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DEA “Inspected” Office of Michael Jackson’s Dr. Klein Last Week: Exclusive

Roger Friedman
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22
DEA “Inspected” Office of Michael Jackson’s Dr. Klein Last Week: Exclusive

The Drug Enforcement Agency “inspected” Dr. Arnold Klein‘s Beverly Hills office last Tuesday.

Sarah Pullen, spokesperson for the agency, confirmed this for me today.

According to Pullen, investigators didn’t “raid” Klein’s office. But they conducted a rather stringent regulatory examination. It’s called an Adminstrative Inspection Warrant. This meant that they went through all his logs, and did extensive checking to make sure  what drugs are being administered to which patients, and if it’s all being done properly.

Here’s the weird thing: the warrant was not related to Michael Jackson, per se. But Klein, according to sources, has been on the DEA radar because of Michael Jackson for some time.

According to insiders, Klein was so freaked out by the inspection that he left and has not returned to his office since then.

Klein has long been described as Jackson’s Dr. Feelgood. I first reported exclusively last June 2009, right after Jackson died, that Klein had turned in a bill to AEG Live for $48,000 covering Jackson’s invoices with him from March 23-June 25, 2009.

A few months later, Klein sued the Jackson estate for that amount and included a detailed bill. Much of his work was giving Jackson Demerol shots. Witnesses said that Jackson often slept in Klein’s office in the afternoons.

Michael Douglas: The Real Reason His Ex His Suing for “Wall Street 2” Money

Roger Friedman
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5
Michael Douglas: The Real Reason His Ex His Suing for “Wall Street 2” Money

The Ken Starr saga continues:

Everyone and anyone who’s read press reports about Michael Douglas‘s ex wife Diandra deMorrell Douglas Klein–and knows her situation–is wondering what the heck is going on. Diandra Douglas should be loaded.

In fact, this column has learned that her Diandra deMorrell Douglas Foundation–with assets of about $1.5 million–was possibly looted by now imprisoned money manager Ken Starr.

It was Starr who maintained Douglas’s foundation. Her sudden need for money from ex husband Michael Douglas–ten years after their divorce–suggests that Diandra is one of Starr’s many celebrity victims.

ADiandra, divorced from Michael for a decade, is now suing him to get money from “Wall Street 2.” She thinks she’s entitled to the money per her divorce agreement–that it’s a spin off from “Wall Street” and part of her original settlement. It’s ironic since “Wall Street” is all about greed. So is Ken Starr.

But Diandra is in trouble. According to public records obtained by this column, she has just over $600,000 in mechanics liens placed against her for work done on her posh East 65th St. townhouse. The biggest lien is held by a contracting firm for $465,428. It was filed last November 2009.

Diandra apparently has no concern over what such a lawsuit might do to her son, Cameron, currently in prison and trying to rebuild his life. At 31, he told the court that the last ten months in prison have been the first sober days of his life. It cannot have been easy to see his mother back on the front page of the New York tabloids. I’m sure it was a big hit in jail.

Diandra Douglas has a lot of real estate holdings, and, potentially, assets. Currently, the home she got in the inheritance– a massive estate in tony Montecito, California–is on the market for $29 million.

Her divorce settlement from Douglas–$45 million–was so large that Diandra, according to sources, didn’t want to remarry lest she lose anything. “She didn’t want to lose the Douglas name, that’s for sure,” says a source. In reality, Diandra Douglas is really now Diandra Klein. But I’m skipping ahead.

Indeed, Diandra–who married at age 20 and had Cameron at 21–has spent her post-Michael Douglas years on a tear. She almost married another very wealthy man named Zach Bacon, whose family sizzles with money, power and real estate in New York. They didn’t marry but did order up twin boys from a surrogate. Diandra sued over custody issues, and a contentious fight ensued. The boys live with Bacon, and Douglas visits them. In 2005, according to reports, she bought a townhouse on the Upper East Side for over $5 million. She recently sold it, reports say, for roughly $9 million.

Next stop was a marriage to guitar maker Michael Klein. At the time they met he was married to Roxanne Klein, Oprah Winfrey‘s raw food guru. Diandra and Klein married. Then she adopted a little girl from Kazakhstan with the help of her cousin-in-law Libet Johnson, of the Johnson & Johnson fortune. She used now imprisoned scam baby seller Orson Mozes–who stole millions from prospective adoptive parents and made false claims about having ready to go babies–to get the child.

