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Wolverine Japan Adventure Is a Go

Roger Friedman
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Wolverine Japan Adventure Is a Go

78181 wolverine 341 Wolverine Japan Adventure Is a GoWolverine is heading to Japan, for real.

The next episode’of the’Hugh Jackman starrer is ready for a start next January.

Christopher McQuarrie, of “X-Men” and “Valkyrie” fame,’has finished the script that THR reported he was starting last August.

No director has been signed. And the script is a little different than originally thought.

Based on a story cycle by Frank Miller and Chris Claremont, Wolverine’s adventures in martial arts will be a love story featuring a Japanese actress, I am told. “It’s a beautiful story,” says a source, “and will be very different than the first film.”

In addition to “Wolverine in Japan,” don’t worry. There are plenty of X-Men movies on the drawing boards. The next one will bring back director Bryan Singer, who made the first two films. When Singer was sidelined with “Superman Returns,” Brett Ratner stepped in to make “X-Men: The Last Stand.” That film broke boxoffice records when it debuted.

Jackson Kids: No Supervision, Says Source

Roger Friedman
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Jackson Kids: No Supervision, Says Source

It’s no surprise to some insiders that Michael Jackson’s kids are being investigated by the Los Angeles Department of Family Services.

Remember the YouTube video I showed you a couple months ago? It showed the Jackson kids romping around a luxurious suite at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas on Thanksgiving.

Sources tell me that this latest adventure at Katherine Jackson’s Encino home is no surprise. Mrs. Jackson’s lawyer, Adam Streisand, has issued several denials. But TMZ reported that Jermaine Jackson’s son, 13-year-old Jaafar, ordered a pair of stun guns online. One of the guns may have been used on Blanket, Prince Michael II, and Prince, aka Michael Jackson Jr.

What I’m told is that Michael’s kids have little to no supervision. Nanny Grace Rwaramba is not living at the Hayvenhurst Avenue home, but making occasional appearances. Katherine Jackson, who’s 80, is simply not up to the task of watching all the kids who’ve been dumped in her home.

“Randy Jackson and Jermaine Jackson’s kids are running wild in the house,” says a source.

Indeed, Michael’s kids are now photographed with bodyguards or cousins their own age. But they are suffering, my sources say, from not having any parental figure.

Over Christmas and New Year’s, the kids spent the holiday with a New Jersey family whom Michael befriended years ago. That family has been the closest thing to normal for the Jackson kids.

“Paris especially needs a mother figure,” says a source. Many thought that Janet Jackson or her sister Rebbie would step up and take responsibilty for the kids. But so far that hasn’t happened. Janet, they say, is busy with her career. Rebbie has her own family. And with no Jacksons but Katherine left anything in Michael’s will, it’s unlikely that anyone in the extended family has an interest in dealing with Michael’s kids.

Remembering the Real Bill Murray

Roger Friedman
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Sad news this afternoon: Bill Murray — the real Bill Murray, not the actor — has passed away.

Bill was one of the most beloved figures in New York showbiz history. Just shy of his 70th birthday, Bill ran Celebrity Bulletin and Celebrity Service since 1979. (He actually started answering the phones there in 1977.)

With a charming presence and unflappable cool, Bill was the one who kept New York running all these years. How he kept all the publicists and journalists straight is a mystery. But if there was an event in New York that worth knowing about, Bill knew all the details.

He was also a terrific writer and had a sharp eye as a theatre and movie critic. I can think of so many times we’d laugh about films or plays that had been touted to us as “blockbusters” only to lay eggs in every direction. No one was more gently amused than Bill. He had a terrific sense of humor, a beautiful spirit, and a tremendous sense of friendship. I will miss him very much.

Sumner Redstone Is Dating Tom Cruise

Roger Friedman
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Sumner Redstone Is Dating Tom Cruise

cruise tom 150x200 Sumner Redstone Is Dating Tom CruiseIt was just three and three quarter years ago that Sumner Redstone kicked Tom Cruise out of the Paramount nest. Cruise’s crime? Jumping on Oprah’s couch, picking a fight with Matt Lauer — acting, basically, nuts.

