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‘Precious’ Actress Mo’Nique: Show Me the Money

Roger Friedman
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Everyone connected to the extraordinary Lee Daniels film, “Precious,” will breathe a sigh of relief today when actress Mo’Nique appears on the “Today” show.

Rumors have been swirling for some time that the actress-comedienne, highly touted for a Best Supporting Actress nomination, has been demanding payments for personal appearances to promote the movie.

One source close to the production insists that Mo’Nique asked for $100,000 at one point to show up with the rest of the cast. The last time she did any publicity for the film, which is about to be released, was last January at the Sundance Film Festival.

Apparently, too, Mo’Nique’s demands have been communicated abroad, too. Foreign distributors have also balked at her demands.

At Lionsgate, a spokesperson insists this isn’t true. “Mo’Nique is doing the ‘Today’ show for us, she’s coming to the New York Film Festival. She had scheduling conflicts for Cannes and Toronto, but she did come to the Sundance festival. We’re not paying her to do anything.” Calls to Mo’Nique’s publicist have never been returned.

The weird thing is, this seems to be an open secret. Everyone connected to “Precious” knows about it. On Sunday, the whole cast showed up in Toronto for a party at the Royal Ontario Museum and a premiere at Roy Thomson Hall. Mariah Carey, Gabby Sidibe, Sherry Shephard, and Paula Patton were all in attendance. Only Mo’Nique and Lenny Kravitz ‘ who’s touring and recording ‘ were absent.

This is really a shame, too. The 41-year-old actress and comedienne, whose real name is Monique Imes, has been one of the hardest working women in show business all her life. She currently hosts’a talk show out of Atlanta on BET, and has made countless TV appearances. Her work in “Precious” as Mary, the main character’s abusive mother, is revelatory. Her whole career could change overnight.

Meantime, Mariah Carey continues to be a good sport about “Precious.” She will do a live concert at 10 a.m. from Central Park this Friday for “Oprah.” Winfrey added her name to the film, along with Tyler Perry, after it debuted in Sundance to give it higher visibility. But Carey has been plugging away for a while on it, even recording a’ song for the movie. Alas, Winfrey pal Mary J. Blige got the title song honors. Mariah is non-plussed by the whole episode. “I’m going to use it for something really good,” she told me, putting a positive spin on the matter.

P.S. Mo’Nique’s not the only no -show in the “Precious” crowd. Oprah Winfrey totally skipped the lavish “Precious” party at the Royal Ontario Museum over the weekend. She limited her appearances to a private dinner (sponsored by Entertainment Weekly, so they got access), a public press conference, and the screening of the film. But Museum partygoers who expected her got zilch, even though Winfrey had been advertised. Soon they’re going to call this movie, “Precious and Few.”

But let’s hope it all works out. “Precious” is one of the best movies of the year, hands down, and everyone in it gives can’t-miss performances.

Paul McCartney Once Gave Bono, U2 Pep Talk

Roger Friedman
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Paul McCartney and Beatles producer George Martin once each tried to give fledgling band U2 pep talks. Bono once fell asleep on Frank Sinatra‘s couch after being out-drunk by the legendary crooner. U2’s producer Steve Lillywhite often prods Bono in the studio by saying: ‘How long is the song Bono? Why do you want to kill yourself? Do your job!’

These are just a few of the nuggets of inside info that came out last night during Elvis Costello‘s interview with Bono and the Edge for the second season of his Sundance channel talk show, ‘Spectacle.’ Costello, once the Angry Young Man of punk rock, is now the Charlie Rose of popular music. Brilliant!

The taping was held at MTV’s 360-seat Masonic Temple here in Toronto, under tight secrecy. For a week, the names of Costello’s guests were kept quiet, although down the street, at a local church, one pastor was preparing a homily called ‘No Line on the Horizon: The Theology of U2.’ The Irish superstar band starts its world tour here this week.

Costello, trimmed down to a size that Kirstie Alley would give cheesecake for, opened the show by playing two U2 songs ‘ ‘Mysterious Ways,’ ‘Please’ and ‘Dirty Day’ ‘ with his own group, the Imposters. By the end of the two and half hours, Bono and Edge did an unplugged version of their song, ‘Stay,’ and joined Costello for a soulful rendition of the host’s ‘Alison’ ‘ a nod to Bono’s wife, Ali ‘ as well as U2’s ‘Stuck in a Moment,’ and a medley of Costello’s ‘Pump it Up’ and U2’s ‘Get on Your Boots.’ Bono also sang a bluesy number he once wrote for Frank Sinatra, called ‘Two Shots.’

