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Exclusive: “NCIS” and “NCIS Los Angeles” Adding Two Female Characters, Is Someone Leaving? (We Love Linda Hunt)

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: “NCIS” and “NCIS Los Angeles” Adding Two Female Characters, Is Someone Leaving? (We Love Linda Hunt)

I’m told that “NCIS: Los Angeles” is adding two female characters. I don’t know if anyone is leaving but it better not be Linda Hunt. She’s the heart and soul of the whole thing. (She should be getting Emmy nominations, PS.)

The two characters include a new “NCIS: Los Angeles” assistant director in her 40s. She’s described as “Confident & clever, with a sense of humor, an authoritative figure who takes over operations when needed. She’s a natural leader with a strong presence, but not afraid to get her hands dirty in the field if necessary.”

The other character seems like a romantic foil for Mark Harmon on the mothership show “NCIS.” Her name is Reagan, also in her 40s, and not unwilling to clash with Gibbs. Each of the characters come with long resumes. Reagan is also a psychologist.

The “NCIS” juggernaut continues unabated. People come, people go. But the shows lurch on into history. The Emmy Awards would be smart to salute them if only for the ratings.

A Broadway First: “1984,” Looking for Publicity, Bans Children Under 13 Years of Age

Roger Friedman
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A Broadway First: “1984,” Looking for Publicity, Bans Children Under 13 Years of Age

It’s a first, but it’s a bit of a canard. The new play, “1984,” will not allow children under the age of 13. To be more specific, no one before 2004 can see the show.

I’d be hard pressed to think they’d want to see it. But then again, 7th grade is usually when George Orwell’s classic makes its appearance on reading lists.

The Age Restriction policy is being implemented due to the intensity of the production, which includes several scenes that are graphic in nature and have disturbed younger patrons. 

A press release says:  “The Age Restriction policy is being implemented due to the intensity of the production, which includes several scenes that are graphic in nature and have disturbed younger patrons.”

Well, that should get folks interested! “1984” opens on Broadway tonight, just clear of the Tony Awards and not really part of any Broadway season. It stars Reed Birney, Tom Sturridge and Olivia Wilde. The first two are Tony winners. Birney is a Broadway and New York theater veteran. Wilde is a talented actress making her stage debut.

Of course, the producer is Scott Rudin, who fancies himself a modern David Merrick. He’s got to do something to make people aware of “1984.” Last week, the show made just $301,000 out of a possible $750,000. The average ticket price was $50, which on Broadway is like giving it away. The production only filled 77% of its seats. (Maybe if they let kids in, it would help!)

Good reviews might help “1984.” But New York Times chief critic Ben Brantley called it “willfully assaultive” when he saw when he saw it in London. Other reviews were just as mixed. It doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, that’s for sure. But maybe it’s illuminating. The book “1984” became a hit all over again when Trump was elected, and the play may strike a note in this perilous time.

I can’t remember any show restricting children, not even things like “Hair” or “Oh Calcutta.” New York theatergoers have always been left to their own good judgement about what’s appropriate for the young ones. But good for Rudin thinking of this. He’s taking a page from Harvey Weinstein’s book of PR gimmicks. Always emulate the master!

Exclusive: Quentin Tarantino Says His Fans Will Have to Wait Until 2019 For Something New

Leah Sydney
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Exclusive: Quentin Tarantino Says His Fans Will Have to Wait Until 2019 For Something New
What can we expect from Quentin next?  Well, fans will have to wait.  “I’m writing something now, won’t be ready till 2018, won’t be out till 2019 at least. Doing something else too, but I’m not saying.  I’m lying low for now.”
 
I talked to Quentin at last week’s L.A. premiere of Sofia Coppola’s “The Beguiled,” her adaptation of a classic Clint Eastwood film. Tarantino’s all consuming passion love for films and for his movie theater is demonstrated at the  New Beverly Cinema, which shows classic and contemporary films.  Quentin and his admittedly slavishly fan base have made the theater a rousing success, frequently selling out. “I’m going to show a double feature of both “Beguiled’s,” with Sofia talking after on June 21st and 22nd,” Quentin told me.  “Doesn’t get cooler than that.”
 