Redstone didn’t like that stuff. He ended Tom’s deal at Paramount, and pretty much sealed him off from another “Mission: Impossible.” Tom went to MGM, took over United Artists, and made the dreadful “Valkyrie” after the boring “Lions and Lambs.”

Now, as Cruise awaits release of “Knight and Day,” with Cameron Diaz, Redstone is a fan again. Maybe he’s seen an early cut of “Knight and Day” and really liked it. All I know is this: Cruise and Katie Holmes, mother of Suri, were seen once again dining with Redstone over the weekend. This time the setting was Il Piccolino on North Robertson.

“Since Tom no longer has Paula Wagner, he’s working out the details of the next “M:I” himself,” says a source. Oy vey. At least Cruise has a director this time, J.J. Abrams. Back when he wanted to make “M:I 3″ Cruise shopped around for a long time. He ordered up a trailer for that movie before it was even made, and held auditions at his house for the directors he had in mind.

So what are Tom and Sumner talking about on all these “dates”? They don’t have a lot in common. Redstone is Jewish, almost 87 years old and from Boston. His father, a nightclub owner, was a business associate of Barbara Walters’ father, Lou. Tom is a Catholic turned Scientologist, 47, and from an itinerant family that settled in Missouri. It’s unlikely Redstone’s interested in hearing about L. Ron Hubbard and space aliens. It’s equally doubtful that Tom wants to hear stories from Boston in the 1940s. If they’re sketching out the plot for “M:I 4,” someone had better tell Paramount’s Brad Grey.

[CORRECTED: Tom Cruise is 47]

‘Princess and the Frog’ May Be Last Tune for Disney

Roger Friedman
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‘Princess and the Frog’ May Be Last Tune for Disney

120014 princess frog 200x200 Princess and the Frog May Be Last Tune for DisneyIs the singing over at Disney?

Think of Jiminy Cricket warbling “When You Wish Upon A Star.” Or Angela Lansbury and her friends toasting “Be Our Guest” from “Beauty and the Beast.”

Well, those days may be a thing of the past. I am told that Disney Animation has put the kibosh on Alan Menken’s planned “The Snow Queen,” from the directors of “Tarzan.”

The reason? “The Princess and the Frog” was a disappointment, insiders say. Even though it was nominated for an Oscar and got pretty good reviews, “P & F” is considered a bust in Toon Town.

According to sources, several things hurt the movie. Not the least of which was the word “Princess” in the title. “It scared off the little boys. Only girls wanted to see it,” says an observer. Without boys, “P & F” was more “Little Mermaid” than “Aladdin.” Even the Randy Newman score wasn’t enough to entice fans of movies like “Transformers” or even “Cars.” (What happened, I often ask, to the Randy Newman who wrote “Sail Away” and “Baltimore”? Remember “Nilsson Sings Newman”?)

With “P & F” taking in just over $100 million domestically, and just about breaking even, Disney animation insiders have more or less decreed ‘no more musicals’ for the foreseeable future. “Snow Queen” isn’t the only animated film to get scratched, but it’s the most visible project since it was more or less announced last fall.

Adding to the Disney drama will be the release — we hope — of “Waking Sleeping Beauty.” A documentary about Disney’s glorious run of animated hits from 1984-1999, and how Pixar changed the drawing game, was shown at film festivals last fall. Screenings begin March 15 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.’If “Snow Queen” is really dead, “WSB” will seem all the more poignant.

James Franco in a Film Directed by Elizabeth Edwards’ Brother

Roger Friedman
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James Franco in a Film Directed by Elizabeth Edwards’ Brother

jfranco James Franco in a Film Directed by Elizabeth Edwards BrotherWhen he wasn’t filming “Howl” or “Eat Pray Love” or going to grad school at NYU or appearing on “General Hospital” or doing art projects last year, James Franco made a movie with Elizabeth Edwards’ brother.

