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Spider Man on Broadway: Will the Flying Pass Inspection?

Roger Friedman
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Spider Man on Broadway: Will the Flying Pass Inspection?

“Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” is heading toward its November 14th first preview on Broadway with just enough tsuris to throw off a little gossip.

The $52 million-plus show is one of those Broadway legends already. Some in the theater are rooting for it to fail. Others, like this column, are looking forward to a big hit.

But along the way: chaos! trouble!

First of all, I am told that the rehearsals continue apace, but slowly. “They’ve only gotten through the first act,” says a source. “It’s been very complicated. Act 2 will start this week.” That’s 30 days from the unofficial “opening” night.

More importantly: the flying that all the Spider Men do in the show is indeed holding things up. Here’s the scenario. Apparently the actors will be flying over the audience’s heads and all over the theater. This isn’t “Peter Pan” with a little onstage aerial. And the people who are flying are not from Cirque du Soleil or trained acrobats. “They’re muscular actors who got flying training and are into it,” says a source.

Hmmm. Apparently also, there are regulations about this sort of thing, unions and all that, various controls. “They’re afraid they won’t pass inspection when the flying inspectors come,” says my source.

There’s lots of good news, however. “The music is great,” my source says of the Bono-Edge score. “And the choreography and the stunts are amazing to watch. The Green Goblin and Spider Man have a fight in the sky right above the audience that will blow everyone’s minds.” Indeed. There’s no net.

And since it’s a Julie Taymor show, expect puppets. “A lot of puppets,” says my source.

The Hollywood Reporter Sheds Editor, Heads to Tabloid Land

Roger Friedman
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The Hollywood Reporter Sheds Editor, Heads to Tabloid Land

And so it goes: Elizabeth Guider, the editor of the Hollywood Reporter for three years, is gone. The official announcement came today.

Now the Reporter heads toward tabloidville under the guidance of Janice Min, former editor of US Weekly, and Richard “Mad Dog” Beckman. It is a sad day because once this experiment is over, a well known franchise will be gone too.

From what I’m told the Reporter goes weekly and drops its daily editions either this Friday or next. Already you can tell the changes on their website. Suddenly news of Ashton and Demi’s marital problems, Laura Dern’s divorce from Ben Harper, and Pat O’Brien’s ridiculous open letter to Lindsay Lohan, are creeping in.

The question is, how can the new Reporter combine tabloid gossip on the very low end with industry news at the top? It doesn’t seem like a natural fit. Hollywood execs looking for trade news will just use Variety. They’re certainly not going to wade through wh0-wore-what stories to find out who’s running Comcast NBC. And if your interest is in Best Abs or Celebs Caught off Guard, news of British TV sales aren’t going to float the boat. My guess is TheWrap.com will fill out the remaining trade news.

So: goodbye Hollywood Reporter. You’re about to join The Brown Derby and Schwab’s. Hello, Britney. And of course, the Kardashians (the Gabors without glamour). Yeesh.

UPDATE: They also sacked Andy Wallenstein, who’s been running the website and doing a fantastic job. He’s also been writing columns (er, blogs, whatever, on a variety of interesting subjects.)

Blue Valentine Isn’t Blue Enough for NC-17 Rating

Roger Friedman
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Blue Valentine Isn’t Blue Enough for NC-17 Rating

Over the weekend in the Hamptons, much talk about the NC-17 rating that’s been dumped on Derek Cianfrance‘s “Blue Valentine.”

The MPAA rating board seems to think that the Ryan Gosling-Michelle Williams drama is worthy of what’s equivalent to an “X.” This means that most newspapers wouldn’t advertise the movie, and a variety of theater chains would nix carrying it.

You might think that “Blue Valentine” has scenes of chain saw torture, orgies, and bestiality.

Ha.

IIn fact, I’ve seen this really amazing drama through three incarnations–from Sundance to Cannes to the Hamptons Film Festival. With each new edit from Cianfrance, the film has gotten sharper and tighter. But at no time did I– or anyone else who saw it–ever think, Hey, this is an X rated movie. The idea of this is utterly ridiculous.

Cianfrance took 12 years to get “Blue Valentine” together. Gosling is certainly playing him to some degree. Cianfrance’s story is that his parents divorced when he was 20 years old, after a tempestuous marriage. In the movie, Gosling plays Dean, and Williams is Cindy. They have a four year old daughter named Frankie, played by the charming Faith Wladyka.

