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Watch Anthony Hopkins in Wales, Thanking Someone for Being the Oldest Ever Actor to Win a BAFTA

Roger Friedman
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Watch Anthony Hopkins in Wales, Thanking Someone for Being the Oldest Ever Actor to Win a BAFTA

Sir Anthony Hopkins won the BAFTA yesterday for Best Actor in “The Father.” He’s the oldest ever BAFTA winner. Frankly, he deserves the Oscar. His performance in Florian Zeller’s adapted play into an excellent movie is the best of the year.

But Sir Tony for some reason didn’t show up for BAFTA even on Zoom. He didn’t show up for SAG or the Golden Globes either. Does he just not like Zoom? He likes social media, that’s for sure. Here he is this morning, from Wales.

Wales, you say? So he might not be back in Los Angeles for the Oscars. Hmmm…Someone on his team has to sort this out. What if he wins the Oscar and he’s a no show there, too? Not good.

NY: Anna Wintour’s Self Important Met Ball Postponed from May til September, and Scaled Way Down

Roger Friedman
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NY: Anna Wintour’s Self Important Met Ball Postponed from May til September, and Scaled Way Down

This morning there are headlines from a press release that Anna Wintour’s self-gratifying Met Ball will really be TWO Balls!

No, it’s not.

The gala set for next month has been postponed until September. Then the regularly scheduled event for May 2022 will take place back on track.

Get a grip.

There was no Met Ball last May because of the pandemic and it’s the same this year.

The event is costly, and grotesque. As I’ve written in the past, millions are spent to make millions. That’s the idea. It’s an ego trip for Wintour, who has been so mired in controversies about race at Vogue that she’s been ladling on Black cover subjects left and right.

Wintour, in fact, has been so part of the BLM complaints at Conde Nast that her name is taken off the focus of these upcoming events. But she’s still in charge.

They’ve even gone so far as to round up two major figures from Black Hollywood so Wintour can’t be accused of anything. Franklin Leonard, the creator of the BlackList, which is about unproduced hot screenplays and has nothing to do with race will consult. Also Bradford Young, the cinematographer behind “Selma” and “When They See Us.” It’s pretty cynical on Anna’s part, but good representation nonetheless.

So, not two Met Balls. One a year, Calm down. But will Anna do now that Kim and Kanye are no longer a couple? She played them like fiddles for years.

Original “Dreamgirls” Reunite for 40th Anniversary as Quarantunes Raises Over $1 Million for Broadway Cares

Roger Friedman
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Original “Dreamgirls” Reunite for 40th Anniversary as Quarantunes Raises Over $1 Million for Broadway Cares

Another amazing night for Richard Weitz, daughter Demi (just got in to Stanford U), and Quarantunes.

They raised around $1.3 million for Broadway Cares last night, hosting their famed Zoom show from Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theater. They and two or three others were only people allowed in the theater.

It was another four hour extravaganza for a Zoom crowd of 600 or more with plenty of famous and familiar faces on the call, and a lot of once in your lifetime entertainment.

The high point of the adventure was a 40th anniversary reunion of the original “Dreamgirls” from Broadway: Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, and Jennifer Holliday. They reminisced about the show and sang live, a capella, sounding no different than they did in 1981. And yes, Jennifer Holliday simply opened her mother and gave the crowd her signature hit, “And I’m Telling I’m Not Going.” It was a mic drop for the ages.

There were plenty more moments like that including Heather Headley’s stunning take on “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” which would make Elton John plotz. Stephanie Mills recorded “Home” from “The Wiz” for the show, Robert Cuccioli warbled “This is the Moment” from “Jekyll and Hyde,” Lena Hall rocked the audience, and so on. It was just one Broadway show stopper after another: Chris Jackson, James Monroe Inglehart, each stunning.

There were a few non Broadway moments, too. Songwriter Diane Warren, nominated for her 12 th Oscar for “Seen (Io Si)” from the movie “The Life Ahead,” introduced Laura Pausini. Pausini sang her nominated song in Italian, and got an overwhelming reaction from the Zoom crowd on the chat bar.