That’s tonight and tomorrow night.
Coppola just won the Palme D’or for directing at Cannes, “The Beguiled.” She’s only the second woman ever to win, and the first in 50 years. The Civil War thriller is a feminist remake of Don Siegel’s 1971 movie starring Eastwood and Geraldine Page. The film stars Nicole Kidman as the head of a devout Christian Southern boarding school, the Farnsworth Seminary. She oversees a handful of Southern belles of various ages. Their Gothic mansion, with its overgrown willow trees in the sweltering heat, provides refuge to an injured enemy soldier, Corporal John McBurney, played by Colin Farrell.  The house is filled with longing women. Kirsten Dunst beautifully plays the most frustrated, conflicted  hence rivalries, sexual tension and jarring unexpected events.
 
Longtime pal Quentin had no doubts this was in Sofia’s wheelhouse.  “She called me even before she began the project to tell me she was thinking about it.  I told her she was the perfect director to do it.  Just the right fit.  I knew it then. I told her to do it.  She did a fantastic job with it.”
Others that joined Coppola and Tarantino at the DGA were cast mates Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning, Kirsten Dunst  as well as Sofia’s cousin, actor Jason Schwartzman, and pals Courtney Love, Mitch Glazer and Kelly Lynch, actor Tim Roth, Paris Hilton, Maya Rudolph, Coppola’s musician hubby Thomas Mars (his band Phoenix  composed the music for the film) and one of the film’s producers, the legendary Fred Roos.
Focus’s chairman Peter Kujawski noted that the film, “is a deeply personal one for Sofia,” and he’s right. Coppola’s skillful artistic take simmers in a Southern Gothic, melodramatic, languid, hypnotic way, with all the actors — especially Fanning (she’s on her way to be a superstar). The always fascinating Kidman and  Farrell kind of steal the show.  His ‘nobody told me it was a house of mad women!’ and Nicole’s ‘Edwina! Bring me the anatomy book’ will surely become memes. Coppola, with her truly singular evocative style i.e. —  “Virgin Suicides”  “Marie Antoinette” and “Bling Ring” — has added one more artistic success to her impressive filmography.  Kudos to her.

 

“Risky Business” Actor Says Ambitious Tom Cruise Knew “How to Balance Oral Sex and the Bible” at Age 19

Roger Friedman
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“Risky Business” Actor Says Ambitious Tom Cruise Knew “How to Balance Oral Sex and the Bible” at Age 19

I always liked Curtis Armstrong. He’s a consummate character actor from movies like “Risky Business” and “Revenge of the Nerds,” and TV shows like “Moonlighting.” He sort of personified 80s comedy films that would turn up on Cinemax.

Now he’s written a memoir, which will be published next month called “Revenge of the Nerd.” In an excerpt in the Hollywood Reporter, Armstrong recalls shooting “Risky Business” with Tom Cruise. Cruise, he recalls, was after co-star Rebecca DeMornay. But she was dating much older actor Harry Dean Stanton, who was staying with her. So that was out.

Instead, Armstrong recalls Cruise holed up in his hotel room, reading the Bible. And even though there was some discussion of Tom wanting to be a  priest, he had other religious pursuits as well.

Armstrong writes: “Tom’s door opened and another girl came out, adjusting her hair and taking off down the hall, while the first girl in line slipped into Tom’s room. This was a young man who knew something about time management and understood how to successfully juggle Bible study and blow jobs. I went to bed alone that night thinking it served me right for not being religious.”

Armstrong also recalls that Sean Penn, who was 22, came to hang out with Cruise and stayed in his room (platonically, don’t get excited). They’d been in the movie “Taps” together.

He writes: “…going into the room just a couple of days after Sean’s arrival was a revelation. It looked like someone had blown up a convention of rising young ’80s actors. There were clothes covering the entire floor. There was a heady scent to the place, too: a rich musk of dirty laundry, cigarette smoke, alcohol and young white male. The curtains were drawn against the light no matter what time it was. The two of them, like as not, would either still be in bed or lounging in underwear. It looked like a Calvin Klein ad.”