The basic plot: Over a 24 hour period, perhaps the last day of Dean and Cindy’s four year marriage is chronicled with ups and downs, fighting, romance, some sex, and parenting. In the process, Cianfrance cuts back and forth with how they met, who they were, and who they’ve become in the process.

The performances are riveting. Williams is very good, and has gotten better in the subsequent edits as Cindy is a difficult character. Gosling is simply outstanding, and merits Best Actor accolades. Because Dean is modeled on Cianfrance, he is certainly the more sympathetic of the couple. Gosling builds on his work from “Half Nelson” and “Lars and the Real Girl.” He’s serious, funny, and touching.

Dean and Cindy-who are married–do engage in a couple of sex scenes. I think you’ve seen more on broadcast TV, and tons more on cable than anything shown here. There’s no “full frontal” nudity, and nothing that would scandalize the average 16 year old.

I have to wonder what went on with the MPAA on this film. I was thinking of their R rating for a completely objectionable film like Alan Ball’s “Towelhead” in which a 13 year old girl is repeatedly molested by her 35 year old neighbor. It’s hard to imagine that “Towelhead” was approved by the board, but “Blue Valentine” could be sanctioned.

“Blue Valentine” won’t be released until Friday, December 31st. That means Academy members will have to make an extra effort to get their DVD screenings, or attend Academy screenings. I think once actors in the Academy see the film, the buzz will spread quickly. The irony will be nominations for Best Picture, Actor, Director and Actress, and Original Screenplay. The Weinstein Company will appeal the rating. Cooler heads will undoubtedly prevail. At its most intense, “Blue Valentine” is an R movie.

Mad Men: Sterling Cooper Draper Downsizes to Reflect Our (Not Their) Times

Roger Friedman
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Mad Men: Sterling Cooper Draper Downsizes to Reflect Our (Not Their) Times

Matt Weiner did something interesting in last night’s “Mad Men” episode: “Blowing Smoke.”

A couple of things actually.

In the penultimate episode of the season, directed by John Slattery, we got a curve ball: though times were prosperous enough in mid 1965, Weiner has caused a financial upheaval at Sterling Cooper Draper etc. Last night they downsized, firing employees and cutting way back because they’ve lost their biggest client, Lucky Strike cigarettes.

In doing this, Weiner has cannily mirrored our times in 2010. Watching the staff pack up at SCD was all too reminiscent of what’s happening right now at so many small companies. It’s a very clever, and sensitive move. It’s also the stuff of good drama, and lets Weiner shake up the cast for next season.

There was also a sensational guest shot from Rosemarie DeWitt. Rosemarie was in the first six episodes of “Mad Men” back in 2007 as Midge Daniels, Don’s kooky mistress. Then she went off to fame–if not fortune–in the film “Rachel Getting Married.” It was great to see her back again. She is really terrific. She has a bunch of feature films coming up and is a regular on “United States of Tara.” But she was perfect in her return.

Meanwhile: Sally Draper is getting better, says her therapist. Betty is getting worse. It does look like Henry Francis may figure this all out soon. For Sally’s sake, let’s hope so.

restaurant of the week: the much missed La Caravelle, it was on West 55th St. The late New York Times “60 Minute Gourmet” Pierre Franey–whose books I worked on as a publicist in the early 1980s–lived above it. We had lunch there often. They had the broccoli puree in the world. It was nice to hear its name again.

Finally: Don’s anti-smoking ad/letter in the Times was spot on for 1965. The whole heroin/smoking addiction thing was a little heavy handed, but that was the time when there was an initial serious effort to get people to stop smoking. Somehow, though, I’ll miss the cloud of smoke that envelops “Mad Men.” But at least now the characters have a chance at living longer lives.

Let’s just hope they don’t give up drinking and sex. What will be left?

James Franco Agrees to Play Mapplethorpe (Maybe, Sorta)

Roger Friedman
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James Franco Agrees to Play Mapplethorpe (Maybe, Sorta)

James Franco is hot as a pistol right now. His “127 Hours” played at the Hamptons Film Festival. So did a short film he directed called “The Clerk’s Tale.”

On Saturday he was helicoptered to Sag Harbor for a “Conversation With…” at the Bay Street Theater with the festival’s former programmer (now with the Museum of Modern Art), Raj Roy.