‘It was recorded eventually by a Sinatra,’ he said, ‘Nancy.’

The real charm of the ‘Spectacle’ shows ‘ the first season is just out on DVD ‘ is watching and listening to Costello in his bolo hat, black shirt and tie. As Bono said toward the end of last night’s show, ‘He’s good at this!’

Indeed, he is. The choice of guest helps. Last year Bill Clinton, Sting and the Police, Smokey Robinson, and Lou Reed were among those from whom Costello elicited more than just the usual chit-chat and banter. With musical guests from his era of punk rock, Costello is particularly fascinating. He may not know it, but he’s forming an oral history of an era that was never covered well in the American rock press ‘ Rolling Stone just about ignored it.

And so last night we learned, especially from the Edge, about U2’s initial competition with bands like Echo & the Bunnymen, their influence from Manchester groups like Joy Division, and the two concerts that inspired them as they were forming: the Clash and, of course, Elvis Costello and the Attractions.

The guys did talk about how, at the start, they knew nothing. Working at the famed Abbey Road studios in London they received pep talks from both Paul McCartney and George Martin. ‘McCartney slid down the banister,’ Bono recalls. ‘He said there were only good ghosts there.’ The pep talk was mostly about having a lot of structure and being organized, Bono says, which only left U2 depressed. The Beatles, they learned, worked on a regular schedule, with an hour lunch break and finished by five or six pm.

‘We tried it,’ Bono says, ‘and we were in the studio that night ’til 4 am.’

The Edge also tells a story about Oasis’s Liam Gallagher, overcome with emotion at meeting Martin, leaving before their conversation was over.

‘Maybe if he’d listened to him, Oasis would still be together,’ Edge says.

Costello’s next two tapings, back at New York’s Apollo Theater, are respectively, Sheryl Crow and Bruce Springsteen. It looks a like pretty good season.

Pierre Cossette, the Great Grammy Producer, Dies at 85

Roger Friedman
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Pierre Cossette, the Great Grammy Producer, Dies at 85

Just a few words about the great Grammy Awards producer Pierre Cossette. He passed away on Friday at age 85. Pierre was one of the great showmen, a true legend, and a feisty producer. He produced the Grammy show for 30 years, bringing it into the modern era. A French Canadian with a real flare for understanding what worked on TV and how it translated to the audience, Pierre managed to combine rock and pop with opera, classical music, jazz and every other genre. He loved it all, especially country music. He won a Tony Award for his Broadway musical, “The Will Rogers Follies.”

A few years ago, when the Grammys were in New York, I was in the production truck with Pierre during the show. He got a call that Luciano Pavarotti, who was in Radio City Music Hall, would not perform “Nessum Dorma” with Aretha Franklin an planned. Pierre dropped the phone and ran upstairs to the opera great’s dressing room. The show was on already, a live broadcast. But Pavarotti refused. It was Pierre who convinced Aretha Franklin to sing both the English and Italian parts of the song. He sent Sting out on stage to say that Pavarotti could not be there that night ‘ he was upstairs! But Aretha went on, sang the whole thing, and “Nessum Dorma” wound up becoming a huge part of her repetoire. The audience never knew what happened.

We’ve lost a lot of great people in the last few weeks, all in their 80s, but vibrant as ever: Dominick Dunne, Army Archerd, Walter Cronkite (92), the great writer Larry Gelbart ‘ who wrote the MASH TV series and many great plays. They will never be replaced. And now Pierre. I hope they’re all together, having a fantastic time!

Fashion Designer Tom Ford’s First Movie Sparks Bidding War

Roger Friedman
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C.J. LaFrance/Getty Images

C.J. LaFrance/Getty Images

You’ve seen Tom Ford maybe in fashion magazines. He ran Gucci, then started his own line. He appears in ads, shirt wide open, surrounded by beautiful women. Did we ever think he’d make a feature film that would spark a bidding war at a film festival? No, no way.

Well, he did it.

Last night, his “A Single Man,” sort of influenced by a novel by Christopher Isherwood, premiered in Toronto and caused a sensation. Co-stars Colin Firth and Julianne Moore‘(pictured here with Tom) are so spectacularly good in it that the audience is already giving Oscar congratulations. Every buyer for every major distributor turned up at the Isabel Bader Theater to see Ford’s completed movie, and they went crazy for it. At the after party across the street, old Miramax’s Harvey Weinstein and new Miramax’s Daniel Battsek were among those circling Ford like he was chum in the water.

