Hot Button Archive for March, 1998

ShoWest: Day Four

Once again, I am writing in the middle of the day. This morning there was supposed to be a press conference by 20th Century Fox, which is not otherwise participating at ShoWest this year. The rumor was that it would either be Warren Beatty selling this summer’s long-delayed Bulworth, or the official announcement that Fox has secured the distribution rights to Star Wars: Chapter One. It was neither, because it was canceled at the very last minute. Was it wacky Warren deciding he didn’t feel like facing the press, or a legal snare in the Star Wars deal? I don’t know. But that was the irritating start of my day.
An hour or so later, it was the line-up for the Miramax luncheon. No press conference, just a press row, which always makes life hard for print journalists. TV folks can ask the stupidest questions to air in the smallest countries, but if they have a video rig, they are more valued than we, ink- stained wretches. The line-up was Matt Damon, Minnie Driver and the cast of 54, the studio’s film about the very real, ultra-hip Studio 54 of the ’70s (newly re-opened). Matt and Minnie were actually separated by the 54 cast, with Matt leading and Minnie taking up the tail end. But in some form of revenge, Minnie got off the best line of the day when asked about whether she would miss all the press attention when the Oscar buzz calmed. She said, “Oh yes. But I’ll be looking for all of you huddled out by my garbage cans.” The only insight from “I’m not talking to the press”-Matt came when he was asked how he felt about the upcoming night at the Academy. “I don’t know,” he said with a multi-million dollar grin. The man is a genius!
Miramax’s product reel featured a new Matt Damon movie that has our boy Matt as a genius card player who gets in with the wrong crowd. It wasn’t called “Good Will Gambling,” but it should have been. 54 looks like it caught the feel of the era. It stars Ryan Phillipe (I Know What You Did Last Summer), Neve Campbell (Scream), Salma Hayek (she is so gorgeous) and Mike Meyers as a very funny Steve Rubell. Lots of nudity, drugs and homosexuality in the footage they showed. In a Mike Myers movie! I’m looking forward to the 54/The Last Days of Disco double feature. Also up was Nightwatch, the Ewan McGregor thriller that was promoted at last year’s ShoWest. They must be holding it up because it’s really, really good (tee-hee). Plus, we got the word (there’s no footage yet) on Scream 3 and the next Halloween sequel, H2O. Miramax’s copy promised that “blood is much thicker than water.” The writing in the movie had better top that or there’ll be trouble. One small bit of news is that Jamie Lee Curtis’ mother, Janet “Psycho” Leigh, will be joining her daughter in this one. Also, Killing Mrs. Tingle is now known as “The Kevin Williamson/Robert Rodriquez Project.” Can’t wait to get the album.
Now, a quick word on the DreamWorks event. Cool. The product reel was made up of Paulie (a Babe-like film about a talking bird who really says what he thinks), Small Soldiers (a Joe Dante film that kind of combines Toy Story and Gremlins as toy soldiers get a computer chip that was meant for real war. Explosions ensue.), Steven Spielberg‘s WWII drama, Saving Private Ryan (almost no footage here, but the “saving” is an attempt to keep Ryan (Damon), alive after three of his brothers have been killed in the war already), Neil Jordan‘s In Dreams (a psychological thriller with a creepy Robert Downey Jr., invading Annette Bening‘s dream world), and the animated bible flick, The Prince of Egypt.
The lowdown is that everyone expects Spielberg to make a good movie, but without footage, Pvt. Ryan was a non-issue. Paulie got some smiles and some groans. In Dreams wasn’t a big hit as a preview, but it could be a great movie. Prince of Egypt was impressive and beautiful, but theater owners I talked to still wondered if audiences would sit down to an animated drama. And the smash hit was Small Soldiers, which looks like a big fat money machine. Lots of merchandising and incredibly clever. And best of all, if the dialogue is flat, it can be redone without reshoots. So, while Prince was all the buzz going in, Small Soldiers had the king as we exited.
The DreamWorks party that I’ve been raving about was an open house at Spielberg’s GameWorks, the ultra-up-to-date, ultra-cool video game haven that will soon turn up in a city near you. Everything was open and everything was free. Alcohol, fried foods, women in short skirts, and all the video games you could play. An 8-year-old boy’s dream. And if you looked at the faces of most of the men, you could see that the dream had come true. More on this, including photos, in next week’s ShoWest feature.
Tomorrow, the ShoWest Awards and a wrap up on the week in Vegas. Or go back in time and read Day One, Day Two or Day Three.

