By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
End of Days: April 29, 2011
I wish I really knew what the wave of entertainment media crazy means. The Elvis Mitchell drama, reports that Jay Penske will throw away more of his fortune on Variety, and now, the return of Anita Busch, nine years after she left entertainment journalism. Anita’s story is not unlike Elvis’, in that there was and will now be a lot of guessing about what it true and what is just giddily repeated rumor.
All I can offer is that Anita was a neurotic handful back in the day, and whether her sense of what was happening to her was accurate or inaccurate, she definitely suffered from the experience. Is anyone really actionable aside from Pellicano and his employees? Magic Eight Ball says, “Unlikely.”
Of course, one has to love the idea of Jay Penske being unable to make money on Deadline, Movieline, et al, and going deeper in with Variety. It’s the entertainment news version of Donald Trump running for President… and like that, it’s not too likely to happen. But the thought is fantastic! Nikki Finke as the agoraphobic Charles Foster Krazy would make putting up with the ignorant press hype worth enduring. And Penske could finally take his well-earned position next to Sam Zell as a media mogul.
Meanwhile, while I am bullish on Paramount/Viacom B in 2011, the spin on this week’s quarterly that has been gobbled up by the press is pathetic. Love Rango, but Paramount will have more net profit on distribution only on DWA’s How To Train Your Dragon than on Rango. And there is no reason to assume Rango can be repeated. Also the bottom line of this quarter and the quarter before last year were skewed significantly by a lack
of theatrical product and a massive DVD push, followed by a good quarter that included the re-purchase of the $900m DreamWorks library.
I am not saying that Paramount will not do better under Grey than ever this year… just that the increase over 2010 this last quarter is a paper tiger.
I’m happy to see that Soderbergh’s retirement was a figment of his own imagination.
Fast Five seems to be ushering a new era of theatrical domination!!! The film has a good shot at breaking the record for an April opening… and may even double the record best opening for the second half of April, The Scorpion King. (Yes… The unbridled enthusiasm is sarcasm… The record possibilities are not… congrats to Universal… but there is nothing surprising about a well-marketed, commercially appealing film opening big. And looking forward to the July 4 weekend premiere of the $30 VOD… which no one will buy as they head to the multiplex to see Trannies 3.)
Kingo Writes
Anita’s story is not unlike Elvis’, in that there was and will now be a lot of guessing about what it true and what is just giddily repeated rumor.
All I can offer is that Anita was a neurotic handful back in the day, and whether her sense of what was happening to her was accurate or inaccurate, she definitely suffered from the experience. Is anyone really actionable aside from Pellicano and his employees? Magic Eight Ball says, “Unlikely.”
This is why you continue to fall and why even this new series of daily synopsis gather few comments and even lesser readers.
Anita was one of if not the single best entertainment journalists back in the day. Probably hard for your damaged manhood to handle, but yes Kingo she was amazing. Neurotic? Look who’s throwing the adjectives, Mister Stick Up Ass. Then people wiretapped her house and threatened her life. THIS HAPPENED, Jerk. It wasn’t some brain fart, it happened. The lady probably weighs 100 pounds and some Hollywood thugs threatened her life. Accurate or inaccurate? How dare you. It was established by real journalists and the courts that it was accurate. She has resolved to NOT collapse and fight back against what was done to her. This is an inspiring thing. And yet a wank like you shows up to try again to belittle her plight, because she showed him up so many years before. Have you no shame, Kingo?
And your analysis that seems to indicate AT and T not having to pay a fortune for allowing the taps? You wanna bet? I’m ready and willing to bankrupt your hairy smug ass, just let me know as soon as you mail the reading glasses.
Wait, Don: You’re ready to start you own blog?
where did you get that from? I don’t know as much as Kingo, how could I?
“I’m ready and willing to bankrupt your hairy smug ass, just let me know as soon as you mail the reading glasses.”
Well, how else would you bankrupt him?
I will bet him whatever he wishes that he is fucking wrong and that she gets money from people BESIDES Pellicano- at the very least AT AND T.
Hopefully this stripper movie won’t happen. Soderbergh is looking increasingly desparate. What’s next, he’s going to direct American Pie part 5?
How do you know for a fact Deadline isn’t making money? I don’ t think entertainment journalists were in a real strong negotiation position.
