Support independent journalism, free from the trades and other publications that are part of the tinsel town machine.
For 12 years, Showbiz411.com has been covering Hollywood, Broadway, the music business and the business of celebrity. Ads are our main source of funding, but contributions (not tax exempt) from readers who enjoy the scoops, exclusives, and fact based reports are always welcome and very appreciated. To inquire about ads, email us at showbiz411@gmail.com.
The pornographic and not very good “Slave Play” will still open the season for the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles next winter.
Playwright Jeremy O. Harris said he wanted the production pulled because Center Theater Group, of which Mark Taper Forum is a part, didn’t have enough plays by women. He wanted gender parity.
“Slave Play” is a money maker for its producers for no other reason than there’s a lot of nudity and gratuitous sex talk. It did not win any Tony Awards, and for a good reason. It’s not at that level.
But when Harris yapped about pulling out of Los Angeles, his investors I’m sure were not thrilled. Neither was Center Theater Group
So CTG apparently hustled and worked out a deal to bring more productions by women and non binary playwrights. Now, Harris is appeased. What a relief. BTW the play that was always planned to comeafter Harris’s in the CTG schedule is written by a woman and directed by one, too. But why sweat the details?
CTG has posted a notice on their website that reads:
As the season is shaping up, we are excited about our plan to schedule the full Taper 22/23 Season next year with entirely women-identifying or non-binary playwrights and to also have it be a BIPOC majority season. We are focusing our Douglas 22/23 season on majority women-identifying or non-binary and BIPOC playwrights. We will continue our commitment to uplifting/building gender and racial equity within our production directors and artistic teams.
In addition to the work that will appear on our stages, our expanded New Play Development programs also further our commitment to gender and racial equity. We have been preparing to announce a new chapter for our Not a Moment, But a Movement initiative in which we will be commissioning six new plays by Black women-identifying or non-binary playwrights. This adds to our other current developmental programs including the current writer’s cohort which is comprised of 10 women-identifying, majority BIPOC playwrights, and 11 of our 16 current commissions are with women-identifying playwrights, 11 are also BIPOC playwrights.
“No Time to Die” dropped only 50% on Monday from Sunday. Most Monday drops even for big blockbusters like Marvel’s “Shang Chi” can be way up in the 60 percent range.
But “No Time to Die,” Daniel Craig’s final James Bond movie, held up well on Monday. The total take was almost $7 million.
At that rate, with more good word of mouth, “No Time to Die” will start the next weekend around $83 million. They’ll go over the $100 million during the weekend. Runaway hit? No. But given its length, and the pandemic, this is a positive report.
Total domestic box office today is $62 million. Worldwide just under $320 million.
Happiest of birthdays to the original and only real Soul Man, Sam Moore.
The singer of “Soul Man,” “Hold On I’m Coming” and many other classic hits turns 86 years young today.
Sam is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (when it meant something), a Grammy winner, and a long time advocate for performers and artists rights. He’s testified in front of Congress about the importance of performers getting royalties for their radio play, among other things.
He’s also sung for all the presidents living and for George Bush Sr. on his inauguration. (He also performed to celebrate Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2008 with Sting and Elvis Costello.)
Sam is the last of the Atlantic soul stars that included Aretha, Wilson Pickett, Ray Charles, and so on. He needs a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (Hello, Atlantic!)
Happy, happy birthday, Sam! (And PS his voice is better than ever!) He will celebrate tonight with his wife of 40 years, Joyce, and his big family around him!
Mark Harmon left “NCIS” last night after 18 seasons. You’d think there would have been a lot of fanfare and an uptick in the ratings.
Alas, last night’s episode was down 22% in the key demo, and almost 8% in total viewers. It was the lowest rating of the entire now 19 season run.
The total viewers were 7.3 million down from 7.9 million last week. This spells the end of the show come next spring because at this rate “NCIS” will be down to 6 million viewers by then. It will just be too expensive to produce. And why bother anyway? The heyday is over. Nineteen seasons is a huge accomplishment. Time to give it up.
Harmon knew the end was coming. He got out before they hit bottom and can return for a series finale with a victory wave, along with some of the others who’ve left or been written out. Big finale next May, I’d say.
Adele wants us to be wide awake and very alert when she drops her new single on Thursday night.
She and Columbia Records have announced the drop will be midnight in the UK, which means 7pm in New York, and 4pm in Los Angeles.
This way, we can all wake up on Friday morning to Adele at number 1 on iTunes with “Easy on Me” written by Greg Kurstin.
Adele debuted a clip of the song on Instagram Live over the weekend, and it’s a three-hanky weeper about her marriage breaking up. With this release time, her fans can go to sleep sobbing into their pillows.