Franco stars with Josh Lucas in “William Vincent,” which used to be called “In Praise of Shadows.” Jay Anania, the brother of Elizabeth Edwards, put upon estranged wife of former Senator John Edwards, directed it. Although, as Lucas remembered it, Franco did the directing.

Lucas told me last week that the Franco film was one of five movies he just made back-to-back. Franco also showed him his short “Herbert White,” which played at Sundance.

“I started out thinking it was a crappy low-budget student film,” he said. “But it turned out very well.” “William Vincent” will go to festivals, maybe Toronto in the fall. There’s no info yet on whether Elizabeth Edwards will help her brother promote it. She may be in divorce court by then.

Couric vs. Cooper: Katie’s Safe at CBS

Roger Friedman
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Couric vs. Cooper: Katie’s Safe at CBS

couriccooper Couric vs. Cooper: Katies Safe at CBSToday’s story in the New York Times about Katie Couric vs. Anderson Cooper: Insiders tell me it’s more than likely that Cooper’s team planted the story.

“He wants out of CNN,” they say. “His ratings are terrible, and he’s miserable.”

This may be true. The sources do concede that Cooper has met with CBS News chiefs, but that the conversations are more about either anchoring the “CBS Morning Show” or joining “60 Minutes” in a more permanent way. Cooper already contributes to the latter show as a freelancer, so to speak.

A few things about this new wrinkle. For one, Katie gets about 6 million viewers per night. Cooper has less than 1 million. So CBS is unlikely to make that switch. It’s not like Oprah wants to come in and do the 6:30 news.

Second, as Couric’s contract ends in May 2011, she’s brought stability and likability to the evening news. Her weekly webcasts are very popular. And the show has gotten a bunch of awards recently. CBS News’ Sean McManus, insiders point out, is unlikely to tamper with all that.

So don’t start planning for the Invasion of the Silver Fox just yet. And something tells me that Cooper and his powerhouse agent Richard Liebner did plant the Times story just to rattle CNN’s cage a little bit. The esteemed cable news network isn’t going to let Cooper go anytime soon.

Modine, Linney, Stars Descend on Broadway

Roger Friedman
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Modine, Linney, Stars Descend on Broadway

It’s March 1, and that means plenty of well-known names are arriving (or have recently arrived) on Broadway. It’s Tony season, with new plays and lots of A-list actors filling up our dance card through June.

On Friday night I caught Matthew Modine playing Helen Keller’s father in “The Miracle Worker.” This is a striking and sensational new production directed by Kate Whoriskey (”Ruined”) at the Circle in the Square. Modine brings new life to the role of Helen’s sympathetic but frustrated father, Dr. Arthur Keller,’ that should bring him accolades. Moreover, Abigail Breslin, of “Little Miss Sunshine” fame, a past Oscar nominee, shows off her burgeoning talents as Helen. Patty Duke will be proud to see who inherited her famous role. I’m told that the Patty Duke-Anne Bancroft film’s director, Arthur Penn, has already stopped in to give the new show his blessing…Richard Kind, of “A Serious Man” and “Spin City” fame, brought his eight year old daughter…

…Laura Linney has already gotten rave reviews for her work in Manhattan Theater Club’s “Time Stands Still” written by Donald Margulies. She is exceptional but the whole cast is top notch including Brian D’arcy James, Alicia Silverstone, and Eric Bogosian. Linney plays a war journalist photographer, James is her husband who is also a journalist. At one point in the show he admits to Linney’s character that he’s caved in and done a celebrity profile for Vanity Fair. I asked James–who previously played Shrek on Broadway–who he thought his character was writing about. “I picked the most famous and outrageous person I could think of,” he said. “Lady GaGa!”… Emile Hirsch was in our audience…

…Meanwhile, Anthony Mackie of “The Hurt Locker” will miss the Oscars on Sunday because he’s opening in “Behanding in Spokane” this week with Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell…And Jeff Daniels has returned to “God of Carnage,” but playing the role originated by James Gandolfini. That’s a first. Making this new round of “Carnage” intriguing is the addition of Janet McTeer, playing the role she originated in London. I would watch Janet McTeer read the phone book. She is amazing…

Carly: ‘Nothing to Do with David Geffen!’