SoWest: Day Three

The biggest news of Day Three was that there was almost no news at all. For years, Warner Bros. has thrown the Wednesday luncheon event, proclaiming, “Wednesday is Warner Day!” Not this year. Between Batman and Robin, Mad City and the underperforming L.A. Confidential and Conspiracy Theory, Warner Bros. had little to crow about. And their only big film currently in production, Lethal Weapon 4, is in such a production rush to meet the summer release date, the stars probably couldn’t afford to spend even four hours in Vegas doing promotion. But Warner did end up with some representation on Day Three. After no studio came forward to sponsor an evening event for the day, Warner Bros. coughed up prints of a dozen Warner classics (Goodfellas being the only one from the last decade) for event-goers to enjoy on the big screen. But the evening spawned a running joke that took a page from yesterday’s Sony event, which had a theme of “what are you gonna give us this year?” The joke was, of course, that Warner would be giving us a bunch of old movies in 1998, since they had nothing better. Ouch.
New Line did take up the lunchtime slack, but the event was a slacker, even by New Line standards. The studio, which I think had a magnificent 1997, has become a bit of a ShoWest joke. Why? Their food. One year, conventioneers found bread sitting on their tables when they entered the massive ballroom (2,500 minimum are served in the main room every meal). So, people ate the bread. When the cold cuts that were meant to join the bread in sandwiches arrived, there was no bread left. Last year, the studio tried to be clever and promote the time-shift comedy Austin Powers with ’50s-style lunch trays. But the reproduction was a little too accurate. More than one ShoWester was heard asking waitresses, “What is that?!” It was turkey with a yellow sauce. I can’t tell you whether it tasted good because I fed mine to the cat. In any case, this year there was a very nice salmon lunch. But New Line wasn’t adding to their ShoWest budget. We got the fish, but we got no New Line souvenirs of any kind. Not even a Lost in Space key ring. And believe me, the people who come here, no matter how much money they have, want their key rings (or clocks, studio bags, T-shirts, mugs or baseball caps). Even worse, the parade of New Line stars was fairly weak. And none of them did anything but march onto the dais and sit down to lunch. Not a speech in the group. Not smart.
The product reel was a mixed bag. New Line is clearly devolving (or re- evolving, if you like) to their original vision as independent-minded filmmakers. If you don’t know, the studio started chasing higher budget scripts and film projects when Ted Turner bought the company. Since we became part of the Time/Warner family, New Line has been working overtime, with Ted’s blessings, to go independent again. As a result, the last of these Turner-era tentpoles is Lost In Space, with no other blockbusters in sight. The product reel for the rest of ’98 marked a return to genre films, many of them directed at black audiences, and art product from offspring, Fine Line Features.
The most promising films were: Rush Hour (the action comedy pairing of Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan), American History X (a drama about a family dealing with a history of bigotry and hate). Living Out Loud (a Holly Hunter film about a woman who finds herself after a difficult divorce). But best of all was Pleasantville, a comedy about a couple of 1990s kids who get sucked into the black and white world of a ’50s sitcom. Very clever, very funny and very heartwarming. (I’m an old softy, huh?) Blade looks like it may be OK, but the buzz hasn’t been great.
Woo is Jada Pinkett Smith‘s first solo lead in a major film and was terrific in the footage, but it was hard to tell whether it’s a one-note film from the little we saw. The Players Club, from director/writer/star Ice Cube, looks like it could be good, but it could just be brutality and sex. And Pecker, the new John Waters comedy, went without footage. A personal disappointment.
Tomorrow, it’s Miramax and the ShoWest Awards. If you’ve missed the last couple days, check out Day One and Day Two .
P.S. More about DreamWorks’ event in Saturday’s wrap-up and in next week’s feature. I’ll leave you with this. It was the best ShoWest party I’ve ever attended.
P.S.S. More on Godzilla. (Warning: Stop reading now if you don’t want to know what Godzilla looks like) I saw Godzilla today. He’s got three rows of sharp fins running down his back with blue highlights, much like the colors on some dinosaurs. Like a crocodile, his belly is a lighter shade of his overall skin tone. And he has the arms that Tyrannosaurus Rex wishes he had. More later.

