Weekend, 23-24 October 1999

NEWS BY THE NUMBERS

10. GETTING IT WRONG: Warner Bros. made the great choice of hiring Out of Sight screenwriter Scott Frank to write a new version of Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Then, they went out an hired Gary Ross to direct the film. WHAT?!?!?! I think Ross is one of the best writers of wistful comedy in the business. But he is not a great director. His work in Pleasantville never matched the quality of the idea. I don't get it. Of course, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura is the also the man who has boosted the careers of such directors as Joel Schumacher, Jeremiah Chechik and Paul Anderson. The studio finally seems like it has gotten itself together and now this obvious misstep. I'm not saying that Ross should never be allowed to direct again, but something less iconic would be a better way to build a still young new career.

9. ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST: Speaking of directing problems, the Brothers Farrelly have said goodbye to Peter Berg and hello to a 1st Assistant Director named J.B. Rogers to helm the next movie from the brothers-as-producers ... no writing, no directing. The stories about the change suggested that Berg has "scheduling conflicts," but anyone who isn't on an Australian set with Tom Cruise right now is probably lying when they use that excuse. Berg became notorious for being finicky through the production and release of his first film, Very Bad Things. I can't even imagine how obnoxious one would have to be to piss off the relatively mild-mannered Farrellys. But I'm betting that's Berg's real conflict.

8. DVDo: Another landmark in the history of DVD is here. New Line will release Detroit Rock City on DVD before it releases the film on video. Why? Well, the studio seems to feel that the film could be a popular DVD purchase for the holidays while it doesn't have much belief in the title as a traditional video, releasing it at "rental price," which is usually around $100 and not the $19.95 that sell-throughs are sold for. Not exactly The Matrix selling 1.5 million copies on DVD, but every step counts.

7. MORE FIGHTING: You've all put up with a lot of Fight Club squealing in the column lately. So, if you are really sick of it, skip this button. But while I was travelling Monday, The New York Times, in the persona of Bernie Weinraub, was busy perpetuating the rumor that Fox was pulling its ads from The Hollywood Reporter even though the studio told the reporter that the story wasn't true. In fact, I am told by the studio that they ran ads in the trade on Friday the 15th, three days before the Weinraub story ran. Have you noticed that Bernie Weinraub seems to be in the middle of every screwed up story in Hollywood lately? Honestly, I'm sick of being left to clean up after him. (I know, that sounds kind of obnoxious, but it's true.)

Now, I have no idea how seriously Fox considered pulling their ads for a period of time. Apparently very serious. Though it seems a little odd that The Reporter's publisher, Bob Dowling, has been reported to have told people that he was threatened by the studio, but the date and specific cause of the threat has never been clarified. More to the point, Weinraub forces the idea that Fox was threatening to pull ads based on both the column item that ran on October 8 and the Anita Busch editorial that ran on October 12. My personal experience is that adding it all up to "caustic comments" is completely misleading. In my conversations with Fox, they were very upset about the October 8 item crossing the line. (Once again, I wrote my similar opinion about that piece before I ever had a chance to talk to Fox.) However, in conversations with various people on October 12, it was generally said that regardless of how anyone felt about Ms. Busch's editorial, that was not a fighting offense because it was clearly an editorial. Weinraub was, I am told, told all this. Weinraub's story does not include a single comment from Fox or even a suggestion of what Fox told him, which included their public position that there was no boycott coming.

But he was busy drawing analogies to Paramount's 1992 fights with both trades; with The Hollywood Reporter about conflicts expressed over the marketing of Juice and with Variety about what the studio considered a too-harsh review of Patriot Games. Also, he connects this to the fight between The Los Angeles Times and Sony over Last Action Hero. None of these situations are analogous. Weinraub doesn't even bother to attempt to answer the question of whether the October 8 piece crossed the line of reasonable news content into being commentary fashioned as news. Oddly, he never even mentions the trade's review of the movie. And so, a story that was over before Friday the 15th got another week of life for no good reason.

6. MORE WEINRAUB INSANITY: One of Weinraub's recent moments of trouble was his walkout at Bringing Out The Dead, a fact that never was news and never should have been reported, but was. But what do I see in my Friday New York Times? Bernie Weinraub bylining a series of movie stories led by Bringing Out The Dead. I don't know if Joe Connelly knew about Weinraub's walkout, but Paramount must have known before giving him access to the novelist. Is this an act of desperation or insanity on their part or is it just business as usual? One Weinraub sentence really knocked me for a loop: "(The film) tracks the Cage character to the brink of collapse, as he is engulfed in a world of the dead and dying: a world that is sometimes horrifying, sometimes funny." Maybe Weinraub went back and saw the rest of the movie. Maybe not. But it's ironic that Jeff Wells, who snitched on Bernie in the first place, is still, at least in his opinion, on double secret probation at Paramount for having created a bad buzz for Bringing and the guy who walked is getting access to the novelist. Ugh.