Klein, perhaps distressed from the soap opera, went back to Roxanne. In between he and Diandra bought another townhouse, also on the Upper East Side, on the most prime block, for $15 million, where she continues to live to this day. It’s the same location where Cameron Douglas first went under house arrest last year–until authorities discovered that his girlfriend was smuggling heroin to him inside toothbrushes. Diandra, friends say, had no idea what was going on with Cameron under her own roof, where often three small children were also living.

If Douglas been significantly looted by Starr it puts her in good company–with Neil Simon, Uma Thurman, Carly Simon, former ICM chairman Jim Wiatt, and a host of other big names.

(Pictured: Michael and Diandra, in happier times.)

Broadway: Spider Man Limbers Up; Al Pacino Too

Roger Friedman
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2
Broadway: Spider Man Limbers Up; Al Pacino Too

Here’s some news from Broadway:

Julie Taymor and U2 are limbering up for “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark.” Rehearsals begin shortly, Taymor says. She is thrilled, and so are we. At last, “Spider Man.”

Taymor says only two actors went to Las Vegas to have flying lessons–so I am correcting the previous item. She says, “We did our flying here. We have our own flying instruction.”

The sets are loaded into the (corporately named and easy to confuse) Hilton Theater, and everything is a ‘go.’ Previews will begin in October. An opening date has not been finalized. But it could be as late as Christmas week..

Meanwhile: Al Pacino‘s run in “The Merchant of Venice” has been a gigantic success for the Public Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park. The rumor now is that Pacino and company will transfer to Broadway soon after Labor Day. Nothing is confirmed, but this is what all parties want, so it will probably happen. Cross your fingers: it’s good news for theatre audiences and for the Public, which always needs to raise money.

PS Al will need a short break so he can pick up his Emmy on August 29th for Best Actor in a TV movie for “You Don’t Know Jack” on HBO–his Dr. Kevorkian movie. Barry Levinson will get Best Director and Best TV Movie. It’s a tour de force.

Already announced: James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave are coming to Broadway in “Driving Miss Daisy.” People are going to be climbing over each other to see this production, which opens October 25th. Location is the John Golden Theater, where “Red” just finished its short but award winning run.

Keith Richards’ Book Will Set the Rolling Stones’ Record Straight

Roger Friedman
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3
Keith Richards’ Book Will Set the Rolling Stones’ Record Straight

Keith Richards is just this week starting to go over the galleys for his memoir, called “Life.” It’s coming in late September from Little, Brown.

The Rolling Stones’ guiding light and lead guitarist and songwriter is bracing for publication. He was paid $7.1 million to try and reconstruct the last 66 years.

What we’re getting, I am told, is not a list of drugs he took or how he survived taking them. Rather, Richards plans to set the record straight on a number of subjects, especially recent scandals like allegedly snorting his father’s ashes, and falling out of a tree on Fiji.

He may also address the famous myth that he had his blood changed in Switzerland in the 1970s in order to get off heroin.

What Richards definitely talks about: Anita Pallenberg, a little about Brian Jones, a great deal about writing and making music with Mick Jagger.

“Life” will not be a traditional publication. Right now, I am told, Richards and co. are considering offers from various magazines for excerpts.

“But it’s not the kind of book where you can take different chapters and send them around,” says a source.

Jane Rose, Richards’ manager, did not want to talk about the book when I ran into her last night. But she and Richards and Johnny Depp are also working on a documentary about the unsinkable Stone.

Richards is also issuing a second “Wingless Angels” album on September 23, the same week as the book’s publication. But you can hear it and read all about it right here at http://www.winglessangels.com/explorethemusic.htm

PS Keith is NOT touring with Ronnie Wood and the Small Faces this summer.

Here’s the best solo record by Keith:

Helen Mirren Getting Naked: “I Didn’t Think It Was Such a Big Deal”

Roger Friedman
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1
Helen Mirren Getting Naked: “I Didn’t Think It Was Such a Big Deal”

Oscar winner Helen Mirren posed semi-naked in a bathtub shot last week in New York Magazine. Immediately, there was a big brouahaha.

Last night, Helen–who stars in the excellent “Love Ranch,” opening today in limited release–told me at the film’s premiere: “I didn’t think it was such a big deal. I couldn’t believe the reaction. I didn’t show very much.”

A friend reminded her: “This is America, Helen. Everything is a big deal.”

Mirren responded, after thinking about it: “No one in Europe or Britain would have cared.”

Mirren has been suddenly very controversial. After making comments criticizing British Petroleum for their travesty in the Gulf of Mexico, she got trashed in the UK press yesterday.