ShoWest: Day Two

Well, it’s been an exciting day and it’s only half over. Things started out with Jack Valenti proclaiming, amongst many other things, that you, the people who see more than six movies a year (six is the average), are the very people that drive the domestic movie business these days, the key to annual increases in overall box office and number of tickets sold. But more on Jack will have to wait for my ShoWest feature, which will run next week.
Also on hold will be my analysis of the surprisingly strong Sony reel of 1998 product. After seeing the new campaign for The Mask of Zorro, I now believe that it can be a mega-hit. That is, if the whole movie is as intense as the reconceived trailer from Sony that puts the heart ahead of the sword. Sony’s attempt to bring back the musical, Dance With Me, could catch on with a sexy cast and a soundtrack that is likely to be a major crossover hit. Ian McKellan‘s performance in Apt Pupil looks to be every bit as powerful as touts on the Ain’t It Cool Web site have made it out to be. And, a still unnamed dramatic comedy from Mrs. Doubtfire writer/director, Chris Columbus, looks like a sure bet to grab 1998 Oscar nods for Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts. But, wait! I’m getting distracted. I’ll cover all this in depth next week. There’s another movie that I’m anxious to tell you about.
Godzilla.
Sony rolled out about 10 minutes of the film for the very first time in public. We saw his three-toed feet, his lanky lizard-like legs and his tyrannosaurus-like snout. But not the whole face or the whole body. The Big G stayed out of view as he moved between the buildings of Manhattan. And, it turns out, that’s the concept of this film. A scientist with a background in genetic anomalies caused by radiation, Matthew Broderick, rambles on about a 17 percent increase in size in creatures he discovered in Chernobyl, not noticing that he is explaining this while standing in a half-block long footprint. In Manhattan, the ground mysteriously shakes so hard that taxis bounce six inches of the ground with each thump. Cameraman Hank Azaria and fabulous babe, Maria Pitillo, go slack-jawed when Godzilla happens by. Azaria grabs his video camera, makes his move and ends up in a direct confrontation with Big Green’s foot. I won’t tell you what happens here, but it’s a great moment for the audience. New York is evacuated. Then Broderick, who is now trailing the monster, figures it out. Godzilla loves Manhattan because the buildings are so tall that he can hide there. He, Azaria, Pitillo and others head back onto the island to handle their little lizard problem. Kind of like a bigger, badder Jurassic Park. Explosions ensue.
On the down side, there is no White House-blowing-up money shot. Madison Square Garden is toast, but it’s not the same. And even after 10 minutes, you begin to realize that the whole Godzilla thing is kind of one-joke. But the writing by producer Dean Devlin and director Roland Emmerich keep things fun. Much like Larry Kasdan in his work with George Lucas (The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark), these guys understand what real people would say and think in the worst of circumstances, which always makes the audience laugh.
Just a quick note on the lead-in to the product reel. Ben Stein, who played Ferris Bueller’s teacher, chides Matthew Broderick by saying, “You’ve been on my case for 15 years!” And Sony took the opportunity to smack the other majors, who are not at ShoWest this year, with a promise to “beat the crap out of Fox … give Minnie and Mickey the bone … (and) make much more money than Sumner,” referring to Sumner Redstone over at Viacom, which owns Paramount. The jibes may have been a bit too hip for this room, but they were funny. Especially coming out of the mouths of Leslie Neilsen and Robert Goulet. But you’ll have to wait to hear more about them next week. Oh yeah. Vanna White hosted. (I’m such a tease.)
Until tomorrow,
David

ShoWest: Day one

ShoWest is a bit of a mixed bag for we Americans, on Day One. The entire day is focused on the international movie business. Domestic types are not invited, though my Amsterdam-based buddy Frank did attend and got a lovely watch from Disney for his efforts. More than they wanted to give Jeffrey Katzenberg and a whole lot less than it cost them to settle with him. (By the way, Katzenberg, the “K” in DreamWorks SKG, is hosting an event tomorrow night.)
The evening activity was a double feature of independent films. Attendees got their choice of two of four, including The Mighty, starring Sharon Stone, One Tough Cop, starring Stephen Baldwin, The Opposite of Sex, centered around a blonde Christina Ricci, and big-name-free Under Heaven. The only star who showed was Stephen Baldwin, who didn’t look too happy about the vast number of people who failed to recognize him. Sharon Stone should make up for absence with an appearance at the Miramax event on Thursday. I wish I could tell you I liked or hated any of them, but I missed the first screening after having to change my room twice at the New York, New York Hotel & Casino and when I got to the cocktail party in between, pallid descriptions of all four films helped me make up my mind to run out for dinner instead of subjecting myself to a mediocre movie and a midnight dinner. I have to be up for an 8 A.M. breakfast with Jack Valenti and a room full of other reporters to talk about the state of the industry. At 11:30, Sony goes Godzilla, and in the evening, its DreamWorks. The trade show also starts tomorrow and I’ll be gathering lots of cool junk that Andy Jones will be writing about in weeks to come.
But even before Sony starts its event, it’s made an impact with another smart visual display. You may remember hearing about the traffic-stopping Godzilla sign on New York’s Flatiron Building. Well, here it’s Bally’s that gets the Godzilla treatment. A five foot wide sliver of the building is green from top to bottom, painted with “He’s as tall as Bally’s,” with a Godzilla logo. Then, on the convention center directly next door, a five foot slab that runs from one end of the building to the other proclaims “His tail is longer than this building.” Standing on the sidewalk and looking at both signs at the same time, you can almost see the mammoth monster in your mind. You certainly understand that there is no way to escape his wrath. Very cool.
The buzz of the convention is the lack of the major studios. Warner Bros., who comes every year, passed this time. Nothing good to talk about, I guess. (I know.) Paramount and Fox couldn’t have foreseen the glow of Titanic back when they would have had to commit, so better safe than sorry, I suppose. And Universal doesn’t have a really big summer movie. Disney does (Armageddon and Mulan), but they couldn’t book the venue they wanted for their event. That’s disappointing, because Disney always puts on the best show. That leaves Sony, who I’m sure will tell us all about that fact tomorrow when they crow about the year of Men In Black (at least it was pre-Titanic) and the year of Godzilla by which we are about to be overwhelmed.
Until tomorrow,
David