The theater was jammed, of course, and there were plenty of young people. Many of them got to take a group picture with Franco.

During the Q&A session, beautiful blond documentary filmmaker Ondi Timoner asked Franco if he’d like to play controversial late artist Robert Mapplethorpe on film. She said she had an “idea” for a film, but really she has a script. And Franco responded by saying “I’m your man.” Hey–stranger things have happened. Maybe this is the start of a great project.

Later, Timoner told me she does have a script, and also has an idea– a great one I think– of Charlotte Gainsbourg playing Patti Smith, who was Mapplethorpe’s girlfriend, companion and collaborator.

Later, Franco took in “Blue Valentine” to see a great performance by his peer, Ryan Gosling. They may each be in the running for Best Actor this year against Colin Firth. Franco was impressed.

Madonna Goes to See “Black Swan” in Hamptons; “King’s Speech” Wins

Roger Friedman
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Madonna Goes to See “Black Swan” in Hamptons; “King’s Speech” Wins

Madonna–perhaps in the middle of editing her feature film, “W.E”–surprised the Hamptons Film Festival audience and went to see Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” Sunday night. She turned up at the 9:15pm screening at the East Hampton UA Theater. Harvey Weinstein, James Franco, and Bob and Lynn Balaban were also supposedly in the room. “Black Swan” stars Natalie Portman. Madonna is supposedly interested in working with Aronofsky on something…

Tom Hooper‘s “The King’s Speech” continues to be the film of the season. It won the audience award at the Hamptons Film Festival. That’s the second audience award it’s picked up this fall–the first was in Toronto. The audience on Friday night was gob-smacked by Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter‘s extraordinary performances. This was the third time I’ve seen the film and this time took notice of two supporting players–Clare Bloom as the regal Mary, mother of George VI (known as Mary of Teck) and Anthony Andrews as Stanley Baldwin, the prime minister of England before Neville Chamberlain (1935-37). The boyish Andrews was famously known to American audiences as Sebastian in “Brideshead Revisited” some 30 odd years ago. He is now an astonishing 62 years young…

Katherine Heigl: ‘Goddess’ Un-friends Facebook (Movie)

Roger Friedman
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Katherine Heigl: ‘Goddess’ Un-friends Facebook (Movie)

Katherine Heigl and costar Josh Duhamel may have proven that TV stars can translate to movies–at least on a quiet weekend.

It does look like their poorly reviewed sorta remake of “Baby Boom” called “Life as We Know It” finished number 1 at the box office on Friday night. It beat “The Social Network,” aka the Facebook movie and an Oscar contender.

When numbers come in later today we’ll see if Heigl took the whole weekend. This is all funny since a know it all blogger on another site already declared “Social Network” Friday’s winner and the weekend’s winner. But boxofficemojo.com and showbizdata.com say otherwise.

Heigl has a reputation for being difficult, as chronicled in last week’s New York Times. But still he’s now in the Jennifer Aniston realm, making a lot of TV -type movie light comedies, forgettable and pedestrian. She’ll hope to change that next year with “Undomestic Goddess.”

I’m told that Heigl is negotiating to star in the Tribeca Productions comedy based on a Sophie Kinsella novel. Her character is an American lawyer working in London who loses her job and has to become a nanny. The imdb says Amy Adams is supposed to be in this film, but the word is that Heigl takes the role. Oscar nominee Adams is always busy, and Imdb is not always correct.

Meryl Streep Will Solve “Puzzle” with Stanley Tucci

Roger Friedman
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Meryl Streep Will Solve “Puzzle” with Stanley Tucci

Meryl Streep is really getting into the Stanley Tucci business. Or maybe it’s vice versa.

Sources tell me that La Streep has tentatively agreed to star in the American version of “Puzzle”–an Argentinian hit–with Tucci directing for HBO. The original “Puzzle” should open in the states in January.

In “Puzzle,” Meryl would play a housewife who discovers an unnatural knack for solving jigsaw puzzles. But of coure the story is about much more than that–the puzzles are a metaphor.

Tucci would play the puzzle master who Meryl’s character winds up taking lessons from.

This is the second Tucci-Streep project that’s come up recently. Tucci and his producing partners Steve Buscemi and Wren Arthur also have “Mommy and Me” set to go. Tina Fey plays Streep’s adult “boomerang” daughter who comes home to live with her.