Melissa Manchester and Carole Bayer Sager checked in, and Melissa sang a couple of their hits as if no time had passed since the 80s.

As a special treat, 17 year old Demi Weitz had a birthday surprise for her dad. Even though she claimed “I cannot sing,” she worked out a duet with Kristen Chenoweth on a number from “Wicked” as a tribute. This teenage girl (very pretty, by the way) indeed can’t carry a tune in a basket but has such life force, humor, and poise that she carried it off. If Kelly Ripa can hold off retiring until Demi Weitz graduates from college, Michael Gelman will have a replacement all lined up!

This was the one year anniversary since the Weitzes started Quarantunes with the help of Clive Davis a and  a village of people who’ve helped them raise around $23 million total. It’s quite an accomplishment and there’s more to come since the pandemic — though you hear otherwise a lot — is not over by a long shot!

 

All Star Quarantunes Will Broadcast LIVE from Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theater Today at 5PM Eastern

Roger Friedman
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All Star Quarantunes Will Broadcast LIVE from Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theater Today at 5PM Eastern

Big news:

Uber agent Richard Weitz and his daughter Demi are streaming an all star Quarantunes today at 5pm Eastern LIVE from Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theater.

Their year long fundraising effort for many charities is today for Broadway Cares. The Weitzes will pass the $22 million mark. Amazing!

Richard writes: “Tonight marks a milestone as we try to surpass $22 million and we have so many once in a lifetime surprises planned you won’t want to miss it. So if you or your spouse or your significant other, partner or child wants to watch the Masters let them while you either juggle watching both or just enjoy the amazing performances we are going to have to honor the Broadway Community.”

I will offer a report later on the what what and why.

 

UPDATING BAFTA Winners Point to Possible Oscars: “Nomadland,” Director Chloe Zhao, Frances McDormand & Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Kaluuya, Yuh-Jung Youn

Roger Friedman
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UPDATING BAFTA Winners Point to Possible Oscars: “Nomadland,” Director Chloe Zhao, Frances McDormand & Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Kaluuya, Yuh-Jung Youn

BAFTA, the British Academy, is handing out their awards now live in London. The show won’t air in the US until 9pm on the BBC. Who cares? The whole thing is being done on social media, so why watch at 9? It’s a big mistake, they are decades behind in understanding this.

Anyway, the winners are going along the lines of prior winners of prizes. UPDATING

Neither Anthony Hopkins nor Frances McDormand bothered to show up for the BAFTAs even on video. Really. Deserving as they are, I don’t think they will win Oscars. SAG voted for Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman, who will have the edge. But “Nomadland” will certainly win Best Picture now.

BEST PICTURE: “Nomadland”
BEST ACTOR Anthony Hopkins, “The Father”
BEST ACTRESS Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Daniel Kaluuya in “Judas and the Black Messiah”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Yuh-Jung Youn in “Minari”

BEST DIRECTOR Chloe Zhao, “Nomadland”

“Nomadland” won Best Cinematography.

“My Octopus Teacher” won Best Documentary, which is very nice. But I implore Academy voters to vote for “Time,” from Amazon Studios, the actual best documentary.

Pixar’s “Soul” is Best Animated Feature and won Best Score.

“Promising Young Woman” Best British Film and Best Original Screenplay.
“The Father” won Best Adapted Screenplay.

 

“SNL” Ratings Stuck at All Time Low as Kid Cudi Wears Dress, Sells No Records, Carey Mulligan Forgets “Promising Young Woman”

Roger Friedman
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“SNL” Ratings Stuck at All Time Low as Kid Cudi Wears Dress, Sells No Records, Carey Mulligan Forgets “Promising Young Woman”

“Saturday Night Live” ratings remained stuck last night at the all time low of 3.6 million. They were the same as the last couple of weeks, quite bad and for a reason: the show was mystifying.

Musical guest Kid Cudi wore a floral print dress during one number. He said later it was a tribute to Kurt Cobain. The message was lost. Since last night, no one has purchased a Kid Cudi record on any platform. There was no sales bump from the appearance. It’s very unusual but after his “SNL” appearance there isn’t one Kid Cudi record on the iTunes top 100 or on the Spotify top 50 streaming.

