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Sundance: New Film Much Less Than Zero

Roger Friedman
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Joel Schumacher’s “Twelve” screened yesterday to a lot of people leaving the theater quickly. This is “St. Elmo’s Fire” for the “Gossip Girl” crowd, and it’s perfectly awful. Chase Crawford, of “GG” fame, plays a rich teen drug dealer on New York’s ritzy upper East Side. All the kids go to private school, they’re all doing drugs and buying stuff, and acting like stereotypes. Kiefer Sutherland narrates the film like it’s a “Dragnet” episode. Charismatic Billy Magnussen, currently on “As the World Turns,” makes a lasting impression as a spoiled kid who goes crazy, gets some guns and tries to kill everyone. I wish he’d tried harder. Here’s an alternative ending to this item: the Twelve of the title refers to a drug that’s a mix of coke and ecstasy. I wish I’d had some during the screening.…Fox Searchlight seems like it’s in the lead to buy Lisa Cholodenko’s “The Kids Are All Right.” All day we heard stories of every studio wanting this terrific film. But it seemed like a F/S entry while we were watching it. Also in the running: Weinstein Company. There’s also strong interest in “Blue Valentine,” another solid entry. All the potential buyers are being very wary, and trying to out outsmart the sellers. Long gone are the days of bidding wars commencing at the end of screenings…

Joan Rivers is the star of an excellent new documentary about herself called “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work.” It’s directed by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg. Listen, Joan Rivers is forever. The film shows clips of Joan from her early days of standup to “Ed Sullivan” to Michael’s Pub, where she became a cult favorite. At last night’s party, I asked Joan what she thought of the whole Conan-Jay debacle. Joan’s NBC disaster ‘ trying to get more money as Johnny Carson’s guest host only to wind up leaving for Fox, disastrously ‘ is chronicled in the film.

“What do you think?” she said, with a dismissive wave of the hand.

Paul Haggis May Film ‘We Are the World’

Roger Friedman
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haggis Paul Haggis May Film We Are the WorldOscar winning writer-director Paul Haggis (”Crash,” “Million Dollar Baby”)’is tentatively signed to film Quincy Jones’ 25th anniversary edition of “We Are the World.”

I told you last week that Jones and Lionel Richie were hoping to pull this effort off on Feb. 1 at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. The plan is still moving forward, although there’s an outside chance of a change of date due to a scheduling conflicts with the dozens of artists who want to participate.

AEG Live, which is helping put this together, didn’t return calls yesterday. I am told that several different corporate sponsors have voiced an interest in joining in, especially since this time “We Are the World” will help Haiti relief. It’s a great idea.

Haggis has an interest in Haiti. His Arists for Peace and Justice have been raising money for the beleaguered country for the last few years, even auctioning off art for the cause. Haggis (who’s Canadian and American, contrary to wire reports that he’s British) flew to Haiti last week to help in the aid effort.

Haggis, by the way, just finished shooting a new film with Russell Crowe in Pittsburgh.

Mel Gibson: Why I’m Not Ready to Forgive and Forget

Roger Friedman
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Mel Gibson opens in “Edge of Darkness” this Friday. It’s his first starring role since “Signs” in 2002. But a lot has changed.

Since then we’ve learned that Gibson is a racist and anti-Semite. He’s also a drunk, a liar and a philanderer. His father is a famous Holocaust denier who has a Web site explaining all his crazy beliefs. He also disavows the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church in favor of his own brand of Catholicism.On a radio show called “The Political Cesspool,” broadcast on Jan. 9, 2010, Hutton Gibson went after the late Pope John Paul II for visiting the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, for being a Russian or Communist agent and other crazy stuff.

“The whole bunch at the top,” Hutton Gibson says at 14:58 of the interview, of the current Archdiocese,””if they’re not outright queer, they’re supportive of it. They do nothing about the terrible things that go on among the clergy and the bishops.”

Listen to the interview here. (Thanks to blogger Adam Holland, who found the link.)

All that money that movie fans gave Mel in the past for his movies, including “The Passion of the Christ,” has been used to fuel these ideas. Mel currently has $50 million parked in a not-for-profit foundation called the A. P. Reilly Foundation. The foundation funds his private Holy Family Church in Malibu, California. The church is not recognized by any Archdiocese because the Gibsons have essentially seceded from regular Catholicism.