Maybe you should just send me the Friends of Don and the Enemies of Don lists. It would be easier than following your Trump-ian mix of your whimsical attacks and bitter defenses.
If you don’t think Anita was neurotic, bless you. I know she took your side against Tarantino, so she is forever to be deified. I never said Anita wasn’t a good journalist. She was also vindictive, abusive, and lacking in perspective much of the time. That didn’t keep me from seeking her out to be a columnist for MCN in the early days. Her passions would have made her (and probably still would make her) a sensational columnist, much as they colored her straight journalism. (She passed, claiming she had plans of her own to join the online fray.)
Ironically, I was pulling my punches regarding the history of this story. I would say that back when it happened, I was too willing to listen to anti-Anita gossip. As I have said about other rumor victims, rumors don’t tend to stick unless people think they kinda fit. Anita presented as a damaged person before all of this, but that doesn’t mean she was not further damaged by these threats and invasions. Some of us have a thicker skin when assholes threaten and harass us, but that doesn’t make her any less a victim.
But being a victim and getting damages for it in court a decade later are not the same thing. I haven’t said that it’s impossible for her to win something or to get a settlement. But it’s no slam dunk.
Get me that list, Don.
Bitplayer… I don’t understand how those two sentences connect.
The Soderbergh news made me really happy. That project sounds fantastic. I love his work and, selfishly, hope he continues to make movies for years to come.
Planned retirement doesn’t seem to work out very often for the creative types in Hollywood. I’ve heard of many more failed retirements (Soderbergh, Bullock, Newman, Hopkins, just to name a few) than successful ones (Connery… er… Hackman, and, um…) recently. But I fully concede that there is probably a strong selection bias and/or selective memory at play here.
It also seems like this is a relatively recent phenomenon. Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart retired pretty effectively, for instance. So did Billy Wilder, though he said he’d have come back if he’d been given the directorial job on Schindler’s List. Again, though, I get that all this is purely anecdotal.
Anyway, it’s kind of nice that so many of these retirement threats fail to pan out. I’m hoping Tarantino’s dissolves when the time comes.
What’s this about Tarantino? Bitch better not retire!
LexG, when are you going to chime in about how hot Kate looked? Seriously, that was one hot wedding dress….
Looks like F5 is going to blow past $80 million, this weekend – I guess we’ve been building towards this for years, but is the summer season going to officially start in April, now?
Not sure what you mean by took my side against Tarantino. I don’t recall that nor do you, it’s more of you trying to undermine your enemies who dance faster than you. And saying that she is not going to win and then changing your opinion while the other opinion is still printed is hard Kingo.
But why not share your REAL problem with Anita? Or I can.
So story goes that Anita wrote this very negative rant against FIGHT CLUB. I recall telling her at the time that she was foolish. But it was posted in the Hollywood Reporter as an opinion piece and she had Dowling the Publisher and everybody sign off on it. Then Kingo, who as we know knows everything, wrote a piece that Anita was close to getting fired for it. This was so inaccurate, based only on the shit up Kingo’s ass, that the Reporter itself sent him a legal letter telling him to stfu and stop making things up. Hence his animus towards Anita and his desire to subtly undermine her.
I don’t know who really reads his bullshit here, but know that he ALWAYS has an agenda, ALWAYS.
Agree Jkill and Sam. Funny enough I actually believed it when Soderbergh announced he was retiring. He just seems like the sort of person who would say it, mean it, and do it. Tarantino though, it’ll never happen.
Out of curiosity, what’s the root of the DP/Don feud? I was around when the Trannie thing happened but it seems like there must be even older history there.
Al
He finds life destroying accidents worthy of comedy bits. For starters.
And no feud. If there were a feud it would be intense. It is just me pointing out every time he fails.
Thor: finally a film that reunites half the cast of Freejack …. and Natalie driving that cool Lost in Space truck …. and the oscar nommed actor who turns up in a cameo …. only real bad thing was the 3D, total last minute 3D job that makes a joke out of the kind of cinematography that provides its own depth
where are Klady’s weekend box office #’s with Poland’s commentary?
Don, I don’t think of you as stupid, so I have to assume you are just forever betrayed by half-facts or you perhaps you are playing a malicious game, trying to get me to tear down the people you claim to be defending or maybe you are just blinded by your anger at me.