And why not? “A Single Man” taps into a lot of popular themes right now. For one it’s set in 1962, the year of “Mad Men.” It even has the uncredited voice of Jon Hamm on an important’phone call. He doesn’t give his name but it could be Don Draper calling from New York.

The story ‘ written and reinvented by Ford ‘ takes Isherwood’s 1964 autobiographical novel and fleshes it out rather brilliantly. Firth plays George, the Isherwood stand in, a middle-aged gay British professor living in Santa Monica. His lover of 16’years’has died, and George is contemplating suicide. His best friend, Charlotte, is a boozy English divorcee. That’s’Julianne Moore, who’s a knockout.’The centerpiece sequence, when George goes over to her’house for dinner, is an instant classic. From the time Moore opens the door to Firth to the second she shuts it, you know’the two actors have done something extraordinary.

The film is in the same vein as “Far from Heaven,” “Gods and Monsters,” and “The Hours.”

Whoever wins the rights to “A Single Man” picks up Oscar noms for at least Best Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Score, Set Design, Costumes, and Make Up. Best Director is not outside the realm of possibilities.

And “A Single Man” was a’hot ticket last night in what I call Fashion Night in Toronto. The movie that preceded Ford’s at the Bader was also very good. “Tanner Hall” was written and directed by Tatianna’von Furstenberg and Francesca’Gregorini.’They are the daughters of designer Diane VF, and actress Barbara Bach, aka Mrs. Ringo Starr. As such, DVF’was there with husband Barry Diller, Barbara brought her sister Marjorie, who lives with the Eagles’ Joe Walsh, and they brought the magnificent Olivia Harrison, widow of Beatle George.’ I mean, like, wow.

Yet, all of these great guests would have meant nothing if “Tanner Hall” weren’t very, very good. It’s a smarter, hipper, better played kind of “Mona Lisa Smile.” The cast comprises Tom Everett Scott, Amy Sedaris, Chris Kattan, Tara Subkoff, and four newcomers: Brie Larson, Rooney Mara, Georgia King, and Amy Ferguson.

The result is an expertly fashioned, heartfelt and funny, even sexy, coming-of-age story. And get this: Gregorini and von Furstenberg raised the money just like all indie filmmakers. They didn’t go to rich relatives. DVF and Mrs. Starr can be proud; their girls have a hit on their hands. Now let’s see who buys it.

Bar Mitzvah Boy Movie Could Be Studio’s Answer

Roger Friedman
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The Coen Brothers’ new comedy, “A Serious Man,” could be the hit for which Focus Features has been looking. The little studio has never had a movie that grossed $100 million domestic. Focus got close to the Oscar for Best Picture with “Brokeback Mountain,” “The Pianist” and “Atonement,” but has never been able to close the deal.

The Coens’ “Burn After Reading” only did $70 million and it had Brad Pitt as its star, kind of. The much admired “Milk” made only $30 million. This year, “Away We Go” and ‘”Taking Woodstock” ‘ by name directors Sam Mendes and Ang Lee, respectively ‘ were relative disappointments financially.’The one true gem in the Focus crown, at least at the boxoffice, was the recent””Coraline.”

I do not know what’size audience awaits “A Serious Man.” The demographic would be’bar mitzvah boys circa 1967 to 1970. This means me, and about a half-dozen other people including the Coens. At my press’screening there were loads of laughs and many non-Jews in the audience loved it. At the premiere, three people later told’me they walked out. They were all Jewish. So here we’go.

Joel and Ethan Coen were raised in St. Louis Park,’Minn. In 25 years of filmmaking, from “Blood Simple” to “Burn After’Reading,” it felt to me like there may have been one Jewish character. I’d say it was Michael’Lerner as the studio head in’”The Hudsucker’Proxy.” Lerner returns in “A Serious Man” for one brief, hilarious scene.

Michael Stuhlbarg, a gifted actor, plays Larry Gopnik, a serious man who is a professor trying to raise a middle-class Jewish family in Minnesota in 1970. Stuhlbarg plays Larry as a passive’intellectual who is powerless as his life is falling apart. Of course, everyone around him is very kooky. His’grating wife, Judith (the almost too-good Sari Lennick), is having an open affair with recent widower Sy Abelman, played with slithering unctuousness by Fred Melamed. Larry and Judith’s son Danny’is about to be bar mitzvahed. Their’teenage daughter’is going through difficult years.

Richard Kind, who’s brilliant, plays Uncle Arthur, who lives with the family. It’s unclear who he’s related to, but Arthur is full of shtick and sight gags including a suction machine he’s using to relieve a cyst on his neck. Amy Landecker is the overly suntanned divorcee on the prowl to seduce Larry, channeling Mrs. Robinson; Adam Arkin is a worthless divorce lawyer. And so on.