On his website, Hutton Gibson calls Pope Benedict XVI “Benny the Rat.”

And this is the same Mel Gibson who had seven children with his wife, then left her for a younger woman ‘ with whom he now has an illegitimate child. I’m not sure which Catholic church approves of this.

If you don’t recall, Gibson was pulled over in Malibu on July 28, 2006 for drunk driving. The police officer who pulled him over reported that Gibson said to him, “Fucking Jews… Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?” As it happened, the cop was Jewish. And he wrote down every word.

I don’t always trust the Web site TMZ.com, but this time they really got it right. Here’s the original story and police report.

The fact is, Mel Gibson has never apologized for this incident. He’s never explained it fully, either. And when Diane Sawyer asked him about his father, he refused to distance himself from Hutton Gibson’s views that the Holocaust never happened or criticize him in any way.

If you want to see evidence of Mel Gibson in 2010, check out this interview Gibson did with veteran Los Angeles Hollywood correspondent Sam Rubin.

When Rubin suggests that Gibson may not be wanted back by all of the movie audience, Gibson leans forward, gets aggressive, and asks, “Do you have a dog in this race?” It didn’t occur to Rubin until a few minutes later that Gibson meant because Rubin was Jewish.

Mel Gibson hasn’t changed. Neither has his father. Let’s not reward them.

Katie Holmes Lurks, ‘Animal Kingdom’ Rules

Roger Friedman
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Here are some Sundance notes from the last 24 hours:

holmes Katie Holmes Lurks, Animal Kingdom RulesKatie Holmes arrived early last night for a private dinner at Greenhouse (this is a New York nightclub that’s taken over a beautiful Park City home for events) for a film she’s in called “The Extra Man.” I happened to be walking up the driveway as she came by in a window-darkened Escalade, stayed for a few minutes, and then retreated. By the time dinner was served, Holmes was gone. Nevertheless, stars Kevin Kline, Paul Dano, and John C. Reilly mixed and mingled with directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (”American Splendor“)…If Katie had’come’into the dinner that was going on when she did arrive, she’d have met Naomi Watts, Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson, who were promoting “Mother and Child,” which Rodrigo Garcia directed, Lisa Falcone produced and Sony Pictures Classics is releasing this spring…’Annette Bening wound up missing Sundance despite two hits ‘ “Mother and Child” and “The Kids Are All Right.” Well, she has four kids, and at least one of them needed her attention. Too bad, she would have been mobbed with well wishers…Naomi Watts was happy, too. Her husband, Liev Schreiber, got raves on Broadway over the weekend opening in Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge.” Watts told me Liev is very excited because co-star Scarlett Johansson, also widely praised by critics back home, is great to work with…Sam Jackson took pictures with a couple of fans, who said the photos were for friends. Said Sam: “Why do people always say that? You know it’s for themselves!”…

Meanwhile: another big Sundance hit is the Quentin Tarantino-esque “Animal Kingdom” from Australia. A crime family led by a cunning and evil mother/grandmother (a knockout Jacki Weaver) who has her’four sons killing and stealing all over Melbourne. Joel Edgerton (who just played opposite Cate Blanchett in “A Streetcar Named Desire” in Brooklyn, Luke Ford and Ben Mendelsohn are the terrifying sons. Eighteen-year-old James Frecheville, the Australian Channing Tatum, is the grandson who could be the family’s undoing. Director David Michod said his favorite movie was “The Godfather Part 2″ and it shows. He’s done a great job of delivering a film that’s as if Francis Ford Coppola had made “The Krays.” This is one Sundance film I can’t wait to see in theaters this year. And Jacki Weaver has to get some attention. I’m not sure if she’s even five feet tall. She told me she always gets Sally Field-type parts at home and almost never plays a villian. Wait til she’s seen as Janine, one of the most’diabolical mothers in cinematic history. She’s going to have’ cult following!…

P.S. to all this: People.com says Katie went to dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in Park City while the rest of her movie crew was at Greenhouse. There are several well known restaurants in Park City. That’s not one of them. She couldn’t have had much time, and it doesn’t seem possible that Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson time traveled, and had two dinners at two different places simultaneously during a two hour period. But, hey, whatever…

Julianne Moore, Annette Bening in Sundance Sensation

Roger Friedman
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moore Julianne Moore, Annette Bening in Sundance SensationSundance 2010 has been waiting for a breakout hit, and one that didn’t have a distributor. It finally happened at 8:30 on Monday night at the Library Center theater, which was packed for a “Special Surprise” screening of Lisa Cholodenko’s “The Kids Are All Right.”

