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Irony of “You Can See Everything” Getting an Oscar Campaign: In May 2025, the Studio A24 Laid Off Its Documentary Division

Roger Friedman
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Irony of “You Can See Everything” Getting an Oscar Campaign: In May 2025, the Studio A24 Laid Off Its Documentary Division

Everyone is very excited about “You Can See Everything.”

Oscar pundits are running wild on social media declaring the Nathan Fielder non fiction film Best Picture! Best Documentary! And so on.

In reality, where helium is in short supply (ask 60 Minutes), this is not going to happen. “YCSE” could lope into Best Picture. But it will have a far harder time for Best Documentary because it’s a staged film, scripted with made up dialogue for “re-enactments.”

The possible Oscar nominee is Amanda Seyfried, whose beguiling work as herself, and herself as Elizabeth Holmes is good enough to make the cut. But her presence is exactly what cancels the idea that this is a documentary.

What’s ironic about the overnight success of the film is that the studio, A24, fired all five of the people in their documentary division in May 2025. They just got out of the business. Nicole Stott and Emily Osbourne, plus their team, were eliminated.

Stott now works for Magna Studios in London. Emily Osborne is working as a freelance producer. Would they even be invited to the Oscars by A24 now?

I do love the first flush of excitement when social media discovers something they consider ‘cool.’ But again, actual documentary filmmakers aren’t going to be happy with “YCSE.” And it’s not remotely in the wheelhouse of “The Odyssey” or “Dune 3.” Or even “The Debut.” But it’s a very clever project about totally soulless people. There’s no arguing with that.

Christiane Amanpour Won’t Wait to Find Out What Ellisons Have Planned, Separating from CNN After 43 Years: Watch Her Carefully Worded Statement

Roger Friedman
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Christiane Amanpour Won’t Wait to Find Out What Ellisons Have Planned, Separating from CNN After 43 Years: Watch Her Carefully Worded Statement

Christiane Amanpour is outta here.

She’s leaving CNN after 43 years. She was the network’s public intellectual, the one serious minded person there with an international point of view.

Amanpour clearly isn’t waiting around to see what happens now that CNN has been sold to Skydance and the Ellisons. She’s been battling cancer for some time, so who needs this mishegos? She could get funded overnight for a podcast, newsletter, whatever she wants.

Listen to her carefully worded announcement below. She’s “separating” from CNN — sounds like divorce. It’s our loss, that’s for sure.

Jon Stewart Will Remain with The Daily Show At Least Though the 2028 Elections as David Ellison Lets Comedy Central Flourish with “South Park”

Roger Friedman
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Jon Stewart Will Remain with The Daily Show At Least Though the 2028 Elections as David Ellison Lets Comedy Central Flourish with “South Park”

In the new Skydance universe, CBS is continuing to drift right toward Donald Trump.

But owners David and Larry Ellison will allow some skewering of the government to continue.

They say Jon Stewart will continue to host the Daily Show every Monday through 2028 and the presidential election. The Daily Show will otherwise be hosted by its revolving team that includes Ronny Chieng, Josh Johnson, Jordan Klepper, Michael Kosta and Desi Lydic for Tuesday-Thursday shows. Troy Iwata and Grace Kuhlenschmidt will remain correspondents.

Comedy Central also hosts “South Park” every Wednesday. The animated series eviscerates Donald Trump on weekly basis.

With the Ellisons focused on making CBS Trump sympathetic, you might wonder they allowing Comedy Central to carry the liberal flag.

The short answer: leverage. Comedy Central’s humiliation is what they hang over Trump’s head. They can also carry out any vendettas via these shows, with no fingerprints on the weapon.

Brilliant!

Now bring back Stephen Colbert.

Trump Monday Mishegos: “Change New Mexico to New America” — While His Truth Social Stock Drops to New All Time Low, Down 50% This Year

Roger Friedman
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Trump Monday Mishegos: “Change New Mexico to New America” — While His Truth Social Stock Drops to New All Time Low, Down 50% This Year

Donald Trump is spending the afternoon looking for diversions.

He’s suggesting that New Mexico change its name to New America.

Why? Why not? The post is one of a dozen or more rambling messages meant to attract the spotlight back to him.