I am not going to list every nasty thing about Anita that I personally know or have heard to satisfy you. If I wanted to do that, I would have done it. Same with others you have “defended” in Kingo rants.
As for this specific story, you have facts wrong. 1. Anita ran a nasty spun story as news first. She ran, as news, her notion that the film was enraging the premiere audience, using such important voices as Michael Musto as “proof.” After that, she ran an opinion piece, which I disagreed with, but publicly stated she was free to do without any complaint. I objected to the “news story,” not the opinion piece.
2. Fox did threaten to pull ads from The Reporter over this. There were various allegations about how Anita deported herself at the premiere.
3. According to sources above Anita at THR at the time, her job was in jeopardy… which Anita denied. According to sources under Anita at THR at the time, there was a staff meeting over the issue… which Anita denied.
4. The cease & desist was so stupid that it has been mocked by various legal groups in LA and is remembered as “the mother of all cease & desist letters.” I posted it and never heard from the lawyer again.
5. Anita was invited to come on my radio show at the time, on KABC, to make her case. She stayed on hold for nearly and hour, refusing to come on air, and finally came on air in our last segment, which was under 5 minutes.
6. I was never that angry with Anita over the c&d because it was so ridiculous. Mostly, it got me more attention. Soon after the fish on the windshield, which I did mock at first, I can to feel bad for her and really didn’t care to undermine anything about Anita. She was freelancing at the time, long having been fired from THR. And as noted earlier, I offered her work, out of respect to her skills, which she passed on.
So that is the story of what happened with Anita Busch decade ago. Zzzzzzz….
If you feel compelled to guess at what I think, not much to stop you. But as you so often do, you make a fool of yourself. But raging fools can be problematic too, so I keep paying attention to your bullshit.
The numbers should be up on the front page…I haven’t had time to comment, Actionman. Taking out the trash.
Kingo, babe you can’t even spin your bullshit right anymore. Age must be accruing badly. DecadeS ago? That would by definition be at least 20 years ago so 1991 right? She hadn’t been at Variety or the Reporter yet. And I don’t care enough to check but I am fairly certain she was NOT fired from the Reporter.
Gang, notice how he belittles the c and d legal letter when at the time he was livid and in serious shit. Legal groups my ass.
The best synopsis of the psychosis that is Kingo is just reading #1. Read that point. Now please read it again. Notice how it is all about him? Narcissistic Personality Disorder 101. You objected Kingo? WHO CARES? Did you direct the film? Release the film? Work for the Reporter? You can object all you want, you’re nothing but a pompous fart powered air horn signifying nothing.
Another Epic fail for DP. Busch pwned you then and you get pwned daily now. Boo fucking hoo. You can say I made a fool of myself, but you doth protest too much. The person being laughed at is in your mirror, Sir!
I loved watching the highlights of the White House Press Correspondents’ Dinner.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-01/white-house-correspondents-dinner-best-video-clips/?om_rid=DgwVal&om_mid=_BNvWVjB8as0VXv
But I have to admit: This “backstage” moment was especially amusing.
http://foknewschannel.com/photo-of-the-day-for-may-1-2011/
Who is Don Murphy and why should I care?
He is no one and you shouldn’t care. You should go back to bad and shut your fat ass up.
Don Murphy provided a bonding experience for me and my son. For that alone, he’s always OK in my book.
i don’t know Don, but i know of him. Most of the times in these situations i lack to knowledge to take a side or know whose version of the facts are correct.
however, what i do know is don has no problem telling people in the online community to shut the fuck up. and that’s always something i’ve appreciated.
Don… I know you want to tell me I mean nothing to anyone and how I should shut up about everything at the same time. It’s a thrilling lack of logic from a guy – you – who could care less about the truth if it gets on the way of your rapid mouth foaming.
You know what I felt about the c&d even though you had no contact with me at the time… You know what I remember and don’t… You know my motives… And faced with facts, you revert back to “shut up, hairy ass dummy who no one reads or comments on.”. This explains why you wouldn’t know your way around a script with a guide dog.
I don’t know why you are so full of hate. But I know you will be a miserable little man whether I am your fantasy target or it’s someone else. And just so you know, I was born in Philadelpia, PA, but I don’t have my original birth certificate, as I was adopted.