Titanic vs Us Marshals

So, you want to know how Titanic survived the release of U.S. Marshals into every outhouse, doghouse, cathouse, rathouse and movie house this weekend? On Friday, U.S. Marshals actually beat Titanic by almost 20 percent, $5.1 million to $4.3 million. But by Saturday, bad buzz was catching up with Sam Gerard & Co. and they only went up about 50 percent when most films roughly double their take from Friday to Saturday. Titanic hit $8.3 million to U.S. Marshals’ $7.2 million. It got worse on Sunday with The Fugitive sequel dropping below Friday numbers ($4.8 million) while Titanic was about 30 percent above Friday ($5.4 million). What does this mean in the long run? Next week, The Man In The Iron Mask, a movie that no one has a good word for, will open over $20 million giving Leo the 1-2 split (with Titanic in the 2 slot, dropping about 15 percent to $15.3 million). U.S. Marshals looks like a 60 percent dropper, which is not good, but will still keep it in third place with about $8.5 million.
The poorly reviewed thrillers, Hush and Twilight, managed to tie for fourth place with $6 million each. It’s pretty hard to say whether that figure is a pleasant or unpleasant surprise. Neither film is likely to pass the $20 million mark in domestic box office, yet both were kind of dumped into theaters with minimal expectations, so what could their studios have expected? But, I am quite sure that PolyGram is deeply disappointed that the new film from the Coen brothers, The Big Lebowski, couldn’t muster more than $5.9 million for a sixth place finish.
THE GOOD: Titanic became the first film ever to pass $1 billion worldwide this weekend. And Jim Cameron won the Directors Guild Award, an award I feel he absolutely deserves. Among his comments: “I make movies for myself and I think of myself as the truck driver-audience member that I used to be. I’m making movies for that person, and if the critical acclaim comes it’s a bonus for me.” Cool.
THE BAD: Dark City dropped more than 50 percent in just its second week. This movie is far from perfect, but people are going to find it on cable and wish they had seen it on a big screen.
THE UGLY: The Boston reviews of Quentin Tarantino‘s stage debut in “Wait Until Dark” opposite fellow film refugee Marisa Tomei were really special. From Ed Siegel of The Boston Globe): “As the creepy psycho killer in this play, Tarantino packs about as much menace as Dennis, delivering his lines with a straightforward recitation in which his hands do more acting than any other part of his body.” He’s a little nicer to Marisa: “The only person to survive the charisma bypass operation performed on ‘Wait Until Dark’ by director Leonard Foglia is Marisa Tomei, and she, only by the skin-tightness of her jeans rather than her considerable acting talent, which she displays only in flashes in this production.” Well, maybe not. “When Tomei smiles, she looks more like she’s high than blind.” That said, the show has a remarkable $1.65 million in ticket pre-sales in New York. That’s more than 25 times as Jackie Brown did this weekend.
TWO BAD MOVIES EQUAL…: Hush + Twilight = Burn Career Burn. Paul Newman investigates why big-time actors Jessica Lange and Gwyneth Paltrow would subject themselves to doing a thriller with a first-time feature writer/director.
JUST WONDERING: Were you hoping, like me, that the SAG Awards would give you a hint about some of the tight Oscar races, especially the neck-and-neck contest between Kim Basinger and Gloria Stuart for Best Supporting Actress? No luck there. The two actresses tied for the award.
BAD AD WATCH: Love this one. Wide Awake, the Rosie O’Donnell comedy that is still weeks from opening, is offering glowing reviews from Jeff Craig of Sixty Second Preview (one of our faves) and Mike Lyons of the Long Island Parenting News. Yes. Long Island Parenting News. Oh, the humanity!
READER OF THE DAY: From Harris I: “Movies have always been those experiences that balance between illusion and reality. The best of them allow the viewer to enter that world portrayed, for better and worse.”

