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Simon Monjack: Brittany Murphy’s Husband’s Death Foretold

Roger Friedman
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Simon Monjack: Brittany Murphy’s Husband’s Death Foretold

Brittany Murphy‘s widower, Simon Monjack, died over night at home. It’s been almost six months since Murphy died.

Monjack, who was 39, was a bad guy, there’s no two ways about it.

This is what I wrote back in December about Monjack and Murphy.

Director Michael Z. Gordon was planning to go ahead with Brittany Murphy (whose real name was Brittany Anne Bertolotti) in a movie called “Shrinking Charlotte” that was set to shoot in January. Gordon told me he was nervous about working with Murphy because his staff had been in touch with the Puerto Rico production office of “The Caller.” That was the movie from which Murphy was fired two weeks ago.

But what he heard about her husband, Simon Monjack, was what gave him pause.

“Monjack came on the set inebriated,” Gordon said he’d been told. “The producers wanted to keep him away. Brittany of course defended him. And so she was let go.”

Nevertheless, Gordon liked her. He had planned, ironically, to put her in film called “Heart Stopper,” which wasn’t made. But if “Charlotte” had gone well, he had another dark comedy for her.

Monjack is not beloved in Hollywood. I spoke to two others movie producers today who came in contact with him on a project in the last couple of years. They described him as a “con man.” Neither had anything nice to say, but one of them warned: “He’s a dangerous guy.” According to this producer, Monjack presented himself as someone with a lot of money and had none at all. A lawsuit was settled after the film in question was made.

Monjack had other problems besides drinking and interfering with Murphy’s career. He is a walking legal time bomb. For one thing, the British citizen was arrested a month prior to his marriage to Murphy in May 2007 because his visa expired. The tabloids speculated that he married Murphy to avoid deportation.

Then there’s the money: According to public records, Monjack has been the defendant in several lawsuits. In 2006, Coutts and Company, a British bank, received a court judgment against him of $470,132. In 2005, right before he met Murphy, Monjack and his girlfriend were evicted from their New York apartment for $7,025 in back rent. There was a similar incident in 1997 in Los Angeles.

More interestingly: in November 2007, six months after marrying Brittany, Monjack was chased into Los Angeles Superior Court by his ex-wife. British writer and TV personality Simone Bienne claimed that Monjack had never paid her the $50,000 she’d been due in their 2006 British divorce. The court awarded her the money in U.S. dollars plus fees and interest.

This morning, May 24th: what was going on with this couple? Back in February, Murphy’s death was ruled “pneumonia, with prescription drugs and anemia also playing a role.”

Lost Was Purgatory; Now We’re in Hell

Roger Friedman
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9
Lost Was Purgatory; Now We’re in Hell

“Lost” is finally over.

And, as I surmised–and many others did a long time ago–the survivors of Oceanic 815 were in a kind of purgatory. All that flashing forwards and backwards and sideways was their lives flashing before them.

The best line of the night went to Kate, after Desmond told her someone named Christian Shephard had died. “Christian Shephard? Seriously?”

Back in the ether of my Fox News column I did say a long time ago that Jack’s father was named for a reason. The show had highly Biblical overtones, and they call came together tonight.

But, as with everything to do with “Lost,” and most series finales, this will be debated for a long time to come.

There were a lot of clues along the way. I’ll trust the folks at Lostpedia to sort them out, and all over the ‘net on forums devoted to the subject. But Jack’s neck wound coming and going should have been one, certainly. And last week, it made no sense in linear time that Michele Rodriguez‘s character, Ana Lucia, could have appeared in a flash sideways after she’d died on the island. But neither did it make sense in the same episode that Rousseau and her daughter, Alix, could have existed in Ben’s story.

The question will be: did the Oceanic passengers survive at all? Did the Oceanic 6, as they were known, return to the mainland, and then return to island only to die? And what about all the other people, like the bad guys from the Dharma Institute, and the Others? Th questions will go on and on.

But you know, “Lost” had to end eventually. And remember that that Damon Lindelof and Carleton Cuse always said they knew what the last shot would be from the beginning. And so it was.

Mantime, Cyndi Lauper was pretty damned good on “Celebrity Apprentice.” And is it any surprise that Bret Michaels won? At least he’s alive and not in purgatory.

James Franco Off to Yale On Double Header

Roger Friedman
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James Franco will have to shoot his “Planet of the Apes” prequel quickly this summer. In September he heads to Yale University to begin graduate work in both the writing and film departments.

“It’s a first,” he said, his trademark grin spreading from ear to ear. I caught up with the multi-tasking Franco on Thursday night in Cannes. He showed his 13 ninute short film, “The Clerk’s Tale,” at the Critics Week finale. It was preceeded by Kirsten Dunst’s 6 minute short, “Bastard.” Both stars were there, and got a lot of  applause for their work. But it was Franco the kids were screaming for.