I’m going to go way out on a limb here and say that I think David would agree with me on this: If you live in NY or LA, don’t wait for the home video release — go see this next weekend.
http://www.daydreamnationmovie.com
How about some weekend numbers? I seem to recall a movie or two opened this weekend. One of them even broke some records. And Dave and Don can continue this pissing match that us normal folk know little about.
re: those highlights of the white house press correspondents’ dinner: obama is funny
David once again has no idea how to run this blog while on a trip, so no weekend numbers for you BD!
Why does this not surprise me?
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/cant-take-a-joke-donald-trump-reacts-badly-to-whcd-routines-from-obama-meyers.php?ref=fpblg
You know what I felt about the c&d even though you had no contact with me at the time… You know what I remember and don’t… You know my motives… And faced with facts, you revert back to “shut up, hairy ass dummy who no one reads or comments on.”. This explains why you wouldn’t know your way around a script with a guide dog.
No, it means I know my way around a script rather well, thank you, and I know how to treat pompous windbags rather well as well.
You started this by attacking someone whose shoes you aren’t fit to lick. You have now added an actionable statement, that she was fired, which you know fine well she was not. So I trust that her lawyers will pay you a visit soon.
And of course you were adopted. You think anyone really wanted you?
Well, Don, actually — being adopted means someone really did want him.
BTW: My adopted son — the one who enjoyed Double Dragon so much — asked me to tell you to go fuck yourself.
Joe right on.
Ah, grumpy ol’ Don Murphy–the Hot Blog equivalent of Charlie Sheen. . . sans the simple, quiet dignity and grace, of course.
Osama Bin Laden is finally dead.
So it took Obama only 2 years to catch the guy Bush couldn’t catch in 8. Once again: He drives the conservatives batshit crazy! (And they had to break into Celebrity Apprentice to announce it. I love it.)
8 years to the date?
Politicizing Osama’s death the minute after it’s announced. Can we be a united country for five freaking seconds?
Kril, no, Mission Accomplished finally happened eight years later, and under a president who kept a campaign promise with this act. Unlike the last guy, who once said; “Osama who?”
Krillian: Sorry, the Repubs starting politicizing this a long time ago. Seriously. Remember all that talk about how Democrats hope the terrorists win? How Obama is soft on terrorism? And, again, sorry, but I have to say it: I’m so glad to hear an announcement like this from a Prez without a goofy grin on his smug face.
God damn right Joe. God damn right.
OBAMA POWER.
“Who is Don Murphy and why should I care?”
He is someone who thinks that making gobs of money for his bosses is more important than releasing a quality product. And in 50 years maybe they’ll put up a plaque in his honor just to keep reminding themselves of all those movies that everyone else has already forgotten.
Have to repeat this Michael Moore tweet: “FOX News: Elderly Man on Dialysis Killed by Young African-American Male”
Joe, that is too funny.
I was going to brag about posting this:
http://movingpictureblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/now-more-than-ever.html
But, I have to admit, this is even better:
http://yfrog.com/h7iwzemj
ding dong, the witch is dead!
(this IS a bit of a coup for the obama presidency, isn’t it? here’s hoping lopping off the head helps to kill the whole festering, twisted plant and doesn’t make the roots grow stronger)
Joe Baby- if you are going to equate your beloved son with David Poland there isn’t that much I could say to better the situation.
I take it back, Don… maybe you are just stupid.
Or is this a drug thing?
No David, that dude just doesn’t fucking like you, and he doesn’t like you on a BIBLICAL level.
Gadaffi’s son yesterday, Bin Laden today. Heck of a week. 8 years to the day Bush announced “mission accomplished.” May 1 1945 was also the day they announced that Hitler was dead. Ain’t that something. Let the conspiracy theories begin.
IO… it’s more than disliking me. He is holding some grudge that, as best I can tell, is imaginary. But every one of these attacks folds in on itself in ways that suggest he isn’t thinking it out at all, just swinging his bat like a drunk. He makes Lex’s drunken binge posting seem incredibly coherent.
Maybe the sane choice would be to ban him. Hate doing that.
David, I might bust your balls but there is no way in hell I would ever post something like that adoption line about you. Seriously, if this were my blog, that would be END OF LINE shit. That’s cold.