Meantime, Trump’s Truth Social stock is closing today at its all time low. The price now is $6.46. In January, it was up to $14.53.

Truth Social is a garbage platform, a sewer for untrue posts about Trump, the war, MAGA, and so on. The people thathh post there, including Trump, should be carrying plungers in case of emergencies.

No one who invested money in Truth Social will ever see their money again, but they don’t care. It was just a way of cozying up to the orange demon.

UPDATE: “60 Minutes” Piece on “Public Intellectual” Sacha Baron Cohen Omitted Famous Rudy Giuliani Scene in “Borat 2,” Fallout

Roger Friedman
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UPDATE: “60 Minutes” Piece on “Public Intellectual” Sacha Baron Cohen Omitted Famous Rudy Giuliani Scene in “Borat 2,” Fallout

Last night CBS really plugged their Sacha Baron Cohen “60 Minutes” interview during the NFL game.

I actually lost count of how many times they said it. It could have been a drinking game!

And yet, the segment, from new correspondent Arielle Levy, strangely omitted a few things.

Like, when is the “Ali G” movie being released, and which studio is it from? And why is it only playing for one weekend?

There were no interviews with any of the actors who’ve made the movies memorable, including Maria Bakalova, who actually received an Oscar nomination for the Borat sequel.

Levy certainly didn’t mention the Borat sequel, or its most famous scene: Bakalova, posing as Borat’s teenage daughter and journalist, lures Rudy Giuliani up to her hotel room, gets him on the bed, pulls his shirt out of his pants, and all hell breaks loose. (I broke that story, thanks.)

Levy did not call Rudy for a comment.

We won’t be seeing that level of reporting on Bari Weiss’s iteration of the famed newsmagazine.

As it is, I was surprised they included a nanosecond clip of Ali G trying to upstage Donald Trump long, long ago.

There was also no talk of anything actually in the new Ali G movie, including what seems like a send up of Amazon owner Jeff Bezos and his wife. The satire may be what’s gotten “Ali G: What Iz I?” into trouble at the platform. Beyond this weekend, with a light release, there are no other plans for the comedy to be shown anywhere.

As for Levy I thought she held on her own, even announcing her age — “52!” But she called Cohen a “public intellectual,” causing spit-takes all over America. Smart guy? Yeah, sure. But the Susan Sontag of comedy films?

UPDATE $800 a Ticket “Other Desert Cities” with Julia Louis Dreyfus, Allison Janney, Ed Harris Gets Disappointing Opening Night Reviews

Roger Friedman
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UPDATE $800 a Ticket “Other Desert Cities” with Julia Louis Dreyfus, Allison Janney, Ed Harris Gets Disappointing Opening Night Reviews

It was a star-studded night last night for Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Broadway debut in a revival of “Other Desert Cities.”

There were just about as many stars in the audience as on the stage. And that may have been the problem.

The reviewers who did see it actually commented on both things — too many celebs everywhere.

In the audience: Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick with their son, Bryan Cranston, Busy Phillips, Mario Cantone, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, Margo Martindale, and so on. There were even two famous cast spouses: Oscar winner Amy Madigan (husband Ed Harris on stage), and Hamish Linklater (Lily Rabe).

(No one from “Seinfeld” or “Veep,” so no FOMO.) No one from SNL.

And on that stage, a murderer’s row: JLD, Janney, Harris, Rabe, Joe Keery from “Stranger Things.”

Tickets are $800 if you’re lucky for this run that goes through January. The first few weeks are sold out, but around Thanksgiving, the Hudson Theater looks pretty open if you want to spend some dough.

Last night’s reviews? Meh. Positive from the celebrity mags like People. They were wowed by JLD’s glowing presence, and were surprised that Keery pulled it off. But even they had reservations.

Some were lukewarm (NY Times), which mentioned the shakedown: “People may be ready to pay the eye-watering prices that are being charged for this production, which, to be clear, is a sometimes clever family drama, staged handsomely, but not brilliantly. Orchestra seats go for around $800, which, appallingly, isn’t the most Broadway charges these days. In the play, assigning a premium value to Hollywood stars like Lyman deranges our body politic. Celebrity worship’s not great for dynamic pricing either.”