On David Letterman‘s show, she called BP “Bloody piss poor.” Good for her! Here’s the video. Check it out at 6:20.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fguOkKn1HlE

The premiere of “Love Ranch,” a movie that’s had an unfair financial history, was pretty interesting, however. Among the guests were Mirren’s husband, the great Taylor Hackford, who directed the film; co-stars Sergio Peris-Mencheta and Elise Neal, as well as financier Henry Kravis and his philanthropist wife Marie-Josee Kravis, who’s among other things president of the Museum of Modern Art; plus Jane Rose, who’s managed Keith Richards and worked with the Rolling Stones for eons; “Hotel Rwanda” director Terry George; bestselling crime writer Phil Carlo; restaurateur/actor Paulie Herman; and famed director Julie Taymor, in whose film version of Shakespeare’s “Tempest” Mirren will shoot for an Oscar nomination this fall.

Who wasn’t there? Why, Joe Pesci, who co-stars in “Love Ranch” with Mirren as the owner of the original legal Nevada brothel. This is Pesci’s first movie in 10 years. But he was in New Jersey tending to his ill, elderly mother. He sent in his place his sister, his daughter, and the very cool Tommy DeVito, an original member of Frankie Valli’s Four Seasons.

After the screening, a group headed down to Il Cantinori in Greenwich Village, where former congressman Harold Ford, Jr. was very thrilled to meet Mirren and Hackford. There was also much discussion of the remake of “Arthur,” which Mirren starts shooting shortly all over the city. She plays Hobson, Arthur’s nanny, the role made famous by John Gielgud in the original. Russell Brand is Arthur; Jennifer Garner picks up Liza Minnelli’s role of Susan.

“Love Ranch” opens today, and then goes wider a week from Friday. Don’t miss it. No, there are no vampires in it. And Tom Cruise doesn’t ride around on a motorcycle with a shit-eating grin. “Love Ranch” is inspired by a true story. Sergio Peris-Mencheta comes from Madrid, and he’s from the same acting teacher as Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz. This is his American debut.

Both Gina Gershon and Taryn Manning are terrific as working girls on the ranch. Pesci is a lunatic, and we love him. But Mirren is a standout, as usual. It’s just fascinating to watch the wheels turn in her head as she works out a scene. And the story–of how her character, Grace, falls for a younger boxer–is powerfully handled by Hackford.

Scandal at the Hotel du Cap! Legendary Manager Accused of Embezzlement

Roger Friedman
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1
Scandal at the Hotel du Cap! Legendary Manager Accused of Embezzlement

There’s a scandal at the Hotel du Cap, the beloved, fabled, famed,  hotel resort in Cap d’Antibes. Hotel du Cap is the favorite of movie stars for decades, and it’s the central meeting place for stars and movie execs during the Cannes Film Festival.

On Thursday, the former director of the Hotel, Jean Claude Irondell, is going before a judge in Grasse, in the South of France. He’s accused of massive embezzlement, with a number put at, at least, $1 million. Irondell was legendary at the Hotel, and its seaside adjunct hotel and restaurant/club, the Eden Roc. He ruled with an iron fist and kept the place in pristine, exclusive condition.

For years, though, until very recently, the Hotel du Cap and Eden Roc accepted only cash. No credit cards, no matter who you were. If you were going there, you had to wire money ahead. American celebrities like Bill Cosby and Johnny Carson always used to brag about this method of payment.

Now Irondell is being accused, according to reports in French newspapers like the Sunday Journal (story by Thierry Boinet), of skimming like crazy off the top. Reports say he’s accused of essentially keeping double books, charging the extremely well heeled guests more than the charges recorded at the hotel, and collecting fees under the table, so to speak, for things like access to the magnificent pool and even for ice deliveries to the cabanas.

One of the accusations is that Irondell ran a whole separate system for himself when it came to the off-campus villas that surround the main hotel. The villas are like small mansions, usually rented by the very rich and famous. They are also often vulnerable to robberies. (A few seasons ago, movie producer Graham King and his guests were thoroughly cleaned out.)

Irondell worked at the du Cap for 51 years, 35 of which he was general manager. He has denied all the accusations. He now lives in a luxurious villa with a great view of the stunning Mediterranean and the Eden Roc. (Not to hype this too much, but if you’ve been lucky enough to go to the Eden Roc just for lunch, it’s Paradise. Hotel rooms start at $1,000 and those are the size of a Smart Car.)

