Producer Alan Carr, the most popular caftan wearer ever, aside from our own Andy Jones, is back on the lot, prepping the Grease 20th Anniversary Star Wars-like re-launch, in which more than 1,500 screens will play the remastered version on the smash hit. Unlike Star Wars, there’s no extra footage highlighting new advances, like Olivia Newton-John being able to act. This could be Paramount’s one shot at cashing in on its status as The Studio of The ’70s after making little noise with re-masters of The Godfather and Chinatown. Remember, Paramount is now owned by MTV parent Viacom, so any film that requires an attention span may be out of their range.
Meanwhile, Carr, also in re-release, has finally recovered from the 1989 Academy Awards he produced. (Remember Rob Lowe and Snow White? Disney did. They sued the Academy for copyright infringement, eventually settling.) You’ve got to respect the guy. Carr was a Hollywood Queen when Queens weren’t cool and has since survived years of dialysis, multiple hip surgeries and back injuries, not to mention the ’70s themselves. And as Sondheim says, he’s still here.
Speaking of large men, has Willard Scott finally found the right movie vehicle? I hope not. Twentieth Century Fox has paid low-to-mid-six figures for Five Day Forecast, a movie pitch about an experiment that brings evil weather systems normally found only on other planets to earth. I guess they ran out of earthbound weather disasters. “Hail Storm: The Movie,” “Smog Alert” and “Seasonal Showers of Death” were all rejected by the studio. Al Roker will pull on the tights and cape to fight the interplanetary storms. Just kidding. But now that image is in your head. Mmwwwahhh-ha-ha-ha!
What, you think I’m a natural disaster? Email’s the word…