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Michael Jackson producer Teddy Riley called in to an Atlanta radio station last night and told as much as he could about the making of “Breaking News” and other new Jackson tracks.
Among other things, Riley says Jackson estate co-executor John McClain “challenged” him on the recordings for the new album. “Now all of a sudden it’s not Michael’s voice because his [McClain’s] songs didn’t make it.” Riley says McClain wanted him on the project just so his own name–McClain’s–would be associated with Riley’s. Yikes.
Riley also revealed he hasn’t been paid for his work, still has no contract, and took just five hours to remix “Breaking News.”
He also said that a Jackson duets album is in the works, mixing newer artists with old Jackson vocal performances.
Move the cursor under the video to around 1:37 where the conversation gets interesting.
Riley also says, enigmatically: “There’s been a conspiracy from A to Z.”
When she’s studying a real life character, HBC has a good trick up her sleeve. She uses her famous aunt, Renata Propper, to analyze the handwriting of any real life people she might be playing in the movies.
For “The King’s Speech,” the highly Oscar buzzed film that opened last night to cheers–literally–at the Ziegfeld, HBC asked her aunt to investigate the signature and cursives of the late Queen Mum, whom she plays so brilliantly in the film.
“I do a lot of research,” Helena told me proudly at post-party, held in the very swankily redesigned 44 restaurant at the Royalton Hotel. (Four stars to the makeover, by the way!)
Helena — in a knockout Vivienne Westwood gown– was surrounded by her relatives, all New Yorkers who emigrated here around 1949 from Britain, as well as her own mum.
Of course, HBC has played a number of kooky characters directed by her husband, Tim Burton, including Mrs. Lovett in “Sweeney Todd.” In those cases, Aunt Renata wasn’t able to do the research. “Not the fictional ones,” she advised.
What did they find with the Queen Mum? That she was a powerhouse, of course, who cut right to the chase. You can see it in the movie when it opens on November 24th. And Helena gets her just right–all the way to Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars, without a doubt.
Meanwhile at the “King’s Speech” premiere: famed beauty Marisa Berenson chatted with Harvey Weinstein about her new memoir, which she wrote in French and published in Europe; Christine Baranski congratulated director Tom Hooper, and actor Colin Firth, also also on their way to the Academy Awards; pop star Moby said he was “overwhelmed” by the film. “I thought it was going to be about a speech therapist,” he said, laughing.
In our continuing series on the making of Michael Jackson‘s forthcoming “Michael” album:
Producers of the album–including co-executor John McClain–sent Burt Bacharach a song Michael recorded with Eddie Cascio called “All I Need.”
The legendary writer-producer went into the studio and added strings, etc. to the track. But it didn’t sound right, sources tell me, and was ultimately rejected. “All I Need,” in some form, may wind up on another album of unreleased Jackson songs. But it won’t be on “Michael.”
Also not on “Michael” is the Paul Anka song, “Love Never Felt So Good.” I guess the Jackson estate paid out enough money to Anka in the last year for writing “This Is It.”
The “Michael” album is not quite finalized, I’m told, but will have to be by Friday. Right now there are three “Cascio” tracks including “Breaking News.” Fans are complaining about “Breaking News” on the Jackson website because it doesn’t sound right to them. Folks, it really is Michael singing on that song. The finished version on the album may sound more like him. Part of the problem may have been in the uploading to the website.
“Breaking News” only streams through Sunday. On Monday, the first actual single is released–with Akon–called “Hold My Hand.”
I’ve heard a lot of the tracks, and I can tell you–they are by Michael. Michael’s nephew, Taryll Jackson, knows that, too. Despite his campaign to discredit the album, Taryll was around when the tracks were being put together. More will come out about this soon.
Conspiracy theories are fun, but buying into them is just going to cheat true Michael Jackson fans out of a great experience. “Michael” is shaping up to be a very solid project.
Oprah’s Michael Jackson show has just ended. Her interviews with Katherine and Joseph Jackson produced a lot of lies, some tears, and a great deal of insincerity.
On the positive side: Michael’s kids are terrific. From Oprah’s interview with them at the end of the show you can see especially that Prince and Paris have somehow weathered the storm. Michael’s choice of Debbie Rowe as a mother for his children turns out to be prescient. Paris looks and sounds just like her: determined and smart. And she’s only 12.
What did the Jackson parents lie about? Katherine has a faulty memory of how she learned her son was dead. Michael’s manager, Frank DiLeo told her after calling her nephew and summoning them to the hospital. Dr. Conrad Murray was in the room. She asked him a few questions. But it was DiLeo who was with Michael when he was pronounced dead, and told Mrs. Jackson because they were friends. It was DiLeo who also told Michael’s kids that their father was dead. Paris, he recalled, starting screaming, “I’m an orphan!” It was then that DiLeo brought the kids in to see Mrs. Jackson, who did not really know them well at all.
