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David Mamet — Now a Trumper — to Make First Film in a Decade, About JFK Being Killed by Chicago Mob, with Pacino, Travolta, La Beouf

Roger Friedman
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David Mamet — Now a Trumper — to Make First Film in a Decade, About JFK Being Killed by Chicago Mob, with Pacino, Travolta, La Beouf

What could go wrong?

David Mamet, the once popular playwright and director, is coming back after 10 years.

He’s going to make a movie about the Chicago mob rubbing out President John F. Kennedy. It’s called “Assassination.” Here’s the description: “1963. During a crucial justice hearing against organized crime, the head of the Chicago mob orders the assassination of President John F. Kennedy Jr., creating a deadly conspiracy while altering the fate of a nation.”

The movie will star Al Pacino, John Travolta, Courtney Love, and Shia La Beouf. Also, Mamet’s wife, Rebecca Pidgeon. This is some group. It will be like herding cats.

No word whether Mamet has cast his actress daughter, Zosia.

In the decade since Mamet last worked on a film, he revealed himself to be ardently right wing. This shocked a lot of people, but also made the author of “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “Speed the Plow,” as well as “State and Maine,” not quite as popular as before.

Mamet actually told The Guardian in 2022 that “Trump did a good job” as president, and that he didn’t disagree that the 2020 election was rigged.

How a Mamet film will be met now is certainly up in the air. But then again, Mel Gibson is directing a new movie, too, written by a Jewish screenwriter. All bets are off in Hollywood.

Comparing Himself to Jesus May Have Helped Chris Pratt Give “Guardians of the Galaxy 3” a Box Office Jolt

Roger Friedman
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Comparing Himself to Jesus May Have Helped Chris Pratt Give “Guardians of the Galaxy 3” a Box Office Jolt

No question “Guardians of the Galaxy 3” is a hit. On its first weekend, it cleaned up.

But coming around the corner into Monday, “GOTG3” was running $30-$35 million behind the second installment from 2017. If that had continued, the final episode of Chris Pratt and his rag tag gang would have fallen further behind.

And then came a quote in the New York Post from the red carpet of a screening in New York. Pratt compared himself to Jesus. Pratt was asked if he felt attacked over his religious beliefs.

“That’s the way it is, nothing new, 2,000 years ago they hated him [Jesus], too,” Pratt told Page Six. The quote was published last Sunday, but it took a couple of days to migrate through the media that takes in “ET,” “Access Hollywood,” and all the aggregators.

In the middle of the week, “GOTG3” was lackluster. But when the story set in, “GOTG3” popped. The result is a $60 million weekend. The movie is still lagging behind its predecessor, but it’s suddenly picked up steam. Jesus turns out to be quite the influencer.

Pratt has positioned himself as a Good Ol Boy, strong on religion and conservative values. (How he functions as Maria Shriver’s son-in-law beats me, but Arnold Schwarzenegger loves him.)

Did Pratt know what he was saying would have this effect on box office sales? The answer is, he probably knew, given his fans that it wouldn’t hurt.

Still, “Guardians 3” is now at $213 million. “Guardians 2” was at $248 million. So Pratt may have to call in the apostles next.

SOS! Oscar Winning Composer of “Joker,” Hildur Guðnadóttir, Frantic After Rare Electronic Violin Stolen from her Home

Roger Friedman
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SOS! Oscar Winning Composer of “Joker,” Hildur Guðnadóttir, Frantic After Rare Electronic Violin Stolen from her Home

Hildur Guðnadóttir, the Oscar winning composer of “Joker,” plus “Tar,” and “Women Talking,” is frantic. She says on Twitter that someone broker into her home and stole her one of a kind instrument, what looks like an electronic violin or cello. (She’s an award winning cellist.) This happened in Berlin in the last couple of days. This isn’t funny– she’s working on the score for the “Joker” sequel with Lady Gaga. Someone call Batman immediately!

Hollywood Horror: Ben Affleck’s “Hypnotic” DOA with $2.5 Mil Weekend, Ironic After His Huge “Air” Success

Roger Friedman
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Hollywood Horror: Ben Affleck’s “Hypnotic” DOA with $2.5 Mil Weekend, Ironic After His Huge “Air” Success

Hollywood giveth and taketh away.

Just a short time ago, Ben Affleck directed “Air” — now on Amazon Prime — and drew raves. The film has made over $50 million in theaters, it’s a big hit on the streaming platform, and should win some Oscars. It was all good.

