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Ben Stiller-Brett Ratner Heist Gets Noah Baumbach Script

Roger Friedman
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Ben Stiller-Brett Ratner Heist Gets Noah Baumbach Script

stillerratner Ben Stiller Brett Ratner Heist Gets Noah Baumbach Script“Tower Heist,” Brett Ratner’s next film, is going full speed ahead at Universal. I’m told that Noah Baumbach has just been signed to polish up the screenplay originally written by Ted Griffin.

I wrote about this film when it first got off the ground a couple of years ago. Back then it was envisioned as a black “Ocean’s Eleven,” with Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock being talked about as the leads. (Indeed, Griffin wrote “Oceans.”)

But time does a funny thing to movie projects. “Tower Heist” now looks like it will star Ben Stiller overseeing a cast of guys that could be all colors — maybe even blue, considering recent events in film land.

The story has also changed somewhat, from being a pure heist movie to the story of a bunch of blue collar guys on a mercy mission. It turns out the main tenant of this Trump Tower-like building has bilked the employees’ pension fund in a huge Ponzi scheme. More details I don’t want to give away, but word is that Ratner, of course, would probably like James Caan to play that character. Caan recently starred in Ratner’s excellent segment of “New York, I Love You.” But all the casting, save for Stiller, is still up in the air as Baumbach toils away.

So stay tuned for more info on “Tower Heist.” It will be Ratner’s first film since “Rush Hour 3.” My personal favorite Ratner film is a well kept secret: Nicolas Cage in “Family Man.” I still get misty eyed when Tea Leoni buys Nic Cage a knock-off Zegna suit as an anniversary gift.

Baumbach, meanwhile, is just introducing his “Greenberg” film, also with Ben Stiller. If you’re looking for one of his early efforts, try “Mr. Jealousy,” a little gem. And of course, Baumbach wrote the now classic “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”

Gladys Knight Is Still a Pip

Roger Friedman
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Gladys Knight Is Still a Pip

59474668Most 65-year-olds are not working full-time.

But Gladys Knight, who’s been working since 1952, has not lost a step after almost six decades in show business.

Two weeks ago I ran into her at Quincy Jones’ “We Are the World” taping in Los Angeles. Gladys is front-and-center with Jennifer Hudson, Mya, Usher, Lil Wayne, and dozens of other younger stars. Will their careers last as long? For most, it’s unlikely.

On Friday night, by coincidence, I caught Gladys’ act at the Naples Philharmonic Hall in Florida. She came by bus from Atlanta with her band and her brother Bubba, the last remaining “Pip” and her best friend. She’s in the middle of doing six dates down South. As usual, the venue was sold out.

Backstage, Gladys exhibited not a sign of Diva-ness. She greets fans in jeans, without makeup. On stage it’s a different story. She looks about 50 tops, and wears a silver lame pants suit that shines through the huge auditorium.

The act runs just a little less than 90 minutes and covers most of the hits from her long career. At Motown, Gladys was the one who discoverd the Jackson 5 — a fact she should mention but doesn’t. She also had a hit with “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” before Marvin Gaye. Maybe she’s tired of explaining it all.

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It’s a Warner Bros. World, Despite Mel Gibson

Roger Friedman
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It’s a Warner Bros. World, Despite Mel Gibson

125034 valentines day 341x182 Its a Warner Bros. World, Despite Mel GibsonYou have to give Warner Bros. credit. They give the big studio business a good name.

Right now WB has not one or two but five of the biggest movies playing in theaters. They may not be literary triumphs, but the films are putting fannies in seats and that’s what counts.

The studio has the pedestrian “Valentine’s Day” — sort of “Love American Style” — at No. 1 with $66 million in the bank. Elsewhere WB has Denzel Washington in “The Book of Eli,” Sandra Bullock’s Oscar nomination in the surprise hit “The Blind Side,” not to mention Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in Guy Ritchie’s muscular “Sherlock Holmes.” Of course, yes, there is the not so great “Edge of Darkness” with Mel Gibson, the most minor of these entertainments.

And all of this is between “Harry Potter” movies and after “The Hangover” surprised everyone with $277 million. Yowza.

