature=related

Mel Gibson Art Work Mystery Solved

Roger Friedman
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Mel Gibson Art Work Mystery Solved

Crazy Mel Gibson gets very nuts in his taped conversation with Oksana Grigorieva about being broke. He screams at her that he had to sell art work.

In fact, Mel and ex wife Robyn sold their estate in Greenwich, Connecticut last year. They put up for auction at Christie’s $15 million worth of paintings by Maxfield Parrish that used to decorate the home. The sale was announced in March and took place in May.

The Gibsons had bought the Parrish paintings from a New York gallery. In 2006, the same year they now say they separated, the couple spent the most ever for a Parrish painting–$7.6 million for “Daybreak.”

But they bought at the top of a bloated market, and sold in a recession. They lost money when they had to sell. “Daybreak” sold at Christie’s for $5.2 million–well below what they paid four years ago.

Maxfield Parrish is an acquired taste, to be sure. Some other big collectors include Whoopi Goldberg–who defended Mel on “The View” recently–and Michael Jackson. “Daybreak” is what you might call pedestrian art–easily obtained in a good print for about $25.

The Gibsons, not known for being art collectors in the first place, sound like they were a bit naive when they made the original purchases. Mel might be better off sticking to paintings of dogs playing poker, on velvet.

Mel Gibson’s Girlfriend Stuck Around 2 Months After Making Tapes

Roger Friedman
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Mel Gibson’s Girlfriend Stuck Around 2 Months After Making Tapes

You have to hand it to Oksana Grigorieva. She played Mel Gibson as if she were Itzhak Perlman on the violin.

Of course, Perlman is Jewish, so Mel wouldn’t like that.

But Oksana’s daily release of Mel’s horrid tapes has pretty much destroyed him. And though he deserves it, not all is what it seems.

For one thing, these taped conversations supposedly took place on January 6, 2010. And yet, there’s Oksana walking the red carpet with Gibson 20 days later for the premiere of “Edge of Darkness.” If she hated him so much, why did she go? Was he pointing a gun to her head? (Maybe, considering the tapes.) The picture accompanying this article was taken that night. You’d think someone who’d been threatened with a gun, hit in the face, had her teeth knocked, child threatened, been called vile names, wouldn’t have put on a gown three weeks later and done a red carpet.

And then again: Oksana accompanied Mel to Eric Mika‘s Hollywood Reporter party two nights before the Oscars. That was on March 5th, two months after Oksana made her tapes. Of course, she and Gibson arrived looking like hell. The pictures from the party don’t do justice to their appearance–as if they’d just awakened after being on a bender. THR’s Elizabeth Guider and I were standing just a few feet from them when this weird couple arrived. They couldn’t have looked worse. But they were together.

A source close to Gibson also tells me that Oksana insisted on going with Mel on his European promo tour of “Edge.” That was all in the time between January 26th and the Oscars. It’s possible that when the Oscar hoopla was over, Oksana decided to make a break for it. But she sure enjoyed the spotlight while she was getting ready.

None of this, of course, excuses Gibson from all the terrible things he’s said and done. Let’s not forget that. It’s just a perfect storm.

Mel Gibson Spent $5 Mil on Girlfriend’s Record; Claims He’s Broke

Roger Friedman
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8
Mel Gibson Spent $5 Mil on Girlfriend’s Record; Claims He’s Broke

Mel Gibson‘s latest hateful, screaming taped rant (found at RadarOnline) tells a lot more than before.

In this tirade we learn that Mel is broke, and that he spent $5 million on girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva‘s non existent recording career.

Remember a year ago when we all learned about Oksana? She made a record, and Mel started Icon Records, a division of his Icon Productions, to release it.

On the tape, he’s screaming that Oksana cost him $5 million, and she replies it was for the record company.

Most established artists can’t get $100,000 to make a new album these days. Whoever advised Gibson on this made some kind of crazy call.

At the same time, Gibson pleads poverty, and screams at the top of his lungs that he has no money, that his wife knows everything about his finances, and that he’s had to sell artwork and give up his Lakers season tickets as a result.

How is it possible that Gibson is broke? “The Passion of the Christ” made half a billion dollars. Even “Apocalypto” was a big hit. His Icon Productions remains a huge international player in the film world. http://www.iconmovies.com/home.html. Not only that: in 2008, Icon made millions in a sale of its international sales arm and other related assets.

If Gibson is broke, he could break into the $50 million plus he has parked in his A P Reilly Foundation, which supports his private church in Malibu.

But more likely his impoverished state has to do with–as discussed on the tape–supporting seven children and all their interests and even spouses; and giving half his assets to wife Robyn, whom he left so he could be with Oksana.