There are several rabbis, of all things, and a lot of Yiddish. A lot. There’s also cancer, and an approaching tornado. What does it all mean? Is there a point, or is “A Serious Man” like a lot of jokes and stories told by characters in the movie: pointless.

Just in case we’re looking for too much meaning, the Coens add a epigraph to the beginning of the film from the 11th century Jewish scholar Rashi: “receive with simplicity what is being offered.” In other words: don’t read too much into’it.

The movie also has an opening scene, set in Poland perhaps circa 1899, that’s a complete non sequitur, spirited from Cynthia Ozick and Isaac Bashevis Singer. It seemed almost like a parody of the opening scene from “Inglourious Basterds.” Who knows?

And who does know, really? Most filmmakers eventually render their nostalgic childhood memoir. This is the Coens’. It might have helped to have a central plot, but maybe that wasn’t important. Getting Danny bar-mitzvahed seems to be the goal, while all around him chaos reigns. The only other central idea is that Larry is up for tenure, and a Korean student is trying to bribe him for a better grade.

For the Coens, “A Serious Man” is just another chapter in their long and productive history, with much to applaud and the usual amount of question marks. For Focus, however, its meaning could be much more, uh,’serious.’They need a hit. I hope this it.

Weinsteins Make Oscar Move: Checkmate

Roger Friedman
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The Weinstein Co. did indeed come out on top last night. It bought Tom Ford’s “A Single Man,” and will release it before the end of the year.

a single man 341x182 300x160 Weinsteins Make Oscar Move: CheckmateNot only did Harvey love it, Bob did, too. I’ve rarely seen him so effusive about a straight-ahead feature. (Bob makes all the great genre films at Dimension.)

But this means the Weinsteins have made a decisive move in the Oscar race. They already have the hot “Nine,” directed by Rob Marshall, as a very strong yet still unseen candidate for one of the 10 best picture slots. “A Single Man” most assuredly will get one of those berths. (You never know, “Inglourious Basterds” could be a third.)

But with Colin Firth a shoo-in for best actor nominations, and Julianne Moore in best supporting actress, this means the Weinsteins are playing their best Oscar game again. Add those names to Daniel Day-Lewis in best actor for “Nine,” Christoph Waltz as supporting from “Basterds,” and one of several actresses from “Nine” in supporting — I’m told it’s Marion Cotillard or Penelope Cruz — the red carpets are going to be full of Weinstein nominees.

With “A Single Man,” TWC also gets a very strong musical score, a fantastic adapted screenplay. and several tech nominations. This pic, as dressed by Tom Ford, looks like a million more bucks than it cost.

And, unlike some other movies of the recent past, this is a “gay” film that’s not so gay — gay-ish, as someone observed last night!

So add Julianne’s name to the list of supporting actresses: Patricia Clarkson from “Whatever Works,” maybe Mo’Nique from “Precious” (and maybe not for reasons I will explain soon), the “Nine” ladies, Vera Farmiga from “Up in the Air” (who could go into Lead), Kerry Washington from “Mother and Child,” and’ handful more still to be revealed.

Now, kids, we have some Oscar races!

Blackberry: No More Track Ball

Roger Friedman
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Here’s a little gossip from the gadget world: Blackberry is about to replace the Bold with something really fantastic. Sources say they’re about to unveil a new lighter, smaller Bold with a finger pad cursor that replaces the Track Ball. For those of us who have had to have Track Ball operations, this comes as amazingly good news. The finger pad swiftly moves the cursor around with minimum effort. And there’s nothing to break. No more dust or lint removal, no more turning the Bold over and tapping it. And there’s also a rumor that it’s going to both AT&T and T Mobile. I saw a working prototype this weekend, and it’s a home run. Yippee!

Juno Star Ellen Page Skates to a Win

Roger Friedman
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Malcolm Taylor/Getty Images

Malcolm Taylor/Getty Images

What was Ellen Page going to do after making such a splash in “Juno“? The 21 year-old actress really had to find material that could advance her career but not look like a “Juno” sequel.

She found it in the film adaptation of Shauna Cross’s book, “Whip It.” The film opened last night in Toronto, with Page taking the kudos for leading a strong cast of woman, as well as Daniel Stern and Landon Pigg, through a Girl Power adventure centered on Roller Derby. First time director Drew Barrymore, who refused to do a standard Q&A after the film, is helped in large part by veteran’cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman and expert film editor Dylan Tichenor. Their contributions cannot be overemphasized, as is this is a movie incredibly dependent on style to make it a hit.