5. THE PRICE IS RIGHT: It's nice to see a story about a young star getting a pay raise without feeling my eyeballs spring out of my sockets. The actor in this case is Ryan Phillippe, whose price has risen to $1 million for a movie called Anti-Trust. And you know what? He's probably worth exactly that much to the movie. People always seem to misunderstand, so I will remind you, that an actor's price and his acting are not reflective of one another. Money is about grosses and quality acting is about quality acting. So, how much of an audience does Ryan Phillippe guarantee a movie? A few million worth. So, the price is a good one. And if he keeps making hits, the price will and should rise.

4. MAY THE BULLWHIP BE WITH YOU: Spielberg, Lucas and Ford are doing everything they can to cause geeks worldwide to drool in anticipation. Lucas says these magical words on the promotional materials for the re-release of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade: "We have a script; it's all finished." That may be, but the big question still seems to be, when will they find time to make the movie? Lucas will be doing Star Wars prequels for the next five years. Spielberg isn't available until, probably, early 2001. And Ford, well, we don't have to worry about Random Hearts 2. We'll see where it goes. All good things in time. I hope.

3. DREAMING OUT LOUD: Speaking of Spielberg, DreamWorks celebrated its fifth anniversary on October 13. God, seems like yesterday. It's been an interesting ride for Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen. They have tried to change the way things are done in Hollywood, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. The big question has been whether the economics of being a stand-alone studio has really worked for Steven Spielberg. Will the troika that owns the company be together for a tenth birthday? I don't know. They insist that they will. But it's is hard to imagine. They already dumped the future weight of owning a physical studio of their own. How much more weight is still to be dumped for the sake of flexibility? All things in time. No way to avoid it.

2. JUST FOR VARIETY:: The title was "Geek gossip freaks pic biz" and I think that overstates the case. In fact, I think the authors overstate a lot about the Net. But I want to know what you think about Variety's look at movie Web sites. Read it here.

1. REAL GOOD: The Academy is making a good faith effort to make the process of Oscar nominations for documentaries more fair. After being beat up over bad non-nominations like Hoop Dreams, Roger & Me and The Thin Blue Line, there will now be a group of documentarians who will pick 12 semi-finalists each year. Those 12 films will then be screened in New York, L.A. and San Francisco and any Academy member who has seen most of them can then vote for the five nominees. The final vote is Academy-wide. Sure, there will still be fights. But any first step is a good step.

READER OF THE DAY: From Honest Man: "I have to say that I was getting really worried about how Bringing Out The Dead was going to turn out. First off, the previews were horrible. I thought it looked like Trainspotting on an ambulance, not a solemn ghost story. Furthermore, I have heard virtually nothing about this movie. No buzz, no hype, nothing. The only thing I heard was that story about the guy from the NY Times walking out. That meant nothing since the guy isn't even a critic and apparently left because it was too violent. So I had to ask, why isn't anybody talking about this one? A new Martin Scorsese picture should be something that gets discussed relentlessly for weeks leading up to its release. I assumed that this couldn't be good. So I can't tell you how happy I was to read Peter Travers' glowing review today in Rolling Stone. I don't recall you writing anything about it which surprises me considering how much you loved Kundun (as I did) and how much you were talking up Eyes Wide Shut (obviously a different situation but ultimately a movie from another master filmmaker). Not to go off on a tangent, but I find it disconcerting that many people think Scorsese is past his prime and that his work has been suffering of late. As far as I'm concerned, Kundun is a flat-out masterpiece, and Casino is one of my favorites (it's not Goodfellas etc., but it's still way up there). Anyway, I would really like to know if you think the relative silence leading up to the release is a story in and of itself.

Also, I saw Being John Malkovich last night and it is really something incredible. I can't think of anything to compare it to because it's so different and bizarre (Brazil does come to mind). The fact that from the beginning you are in a world inhabited by people who's motivations are so bizarre, you get the feeling that absolutely anything, no matter how bizarre, can happen, and as it turns out, it does. The movie does not try to explain its bizarreness, it's just there to be seen. John Cusack gives his career performance so hopefully the Academy is watching.

Disclaimer: I work for USA Networks which owns USA Films.

And for the record, huge thumbs up on Fight Club, American Beauty, Three Kings, and Boys Don't Cry.

E ME: Cigars? Cigarettes?