Roger Friedman
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Carly: ‘Nothing to Do with David Geffen!’

Carly Simon was en route to the UK when the British papers got all the signals wrong about her song “You’re So Vain.”

She emailed me last night: “What a riot! Nothing to do with David Geffen! What a funny mistake! Someone got a clue mistaken for another mistake!”

As I wrote in the previous post about this subject, Carly did not even know David Geffen when she wrote the song in 1971.

She also writes: “How can this guessing game stop without a lie?”

Well, one way would be to tell the real story. But why do that now and spoil all the fun?

Meantime, and more importantly, Carly’s lawsuit against Starbucks aka Hear Music continues apace. I’ll have more on that this week. Hear Music released Simon’s “This Kind of Love” on the same day it went out of business. Among other things, Simon wants the album back so she can re-release it. Yes, she has clouds in her coffee, literally.

Meanwhile, Simon hits Britain tomorrow on a promotional tour for her “Never Been Gone” album. The album contains the new version of “You’re So Vain” embedded with clues. But David Geffen can rest easy. He would never have been caught dead wearing an apricot scarf, anyway!

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Nominee, ‘Can’t Wait’ for Oscars

Roger Friedman
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Maggie Gyllenhaal, Nominee, ‘Can’t Wait’ for Oscars

mgylenhaal Maggie Gyllenhaal, Nominee, Cant Wait for OscarsMaggie Gyllenhaal, nominated for best supporting actress for “Crazy Heart,” is really just happy to be nominated for an Oscar.

“I’m going to enjoy all of it,” she told me the other night at a USA Network/Vanity Fair party held in the thick of the big snowstorm. All the USA Network TV shows were being celebrated–”Characters Approved.” There were lots of TV people roaming around Barry Diller’s magnificent IAC Building lobby waiting to hear the cast of “American Idiot” perform. Gyllenhaal was one of a few who were just being saluted for being themselves. Nora Ephron was another. (The IAC building looked like a giant lit up snowflake on the dreary West Side.)

I ran into Jeffrey Donovan and Bruce Campbell, stars of “Burn Notice.” Tamara Tunie, from “Law and Order,” was there with her singer husband Gregory. Matthew Bomer, star of “White Collar,” brought his blue eyes. (He was once almost cast to play Superman.) Also shaking off the blizzard: Piper Perabo, Saffron Burrows, Gabrielle Anwar, designer Narciso Rodriguez, and “Precious” Best Actress nominee Gabourey Sidibe. An animated Marc Feuerstein, of “Royal Pains,” emceed the presentation of various awards like he was George Jessel at a bar mitzvah.

Constantine Maroulis, of “American Idol” fame, told me he was taking a night off from “Rock of Ages” before heading back into the musical’s grueling weekend schedule (five shows from Friday through Sunday).

And then there was Maggie. “I’m looking forward to doing the whole thing, all the parties. I know it’s crazy, but why not?” she said. I agree! Embrace Oscar Week. “I’m hoping I can bring my mom, too, to the Governors Ball.” That’s screenwriter Naomi Foner. Otherwise, Maggie’s date will be actor husband, Peter Sarsgaard, who shoulda been nominated for his supporting role in “An Education.”

“My mom is throwing me a little party over the weekend,” Maggie confided. “Just family, and my teachers.” Her eyes lit up. “But they we’re going to do everything.” She has a full understanding of Mo’Nique’s trajectory as the “Precious” favorite.

“She’s the one person I really wanted to meet,” Maggie said. “But she didn’t come to the Nominees Luncheon.”

And Gyllenhaal is psyched for her co-star, the odds on favorite Best Actor, Jeff Bridges. “If he wins, it will bring the movie to a wider audience, and that’s all anyone wants.”

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