News By The Numbers

10. Seagal Gets The Joke: Steven Seagal has finally shown he can see himself through our eyes by casting himself as the 12th century Mongol Genghis Khan. He claims that the project will be a $40 million epic, but like his stomach, his ambition may be bigger than it appears on screen.
9. Movin’ On Up: F. Gary Gray continues to break ground for black filmmakers. Should this be news? No. But it is. After completing The Negotiator, the first film ever by a black director budgeted at more than $40 million, Gray will take on the sequel to The Nutty Professor, which is sure to weigh in at over $80 million. This is a big step toward making this kind of story a non-story.
8. Dead/Alive: J.T. Walsh passed away last week, but the show must go on and it will for Millennium Films’ Outside Ozona. Walsh’s untimely passing left an empty role and it’s being filled, in an incredible irony, by fellow “Unknown SoldierRobert Forster, whose career was dead but came back to life this year with his Academy Award-nominated performance in Jackie Brown. (For more on Walsh and other “Unknown Soldiers,” check out The Whole Picture).
7. Another Shade Of Walt: Walt Disney Pictures bought a pitch called Mad Mojo last week with an eye toward making it a summer action tentpole. It’s the story of a 2,000-year-old voodoo spirit that wreaks comic havoc in the present. But that’s not the important story. This is Disney’s first film to be centered around a black family. Welcome to the ’90s, guys. And keep an eye out for the voodoo spirit of Uncle Walt if he gets the trades on the other side.
6. Some Down Under Synergy: Paramount is finally going in to the studio theme park business. In Melbourne, Australia. After watching rival studios Disney, Warner Bros. (Six Flags) and Universal generate billions of dollars and untold good karma with their movie-oriented theme parks, Paramount will invest more than $100 million in the park/studio facility in what could be their first step toward opening studio parks in the U.S. Meanwhile, across the country in Sydney, Fox is also opening their first theme park/studio tour. The only theme park-free studio left? Sony. They could open a successful park with Men In Black and Godzilla alone.
5. Market, Schmarket: The American Film Festival laid a rotten egg this year. Word from some of the low-budget producers whose exploitation flicks usually dominate this market is that no one was buying the junk anymore. The few deals that were made were for pictures of $10 million or more. Brings a tear to the eye, huh? What will HBO run at 2 a.m.?
4. Stalkers Need Not Apply: Jonathan Norman was found guilty of stalking Steven Spielberg this week. Apparently, Norman thought that kidnapping and raping Spielberg would be a good way to get an acting gig. Wrong. He’ll be “auditioning” in a state prison for 25 to life.
3. Downey And In: The in-and-out saga of Robert Downey, Jr., continues. After spending three days “off campus” working on DreamWorks’ thriller, In Dreams (a.k.a. Blue Vision) and doing press for U.S. Marshals, the Los Angeles County Sheriff contested the judge’s ruling to let Jr. continue his movie career while behind bars, and won. No more outings for now. I was hoping to catch Downey and his crew of cops in Las Vegas at DreamWorks’ ShoWest event next Tuesday, but he’ll have to get his fill of gambling, drugs, sex and violence in the jail yard.
2. Pulp Friction: That Oscar-winning couple, Mira Sorvino and Quentin Tarantino, have officially broken up. We know because their publicists told us so.
1. The Immaculate Ms. Foster: Jodie Foster is pregnant. We know because Liz Smith told us so. Jodie confirmed. Foster told Liz, “I’m not going to discuss the father, the method, or anything of that nature.” I certainly don’t know how it happened, and there’s no boyfriend to ask, but how’s this for a coincidence? Thanksgiving was exactly 100 days ago.
READER OF THE DAY: From Erik T: “Tell me: How in heck can I smuggle my way into the ShoWest convention and act like a theater owner? Do they need volunteers? How about press? I have an old press pass from my college newspaper. Would that work?”

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

This weekend could be the ugliest yet of the new year. Titanic is likely to lead the pack yet again with about $17 million because the reviews of U.S. Marshals are incredibly bad. It’s a big movie with a couple of big stars, but then again, so was Sphere and that barely opened. Personally, I think that Hush could rise up and take U.S. Marshals by surprise in the race for second spot. Hush just seems to me like a sleeper after months without a good thriller. We’ll see. The Big Lebowski seems like a sure bet to generate at least $10 million from Coen Brothers freaks (like me) alone, which should put it in the top four for sure. And Twilight, which hits a relatively limited number of screens, could be the $2.5 million embarrassment of the weekend. Or worse, all four new releases could take a dive, much like last weekend, except that this weekend, you’re looking at $150 million worth of product that could be hitting the wall in its first week out. Ouch.
THE GOOD: We should be able to say goodbye to Senseless and Krippendorf’s Tribe after this weekend.
THE BAD: Both will turn up on video.
THE UGLY: Nothing really ugly this weekend (and as you can tell from the above, not much good or bad either). In the dictionary under the word mediocre, there is a link to this weekend. I suggest that you go to the Oscar contenders that you haven’t seen yet and get ready for The Man In The Iron Mask, which hits theaters next weekend.
TWO BAD MOVIES EQUAL: Kissing A Fool + The Replacement Killers = Kissing A Killer. After being rebuffed by moviegoers, David Schwimmer goes back to the “Friends” set and mows down the entire cast with a machine gun after Rachel refuses to marry him. (She saw his movie.) The cast is replaced next season by the kids from “Dawson’s Creek.”
JUST WONDERING: Would anyone actually notice if My Giant went right to video?
BAD AD WATCH: I know that Harry Knowles is excited, but could there be any less valuable a critic than the pseudonymous Agent Apple Crisp, whose review is now quoted by Disney in ads for Burn Hollywood Burn? Perhaps. I am saddened that Twilight, a film loaded with incredibly talented people, has to stoop to quoting KMSB-TV, Rolling Stone, Sixty Second Preview, the L.A. Times Syndicate (not the paper), Larry King, KPRC-TV and non-network-level reviews attributed to Fox and NBC.
READER OF THE DAY: From RyanBP: “U.S. Marshals is going to BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB. First of all, if you look at the commercials, replace Wesley Snipes with Harrison Ford and you have the trailer to the Fugitive. The producers are doing nothing to distinguish the two films and not much to link the two of them. Said to be “From the producers of The Fugitive,” then touted as being the remake it will probably end up being. I always liked Tommy Lee Jones and Wesley Snipes and wish them the best, but for the future of this film, it looks pretty dim.”

