By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
Why you'll hear more Hallelujah: breaking Leonard Cohen
Maclean’s Katherine Macklem has the cover story: Leonard Cohen’s music has been in a lot of movies lately, such as The Edukators and Lord of War and we’re likely to hear even more: “Take an iconic artist, mix in missing millions, hints of tantric sex, a lawsuit replete with other salacious details, and a ruptured relationship with a long-time, trusted associate, and you’ve got the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster. Except in the case of Leonard Cohen, it’s a true tale, with the bizarre twist of a Tibetan Buddhist suing a Zen Buddhist, Cohen. For the 70-year-old poet, singer and songwriter, it’s a nasty, rapidly escalating legal battle that on the one hand accuses him of conspiracy and extortion, and on the other has him accusing both his highly trusted personal manager and long-time financial adviser — the Tibetan Buddhist — of gross mismanagement of his financial affairs. The case exposes not only private details of Cohen’s finances, but also a dramatic tale of betrayal. The conflict… has left him virtually broke — he’s had to take out a mortgage on his house to pay legal costs — and facing a multimillion-dollar tax bill. But the artist, who is soon to release a new album with his collaborator — and current girlfriend — Anjani Thomas, is today remarkably calm about the potentially embarrassing conflict. Still, when he discovered last fall that his retirement funds, which he had thought amounted to more than $5 million (all figures U.S.), had been reduced to $150,000, he wasn’t so sanguine. “I was devastated,” Cohen says. “You know, God gave me a strong inner core, so I wasn’t shattered. But I was deeply concerned.” [Lots more at the link.]