But this weekend, Affleck stars in Robert Rodriguez’s “Hypnotic.” It’s a bomb. Weekend take is predicted as $2.5 million, maybe, if the universe is kind. Not only does “Hypnotic” have a miserable 39% on Rotten Tomatoes among critics, it has an even more alarming 56% audience rating.

In other words, no one wants to see it, and no one will see it.

Rodriguez has never been a critical hit, but his “Spy Kids” movies were hits, and he’s been prolific to say the least. But this one did not work out.

Affleck can shrug it off. He has “Air,” and plenty more to come.

Britney Spears Cinderella-Themed Musical Starts Performances Tonight on Broadway, See Video

Roger Friedman
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Britney Spears Cinderella-Themed Musical Starts Performances Tonight on Broadway, See Video

Yes, there’s a musical with songs associated with Britney Spears starting performances tonight on Broadway.,

“Once Upon a One More Time” opens officially June 22nd at the Marriott Marquis Theater. There’s a video of a rehearsal below.

This is dance show based loosely on “Cinderella.” She’s blonde, and played Briga Heelan, but she’s not playing Britney and she’s not in either of the advanced videos. They’re saving her for later in this saga.

The show has added the estimable David Leveaux as creative consultant. The directors are Keone & Mari Madrid.

This sounds like a fun summer show. All of Britney’s songs will included like “Oops I Did It Again,” “Lucky,” “Circus,” and “Toxic”. The dancing looks good. Let’s hope Britney comes in for the opening night. She could give Broadway a needed jolt.

Did Ed Sheeran’s Copyright Trial Hurt His Career? New Album Debuts at Number 2, Outrun on iTunes by Jonas Brothers, Others

Roger Friedman
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Did Ed Sheeran’s Copyright Trial Hurt His Career? New Album Debuts at Number 2, Outrun on iTunes by Jonas Brothers, Others

You’d have thought that winning his copyright trial would have been a publicity bonanza for Ed Sheeran. On the stand he played his guitar, welled up with tears and carried on, charming the jury. They agreed he did not lift “Thinking Out Loud” from Marvin Gaye’s “Let Get It On.”

Then Ed released a new album, called Minus, or “Subtract.” That was last Friday.

Today sales were counted for this week’s albums, and Minus sold only 111,000 copies. It debuted at number 2 behind Morgan Wallen. On iTunes, the Jonas Brothers are number 1 and Ed is number 2.

Did the trial hurt him? It looks like it might have done some damage. Usually a new Ed Sheeran album with a mathematical symbol debuts at number 1.

Minus did sell 80,000 albums or paid downloads, which is great. Ed is not a big streamer, so far. This album opened at just about the same level as Sheeran’s last one in 2021, His last actual hit album — over 1.5 million copies, was :Divide,” in 2017.

Ed Sheeran is just 32 years old. The record business is crazy now. Wow. Also maybe it’s time to move on from the symbol titles. The next album should not be called “Fractions.”

(And why was he on Live with Kelly and Mark? Not cool, Ed, no cool factor.)

ABC Cancels “Big Sky,” A Convoluted Mess, After 3 Dismal Seasons, Plus Hillary Swank’s “Alaska Daily,” and “The Company You Keep”

Roger Friedman
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ABC Cancels “Big Sky,” A Convoluted Mess, After 3 Dismal Seasons, Plus Hillary Swank’s “Alaska Daily,” and “The Company You Keep”

The chopping block is pretty busy at all the networks. Next week they will all present their new schedules to press and advertisers at the Up Fronts.

Today, ABC finally canned “Big Sky” after three dismal seasons. This was a show you could never figure out what was going on. When it began it was a little like “Twin Peaks,” with Ryan Phillippe advertised as the star. But he was killed off in the first episode, and the characters who subsequently took over were meaningless. Unlike “Seinfeld,” “Big Sky” was really a show about nothing.

Two time Oscar winner Hillary Swank starred in “Alaska Daily.” She got twins out of it in real life, born this spring. “AD” looked good and the actors — including dependable Jeff Perry — were fine. But how many unsolved murders could there be in Alaska? And the main characters were undefined. Swank must return to movies. She popped off the TV screen.

Last, “The Company You Keep” starred Milo Ventimiglia from “This Is Us” and a sexy girl. I could never figure out if they each spies, or one of them was, or what they were doing, It thought it was “Mr, and Mrs Smith”– two assassins get it on — but I don’t think that happened. Polly Draper and William Fitchner were in, and who knows why?

ABC is taking “Rescue 911: Lone Star” from Fox for one of these spots They finally got rid of “Nine Million Pieces” or whatever it was called (“A Million Little Things”) which tried to be the reboot of “thirtysomething.” These shows all have fine actors but there’s no vision or point of view, they all seem like wallpaper. None of them are as good as a great wallpaper show like “Trapper John MD.” Why can’t network approach streaming/cable quality?Very frustrating.