Armstrong also concurs with interviews from the period with Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson about Cruise. When I think about it now, Tom may have been the first person I ever knew who possessed an absolute and voracious ambition. It wasn’t something he discussed in those terms. There was, though, an aura around this good-looking but otherwise unremarkable teen that suggested that anyone who stood in his way, or underestimated him in any way, did so at his or her own peril.”

Sounds like a fun book, can’t wait to read the whole thing!

 

Movies: Transformers 5 Trashed, Han Solo Solo Movie Directors Fired Over “Creative Differences”

Roger Friedman
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Movies: Transformers 5 Trashed, Han Solo Solo Movie Directors Fired Over “Creative Differences”

Tough time in Tinseltown this morning:

Michael Bay, who I assume lives in several huge houses around the world, has directed another “Transformers” movie to startling reviews. The fifth edition opens today with a 16 on Rotten Tomatoes, and that may be generous. For Paramount it is hopeful the reviews won’t matter at least from now through Sunday. We’ll see how it does today.

As with Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Transformers’ is not a movie so much as it is a merchandise and marketing campaign. Will there be another one? Oh, yes. The dream lives on as long as there are little boys (and girls perhaps) heading to Toys R Us for a shiny metallic man who turns into a monster machine.

Meanwhile, the other monster machine, LucasFilms, actually fired the directors of “Han Solo” yesterday. Out the door are Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, directors of the “21 Jump Street” movies and “The LEGO Movie.” Kathleen Kennedy, high priestess of LucasFilm, says it’s “creative differences.” You know, the tempo and pace and attitude of “Han Solo” has to be just right. So Lord and Miller are gone, on to bigger things. Now we await selection of a replacement, either Ron Howard or Joe Johnston. The movie remains on schedule because nothing is certain in life except for birth, death, taxes and “Star Wars.”

Alden Ehrenreich stars as Han, and he is getting notes for an interesting book. So far he’s starred in the Coen Bros.’ flop “Hail Caesar,” about long ago Hollywood, Warren Beatty’s flop “Rules Don’t Apply” about long ago Hollywood, and now an imperiled film satire of long ago Hollywood (because you know, Han Solo is Flash Gordon, let’s face it) with changed directors. I hope he’s got a diary with a lock!

Daniel Day Lewis Says He’s Retiring From Acting at 60 Following His Last Film This Year

Roger Friedman
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Daniel Day Lewis Says He’s Retiring From Acting at 60 Following His Last Film This Year

Daniel Day Lewis is cashing out. He’s announced that he’s retiring from acting after his last movie, “Phantom Thread,” is released this fall. That’s it, he’s done. He’s released a statement to Variety saying goodbye, adios amigos.

Is he ill? Who knows? I guess we’ll see when he resurfaces, if he resurfaces. DDL has Oscars for “There Will Be Blood,” “My Left Foot,” and “Lincoln.” He’s made tons of good films.

But he’s also always had a strange relationship with fame. He really doesn’t like it. Promoting films has always been a challenge. He doesn’t give interviews. He’s probably the most enigmatic actor around. He’s also the best, frankly. His work, I guess he feels, speaks for itself.

DDL has been married for years to director-writer Rebecca Miller, daughter of the late legendary playwright Arthur Miller. They have two sons, and he has another son, Gabriel, by actress Isabelle Adjani. The Millers divide their time between Connecticut, New York, and Mars, probably. They are very private.

The actor has had some odd chapters in his life. Years ago he went to work in a shoe cobbler’s shop in Florence, helping to make very expensive shoes. This was after he’d won his first Oscar. He also had a nervous breakdown playing Hamlet on stage in London in 1989. Judi Dench once told me he just came to her at the intermission and said he couldn’t go back on stage. He’d been in 65 performances, and received mixed reviews.

Let’s hope this is just a break, and nothing is wrong. It would be a shame if DDL never worked again. Maybe this has something to do with the character he plays in the movie. DDL is famous for staying in character until well after a production wraps.

In the meantime, we’ll have to savor the Paul Thomas Anderson movie “Phantom Thread” until he changes his mind.