It’s time to stock up on Kleenex because almost no one has handkerchiefs anymore!
.@Adele just previewed her new single, “Easy On Me,” on IG Live.
The Golden Globes are going to be given out this season even if no one wants them.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has apparently decided to go forward with the 2022 awards, just not on television and especially not on NBC. The Peacock network put the Globes on hold for this coming year after the HFPA had a number of scandals concerning diversity in their membership and their voting practices.
You would have thought NBC’s decision would have put the kibosh on the Globes. But Variety reports that they’re going to barrel ahead anyway with some kind of presentation to actors at least if not other categories. How they’ll do it remains to be seen since they’re precluded from carrying this out on other TV outlets. Maybe then can stream it on Facebook Live.
There are so many odd twists in this Golden Globes story. The HFPA was taken down by a report in the Hollywood Reporter by Tatiana Siegel. The Hollywood Reporter is owned by Todd Boehly’s MRC company, which also owns Dick Clark Productions,the company that produces the Golden Globes for NBC. Now Boehly — who merged his publishing operations with Jay Penske’s Penske Media, publisher of Variety and Deadline.com, has been named interim CEO of the Golden Globes.
Got that?
At the same time, after months and months of doing nothing to extend membership to people of color, the HFPA finally added 21 new members who were just as unknown as the 80 or so members they already have. Only the HFPA is capable of finding these obscure bylines. The HFPA also just announced a partnership with the NAACP to increase diversity for the Globes. And that announcement engendered criticism from other minorities. So good luck with that.
Meantime, the Golden Globes TV date, January 9th, has been taken by the Critics Choice Awards, a group of 300 or more actual journalists. The show will air on the CW Network, although CBS– which owns the CW– would be smart to put it on the main network as well and grab NBC’s thunder. The Critics Choice is an independent operation, too, and not governed by the trade magazines like Variety and THR which do their own awards advocating and depend on ads from the studios for much of their revenue.
Stick a fork in “NCIS.” Gibbs has left the building.
Mark Harmon exited his starring role as Leroy Jethro Gibbs tonight on CBS’s “NCIS.” The show is in serious ratings decline in its 19th season. Harmon, rumored to be leaving or cutting back on episodes, was written out for good.
Producers say Gibbs could turn up again, but I would guess that would be in a series finale– which could be next winter or spring. Gibbs had a chance to say goodbye to McGee, who’s still a regular character, and Ducky, who is semi-retired.
Harmon’s name is still on the show credits as an Executive Producer. But that’s in name only. He’s 70 years old, presumably very rich, and he’s over it. Also, there’s no more money to squeeze from this orange. And think of all the actors who he outlasted, some of whom don’t have great memories of him.
We’ll see in the morning how tonight’s ratings went. And how they fall out over the next weeks without Harmon.
Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch” has a lot of stars, so many that fans of the director are chomping at the bit to see it. But they’re ignoring the reviews so far from critics who also enjoy Anderson’s movies but could not navigate this film. I am now one of those.
Not a movie but a series of vignettes, “The French Dispatch” is supposedly a New Yorker-like magazine attached to a Kansas City newspaper, based in a French village. You would have to know a lot about the history of The New Yorker to really appreciate the way Anderson has framed this movie– know about editor Harold Ross, and his famed set of writers from the 30s through the 70s. This is rarefied air, to be certain, a very thin atmosphere that doesn’t allow breathing.
Let’s try to break it down. Bill Murray plays the Ross-like editor, and we learn up front that he has died. So we’re going to go back and look at three interminable feature pieces that ran during The French Dispatch’s halcyon days. Of the three, only the first is coherent enough to make us care. This is a story about a convicted murderer who becomes an artist in prison. Benicio del Toro is the artist. Adrien Brody is the art gallerist who makes him famous. They are the only actual well-drafted characters in a sea of appearances.
I must add here that Tilda Swinton is note perfect doing a parody of the real life late Metropolitan Museum of Art lecturer Rosamund Bernier. But how many people in the world will understand what’s going on here? Beats me. Fifty? A hundred?
The two other stories are very hard to follow and have no relation to the first one. What’s supposed to hold them together is that we return to Murray and The French Dispatch’s offices. But all those stars featured in the ads and publicity,they are walk ons. Or drive-bys. Elisabeth Moss, for example, has nothing to do. Bob Balaban and Henry Winkler are all dressed up with no place to go. Frances McDormand and Timothee Chalamet have more to do, but it adds up to very little.
“The French Dispatch” is such a collection of chaotic nothing that you have to look at what works. That would be the production design by Adam Stockhausen and the art and set decoration. All the ‘below the line’ craft people deserve Oscar nominations. Their work is impeccably inventive down to the most minute details. But isn’t that the problem? There’s more coherence to the production than there is to the narrative. This is really a case of style over substance.