Mel once starred in a movie called “Payback.” And as we all know, payback is, traditionally, a bitch.

Ben Stiller, Brett Ratner Look Ready for “Tower Heist”

Roger Friedman
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Ben Stiller, Brett Ratner Look Ready for “Tower Heist”

After many unofficial announcements it looks like “Tower Heist” is almost ready to go.

The Brett Ratner directed picture will star Ben Stiller and be produced by Brian Grazer.

Way back when this was embryonic, “Tower Heist” was set in Trump Tower in New York. It was going to have a mostly black cast with Eddie Murphy and Chris Tucker.

But time changes everything in Hollywood deals. Now the tower is “like the Trump Tower” but not exactly it as we don’t want to give anyone ideas. And now Stiller will head a multi-cultural cast. It’s possible Tucker, a Ratner regular, will still be part of the pack. Chris Rock might also be in the mix.

Ratner tweeted overnight that the pic was on, and Grazer was in charge. Everyone’s been waiting for a finished screenplay, so that may be done as well.

As I reported before, this won’t be just any heist movie. There’s a purpose to this project that will make the thieves heroes.

(This is just my idea for the plot: why not have the heist team kidnap “The Celebrity Apprentice” contestants and enlist their help.)

Ratner, meanwhile, is waiting for the tug of war over his TV series, “Chaos,” to be resolved. The teams are CBS and 20th Century Fox TV. The former has offered to buy out the project from Fox since they don’t seem to want to let it happen. But of course Fox doesn’t want to let it go, I am told. They’d rather just see it never happen. That’s why they call it “Chaos” I guess.

Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secy General: A Sting Fan, Why Not?

Roger Friedman
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1
Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secy General: A Sting Fan, Why Not?

Guess who’s a fan of Sting? Why, UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon. He was front and center Wednesday night at the Metropolitan Opera House for Sting’s second show with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. Secretary Moon was seen bopping to “Every Breath You Take.” Afterwards he stopped by the Belmont Room and chatted with Sting and wife Trudie Styler. Also on hand for the second big Sting night: none other than Kathie Lee Gifford and Jann Wenner, but not together…Sting tapes the CBS Early Show this morning…

Meantime, Sting and Trudie’s daughter, Coco, has a hit in the UK charts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j6VoW6vv9Y&feature=related

Happy Birthday D.A. Pennebaker, Inventor of the Music Video

Roger Friedman
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2
Happy Birthday D.A. Pennebaker, Inventor of the Music Video

D.A. (Donn Alan) Pennebaker turns 85 today, years young.

All those so called documentary shows that clutter TV– from the Real World to Celebrity Rehab–spring from the cinema verite that Pennebaker and his cohorts Ricky Leacock, Albert Maysles, and a few others invented more than 50 years ago.

Pennebaker broke ground in the mid 60s when he made “Dont Look Back” with Bob Dylan. Still considered the quintessential music film, “Dont Look Back” became an instant classic for its style, substance and form. You feel as though you’re actually with Dylan, Joan Baez, and friends.

A couple of years later, Pennebaker filmed “Monterey Pop,” the festival that introduced America to its new generation of pop stars from the Mamas and the Papas to Janis Joplin and Otis Redding. Each one of them became icons, as did Pennebaker.

Pennebaker also credited with making the first and most influential music video–Bob Dylan dropped cards in “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” It’s impossible to say how many times it’s been imitated.

It would be another dozen or more years before the filmmaker, with his wife (DGA Award winner) Chris Hegedus, would create the Oscar nominated “War Room.” But in between and before Pennebaker’s journeys would take him into politics with Bobby Kennedy and Jane Fonda, Broadway with Carol Burnett, roots music with the Coen Brothers, and dozens more places. His film of the making of the album for “Company,” the Stephen Sondheim musical, is really and truly legendary. His work in it with Elaine Stritch led to them winning an Emmy years later for an HBO Stritch documentary.

I had the good fortune to work with Penny and Chris from 1999-2002 on a documentary about R&B music called “Only the Strong Survive.” There are only a handful of people I’ve learned a lot from over the years (aside from parents, grandparents, and teachers). Penny is one of them. He knows the structure of film the way a great architect envisions a skyscraper.

This is not easy in documentary as there is usually no script. The whole thing is a hunch. It’s about catching lightning in a bottle and then making it behave. It’s time the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honors Pennebaker, Leacock, Albert Maysles and the men who created the format new generations of filmmakers live by.

So happy birthday, Penny. Here’s to another 85!

http://www.phfilms.com/

Aretha Franklin Discovers Opera American Idol at Lunch

Roger Friedman
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2
Aretha Franklin Discovers Opera American Idol at Lunch

Aretha Franklin is in New York on her annual holiday. And on Tuesday she got serenaded at lunch.