I wrote this back on July 15, 2003:

Last week in sunny Florence, Italy, I had the pleasure of finally meeting Stefano Bemer — the custom shoemaker for whom Oscar winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis worked a couple of years ago.

Bemer’s very small shop is not in a fashionable area of Florence, but sort of hidden away and extremely discreet. It consists of a tiny waiting area with a counter, adjoined by a similar workspace. There, a couple of workers bang on nails and try not to inhale glue as they make one of a kind pairs of men’s shoes.

The shoes all carry the same price tag: $1,500 for the actual product, plus $250 for the three required fittings. I tried on a pair of suede desert boots which Bemer had in my size. The price tag for these was $730. They were lovely, but I declined in several languages.

Bemer had nothing but praise for Day-Lewis, whom he called a hard worker. “I used to say to him, ‘Daniel, no one is perfect,'” said Bemer, noting that Day-Lewis would often become disturbed when a stitch was not exactly right.

Day-Lewis worked for Bemer for an astounding 11 months in 1999. The shoe man would definitely take him back. In the meantime, Bemer makes shoes for the likes of Sting — who has a villa in Tuscany.

I, however, have returned to the Timberland outlet shop.

Renewed: On CBS, They’ll Be “Young and Restless” For at Least Three More Years

Roger Friedman
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Renewed: On CBS, They’ll Be “Young and Restless” For at Least Three More Years

CBS renewed its daytime line up today for next season. If you were worried, the two soaps — “Young and the Restless” and “Bold and the Beautiful”– are all good, as are “The Talk” and “The Price is Right.” The latter has been on the air since 1907.

Soap fans will be happy that “Young and the Restless” got a three year guarantee despite declining ratings. A new producer from Australia, Mal Young, has brought back some of the show’s original writers, so things have improved.  The two soaps are owned by Sony, but were created by the late soap legend William Bell. His son, Bradley, runs “B&B” still.

This will be good news for ABC’s “General Hospital” and NBC’s “Days of our Lives.” After the networks cancelled all the New York-based soaps a few years ago they thought they’d replace them with talk shows and reality programs. Turns out that wasn’t so easy.

Twin Peaks Ratings: Laura Dern Adds 24,000 Viewers As Show Moves Up to Number 89 on Sunday Cable

Roger Friedman
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Twin Peaks Ratings: Laura Dern Adds 24,000 Viewers As Show Moves Up to Number 89 on Sunday Cable

The saga of “Twin Peaks: The Return– Is Anyone Watching?” took a slight turn for the better on Sunday night. The show added 24,000 viewers from the previous week and moved up to number 89 out of the 150 top cable shows on Sunday night.

The reason? Laura Dern, who was part of a ‘cliff-hanger’ at the end of last week’s show, appeared as Diane, Agent Cooper’s fabled secretary. Wearing a blonde blunt cut Louise Brooks wig, Dern met FBI Agent Albert Rosenfield (the late great Miguel Ferrer) in a bar and did a final segment turn to the camera worthy of “Dallas” or “Dynasty.”

The result was 24,000 more people tuned in this past Sunday to see if Dern/Diane could shed any light on the absolutely ridiculous non plot that’s gone on for six weeks. And to some extent, she did. Her boss, Gordon Cole (David Lynch himself) took her to see fake Agent Cooper in a prison lock up. Diane immediately knew he was a fake. The audience thought to itself, We’re finally getting somewhere.

Of course, it’s still the David Lynch show, so not much else happened. Someone swept up at a bar for almost 3 minutes with no dialogue, to the sounds of Booker T and the MGs’ “Green Onions.” Kyle Maclachlan bumbled around as Dougie aka Real Cooper. Naomi Watts slapped a few cops around verbally.

Back at the Twin Peaks police department, Deputy Hawk had to explain Agent Cooper’s situation– to the audience, really. Robert Forster– so happy he’s there– gave a call to Doc Hayward, so we got to see Warren Frost, the beloved actor and father of producer Mark Frost, one last time.

The best moment of the episode was Lynch/Cole playing his little game with Tammy’s fingers. It was right out of a David Lynch movie.