The Whole Lawsuit

Today’s column is for adults, teenagers and precocious pre-adolescents. Parental Guidance is suggested for parents who can’t deal with sex.
THE WHOLE LAWSUIT: The plagiarism lawsuit over The Full Monty seems to be as inappropriate as the one recently settled by DreamWorks over Amistad in which Barbara Chase-Riboud unsuccessfully claimed legal rights to history. The plaintiffs du jour, playwrights Anthony McCarten and Stephen Sinclair, claim the rights to the idea of out-of-work Brits who end up baring it all, saying it was stolen from their play, “Ladies Night.” One problem. In addition to the plaintiffs’ play, there were TV projects by the BBC and Granada TV in development along the same lines when The Full Monty went into production. The specific matching points the writers claim infringed on their work? One black character, one ambiguously gay character and one character with impotence and a failing marriage. I went out to dinner last night and those three guys were sitting at the next table. Fortunately, they left their hats and the rest of their clothes on.
THE FULLER MONTY: It’s hard for Hollywood to remake a successful English-language film, but America had its own male strippers long before the Brits. Men In Black director Barry Sonnenfeld has signed on to direct the life story of Steve Banerjee, the man who created Chippendales. The studio, Disney, is calling the story “the Casino of the male dancing industry” (Wasn’t Casino the ‘Sunset Boulevard’ of the Las Vegas bimbo industry?). But Sonnenfeld has too much of a sense of humor to play it that straight, laughing “I love the idea of doing Chippendales at Disney.” Can’t wait to see his version of the seven dwarves.
MORE THAN A SCENT OF HEATHER: Come on you Heather Graham fans, stand up and clap your hands: she’s made it above the title for the first time as the star of Committed, a comic road trip romp that’s expected to end up at Miramax. The actress, who has become one of teen America’s favorite obsessions since baring it all, rather impressively, in Boogie Nights, is up next in Lost In Space, then gets serviced on screen next month by Robert Downey Jr. in a way that is driving the MPAA nuts in Two Girls and A Guy, and is about to start shooting Bofinger’s Big Thing, a completely non-pornographic comedy co-starring Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy. As if that weren’t enough, she graces this month’s Details wearing nothing but Oscar gold. Just goes to show you, Hollywood loves roller skates.
FA FA FA FA FA, FA FA FA FA: When I bought Bret Easton Ellis‘ “American Psycho” almost 10 years ago, it came with a note from the bookstore that said they were only selling it because they believed in the First Amendment. The book was that grotesque. It was the grisly tale of an obsessive-compulsive Wall Street yuppie who likes to dismember the women in his life with power tools. And now it will be coming to a theater near you. Aren’t you lucky? The film will star Christian Bale (the kid from Empire of the Sun), Jared Leto (Prefontaine) and the right man for any movie with “psycho” in the title, Willem Dafoe. No actresses have signed on to subject themselves to this abuse. Yet. (And if you don’t get the headline, think Talking Heads.)
THE UNREAL BLONDE: Ever see a fake naked picture of a major movie star who doesn’t do nudity? They’re all over the ‘Net. Now, Alyssa “I Won’t Take Off My Clothes More Than A Dozen Times Per Movie” Milano‘s mother has started a business called Cyber-Trackers, dedicated to tracking this kind of material (and legitimate stuff too) for stars who sign up with her. And the service only costs $2000 a month. But isn’t this kind of like Tracy Lords‘ mother starting up “Virgin-Finders?”
READER OF THE DAY: From D. Gary: “The problem with Leo right now is just the typical backlash that occurs when a star is over-hyped. I used to enjoy his work, but now I am totally sick of him! Therefore, I definitely won’t be going to see The Man in the Iron Mask. I have had my fill of him. Ditto John Travolta. Take him away, please!”