And’a hit it shall be. A chick flick for teen chicks who will dig the empowerment theme. Page’s Bliss and her mom, played by the world class Marcia Gay’Harden, are at odds. Mom wants her to’be Little Miss Sunshine, appearing in talent’and beauty pageants.’Bliss is already going punk, trying to shed $800 custom-made’gowns for’Army boots and blue hair. When she spots some roller girls in Austin, Texas,’a spell is cast. She knows this is her destiny.

Some of’”Whip It” is cliche, especially the stuff with the overbearing 1950s mom in 2009. But Harden is so good that she and Stern ‘ who plays her husband ‘ manage to rise above it all. (They come perilously close to Juno’s parents, from that movie.) In the’end, Page ‘ who did her own skating and stunts ‘ makes it all worthwhile. And Tichenor makes the’roller derby come alive, even when you don’t completely understand what’s going on.

Toronto Takes: Darwin Had Problems, Too

Roger Friedman
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Toronto kicked off on Thursday night with a movie Ben Stein sure won’t like: Jon Amiel’s “Creation,” starring real-life married couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as Charles and Emma Darwin. They are each superb, even when “Creation” is soft or slow, which it tends to be. Bettany is particularly outstanding. The movie is less about science than about Darwin losing his mind after their eldest child, Annie, dies. “Creation” needs an American distributor. Disney would seem like a good candidate. This is ready made for them…

…If you’re looking for stars during this festival, the only place to be is the lobby of the Four Seasons. This is ground zero for seeing and being seen. Just yesterday, while three of us chomped on a ridiculously’overpriced lunch, the list widened to Peter Saarsgard and Carey Mulligan from “An Education” (this is the must-see small film of 2009), Tilda Swinton, Vera Farmiga, Michael Caine, Matt Damon, George Clooney–who was in residence, director Jason Reitman, Michael Sheen, and Kim Cattrall, who yesterday was inducted into the Canadian Walk of Fame–she’s from Vancouver Island, plus Oscar Isaac from “Agora” and so on and so forth. More deals are being done standing up in the lobby because the pizza is $28. Yes, that’s right.

…The new female Borat is’a viral video character called Suzie Cocktail. You can her on YouTube and at www.suziecocktail.com. Funny stuff…

Michael Caine Knows How to Kick Ass, Even at 77

Roger Friedman
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cain1 Michael Caine Knows How to Kick Ass, Even at 77If you think about Michael Caine, extreme violence doesn’t usually pop into your head. “Alfie,” “Cider House Rules,” “Blame It on Rio,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” — hello — clever Michael Caine is not seen killing people.

And yet: In “Harry Brown,” Caine is Dirty Harry redux, playing out “Death Wish.” He’s 77 and he kicks ass, man. First-time director Daniel Barber puts Caine through paces no one could have ever imagined. Let’s put it this way: Caine told us yesterday, “I said to the other actors, ‘You don’t want to be in a scene with me. You won’t survive.’ ”

Harry Brown lives in council housing and watches as violence consumes his apartment complex. The kids in his neighborhood aren’t just hooligans. They’re beasts, shooting a mother pushing a pram, beating up anyone who tries to use a subway underpass. After Harry’s wife dies (of natural causes), his best pal — an even older man — is killed by one of these gangs. Then Harry wakes up from his grief and takes matters into his own hands.

Michael Caine can pretty much do no wrong, so he’s just right to make Harry a sympathetic, complex character. Emily Mortimer — who was strangely sort of mocked on stage before the screening by the movie’s director for being very pregnant — is very good as a left-field choice as a local detective who follows Harry’s evolution. The quality of the production is a lot higher than any vigilante movie from the raging ’70s.

There’s a rumor that the producers turned down a $12 million offer from a studio, and are holding out for more for distribution. “Harry Brown” will be a hit, believe me. And maybe one day even a video game!

And you have to like the “Harry Brown” gang. They threw a Soho House-sponsored party after the premiere in a most unusual location — a Toronto subway station. As trains rumbled above, Soho House took over the lower level of Bay Street station, and turned it into one of their inventive locations — complete with a few subway cars for seating off the platform and lots of comfy leather chairs and couches. It’s the first time I’ve ever had pesto lambchops in a subterranean vault, and I’m sure the last. Caine held forth with plenty of pals including Michael Sheen. Harvey Weinstein’s eyes narrowed at the sight of the train cars, and publicist Peggy Siegal observed, “This is the first time I’ve been in the subway in 30 years!”

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