Weekend, 5-6 June 1999

NEWS BY THE NUMBERS

10. THE HUNT IS ON: Finally, a real witch hunt in Washington. I've long said that to have a witch hunt, you have to have a witch. That is to say, something that doesn't exist that you are prosecuting an innocent over. Well, Hollywood is hardly innocent, but it is not a witch either. And now President Clinton, fresh from pulling out of Kosovo (and God knows, who else) has joined the chorus. Unbelievable. The defender of minors. Unless they are a year or two over the age of consent. The nice thing about all this is that the Clinton Administration has proven incapable of following through with any of its initiatives, so I guess "V.I.P." and "The Pretender" are safe.

9. RANDOM NAME CALLING: Senator Joe Lieberman is a flaming jerk who should be forced to go to a remedial class in constitutional law. If you want to know why, click here.

8. GIVE ME AN OLLIE: If you are ever looking for a true relic of traditional business, you will now be able to stop by Oliver Reed's Pub in Valetta, Malta. No, it's not the place of his last business investment, but the last place he ordered one up, the last place he ran out on a bar bill and the last place he took a breath. Thousands have already flocked to The Pub, which is being renamed by the owner in Reed's honor. And remember, as you lie on the floor in a drunken stupor screaming for Aramis, D'Artagnon and Porthos, you have to pay your bill and you have to pay with Visa, not American Express...just kidding.

7. WHAT A DRAG: And on the subject of death, Charles Pierce died this week. Perhaps the most famous female impersonator alive pre-RuPaul, Pierce appeared in only 3 films, but his influence seemed to me to make the image of the drag queen more palatable across the country. Though he did once say, "I have no ambition to be the Liberace of the drag world." Sorry. He died at 72.

6. STRIKE THIS!: Canadian actors are considering going on strike. Apparently, getting most of the work that used to be in Los Angeles has made them as greedy as good old Americans. If the actor's union strikes, shows that shoot in Canada might move back to L.A., at least for a while. And New York can go back to looking like L.A. instead of looking like Montreal.

5. A NICE CHIANTI OF A BOOK: Silence of the Lambs is all the buzz of the New York publishing world and of course, the glossies are covering it as though the movie rights were still news. Too late. Already sold. The only question now is who is going to write the damned thing. Word is that Jonathan Demme is out because the sequel is too violent for his tastes and like Tom Clancy before him, Thomas Harris is now sticking his nose in the business of filmmakers and insists, in this case, that the violent tone be kept. For the record, the record price for the book was $10 million. Chris Petrikin from Variety was the first to report that Ridley Scott is nosing around the project. If he does direct, expect a sequel as different form the original as Aliens was from Alien. I just hope that it's as good in transition as the other series was.

4. HELLO AND GOODBYE: The trend of bringing in music video and commercial directors to make a movie pretty but not to have too much influence continues with Sam Bayer likely to take the helm of Get Carter for Sylvester Stallone. The producers are all experienced (Mark Canton, Neil Canton and Elie Samaha team), but the experience hasn't all been good. I'm afraid that Bayer has a good chance of going the way of two other first-time helmers, Anton Fuqua, who was emasculated on The Replacement Killers by fresh-from-her-Oscar® Mira Sorvino and Nigel Hespel, who got bounced from End of Days for not knowing his place on an Arnold picture. Fuqua ended up losing his second picture (Entrapment, nee' The Anton Fuqua Project") and Hespel will never work in this town again. (Well, not for a year or two.)

3. BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE $400 MILLION?: Disney and Jeff Katzenberg continue to fight. And like the baseball strike, no one really cares, do we? He wants $550 million-plus, they only want to give him $150 million. Boo Hoo! What drama. What agony. What a waste of time. The only reason this is a show trial is that we in the media are hoping for some good gossip. There hasn't been much. Cover it once, shame on them. Cover it twice, shame on me. Cover it three times, yawn.

2. "THAT'S NOT HAIR GEL, THAT'S BLOOD AND GUTS!: The video roll-out of Saving Private Ryan took the beach from There's Something About Mary and became the most rented title in its first six days ever, according to VidTrac. The drama took in $9.6 million in rentals over Memorial Day weekend. So, while George Lucas was stealing some of Steven Spielberg's records over the holiday, Spielberg was taking a record of his own (and keeping his 3-day weekend record to boot).

1. THE FORCE IS BREAKING UP!: The digital revolution comes to theaters in New York and L.A. in two weeks when The Phantom Menace is projected from bytes on 7 screens. There have been conflicting reports about whether the film would be sent by telephone wire or not. It looks like they may send the film by wire and then save it into a computer for projection, avoiding an interruption in the screening when Bennie Blanco from the Bronx calls up the All Night Party Line. No plans to project the film by cell phone have been announced, but it might not be bad. Jar Jar Binks would finally have his part in the film cut by half.

READER OF THE DAY: Not Brad Pitt wrote: "Your column about reporting on movies while they're in production hit home. I've been reduced to cursing the screen many a time over the last couple of years as sites like Harry's AICN are given more credence by the rest of the media. (See also The Drudge Report and its effect on the way "real" news is reported). While a lot of tidbits are offered as hearsay, seemingly more and more of the stories are proffered as fact. The "I read it on the 'Net so it must be true" mentality seems to be growing exponentially. Sure, some movies EARN their bad buzz and would be D.O.A. regardless but some pictures that deserve better get caught up in the wake and don't get a chance to find an audience. The older and wiser among us have learned to "consider the source" and I can always ignore these sites or stories personally (which I've started doing) but like you, I'm getting the feeling that more and more, people who make the decisions are listening to the wrong people. Sadly, I think things are bound to get worse before they get better.

This topic also leads to another pet peeve...that being script reviews. Why people would want to read a script before seeing a movie is beyond me. I can think of no better way to ruin the movie-going experience than knowing exactly where things are headed. AND, while I'm ranting...how about a column to address the sad state of critiquing in North America? Writing a review should involve communicating the essence of a movie and the reaction it provoked WITHOUT giving away the plot, any surprises or all the best lines. Spoilermania runs amuck. Finally, with regard to your actress column of the other day...I've always had a soft spot for Ally Sheedy ever since WarGames but no one else seems to look at her the same way. And you know what? I like it that way. Keep fighting the good fight."

E ME: Thanks for the support, Not Brad. I don't think this topic is going away too soon. And to read my story of Ally love, just check this out. I have a full weekend, so I'm going to run. But I want to hear from you on EVERYTHING!