But according to the newspaper account, Irondelle may even have been living like his billionaire guests, running up expenses that startled auditors from private dinners to expensive Champagne. Even Irondelle’s dogs are said to have profited from his alleged malfeasance–eating prime boeuf dinners every night. Zoot alors!

Steve Carell: His Exit Could Mean the End for “The Office”

Roger Friedman
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2
Steve Carell: His Exit Could Mean the End for “The Office”

Is it the end for the folks at Dunder Mifflin?

Steve Carell says he wants to leave “The Office” after next season, the seventh — and maybe the last.

Without Michael Scott, NBC and the show’s producers will have to decide whether they can replace Carell and go on. It’s not so easy. Some hit shows have been able to replace secondary characters skillfully and move on. The example is “Cheers,” which brought in Kirstie Alley for Shelley Long after Long’s five years was up. “Cheers” went on for seven more seasons with Alley.

But could “Cheers” have replaced its lead, Ted Danson, and had the same success? Probably not. In the same way, “MASH” was very good at trading supporting players–Wayne Rogers, Larry Linville and MacLean Stevenson were succeeded by Mike Farrell, David Ogden Stiers, and Harry Morgan without any trouble. But could Alan Alda have been subbed? The answer is: no.

If 2011 is the end of “The Office,” it’s not such a bad idea. Most TV series go on way past their prime–take “Murphy Brown” or “Frasier.” Sometimes, the seven year contract that binds actors is a good thing. Mary Tyler Moore always had it right– go out on top. Don’t wait–as in the case of “Scrubs”– to be pounded into dust and then blown away.

With “The Office,” two of the supporting players are ready to leave anyway. Both John Krasinski and Rainn Wilson are setup to do anything they want in TV or film. B.J. Novak is good to go, and Jenna Fischer just had a nice turn with Michael Douglas in “Solitary Man.” And Ed Helms seems like he’s everywhere except “The Office” lately.

How will we live without “The Office”? I never watched “Parks and Recreation” before my flight home from Los Angeles last week. (American Airlines’ selection of movies is so bad, that you get stuck watching TV.) I always thought it was a pale imitation of “The Office.” But it’s pretty funny. Amy Poehler is always good, and I was happily surprised to see that Paul Schneider–so underrated from “The Assassination of Jesse James” and “Lars and the Real Girl”–is the male lead. By the time Dunder Mifflin closes its Scranton branch, “P&C” should be ready to take over.

And Steve Carell–after “Dinner with Schmucks” this summer, he’s got another comedy done with Julianne Moore. He also has a half dozen films in development. And no one is more ready to host the Academy Awards. Long after Michael Scott is promoted to a high paying, powerless position at the company, Carell will always be around.

Mickey Rooney: Michael Jackson Used to Sing to Me Over the Phone

Roger Friedman
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7
Mickey Rooney: Michael Jackson Used to Sing to Me Over the Phone

Mickey Rooney called me on Monday night with his talented wife, Jan. I was thrilled to hear from them. I told them I was worried this year because I hadn’t seen them at the Oscars. Our meetings on the red carpet are a tradition.

“We were there!” Mickey and Jan said in unison. “We missed you, too!” They’ve been touring, doing their musical sketch show everywhere.

Do you understand that Mickey will turn 90 in September? He is the elder statesman of Hollywood. When Mickey was a kid, he was Justins Bieber and Timberlake, Michael J. Fox, and a little David Spade all rolled into one. He was Warren Beatty before there was Warren Beatty. I mean, the boy got around!

So Mickey wanted me to tell everyone that at Saturday’s Michael Jackson event at the Bev Hilton, it was his devoted Jan who knocked everyone out. “I just introduced her. She sang “You Are Not Alone,” Michael’s song, and Charlie Chaplin‘s “Smile.”

Jan said: “You know, Michael used to call us up and sing with us on the phone.” She got a little teary. “His death is such a tragedy.”

The Rooneys are busy, busy. They were recently guests at an intimate dinner thrown for them by Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw. The other guests were J.J. Abrams and his wife, Katie.

In the last week, they were also part of a surprise birthday for 50s bombshell and Howard Hughes hottie Jane Russell. The other guests included Esther Williams and Debbie Reynolds. According to the imdb.com, Russell just turned 89 on June 21st. God bless them all, having surprise parties! How cool is that?

Here’s Mickey as Andy Hardy with Judy Garland. There’s nothing like it:

Michael Jackson: Moonies Want Millions from His Parents

Roger Friedman
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10
Michael Jackson: Moonies Want Millions from His Parents

As usual, everyone has this wrong.

Michael Jackson‘s parents have been sued once again by a newspaper called the Segye Times in South Korea.