More: Katherine Jackson has filed for divorce from Joseph Jackson twice since 1970. A few months ago, she was ready to do it again. Joe Jackson has fathered at least one child outside their marriage. All of this has been well documented. I wrote the about the divorce filings almost exactly six years ago at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,137049,00.html
Oprah didn’t go after Joe Jackson too hard on beating the kids. I suppose she figures everyone knows it. Michael was indeed terrified of his father. Joe Jackson didn’t just use a strap. He locked Michael in a closet if he didn’t perform correctly during rehearsals for the Jackson 5. He told me in 2001 that he would “beat their backs” if the children misbehaved. He is an onerous human being.
The subject of beating produced an interesting reaction from Katherine Jackson. “That’s the way black people raise their children,” she told Oprah. I rather doubt most black people in Oprah’s audience would concur. That quote should be the subject of much discussion, I think.
Interestingly, Oprah didn’t ask Mrs. Jackson why all those kids were living in the house when she’s been ordered to clear them out by the family court judge. She didn’t ask Joe Jackson about suing to get an allowance from Michael’s estate, or suing to remove the executors, or trying to cash in on Michael’s death.
But she couldn’t do everything, and the interviews with the kids at the end were pure gold. Everyone thought Michael Jackson was completely crazy. He was drug dependent. But it turns out he was a good father. That’s going to be his most important legacy.
James Franco had a big big weekend. His movie, Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours,” sold out all its shows in a limited run in New York and Los Angeles. When it goes wide, “127 Hours” is headed for huge box office. It’s deserved. Franco–who spent the weekend shooting his movie about Hart Crane–with his mom, Betsy, playing Crane’s mom just the way she played Franco’s mom on “General Hospital.”
Many people I spoke to over the weekend were still voicing resistance at seeing the movie because Franco as Aron Ralston cuts his arm off. My joke is, most actors would cut off their right arms to have these reviews and this first weekend box office! Look: Ralston is alive and well, and thriving. The arm cutting constitutes about five minutes toward the end of the film. It’s not so bad, and nothing we haven’t seen–or worse–in lots of much more violent films. Boyle has made a great and entertaining film. Franco is off-the-charts good.
My prediction: in the end, the Oscar race is really going to be between “The King’s Speech” and “127 Hours” with some strong jockeying from “The Social Network.” Everything else from all the Oscar bloggers/blabbers is just filler…
…Paul Weller made his name with The Jam, a rebellious punk group rooted in R&B, in the late 1970s. Then Weller ditched The Jam and went heavy into soul with The Style Council. That’s two careers. Career #3 has been as a solo act for about 10 years. He’s also had three wives, so maybe there’s some correlation. Anyway, I’ve always enjoyed his work.
Weller did a show on Saturday night at the famed Apollo Theater to promote his new “Wake Up the Nation” CD. Some of it was grand; some of it was perplexing. The long guitar solos eschewed by punk rockers like Weller are now interminably thrown into some of his songs. Numbers like “Wake Up the Nation” and “No Tears to Cry” were punchy and perfect. His reworked version of Marvin Gaye’s “How Sweet it Is to Be Loved By You” is slow and smoldering.
A couple of old hits like “Start,” “Pretty Green,” and “Shout to the Top” were most welcome. Weller should draw more from his popular catalog. And am I wrong, or does an odd new song called “Trees” actually sample Paul McCartney’s “Helen Wheels”? Weird.
Paul Weller photo c2010 Ann Lawlor for Showbiz411 despite the overzealous security at the Apollo on Saturday night.
Diane Keaton, who can do no wrong in my book, is going ahead with the troubled “Tilda” series for HBO.
This is the series “inspired by” the contentious and willful Hollywood gossip blogger Nikki Finke.
Diane Keaton? We loved her as Annie Hall, Louise Bryant, as Kay in “The Godfather” movies and Erica in “Something’s Gotta Give.” Diane Keaton plays nice, and ditzy.
“This is the mean Diane Keaton,” she told me last night at the premiere of “Morning Glory.”
Can she do it, really? “I can do it,” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “You better believe it.”
Tilda is the bad witch, someone who wrecks people’s lives, and has no conscience. Diane Keaton is ready for it.
As for her spunky and lovable turn as Colleen, the long time anchor of a little seen morning show in New York, Keaton didn’t want to take the credit. “It’s all Roger Michell,” she said.
Harrison Ford — at last night’s premiere of “Morning Glory”– tells me there are no plans yet for an “Indiana Jones 5.” He says no one’s shown him a script or told him about anything in the way of a movie being made.
What’s he doing after this? “Fixing up my new house in Los Angeles,” said the perpetual carpenter.
In the meantime: Ford is really great in “Morning Glory,” Roger Michell‘s sophisticated comedy that turns out to be less a chick flick and more just a really good movie. Ford comes off as a modern Spencer Tracy. Keaton is loose and funny. There are no heavy issues in “Morning Glory” but it does raise a few questions that I have about the state of news today.