But it’s so weak, IO, that I mostly feel sad for him.
I don’t have any issues with feeling wanted or loved. I have no issues with my status in the industry, whatever it is or whatever Don wants to say it is or what Don really thinks it is. And I can only laugh out loud when he goes ballistic over someone who has been out of journalism for nearly a decade when I have only been in it for about 15 years.
Don is weak. And the more he rages… the more personal the attacks… the more threats… the clearer his weakness is.
But yeah… when someone is out of control on the blogs, insists on making things up about me, and threatens me repeatedly, perhaps it is time for him to go bye-bye. Or maybe I need to be strong enough to simply ignore him like any other troll.
David, you take the high road all the time, but that line is just fucking cold. Sure you can view it as weak but it’s vicious and over the line. Again, I have stated some stupid shit in this blog in the past (and god help me I would have edited it given the chance!), but that’s a bridge too far to me.
Doesn’t bother me. Only think that does bother me is when he makes shit up and states it as though it was factual which someone might think has a close relationship to the truth.
I have had a surprising number of people lie about me with the intent to harm, when I think about it. I have been wrong about some things and will be wrong again, but I don’t really understand intentionally making things up – or wildly spinning a minor fact into a cotton candy of bs – to hurt someone else. I don’t know how one lives with themselves afterwards.
But I do appreciate your thoughts on it…
No problem and I will admit to acting like an ungodly asshole way too much for even my liking on here, but I would never state that about anyone. If I did, I would kick my own ass, because really that’s an ass kickable offense. It’s like bringing up someone’s momma. There are lines and I commend you for being able to shrug it off.
insists on making things up about me
Name one thing I have ever made up about you…and of course you won’t because you can’t.
And IO, what the fuck response was he hoping for even mentioning birth certificates and adoption? He made a douchebag remark and got one in return. Cold my ass. Cold is lying about my friend being attacked by thugs. Cold is making grids that joke about an extra suffering a life altering accident. Pointing out Kingo’s uselessness in this world? Not even slightly cold.
Don, that shit is cold, and if I ruled this place you’d be gone. I don’t and David seems to not give a shit, but thank you for finally airing all of your beefs with the man. Most of those are totally dicky and they explain your rage at David.
But the problem, IO, is that none of those beefs are real. They are all mountains made of Murphy molehills. It’s not a debate. You’ve read everything he claims I did… and you had no idea what his issue was until he encapsulated it in his silly drama. Moreover, he knows this, however irrational he seems. And that is the tip of the Don Murphy iceberg of bull.
Don… there is stuff in this very thread that I had to explain to you was false. And every time I respond to you, thinking I might reach Sane Don, you just keep spinning because of whatever private point of hatred you are so worked up over. Waste of my time… and everyone else reading it.
Anita Busch has requested a retraction on a single point.
I am not terribly interested in adjudicating something that happened a decade ago. At the time and since then, colleagues of Anita at The Hollywood Reporter have maintained that she was let go from the paper.
However, there is no question that what was presented to the public and what was reported at the time was that Anita resigned from The Hollywood Reporter as a matter of principle.
So technically, at the least, Anita Busch was not fired from The Hollywood Reporter as I wrote in a hasty response to the jibes of her friend Don Murphy (4/30/2011). I regret the lack of clarity in what I wrote and any further discomfort that it (and Don’s obsession with it) might have caused Anita.
What a carefully worded non apology.
And you didn’t respond to my jibes, you responded to me telling you that you were wrong, something Kingo never admits.
I hear a faint noise coming from that glass house over there…
I am often wrong, big fella. In fact I am probably wrong about something at least once a day. When I am wrong I don’t issue statements saying “Hey the entire staff confidentially says I was right, she got fired but I can’t prove it so I guess I am sorry.”
You are so consumed trying to lecture to an industry that doesn’t care what you have to say you cannot allow any room for your errors. That is the problem.
If no one cares what David has to say, imagine how excited everyone is to hear these sermons directed at him.
Don, you are Trump. I wrote 50 words saying that Anita had been damaged, Anita was neurotic, and I don’t know whether her suit will be successful.