Ranting & Raving

These are the dog days of Hollywood. Sports fans will recognize it as the Swimsuit Period. That’s the time between the end of the Super Bowl and March Madness (that’s the NCAA basketball tournament, for those of you who aren’t sports fans) where there just is no good reason to sit in front of a TV with the testosterone flowing and a six pack by your side. So this is when Sports Illustrated takes advantage of the lull and puts out an issue of semi-nude women that sits on news racks for about a month.
In Hollywood, it’s the December charge that creates the lull; all those “quality” movies hitting screens within two weeks of one another, all hoping for Oscar nominations. Some go wide immediately. Some wait. Some get their nominations. Some don’t. But as a result, January, February and March get very little play outside of the Academy Award push. It’s dump, dump, dump your crappy movies. From the first of the year until last week, the only big studio release worth watching has been The Wedding Singer. The Borrowers is terrific, but it’s marginalized as a kids’ film. Last week, Dark City showed up and was worth a viewing, but audiences so bored by the stream of Blues Brothers 2000s and Deep Risings and Spice Worlds couldn’t get excited enough to leave their houses.
At next week’s convention for theater owners, ShoWest (which The Hot Button will be covering daily starting Tuesday, March 10), exhibitors will be screaming, “We want more quality product in the first quarter!” They scream it every year. But the studios, who have become more aggressive in the non-holiday portions of spring and fall, tend to stay out of the pre-Oscar period. The logic will be obvious if you look at the box office. Three wide releases last week and none passed $6 million. Sphere crashed into the ocean and The Replacement Killers is struggling to generate $20 million domestic.
But which is the chicken and which is the egg? Are the studios holding back product because it’s doomed to fail or is failure inevitable because the material is terrible? Fox took advantage of the lull last year with its Star Wars re-release, effectively making them the only real story of the Swimsuit Period. This year, Titanic took advantage of the lull. I would suggest that audiences sense the lull and don’t trust the films that arrive fresh in the theaters. But with Titanic maintaining the $20 million a week pace for months, how can studios argue that people won’t show up for a good movie?
At least it’s almost over. U.S. Marshals, The Big Lebowski and Hush make this a legitimately big weekend, even though some would say that all three are inferior films that are really being dumped. I haven’t seen them, but that’s the buzz. The Man in the Iron Mask is next, then Primary Colors,and on April 3, the first real mega-movie of the year, Lost In Space. Or is it really the first film of summer?
ROTD: Readers responded to Monday’s “Reader of the Day” by showing a lot of support for Leonardo DiCaprio, especially for his role in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. One reader saw something else in Ryan N’s comment. From Matt B: “Why so much hate toward Ms. Heche? Is it homophobia? Could it be that she does quality films instead of mainstream thoughtless flicks? Perhaps Ryan’s adversity toward Anne Heche speaks more about him than it does her. Don’t worry, Ryan, there will be plenty of mindless, hate-mongering films out there for you to fling your money towards. That just means I won’t have to put up with narrow-minded idiots, like Ryan, when I go to the movies — such as ones that Anne Heche will star in. My view on Anne Heche is that she is a very versatile, talented, character actress.”
Ryan N. responds: “I realized afterwards that my comment bashing Anne Heche in a letter wondering why everyone felt the need to constantly bash Leonardo DiCaprio was pretty hypocritical. I get pretty overzealous when it comes to the stars on my A-list. That said, my problem with Anne Heche has absolutely nothing to do with homophobia. Whom I like to watch on screen depends on how much they appeal to me, and how much their performances consistently move me and impress me — it has nothing to do with their personal life. Anne Heche has never left a positive impression on me. She just doesn’t appeal to me. I’ve never cared much for her performances, or most of the films she has been in. If you think I’m narrow-minded, so be it.”