But the Segye Times is a front for Reverend Moon’s Unification Church. The church owns the paper, just the way they did the Washington Times.

This financial back and forth between the Moonies and the Jacksons has been going on since 1990. The Jacksons had not toured since the Victory Tour ended in 1984. Here’s what happened:

The Moonies wanted to underwrite a Jacksons tour of South Korea with Michael. According to sources, they contacted Joseph and Katherine Jackson and members of the Jackson family. They gave them all gifts and cash, ranging from Rolex watches to luxury cars. At one point, the group’s representative went to Frank DiLeo, Michael’s manager and brought two casher’s checks for $500,000 apiece. DiLeo refused to accept the money. He said, “If Michael wants to tour South Korea, we’ll call you.”

The truth was, DiLeo and Jackson did not want to be involved with the Unification Church.

The Moonies meantime made a deal with Joseph Jackson and the ever astute Jermaine for the tour. When it didn’t materialize, they sued for their money and gifts to be returned.

In the lawsuit, the Moonies claimed they were out $5.5 million. To avoid losing their Encino home, the Jacksons transferred ownership to Michael. (That’s the short version. The long version, including the parents suing LaToya, is too hard to explain here.)

Michael Jackson settled with the Moonies in 1992. But his parents were separate defendants, as was a concert promoter named Kenneth Choi. They never showed up for trial. In 1994,  a trial judgment was filed against them totaling $4 million. In 1996, the Moonies filed to take possession of the home. That’s when they transferred it to Michael. Since then, the Moonies have just waited. And with interest, they say they’re up to $13 million.

This is interesting: according to sources, because of this judgment, neither Katherine or Joseph Jackson uses credit cards or can get credit. “Everything they do is in cash,” the source says. The judgment was reportedly part of the Jacksons’ 1999 bankruptcy filing for $24 million.

Now, of course, with Michael’s estate being the subject of so much press–and proclamations of earning so much recently–the Moonies are back to get their dough.

Really, you can’t make this stuff up.

Jack Abramoff-Kevin Spacey Redux: “Casino Jack” is a Fine Film

Roger Friedman
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4
Jack Abramoff-Kevin Spacey Redux: “Casino Jack” is a Fine Film

I wrote this back on March 10th after seeing a screening of George Hickenlooper’s “Casino Jack.” It’s a terrific little film, with Spacey spot-on and ready for an Oscar nomination. It’s very funny that everyone’s carping about a lack of Oscar nominees this year. Here’s one all set to go:

Former ” ‘and disgraced ‘ Congressman Tom DeLay thinks the unemployed should just buck up and take it.

“You know,” Delay said on CNN recently, “there is an argument to be made that these extensions, the unemployment benefits keeps people from going and finding jobs. In fact there are some studies that have been done that show people stay on unemployment compensation and they don’t look for a job until two or three weeks before they know the benefits are going to run out.”

Ok, so no one likes him. Now George Hickenlooper’s new film, “Casino Jack,” won’t do much to improve this idiot’s status. DeLay, you see, enabled former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff to loot and pillage Washington while George Bush was president. Abramoff was in jail when I saw the film, but is now out and working at a pizzeria in Baltimore.

Kevin Spacey seems like he was born to play Abramoff, a so-called devout Jew with a non-Jewish wife and very blonde little girls. “Casino Jack” isn’t necessarily good for the Jews but it’s not good for anyone else either, like the Christian right.

That Spacey plays disingenuous’and creepy well is no surprise, but the film does have its surprises nonetheless. Barry’Pepper is a revelation as Abramoff’s main associate. Jon Lovitz is pond scum personified as a mattress’dealer-slash-thug’and con man who allowed himself to be a front for Abramoff’s’stealing.

I saw “Casino Jack” last week in Hollywood. It reminded me of “GoodFellas.” Not so good people discover evil, sell out, and lose everything.’It’s quite a story. And the really funny part is that Abramoff is only serving six years. When he gets out, he’ll be rich. And he plans to move to Hollywood and become a film’producer. Why the hell not?

Now Hickenlooper will take his film to festivals and find a distributor to’release “Casino Jack” in the fall. There will be Oscar nominations for Spacey and Pepper, certainly. And a lot of screaming from Oliver Stone, as “Casino Jack” is really a contemporary version of “Wall Street.”

I say this now in June, after seeing “Wall Street 2”: “Casino Jack” is the perfect complement to “WS2” for this fall. Whoever picks it up will do well, maybe better because of the Oliver Stone film opening September 23.

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