26-27 February 2000

4. And A Real Super Psycho @ New Line: If America has ever had a guy who acted in real life like a Marvel superhero, it would be Howard Hughes. He traveled by night, rarely seen, hidden by a mask, with more power than any man alive. Sounds like a superhero to me. And New Line's decision to jump on board the long-slow-moving train of the Hughes biopic is good news to me. When Mike DeLuca goes into business with Michael Mann and Leonardo DiCaprio, I'm a lot happier than when seeing another New Line teen horror show. (Yes, Body Shots counts.) More to the point, I'm happy to see directors the quality of Mann joining the New Line family of young quality directors that DeLuca has been so aggressive about developing. Let's hope that the deal holds together until early 2001, which is probably the earliest the film could fit into both Leo and Michael Mann's schedules.

3. A Place To Click: If you are a fan of business-side film coverage, there is an excellent article in New York Magazine this week about fallen financial maven Dana Giacchetto from Kevin Gray and Nikki Finke. It's a long read, but it is by far the most comprehensive look at the fall of this hot shot that I've seen.

2. The Temple of Dumb: Harrison Ford bailed out of Traffic, the Steven Soderbergh movie set up at Fox 2000, telling everyone that he was heading to an as-of-yet-undecided action movie. Yikes! I've already written about this (THB 2/25), but after seeing Erin Brockovich again on Thursday, it is clear that Ford may have taken a pass on a director who is about to be the hottest in Hollywood by almost any standard. Dumb da dumb dumb!

1. Agents v. Actors: After meeting with a bunch of major names about the issue of expanding the rights of agents to have a bigger financial investment in their client's futures (THB 2/24), William Daniels (suddenly being called "Bill" in The Hollywood Reporter) is now hoping to bring the issue to a vote of the entire membership. Daniels was elected in a firestorm as a John McCain-like outsider and while his initial choice to move forward seemed like a traditional power move, this decision and the pow-wow that preceded it seems to indicate that Daniels will not be a "business as usual" president for the union. I still say that an expansion of agents' rights or a restraint of managers' right is inevitable. The status quo of the moment is a joke to which everyone knows the words.

READER OF THE DAY: K.O. writes: "I disagree with the ROTD and her comments on Jodie Foster. 1.) She doesn't jack slap to anybody. Foster may be one of the greatest actresses ever. She is among the few actresses to make the transition from child star to a mature actress. (Movies like Freaky Friday to movies like Taxi Driver is quite incredible.)

2.) I'm glad she's not doing Hannibal. It has taken so damn long to get everything sorted for that film anyway. Give someone else a chance to shine in that role and maybe jump-start their career. (I still like the idea of Thandie Newton or another black actress.)

3.) The Silence of the Lambs did NOT make Jodie Foster's career, and once again she doesn't owe anything to anybody, as she had already won an Academy Award before SOTL in a MUCH better film, The Accused. I can think of tons of other films she has made that are better than The Silence of the Lambs.

So in defense of one of the greatest actresses, I will say that we owe something to Jodie for taking chances, and ditching on a project that everyone wants her to make, and going with her heart and wanting to direct Claire Danes in what will finally give Danes the opportunity to shine as the good actress she is.

E ME: Whadda ya say, whadda ya know?