More to the point, host Carey Mulligan was supposed to be promoting her film, “Promising Young Woman.” She never even mentioned it. There was no reference to it whatsoever. Universal only ran a commercial for the film at the very end of the show. So much for her Oscar chances.

There were good, if not great, sketches: the World War II thing, the “Star Trek” parody, and Bowen Yang stole the show as the iceberg that sank the Titanic. But overall, “SNL” is in a deep funk.

Now we get a couple of weeks of reruns before May sweeps and the end of the season.

Taylor Swift is so “Fearless” That Fans Are Buying the New Album and Streaming the Old One Like Crazy

Roger Friedman
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Taylor Swift is so “Fearless” That Fans Are Buying the New Album and Streaming the Old One Like Crazy

We do know Taylor Swift is fearless.

She released the re-recorded version of her 2008 album “Fearless” on Friday. In one day she basically sold 80,000 albums on CD and downloads with almost no streaming. Fans rushed to collect the new album.

But whoops! At the same time, the original “Fearless,” which Taylor is trying to bury, sold 37,000 copies anyway. They were almost all from streaming, with very little in the way of downloads or CD sales. The original “Fearless” isn’t even turning up on the iTunes album charts, although Taylor has about five entries there.

She has also has six or seven singles on the iTunes charts, all from the new “Fearless.”

It’s possible those 37,000 streaming equivalent sales of the original album are fans listening to make comparisons between the old and the new versions. We’ll see how the week pans out for both albums.

As for Shamrock Capital, the investment firm that paid between $300 million and $400 million for Taylor’s masters, buying them from Scooter Braun, they can’t be too happy.

Box Office: “Godzilla vs. Kong” Hits $69 Mil, Heads Toward $100 Mil, Warner Bros. Made Money During Pandemic

Roger Friedman
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Box Office: “Godzilla vs. Kong” Hits $69 Mil, Heads Toward $100 Mil, Warner Bros. Made Money During Pandemic

Despite the coronavirus, Warner Bros. made money during the pandemic.

Their “Godzilla vs. Kong” hit $69 million over this weekend, the most any movie has grossed in the last year. The monster flick is head toward $100 million, which is quite an accomplishment considering social distancing and capacity limitations. People really wanted to see two old warriors slug it out one more time.

Everyone thought when Warner’s announced simultaneous releases in the theaters and on HBO Max that it would kill theater going. But Warner’s had the lions share of hits this season anyway in live attendance. In addition to “Godzilla,” they’ve had “Tenet” ($58 mil), “The Croods” ($56 mil), “Wonder Woman 1984” ($46 mil), and “Tom & Jerry” ($40 mil).

Warner’s has even scratched out some box office for their Oscar movie, “Judas and the Last Messiah, with over $5 million. And Denzel Washington in “The Little Things” has found just over $15 million so far. So someone went to the movies, and who ever they were, Warner Bros. was their host.

BTW, I’m hearing King Kong is asking for a lot of perks in his sequel contract. He was seen having lunch with Toby Emmerich last week in a back room on the Warner’s lot where he was eating the makers of “Chaos Walking” with fresh dips.

 

 

“SNL” Bizarre, Unfunny Episode: Carey Mulligan Hosts, No Mention of Her Movie, Plus Kid Cudi Performs in A Sun Dress

Roger Friedman
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“SNL” Bizarre, Unfunny Episode: Carey Mulligan Hosts, No Mention of Her Movie, Plus Kid Cudi Performs in A Sun Dress

Tonight’s Saturday Night Live was bizarre, that’s all I can say.

Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan hosted, to promote her movie “Promising Young Woman.” I was certain there would be one or more parodies of the film as sketches, at least some reference to it.

There was NONE. Nothing, Like it didn’t exist. And the movie comes from Focus Features, a division of NBC Universal, the network of “SNL.”

There wasn’t even an for the movie until the very end of the show.

What?