Making movies isn’t easy, particularly ones that cost well over $100 million and come back winners. (And this from a guy who champions indies and the like!) The business is cyclical, too: you can have no hits and then have a passle of them. But with this group, Warner Bros. has to be commended. I think Alan Horn and co. will look back at this schedule as a Golden Run. Not bad!

‘Hurt Locker’ Gets Star Treatment — Momentum Grows

Roger Friedman
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‘Hurt Locker’ Gets Star Treatment — Momentum Grows

Was2879835Monday night in Hollywood: The “Hurt Locker” Oscar momentum grows.

Harrison Ford, Keanu Reeves, Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron – all were some of the hosts at a star studded gathering at Phillippe Chow restaurant. My spies say it was like an Oscar party.

Why not? “The Hurt Locker” has the DGA, the PGA and Cinematographers awards. It’s headed to a best picture win on March 7 inevitably with director Kathryn Bigelow reaping a big prize, too.

And wow, come on. When we saw “The Hurt Locker” at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2008 ‘ 2008!! ‘ it had no distributor. There was almost no money to promote it. What a great Hollywood Cinderella story!

Bigelow was the sterling star of the night, with the movie’s co-star, Oscar nominated Jeremy Renner present, too. (Anthony Mackie’s in NY about to open on Broadway.)

More awards coverage

And what a gang: everyone from legends like Angie Dickinson, Martin Landau.’Paul Mazursky, and Lou Gossett to Guy Pearce ‘ who’s seen briefly in the film ‘ as well as Brian Geraghty, and Bill Paxton, Rebecca deMornay, Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance, Ray Liotta, Frances Fisher, the omnipresent Jon Voight, and the Summit Pictures crowd: Rob Friedman and’Erik Feig.

Who’s More Charitable? John Lennon or … Harry Chapin Heirs?

Roger Friedman
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Who’s More Charitable? John Lennon or … Harry Chapin Heirs?

John Lennon or Harry Chapin: Who’s turned out to be more charitable in death?

Lennon, author of hundreds of Beatles songs as well his own gigantic hits? Or beloved New Yorker Harry Chapin, who’s remembered mostly for two songs, “Cat’s in the Cradle” and “Taxi.”

Each singer-songwriter died tragically young. Lennon was 40 when he was murdered in 1980. Chapin died in a car crash at age 38 in 1981.

You’d think it was Lennon, courtesy of widow Yoko Ono. But you’d be wrong.

This came to my attention in a roundabout way over the weekend. Down in Naples, Fla., Yoko is running an art exhibition of John Lennon’s lithographs and other collectible works. The prices run into the thousands of dollars. Apparently it’s a big business. According to the press release, “Ms. Ono signs her husband’s work” since Lennon didn’t foresee what a gold mine he had before he died.

According to the Ono-Lennon release, $2 from each ticket to the exhibition goes to the Harry Chapin Southwest Florida Food Bank.

The latter organization, according to its filings on GuideStar, is impressive. Harry Chapin Southwest Food Bank has over $6 million in assets. It’s one of several food banks with the Long Island singer-songwriter’s name on it. They are all doing good works, including World Hunger Year, Long Island Cares, and the Harry Chapin Foundation.

Ono, on the other hand, is not very charitable — at least according to recorded filings. Her Spirit Foundation has about $1.3 million in assets. In 2007 she gave away just $253,000. The bulk of that went to Foster Plan Japan, which builds schools in Asia and the Far East.’Ono sent’$10,000 apiece to a grade school in Harlem and a women’s domestic crisis center in Portland, Oregon. She also’gave $322 to a British group that promotes Holocaust awareness in England. Unless she’s bypassing her own’foundation, Ono otherwise doesn’t give money either to AIDS groups or Amnesty International, Greenpeace, or any other group you might think John Lennon would have supported.

Tomorrow, Ono resurrects her long dormant but always’dissonant’Plastic Ono Band at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Tickets range from $39.90 to $150. There is no charity’involved, not even anything for Haiti.

Yoko Ono Loved By Amnesty International

Roger Friedman
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Yoko Ono Loved By Amnesty International

A follow-up to Monday’s item about Yoko Ono. While her Spirit Foundation doesn’t give money to Amnesty International, the group still loves her. Turns out she’s been giving them free rights to John Lennon’s music for years, and has been a huge supporter of the organization.