As festival director John Cooper said before the film started, “If anything happens to the people in this room, there goes the independent film world.”

Indeed, everyone was there, and now everyone is fighting over who will release Cholodenko’s brilliant “alternative” family comedy starring Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, and Mark Ruffalo. Like Nicole Holofcener’s “Please Give,” Cholodenko’s film is her best yet, a fully formed, three act knockout that crosses all its t’s, dots all its i’s, and gives a multi-dimensional rendering to its characters. Fox Searchlight, Focus, Weinstein Company, SPC, you name it, they all want it.

“The Kids Are All Right” is about a long-term lesbian couple (Moore and Bening), their kids (top notch newcomers Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson), and the anonymous sperm donor (Mark Ruffalo) who stirs up a lot of trouble in their lives. These five actors are so good together in this film I guarantee you they will win Best Ensemble awards in 2011.

Why the film works is easy: the charactes are totally accesible and sympathetic. Even as they make mistakes, they’re very human. And the story is very contemporary: this is what the modern family is like in 2010. What seems unconventional is actually old fashioned in every respect. And it’s also a very sexy movie, with Moore and Ruffalo’s romps keeping “The Kids” in R rated territory.

Now the question is, will “The Kids Are All Right” force the mostly tepid buyers here into action? The film cost about $4 million to produce. In the old days ‘ like 2006, 2007 ‘ a bidding war would ensue and record sales might be recorded. But it’s a different world now. We’ll see what happens.

Dakota Fanning, 15, Gets Very Sexy in ‘The Runaways’

Roger Friedman
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59394266After a mostly depressing day of dramas, Sundance 2010 got a much needed jolt Sunday night.

The Eccles auditorium was overflowing and every seat was taken for “The Runaways,” a juiced up biopic about rocker Joan Jett and her original group of all-female players, The Runaways circa 1975.

Kristen Stewart, of “Twilight” fame and also another good Sundance film,”Welcome to the Rileys,” plays Jett circa 1975. Dakota Fanning, who is still just 15, takes the role of Cherie Currie, Joan Jett’s founding partner in The Runaways. The movie does feature what seems to be a heavily suggested love scene between the two which should be pretty controversial when “The Runaways” is released by Apparition Films.

There’s a lot going on in “The Runaways,” too: Tatum O’Neal plays Cherie’s mom (Dakota’s mom). And Lisa Marie Presley’s 20-year-old daughter, Riley, plays Dakota’s sister. Yes, Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s granddaughter! Do you feel old now?

“The Runaways” marks the auspicious feature film debut of music video director Floria Sigismondi. The film was scored by Sigismondi’s talented musician husband, Lillian Berlin (yes, he’s a man, a very nice young man). Michael Shannon is also featured as The Runaway’s infamous awful manager, Kim Fowley.

What can I tell you about Dakota Fanning? Two years ago, when she was 13, her character in the terrible “Hound Dog” was raped on screen. Now she’s a rocker having lesbian sex, smoking, drinking, snorting coke off the floor, wearing very hot lingerie because Currie was the precursor of Madonna. There may be some who are shocked by all this.

The fact is, she is more poised and together at 15 than most adults. She wears pearls. At the Q&A after the film, Dakota was so together that she actually took the mike from the as usual freaked-out seeming Kristen Stewart and answered questions.

At the afterparty, sponsored by Microsoft Bing, Dakota did have kind of a meathead personal bodyguard. But she’s only 15. When we spoke, she was courteous and lively as ever. She’s her generation’s Jodie Foster, that’s for sure. Meantime, Stewart ‘ who’s turning 20 in April ‘ is an utter basket case by comparison. She’s a talented actress, but her public presentation suggests a possible hyperventilation at any moment. Someone should work on this with her, and soon.

