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March 8, 2004It’s about that time…
The fire on three stories – Oscar, The Passion Of The Christ and The Passion Of The Disney Done Wrong – has burned so brightly in the last few weeks that not only is there little left but embers about now, but the new shipment of firewood shouldn’t be expected for a while.
The second weekend of The Passion was solid, but so were the openings of Starsky & Hutch and Hildago… but those two stories will have to find reporters who aren’t too exhausted to care.
The New York Times allowed Frank Rich to continue to embarrass himself and the paper with yet another Mel Gibson obsession piece over the weekend. All I can think is that some editor decided “We’re not going to let Mel Gibson tell us what to write!” and let Frank continue to babble. Meanwhile, Mel, ever his wacky self, gave Sharon Waxman the “She’ll get hers” schtick in some interview somewhere. Oy.
And yet… boring.
No one seems to be writing the most significant story about The Passion at this point, which is that after almost two full weeks in at least three English-speaking countries, there has not been a legit report of violence stemming from the film. Not one. And while I still maintain that the film is clearly anti-Semitic – not because it claims that Jews had the lion’s share of responsibility for the death of Christ, but because every other “bad guy” gets an out and the Jews who are not Christ’s family or disciples are all pretty cartoonish – I must say that this reality is yet another reason why The Passion is moving to the inside pages of the papers this week.
Meanwhile…
The Michael Eisner disembowelment seems to have quieted down a bit over the weekend. But leave it to the New York Times, which is reading a lot more like the New York Post lately, to whip up a meringue out of ingredients that have been sitting around the kitchen for years. This time, it’s Bill Carter, who may not be at all responsible for the headline and photo of Eisner that accompany his “ABC Under Disney: Magic, Yes. Kingdom, No.” piece. Unfortunately, nothing in the story, which focuses mostly on some of the reality programs that have not ended up on ABC, actually can be connected to Michael Eisner’s fingerprints. Moreover, the story is pretty much driven on Mark Burnett’s word about how deals for Survivor and The Apprentice went down, even though his claims are directly refuted by Disney execs. Also, buried near the bottom of the story, the small point that The Apprentice ultimately got a record-breaking $24 million, 16 episode commitment from NBC without so much as a pilot to go on. But more disturbing, Carter, one of the industry’s best reporters, failed to fill out the story much beyond the claims. Like so many reporters in recent weeks, he got access to Disney execs, but then failed to ask the key questions. Even if there were “no comments,” they would be a lot more substantive than a bunch of unnamed sources.
And yet… this one’s about to go subterranean for a while. If Stanley Gold is right and Eisner is out by the end of March, I will be the first to line up to buy Mr. Gold’s magic beans, because the villagers seem ready to put down the pitchforks and torches for a while and have a latte.
And the Oscars… over. Mwha ha ha!!! If the schedule were the old one, we’d be discussing how The Golden Globes helped Cold Mountain grab an Oscar nomination for Best Picture and the Best Actress battle between Aussie pals Naomi Watts and Nicole Kidman.
Sigh…
Meanwhile…
Gerry Rich landed at Paramount with a whimper, not a bang. The man has fans and the man has enemies, but the bottom line is still that his offer sheet made at least a baker’s dozen for the studio before someone said yes. On the good side, this is the guy who launched Hannibal, which was the biggest February opener before this year’s record-breaking whip, nail & come back for more epic.
After being off for 20 years, Terrence Malick is double dipping with projects, pushing back Che with Benecio so he can have Colin Farrell fall for Pocahontas in The New World. Two films from Malick in 3 or 4 years… ah… the mind boggles.
California Appeals Court judge Rueben Ortega has a new fan in me. When writing a dissent about the court’s decision to keep the David Manning suit rolling along, he wrote: “"I cannot see breathing life into this farce. Imagine the great contribution this case will make to our quality of life and to justice in America. A new day will dawn from which time no one will ever again be fooled by a promotion touting a movie as the greatest accomplishment of the ages. From that day on, all persons will be able to absolutely rely on the truth and accuracy of movie ads. No longer will people be seen lurching like zombies toward the movie theater compelled by a puff piece."
You can’t really defend the choice to create David Manning, but you can sure defend the human spirit from being spoon fed any more pabulum. I wonder how he feels about Janet Jackson’s boob… no, not her brother Michael.
Like I said… nothing to write about…
READER OF THE DAY: CUTE NAME HERE writes: “Could there be a more fitting commentary on Americans in general and in this case Christian ones in particular that late last year a well-received, supposedly faithful depiction of the life of Christ was released that to this date has amassed the whopping total of $3.7M while THE PASSION made that much in special church screenings alone? What's the difference? Well, gee, only one of them was directed by a real live movie star!!!! Those stupid Canadians and their THE GOSPEL OF JOHN have some no-name director called Phillip Saville while THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST is helmed by Mad Max.
To suggest that the box office of Gibson's passionate project has anything to do with an unmet need for religiously themed films, that it tapped into this untapped reservoir of the faithful who want to see their faith depicted on the big screen is specious reasoning with blinders on. If MY BIG FAT BOX OFFICE proved anything, it is that if there is an audience for a film they will find it in this day and age (look at the success of OFFICE SPACE on DVD as well).
No, THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST is racking up alot of lucre for the money changers at Newmarket simply because it's Mel fucking Gibson. The celebrity factor even takes into account the possible anti-Semitism controversy helping the PR - GOSPEL (as I think you pointed out in an earlier column) also has the Jewish leaders taking the blame for Christ's death. It's not about religion, it's about marketing.”
E ME: Are you ready for me to go to Bermuda and to leave you alone for a week?