The actor, who’s also in “Howl,” this fall (from Sundance) and “Eat, Pray, Love,” has managed to make a lot of films while attenting New York University film school and Columbia University’s writing program. His NYU classmates actually came to the Critics Week screening last night. They’re an enthusiastic bunch. And they assured me that despite a nasty photo posted on a blog last year, Franco does not fall asleep in class.

Frankly. who could blame him? He’s on the go 24/7.

“The Clerk’s Tale,” is based on a poem by Spencer Reese, who worked in a Brooks Brothers store in Minneapolis for 14 years while writing his poems and hoping to get published. He was finally vindicated, and now is at Yale Divinity School. Technically. the short is Franco’s fifth film, but certainly it’s just the beginning of a long interesting career.

As for Dunst, her “Bastard” is stylish and well-executed. Bravo!

‘Medium’ Star Jake Weber was Rolling Stones Drug Mule

Roger Friedman
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5

Jake Weber, who plays Patricia Arquette’s much put upon husband in “Medium,” is featured in a Cannes film.

When Weber was about 7, he spent the summer with the Rolling Stones in the south of France. His father was their drug dealer. Weber, as it’s noted in the new film, “Stones in Exile,” spent the summer rolling joints for Mick, Keith, and friends.

In other interviews, Weber has said that he was a “drug mule” at Mick and Bianca Jagger’s wedding.

The British actor also went to to school at Summerhill, the famous experimental school about which many books have been written. Who knew? Most TV actors don’t have such an exciting resume.

Jagger laughed at Wednesday’s Q&A following the first screening of “Stones in Exile.” He brought up “the little boy in the movie.” who few in the British and French audience realized was a TV star now.

“It’s not an occupation I’d recommend for an eight year old,” Jagger said of Weber’s joint rolling days. There’s no mention of who Weber’s dad was, or how he knew Keith Richards.

Paul Allen: Time to Update the Social Software

Roger Friedman
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8

One thing you can say for mysterious Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen: he doesn’t know how to throw a party. He does have a big yacht parked out in the Cannes marina with its full sized yellow submarine, floating hospital, and basketball court.

On Wednesday night, he hosted a party for the Rolling Stones vanity piece documentary, “Stones in Exile.” If Emily Blunt hadn’t made an appearance around 11:30 pm, Allen’s party would have been labeled the Voyage of the Garmento’s. The only other name stars were Ryan Gosling and Adrien Brody.

I looked back in old columns to see who’d been at previous years’ Allen parties. The answer is, few celebs. Whoever’s advising him isn’t doing a very good job. How can you have a gigantic yacht and no celebrities? Not even Mick Jagger, who’s said to be staying on the yacht, has shown up at Allen’s parties.

Monday night was pretty much the same thing. At least on Monday, Allen played with his pick-up rock garage band. By Wednesday, the band room was shut down.

On the good news side, people who’ve been on the boat say Allen looks better,albeit on the heavy side. He’s been battling non Hodgkins lymphoma for some time. Friends say he’s off to Norway next to do something or other considered once-in-a-lifetime. Readers of my old column may recall Allen’s failed attempt to photopgraph wild dogs in Zambia in the summer of 2008–even after spending millions. My friends and I got the pictures instead, by accident, for free.  

Speaking of the Rolling Stones doc, here’s a question that was asked by not just a few people last night after the screening: where the heck is Keith Richards in all this? Mick Jagger has made this is own project. Even though the names of Richards and Charlie Watts are on the same Executive Producer card as Jagger, there’s no sign of Richards at all for this “Exile on Main Street” re-release.

 PS Allen, an amateur musician, loves his rock and roll icons. He has a full state of the art recording studio on his yachts and in his houses. Robbie Robertson, leader of the legendary Band, has been making an album at Allen’s Hollywood Hills studio this year.

 

Image: PRphotos.com

Valerie Plame Spy Movie with Sean Penn is “Fair Game”

Roger Friedman
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10
Valerie Plame Spy Movie with Sean Penn is “Fair Game”

Valerie Plame’s exposure by the Bush Administration premiered as a big Hollwood movie today in Cannes. The press applauded Doug Liman’s thriller “Fair Game” and rightly so. It’s a good movie. But the filmmakers are clearly scared of the press. Star Sean Penn has elected to stay away fron Cannes altogether. And the press has been excluded from any contact with Valerie Plame.

Still Naomi Watts turns in a powerful performance as the blonde bombshell spy, the kind of work that Jane Fonda or Julia Roberts would have done in their prime. She’ll be in the Oscar mix, certainly. Her career is notched up significantly.

Will audiences flock to this story? The truth is hard to take, especially about Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. And they may not want to receive it from Sean Penn, who gets to vent and be angry as Plame’s husband, Joe Wilson, at all the perceived bad guys (including press). Penn as Wilson may be called out for being particularly abusive to a female reporter. It seems like a set up, frankly.