Many were negative like New York Magazine’s Vulture: “If we’re going to turn Broadway into a machine for letting people sit close to celebrities for an exorbitant fee, can’t we at least put those celebrities in plays that feel less dated? (Perhaps even new ones?)”

A couple insistently compared this production to the 2011 original, which wowed critics with Stockard Channing, Judith Light, and Stacy Keach. That’s not fair, really. If this had been the original cast, everyone would have loved them.

But will all this sustain 13 weeks at such high prices? I guess we’ll see how the readers of reviews respond today. Otherwise, the producers — including Anna Wintour’s daughter, Bee — may be on the hook.

My advice: get in on it now. Someone’s going to go back in December and say how the cast has settled down, etc. That’s what always happens!

Success of Julia Louis Dreyfus’s Outrageously High Priced Broadway Debut Will Depend on Reviews: After First Month, Pre-sales Are Shaky

Roger Friedman
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Success of Julia Louis Dreyfus’s Outrageously High Priced Broadway Debut Will Depend on Reviews: After First Month, Pre-sales Are Shaky

On Tuesday, and for the next month, it’s almost impossible to see Julia Louis Dreyfus in her Broadway debut.

The Hudson Theater is sold out but for a few tickets. And those ducats range up to over $800 at the box office. The cheap seats are 600 clams.

The play is a revival of Jon Robin Baitz’s “Other Desert Cities,” which co-stars Allison Janney and Ed Harris.

Right through the middle to end of November, forget about it. It’s like every “Seinfeld” and “Veep” front loaded the sale.

But then we get to Thanksgiving, and suddenly the seat map for regularly priced tickets on the website — not StubHub or another broker — become plentiful.

Since there were no press seats offered, I was thinking I might go to the matinee on Friday. So I checked it out, and voila! there are plenty of choices at all prices. If I want to sit in the way back of the dreadful Hudson, it will cost $258.

But then I wondered, is that because it’s a holiday and everyone’s out of town? Or this availability continue? And to my surprise, it does — all the way through January.

So maybe the diehard fans were just enough to fill up about a month’s worth of tickets. And then? For five, six, seven hundred dollars, the next tier of theatergoers seems to be waiting for reviews. It turns out, that’s a lot of money even for the well-heeled. Everyone has a lot of shopping to do in December. Outrageously priced theater tickets may not be in the budget.

So we’ll wait til tonight around 10pm to see what reviews do come in, and if they catalyze the box office tomorrow. If everything sells out, I’ll just have the memory of Stockard Channing and Judith Light, and Stockard Channing and Linda Lavin in the off-Broadway production. And that will be just fine.

Exclusive: “Ali G” Not Scheduled for Release in Los Angeles at All, Or Any Streaming, or in Other Cities Even with Sacha Baron Cohen on “60 Minutes”

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: “Ali G” Not Scheduled for Release in Los Angeles at All, Or Any Streaming, or in Other Cities Even with Sacha Baron Cohen on “60 Minutes”

As I wrote yesterday, Sacha Baron Cohen is being profiled on “60 Minutes” tonight.

The reason is his movie, “Ali G: Who Iz I?” which is supposed to open this Friday.

But as I reported already, “Ali G” is being dumped by Amazon Studios. They announced last week that the movie would only play for one weekend in theaters.

I can tell you, it’s worse than that.

As of today, “Ali G” has no theater bookings at all in the Los Angeles area. None, not one. You cannot buy tickets because there is nowhere to go.

I did find a few once a day showings at small theaters on the outskirts of town, in places like Tustin and Long Beach, all at 7pm.

It’s bad enough in New York, where the movie will play once on Saturday, and once on Sunday in three different secondary theaters. It’s not scheduled for Manhattan’s biggest theater, AMC Lincoln Square.

“Ali G” will play three times a day in West Nyack, New York.

It’s the same in downtown Chicago — just 7pm each night at two houses.

Like New York, you can find it in two suburban Chicago cineplexes. Also, in Miami, nothing downtown, barely anything anywhere else.

“Ali G” is definitely dumped. Amazon wouldn’t have reported box office numbers anyway. But now we know we’ll hear nothing.

Even more confusing: there’s no mention of the movie on Prime Video’s website. Is Amazon going to stream it? Once “Ali G” has its few showings, will it even be seen on the platform? Ot will “Ali G Who Iz I?” disappear like, say, Jimmy Hoffa, never to be discussed again?