Meanwhile, Fanning and Stewart are also in the coming “Twilight” movie. They were in the last one together, too. But when Apparition releases “The Runaways” this spring, expect both of them to have legions and legions of new fans.

“The Runaways” works on a lot of levels, and will no doubt be a big hit with little effort. My only quibble is that the films cuts too fast from the demise of The Runaways to Joan Jett’s overnight hit with “I Love Rock and Roll.” The film ends on a minor note rather than with a big flourish. How did Jett come to record her signature hit, and why isn’t that song, in concert, a rockin’ finale? But these are little things. “The Runaways” provided just the energy that’s been missing here in Park City. We needed it.

Ryan Gosling: Mom Tunes Out Sex Scenes

Roger Friedman
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gosling Ryan Gosling: Mom Tunes Out Sex ScenesRyan Gosling has a very good way of distracting his mom when she’s watching one of his racy movies.

At Sunday’s Sundance premiere of “Blue Valentine,” in which Ryan gets frisky with Michelle Williams several times, Gosling brought his mom, Donna,’as his date. They sat together through the very heavy, beautifully wrought romantic drama about a couple’s courtship and dissolution. But what happened when the clothes came off on screen?

“I gave her an iPod to wear,” Ryan told me at the afterparty. “Every time there was something I thought she shouldn’t watch, I pressed play.” Mom laughed at the story. Ryan is a good kid. She didn’t want to see that stuff either.Still, she’s proud of him. Glowing. He’s already had an Oscar nomination and won an Indie Spirit Award, for “Half Nelson” and had lots of praise for his performance in ‘”Lars and the Real Girl.” He’s absolutely astounding in “Blue Valentine,” proving that he’s able to carry a major drama. He’s literally in every scene, in a movie that cuts back and forth in time.

Michelle Williams is also very good in “Blue Valentine,” matching Gosling scene for scene. It’s a tough movie. First director Derek Cianfrance filmed the couple from their courtship to wedding. Then they took three weeks off before filming their tense, slow break-up.

At one point, filming moved to New York’s Manhattan Bridge. Gosling and Williams were told to improvise a scene as the cameras rolled. “She had a secret, and David told me I had to get it out of her. I didn’t even know what it was. But we couldn’t leave the bridge until it came out,” Ryan told me.

Williams wouldn’t tell him. “We filmed for four hours,” she told me. To finally get it out of her, Gosling started climbing up the side over the top of the barrier. It’s real, there’s no stunt double. His mom turned a few colors as he told me this story last night. “Jamie Patricof, our producer, was like, ‘Oh my god,’” said Gosling. It was only when he had one leg over the side that Williams blurted out the secret.

“It was one take!” Gosling said.

Williams laughed. “I almost sent him over.”

Now distributors will have to decide if a heavy, real-life drama is right for them. One thing’s for certain, whichever company picks up “Blue Valentine,” it will get major awards attention next fall. It’s that good. (It’s also long, a Sundance tradition — hopefully Cianfrance will cut 10 minutes for the final print.)

And what was on the iPod? “Grizzly Bear,” Ryan said, the same Brooklyn indie rock group used for this movie’s soundtrack’and for Philip Seymour Hoffman’s “Jack’Goes Boating.”

“We thought’we’d’keep the same’vibe as the movie.”

James Gandolfini Rubs Out Tony Soprano Again

Roger Friedman
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122813 welcome to the rileys 610x378 James Gandolfini Rubs Out Tony Soprano AgainSundance 2010 Saturday in the snow: yes, it keeps snowing. There are fewer good parties this year and one Sundance insider admits that this year “the festival was done on a shoestring.”

Things are definitely a little different thanks to the economy, but maybe that’s good. It’s a pared-down Sundance, which main sponsors Entertainment Weekly, HP, Honda and the Sundance Channel are thanked at every screening.

At the same time, an anonymous donor has given maybe the ugliest modern sculptures of all time to the Eccles School for its new lobby and the parking lot. Eccles is also boasting a new roof, ceiling and massive skylight. Only a few regulars have noticed all this, and there’s a lot of chuckling.