Rachel McAdams carries the film, and gets top billing over Ford and Diane Keaton, believe it or not. And she’s good, too. McAdams has excellent comedic timing.
“Morning Glory” is a frothy, fun, lightweight comedy, reminiscent of James L. Brooks’s work in “Broadcast News” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” The film played like gangbusters last night at the Ziegfeld.
Later the whole gang convened for a loose, fun party at the Central Park Boathouse. I ran into pop singer Natasha Bedingfield, whose song “Strip Me” closes the film. It’s the title track from her new album of the same name, coming December 7th on Epic Records. I met Natasha’s cool sister, Nicola, the alt-rock daughter in the musical family. They told me brother Daniel Bedingfield‘s next album is coming soon, too. Remember Daniel’s song, “If You’re Not the One”? It’s a classic.
Lots of fun cameos in “Morning Glory”: Elaine Kaufman of her famed Elaine’s restaurant, Morley Safer, Chris Matthews, and Miles O’Brien among them.
Also: terrific casting — Patti D’Arbanville plays McAdams’s mom, Elizabeth Keifer (late of “Guiding Light”) is Jeff Goldblum’s wife, Ty Burrell of “Modern Family” is a loutish anchor man.
The rat tat tat screenplay is by Aline Brosh McKenna, who gave us “The Devil Wears Prada” and has two films shooting this winter–Cameron Crowe‘s “We Bought A Zoo” and “The Ivy Chronicles” with Sarah Jessica Parker.
Other guests at the premiere: George Stephanopolous and Ali Wentworth; Harry Smith, Dave Price and a gang from the CBS Early Show; actor John Pankow, who’s also in the film; music exec John Titta and his bw (beautiful wife) Lana; artist Chip Kidd, famous for book jackets, who did the movie poster; producer JJ Abrams, etc.
Here’s the new Michael Jackson single, “Breaking News,” written by Michael Jackson (lyrics only), Eddie Cascio and James Porte (aka Bobby Ewing). Yes, it’s Michael singing about himself. It’s a song they wrote in the Cascio home studio together in August 2007. Eddie’s brother, Frank, was Michael’s long time friend, confidante, and protege. It was his work with Bobby Ewing that brought Michael into the studio.
“Who is that boogeyman you’re thinking of?”– the song is tailored for Michael, and addresses all the gossip that was leveled at him, the accusations, etc.
“Why is it strange that I would fall in love?” Michael sings. Is he referring to Lisa Marie Presley, Debbie Rowe, or someone else? Anyway, the production by Teddy Riley, is terrific, giving Michael a modern sound and horns. And, yes, that’s him singing. There is only one Michael Jackson.
TMZ and jacksonsecretvault.com have backed off their claim of a “new” Michael Jackson song on their respective websites.
Howard Mann, who owns jacksonsecretvault, has put an admonition on the clip of “Destiny Remix” now called “Opis None” saying that the song is not a “gift from Katherine Jackson to the fans.” She didn’t even know about it.
This is all because I revealed the huge embarrassment of what they’d done on Saturday morning. Of course, TMZ–for whom I’ve got a bridge to sell and free VIP elevator passes for the Statue of Liberty–wouldn’t ever report what really happened here. And they’re laying it all on Mann. They don’t concede that they never checked the facts.
Okay.
And so: on to the real album of unreleased songs, “Michael,” on December 14th.
PS The Hollywood Reporter’s new “kick ass” music section is still reporting that “Opis None” is new. Wake up!
Michael Jackson‘s first new single, “Breaking News,” should hit his Sony website tonight at midnight. That’s, of course, www.michaeljackson.com.
I am told that Sony will likely release another single, “Hold My Hand,” featuring Akon, next Sunday, in the same way.
The track has been available for some time on YouTube. But it’s likely that the newer version will have more of Michael’s singing mixed in front instead of as background.
(Video after jump)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i64brIV7UWM
This should push interest in the “Michael” album, due on December 14th. So far, advance orders put it at number 34 on amazon.com. But I’ll bet once the single is streaming on the website, pre-sales will put the album higher on the amazon.com chart.
As for that fake new single that jacksonsecretvault.com is featuring on TMZ–the “Destiny” remix called “Opis None”–I think it does show what I said from the very beginning: there aren’t that many unreleased Jackson tracks. I said this right after Michael died. If the Cascio tracks hadn’t been recorded in 2007 and discovered–by this column exclusively, last spring–-there would be many fewer, in fact.
It looks like Akon wrote “Hold My Hand” with Claude Kelly, who wrote the songs for the new Cher-Christina Aguilera movie, “Burlesque.” And there’s an irony since Michael already is holding hands with the Beatles in their catalog with “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” I like the song, it’s catchy. It reminds me a little of Whitney Houston/Wyclef Jean’s “My Love Is Your Love.”