What’s really going on here? Early reports from those who’ve seen the movie say that Cohen may be satirizing Amazon owner Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez as garish characters. I can’t imagine why the company would buy the movie if that’s the case. Did they not know? Is this a catch and kill?

Stand by…

Tom Cruise’s Sad “Digger” Box Office Eclipsed at Warner Bros by 55 Year Old Ken Russell Re-release of “The Devils” is the Year’s Worse Humiliation

Roger Friedman
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Tom Cruise’s Sad “Digger” Box Office Eclipsed at Warner Bros by 55 Year Old Ken Russell Re-release of “The Devils” is the Year’s Worse Humiliation

Things couldn’t be worse for Tom Cruise and “Digger.”

Over the weekend Warner Bros released a restored version of Ken Russell’s 1971 movie, “The Devils.” They put it in 360 theaters.

That’s half as many as “Digger” is still in after being stripped of most of its locations after two weeks.

The result? “The Devils” made almost twice as much as “Digger.”

Ain’t that a kick in the head?

Weekend take: “The Devils” $1.64 million, “Digger” $920 million.

It’s not a good look for Tom Cruise.

“Devils” is re-released from Warners’ new Clockwork division, their latest attempt at having an indie imprint. Russell’s movie is cult classic, set in 17th-century France. The film follows Father Urbain Grandier, a charismatic priest whose conflict with the church spirals into a nightmare of religious hysteria, political intrigue, and mass persecution.

Two great British actors, Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed, are the stars. Reed died in 1991 at age 61. The great Redgrave is very much alive at 89, and lives either with or near her daughter, actress Joely Redgrave.

“Digger” is serving out a term in purgatory now as it drains from remaining theaters. It’s not the worst disaster of the moment. That distinction belongs to Sony’s ‘The Social Reckoning,” which has made just $8.2 million in 11 days.

Elizabeth Holmes Expose “You Can See Everything” Sets Record with $15 Million Opening, Biggest Non Fiction Film in 22 Years

Roger Friedman
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Elizabeth Holmes Expose “You Can See Everything” Sets Record with $15 Million Opening, Biggest Non Fiction Film in 22 Years

The movie is weird, the filmmaker is, and the subjects are pathological.

Nathan Fielder’s “You Can See Everything” is a bizarre non fiction film. And a hit.

Over the weekend, “YCSE” made a shocking $15 million in minimum release. Just 855 theaters. It’s the biggest opening weekend for a ‘documentary’ in two decades.

Among the oddities involved: a relatively famous young actress, Amanda Seyfried, is also featured but not advertised.

The movie is presented as a documentary, although it’s just actually sort of a reality film. It’s not a conventional documentary at all.

Fielder has a cult following from his unique HBO shows that mix fact with fiction. He’s done it again here, but this time it’s three hours long, and about two people — Elizabeth Holmes and her boyfriend Billy Evans — who are sociopaths at the very least.

Holmes is in prison now for bilking investors of hundreds of millions of dollars from her fake company, Theranos.

Word of mouth on the movie is strong since Fielder blends Holmes’s story with Seyfried re-creating her once she goes to jail. And the twist there is that Seyfried previously played Holmes in a miniseries — and won awards.

Seyfried in the second half of the movie is playing herself, Holmes, and herself playing Holmes.

Meantime, Evans — who comes off as a deeply concerning liar and and manipulator. As Fielder peels back the layers of mystery here, both Holmes and Evans seem like they can’t be real because they are so awful.

“YCSE” is almost like a snuff film. The audience actually leans forward in its seats as more and more alarming facts come to life. And even then you never know what is real.

The box office take is enormous. It’s the biggest non fiction movie since Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 911” twenty two years ago.

Originally, studio A24 lowballed the estimate at $12 million. But now, with $15 mil called today, watch and see the real number go slightly higher tomorrow.

PS Seyfried revealed on the Academy Museum red carpet last night that Holmes — serving an 11 year sentence since 2023 — will be released to a halfway house this summer. In the movie, Holmes and Evans announce they’re going to try and do a Theranos 2.0, which is unbelievable since the first one was a total fiction.

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