All this Streep-Tucci talk emanates of course from their friendship (yes, it’s a real friendship, nothing else kids). They worked together beautifully in “The Devil Wears Prada” and “Julie and Julia.”

Solomon Burke: Soul Star’s Career Was Just Out of Reach

Roger Friedman
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Solomon Burke: Soul Star’s Career Was Just Out of Reach

Solomon Burke is dead today at age 70. His death is not a total surprise. Solomon was a huge man physically who performed sitting on a gigantic gold throne with a red velvet seat. When he traveled, it was double everything. Or triple.

A few years ago, when we went to the Poretta Soul Festival in Italy, Solomon had to stay an hour or more away in Bologna because there were no hotels with rooms or beds big enough to accomodate him.

But Solomon’s physical size was equal to his genius and his reputation (he had 21 children), and certainly the depth of his talent. His gospel tinged voice was one of the few remaining from the legendary era of Atlantic Records magnificent heyday. Who remains now: Aretha Franklin, Sam Moore, Mavis Staples, Carla Thomas, and a handful of other soul stars like Smokey Robinson, Fontella Bass, Chuck Jackson, Dionne Warwick, Cissy Houston from other labels.

If you don’t know Solomon’s name right away, that”s okay. He was never a Top 40 artist. In many ways, he was like James Carr, the Memphis soul singer who was best known to black audiences and had a cult following.

His biggest hit was his first, “Just Out of Reach,” from 1961. But his immense talent carried him through several generations, and many more hits on the R&B charts. The best of those included “Cry to Me” and my favorite, “Got to Get You Off of My Mind.”

Solomon remained a favorite in the Atlantic family through the 1990s. Jerry Wexler, who produced his records, held him in the highest regard. Their relationship in the studio was also one of legend.  Solomon brought his throne and his band to Ahmet Ertegun‘s memorial concert in London in 2007. Mica Ertegun, Ahmet’s elegant widow, came backstage to see him. She told Solomon and Sam Moore that they were the two performers she’d really insisted on for the show.

Solomon was rediscovered about fifteen years ago, and went on to make several new CDs with contemporary writers and singers who admired him like Elvis Costello and Van Morrison. But mostly I will remember him as a gentle soul with a big laugh and a generous sense of humor, a lovely man who knew how to wear a gold lame cape like no one else.

Dustin Hoffman Gets Back in the Oscar Biz

Roger Friedman
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Dustin Hoffman Gets Back in the Oscar Biz

Dustin Hoffman has lead acting Oscars for “Kramer vs. Kramer” and “Rain Man.” But I think he’s going to surprise everyone this year for a Supporting nod in Richard Lewis’s compelling drama “Barney’s Version.”

“Barney’s Version” had its US premiere last night opening the Hamptons Film Festival–the much improved, mega hyped and star powered Hamptons Film Festival by the way. And while Dustin wasn’t here, Paul Giamatti was–and he’s likely headed into the Best Actor category in a spectacular performance as Barney aka prize winning (and sadly, gone) Canadian novelist Mordecai Richler.

Hoffman plays Barney’s father, a retired Montreal cop with a juicy personal life and a salty tongue. To make matters even more interesting, Hoffman’s real life son Jake plays Barney’s–Giamatti’s–son.

The other player here not to be missed is British actress Rosamund Pike, who is quite remarkable as the love of Barney’s life, his soul mate, wife and mother of his children. Pike is only 30 years old, but carries off the job of aging from about 28 to her mid sixties with disarming grace.

It’s not easy to bring this kind of massive novel to the screen, and sometimes “Barney’s Version” stumbles. But it also has moments of incredible greatness thanks to the talented cast and a canny makeup department.

Giamatti and Hoffman (in absentia) got a lot of praise last night from the star studded crowd including Alec Baldwin, Bob Balaban, and photographer Bruce Weber. Now the Hamptons International Film Festival bracs for an onslaught of A list names to hit the area from James Franco and Julian Schnabel to Freida Pinto, Tom Hooper, Stanley Tucci, and Isabella Rossellini.

For years veteran publicist Gary Springer carried the ball here, getting the HIFF ready for its closeup. Now ex New Liners Lina Plath and Clare Ann Darragh from the Frank PR have built on Gary’s work and turned this season into a real name dropper. Nice job!

 

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