You took that piffle and you pushed and pushed with your agenda and I laid part of it all out, which I never wanted to, then you obsessed on one issue, which is completely debatable. After claiming I got all of it wrong, you found one issue left on the table after I corrected all of your factual mistakes and then whipped yourself and Anita into a frenzy to drag down the evil liar. You didn’t want to deal with all of your errors in trying to push me to make one.
As for this fact, you can prove Anita resigned on her own steam exactly as much as I can prove she didn’t. Are you prepared to claim that everything ever printed in the trades and LA Times is the real story?
Didn’t think so.
You are a stupid, stupid man. Your self-righteous streak makes mine look like a shoe scuff. And like the biggest idiots I know, you don’t really care about the collateral damage. You only care about yourself and trying not to hate yourself as much as you must.
Truth is, if I was an asshole, I’d be shredding Anita now because you have been such a nasty shit. There is plenty to work with. But I’m not interested in tearing down Anita. I already toned down the snark in the correction, so all that’s left is the truth. He said/She said. Sorry that’s the reality, jackass, but it is. I am ONLY sorry because it nicked her again. And the only reason it did, Don, is you, you myopic pathetic fool.
I have always been aggressive about corrections… more so than any newspaper, trade, or website I know. However, I am also fortunate that requests for corrections are very rare.
That doesn’t make every opinion I have right. I have been wrong about plenty. But I am sincere in my effort, Don. And while the business around me has gotten nastier and nastier, I have become less and less harsh.
And when it comes to facts, I research and report as long and as deep as anyone… more so than most.
The thing is, Don, I don’t write to get people to care what I say. I write what I believe, what I learn, and what I see. And people are – as always – free to take it or leave it. I don’t have the bully pulpit of a major paper or a billionaire who is willing to cover my ass.
I’ve made a very nice living and been able to employ others for over 15 years now without anyone caring what I have to say… isn’t America great?
And with that, I bid you adios, Don. I have already given you too much space and time. And like I say, you’ll drag anyone into your shitstorm… I don’t like collateral damage. If I think you cross a line, I’ll delete your posts. If you get too aggressive, I’ll ban you.
If you think I am wrong, tell me so. No problem. But I’m not playing your game anymore. It makes me a part of your madness… and I refuse to do that for you anymore.
David, I hate to break your bubble, but you’re wrong here: Anita Busch did resign from The Hollywood Reporter.
I remember it vividly because (a) I previously worked at THR for four years, and (b) I spoke with Anita that day. She resigned in protest over the way that a reporter was treated by management after he exposed a well-known THR gossip columnist who had been found accepting graft and lying on expense reports. It was a well-publicized case.
She told me exactly how it all came down, and even her boss, THR publisher Bob Dowling, was shocked by her decision. (“I’m disappointed Anita decided to resign,” he told Backstage magazine, a THR sister publication. “I was surprised and disappointed to learn she decided to resign,” he further told CBS MarketWatch.)
David, sometimes you’re wrong and this is definitely one of those times. Man up and admit it without the snark. If you want your website to be truthful, you should print an honest retraction without all the b.s. qualifiers.
Jeff… lived through it also. And now, thanks to Don Murphy, we can drag David Robb, Beth Laski, and George Christy into it this old news also.
The qualifiers are, in fact, not b.s. The sources spoke. And as you know as well as anyone, what is said on the record and what is said off the record can be diametrically opposed when it comes to issues of degree.
I am well past sick of this whole thing. I know your intentions are good. And I know that Murphy’s intentions couldn’t be any more malicious.
I don’t want to be stubborn simply in response to Murphy’s relentless bullshit. But as today has progressed, I feel more and more than Anita is as much the victim of him as I am. And that goes well beyond this one fact.
I don’t really care about this issue. Anita clearly does. For all that it matters now, she should have her way. But I feel a little stuck. This is the second one of these dramas with Don and that too is my fault, as I indulged him the last time too and ended up not removing something from the site that I should have.
I don’t agree with the retraction Anita wants. But if it hadn’t been shoved down my throat I probably would feel less like it had been shoved down my throat.
If the point of contention here is whether Anita Busch was effectively fired by or resigned from The Hollywood Reporter, I will be happy to take Anita’s word, as well as the contemporaneous reporting on it and the legal certainty that her employment was not severed for cause, and retract that comment.
Is this STILL going on?