Tony Awards Nix Show for June 11th, Must Choose Between Likely Delay or Non-Broadcast Dinner, Marginal Shows in Peril

Roger Friedman
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Tony Awards Nix Show for June 11th, Must Choose Between Likely Delay or Non-Broadcast Dinner, Marginal Shows in Peril

You can scratch the Tony Awards for June 11th.

The Writers Guild rejected giving CBS and the American Theater Wing a waiver so the show could go on. The main writer of the Tony’s, Dave Boone, is a member of WGAE. Actors from SAG won’t cross a picket line. Actors Equity, the Broadway union, has been on picket lines all week.

I told you this from the outset of the strike. When I queried a rep for Ariana DeBose, this year’s host, last week, there was no response.

The Tony committee will meet on Monday and choose between delaying (perhaps to September) or putting on a private dinner of some kind.

Frankly they should do both. A dinner on June 11th where they announce the awards, and a proper TV show when the strike is over.

Many Tony nominated shows are struggling right now, and counting on the awards to get them through the summer. If they could at least have something to put in ads, that would help them tremendously.

A fall show with pre-announced winners performing, even some nominees and other Broadway stars, is never a bad thing. I hope the Committee will take that into consideration.

Meanwhile, some shows like “Leopoldstadt” are coming to the end of their runs anyway. It would help them punch up the last couple of weeks of box office just to be able to say “Tony winner Best Play 2023.”

Jamie Foxx’s Pickle Ball Story Sounds Sour, Not Kosher: He’s “Out of the Hospital” But That Doesn’t Mean He’s Home

Roger Friedman
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Jamie Foxx’s Pickle Ball Story Sounds Sour, Not Kosher: He’s “Out of the Hospital” But That Doesn’t Mean He’s Home

Jamie Foxx went to the hospital on April 10th with an unspecified medical condition. That was a month ago.

In that time, no one’s seen or heard from Foxx. The tabloids have had him near death. At one point, his daughter, Corinne, posted a notice to her father’s Instagram account saying he appreciated “all the love…feeling blessed.”

But there was no picture or video. It’s unlikely Foxx had much of a part in that post.

Hey, look, it’s none of our business. Everyone likes Jamie Foxx, so the interest is purely because people are concerned. But Jeremy Renner was run over by a snowplow, and we saw pictures him in the hospital within a week.

Foxx’s daughter now says he’s “been out of the hospital” for weeks. This does not mean he’s home. It sounds like he had some kind of stroke and is now in rehabilitation. That would make sense. I doubt he’s playing pickle ball, as her latest post reads. That sounds like a sour pickle, and not kosher at all.

At some point, Foxx’s family is going to have to give an honest answer. But in the meantime, let’s hope Foxx, who is fit and relatively young, bounces back. We need him to be ok.

NBC Announces Fall Schedule, Dick Wolf Loses An Hour as Network Shelves “Law & Order Organized Crime” Til 2024

Roger Friedman
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NBC Announces Fall Schedule, Dick Wolf Loses An Hour as Network Shelves “Law & Order Organized Crime” Til 2024

Dick Wolf was running a perfect three nights of network TV until now. He had the “FBI” shows on CBS Tuesdays, Wednesday on NBC with “Chicago” trilogy, and three “Law & Orders” on NBC Thursdays.

That is over, for next fall. NBC released their new schedule for the fall and Chris Meloni’s ‘Organized Crime” will not play on Thursdays until next year.

The network had only renewed the show for 13 weeks, which is a half season. It its place will be a new show called “Found.” It comes not from Wolf, but from Greg Berlanti, a major player in what might call mainstream network TV.

NBC probably thinks “OC” needs a breather to figure out what it is. The police drama has gone through five showrunners in three seasons. It exists solely as a function of “SVU” based on the ongoing middle age teenage romance between Meloni’s Stabler and Mariska Hargitay’s Benson. Does this mean no Stabler all fall? I’ll bet Stabler shows up on “SVU.”

“SVU” is leading into its 25th season, which is extraordinary. It had excellent ratings all year, trouncing “Greys Anatomy” on ABC. But over on CBS, “So Help Me Todd,” starring Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden, has improved steadily thanks to the two comedies that precede it. Last night, “Todd” beat “SVU.” So maybe Wolf will roll back to Stabler and bring back Kelli Giddish’s Rollins, who’s been sorely missed.

“Organized Crime” will return in early 2024 after “Found” is well, not “Lost,” but lost.

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