I don’t mind adding that info to the earlier story. If Amnesty loves Yoko, so does Showbiz411. In particular, a website called www.instantkarma.org is set up just to document how much Ono has done for Darfur via AI.

On the site you can download and purchase twenty different covers of post-Beatle Lennon tracks by a variety of stars from U2 to a duet by Dhani Harrison and Jakob Dylan on “Gimme Some.”

There are no actual Dylan recordings, but these are sufficient. An Ono/AI intermediary also says Ono has given the group “Imagine” to promote its cause. The group says she helped raise $4.5 million.

This doesn’t explain everything about the Spirit Foundation, but as Lennon said, Give peace a chance.

Irony for Michael Jackson: ‘We Are the World’ at 25

Roger Friedman
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Irony for Michael Jackson: ‘We Are the World’ at 25

jackson michael Irony for Michael Jackson: We Are the World at 25Tonight everyone will get to hear the new edition of “We Are the World,” 25 years after Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, and Quincy Jones made history.

It’s an ironic moment for Michael Jackson, whose alleged murderer was arraigned this week. It’s ironic especially since it features Celine Dion.

Dion was one of the singers whom Jackson enlisted in October 2001 for his “What More Can I Give” single. With a panoply of stars, Jackson tried to re-create the “We Are The World” vibe for the people who’d been affected by Sept. 11.

It didn’t work. Sony’s Tommy Mottola didn’t want Michael’s charitable efforts interfering with the release then of his first album since the mid ’90s, “Invincible.” He wouldn’t let Jackson release it on Sony and stopped “What More Can I Give” from coming out elsewhere.

The tug-of-war went on forever. After Hurricane Rita (which followed Katrina) in 2005, Jackson again tried to release “What More Can I Give.” Again, he had no luck.

Michael did use the song to some effect just once. With his producing partner Marc Schaffel, Jackson gathered together a bunch of stars’ and performed the song live on the Washington DC ABC special for 9-11 in October 2001. But it was a lost cause. Mottola pounced on the fact the Schaffel had a porn business on the side. The song was never heard again.

Part of Jackson’s problem in the years following “We Are the World” was that he really thought he could save the world. The “we” turned to “I.” He stopped understanding that it does “take a village.” His megalomania stemmed from his isolation, his drug abuse, his paranoia and belief in his self-importance.

One aspect of this was his increased denial over the years that Quincy Jones had collaborated with him on all those projects. Michael — who was known for being petty and disloyal — couldn’t bear to face the truth. Thus, “What More Can I Give” sounds just like a 1985 song from “Bad” called “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.” And “Invincible” is a throwaway album. On one song called “Cry,” written for him by R. Kelly, Jackson complains he can’t change the world all by himself. Yikes.

Jackson’s charitable giving wasn’t much better after the “We Are the World”/USA for Africa era died down. His Heal the World organization ran aground. He got involved with questionable people. He often made promises on a global scale and didn’t keep them. He wanted naively to re-create the success of “We Are the World” on his own, not realizing it wasn’t possible.

So the release tonight of “We Are the World 25 for Haiti” is bittersweet. So, too, will Michael’s video clip in it from 1985, before his life went haywire. But it probably reflects his truest intentions before even they became perverted and distorted. It’s really the great legacy he leaves behind.

P.S.: Listen tonight to the lyrics of the song. Quincy told me recently that when he first heard it, there was a line “There’s a choice we’re making/We’re taking our own lives.” Q, ever the master, changed it to “We’re saving our own lives.”

Meryl Streep Wanted for ‘Arthur’ Update

Roger Friedman
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Meryl Streep Wanted for ‘Arthur’ Update

59110031When he was alive, John Gielgud was considered one of the very, very best actors in the world.

So who would play the part of Hobson, the title character’s valet, in a remake of Gielgud’s most famous American film, “Arthur”? Why, Meryl Streep, of course.

The word from inside the remake, which stars Russell Brand as the title character, is that everyone is desperate for Meryl to take the role. As of two weeks ago I knew about this, but insiders said Streep hasn’t even been told of the offer. By now, presumably, she has.

A new script for the updated Arthur is being written by Peter Baynham (he writes for Sacha Baron Cohen) based on the characters invented by the late Steve Gordon. It’s not clear yet who would direct.