It's About Time

IT’S ABOUT TIME: Paramount has joined the rest of the movie business by finally starting up their own art house label. Still unnamed, the division will be headed by veterans from Fine Line (a division of New Line) and Fox Searchlight (20th Century Fox) in hopes that Paramount, which is one gimpy studio outside of Titanic, can re-legitimize itself with Hollywood’s talent pool (That means no more SNL movies, Ms. Lansing!). Miramax has been chalking up money and Oscar nods for Disney for years. October Films got sucked up into the Universal black hole earlier this year, just in time to lose steam. And Sony Classics, pretty much the old man in this group, just keeps chugging along. The only studio still holding out is Warner Bros., the home of the $30 million art film (see: Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil). Must be Chris Pula‘s fault.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH: The winner of the race to get the role of Andy Kaufman in Man In The Moon, Milo Forman‘s biopic on the late, great comic actor, is Jim Carrey. What’s surprising is that Carrey not only screen tested for the role, but he almost didn’t get it. It came down to Carrey and Edward Norton, whom I would think was perfect casting. But Carrey, a close friend from the old stand-up days, apparently “became” Kaufman in the short screentest, performing with Kaufman’s actual bongos. This could be the film that moves Carrey permanently from “funny, crazy guy” to “actor,” as Kaufman’s story, including death by cancer at 33, is sure to be poignant in Forman’s hands.
HOT ITEM: C. Thomas Howell, Angie Everhart and Sammi Davis will star in Death Do Us Part. No one will care.
RUNNING TIME, RUNNING WILD: People complain these days that films are too long. Not these two. Krippendorf’s Tribe runs a barely studio acceptable one hour and 35 minutes after the studio cut enough of the film to make it watchable. And Eric Idle, star of Burn Hollywood Burn, says that cuts by screenwriter Joe Eszterhas actually made the film worse. Hard to imagine. But the film is left with a one hour and 23-minute running-time, despite a completely worthless slow-mo title sequence and credit-roll complete with outtakes that interrupt the credits instead of running alongside. Together, they waste about eight minutes. I would have preferred the 75-minute version.
HULK NO LIKE: It would appear that Universal is balking at the estimated $100 million budget for a movie version of “The Incredible Hulk,” featuring a major load of ILM computer effects. What were they expecting with that kind of CG fest? These are the same guys who kicked in $115 million for lava in Dante’s Peak. Even worse, Universal will apparently fill Hulk’s slot in the line-up with a Flintstones sequel. Yabba-Dabba-Ugh.
READER OF THE DAY: From Brooks C: “Are you like me? Are you of the opinion that a movie can only make money on the basis of a nifty trailer or a sequel title? Look at the success of Men In Black (last year’s best trailer), The Lost World (anyone see the trailer?) and Titanic. Just this past week, we saw how The Wedding Singer can pack ’em in on sheer novelty. Unfortunately, the two best movies of the year, L.A. Confidential and Boogie Nights couldn’t find enough zingers to edit into the previews.”

OK, kids. Hold onto your hats. This is not a misprint. Titanic grossed less than $20 million this weekend. I know! It’s horrifying. $19.7 million, ending the longest streak of $20 million weekends ever at 10. But Titanic was not the only film to sink this weekend and the others didn’t have a $900 million life raft. Dark City couldn’t muster up more than $5.5 million. Krippendorf’s Tribe hit the crapper with $3.2 million. And David was Schwimmering with sharks, as Kissing a Fool smooched the dirt with just $2.2 million in ticket sales. The only negative that could be seen as a positive was Caught Up, a crime drama that grabbed $2.4 million despite a minimal promotional push for the film. The only truly happy note is The Wedding Singer, whose $9 million showing left it $1 million shy of a $50 million domestic gross after its third week of release. A sweet movie and a sweet success for all involved.
THE GOOD: Not much this weekend. I guess it’s good that so few people bit on Krippendorf’s Tribe. And of course, any box office weekend that makes movies by the stars of “Friends” less likely is OK by me.
THE BAD: The weak weekend automatically reduces Dark City to a video cult hit. It is a flawed film, but it really should be seen on a big screen if it’s going to be seen at all.
THE UGLY: I’m giving this week’s ugly over to David Denby, critic from New York Magazine. His review of Sphere in its entirety: “At the end of Sphere, the three principals — Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson and Sharon Stone — agree, for the good of humanity, to forget everything that has happened to them in the movie up to that point. This is a pact I can only rush to join, and with exactly the same motive. There are just some things that humankind is better off not knowing about.”
JUST WONDERING: Did the rest of you note the passing of character actor J.T. Walsh? I certainly did. I’d go on now, but I’ve already shot my wad on this week’s chapter of The Whole Picture. It’ll be available on Wednesday.
TWO BAD MOVIES EQUAL: Burn Hollywood Burn + Krippendorf’s Tribe = Burn Krippendorf Burn. Disney’s hilarious sequel stars our own Andy Jones as a pissed off reporter who burns Richard Dreyfuss alive until he doesn’t actually need any make-up to convince his college peers that he’s discovered a tribe of the walking dead.
YOU’RE GONNA MAKE IT AFTER ALL: I noticed this weekend that Mary Richards line-produced The Borrowers. She made it to Hollywood from Minneapolis after all. Up until now, I thought she was spending all her time losing weight and getting face lifts.
BAD AD WATCH: The pull quotes are in on Kissing A Fool. Loving it as only they could are Lisa Best from Global, Olivia Fierro from KTTV, Bobbie Wygant of KXAS, Brian Carroll from The Interview Factory Radio Syndicate and last but not least, Byron Allen, whose talk show, “Entertainers,” is known for its kissing. Kissing that has to be done before the guest sits.
READER OF THE DAY: From Ryan N: “I’m quickly realizing that I’m about the only person who visits this site that actually thinks Leonardo DiCaprio is very talented. For those who aren’t fans…if you don’t like Leonardo, why are you going to see his films? I avoid the people I don’t like. I wouldn’t pay to see Anne Heche in a film even if her performance cured the common cold. And that will not change.”

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon