11 January 2000

DEAL SETTING 2: The buzz of the day on Hannibal is Cate Blanchett. Great choice, acting-wise. And a clear indicator that Universal isn't pulling out (a silly extrapolation to begin with, based on a Stacey Snider comment about "deciding what to do," as though that wasn't standard operating procedure) because Cate Blanchett is not going to help them at the box office and, if they were pulling out, it would be for lack of a female box office star. On the flip side, telling Michael Fleming that Blanchett is one of two women in the running and that they wouldn't expose the other probably means that a) the other woman is a major box office star, b) the studio went public with Blanchett to put the squeeze on the bigger name to make a decision, c) they want to float Blanchett inside the industry and d) the studio was already worried about bad buzz about the film being cancelled and decided over the weekend to fight that buzz. So, Blanchett may be an unwilling pawn in Universal's game. I hope not. She deserves better.

ALSO FROM FLEMING: You know, if I haven't made it perfectly clear, Fleming is the outlet of choice for released movie info/ in Hollywood now and for about the last 5 years. That's why he is paid more than anyone at Variety (except, probably, Peter Bart). So, the truth is, if you are looking for the outlet that is really in competition with AICN, it is he. In any case, M.F. reports that both Harrison Ford and Kevin Costner are hooking up with talent agencies after years of staying out of the agency game. (Harrison Ford has been forever exclusive to Patricia McQueeney and Costner started doing deals by lawyer only a few years back.)

THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE: Big Daddy and Adam Sandler and The Sixth Sense and Bruce Willis. And for all of you critic bashers out there, now you see why we don’t trust the public. You can make a good film like The Sixth Sense while you are also praising a disappointing film like Big Daddy. Ah, the humanity.

READER OF THE DAY: B.S. writes: "Just curious, but was "The Two Thumbs Up by Roger Ebert and Harry Knowles" for Galaxy Quest the first time an internet critic has been mentioned in a TV ad to promote a movie? If it is, it's historical, and should be noted with celebrations and/or mass hysteria."

DAVID RESPONDS: I don't know...haven't seen the ad. I know that Harry's thumb and mine have made TV before, but I don't think there was a voice-over using either name, if that's what they are doing on Galaxy Quest.

McG writes: " David, David, David, what you forget in your comments about the CBC is that Canadians are constantly "buying" airtime from American sources. In the form of ABC, NBC, TNT, TBS, CBS...there is no shortage of cross-border viewing. The Canadian government is simply trying to create a forum for Canadian content. A truly exclusionary policy would remove the said networks from our airspace. Don't forget that the CBC is a public corporation; You don't complain about C-SPAN/ C-PAC do you? Besides, Canada doesn't have a lock on misguided and damaging politicians. Jesse Helms, anyone?

DAVID RESPONDS: Again, all of this is a symbolic issue. I don't care if the CBC ever buys another American movie. But for a government, whether local or national, that has been involved with bringing American money north of the border with tax subsidies to then say, "We object to spending tax money to buy American made movies" strikes me as hypocritical. And if the anti-runaway movement, to which I am not terribly sympathetic in general, wants a battle cry, this gives them one. As far as I know, C-SPAN has never made any rules about where their programming comes from. And Jesse Helms is an idiot and if he made a proposal like this in America (no Chinese movies in America until they open the commercial borders), I would object to that in this space as well. None of this capital really matters. How much money has been lost in SoCal to runaway production? Not enough to effect our economy in general. Which is why we will never get the American and even the California government to subsidize private, profit-driven filmmaking here. It's a point of pride, not hard dollars. And so, being told "no" by the CBC (and our PBS is heavily in bed with the Brits and what Canadian content providers there are) is a small slap on a big face. Some guys fight over a look. Some guys need to be hit. Others will never fight. It's all about degrees.

E ME: Cast Ocean's Eleven for S.S. and where do you draw the line?