Our screening was the closing night film of the Hamptons Film Festival, which should have been the exact right audience for so much pretentiousness. Yet the folks in Guild Hall didn’t get it. Many walked out before the show was over. Someone was overheard saying they were glad they’d been told in advance that this had something to do with The New Yorker.
But in the end, “The French Dispatch” has absolutely nothing to do with the venerated magazine or its fabled history. It has even less to do with the Wes Anderson movies we’ve loved, like “The Royal Tenenbaums” or “Moonrise Kingdom.” There are no characters, no plot, and no heart. It’s as if someone dumped a bunch of notes for potential stories on Harold Ross’s desk and instead of being shaped they were just thrown in a blender that was set to ‘frappe.’
“Brown Sugar” was a massive number 1 hit for the Rolling Stones when it was released in 1971. The lead track from “Sticky Fingers,” it became so popular live on tour that it was usually left for an encore. For 50 years.
And now, “Brown Sugar” has been dissolved. No more live performances. Since the Stones resumed their No Filter tour on September 26th, “Brown Sugar” is gone.
Even though it was not written to be racist, the new politically correct thinking has put the song in a permanent dog house. The Stones could keep playing it and saying nothing, but the clock was ticking on how much longer they could get away with it.
The opening line of the song is: “Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields.”
Keith Richards responded to the Los Angeles Times recently when asked about it.
“You picked up on that, huh?” Richards answered. “I don’t know. I’m trying to figure out with the sisters quite where the beef is. Didn’t they understand this was a song about the horrors of slavery? But they’re trying to bury it.
“At the moment I don’t want to get into conflicts with all of this shit. But I’m hoping that we’ll be able to resurrect the babe in her glory somewhere along the track.”
Mick Jagger said: “We’ve played ‘Brown Sugar’ every night since 1970, so sometimes you think, ‘We’ll take that one out for now and see how it goes.’”
It’s too bad. The opening notes to that song send a signal to the brain of any Stones fan, on a par with “Satisfaction” and “Start Me Up.” Maybe they can update the lyrics…
Lyrics:
Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields
Sold in a market down in New Orleans
Scarred old slaver knows he’s doing alright
Hear him whip the women just around midnight
Brown sugar
How come you taste so good?
Brown sugar
Just like a young girl should
Drums beating, cold English blood runs hot
Lady of the house wonderin’ where it’s gonna stop
House boy knows that he’s doing alright
You shoulda heard him just around midnight
Brown sugar
How come you taste so good, now?
Brown sugar
Just like a young girl should
Ah, get along, brown sugar
How come you taste so good
Ah, got me feelin’ now, brown sugar
Just like a black girl should
I bet your mama was a tent show queen
And all her boyfriends were sweet sixteen
I’m no schoolboy but I know what I like
You shoulda heard me just around midnight
Brown sugar
How come you taste so good
Ah, brown sugar
Just like a young girl should
Brown sugar
Get down, get down
How come you taste so good
Ah, brown sugar
Get down, get down
Just like a young girl should
Ah, brown sugar
Get down, get down
How come you taste so good
Ah, brown sugar
Get down, get down
Moving around, moving around
Ah, brown sugar
Get down, get down
How come you taste so good
Ah, brown sugar
Get down, get down
The 29th Hamptons International Film Festival, presented by HamptonsFilm, today announced their award winners at a ceremony in East Hampton. This year HIFF screened 61 films from 34 countries, with five (5) World premieres, two (2) North American premieres, and two (5) U.S. premieres. We are very proud to report that 53% of this year’s films were directed by women, and 36% were directed by filmmakers of color.
MURINA, directed by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, won the Award for Best Narrative Feature. ASCENSION “登楼叹”, directed by Jessica Kingdon, received the Award for Best Documentary Feature. EGÚNGÚN (MASQUERADE), directed by Olive Nwosu, received the Award for Best Narrative Short Film, and IN FLOW OF WORDS, directed by Eliane Esther Bots, won for Best Documentary Short Film. Both Short Films will qualify for Academy® awards consideration.
In addition, Franz Rogowski received a Special Jury Prize for Exceptional Performances for his work in GREAT FREEDOM “GROSSE FREIHEIT.”
BAD OMEN, directed by Salar Pashtoonyar, was awarded the 2021 The Peter Macgregor-Scott Memorial Award. The award, which is accompanied by a $10,000 cash prize, aims to continue the celebrated producer’s mentorship for a new generation of passionate filmmakers. Sponsored by Susan Macgregor-Scott, this award is specifically designed to recognize narrative short filmmakers and reward creative approaches to solving practical production challenges in the service of storytelling.