Plus Kid Cudi, who cannot sing and doesn’t seem to be a rapper, was the musical guest. His second number was performed in a sun dress. I couldn’t tell if the shoes matched, or if he had a handbag to go with it.

“Weekend Update” was funny enough. A sketch about a couple in World War II with Mulligan and Mikey Day was very good. There was also a funny video parody of movies about lesbians, referencing films no one has seen. But nothing for “Promising Young Woman.”

The show is a mess. We’ll see what the ratings were, tomorrow.

PS My friend, journalist Steve Zeitchik, pointed out on Twitter that Mulligan’s monologue instead of reflecting the feminism of “Promising Young Woman,” relied on Carey’s husband, musician Marcus Mumford for some reason taking the spotlight.

 

“Nomadland” Director Chloe Zhao Wins Directors Guild Award as She, Film Head to Oscars Sweep

Roger Friedman
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“Nomadland” Director Chloe Zhao Wins Directors Guild Award as She, Film Head to Oscars Sweep

Saturday night, Chloe Zhao won the DGA Award for directing “Nomadland.” Now she and the movie —  with the Producers Guild Award and the Golden Globes, etc — are set to sweep the Oscars.

If only people were seeing “Nomadland” and we had a way of knowing it. Alas, no one knows where it’s playing, if it’s playing, and what the box office is. But hey– it’s an unusual year.

Here are all the DGA winners. Congrats to “Homeland,” which hasn’t been on the air for a year. And also to Betty Thomas, who I loved on “Hill Street Blues” and turned out to be a fine director.

 

 

Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Theatrical Feature Film  

Chloé Zhao
Nomadland
(Searchlight Pictures)
Unit Production Manager: Mary Kerrigan
First Assistant Director: Mary Kerrigan

Outstanding Directorial Achievement Of A First-Time Feature Film Director

Darius Marder
Sound of Metal
(Amazon Studios)
Unit Production Manager: Amy Greene
First Assistant Director: Matthew Vose Campbell

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary

MICHAEL DWECK & GREGORY KERSHAW
The Truffle Hunters
(Sony Pictures Classics)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Limited Series

SCOTT FRANK
The Queen’s Gambit
(Netflix)
First Assistant Director: Aldric La’auli Porter

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series

LESLI LINKA GLATTER
Homeland, “Prisoners of War”
(Showtime)
Unit Production Managers: Michael Klick, Philippa Naughten
First Assistant Director: Sunday Stevens
Second Assistant Director: Wendy Bledsoe

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series

SUSANNA FOGEL
The Flight Attendant, “In Case of Emergency”
(HBO Max)
Unit Production Manager: Bonnie Muñoz
First Assistant Director: Derek Peterson
Second Assistant Director: Jacquie Dore
Second Second Assistant Director: Zach Citarella
Location Manager: Chris Banks

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Regularly Scheduled Programming

DON ROY KING
Saturday Night Live, “Dave Chappelle; Foo Fighters”
(NBC)
Associate Directors: Michael Mancini, Michael Poole, Laura Ouziel-Mack
Stage Managers: Gena Rositano, Chris Kelly, Eddie Valk

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Specials

THOMAS SCHLAMME
A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote
(HBO Max)
Unit Production Manager: Debra James
First Assistant Director: Shawn Pipkin-West
Second Assistant Director: Courtney Franklin
Second Second Assistant Directors: Ni’cole Pettis, Cathy Bond

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs

JOSEPH GUIDRY
Full Bloom, “Petal to the Metal”
(HBO Max)
Associate Director: Sean Galvin
Lead Stage Manager: Jimmy Chriss
Stage Managers: Rachel Shimko, Kristianna Laroda, Richard Melendez

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs

AMY SCHATZ
We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest
(HBO)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials

MELINA MATSOUKAS
(Prettybird)
You Love Me, Beats by Dr. Dre – Translation
First Assistant Director: Paul Norman
Second Assistant Director: Don Johnson

HONORARY AWARDS

Robert B. Aldrich Award
Betty Thomas

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Frank Capra Achievement Award
Brian Frankish

Franklin Schaffner Award
Joyce Thomas

Lifetime Membership Award
Paris Barclay

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