Well, this is all fun, and it’s Sunday night, what else are we going to do? But 11 more episodes? And most of the “clues” are random, will add up to nothing. Lots of numbers are given out, they’re likely as meaningless as the numbers on “Lost.” And where is the original “Twin Peaks” cast? Where is Lara Flynn Boyle? Sherilyn Fenn? Why is Sheryl Lee always in the credit roll even when she’s not in the show? Why is that dwarf trying to kill everyone?  Why doesn’t Peggy Lipton say anything? (She looks great.)

Fewer and fewer people want to know those answers.

Off Broadway: Sizzling “Sweeney Todd” with Theater Greats Norm Lewis and Carolee Carmello on Razor’s Edge in a Bake Shop

Roger Friedman
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Off Broadway: Sizzling “Sweeney Todd” with Theater Greats Norm Lewis and Carolee Carmello on Razor’s Edge in a Bake Shop

Three decades of love for “Sweeney Todd” were only amplified last week when we finally got to see Broadway stars in the Tooting Arts Club production down at the Barrow Street Theater. You may recall back around March 1st when the Tootings brought their pie shop version of the Sondheim masterwork to Greenwich Village. Eight players, three musicians and some hot pies. It was a total success.

But then some of the Brits were “deported” in early April, replaced by Broadway superstars Norm Lewis and Carolee Carmello as Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett. American Brad Oscar remained as the Beadle, and the actors playing Antony and Johanna–Matt Doyle and Alex Finke– also stuck around. Now, too, we have Jamie Jackson as Judge Turpin, John-michael Lyles as Tobias, and Stacy Bono doing double time as the Beggar Woman and Pirelli the barber. They are all superb.

The Barrow Street Theater has been transformed into Harrington’s, a replica of the real London pie shop where this production began. If you pay a little extra, they will serve you a hot meat pie with truffled mashed potatoes in the pie shop before the show starts. They’re very good, and in this era of immersive theater, this is probably the quintessential “Sweeney Todd” experience. You almost even get the close shave if you’re a man with a shiny pate.

There’s very little anyone could do to wreck “Sweeney Todd,” so we’re always safe. It’s just about perfect, and Stephen Sondheim is always lurking. Carmello is a new Mrs. Lovett and most welcome. Even though the princess of meat pies is demented, she’s also the humor that mitigates Sweeney’s murderously serious obsession. From the minute Carmello appears, you know we’re going to have fun. And that voice. She is a gem.

Lewis– famed for his work as the Phantom of the Opera, starred on Broadway in “Sondheim by Sondheim.” He knows his stuff. But he knows a lot more than that, too. His bass baritone (he says bari-tenor) gives Sweeney a richness to die for (and some do). He’s not joking when he sings about getting revenge. With Lewis, you really get that this is going to end badly.

The star of “Sweeney Todd,” though, is the music. I feel like Dr. Seuss– I could listen to it anywhere! In Harrington’s aka the Barrow it’s stripped down by this amazing trio of musicians almost to the point where you can look at it and study its many intricate parts. Back in March, I sat behind Sondheim and it was like watching the making of the world with God. How did he do this? The big hits– “Johanna,”
“Pretty Women,” “Not While I’m Around”– are equal at least to “Send in the Clowns” or “Somewhere.” But the rest of it moves with the precision of the greatest of operas, and you leave whistling almost the entire show.

This cast says they’re sticking around through mid August so hurry. I hope they stay, but if they don’t, I’ll be back for more hot pies.

Watch MSNBC’s Joy Reid Pussyfoot Around Scandalous Title of New UK Novel Satirizing Donald Trump

Roger Friedman
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Watch MSNBC’s Joy Reid Pussyfoot Around Scandalous Title of New UK Novel Satirizing Donald Trump

British humorist Howard Jacobson has just published a satirical novel about Donald Trump. It’s called “Pussy.” Donald Trump said it, but MSNBC’s Joy Reid wouldn’t. MSNBC even blurred out the title when Reid interviewed Jacobson yesterday.

The book is a hit in the UK, and it’s taking off here.

Only the Brits could do this.

 

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