PAPER & GLUE, A JR Project, was awarded the 2021 Brizzolara Family Foundation Award to Films of Conflict and Resolution, which is accompanied by a $5,000 cash prize.
PAPER & GLUE was also presented with the Victor Rabinowitz & Joanne Grant Award for Social Justice. The annual award is handed to a film that exemplifies the values of peace, equality, global justice and civil liberties, and is named after iconic civil rights lawyer Victor Rabinowitz and his wife Joanne Grant, an author, filmmaker and journalist. The award, which is accompanied by a cash prize of $2,000, is named in honor of two people who spent their entire lives fighting for those values.
GOOD GRIEF, directed by Nastasya Popov, was awarded the Suffolk County Next Exposure Grant. This program supports the completion of high quality, original, director-driven, low-budget independent films from both emerging and established filmmakers who have completed 50% of principal photography within Suffolk County. The film was awarded a $3,000 grant.
COW, directed by Andrea Arnold, was awarded the Zelda Penzel Giving Voice to the Voiceless Award. This award is presented to a film that raises public awareness about contemporary social issues, including the moral and ethical treatment and the rights of animals as well as environmental protection. The film was awarded $2,500.
QUEEN OF GLORY, directed by Nana Mensah and INTRODUCING, SELMA BLAIR, directed by Rachel Fleit were awarded the New York Women in Film & Television Awards. These two awards honor outstanding female narrative and documentary filmmakers who have demonstrated exceptional artistic vision and dedication to their craft. Each award is accompanied by a $1,000 cash prize.
The festival also announced the recipients of the University Short Film Awards, highlighting the extraordinary talent and achievements of five exceptional students. Each will receive a $500 cash prize. Awardees include BAD OMEN, directed by Salar Pashtoonyar (York University), BUZZKILL, directed by Kathy E. Mitrani (Columbia University), NEURIM, directed by Shaylee Atary (Steve Tisch School of Film & Television, Tel Aviv University), UN DIABLE DANS LA POCHE, directed by Antoine Bonnet and Mathilde Loubes (GOBELINS, l’école de l’Image), and WAVELENGTHS, directed by Jessie Zinn (Stanford University).
This year’s narrative competition jury was comprised of producer Sam Bisbee, whose work includes the Emmy Award-winning documentary THE SENTENCE, as well as THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS, HEARTS BEAT LOUD, and FAREWELL AMOR, among others; screenwriter Bill Collage, best known for his work on ASSASSIN’S CREED and THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIANT; and Entertainment Weekly’s Critic at Large Leah Greenblatt.
The documentary competition jury included co-founder of Chicken & Egg Pictures Wendy Ettinger, whose production company has awarded $8 million in grants and thousands of hours of creative mentorship to over 340 female nonfiction filmmakers; Senior Curator for Staff Picks at Vimeo Ina Pira; and filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun, whose most recent project WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR debuted in the NEXT section at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.
This year the Festival was honored to partner with the New York Film Critics Circle for the thirteenth year.
“Being able to once again experience the power of cinema on a big screen with audiences was incredible and something that was dearly missed within our community,” said David Nugent, HamptonsFilm Artistic Director. “We are so thankful to all of the filmmakers and artists who allowed us to showcase their films.”
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring everyone safely back together this year. It so clearly remains that our community out East loves cinema and we are so glad to be able to share such an incredible slate of films with them,” said Anne Chaisson, HamptonsFilm Executive Director. “We are so thankful to all of the staff, volunteers, sponsors and most of all to the audiences for their continued support. Next up, our 30th anniversary!”
Attendees of the 2021 festival included Don Argott, Alec Baldwin, Bob Balaban, Michael Barker, Susan Bedusa, Clint Bentley, Selma Blair, Dan Cogan, Julie Cohen, Clifton Collins, Jr., Kelcey Edwards, Rachel Fleit, Liz Garbus, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Matt Heineman, Sheena M. Joyce, Penny Lane, Amanda Lipitz, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Josh O’Connor, Nancy Schafer, Doug Tirola, E. Chai Vasarhelyi, Ari Wegner, Betsy West, Debi Wisch, Joe Wright, Odessa Young and more.
The festival has awarded prizes to filmmakers in cash and goods and services of over $130,000 each year, with over $5 million awarded in competition funds and services over the past 29 years.
HIFF thanks the supporters for this year’s festival, including corporate sponsors Audi, Netflix, Chantecaille, KORE Private Wealth, Silvercup Studios, Press Seltzer, and official media sponsors WNBC, Variety, The Purist Magazine, and The East Hampton Star. HamptonsFilm is grateful for the long-term support from New York State Council on the Arts and Suffolk County. For more information please visit www.hamptonsfilmfest.org.