“Fair Game” is going to need a lot of enthusiasm from that very press if it’s going to make any money. But it’s a solid film that deserves an audience.

Jagger’s Edge Gets Sharper with Age

Roger Friedman
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3
Jagger’s Edge Gets Sharper with Age

Is it possible? The Rolling Stones have shut down a whole side street in Cannes. The lines outside the Palais Stephanie hotel movie theater are deep, long and wide.

Is it 1972? No, it’s 2010. The Stones are re-releasing their seminal album, “Exile on Main Street” this week, remastered and with six new old tracks.

But there’s also a one hour movie, “Stones in Exile” fashioned from unseen footage, and clips from two little known films: the cultish “Cocksucker Blues” and the long ago vanished “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones.”

This is what is driving Cannes crazy a week after the film festival has opened.

“Stones in Exile,” directed by Stephen Kijak, is a one hour romp into decadence and genius. As much as drugs are such a part of the Rolling Stones lore, you also see how organized and ambitious they were; they were out to top their previous success with “Sticky Fingers” and make a classic recording.

Kijak is good at telling the “Exile” story. But of course there’s a hitch: irrelevant interviews with Benicio del Toro, Sheryl Crowe, will.I.am, etc. Who cares? They would have been better off talking to Clapton, McCartney, and other peers.

But in the end “Stones in Exile” a most welcome chronicle of a lost world, when rock musicians weren’t just packaged in plastic and shipped soulessly to customers. Even if it sometimes seems like an hour long commercial, it still gives a sense of the Stones’ authenticity.

How Madonna Got One Million Bucks Out of AmFAR

Roger Friedman
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8
How Madonna Got One Million Bucks Out of AmFAR

AmFAR: that’s the celebrity studded fundraising group for AIDS research. When Dr. Mathilde Krim started it over 20 years ago. AmFAR was alone and a pioneer in bringing the plight of AIDS and HIV to the world.

Two years ago Madonna made an appearance here in Cannes for AmFar’s annual “Cinema Against AIDS’ dinner. Madonna was in town to promote her self-important Africa documentary. She’d never been to Cinema Against AIDS before. Sharon Stone, as usual, was the emcee and auctioneer. Madonna–who has not donated money to AmFAR at least through her charitable Ray of Light foundation–auctioned off a couple of handbags she owned, a signed guitar, and some miscellaneous items from the stage, even some used tissues.

For her time, and the publicity, this column has now learned that Madonna received an in-kind donation to her then brand new Raising Malawi charity, of $1 million.

Raising Malawi was started in 2007 as an arm of the Kabbalah Center in Los Angeles. The group is busy inculcating Malawian children with Kabbalah curriculum. Says one former Kabbalah Center member: “They’re very good at going into poor countries and getting a foothold.”

Raising Malawi had so much trouble getting a 501 c 3 designation that in early 2008, Gucci had to start its own foundation to accept money for it at a fundraiser. Everything about Raising Malawi is tied to the Kabbalah Center and Kabbalah’s real estate arm in Los Angeles.

Never before Madonna picked up that million dollar check had AmFAR given such a large donation to any organization. In 2008, in fact, the second largest amount given to one entity was a total of about $350,000 to the University of New South Wales in New Zealand. The average amount AmFAR hands out is $10,000 with a few exceptions.

In 2007-2008, AmFAR did wind up giving grants totalling $6.7 million according to the same federal tax filing that lists the million dollar contribution to Raising Malawi. But they also list nearly the same amount of money in salaries, wages and associated fees. Their top staff fo six people makes a total of over $1 million a year. Working for AmFAR isn’t a bad career. The two top execs earn about $300,000 apiece.

By contrast: the Elton John AIDS Foundation also gave grants of about $6.7 million in 2008. They list the expense of staff all-in at  just about $400,000 approximately.

In 2008, the Elton John AIDS Foundation also sent AmFAR a check for over $350,000.

One of AmFAR’s execs, Kevin Frost, emailed me: ” Next to Elizabeth Taylor and Sharon Stone, I am hard pressed to think of a celebrity that has done more to help further our cause.” He added that the event Madonna attended raised $10 million, although that’s still anecdotal. Actual reported figures won’t be available until at least the end of this year. He says the board approved the award.

Frost did not specify any more about how Madonna ranks with Stone and Taylor. It’s not an entirely accurate depiction. Stone has worked tirelessly for AmFAR for over a decade, taking over when Taylor went into retirement.

But in the last couple of years Stone’s role has been severely diminished. This year she told me (in front of witnesses) that she had not been asked to help out in Cannes, and so took a film role. (The AmFAR people have angrily disputed this story.)