And who would play Arthur’s girlfriend, the part filled by Liza Minnelli so famously? “I’d just go back to Liza,” Russell Brand said jovially when I asked him recently. “There’s no one like her.” But something tells me Lady Gaga could be ready for her first movie, dontcha think?

By the way, Gielgud was older than Streep by 20 years when he played Arthur. She may deem herself too young. Better choices might be Maggie Smith or Judi Dench. Just sayin’ …

Jamie Foxx Mimics Ray Charles in New ‘We Are the World’

Roger Friedman
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Jamie Foxx Mimics Ray Charles in New ‘We Are the World’

The new version of “We Are the World” went up on iTunes last night, and you can see it everywhere at 2 p.m. Saturday. Get all the info at www.world25.org.

Justin Bieber opens the song, but is followed in quick succession by Jennifer Hudson – who just about steals the whole recording. Quickly we see and hear Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland, Josh Groban, Tony Bennett, and of course Barbra Streisand.

One of the many treats of the new recording: Jamie Foxx. He gets a solo as himself early on, and then later cracks J-Hud up when he’s imitating Ray Charles. It’s a nice nod to the original record from 1985.

And yes, there is a lot of Michael Jackson, his voice ringing clear and true. I don’t know if much can be said for sister Janet, who seems to be mouthing the lyrics and not really singing. In the long form video, there’s also not terribly impressive vocals by Michael’s nephews. Ouch.

But Fergie and will.i.am, Wyclef Jean–singing in Haitian, and plenty of others get face time. Gladys Knight doesn’t have a solo but she’s front and center in the video as is Natalie Cole. Adam Levine from Maroon 5 has a nice solo, and Pink does, too. Carlos Santana gets lost a little bit in the mix. But with 85 artists, what can do you?

All in all, it’s a brilliant effort considering it was made ten days ago. Director Paul Haggis has cut in moving footage from Haiti, and producer RedOne did an excellent job with a rap section in the long version. Now it’s time for the downloading to begin–$2.99 gets you the song and the video from ITunes, and all the money goes to Haiti. All of it.

Breaking News: I Will Now Appear in 3D Only

Roger Friedman
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Breaking News: I Will Now Appear in 3D Only

42159 3 D glasses 90x90 Breaking News: I Will Now Appear in 3D OnlyI realize that I can no longer hold out. So I am making this announcement today.

Because of the enormous success of “Avatar,” and because the last two “Harry Potter” movies are going to be filmed similarly, I’ve decided to appear only in 3D from now on.

This decision first occurred to me while I was watching Barbra Streisand being filmed by Paul Haggis during the recording of “We Are the World.” Barbra, someone said, is in 3D! She’s never done that before.

Of course, the person who said this was young and didn’t realize that Streisand had groundbreakingly been in 3D a lot before, for all of her 67 years. She just hadn’t announced it. And of course, she didn’t go in public much. I’d seen her at a party with a lot of movie stars just a few weeks earlier. All of those stars were 3D as well, including Elton John, Shirley MacLaine, and Joan Collins.

They just hadn’t mentioned it to anyone.

At the “We Are the World” taping, Barbra said aloud, “I wonder how my nose will look in 3D.” But of course her nose had always been in 3D. Again, no one had brought it up. But you could walk up to it, touch it, walk around it. It felt like her nose was right there with you! When she sneezed, you felt like offering a hanky. This was before even “Yentl,” dating all the way back to “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

How will I maintain my new 3D disposition? For one thing, I will always be seen with objects around me at various distances. Thus, I will have depth. Not the kind of depth of a deep thinker, but a sense of depth around me, to my sides, in front and behind, above and below. People will feel as they get near me, I feel like I could stick my hand out and touch him.

Just don’t, please.

Another good thing about my plan: My technicians have worked so hard on new discoveries that special glasses needn’t be worn to see me in 3D. If one wants, you may wear glasses, in particular sunglasses and hopefully expensive ones. I like Prada, Gucci and Chanel. But unlike with other kinds of 3D attractions, no spectacles will be necessary. You’ll be able to see me in 3D by the naked eye.

I am not an inventor. I liken my announcement to when’ Madonna put out a record called “Vogue” five years after people started Vogueing in discos. But she synthesized the phenomenon. That’s what I am hoping to do with my decision to go 3D. Some people may not believe me at first. That’s why I will carry’a water pistol with me. And maybe a joy buzzer.

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