But Sundance is about movies. On Saturday afternoon, we got to see James Gandolfini continue his whacking of Tony Soprano in a fine new drama called “Welcome to the Rileys” (see THR film critic Kirk Honeycutt’s review). Gandolfini and Melissa Leo turn in superb performances as a couple who’ve lost their 15-year-old daughter. Kristen Stewart, she of “Twilight” fame, is also very good as a teen prostitute whom the couple befriends. Stewart was not’terribly articulate at the’Q&A following the’screening, but at least she’s not worried’about bits of dropped blood. The film is directed by Jake Scott, son of Ridley, nephew of Tony, and’he shows that he’s inherited the family gene.

There were other debuts today, too. Fox Searchlight showed “Cyrus,” a comedy starring Marisa Tomei, John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill that could be its 2010 one-off hit in the manner of “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Juno.” To say “Cyrus” is offbeat is an understatement. It’s sort of a twist on “Oedipus” with Hill the unlikely son of Tomei. It works, believe or not. And Reilly is sensational.

116836 jack goes boating 3441 James Gandolfini Rubs Out Tony Soprano AgainThe big question mark of the day wasn’t answered until late in the evening, when Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman showed his “Jack Goes Boating.” Hoffman’starred in’this play off Broadway last year. Now he shows a real flair for directing, putting himself into the movie along with the amazing Amy Ryan, Daphne Rubin Vega, and John Ortiz. This was the big news of the day, as Michael Moore, Adrien Brody and Chris Cooper (who’s great in the Ben Affleck-Tommy Lee Jones film “The Company Men“) came to pay respects. Overture has “Jack”‘; hopefully they’ll give it a nice fall release with an awards push.

At the “Jack Goes Boating” Q&A someone asked Amy Ryan about her character. “Maybe she’s just a weirdo,” Amy observed of her odd character. It’s a line that could describe most characters in Sundance movies–we learn a lot about weirdos. But as Ryan told me later: “It describes all of us, doesn’t it?”

George Clooney is the Weary Kind

Roger Friedman
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59326607Just realized this: the musician who co-wrote “The Weary Kind” from “Crazy Heart”–which has won the Critics Choice and Golden Globe for Best Song–is named Ryan Bingham.

It’s a little confusing because George Clooney’s character’s name from “Up in the Air” is…Ryan Bingham.’ That must be an Oscar first, as Clooney’s main rival for Best Actor is Jeff Bridges, who sings the song in “Crazy Heart.”

At least Clooney has a name in “Up in the Air.” In “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” he’s just “Mr. Fox.” He has no first name. His wife’s name is Felicity (played by Meryl Streep).

And ironically Clooney must be the Weary Kind at this point, what with putting on Friday’s telethon!

The real Ryan Bingham missed getting his Golden Globe on Sunday. He was at the bar, talking to a friend. Co-writer T Bone Burnett accepted solo. If he does that again, either Maury Yeston or Paul McCartney is going to jump up and grab the Oscar!

Brangelina Split? The Tabs Wish For It

Roger Friedman
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A Brangelina split? It would be a tabloid nirvana. The News of the World, which pays for stories and concocts them with ease, has Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie signing papers with a Hollywood divorce lawyer even though they’re not married. The splitting of six children and $400 million are the main subjects. Of course, then Brad will return to Jennifer Aniston and Angelina will add six more kids to the brood.

The tempting headlines for every week of 2010 are upon us.

Unfortunately it doesn’t ring true. Anything’s possible, but just on Friday night a very good friend of the couple’s who’s here in Sundance was chatting with me off the record about them. She talked about how much in love they are, and how affectionate they are with each other when the cameras aren’t on them. This actress is a smart cookie, so if Pitt and Jolie are really splitsville, she’ll be just as surprised as anyone.

Word to the wise: a couple of years ago the tabs launched a divorce attack on Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony. It went on and on, endlessly. They are still together, noticeably happy, and a family with twins. But at the time it sparked circulation for a group of magazines that really should be used for pet-cage lining. Buyer, beware.

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