There’s no doubt that AmFAR raises money for AIDS reseach and does many good things. But the Madonna pay off is an eye raiser. AmFAR, it could be argued, might have used the money elsewhere or in many different places. Frost says the group works with other Malawi aid organizations. But none have ever received anything close to a million dollars.

Ryan Gosling Made New Film Without a Net, Literally

Roger Friedman
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3
Ryan Gosling Made New Film Without a Net, Literally

The Weinstein Company didn’t make any announcements last night about getting back the Miramax name or library. The deal is still being hashed out by the lawyers.

But Harvey Weinstein made a bigger statement when “Blue Valentine,” the Derek Cianfrance drama Harvey bought at Sundance, premiered in the Directors Fortnight.

As I wrote in January, “Blue Valentine” is a brilliant dissection of a young married couple’s history and romance. Stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams do exceptional work. They will be nominated for Oscars and heaped with praise. Cianfrance has taken a conventional saga of love and loss and reinvented it. “Blue Valentine” is just spectacular.

It was so interesting to see the film five months later. Cianfrance has done some trimming; eight minutes are now gone. The result is that Williams’s Cindy is more sympathetic, and the roles are now more balanced. Gosling’s Dean is still a happy go lucky but often inarticulate lover. His pursuit of Cindy seems noble and courtly. But now Cindy’s story has been fleshed out, and her motivations are explained. Williams takes a giant leap forward in her career.

It was also interesting to watch the post-screening eruption. All the magazines now want Gosling and Williams for covers. They are going to be hot this winter, as “Blue Valentine” sails through the awards season.

By the way, there’s an amazing scene that Cianfrance shot on the Manhattan Bridge in New York. He sent the pair up there but without scripts. Williams knew something about her character and had to tell Gosling. Gosling was only told not to come down off the bridge until he’d gotten the secret out of her character. Williams’s Cindy couldn’t bring herself to spit it out, so Gosling starts climbing over the side of the bridge. There’s no stunt double or net. Ryan told me at Sundance, “Jamie Patricof [the producer] was freaking out. There goes one of my stars!”

But it’s that kind of daring that makes “Blue Valentine” exciting and immediate. You fgel all the way through that there’s no net, and anything can happen to these people. And it does.

NBCs New Shows Look Frighteningly Bad and Possibly Racist

Roger Friedman
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5

You can see a bunch of clips from NBC’s fall line up at www.defamer.com. I can’t bear to transfer the clips over here.

Here’s the bottom line: they look just beyond awful. The network cancelled “Law & Order,” and put thousands of New Yorkers out of work, for this tripe.

For one thing, the shows feature almost exclusively young, attractive white people. Multi-cultural is obviously not a term that’s come into play in Burbank.

Second, “Outsourced,” about a white guy who goes to India, looks pretty damned racist. “Northern Exposure” it’s not. And India is really Burbank. I felt so sorry for the Indian American actors in the clip. It’s all jokes at their expense.

“Friends with Benefits” and “Perfect Couples” should be cancelled now. Why wait? Just more thirtysomething white people, whining, playing Charades, drinking white wine in the suburbs. Why didn’t they just call it “White Whine”? Black people should just not watch NBC. I guess they don’t anyway, unelss it’s to see Tracey Morgan.

Only “Harry’s Law,” with Kathy Bates, has potential. Of course, it’s from David E. Kelly. Ben Chaplin is in the trailer, which is a good sign. And Bates gets to use the word “asshole.” Ooh. Very cutting edge. I think she’s playing Denny Crane from “Boston Legal.” But ok, why not?

Why do viewers prefer HBO and Showtime, F/X, TNT, etc? Because some actual thought goes into the creation of their shows. NBC has totally jettisoned the 10pm Thursday slot that once belonged to “ER,” “Hill Street Blues” and “LA Law” to some crappy “Sex and the City” meets “Love, American Style.”

And then there’s the whole deal with Jerry Seinfeld. “The Marriage Ref,” which I liked and I know that actually viewers liked, may not return if at all until sometime in 2011. I know that Seinfeld and co. expected to come back in the fall, like a real show, since they saved NBC after “The Jay Leno Show” got pulled.

The network needed 10pm programming, and Jerry came through with A list guests like Madonna, Larry David, and Gwyneth Paltrow. If I were Jerry, I’d be pissed. And you know what? Those “Marriage Ref” shows are going to wind up being video classics one day. I hope Jerry owns them and not NBC. Those clips of the stars are going to be valuable.

Here in Cannes it’s funny to read all these “breaking news” alerts from the network schedule announcements like they mean something. They mean nothing. Almost all the shows look just pathetic; most of them will be cancelled soon after their second or third episode. Real creativity is dead at the networks. Why would anyone watch this crap when Edie Falco is so sublime in “Nurse Jackie,” Jason Schwarzman and Ted Danson make “Bored to Death” a treat, and Debra Winger is coming to “In Treatment”?

The answer is: they won’t.

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