The Queen of Soul stopped in to Brasserie Ruhlmann in Rockefeller Center with friends for lunch and got a surprise.

“I had a wonderful waiter,” she told me. “He said, You know, I sing the same songs you do.” He didn’t mean “Respect” but Puccini’s “Nessum Dorma.”

“I told him to show me, but sing low. Instead he really opened up. And he’s very talented. You should get over there immediately.”

The waiter in question was Don Catrone. Here he is singing “Nessum Dorma” on YouTube:

The folks at Brasserie Ruhlmann are thrilled. “Everyone clapped,” the manager told me. “And she was very nice. That’s what made it special.”

And Aretha? Still tweaking her new album, looking forward to a release soon.

Mel Gibson’s PR Counter Attack Stymied by Lawyers

Roger Friedman
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2
Mel Gibson’s PR Counter Attack Stymied by Lawyers

mel Gibson‘s situation is just getting worse and worse.

I am told that his faithful (and very nice) press agent, Alan Nierob, of Rogers and Cowan, has been instructed by Gibson’s lawyers not to do anything. Period. His hands are tied. So Nierob, who’s done yeoman service fighting back for Mel in the past, is stuck on the sidelines. He can only watch as more and more awful tapes are released.

And the tapes, which are heard on Radaronline.com and YouTube, are bad. Even if girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva planned them, and she’s the golddigger everyone thinks she is, it doesn’t matter. Her project to destroy Gibson has worked. There will never be an interview he does in the future when someone doesn’t ask him about all this. No amount of mea culpas and “I was drunk” or whatever will work. And looking at the pr interviews Gibson did for “Edge of Darkness” this past winter, it’s a lose-lose situation. Gibson attacked reporters who asked about his DUI and anti-Semitic comments.

Here’s a funny You Tube video someone put together of Mel and Christian Bale, another hot head, having a conversation from their real phone calls.

I’m surprised no one’s put together a parody of Sting’s “Roxanne” called “Oksanne.” That should be next.

Sting’s Music and Politics Win Over Corporate Big Shot

Roger Friedman
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1
Sting’s Music and Politics Win Over Corporate Big Shot

Sting played the Metropolitan Opera House last night with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Branford Marsalis and Dominic Miller. The show was a success and then some.

Afterwards, at a reception on the Grand Tier, a man approached Sting and glamorous wife Trudie Styler (wearing a knockout floor length Valentino gown and an eye popping diamond necklace) and introduced himself as their new neighbor on Central Park West. “I’m Sandy Weill,” said the former head of Citigroup and American Express. The couples exchanged greetings. And then Weill told a story that anyone who doubts the power of celebrity and politics for a good cause will appreciate.

He said,”Your group was very upset with us.” The Police? No, the Rainforest Foundation. “We were doing bad things to the rainforests,” Weill said. Sting and his wife–the color drained from their faces for a second. Then Weill continued: “But we’re working with them now, and we’re doing a lot to help.”

And it’s true, to some degree. In the mid 2000s, after protests against Citigroup by the Rainforest Action Network and other environmental groups, Weill’s corporation made some efforts to improve their policies. They also  donated $100,000 to the RAN. The Rainforest Foundation could use their help, too.

But even the idea of a corporate giant being motivated by Sting’s music and Styler’s politics was a nice cap to a sensational evening. Sting’s reconfiguring of his classic songs, and some — as he said–that were forgotten gems from solo albums–has proven to be a rousing triumph. He bills the show as “Symphonicities”– a play on his “Synchronicity,” symphonies, and the many cities on the tour. But in reality, the show–with over 50 musicians–is more like the best Boston Pops show ever featuring Sting’s music and his richer than ever voice. Who knew that the blond punk king of 1979 would turn out to the showman of 2010? What a lovely surprise.

With guests in the audience like actress Christine Baranski and New York fashion guru Fern Malis, Sting played to an absolutely sold out hall. Starting with the effervescent “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You,” he literally almost bounced around on the stage. The orchestrations and arrangements are all upbeat and joyous, from the show-closing “Fragile”–which he dedicated to the people of the Gulf Coast–to a reworked “Roxanne,” and several songs not heard in a long long time including the James Bond like “Tomorrow We’ll See,” the lush “When We Dance,” and the country western “I Hung My Head,” which has turned out to be the hit of the shows and the accompanying new album.

Now–if only Sting would make a rock album! “I’m not a rock star,” he told me recently. “I came to rock by accident.” Well, then, just an album of new songs, whatever format. Until then, “Symphonicities” is the cool pop star of a hot, miserable summer.

(photos 2010 c Ann Lawlor)

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